Posted on October 5, 2017January 10, 2020 by Karen Stewart

Diamonds and Yarn bowls!

Today is full of Fall, Diamonds and Yarn bowls, a little of everything today, plus 2 new patterns and an introduction to the newest afghan!

Fall

Here is it is, the beginning of the Fall season. The leaves are beginning to change here in Oklahoma. It seems early for Autumn, but I am not complaining to a few cooler days. Aren’t you ready for sweater weather after all the heat of summer? Fall always brings such changes. Retail shops are in full “Get ready for the Christmas Season” mode. Pumpkin spice everything is out in the shops. Chocolate Dog Studio is no exception. There are a couple of new patterns out in the shop.

The Denver Scarf and the Basket Weave Granny Square Blanket are both brand new this week.

The Diamond Afghan

This is the newest afghan! You have been seeing glimpses of it all August. The Diamond Afghan is beautiful. Crochet this blanket in any color you want, or combinations of colors. I chose white and warm grey, as I just love the neutral combination. It would work well in any home. Pay attention when you crochet and “You must keep your wits about you” as Bilbo Baggins says. It is easy to get off count and find the diamonds crawling all over the blanket. Counting on certain rows will certainly help. This is another front post/ back post double crochet afghan. It is nice large size; perfect for two. The classic diamonds will be beautiful in any color combinations or simply a nice solid color.

It seemed to take awhile to get past the scarf stage of afghan crocheting.

Diamonds and the Yarn bowls

The diamonds are crocheted into the afghan and not on top of the afghan or added later as some cable crochet is.

A wonderful Christmas gift, perfect for receiving and giving. The afghan and pattern will be available soon in the shop.

YARN BOWL GIVEAWAY

Fall, Diamonds and the yarn bowls

There is an overabundance of beautiful yarn bowls in the studio. My father in law is a woodworker and he has been creating these for me quite regularly. There are 7 yarn bowls in the studio and more to come before the end of the year! I want to share the beauty of these beautiful bowls. Please post a comment here on the blog and you will receive one of these beautiful yarn bowls. Free for leaving a comment, it can’t be any easier than this. This is for new email subscribers and returning. You must post a comment here on the blog with your newsletter email. Just tell me what you want to see more of on the blog; free patterns posted on the blog itself, or free downloads or both, afghan patterns, kids patterns, step by step instructions, baby afghans, YouTube videos, whatever you want to see more of! That is the only requirement to enter this little drawing. New readers are always 1welcome to join in!

I am sorry but I can’t ship these bowls out of the U.S., the postage is just too expensive. Wherever you live, I will still love to hear your opinion. Comment at the bottom and then list where in the world you are reading this blog. – i.e. Karen – London, crochet baby sweaters, or something like this.

Note: The end date of this giveaway is the 12th of October! I will announce the winner in the newsletter!

Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S. I’ve been busy sprucing up the house for the holidays. It is involving tons of paint and furniture moving. It is an exciting start as we peel off the border that has been up since 2000.

Posted on September 22, 2017January 10, 2020 by Karen Stewart

How to Multi-Strand Crochet and the Table Runner

How to Multi-Strand Crochet!

I love multi-strand crochet. The projects work up quickly and is a great stash buster. You can crochet everything from a pillow cover to an afghan or a rug. It just depends on how many strands of yarn you use at one time and how big a hook you use. The most difficult part of Multi-Strand crochet is keeping the yarns from tangling, but if you pull the skeins from the center and use a bowl for all little balls of yarn, the tangling can be kept manageable.

The Fall Table Runner

The pattern for this table runner is more like a list of guidelines. It uses some of my stash and scrap yarns that I NEEDED to use up as they are taking up valuable storage space. They are also colors that I do not use all the time and were not going to be used, unless I made a special effort. When you take multi-strands + creating it to fit your table + picking through your own yarns = a multi-step process. Not hard but more complicated than I usually write.

Motivation

This is a perfect project to use up some yarns in your stash and also all those little tiny scrap balls of yarn.

This is also a great home decor project as you can match the colors in your home. You will need at least three skeins of yarn and a large plastic or wooden hook. The large hook is the key to the whole thing! It will make the project quicker than you can imagine and also grab all those strands of yarns. Pick colors that you will want to have in your house, or to give as a hostess or Christmas gift. It can even be a mix of fiber content, but be sure to tell your gift recipient how to care for the table runner.

