Category Archives: Crochet

Work in Progress Wednesday 20th Oct

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This week I’ve been working on three things.

Nick’s Split Reed socks have grown and I’m working on the heel of the second one. It’s slow going as I’m doing it to try and mirror the spiral so am purling it rather than knitting it so the spiral goes the other way.Split Reed

I’ve also been working on Thermal, which is growing, if slowly. I’m almost finished with the main part of the body so I’m hoping it’ll look a bit more interesting next week.

Thermal

Finally, is something you haven’t yet seen. A couple of years ago I started crocheting granny squares. This week I’ve finished off the last few and am working on joining them together to make a blanket. They’re all slightly different sizes which is making it awkward, and I’m not sure on any of the methods I’ve used to join them yet.Granny Squares

I was going to put a different shade of blue in between each square to make it bigger, but that’s not working so I may just have to crochet around the outside a lot.

NaKnitMo is still going well. I’m on 47,604 stitches so far. I haven’t decided what to up my goal to, but I’m pretty sure I’ll reach 50,000 by the end of today, or maybe tomorrow.

Also, I shall mention that I’ve been watching Desert Bus for Hope since Saturday. A group of people play the most boring game in existence to raise money for the Child’s Play charity. They also have lots of hand made things up for auction so go and take a look.

To see more Work in Progress Wednesday posts, visit Tami’s Amis.

Colour Schemes and Arranging Colour

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Colour SchemesI don’t know about anyone else, but sometimes I find it really hard to match colours. Or, once I’ve chosen colours, I find it hard to then arrange them in a nice way. I find it particularly hard to arrange things so they look random. For example, I was trying to lay out my granny squares for my big crochet blanket but was having trouble. I solve this by using a random number generator, giving each pile of the same colours a number, and then putting them in that order. A couple looked out of place, so I swapped them round, but overall it made the job much easier.

Here is a roundup of tools that I’ve found that make creating colour schemes or arranging colours a much simpler task. I use them for all sorts of crafting this as well as web design, so they’re useful for many different purposes. Hopefully you’ll find them useful too.

Colour Schemes

  • Color Scheme Designer – Allows you a lot of control over colour schemes, and as well as main colours gives you matching shades
  • Design Seeds – Uses inspirational pictures, and takes the main colours from them

Arranging Colour

  • Granny Square Color Pattern Generator – Put in the width, height and number of colours in each square. Pick the colours, and it will generate a complete layout for you
  • Random Stripe Generator – Select your colours, widths allowed and number of stripes and it will generate a completely random layout for you
  • Stripe Generator – A more advanced stripe generator which gives you more choice than the previous option

If you have any other useful tools please comment and I’ll add them to the list.

Finishing Things – Finding The Motivation

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Whether you’re a knitter, crocheter, papercrafter, sewer, or any other type of crafter, there comes a time when you lose all inspiration to finish anything. You start a project with good intentions. Hours and hours of work later and you get another idea, or see something new you want to try. You keep working on your project thinking ‘I’ll finish soon…’ and then that idea just kind of grabs you, and you have to start it. Now you have another project to finish and even less motivation to do the others.

Most of the time this happens to me with knitting, probably because it takes so long. For example, my current knitting (and one crochet) projects:

  1. Zora SleeveZora cardigan (from Knitty) – I’ve been knitting this since November 12th 2012. Last night I finally finished the sleeves and did some sewing in of ends. However, because I had to alternate between six skeins (yes, I had to, they were all so different in shade as they were hand dyed) I have so much sewing in of ends to do that it’s quite ridiculous. I mean, this is a sleeve. I tried weaving in some as I went but it wasn’t as secure. Maybe there’s a technique I’m missing. I’ve done the back and one and a half sides. That could take some time.
  2. Socks – These are a potential present so I won’t say much, but I keep making mistakes. I took them out of hibernation only a couple of days ago, and now they’re back in it again as I realised I was missing some of the pattern round the leg. And they’re knitted toe up. They’re not even difficult!
  3. BlanketSerpentine scarf – I’ve not been knitting this for so long (started July 15th) but it’s lace and very slow going. It’s going to be amazing once it’s done though!
  4. Big stripy blanket – It’s just SO repetitive
  5. Plain black socks – Again, very repetitive – I might just give up. I started them when on a tour with band to Paris, and I’ve still only just finished the toe.
  6. Granny square blanket (crochet) – I have so many squares (but not enough). I’ve lost some and I’m trying to keep to a certain number of each colour combination and it’s all just a bit too much effort right now.
  7. ScarfLagoon scarf – I’m debating whether to frog this or not, as I’m not sure I like how the colours are going. I think a lengthwise stripe would look better. What do you think?
  8. Kaleidoscope cardigan – I’ve been knitting this for ages. It’s not difficult or even that slow at knitting up. I’ve just stopped for some reason.
  9. Probably others I’ve forgotten.

 

I’ve joined a knitting group recently, which helps me do some of the more boring things I don’t like to do when nothing else is going on. That helps. But still, even with the best intentions, and telling myself ‘I won’t start anything else until I’ve finished something’, I end up in this predicament. I love the satisfaction of finishing a project. And I know I can, as I’ve finished many pairs of socks, a few shawls and various other things. Yet right now, I’m really getting the urge to start a new pair of socks. Plus I should be thinking about Christmas presents.

How do you keep the motivation to finish projects, or do you just go with what your instincts say and start as many projects as you have needles and yarn for?