Multiplicity Shawl/Wrap - An update

I am loving this weather!!! After a perfectly horrible week of hot, sweaty weather it's winter again!!! I know its windy and dusty but I'd rather have this than the sweaty muggy days of the wet season. And the itchy heat rash that the kids and I always suffer with. I know the locals here won't agree with me though. ;-)

So I completed the Multiplicity Shawl I was working on. Its a very simple pattern and worked up pretty fast. As I mentioned in my previous post I'd made a magic ball with the three shades. I am pretty pleased with the way the colour sequence worked out. Instead of using store bought buttons though I made crocheted buttons and used a metal star stud to reinforce it.

It came out quite well and I'm tickled pink! (*tongue-in-cheek*) I gave it to the recipient yesterday. Needless to say she was ecstatic. And now I have orders for another two!! Yayyyyy!!!

 

The Front

The Back

 

Wonder Crochet Blanket CAL 2016

Hi all,

How many of you lovelies are currently doing a CAL or KAL or any kind of -A-Long?? I've been wanting to join one but so far haven't been able to do so for one reason or another. Well...finally I did!!

I decided to join the American Crochet and Crochet With Us group's MCAL. And for a change I started on time. It's called the Wonder Crochet Blanket Mystery Crochet-A-Long (MCAL) It started on January 07th 2016. This is going to be my very first MCAL! and I'm really excited!! Yayyy.....

Here is the link to the CAL: http://americancrochet.com/wonder-crochet-blanket-2016-cal-american-crochet-2/

Each time a CAL seems interesting I don't join because of not having the suggested yarn. Since the only yarn easily accessible here is 100% acrylic light fingering yarn. But I really, really wanted to do a CAL so I figured I'd use what I have. I'd just have to make a few modifications, that's all!

Luckily for me the designer gave us the necessary stitch count for ease of adjustment. So keeping in mind I wanted a multiple of 6+4 I started chaining till I reached the width I wanted. Which in my case was 276+4. And then I realized that since the first row was double crochet (dc) down the line I should've started with a row of foundation double crochet (fdc) instead!! Duh!!! So then obviously I went a-ribbitting!! After that I did a row of fdc. There's an excellent tutorial for that on http://www.futuregirl.com/craft_blog/2009/3/tutorial-foundation-single-crochet.aspx

When I first started using foundation crochet stitches I discovered it has a tendency to curve in. While browsing one day, I found a tutorial explaining how to avoid that curve. I'd wanted to include the link here but for the life of me I can't find the tutorial!! So anyways what you need to do is; while doing the chain part of the stitch, you pull the loop so its looser than the rest of the stitch. Here's mine. Pretty straight huh?

I did this row with a size 3.75mm hook because fdc tends to have a looser tension than regular stitches. I did a row of 279 stitches to keep the math right. Then moved to a 4mm hook from row two.

The other thing I do different is that I use standing stitches whenever I start a row. I hate doing the chains!! Tamara Kelly from mooglyblog has some marvelous tutorials on these techniques.

http://www.mooglyblog.com/standing-double-crochet-joining/ - there's both a video and a photo tutorial.

http://www.mooglyblog.com/chainless-starting-double-crochet/ - this is what I use when starting a new row. Very handy.

Once you try the above two techniques you may never go back to chaining again!!!

So I'm done with the first 6 rows published and I'm waiting for the next instalment that's supposed to be released on Jan 21st 2016.

And here is a pic of my blanket so far....

 

 

Check out the neat edges eh??!! All ends woven in! Ain't I a good girl??!!

Talk to you soon.....

Universal Craft Blog Directory

Hello my pretties,

So how many times have you gone online and wanted to check out something crafty or had an idea and wanted to check out some tutorials but didn’t know where to start? Well a lovely lady called Rie from www.craftyrie.com has created a directory of all crafty blogs. All you have to do is click on the following link. Add your blog name and then get her button for your own blog. According to her stats she currently has over 900 blogs in the directory!!!! Alternatively just click on the button on the right of my blog page and you’ll be taken right over. There is some awesome amount of crafty goodness over there.

And now for my own news.... still working on my multiplicity shawl. Though it’s going slow.

I took time out over the last couple of days and updated my Ravelry projects page. You can view it here.

If you are on Ravelry, I have also created a group for all us crafters in Nigeria. It’s called Hookers of Nigeria - UNITE . Come on over and take a gander!

Bye for now...we’ll chat again soon.

Variegated, Ombre, Multi-coloured, Self-Striping...what do they mean??!

