Tag: crochet blanket

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Tutorial: Carrying Colors in Granny Squares

My first Tip and Trick that I want to share with you is how to carry your yarn up a row when you crochet Granny Square blankets. I have been working on this granny square blanket this week. I love crocheting Granny Square blankets, I love all the colors, the patterns, using up bits of yarn. The thing I hate about Granny Squares is  weaving the ends in after it is crocheted.

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It has grown from an idea to almost 5 ft square.  It is a simple color change pattern of two rows of a variegated yarn and one row of the cream color. I have used American crochet terminology in this brief tutorial. I decided to carry the yarn on up through the crocheting to the next row. It works like this.

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Here is my finished row of beige yarn. I am getting ready to join the end of the row to the beginning.

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I use the purple yarn to join because the next row is going to be the purple.

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I have started the chain three for the first post in the double crochet group.

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I then make each chain around the beige yarn so that it is inside the purple chain three.IMG_0021 IMG_0022

Then you simply hold the beige yarn out of the way and start your regular double crochets around the granny square. Here is the back view of the granny square with the beige yarn at the beginning of the double crochet group.IMG_0026

 

You can see the yarn a little from the back but it is much easier that tying off, weaving in ends and then sewing them down so they don’t pop out.

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That is a very close up image and it is hard to see where the yarns were carried up.I apologize for the photos, I am still in a cast healing up from surgery. It is difficult to get into proper daylight with everything I need for the tutorial as I am still keeping my foot up and on crutches. This also explains how quickly this granny blanket has come together. I do not have as many pulls on my time.

Talk to you later,

Karen

PS. Please let me know if you have any questions or don’t understand what I did. It seems pretty self explanatory from the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tutorial: How to make a rectangular Granny Square blanket.

I have had people asking how to make a rectangular Granny Square blanket. Tutorial: How to make a rectangular Granny Square blanket.

You can see in the photo above that the extra rows were added in blue.  I crocheted my Granny square as a square for 15 rows. I then crocheted back and forth on one end and added three more rows. I continued on around the square to the opposite end and crocheted 5 extra rows. It is important to add odd rows so that you are ending on the opposite side that you started the short rows.

Tutorial: How to make a rectangular Granny Square blanket.

Keep your crocheting continuing in the same direction that you started. Re

I hope that you aren’t thoroughly confused, if you are please leave a comment and I will see if I can write up a pattern instead of just showing you all of the photos.

 

Thanks,

Karen

 

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How I Finish Crochet Projects Quickly.

I will be honest, it seems like I finish up crochet projects super quick.I really don’t finish them up that quickly but I do have different things I do that help me finish several projects at a time.

To start with I will lay out all of the yarn within a brand on my table…or the couch or …. well you get the idea.

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I sort them into color groups like the one shown above. I am playing with the colors to figure out color combinations that work well.

I also dovetail my work and work on several projects at a time.  Usually, I have at least three  projects in process at a time. One is in the portable phase and goes with me where ever I go that I might have to wait; orthodontist/doctor appointments or music lessons are usually where they get the most work. One I will work on during the evenings when the family is watching tv. The last one to three projects might be waiting on yarn, an uninterrupted block of time when I can concentrate, or simply inspiration to finish it up.

I also use my scraps as I go…

So I love crocheting Granny square blankets. They are usually scrap busters and are always so pretty. It helps me use up bits and pieces of yarn. I simply crochet the center rounds of the granny squares or even the second row on a square until I have used up the bits of yarn to short to keep. I  stored them all in a bowl until I was ready to start on this crochet afghan. It is crocheted out of a dk weight yarn and there were others that are vanna’s choice mixed into the bunch. So I pulled out the other vanna choice and wool, and just use the dk yarn centers I have been collecting centers since January of last year.  So when I started on this blanket on Tuesday I already had all of the centers and some had a second or third row on them. When I started on Tuesday the bowl was full and it now looks like this.

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This current red bordered Granny square blanket started out as small granny square centers from left over bits and pieces of yarn.  I have used most of them but the blanket has 36 granny squares now.

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The next part of the blanket will be the longest but I am inspired by it and will keep working on it every night until it is done. It is jump started and will move along quickly and finish up before the month is over.

One other thing that I do is to… buy only a couple of brands or weights of yarn so that a majority of them go together for scrap granny blankets.

So in a nutshell.

  •  I keep several projects working at the same time.
  •  I take crochet work with me if I expect to wait anywhere for any time.
  •  I have a set time to work on my projects.  I usually work on them in the evenings. I take a break several times a week.
  •  I also work on several different size projects at a time. I tend to get discouraged working on long crochet blanket projects so I work on little fun things in between. I am still finishing up work here and there and I get to look at something else for a change of pace.
  • Just frog the things that you don’t like and don’t want to finish. Roll that yarn up in a ball and put it aside. Another day you will have fresh inspiration.

