Team Hooker - One pointy thing is better than two

[SoupDragon]

Quiche-tastic.

Welcome Jolly - you'll have to change your name to JollyCrochetHook!

I've just finished a blanket here

It was done in a 4ply bamboo mix and it was hideous to work with!

Having just done some MN blanket squares in Sublime and Debbie Bliss I shall be making sure I have lovely yarn for it. What a difference it makes working with nice yarn

pantryboy I love your projects, that blanket is gorgeous :) I am in awe of how well you do and the ideas you have wish I could be as food as you

Wow pantryboy, that is absolutely beautiful.

Thank you, my stuff is really simple. I am in awe of people who can actually make clothes and follow complicated patterns.

I'm thinking about making a couple of blankets as Christmas presents for friends but I'm not sure if they would be pleased to receive them. So far I've only made them for people who are having babies.

I think that's a lovely idea Pantryboy, a really thoughtful present, I think something that takes time and effort and is personal is the best kind of present!

That's gorgeous, Pantryboy, but 4ply really is a pointless waste of time fof all but the terminally bored!

After frogging the legs 6 times I'm finally happy with the dungas. I'll post some pics tomorrow when I've done the finishing if you want to see? I must write the pattern down before i forget it, I'm hopeless at sticking to them and usually decide I Know Best

I'm the opposite, don't have the patience for big stuff like blankets. Baby clothes are the limit of my tolerance :o

That blanket is beautiful

I've started on the Xmas presents this week! I'm making a granny stripe blanket for my aunty. She loves teals and those sorts of colours so I'm hoping the colours I've chosen are ok, I certainly like them! www.ravelry.com/projects/craftynclothy/granny-stripes-2

I have finally finished my crochet blanket! And a couple of blanket squares as well. I'm so pleased with how it came out, it's this Gran's Garden blanket and there's a picture on my profile!

I think I might be a hooking addict :)

Pic on profile of latest completed project. My entry for the Toy section in the Village Flower Show, if I come first i win a whole pound

Lovely blanket Dharma.

Craftynclothy, I love that pattern.

Pidj, what a cute rabbit. iI you win don't spend all the winnings at once!

Dharma, that blanket is lovely, I'm thinking of starting one for DM's christmas present when my squares are finished, not sure I'd manage anything so lovely as yours though.

Pidj that bunny is adorable.

Lovely stuff, Hookers :)

PIdj - you win a whole £1 plus bragging rights.

Hi there... another crochet fan here! Would love to join in as I know Noooobody IRL who can do anything remotely crafty, let alone crochet!!

Currently in the middle of a pure white ripple for a friend's new baby. Haven't rippled before but having seen the ripples on here it totally got me started, I love it!

Not sure what to do when it comes to joining the new ball of wool though? I get that I need to tie the two ends together but then do you crochet the old end with the new until it runs out?? I saw Attic24 mention cutting off some ends, so do some hookers leave the ends out totally? I have seen mention of sewing in ends but don't know what that means!

I love the pics of what you have all made!

Work the stitch until you have the last 2 loops on the hook (3 for htr's) then instead of yo, draw up a loop of the new yarn. Finish the st, leave the hook in the loop, and knot the new pesky end to the old yarn. Cut the old yarn off and lay both pesky ends on top of your work so you can crochet round them :)

I have done it like PurplePidjin says. I tend to do it just slightly differently. I also wait until there's two loops left on my hook in the final stage of a stitch, do the yarn over with the yarn from the new ball and pull through. Then I do a few more stitches. I then stop, cut the old yarn leaving a tail of a few inches and knot the two ends together. I sew it in afterwards (which basically means thread them onto a needle and weave them in along the stitches).

I find if I tie the ends without doing a few more stitches I tend to pull it funny and I can see my join more as it ends up a bit uneven.

I generally join at the end of a row, so the join doesn't notice!

Oh, thanks! Great ideas!

Just started a stripe blanket as an alternative to the white ripple, as I wanted to look at something colourful for a change.

However I stuffed up on the first dc into the chain, I was distracted having done trebles for the ripple, and ended up doing the first 30 stiches as an odd treble/double hybrid .

When I realised, I thought it didn't look so bad and carried on to the end. So far so good. However, the following correct dc stitch on the new rows is looser than my invented stitch... so the piece curls dramatically and no amount of stretching can get it straight. After four rows ("only" 130 stitches per row!) I have admitted defeat and chucked it in the bin. Can't bear to unravel it. Just as well it wasn't expensive yarn.

Do you mean you've done some dc and some tr and have uneven stitch heights, or that you've done htr and your tension's a bit off?

Some gorgeous work being posted on here!

I'm just trying to decide what to do as my first 'project'. My wonderful mother has just given me a bag full of random coloured balls of yarn so I have lots to work with.

I'm torn between doing a blanket or something more fiddly.

PurplePidjin: No, what I did was, I put the hook through, yarn over, pulled through, y.o. again (so far so good) but then I only pulled through only one of the stitches. Then y.o. again and pulled through the second stitch to finish.

Obviously I should have pulled through both stitches instead of one then y.o. then the other seperately, but because I had been trippling for the rippling(!) for so long, I had that "wrap over twice" sensation before I realised what I was doing. The effect was fine, just like a snug dc really, but as soon as I started the real dc on row 2 I could feel straightaway it was a slacker stitch than the one I had, ahem, made up.

Ah well, live and learn... that's an hour of my life I won't get back but it's all a learning experience hey!

Hey ladies a fellow one hooker here. Mainly make blankets in various forms of granny squares, but trying to branch out. I have some pics on my profile of a couple of blankets I have done in the past.

I was taught to crochet by my mum, who was taught by a lady from Malta, we both hold our hooks an unconventional way. My mum is a great crochet and makes up her own patterns.

Lovely stuff everyone :)

This week I have finished two baby blankets (one ripple, one granny stripe) and an apple keyring - all teacher's gifts. I made an this apple cozy that looks like an apple (just because I had the red yarn out!). I just need to add the stalk and a leaf to mine.

I am now going to embark on my Hug squares which I plan to do on the plane as I jet off to sunnier climes tomorrow :)

Has anyone tried making a shell stitch square? Is it easy? I've read through the instructions and it sounds relatively straight forward but it's for one of my hug squares and I don't want to mess up.

Wolfcub, that sounds great. If you work the first and last two rows as dc in each stitch to stabilise the pattern, it'll work fine :)

Pidj, sorry being thick, do you mean if I do two plain rows before breaking into the pattern and then two plain rows at the end? I assume this is to make it easier to join to other squares. Or have I got that completely arse-about-face?