So what do all those terms mean?? Well, anyway you explain it, to me it means just one thing....unattainable!! *sighhhh*



But if you really want to know what it means, you can read about it on this site:
http://www.crochet-world.com/blog/?p=7948

In simple terms it all means the same thing....yarns that have more than one colour. I showed a really beautiful example in my last post, the Wolltraum yarn.



Now since these yarns are unattainable to me (at least for now) I decided to make my own. No I didn't do any dyeing (too much work ;-) ) What I did was, I randomly pieced three different shades of colour together using the magic knot (tutorial below) and rolled it into a ball (no yarn cakes yet ).


How you ask?? Simple, I started making a ball with one color, when I felt the amount would be enough to get a couple of rows, I used the magic knot and joined the next color and then rolled a little, cut and joined the third color..... and so on....



I've started using it to make a much awaited Multiplicity shawl by designer Esther Chandler from http://makemydaycreative.com/2014/07/25/multiplicity-buttoned-shawl/.

 

So what do you think?? Does it work?


Since the sample piece is still small so the gradient is not so obvious. I'm hoping it'll look even better once it grows. Here's hoping (fingers crossed)!

 

A Hooker’s (crocheter’s) life in Nigeria

So I’ve told you about my yarn woes (or lack thereof) in my neck of the woods. Today I thought I’d elaborate to give you a clearer picture.

Whenever I tell someone I crochet I’m met with blank looks. I then have to explain with gestures that I do handwork like making sweaters, caps etc with wool. Then you can see understanding dawn. But hand crafts don’t hold much value here. Then you get asked if you use one ‘stick’ or 2 ‘sticks’?

 Ironically crochet is taught in schools here!! (raised brows, dropped jaw!!!) The term crochet is used while teaching but not stressed. Names of stitches aren’t taught but the stitches themselves are.  There are many people who can do basic crochet stitches and can even make beanies and bags. But if asked to describe what they do, they are stumped.

And then we have the lack of resources. The only hooks available here are the steel hooks that are used with crochet thread. When they see my set of bamboo needles or colourful aluminium hooks, they get confused! The only yarn available is 100% acrylic, 2 ply or light fingering yarn (approximately). The yarn label is completely devoid of all useful information.

 


And so ends my tale of yarn woe! But I’m not giving up! Someday I will buy the kind of yarn I keep reading about. Someday I will buy me some Wolltraum yarn (http://www.wolltraum.com/)! A girl can dream, right? ;-)

 My dream yarn....someday...sigh...

 

My first poncho

 

Season’s greetings my new friends,

I hope the New Year of 2016 has been treating you well. I’m sure you all have made some new year resolutions just as I have. So how many of you have already broken at least one (if not all)?? Me? I didn’t make any hard ones. In fact I just made one. Complete all my WIPs. So far I’ve made good progress. I’ve completed the 4 square poncho I started last year. It was a really simple pattern designed by Helen Shrimpton from http://www.crystalsandcrochet.com/  I just made a few modifications. You can find the original design on her Ravelry page (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/4-square-poncho) Its a free download.

For some time I’d been hearing about the corner to corner designs. Commonly called C2C. My fingers had been itching to try it but I didn’t want to start a blanket cause I already had too many wips. So when I saw this poncho pattern I knew it’d be perfect to scratch the itch I had. Now the next hurdle was the size. The design was for an adult and I wanted to make it for my little toddler.

I realized that all I had to do was make the initial squares smaller than the 12” the design called for. I used a light fingering weight yarn (the only kind locally available) and a 4mm hook. I made my squares 10” added a double crochet edging around making it close to 11” and then did a flat braid join to join the squares. In all other design elements I followed the designer’s suggestions. And there it is, my baby girl’s first poncho!

 

My very first post!!!!

Hello everyone!


So here we are. My very first post on my very first blog! Where do I begin? What do I say? These are questions I've been agonizing over for the last 3 weeks!! Finally today I decided to just take the plunge.


What's this blog about? Well its a place for me to blather on about what I love! Crochet! (Since no one else in my vicinity knows what I'm talking about anyways! To them I might as well be speaking Martian!) And the limitations I face due to my location on this planet!

My primary limitation is accessing yarn!! Can you imagine?? You love to crochet and you don't have yarn??? A nightmare!!! Actually I do have access to yarn. The problem is the quality. It's locally produced 100% acrylic yarn. Only one weight available, i.e. Light fingering (2). No the weight isn't mentioned on the label. So how do I know the weight you ask?? Once upon a long time ago I did a WPI (Wraps per inch) check. Ordering online is a financial nightmare. Shipping costs make it impossible!. So what is one who has the crochet itch to do?? We manage the yarn available is what!

Next post I'll share some of my latest projects. For now Ciao...