A note on crochet (and a bit about knitting)

I have cancelled my subscription to The Art of Crochet. There are several reasons for this.

1. I have completed all of the square patterns at least once.

2. I'm not so keen on the other patterns in the magazine.

3. I will have very limited space in my new house for storage of crafty items.

4. I don't think I can learn much more from it.
5. I prefer square patterns from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton and ones I find online. More imaginative and purty.

I've achieved what I set out to and feel no remorse about not completing the throw. I have The Art of Knitting after all! One subscription is enough for anyone. I only know the basics of knitting so I shall see how I feel about it when I can confidently say the first four things listed above about it.

On a crochet related note, I have made another amigurumi! Meet Barry.

He's a bit cute inne? He was made for my friend Kate because she loves penguins...a lot. He's another Lion Brand pattern (link here, you'll need a [free] account to view it).

In other yarn related news: the sweater I started for Isaac in January. You know...the one that nearly made it to finished item status? Well, it's never going to be finished because now it's TOO BLOODY SMALL for him. Plus it's summer. So meh. Nevermind. I learned that sweaters aren't as hard as I thought they would be and that knitting with circulars isn't as bad as I originally thought. R.I.P. lovely jumper. I've edited my Ravelry queue so I should ctually find myself achieving more, especially if I finish what I cast on and don't buy yarn unnecessarily! I'm told it's manageable. We shall see!

Art of Crochet squares 33 - 40

Square 33.

Using dc (US) the pattern makes a V stitch. All fairly uninsipring, but more interesting than others.

Square 34.

It took me aaaaaaaaaaaaages to fingure out that I had to turn this square on its side to make it look like the magazine picture. D'oh! I quite like how this looks like knitted rib. I don't like how it's sideways though.

Square 35. 

A pretty funky mother granny.

Square 36.

Second checkerboard square. No brainer.

Square 37.

Second target granny. I like the double blue. I think some of the holes are a bit big, but I'm sure it'll even out when sewed together with other squares. *fingers crossed*

Square 38.

I've totally made this wrong. I can SEE the bottom row isn't right. Gah. T.B.F. (To Be Frogged).

Square 39.

Third coloured bobble square. I like how this one feels less girlie because there isn't any PINK! Looks a little small though.

Square 40.

Second attempt at the mock cable square. Less harrowing this time around as already sussed pattern. It's actually quite easy when you get the hang of it, but I had to consciously work what I thought was an extra stitch on the return dc (US) row to ensure always having 26 st.












A.O.C. posts will be more evenly spaced from now on as I'm all caught up :-D Hurrah! I might actually finish Isaac's sweater while it'll still fit him...

Art of Crochet squares 25 - 32

Square 25.

I think this one is pretty fun! I reminds me a little of a carnival. No idea why. Maybe it's the colours and the little strips? Something to do with ticker tape?Anyhoo, with the Trebles (US) it was a doddle to make and I managed to do it ending with minimal weaving in :-D

Square 26.

I finally chose my sub for square 26. I used the Solid Square pattern from 200 Crochet Blocks. I like how it retains the simplicity of the original square without incorporating the ghastly embroidery. Super quick & easy to work up. Did it whilst watching How To Train Your Dragon - an excellent animated children's tale with some really lovely characters and CGI.

v1.0                                                                v2.0

Square 27.
This was another embroidery square. I um-ed and ah-ed about what to use for a sub and came up with v1.0. I wrote down my pattern & everything. Then I cam to make it again using different colours and my brain went a bit wobbly (like trifle) so I decided against it in favour of Chocolate Box from 200 Crochet Blocks.

Square 28.

*yawn*

Square 29.

This square looks lovely. I really like the basket weave effect. It was, however, a massive P.I.A. to make. I must've frogged & restarted about six times. I kid ye not. Eventually I wrote the pattern out in terms of rows so that I could tick each one off and know exactly where I was. I think this is the kind of pattern that you work in one go, if only to save your sanity!

Square 30.

Same pattern as square 27. The square that made my trifle brain pick a different sub. This time (on the final round) I only worked in 3 ch spaces & didn't work a sc (US) into each sc between 3 ch sp. Made it less "frilly" and more even/flat. Win!

Square 31.

