Vacation!

I'm on vacation this week, visiting family, so I probably won't post again til next week.  Til then!
-Sarah

My First Custom Order

So, something super exciting is about to happen!  I've finished my first custom ordered afghan, and I'm going to be delivering it next week.  Custom orders are great because the client ends up with exactly what they want, and there is very little guesswork involved.  The client was great in that she knew what she wanted and communicated it well, and then let me figure the rest out to make it look good.  I'm excited to see her reaction to the finished product.  I hope it's everything that she wanted.  I chose to use the same wide border as I did for the Thin Mint Blanket.  I'm going to call this the Oreo Blanket.

Anyway, here's what I made:
Chain  242, then work Stitch 8 until work reaches the desired length.

Border: (brown)
Round 1: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 2: dc around, 5 dc in corner
Round 3: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 4: (dc, ch 1, sk 1) around, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc) in corner
Round 5: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 6: dc around, 5 dc in corner
Round 7: sc around, 3 sc in corner
The color pattern was 1 row of gray, (2 rows of brown, 2 rows of gray) repeated, ending with 1 row of gray.

I made this with I Love this Yarn Coffee and Graybeard yarn with a J hook.

Shell Stitches 00010 and 01000

Here's the next installment in the series: 00010 and 01000!  These two stitches are very similar to each other, almost identical.  Even the edges are not very different.  Even working the stitch feels the same for both.  It's simply a matter of the location of the ch 3 vs the ch 1 spaces.  Neither feels unnatural, so either works well.  I prefer 01000, the brown one, by a slim margin because the edge has an extra dc, making it thicker.  The general feel of the stitch is a complex mesh.  It's an interesting look that is quintessential crochet.

Here's how to do this:
Stitch 00010:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (ch 1, sk 2, dc, ch 3, sk 2, sc) across, (ch 1, 2 dc) in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 1, dc in sc, ch 3, sc in ch 3 sp) across, (ch 1, 2 dc) in last sc

Repeat Row 2 for pattern

Stitch 01000:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (ch 3, sk 2, dc, ch 1, sk 2, sc) across, (ch 2, dc) in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 3, dc in sc, ch 1, sc in ch 3 sp) across, (ch 2, dc) in last sc

Repeat Row 2 for pattern

Shell Stitches 00001 and 10000

I've been debating how to do this series: do I go strictly numerically, counting in binary, or pair the inverse of the stitches in a single post?  Well, I worked it out, and there are 20 unique stitches when stitches with inverses only count as 1.  So for today's installment, 00001 will be shown with 10000 and would count as 1 of the 20 unique stitches, even though they are a little different. 

These two stitches greatly resemble each other.  For both of them, squarish holes are outlined by two single stranded edges and two double stranded edges.  This make an interesting fabric and would be good for lacy scarves.  The biggest difference is what the edges are like.  00001 has more filled in edges because there is a (dc, ch 1, dc) at each end instead of simply a (ch 2, dc) in 10000.  If doing a large project this doesn't make much difference, but for scarves or other short chain projects, it actually matters a bit.  I prefer the both the look of  and the ease of 00001 over 10000 .  It felt much more natural to have to reach forward with a dc than to reach back with a dc.  That's essentially what you have to do in 10000.  It was doable, it just felt a bit odd, whereas 00001 felt natural.  


Stitch 00001:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (sk 2, dc, ch 4, sk 2, sc) across, (dc, ch 1, dc) in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (dc in sc, ch 4, sc in ch 4 sp) across, (dc, ch 1, dc) in last sc

Repeat row 2 for pattern

Stitch 10000:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (ch 4, sk 2, dc, sk 2, sc) across, (ch 2, dc) in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 4, dc in sc, sc in ch 4 sp) across, (ch 2, dc) in last sc

Repeat row 2 for pattern

Shell Stitch 00000

Let's begin!  This is the most open of the shell stitches, (00000), meaning that all five of the dc have been replaced with a chain.  I expected not to like this very much, because I generally don't like really open, stretchy stitches, but I actually like it.  It makes a diagonal grid.  It doesn't use a lot of yarn because it's mostly chains and it's really easy to do.  One thing to be aware of is that the tightness or looseness of your chains matter with this stitch.  If you have areas with very tight chains and areas with very loose chains, your project might warp a little.  It is actually fairly forgiving because there is so much open space it can accommodate some inconsistencies.  For instance, if you only chain 4 instead of 5, it won't be really noticeable. 

As I was working on this, it occurred to me that this would work well in a curly scarf, or in a modified shrug.  The last one that I made didn't work well because the stitch I used wasn't stretchy.  This one is, so that problem would be avoided.   

Well, here's the pattern, all nice and written out:
Chain a multiple of 6 + 5
Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, (ch 5, sk 5, sc) across, ch 2, dc in last ch
Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc, (ch 5, sc in ch 5 sp) across, ch 2, dc in last sc

Repeat row 2 until work reaches desired length. 

Math and Shells

The last stitch I introduced, the spaced shell stitch, was a variation on the simple shell stitch.  Well, I decided to make another variation of the shell stitch, replacing some of the '5 dc' with chains.  While I was working on it, I began to wonder how other possibilities would look.  After more consideration, I realized that each of the 5 dc could be either a dc, denoted by a 1, or a ch, denoted by a 0.  Since there are 2 possibilities for each of 5 different spots, there are 2^5 possibilities, so 32 different combinations to try.  Everything from a ch 5 (00000) to the simple shell stitch (11111), and everything in between.  I suspect that some of them will look pretty much identical.  For example (10000) and (00001) probably look the same.  I intend to try the combinations and see what results. 

Spaced Shell Baby Blankets

You might have been wondering what the other two examples of the Spaced Shell stitch are.  If you thought they're baby blankets, you're right!  I made them exactly the same except in the color scheme.  The Aggie blanket, was made using the half and half color pattern, and the Banana Pudding baby blanket was made using the equal thirds color pattern. The yellow, brown, and white work really well together to look like banana pudding. 

Aggie color pattern:
Work rows 1, 4, and 5 in white, and 2 and 3 in maroon, with a maroon border.

Banana Pudding color pattern:
Start with white, then brown, then yellow, changing every row, ending with a white row, and a brown border.


Here's the pattern;
Chain 95, then work stitch as described here until work is square.
Row 1: sc in 2^nd ch from hook, sk 2, (5 dc in next ch, sk 2, sc, sk 2) across, 3 dc in last ch

Row 2: ch 1, turn, sc in dc, ch 2, sk 2, (dc in sc, ch 2, sk 2, sc in dc, ch 2, sk 2) across, dc in last sc

Row 3: ch 3, turn, 2 dc in dc, (sc in sc, 5 dc in dc) across, sc in last sc

Row 4: ch 5, turn, sk 2,(sc in dc, ch 2, sk 2, dc in sc, ch 2, sk 2) across, sc in last dc

Row 5: ch 1, turn, sc in sc, (5 dc in dc, sc in sc) across, 3 dc in last dc

Repeat Rows 2-5 for pattern, ending with Row 4. 

 

Border:

Round 1: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 2: dc around, 5 dc in corner
Round 3: sc around, 3 sc in corner
Round 4: (sc, ch 3, sk 1) around, (sc, ch 3, sc) in corner

 

These blankets were made using a J hook.  The Aggie blanket was made using Bernat Satin yarn in Bordeaux and Snow, and the Banana Pudding blanket was made using Bernat Satin yarn in Sable, Banana, and Snow.