Like this blanket that has changed from this

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To this…

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and I am still not sure if I like it enough to finish it. So it is waiting until I decide!

I am crocheting as a business and I try to keep my spending on a cash basis. I refuse to spend money on yarn for a blanket with credit. I will start several different crochet blankets even if I don’t have all of the yarn I need to finish it.

(I know that our grandmothers’ and mother’s didn’t start a project unless they had all of the yarn for a project. I work mainly with synthetic fibers and have never had a problem with dye lots being different, at least in the past ten years. I think dyes and  yarns are much more stable now than they were. IF you are using natural fibers or hand dyed specialty yarns then you need to be careful to buy enough of the yarn  in the beginning as the colors among dye lots may vary. When I crochet a custom blanket I try my best to order more than enough yarn at the beginning of the project to cover any dye lot inconsistencies.)

Talk to you later…

Karen

Do you work on more than one thing at a time?

 

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Monday

Mondays seem so blah, maybe it is the combination of fun weekend rush + beginning of the week chores +left over work from the week before. Today, I am looking forward to getting to work on this little jewel. I am following a pattern that is in my queue on Ravelry. This is the pattern http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/retro-circles-blanket and it is really pretty easy to follow if I pay attention.  I am fairly far along on it and it is just flying.

The colors are cheerful and restful at the same time. I can’t wait to get it finished. I have been waiting on some yarn to come in for a custom project. I would really like to have this little baby blanket complete before I start on the other. The forest green yarn for the other custom project should be in any day now. So I am rushing to finish this one up!

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Diagonal Cotton stripe…COMPLETE!

Whew, I am so glad that I get to post this Ta dah! I loved the feel of the 100% cotton yarn.It was a fun custom order for my Etsy shop: ChocolateDogStudio and it has gorgeous colors in it. I can’t wait to ship it off this afternoon to it’s new home in Texas. Here are all the lovely photos. I am sure you remember it in its beginning stages.

I have not crocheted a 100% cotton blanket before. It was a bit of a challenge as cotton has that ability to grow or shrink depending on the humidity. Here it is:

It has the beautiful blue as a simple border to finish off the edges.

Completed and on it’s way home!

talk to you later!

Karen

 

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Frogging and Redoing…

I have been taking this apart (frogging) and reworking it into a better blanket. I just didn’t like the cream border around all these intense bright colors. It was going to be a larger square granny square blanket using these squares.

It just didn’t look right. It is now a rectangular granny square blanket. Here is a photo of it in its beginnings.

Here it is in all its glorious beauty!

It is crocheted out of wool yarn and is the first rectangular Granny Square afghan I have

ever made. It is a lap blanket and perfect for a chilly day.

See you later,

Karen

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Baby Days….

I promised some new things today and I just have time to do a quick photo listing. It is Monday with a vengeance today. Here we go.

 

Ok, must run. See you all later,

Karen

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Finished….Granny Square blanket

Yes! I have finished this beautiful blanket this weekend. 

 

Isn’t it lovely. Crocheted out of Fisherman’s wool and wool ease yarn. It is a lovely spot of color for a family room. Perfect for folding and keeping on the back of a chair. I love the modern and yet retro look of this crochet blanket.

I apologize for the photos but the sun keeps dodging in and out of the clouds. It has been gloomy here lately. I have been hoping for rain or snow but it is too warm for snow this week.

It is 52 inches square.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

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Wednesday!

I finished this scarf up last night. It had been laying around the studio begging to be finished  and finally it ended up this very pretty scarf. It is about 5′ long and almost 6″ wide. It has 14 granny squares in it and a pretty scalloped border. The colors are fresh and springlike.

Just a little progress on this blanket. I am working on it and it is beautiful. I love the creamy white with the flash of color here and there. I haven’t decided what color the next row will be and I am tossing some ideas around. It will get the next color row and hopefully one more before the end of the day, but it is getting larger and that just takes time and work.

talk to you later,

Karen

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The Crochet line-up

During that post holiday creative slump, I started several crochet projects knowing full well, that they would be abandoned when the yarn shipments would arrive!

Here is what I started during that time and since the yarn shipment came in.

 

a bright and cheery granny square blanket

a black and melon granny ripple…

a beautiful big granny square blanket of brilliant colored wool with cream borders

and then this beautiful granny square blanket also out of deliciously warm wool.

I know it seems as though I should finish one before I start the next. My Mom and Grandma’s would agree but, I work best this way. I have two totes with several projects in them that are traveling size. I take these with me to places where I have to sit and wait and work on my projects while waiting. When they reach a point where they are too big to travel, I work on them at night while watching movies. If I reach a point where I have lost inspiration or run out of supplies then I simply put it aside and continue working on the other projects at hand. This system is working as it keeps the shop on a cash basis and I am not buying supplies on credit.

How do you work best?

Talk to you later,

Karen