I LOVE this square. It's so purty. And it reminds me of a swimming gala. WTF? Yes. Anyhoo. It's nice and quick, simple and obvious working. 

Square 32.

This square is renowned for being difficult to work. I was feeling cross with it for being such a pain and then I remembered some discussion about it on the Ravelry forum a while back (I'm behind the others subscription wise) so I went and had a peek at what advice was on offer. It's amazing how many times I can correct my work, just by READING THE FREAKING PATTERN. Can't see the wood for the trees sometimes y'know. So now it's done and that's THAT!

Art of Crochet squares 17 - 24

Square 17.

Again, more rectangular than square :-( I like the colours though. I've read in the Ravelry forums (from people who are ahead of me) that these ones are sewn together so that the stitches don't face the same way. WHAT??? I don't like the sound of this...

Square 18.

I really like this square. It's simple and still quite classy. It, along with three others, forms the centre of the throw.

Square 19.
Granny número tres. Muy bueno.

 Square 20.

This one was a MILLION times easier to work up the second time around. A) it didn't take so damn long and B) I'd started to crochet in all of my ends as I go so there wasn't any evil weaving in after I'd finished. Yay!

 Square 21.

The first of who knows how many checker board squares which are essentially DCs (US) and chains. Purty.

 Square 22.

Another granny, using Maize (LOL) as the outer colour. 

Square 23.

Another non-square-square.

Square 24.

I really like this square. It's the only embroidered one I haven't substituted, the reason being it calls for blanket stitch which looks the same on both sides. Very pretty and fun to make. Well done Hachette! The only thing I'd do differently is space the coloured hole rows more evenly through the square so that there were 2 rows between each throw, but Simon pointed out that it may look better as it is when in-throw. We shall see.









I'm actually up to square 36, but I haven't crocheted 26 & 30 because, you guessed it, they feature embroidery that I don't like an I'm stewing over what to substitute. I might actually catch up! Watch this space.

This throw's gonna be massive!

Art of Crochet squares 9 - 16

I've really left this far too long to post about, but hey. So.

Square 9.

A plain DC (US) square with an Aztec-style design embroidered on. You know how I feel about embroidery on crochet, so I used "Circle in a square" from 200 Crochet Blocks. I omitted the last round of the pattern to keep the square 13cm.

Square 10.

A mesh pattern square. Easy and very quick to crochet.Not sure I'd choose it for a throw I was designing myself, but I'll see how I feel about it when it's in-situ.

Square 11.

My first go at intarsia. Not so pleased with the colour changes; I know I could've made them neater had I read the pattern properly (I'm a bugger for R.T.F.P.ing). Still, now I know it's possible so I expect I'll incorporate it into my own crochet at some point in't future.

 Square 12.

My second ever granny! I completely forgot how to do them, but was quickly reminded. I do like grannies. Hurrah!

 Square 13.

The second repeating square, this time with an "aubergine" diamond on a backgroud of "vanilla". Give me strength. Why not just call the colours what they are? Purple's purple and white's WHITE!!

 Square 14.

The first of a series of diagonal two-colour squares. I don't like how they end up more rectangular than square, but I expect that's me crocheting too loosely. Or maybe if I do HDC (US) instead of DC? Hmm. The mind boggles and I've done too many to frog them all now. Meh.

Square 15.

This was a square of plain DC (US) or HDC or SOMETHING with an Aztec-style lady embroidered on. I chose this square from 200 Crochet Blocks to substitute. I also chopped a bit out of the middle of the pattern to keep it the right size. Sailor blue? Pft. 

Square 16.

This was the square that started all the frogging of previous squares and serious pattern design questioning. As per previous post I decided to do all squares with the teeny embroidered star using granite stitch + tiny crocheted appliquéd star. The star features of both sides so that it looks less plain on the "back". 