What follows is more of an outline rather than a pattern. Feel free to adapt these guidelines to create anything from mug mats to rugs for your home.

Yarn Choices

Pull out all the yarns you never use. Hunt out the little bitty balls of leftover yarn from previous projects. Pick a color range. Since this is a Fall table runner. I was looking for browns, beige, oatmeal, creams, orange, yellows, and any yarns with mostly those colors in them
Sort the yarn into weight groups; worsted, bulky, fingering, laceweight, dk, home dec. t shirt yarn.
Then I weighed it to see how much of each type of yarn I had. I had more than 20 oz of yarn.

You can see that I have

tiny balls of yarn
some t shirt type yarn
almost three full skeins of lion brand yarn
some really Bulky brown yarn
the yellow granny square
camo look yarn
enough creams/ beige yarns to use these as the base yarn to keep it harmonized. (These didn’t make it to the photos and I didn’t end up using the really thick brown yarn.)

The Rules

Use off white, cream or oatmeal yarns throughout the crocheting.
The overall gauge (or thickness) of the yarn group is more of a concern than the number of strands-try to keep this gauge consistent.
Try to crochet roughly half of each accent (orange, yellow and camo) yarn and then use in the 2nd half of the table runner. This adds continuity in the overall color of the crocheted item.
finish one tiny yarn ball then just tie on the next yarn ball
try to stagger tying on new yarns to help hide knots
only add one new yarn at a time. Which also helps to hide the knots.
crochet about 2 rows of accent color before changing to another accent color
Use a plastic hook large enough to easily hold all the different strands at one time. (I used a large plastic P hook with this project.)

Note: These are my rules – but you can change them to fit your yarns.

The Colors

Primary color: beige, off white, cream- used throughout the table runner.
Accent colors: yellow, camo, dark brown, cranberry, orange,
2nd accent colors: variegated yarns, variegated string yarns
Put the yarns in your lap or a bowl and get started.

(Adding in a very small fingering gauge or crochet cotton doesn’t add much to the gauge of the yarn group and I was trying to use those up as they have been in the stash for far too long and I don’t use them often enough to warrant keeping them.)

Instructions

Using three or more yarns and your large crochet hook crochet a chain the length needed to fit your table minus 6 inches (3 inches each side for the fringe).When our family gathers for meals we have two leaves in our table which makes our table is 84″ long. The table runner is 62″ long. The table runner uses 14.1 oz of yarn.

Single crochet with all three or more yarns across the chain. Adding or changing yarn as necessary. Chain one and turn at each end of the table runner continue in SC the length of the table runner.

Continue adding rows until your table runner is the width you want. You will want to reserve roughly half of each accent color of yarn for the other half of the table runner. (This keeps the table runner color balanced.)

Crochet an odd number of rows to achieve the width that looks best on your table. My table runner is seven rows wide but would look good with 9-11 rows. Tie off and cut the yarns.

Fringe

Cut six inch lengths of the leftover yarns and using the larks head knot attach one group of five yarns each to each stitch at the end of each row on both ends of the table runner. Mix up colors and textures of the yarns to get a similar look to the table runner. Trim the fringe level across the ends to get a straight edge if needed.

Multi-Strand Crochet Inspiration

Just to inspire you, I found a couple of photos of my favorite multi strand crocheting using yarns of different weights. This poncho was crocheted using an Etsy friend’s scrap and stash yarns. She was selling them and I fell in love with all of the colors and textures. I added more of the yarns I had on hand + the Basketweave stitch and this was the result.

The blue afghan shown here uses three strands of the same weight yarn to create an ombre effect. You do have to be careful not to create an item with such heavy fabric that it is not useable.

____________________________________________________________

We are nearing the end of September and Fall is really here! I am excited about the next few months as the Holidays are coming up and life gets busier. Take time out to enjoy the beauty of the season and the yarn in your basket. I am also getting ready to put this table runner and Autumn decorations out.

Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S. I think Multi-strand crochet would be wonderful for the pet beds people make for the animal shelters- just be sure to use washable yarns.

Posted on September 16, 2017January 30, 2020 by Karen Stewart

Organize Your Patterns and two New Patterns

Patterns, Patterns- there are so many good patterns on the internet, how do you organize your patterns? How do you store your patterns or keep track of good crochet patterns, crochet ideas or even patterns in process?

