Bumping Along: Stitch Nine!

So, back to 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.  Today's offering, stitch 9, is somewhat whimsical with offset bumps on one side of the fabric.  It's not a difficult stitch, but it is slow.  Slower than sc in fact.

However, I liked the way it looked and it really is pretty mindless, so it wasn't too bad.  I normally can't stand puff stitches, but for whatever reason I didn't mind them in this pattern.

The color pattern I used for this worked well with the bumps really standing out.  Changing colors every other row would not work well.

I would consider using this stitch for small projects where you want small holes.  Using this stitch to adapt a kid's sweater pattern would be cute.  The bumps would help with scrubbing if you made dishcloths from them.  They would also feel good on your feet as bathmats. 

Color Pattern:
Work (one row in yellow, one row in purple, one row in green) repeated, ending with a row of yellow and the border in purple.

Chain 88, then work stitch until work is square.  Add this border to complete.
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 same stitch) at corner

I made this with Lion Brand Pound of Love in Soft Pale Green, Soft Pale Yellow, and Soft Lavender with a J hook.

A Journey through Spirals: Summary

Well that's the end of my journey with spirals.  I figured out how to make the shapes that interested me in a satisfying manner.  The only thing still lacking is to figure out how to make the spirals wider without having to attach more balls of yarn.

I just had a thought about that!  Why not just make taller stitches?  Like instead of dc (2c), use 5c, or for even bigger ones 10c (these numbers are totally arbitrary).  The obvious problem is that there will be gaping holes.  That can be solved by using linked stitches.  The corners would be interesting to figure out, but probably doable.

Anyway, now that that rabbit trail is over, let's summarize what I've explained about spirals.

I've found or written up patterns for the following shapes:
Circles (really 12 sided polygons)
Hexagons
Rectangles
Squares

This is hardly an exhaustive list of shapes.  As I write this, I realized that triangular spirals are also possible.  Any shape, at least regular polygons, can be made with spirals.  Hopefully you can figure out how to make a heptagon spiral if you really want to by looking at the principles for the more normal shapes.

A Journey through Spirals: Part Three

So, now I've shown how to do round spirals and rectangular spirals.  It's time to do square spirals.  Squares are basically a combination of circles and rectangles.  They have a definite point of origin like a circle, but with corners like a rectangle.  The challenge is to take a circle and make it angular, or to take a rectangle and make it start out with a simple ch 2.

This was actually a lot more difficult than I expected it to be, but I did come up with something.  The design principles are the same as for rectangles:

1. Corners need 3 sc or 5 dc to be square
2. It's easier to feel a chain 1 than to feel the middle stitch
3. Dc are twice as tall as they are wide

Essentially, this is a rectangle where the initial side consists of only a corner.  So, what you have to do is make a corner in each color in the same chain space, then crochet down the opposite color's corner and make another corner.

Here's that concept written out:
Chain 4
Round 1: (dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in 4th ch from hook with color A.  Attach color B to same ch, (ch 3, dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in same chain

To make sides: dc in post of opposite color's starting ch 3, work corner (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in top of opposite color's starting ch 3.

Round 2: dc around with (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in the ch 1 of corners

Repeat Round 2 until work reaches desired size.

I made this with Bernat Baby Coordinates in Tangerine Dream and Funny Prints with a J hook.

A Journey through Sprials: Part Two

Last time, I went through my endeavors to make a round spiral blanket.  Well, what limits spirals to round or semi-round things.  This time I decided to make a rectangle.  Again, the issue is beginning.

Here are the design principles I used:
1. Corners need 3 sc or 5 dc to be square
2. It's easier to feel a chain 1 than to feel the middle stitch
3. Dc are twice as tall as they are wide

Here's what I came up with:

With Color A, chain a number of chains such that the length equals the difference you want in the length and width of the finished product.  For instance, if you want to make a twin-sized blanket, typically 75"x90", then the difference is 15".  Your chain should measure 15".  This is only an approximation because work does tend to stretch the starting chain, but it's a starting point.

Round 1: dc in 4th ch from hook and in each ch across with color A.  Attach Color B to back side of chain (at the beginning of the chain, where the little bit of string is hanging off, where you've just crocheted back to with Color A). Ch 3 and dc across.

To make a corner: (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in last ch

To make sides: dc in post of first dc of opposite color.  Make corner in top of first dc of opposite color.  These sides should be 5 dc in length (2 for each corner and 1 for the height of the initial dc)

Round 2: dc around with (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in the ch 1 of corners

Repeat Round 2 until work reaches desired size.

A Journey through Spirals: Part One

A while ago I decided I wanted to try doing spirals.  I of course went to ravelry to find out how to do it.

 The first pattern I found was for a hexagonal blanket.  I grabbed some I Love this Yarn from my stash and got busy.  The initial few rounds are a little awkward, as usual with spirals, but once the work is established it is very quick and particularly mindless.

