First time test crocheter

This week I have been working on a test crochet project for the lovely and talented designer Susan Lowman aka The Crochet Architect. I first came across Susan via her review of Dora Orhenstein's new book Top Down Crochet Sweaters on Twitter. And then I had to investigate her blog The Crochet Architect and next I found her Ravelry Group. And when I spotted her call for test crocheters I thought I'd give it a whirl. I'm always up for the latest crochet thrill! I am SO rock and roll, honestly!

Anyway I love love love the pattern. Baby blankets are very popular among my workshop attendees and my charity group make them on an ongoing basis so I'm always on high alert for patterns which might appeal and stretch the growing skills of my hooky peer group. It's an intermediate pattern and I've really had to focus to make sure I'm following it correctly. Continually counting the ch-2 spaces has been crucial. I was working on it in my Yak and Yarn group this week, getting a lot of attention and one of the more forward said "You can make me a copy of that" and I replied sternly "You'll wait until it's published." It's copyright infrigement to make a copy and besides this pattern is my own little secret test project.

I sense more test crochet projects in my future. I am having such fun with this blanket and am thoroughly enjoying the test process. Anyway, check out my Ravelry project page if you want to see my progress on Mom's Favorite Baby Blanket. And for general crochet chatter in between weekly blog posts you'll find me on Twitter and Instagram as @craftyescapism 

Have a wonderful week y'all!

A new technique - Tunisian Simple Entrelac

I'm always trying out new crochet techniques. It's one of my favorite things. And last week I decided to have a go at Tunisian Simple Entrelac stitch. There is a written description and a chart in my favorite crochet bible: The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet by Margaret Hubert I am usually pretty good at reading written patterns and charts don't freak me out either but this stitch had me totally flummoxed. After an hour or so of trying to figure it out I went to google for a video. Mikey of the Crochet Crowd has a extremely good one on this technique: How to Tunsian Crochet - Entrelac Blankets in Rows and this did the trick. I was once more diving into my donated yarn stash and here's my rather seasonal charity blanket. It's all about the pumpkins right now in Texas.

I found making these cute little textured squares incredibly absorbing. I've had a little go at Tunisian before but I didn't fall in love with the technique. It was one of the required swatches when I took my second Craft Yarn Council certificate back in late 2014/early 2015. I recall taking the longest time to figure out what to do with the edges of my swatch. I'm not quite sure what I was doing. I just wasn't happy and ripped it out half a dozen times. I did like the texture of the completed swatch a lot though when I finally got there.

Three things that I now know about Tunisian Simple Entrelac stitch are:

• You can use a standard crochet hook rather than a Tunisian hook for entrelac since you only have at most 7 loops on your hook (well for a six stitch wide square).
• You must chain the number of stitches you want for the whole width of your blanket before you get started.
• You use a crochet hook two sizes larger for Tunisian crochet than a standard crochet hook because the resulting fabric is extremely dense.

There is an amazingly gorgeous top I might try now I that have mastered entrelac technique: Yoga Top by Elena Fedotova  Take a look at it. I'm sure you may well be tempted too!

The Bobble Blanket

The charity blanket-making continues in my Yak and Yarn group. My latest make is the Bobble Blanket. One of the other members of my group gasped "that would drive me crazy" but I found the repetitive bobble-making extremely soothing. Yarn over, insert hook, pull up yarn, repeat, repeat....... When my life is complicated and overwhelming sometimes mindless making in cute colors with my hands is the perfect antidote.

The bobble stitch is one of the nine squares from the Sampler Blanket that I designed this summer and wrote about a few weeks back here. I am slowly editing the Sample Blanket pattern as members of my Yak and Yarn group make their own glorious versions and give me their feedback along the way. I am hoping to publish the pattern on Ravelry at some point too. Well that's the plan! Other things with a higher priority keep getting in the way. The bobble was a favorite square so I decided to make an entire blanket in this stitch. Each one of the nine squares in the Sampler Blanket could feasibly be used to make a blanket.

Bobble blanket method:
Please note that I am using US terms and Craft Yarn Council standard abbreviations

To make a bobble: *Yo, insert hook in next st, yo, draw yarn through st and up to level of work. Rpt from * 3 times in same st, draw yarn through 7 loops on hook.

Ch a multiple of 2 + 1 (each multiple will give you one bobble)

Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc to end.

Row 2: Ch 3, *skip one st, booble in next st, ch 1. Rpt from * to end, bobble in last sc.

Row 3: Ch 3, *bobble in ch st, ch 1. Rpt from * to end, bobble in last ch 3 space.

Rpt row 3 as required. 

I used mainly worsted weight but did double up a lighter weight yarn for one of the off white sections. I used the yarn I had, stash-busting my donated yarn, so had to improvise a little. My blanket has 50 bobbles per row and measures approximately 34" x 34" It's a square which surprised me because I thought I'd made a rectangle before I got out my measuring tape. The stripes create an optical illusion. I made five stripes in three colors of 12 rows each: off-white, bubblegum, rosewood, off-white, bubblegum.
 
The one downside of the bobble is that it is extremely yarn hungry and I used up A LOT of our donated yarn stash. But it looks great and this particular blanket has been donated to an upcoming charity raffle. I am sad to see it go because it's cute stripes and fun texture made me quite happy. I can always make another!

Yak & Yarn group growth

Last week we had our first daytime yak and yarn meet-up. Since we began in March it has been one Sunday evening a month (with the summer off) but we have members who live further afield and so to accommodate we have doubled our monthly meetings to two! Wow!

Rather remarkably lapghan #13 originates from Indiana (yes - Y&Y has gone national!). One of our daytime members taught her mom how to make our square while visiting and returned recently to find her mom had completed 63 squares, enough for our blanket. Love this story. It just warms my heart! And I am finishing up the joining of lapghan #14. It's a patchwork design this time since I have the final squares in many different colors.

We still have worsted weight yarn left over so we are making scarfs for the homeless using this rather nifty pattern I found online by Evelyn Mayfield on her blog Prayersncrafts. The half double crochet stitch is sturdy but hooking into the back of the loop gives the scarf a pleasing stretchiness. Simple but effective - my favorite kind of pattern.

And our next project (#3) will be baby blankets comprised of classic granny squares in a lighter sport weight yarn using a 4mm hook. I have written out the pattern since there isn't an original designer I can attribute the first granny square to. I am a big fan of the humble but versatile granny square.

Quiet day crocheting

Have actually got around to blocking the granny square blanket. I'm not sure I have used enough steam. We'll see when I unpin it!

Finishing off border

One of my students asked me to finish off a baby blanket for her third grandchild due this Wednesday.  It's a four row crochet ribbon border - rows 1 & 4 single crochet. Row 2 & 3 - a shell pattern of 5 dc and sc. It's rather pretty! We didnt want too big a gap for little fingers to get in!