Team Hooker - Welcome to the Hotel Crochetfornia

[SoupDragon]

You can check in but you can never leave...

[craftynclothy]

Pidj, that would be lying and how I justified last month's purchase

[craftynclothy]

SDTG I did a hexagon blanket (Ravelry project is here if you want to see it). It doesn't have straight edges though but has a border following the shape of the hexagons. The instructions for the border are pretty well explained in the original pattern (there's a link to it from my project page)

[Tobermory]

Hello all you hookers
I'm a fairly newbie crocheter and have a question for an expert or two...

Am having a go at a blanket, [http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/summer-garden-granny-square.html?cid=6a00e551101c5488340168ea334ead970c this one]
I have done my first round, several attempts later! So how do I 'finish off' in order to change colour?

Wanted to finish a square tonight!

[PurplePidjin]

Tobermory:

Work the last stitch as usual except you bring through the last loop using the new colour. You then knot the new pesky end to the old colour, which is cut off - leave a few inches of each for sewing in.

Woolfey, i find a lot of ravelry stuff quite twee so i tend to look at the basic shape and adapt the colours iyswim?

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Can I too pick your brains, Purple? I am currently crocheting hexagonal blocks, that will eventually be patchworked together into a mini-hug for Yorkhill, and I would really like to crochet the blocks together in the same way that the big Hugs are put together, but have absolutely NO idea how to do this.

Do you know where I can find the instructions (or, even better, an instructional video) for how to do this?

Many thanks, O Crochet Guru!

[PurplePidjin]

crochet.about.com/od/Sewing-Techniques/tp/how-tos-for-joining-granny-squares-and-crochet-motifs.htm

I don't really use youtube for crochet so can only recommend searching "joining crochet hexagon" and watching till you find one that suits :)

[Tobermory]

Thanks purple.

Finished my first square and it looks fab!

How many Squares to make a blanket? A scarily large number I think! Hopefully I'll speed up.

[PurplePidjin]

Depends how big you want your blanket. MrsY's is 7'x5' (140 squares) and verging on unwieldy. 3'x5' (60 squares) would be nice for a single bed :)

[PurplePidjin]

That's providing you're making 6" squares, of course...

[Tobermory]

I measured my first 2 squares.
4"

So I reckon I need for your 3'x5 I need 135.

Only 133 to go then.

I have a feeling my first blanket might be a little smaller than that!

[SoupDragon]

You need to lear the "join as you go" method or you'll have to hook all those squares together at the end!

[PurplePidjin]

There's a join as you go tutorial in the link i put above :)

[Seabright]

Anyone read "Crochet Today" magazine? If so, what do you think? Am in France at the mo and thinking of getting an iPad edition.

Am new and enthusiastic, so hoping it will have lots of easy patterns and crochet news/gossip

[PurplePidjin]

Try //www.ravelry.com before you spend any money, Seabright. Just make sure you've got nothing arranged for the following few weeks hours before you go in :o

[Daisybell1]

The little madam gave us 2 hours piece this morning so I spurned OH's advances and cracked on with my crochet. Hippo is finished and have about 2/3 of miffy done too

I have a specific crochet question but with start a new thread.

Byee!

[AnitaManeater]

Seabright It is quite a good magazine but I think it's very expensive for what it is. The newsagent up the road stocks it and I always look at the last page in the magazine as that lists all the pattern inside, then I decide if I actually want to part with my cash or not. I too recommend Ravelry! Join some groups and have a look round all the free patterns :)

[Seabright]

Thanks! There's a free copy available to download to ipad, which I got last night. Most of the patterns are too hard for me at the moment (mainly intermeadiate, not easy), but it's quite interesting and the yarn-substitution chart was useful for me, as a newbie.

You are right about ravelry - a wonderful, wonderful waste of time! It also makes it easy to find designs by my current fave designer Sucrette (aka LeMondeDuSucrette)

I'll start another post about the free issue of the mag, I think. Everyone likes a freebie, right?

[PurplePidjin]

Feel free to post questions if you need stuff clarified. Lots of people find youtube good for showing them how to do stitches, or you can chance one of my garbled explanations...

[SoupDragon]

Look at this! I have to make this blanket! :o

[PurpleFrog]

SoupDragon - that is fantastic - although I might worry about putting small buttons on a baby blanket.

I have even found a British stockist for the yarn although that exact variegated shade is out of stock!

[SoupDragon]

I agree completely about the buttons - I'd embroider those bits.

[SoupDragon]

I'd not got as far as the yarn - I just assumed I'd sub it for Stylecraft and generally wing it!

I may even have to fork out for the pattern to show good will.

[PurpleFrog]

Hmm I don't know about substituting Stylecraft. I think a lot of its charm is in the colour-changing yarn - it makes it look a lot more complicated than it is.

[PurpleFrog]

Actually - I've just had a look at her Etsy shop - there is an owl Tote bag as well! That doesn't use colour changing yarn and you can see the owls in more detail in the pictures.