How can you organize your crochet pattern links? Pinterest is an excellent storage place for internet links and you get a great visual of each pattern as you open the board. Quite frankly, it is my favorite place to keep track of patterns or patterns that spark new ideas for my projects. Make a secret board and you will have a wonderful place to keep patterns for gifts and ideas of things to crochet for friends and family. Filtering through all the ideas is easy and you can delete or add at will and no one can see what you are thinking about.

You can also use your bookmarks function on your computer. Mine is so cluttered right now that I am not sure which project is in which link. Organizing these links into different files would be helpful.

Composition book

If you prefer an old school approach, then a composition book or binder is a great way to keep track of ideas that you come across. You can even note down any web addresses that you come across. When the kids finished their schooling, we had an overwhelming amount of unused or partially used school supplies. I cut out the old pages, slap a label on the cover and get started.

They are handy and have hard back covers. Small enough to fit in my project bags and lightweight enough to carry everywhere. The sticky tabs and sticky notes work great as labels and make it easy to find the new information. Leave the first 4 pages blank for a table of contents.

Tape in yarn labels and color ideas, gauge, stripe samples, drawings, and any other information in the creation of a pattern, or item.

You need to do this, it will be such a help to you. How many times do you think back and wonder what kind of yarn, brand or color did you crochet that hat out of? If it is written down you can flip back and see exactly what you did and how you did it.

www.Ravelry.com does this for you online but sometimes you want to keep things secret from nosy friends, family or even strangers. I know that these two ideas will help you organize your patterns and keep track of your projects!

New Patterns

Here are two new patterns coming out in the shops this week. They are very similar in pattern so don’t be surprised when you buy them. The Red Eyelet Blanket is a bit easier than the Purple Eyelet Blanket. There is also the Eyelet Blanket bundle which includes the Baby Eyelet Blanket pattern. The Red and the Purple Blanket use chunky yarns and crochet up so quickly that you can probably finish 1 if not both between now and Christmas!

There are so many great projects on the horizon. Next week there is the free tutorial coming out to help you use many of your scrap yarns! I love to use up yarn scraps and make space for new skeins. I can’t wait to show you.

Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S. How do you organize your patterns? Let me know, I am always looking for a better way to organize.

Posted on August 24, 2017January 30, 2020 by Karen Stewart — 2 Comments

Fear and Crocheting

You may be asking yourself what fear has to do with crocheting. So much more than you can ever imagine! Fear keeps us in a rut: using the same yarns, shopping the same paths, befriending the same kinds of people. Refusing to change our perspectives and viewpoints is much like using the same colors of yarn with the same stitch. Quite frankly, it is boring, wrong, and keeps us trapped. As artists, we know that variety, changing things up, having a new viewpoint, and trying a new medium can all totally change the end result, enriching our work and propelling us forward into new ideas.

For the past month, I have been crocheting in monotone colors, first blue and now white. I am so incredibly bored. Even though, texturally, the stitches are interesting, monotone crochet is not my cup of tea. Put all of the textured squares together, and it is quite exciting. But right now, in the middle of this afghan, it is mind-numbing and plain hard work. I know, I know, you never hear me say that about yarn, crochet or afghans.

Fear and Crocheting

The fear of changing my mind has kept me here in this monochrome rut, but I am close to the end of this crochet blanket.

(Actually, it is the overabundance of white and blue yarn in Yarntopia that is keeping me on track — and the fear of having to buy more yarn. I just hope I can finish both of these afghans without needing to buy any more yarn!)

Stepping Out of My Box

Your fear may be different. It may be fear of color, fear of new stitches, fear of commitment to crocheting an afghan, fear of trying something new, or fear of being seen as different. Kick that fear out of your life and move on! Just start step-by-step, and you will soon overcome it.

I am a person that likes the same things, same foods, and same restaurants. I know this is because I have some food issues that result in migraines. Fear of migraines has kept me from trying new foods and new restaurants. But, I have been making myself try new places and order new food. I will say that some of the food I’ve tried is not my thing or too incredibly spicy-hot. But, some has been wonderful. So, my thought is this: be prepared for a little disappointment when you try something new — it might not work out for the best the first time around.

A Different Kind of Creating

I have also been painting some wood planks we have for wall decorations. The first three turned out great, number four was good, and number five… well, take a look and see what you think.

Fear and creativity — Here are planks 1, 2, and 3.

Here are planks 4 and 5.

Yes, I passed grade school, and I do know how to spell ‘Merry.’ The next one is going to be ‘Christmas.’ I guess I was tired, so I quit while I was ahead. I will take another shot at it this next weekend.

