Hexagon Crochet Motif #1 - Afghan

Just returned from the food hyper -  had to do a quick bit of grocery shopping.   Picked up some yarn too (really eeuwky colours - but that was all they had).    I'm sure I can challenge my brain to make something interesting (an idea is already forming)!

A couple of weeks ago I was looking for inspiration to use up a few skeins of red and dark brown yarn    I had inherited my Great Granny's crochet books, patterns, hooks and yarns when she passed away - so I snuggled into a sunny corner of my craft room with a cup of hot mocha chocolate and the wooden box full of Granny's handwritten / drawn patterns.

I was particularly delighted to find three patterns for hexagon motifs (which were not named but simply numbered).  

The motif I used for this Afghan was "Hexagon #1".    Granny's pattern did not stipulate colour change.   I just played around with the rows until I was happy with the result - using alternatively a single colour, and a different colour for each row:

You can find the photo tutorial and pattern for Hexagon #1 HERE

The start of the project - and some beautiful Roses from my youngest

I love the contrast of the Roses against the Hexagons

Starting to see a pattern

So warm and colourful!

A close up of the border

Very "country cottage"

These hexagons work up to a very warm and soft textured afghan.     I must say I am quite chuffed with the result.

Until next time ...... happy crafting!!

Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan - Shades of Blue

Enjoying a sublime cup of Orange Tea, relaxing in my lazy chair with my laptop.

My cat just ran into my craft room - gave me a really nasty look - her usual "morning corner" has been taken over by my photo props.    She has now somehow managed to squeeze herself in behind the props and is looking decidedly grumpy!

But without further ado and as promised HERE- Shades of Blue Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan! 

The yarn I used in this project was actually from another project which I had frogged!    No planning (or much thought) went into how much yarn was needed for this project.    Of course I ran out of three colours a good couple of rows before I finished.

I left it unfinished for a couple of months trying to find a match for the colours.     Almost five months later still no match!.    Nothing quite as annoying as an almost finished project just lying around - had to make a plan.   I completed this diagonal box stitch afghan using baby blue and went on an internet search to find something to add a bit of Oomph to the plain corner.  Found a pattern for some lovely hearts which I appliqued on (rather badly!)   Added a border of 3 rows dc, 1 row ch and sc.

Oh I love blue!

And did I mention how much I love blue??

Lunch time!    Think I am going to have a toasted cranberry chicken mayo!    Ooh yum - always used to have that for lunch at my favourite little Cafe - which sadly closed down when our local mall was renovated - now I just have to be content with my version of this delectable treat!

Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan - Dusty Rose

Monday again!!    Why do the weekends go by so fast???

It was my daughter's 22nd birthday on Saturday.   Her boyfriend gave her 100 roses in all shades of pinks and reds - absolutely gorgeous. You will see some of them in the photos I have taken - she was sweet to allow me to use them as a prop! The sunniest part of Sunday was spent photographing my recently finished projects to share with you!

There was a pattern for a diagonal box stitch lapghan in the September / October 2012 issue of Crochet Today.   I had never crocheted anything on a diagonal before and the GYPSY BLANKET was my first attempt at this.

This was another one of those mile a minute patterns that get you "hooked" and I recently made two more afghans using the diagonal box stitch.

For this Dusty Rose Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan I used cream, beige and dusty rose with a repeat stripe as follows:

2 rows cream
6 rows dusty rose
6 rose beige
6 rows dusty rose

2 rows cream
6 rows beige
6 rows dusty rose
6 rows beige

Finished it off with a very simple border - two rows of double crochet in Dusty Rose and then a row of tiny shells in cream:

Final measurements 200cm x 230cm (quite impossible to get the whole thing in for a photo!).    Had a lot of fun posing some of my Teddy Bears on it though!!

Off to make a quick cuppa and do some chores and then I will post my Shades of Blue Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan ....... HERE

Ripple Crochet Afghan - Autumn Shades

Here are some photos of my second ripple crochet afghan  (still quite addicted to the ripple!!) - (photo's of the first one here).    This and the Blue Hues ripple crochet afghan have been stash / scrap buster projects - so putting the colours together in a random but fairly organised way was challenging but a ton of fun!