Art of Crochet squares 4, 5 & 7 - v2.0

Having subscribed and fallen massively behind with T.A.O.C. I have the chance to see what's coming up & what repeats etc. With this information I decided to re-crochet some of the more repetitive squares and jiggle about with what substitutes for what. So, with this in mind here are squares 4, 5 & 7 again.

v1.0                                                       v2.0

The original 4th square was plain DC (US) with a cross stitch diamond embroidered in the centre. Blah. While I liked the granite sttich I used on my original sub, I thought the whole design more suited to sub for some of the later squares. So I used "Diamond in a square" from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton. I omitted the last round to keep the required 13cm size.

v1.0                                                                   v2.0

Square 5 was another embroidered cross stitch which I replaces with bobbles and worked using a 3.5mm hook. After crocheting a lot more squares I realised I wanted them all to be made using a 4mm hook. So. I frogged and re-crocheted using said 4mm hook and so a new square 5 was made.

v1.0                                         v2.0

Again, the original square 7 was embroidered, but I chose a different square from 200 Crochet Blocks. Decided to frog & simplify the design so that it was more in keeping with the original embroidered star square and to re-crochet using a 4mm hook. I used the original granite stitch + tiny star sub design from square 4 and will use this for all repeat squares.

I'm happier now that I have my subs set up so that when a repeat crops up I know what I'm doing and haven't got to find a new square. I've pretty much seen all the squares that will be crocheted now so I'm all good. In an O.C.D. sort of way.

Art Of Crochet squares 1-8

It's taken me faaaaaaaaaaaaar too long to make these. Not because they're difficult, but because (that's right you guessed it) I'm super slack. I also have a nearly one year old so that sort of counts dunnit? Plus I'm distracted by shiny new projects such as...embroidery...sewing...card making...see how I'm digressing right now? That is how I craft as well. Nuff said. Back on track.

Square 1.

I quite liked this one. It uses simple stitches & looks pretty, quite thick though, no drape at all. It came out at exactly at the required 13cmx13cm after blocking. It's also available as a pattern called Lemon Peel in 200 Crochet Blocks for Blankets, Throws and Afghans by Jan Eaton. Fabulous book BTW.

Square 2.

I quite liked this one too, although I wasn't sure I got it right a few times so frogged & restarted. Looks all right now though. It came out about 14cm x 14cm rather than the required 13. Meh.

Square 3.

My first ever granny! I can't believe I've been crocheting for about 6/7 years now & not made a granny square before this one. I love it, although it's too small. I hoped blocking would fix this, but it didn't. Someone in the Ravelry group for this part works pointed out that on the finished throw image, all the grannies have 3 rounds of the final colour, not 2. Adding an additional round of blue will make it the correct size. Way to go Hachette.

Square 4.

I didn't like the pattern for this at all. It was DCs (US) and cross stitch. I couldn't figure out how to cross stitch onto crochet without leaving a hideous mess on the back so decided to make my own pattern instead using the same colours.  I used a 5mm hook for the vanilla granite stitch (pattern here) & a 3.5mm hook for the tiny star (pattern here).

Square 5.

Again, this one called for cross stitch. No thanks! I used the aforementioned blocks book to make bobbles in the same pattern as the cross stitch, again using the same colours & a 3.5mm hook. Much more fun!

Square 6.

I LOVE this stitch, it makes me want to crochet a whole sweater with it. It's so warm and floppy. Hmm, maybe if I lived in Iceland? The colour is great too. Lots of people say the colour is horrible, but I really like it! Ner to non-likers-of-maize. It's supposed to be a vintage throw. Have you seen colours from the 70s?

Square 7.

I thought the pattern for this square was terribly boring & embroidered yet again so chose the Starflower pattern from 200 Crochet Blocks using the same colours as the A.O.C. pattern & a 3.5mm hook (I think, or it may have been 3.75mm) omitting the final round to keep it 13cm x 13cm.

Square 8.

This one was a real labour of love. I started it a month ago. I chose to work it in SC (US) not DC (US) as stated in the pattern. I think it looks neater & more uniform this way. The bobbles  are from 200 Crochet Blocks rather than being the pattern bobbles. I don't think I liked them as much. Not enough panache. I don't really know what happened, actually it was probably my crafty absent-mindedness/magpie-ness, but I only finished it yesterday. I didn't even feel gleefully triumphant like I usually do upon completion of a project. Ah well, they can't all be little gems can they?

Thoughts on the part works so far:

I'm glad I have my own hooks because the one supplied is not great. I quite like the colours of the yarn, but it doesn't feel terribly nice. I guess you get what you pay for. I'm learning new things & I'll have an immense throw at the end of it all plus I've made a new friend along the way so I'm not complaining!

Now all I have to do is catch up to issue 32. ROFLMAO!