So the thought I leave you with is to try something new; don’t be afraid, keep trying, and don’t give up!

Creating Washcloth Patterns

I have been on a binge creating new square patterns for washcloths or an afghan or two, and it has been disappointing. It is just plain hard work to jump the tracks and create a different rhythm in my crochet. I have frogged more than crocheted lately, but the two crochet patterns below are easy and small enough to frog without feeling like a failure.

What I am excited about is the washcloth patterns that I just released.

The first is this Ridged Stripe. It uses front post crochet so you can get used to the stitch, along with half double crochet.

Here is the Textured Stripes washcloth pattern.

Both are free downloads in the blog shop. Whip one up, place in a gift basket, add some beautiful spa products, and you have a lovely gift! There will be a total of four washcloth patterns for you to add to the basket. The two patterns mentioned above are free in the shop today and every day. Just download them and start crocheting!

Age-old Wisdom

I will say that crocheting with the full spectrum of color is far more exciting and enriching than staying with monochrome. But, as my Gran would say, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S.

There will be another set of washcloth patterns coming in the next couple of weeks so keep coming back — and yes, they aren’t blue!

Posted on July 13, 2017 by Karen Stewart

Texture: Surface Crochet and Summer Days

Texture brings to mind all sorts of hard crochet stitches. Surface crochet can be easy or hard depending on your goals.

Surface Crochet

One of the easier ways to add surface crochet is to add single crochet or chains to an already crocheted or finished blanket, as I’ve done in the photo below. Notice how the blue lines pop out to add a dimension of texture to the background.

Continue reading Texture: Surface Crochet and Summer Days

Posted on June 22, 2017 by Karen Stewart

Textural Stitches and the Absolute Beginner Afghan

Last week we discussed that texture can be a part of the yarn. Texture can also be a part of the stitches, part of the fabric of our project. So, this week we’re talking about textural stitches.

Merriam Webster’s online dictionary includes this definition of texture: Something composed of closely interwoven elements; specifically, a woven cloth.

When we crochet we are taking string and applying different knots to it with a stick. Crocheters and knitters take sticks and string and make fabric. You may have seen a meme to this effect floating around the Internet, but I think crocheters crank it up a notch as we only use one stick! I know that this is a very simplified description of what we do but think about it for a moment:

Sticks + string = fabric.

Wow, we are talented and gifted people. We have an ability shared with fisherman (who repair their nets) and weavers (who make cloth).

Let’s Get Back to the Texture Lesson

Your crocheting creates a fabric.
Your stitches create the texture of the fabric.

When you add in different stitches in different yarns you get an unlimited amount of texture variations.

(The above photo is a beautiful C2C, or corner-to-corner, afghan I made add for my father-in-law. The stitches give it the feeling of a waffle. Below is the same stitch crocheted in a plain gray yarn.)

More Textural Stitches

A basket weave crochet stitch pattern can also add interest, as seen below.

Changing yarn size and hook size can make a huge difference in the texture of various stitches. The top left photo is a look at the scale of the stitches. You can see that the bulky yarn is much chunkier. The green lace-weight yarn is soft and the texture, while it shows up beautifully, is not as pronounced as the aqua cotton DK weight yarn.

Turning your work can sometimes have the effect of making a project reversible; you won’t have a wrong side and a right side. But, some blankets only have a right side (and the pattern will let you know which side is the right side). Many sweaters and most socks are worked in the round and there is only one right side. If you are adding surface crochet (like flower petals), then you will have a right side and a wrong side.

The Absolute Beginner Afghan

Here is what I consider the Absolute Beginner Afghan. I like this afghan for beginners as there are

no edges to worry about getting straight
less worries about gauge
no sewing blocks together
only two stitches
no need for an extra border unless you want one
no turning of your work as it is worked in rounds = less confusion

The yarn specified can be tricky and it is better to pick a different yarn for this afghan if you have never crocheted an afghan..

Talk to you later!

Karen

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Karen Stewart

Texture and the Ridged Ripple Baby Blanket

Today and the next week or two we are going to talk about texture. Over the past several months, we have talked about color, and color patterning. Color theory is great, and color patterning is important, but texture is equally important.

Without texture, our blankets would be like so many striped or patterned plain knit t-shirts–boring after a while. Texture adds pizzazz and emphasizes the beautiful yarns that we love to crochet with.

What is Texture?