 

I had decided that I wanted another round blanket for my bed, so I planned on making it fairly large.  I was a little worried about having enough yarn to finish the project when I started.  I only had 3 skeins of pink and 2 skeins of coffee.  However, this pattern does not eat yarn.  The finished blanket only took 1.5 skeins of each color, much less than I had expected.

One problem however, is that a hexagon is not really round.  It is in fact angular with 6 well-defined sides.  Also, I wanted to make the spirals wider.  So, I wasn't really satisfied with this pattern as a round spiral pattern.  I again went looking on ravelry.  This time I found a pattern for a 12-sided blanket using 4 skeins at a time.  This pattern delivered by smoothing out the edges and doubling the width of the spirals.  I used Bernat Baby Coordinates in White and Funny Print, where each color started 2 of the spirals.

However, this pattern is not mindless.  The beginning 9 rounds are all different, and care must be paid to ensure a good result.  Also, throughout the piece, there are 4 skeins of yarn attached at once.  Managing these skeins so that they don't end up a colossal mess of tangled yarn is a difficult, frustrating task.  The finished baby blanket is beautiful, but, at least to me, not worth the headache.

There had to be a way to make this simpler.  I went back to ravelry and found another pattern. This one also was for a 12 sided blanket, but it is much more consistent throughout and only uses 2 skeins at once.  The spirals are not as wide as the previous pattern, but it's not a headache either.  I studied this pattern, but did not decide to actually make it.  Instead, using the knowledge of spirals I had gained from my previous attempts, I came up with my own pattern.  The problem with spirals is the beginning.  Once you get started it is simple and mindless.  So, I redesigned the middle and grew the pattern the same way this pattern did.

Here are the principles I used:
1. To be flat, an initial circle needs 6 sc or 12 dc
2. To have a gradual transition from the first round to the second, the stitches need to get gradually taller in the first round.
3. There will be 12 sides, so there need to be 12 stitches initially.

Here's the result:
Round 1: Ch 2, sc, hdc x2, dc x3 in 2nd chain from hook with color A. Attach color B and sc, hdc x2, dc x3 in same space.
Round 2: (dc, ch 1) in each stitch
Round 3: (2 dc, ch 1) in each stitch
Round 4: dc in each stitch until last dc of the side, (2 dc, ch 1) in last dc of side
Repeat Round 4 for pattern until work reaches desired size.

 

This pattern makes sense to me, so I think it's easy.  Hopefully this makes sense to other people too.  I used Bernat Baby Coordinates in Tangerine Dream and Funny Prints to make this baby blanket.

Oops! This Time for Real: Stitch Seven!

Well, I made a mistake last time I posted.  I didn't consult the book, just started typing about the next stitch, and instead of stitch seven, I actually posted about stitch eight.  So here in all its glory is the real stitch seven!

The overall effect of this stitch is to make very angular ripples, at least when you use my color pattern.  Lines of narrow holes run vertically throughout the pattern.  I like this stitch because it makes a distinct ripple pattern, but it does square off at the end, making the addition of a  border not a chore.  It's reasonably fast to work, though never totally mindless.  There are some complicated stitches, though easy to understand, care is needed to not drop loops or pull through too many loops.  Also, whenever you have to do a large number of one stitch in a single spot, counting becomes an issue. 

Although I like this stitch, I still prefer Stitch 4 from Triple Play Pattern Stitches for squared off ripples.   However, it is always nice to have another good option.  This made a nice baby blanket, and would make nice blankets as well.  I think it would make a particularly beautiful shawl, either solid colored or striped.

Without further ado:
Color Pattern:
1 row of white, (2 rows of maroon, 2 rows of white) repeated, ending with a single row of white, and a maroon border.

Chain 90, then work the stitch until work is square.
Add the standard border to complete.

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

I used Simply Soft yarn in Burgundy and White with a J hook to make this blanket.

At it again: Stitch Eight!

Trying so many new stitches constantly gets frustrating after a while because when I find one that I like, I picture all of the ways I could use the stitch in various projects.  To then have to immediately move on to an entirely new stitch without making any of the wonderful things I've imagined is not fun.  So, I took a break from investigating new stitches to actually make things other than baby blankets with the good ones I'd already found.

But, now I'm back to trying them out, and have stitch 8.  This stitch is fairly quick and relatively mindless.  It does have a picot stitch in it, which I'm generally not too fond of.  The result of the picot is that it's not completely mindless, and there are little nubs of yarn sticking up at regular intervals along the fabric.  This gives it a whimsical feel.  Though this is not my favorite stitch, it is different enough for it to be potentially useful.  I'm not sure what else I'd use it for, but it does make a nice baby blanket.

The color pattern I used is 2 rows of orange, then (2 rows of green, 2 rows of orange) repeated, with a green border.

In any case, here's the pattern:
Chain 90, then work stitch until work is square.  Add the standard border to complete.
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 same stitch) at corner

I made this with Lion Brand Pound of Love baby yarn in Pastel Green and Cream-sickle with a J hook.