I posted a photo on Facebook of a corner to corner granny shawl I had made from yarn scraps. I had made two - one for my sister and one for me. My friend's daughter literally bought mine straight off my shoulders (a gift for one of her "artsy" university friends).
This happens to be the only photo I have of mine!
Anyway I had a lot of requests for the pattern - so here it is:
Yarn: 30% wool / 70 % Acrylic
Quantities: 200g brown, 200g cream, 60g each of 3 colours
Hook Size: 4.00 - 5.00 depending on your tension
Pattern Terms: US
Start with: 5ch
Row 1: Into 5th ch from hook - 3dc, 1ch, 1dc (first corner formed)
Begin Increasing:
Row 2: 4ch - turn; 3dc into 1ch sp; 3dc, 1ch, 1dc into corner space
Row 3: 4ch - turn; 3dc into 1ch sp, 3dc into space between clusters; 3dc, 1ch, 1dc into corner space
Repeat Row 3 until the shawl is as long and wide as you like it! (I did 110 rows)
You can find a little tutorial on the diagonal granny stripe HERE
Here is a photo of another one I made (looking very crumpled after being folded away for the summer):
I had some colours left over from my DIAGONAL GRANNY STRIPE INFINITY SCARF - a smallish amount of each colour - not really enough to make anything on their own. They were such pretty colours (and pretty decent yarn too) so I did not want them to end up in a scrap project.
Added some cream and brown acrylic / wool blend to the mix, planned out the stripes in my head and got hooking
The last five rows I changed the stripe repeat a bit and did a row of each colour, separated by a row of brown. I think it gave it quite a nice effect:
To edge I did a simple picot-style for the top and a fringe for the sides.
Starting off in a top corner work as follows:
2dc, 1 picot ( 3ch and then a ss into the top of the last dc), 2dc, 1 picot, 2dc;
2dc, 1 picot (4ch and then a ss into the 1st ch) into each space between clusters
Repeat until you reach the end of the top side
Into the corner do 2dc, 1 picot ( 3ch and then a ss into the top of the last dc), 2dc, 1 picot, 2dc;
Now the side fringe:
*Into the side of the first dc work 1dc, 40ch, ss into first ch, 1dc
Into the side of the next dc work 1dc, 20ch, ss into first ch, 1dc
Into the side of the next dc work 1dc, 10ch, ss into first ch, 1dc*
To have a fringe of 3 different lengths, just keep repeating from *to* until you are once again at the top. Then into the last sp 1dc 1 picot (3ch and then a ss into the top of the last dc)
SS into the top of the start dc.
And there you are!! Done!
Friends, this pattern was written in a big rush - I have not had chance to had it tested (so effectively you will be my testers). If you find any errors please leave me a comment and I will fix it!
Thanks for all the interest and lovely comments on Facebook. I hope you enjoy this pattern!
Happy Hooking!!
I had been planning to make my niece a "groovyghan" for Christmas. Luckily I remembered that eleven year olds are VERY particular little people, and decided that I should rather discuss the project with her before plunging in.
A good thing too!
She wanted stripes - no blocks. Very particular stripes in fact - "they must not be fat, also not dizzy stripes" (thin stripes). No frills or flowers. I had also planned to make it for her bed - she wanted a square blanket to snuggle under while watching DVD's. Alrighty then! - as I said - good thing I asked!
We added a couple of colours to those I had already selected and I got started on the project HERE early in October.
I used the Diagonal Granny Stripe - a firm favourite of mine. You can find a how to in my Diagonal Granny Stripe Infinity Scarf post
This Diagonal Granny Stripe had to be square - this means to you keep on increasing on both sides until the outer edges of the triangle measure the length and width you wish your finished project to be. Then decrease on both sides until your last cluster.
I used candy pink, fuschia, peach, red, lemon, lime, mint, jade, aqua,
turquoise, blue, denim, lilac and purple for my colour stripes:
On the increase half I used white to separate the colour bands. A few rows before I started decreasing I introduced grey between the colour bands.
Once I started decreasing I began using grey as the separator colour and phased out the white over the first few rows.
For the border I did a double row of shells:
I crocheted a two tone border - white on the white diagonal (2 sides) and grey on the grey diagonal (2 sides):
We had fantastic weather on Friday. Hot as ...., but beautiful clear blue skies. Perfect weather for a bit of photo fun.
Bundled the blankie onto one of our shaded walkways:
Posed it on the stairs leading up to my rose garden:
Rolled up under the Lapa's thatch:
Hanging it from the beams:
Folding it in different ways:
Posing it here and there:
By then I was rather hot and bothered. Took a lovely swim and poured myself some homemade ginger beer with lots of ice and lemon slices. Sat myself down poolside to contemplate my Christmas List (one down - way to many to go!!)
Didn't get much done yesterday - "meltingly" hot again = hanging out with hubby and my youngest (who turned 21 recently!!!) - swimming, sipping iced tea and ginger beer, nibbling on finger food, and watching movies in the lovely cool family room (until four in the morning!). Such a relaxing, perfect day!
Going to make brunch in a few minutes and after that I suppose I should go back to contemplating that Christmas List!
I used to love long floaty winter scarves (even better if they had super long full tassles)! Only problem with this type of scarf is the possibility of serious bodily injury - as they always seem to get caught on and in everything.
My new winter favourite is the Infinity Scarf (lovely and warm, fairly loose around the neck and so out of the way!
The Diagonal Granny Stripe is also a big favourite of mine - I just HAD to use it to make an infinity scarf:
Here is my pattern in case you would like to make one (I have tried to make it as accurate as possible - I am only human though - so please leave me a comment if you find an error)!
Start with: 5ch
Row 1: Into 5th ch from hook - 3dc, 1ch, 1dc (first corner formed)
Begin Increasing:
Row 2: 4ch - turn; 3dc into 1ch sp; 3dc, 1ch, 1dc into corner space
Row 3: 4ch - turn; 3dc into 1ch sp, 3dc into space between clusters; 3dc, 1ch, 1dc into corner space
Repeat Row 3 13 times (16 rows in total)
In order to form a long rectangular strip you will now continue to increase on the one side of your work, while decreasing on the other:
Row 17: 4ch turn; 3dc into next sp between clusters (decrease = 2nd corner formed), 3dc into each subsequent sp, into last sp on row work 3dc, 1ch, 1dc (increase)
Row 18: 4ch turn; 3dc into 1ch sp (increase); 3dc into each subsequent sp up to 2nd last sp; 1ch, 1dc into last sp
Repeat rows 17 and 18 until you have a total of 130 rows
At this point you will continue to decrease on the one side as you have been doing and you will begin decreasing on the side where you were previously increasing:
Row 131: 4ch turn; 3dc into next sp between clusters (decrease), 3dc into each subsequent sp up to 2nd last sp; 1ch, 1dc into last sp (decrease - 3rd corner formed)
Repeat until second last row = 1sp, 1 cluster, 1 sp
Final Row: 4ch turn 1dc into sp at end of row.
Fasten off
Fold in half and join the bottom and top seams:
I gathered my seam slightly (I find it sits better at the back of the neck) - but this is up to you.
Yarn used: Stylecraft Life - Fuschia, Melon, Clover (four rows of each in that order)
Hook used: 5.00mm (my tension is a bit on the tight side though).
Fun to make - lovely to wear!
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!
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
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
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!