For this ripple afghan I used:   Blue, Teal, Beige,Camel Red, Dark Grey, Cream, (and a small amount of pink and some variegated yarn) - strictly speaking not all autumn shades - but I thought it looked quite autumny!

Cheerful Ripples

Looks So Warm on the couch in my Craft Room

Added some Crochet Flowers

Folded up neatly just waiting for me!

My blog has been terribly neglected this year - something which I am determined to remedy!

The weather has been perfect for photos the past few days and I have put aside my WIP's to photograph my recently finished projects to share with you.

Ripple Crochet Afghan: Blue Hues

I received an insanely easy free ripple crochet pattern by e-mail one morning while sipping my first cuppa and just had to give it a go before breakfast.

It worked up really fast too and the great thing about this is that you can use up all the odd bits and pieces of yarn that always seem to accumulate.

About a year ago I made a whole lot of flowers to decorate an afghan I had made my sister for her 40th birthday (note to self - find the photo's and upload them!).    I made up my own patterns for the flowers as I went - having so much fun that I never wrote down what I was doing - figured that it would be easy enough to replicate from sight.

There were quite a lot of flowers left after I had completed the Birthday Afghan and I have been using them to add a bit of Zing to my various odd projects

The border is simply two rows of double crochet in baby blue, a row of double crochet and a row of single crochet and chain in some oddment of variegated yarn.

Love!  Love! LOVE IT!!

I am rather "hooked" (pun intended!) on this pattern now and was quite sad when I finished this project

Luckily I have finished quite a few big projects lately and so there were plenty of odds and ends just waiting to become another Ripple afghan.

Until next time ........ Happy Crafting!!

Granny Stripe Scrapghan

Had quite a bit of yarn left when I was done with the Daisy Afghan (here) - enough to make a Granny Stripe Scrapghan

This was supposed to be a Rainbow blanket - followed  the Rainbow - ROY G BIV  - with the colours I had but in the end it did not look much like a rainbow.     Just too sad!

I used a plain granny stripe for the centre and crocheted a plain black granny border all around.

Into the pile of blankets to be donated.    Perfect size for a baby blanket (not sure about the colours though?), or a lapghan for an elderly person.

Daisy Granny Square Afghan - Scrapbuster Project

As mentioned in my previous post I was inspired by the lovely daisy centres I found here
The daisies form the first two rounds of each square

Round Three:
Join in space between any petal.    3ch, 2dc, 1ch;   3dc, 1ch into each sp between petals - join with a ss
Round Four:
3ch 2dc into space between 3dc, 1ch;  *3tr, 2ch, 3tr (corner), 1ch into next space;  3dc. 1ch into next two spaces* 3 times;  3tr, 2ch, 3tr, 1 ch;   3dc join with ss into top of starting 3ch
Round Five:
3dc, 1ch into each sp;    3dc, 2ch, 3dc, 1ch into each corer, join with ss

Since I was using rescued yarn I made 64 Daisy Granny Squares in an assortment of colours. 

Colorful Daisy Granny Squares

1 row of granny clusters and a chain "joining" row in cream

The first set of joins

Four joined Daisy Grannies per block

I made sixteen of these, chain joining them on the last round of each completed square:.  I then crocheted two rows of granny clusters and 1 chain "joining" row around each block in denim blue

Second set of joins

Border of four rows of Granny Clusters in Denim

1 row of "blanket" edging in cream - final size 200cm x 200cm

 

I love it! 

Afghan Makeovers: Part 1

A bit embarrassed to see how long it is since I last posted.

This is not so much due to having nothing to post as it is to having been too busy.     Crazy year - I can't believe we are already a third of the way through May.

It is supposed to be late Autumn here and we have had a few coldish days - but it is mostly still lovely and sunny!