Merriam Webster’s online dictionary defines it as…

The visual or tactile surface characteristics and appearance of something.

An identifying quality.

Something composed of closely interwoven elements; specifically: a woven cloth.

The structure formed by the threads of a fabric.

Texture Can Be Part of the Yarn

The yarn may be crinkly, have sequins, slubs, or be a smooth rayon or rough twine. These differing textures will add interest to your crochet project. There is such a wide variety of yarns available all with such a huge assortment of textures that it can be a challenge narrowing your choices down to just one.

How Do You Know Which Yarn to Choose?

There are several questions to ask yourself before you fall in love with a yarn.

What is the end purpose of your work?

texture in yarn — Soft green lace-weight yarn will make a wonderful soft shawl or summer-weight sweater.

Are you going to wear it? Is it for a baby? Will it need to be washed? Are you going to dry clean it, hand-wash it or throw it in the washer? Do you have allergies to any of the fibers

How does it need to look?

Soft, filmy, ethereal, bulky, substantial, delicate, durable–all these words apply to different styles of yarn and yarn with different fiber content.

Textural yarns and strings — Clockwise from bottom right: nylon cord, sock yarn, t-shirt yarn, cotton piping cord, and string.

What are you crocheting?

Are you crocheting lace? Boot socks? A sweater for your outdoor-loving son? Does it need to be almost indestructible? A formal shawl? A blanket for your dog?

Answering these questions will give you an idea of the look of the yarn for which you are shopping.

Break Out of the Box!

I know most of us walk into our local big box craft shop and choose the same old yarn that we always buy. Maybe it’s time to break away from the “usual” and find something new to crochet with, something that will add a special texture to your next project. Take a look at the varieties available and see if you can find something new with texture. You’ll love seeing how fun it can be to try something new!

Textured shawl — The eyelash yarn that I used with the durable acrylic gives a lovely soft fuzzy look to the poncho without sacrificing warmth or durability.

The Texture of the Ridged Ripple Baby Blanket

Speaking of texture, this is the beautiful Ridged Ripple Baby Blanket. As you can see, you can crochet this in a wide variety of yarns. I simply love the texture to this baby blanket!

The variegated yarn is so soft and created just for babies. The red yarn is a cotton-wool blend that will soften over time just like your favorite pair of jeans. This is a newly edited pattern that has just been re-released for you. Both of the suggested yarns are machine washable and easy care.

Chocolate Dog Studio crochet patterns are available in several different Internet shops. You can find all of my patterns here on the blog. The other sites where you can shop for Chocolate Dog Studio patterns: Etsy, Craftsy, Love Crochet, and now Makerist.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on June 8, 2017 by Karen Stewart

A Question About Gauge, and a New Pattern: Ocean Waves Scarf

I have had a reader pose an interesting question about gauge.

“What do you do if your gauge is right across the crochet swatch in the number of stitches but short up and down in the number of rows?”

There are two different solutions to try if you have this problem.

Solution #1

First, I would think about elongating your stitches up and down. Crochet just a bit looser.

Continue reading A Question About Gauge, and a New Pattern: Ocean Waves Scarf

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Karen Stewart

Eyelet Baby Blanket and Free Fashion Doll Blanket

I have just been on a baby-blanket-making-binge these days! It is so much fun to crochet baby afghans. They are quick and beautiful to crochet. This one, the Eyelet Baby Blanket, is one of my favorites.

Eyelet Baby Blanket

I just love it. I have crocheted many variations of this baby blanket through the years but this one is so bright and pretty — it’s by far my favorite. It would be so easy to change out the colors and make it all over again. I hope you will love crocheting it as much as I do.

Continue reading Eyelet Baby Blanket and Free Fashion Doll Blanket

Posted on May 25, 2017January 10, 2020 by Karen Stewart

4-H and The Team Wreath

I have a friend that is deeply involved in 4-H. She has been working with 4-H kids since college and was probably involved before she even went to college. She is an awesome person and devotes a greater part of her life to working with kids. I have great admiration for people that invest in our youth and children. What a great way to spend your time!

(This post contains affiliate links)

Julie called and asked me to create a couple of patterns for her 4-H group down in Texas. How could I say “no”?! She knows that I would never do that, so we talked for a bit and this Team Wreath is the pattern that developed. It uses the beautiful Red Heart Team yarns. There are so many color choices; it makes crocheting easy for beginners. You never have to change colors yet you get the color changes in the finished product. Continue reading 4-H and The Team Wreath