Tag Archives: crochet

Designing

Day 4 of the blogging from A to Z challenge. D is for Designing.

I know I’m a little late on this post as it was due on Saturday.

Because of the wonderful site that is Ravelry, more and more knitters and crocheters are getting the chance to design patterns. In a way this is a wonderful thing as it allows so many more ideas and techniques to be shared, but in another way it makes it difficult for anybody to stand out. Obviously there are various well known designers in the knitting and crochet world, but the majority of them aren’t. Then there’s the matter of cost and time. Many hours go into creating a pattern, but many patterns on Ravelry are free which makes it pretty difficult to sell any, especially if there are similar alternatives.

But still, all this aside, I’m giving it a go. I have two sock designs and a shawl on the go at the moment. One sock I’m just finishing writing up the pattern so people can test it. The other I’m just starting on. The shawl I’ve mostly designed but am getting some yarn custom dyed for it so I’m waiting on that. I haven’t decided how much to charge for each pattern yet.

It takes a long time to design something. Obviously I’m new at it so it probably takes me longer than most. From the initial idea to working out stitch patterns and whether those patterns fit into certain row and stitch counts, then the bit I’m finding most difficult at the moment, writing the pattern itself in a way that someone who has no idea what your intentions are can understand.

It’s fun though, and I hope in the next month or so I’ll be able to release my first pattern.

Work in Progress Wednesday 27th Oct

I’ve done lots of knitting this week so plenty to show for Work in Progress Wednesday as I’ve been watching Desert Bus, and also working on NaKnitMo. As of yesterday I’ve knitted 69,300 stitches so I’m definitely on goal to hit my 70,000 target, probably by the end of today!

This week I finished Nick’s Split Reed socks. They aren’t quite as matching as I was hoping for, but they’re close, and he’s happy which is the main thing.Split Reed

I’ve also reached the shaping on my Thermal. It feels so warm while I’m knitting it so I can’t wait to wear it.Thermal

And I’ve started another pair of socks. I wanted to start my gloves, but I realised I don’t have DPNs in the right size and magic loop would annoy me on the fingers. So more socks. This time for me. I’m trying Mirrored Fair Isle again, but with a completely different construction. I’m doing them toe up so I can try on as I go, and I’m also changing the heel to try out the Fish Lips Kiss Heel. I’ll do a review about that when I’ve used it, but so far even the rest of the information in the pattern is incredibly useful.Mirrored Fair Isle

I haven’t done any more on my crochet blanket because I can’t work out how to put it together. I’ve tried several methods. Each square is meant to be the same size, but I think I messed up my tension or something so they aren’t. I may have to re-crochet some to make them fit better.

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

Work in Progress Wednesday 20th Oct

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

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.