Doing a bit of Autumn cleaning  I came across two really ugly (even too ugly to donate) scrap afghans I made a few years back.  My elder daughter threw two of her "not too fantastic" projects into the mix and  I unpicked them, saving as much of the yarn as I could.    I also saved a lot of the squares from my daughter's one afghan and some of the prettier squares from one of my afghans.

Remade my squares into an afghan for my youngest's three quarter bed by crocheting around the rescued squares with two shades of grey from my stash.

Large Granny Squares

Squares crocheted together on wrong side with black yarn

Right side view of the join

This is the easiest way of joining squares - only problem is you are left with an obvious right and wrong side.

Granny Border

"Blanket Stitch" Edging

I finished with a couple of rows of granny clusters using a slightly smaller hook and edged it in black with a simple "blanket stitch".

While I was unpicking I was doing some blog hopping - found a lovely little daisy centre for a granny square on another blog and voila - inspiration for the rest of the recycled yarn!   Can't wait to get started.........

Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan: Blueberry Cheesecake

After the most horrid heatwave it finally rained (a lot!!) in Johannesburg - it was quite wonderful!   We decided to have a completely lazy weekend and do absolutely nothing (well absolutely nothing for me usually means finding something to keep my hands busy anyway!!)

My latest crochet obsession is the Diagonal Box Stitch.  I've been stewing on an idea for an afghan for a while and the rainy weather provided the perfect opportunity for me to get started (and finished) with this project.     Chose a bunch of blues whites and purples for my project (sort of reminded me of the Blueberry Cheesecake Swirl Ice Cream I just cannot get enough of!!)

I made four identical squares using the Diagonal Box Stitch and sewed them together for the center.   Then worked around them in single crochet.     Added an outer row of identical granny squares and finished with a border of single crochet, double crochet and then single crochet again.     Quite pleased with the result:

Nerve finally decided to "un-pinch" so I can actually sit comfortably again.    Time to get some papercrafting in!      Received an e-mail in December from Papercraft Essentials - they would feature an e-mail I had sent them (Christmas Cards made from a freebie in one of their previous issues)  on the letters page of Issue 89.    Received a lovely little gift in the mail from them.     So I have some inspiration to get me going ......   watch this space

Vintage Style Crochet Afghan

Now that the Holiday Season is well and truly over its time to get some work done!     Haven't been doing any papercraft or beadwork for a few weeks now - I have a pinched nerve which is causing me serious discomfort.     Have to sit with my legs on the same level as my hips otherwise I know all about it!!    Bit difficult to be doing any papercraft or beadwork that way - as I tend to move around quite a bit while making cards etc.

What to do????

Luckily I had cleaned out all my various craft stashes pre pinched nerve - so everything was nice and organised.     The only thing I could really do with having to sit quite still (something I manage with extreme difficulty) was to knit and crochet!

Made a vintage style crochet afghan for our Caravan!

Saw the idea for a vintage style throw on the cover of  one of those learn to crochet magazines - didn't have a pattern or anything with this one.   Just started out by making a bunch of random granny squares and then filling it out from there.

I tried to use colours I wouldn't normally use / mix together.   Think it is quite a happy looking afghan (and it is super snuggly)

Diagonal Box Stitch Gypsy Blanket

Well here it is - all done - my Diagonal Box Stitch Gypsy Blanket!!

Good use of the colourful scraps - don't quite think this one is travel size though - the end product is a bit big for that - 130cm x 130cm

Scrapbuster colours used for this project:    Denim, Daffodil, Aqua, Lilac, Turquoise, Dusty Rose, Maroon, Spearmint, White and Medium Grey.

I alternated the colours with a repeat stripe as follows:    random colour, Medium Grey,  random colour, White.     Had to top up the scraps with yarn from my stash -  about 100g of each of Medium Grey, White and Dusty Rose.

The Border is done in Dusty Rose - 3 rows of dc, 1 row of 3ch, picot, 2dc, skip 3dc, ss.

I added 3 simple flowers made from the teeny tiny leftovers, embellished with little wooden beads.

I do so love my new Blanket!