It's Crochet, Knit & Natter 9: So Many Projects, So Little Time. (Oh well - I almost made it rhyme!)

[Fairislefandango]

A thread for woolly crafters of all types and levels.
Previous thread here

He’s coming along well @CrochetBug with very neat stitches!

I acquired a few old knitting magazines and being gung-ho as usual, I ploughed in with my yarn and made a few jumpers, the latest of which is not as straightforward as it looked. After tinking a few rows (previously frogged about 10 rows) I shall stomp off to the kitchen for a cup of tea - maybe something stronger. I am determined to get it right. Beautiful things on here - I might be brave enough to post a photo one day.

That's looking fantastic, @CrochetBug ! So neat too!
I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself today. I was knackered and frazzled by the end of the school week, and then this afternoon I finally had the back molar pulled out which I cracked two weeks ago. Better out than in, but it wasn't fun and the local anaesthetic is wearing off now...

Plus dd is having a bit of a crisis about her university application and my mum's memory seems to be deteriorating alarmingly quickly . Still... at least I've got knitting club to look forward to on Friday

I really love your username @BucketofTeaMassiveCake I love looking at old magazines but I’ve never been brave enough to knit anything. Ah, go on, post some photos, you can’t tease us and then leave us hanging

He’s looking great @CrochetBug! DS has those pipe cleans for crafts, I tidied up his room earlier and found about a hundred of them and now with your photo I feel like they’re haunting me Sorry to hear you had flu, I hope you’re feeling better soon.

I’m so sorry to hear that @Fairislefandango I think you’re more than justified in feeling a bit sorry for yourself

That’s looking great @CrochetBug

@Fairislefandango sorry to hear that. I came across this sensory blanket the other day. Lots of texture in the stitches and maybe something that could help your mum? I think it would work well as a scrap blanket but if not, that an excuse to call at the yarn shop when you’re at work!

That blanket looks great, @InTheNightWeWillWish - thanks for the suggestion!

This is where I'm up to with my sleeve scarf wrap thingy. It's taking forever as I'm not getting much knitting time atm! But I'm still absolutely loving the Drops Sky. The light makes it look a bit beigey, but it's actually a light pearly grey. I've got two more inches before I change from 4mm to 6mm needles, do a bunch of increases and start to knit flat for the scarf part.

I'll try to post the work in progress, obviously it needs assembling and the neckline tidying up. The shoulder was a bit of a nightmare trying to keep the pattern correct while shaping so in the end I gave up to save my sanity. I'd already frogged and tinked it. In the magazine the model has a curl of hair artfully concealing that part.

Oh that’s lovely @BucketofTeaMassiveCake ! That’s a really sneaky stylist or photographer, how annoying for you, but the end result is beautiful work!

I really like drops sky @Fairislefandango your sleeve looks really soft and cosy!

It’s definitely jumper weather here all of a sudden. I’ve been trying to clear a bobbin for tomorrow night because we’re learning about spinning art yarns at the guild meeting so I’m really looking forward to that.

That looks lovely @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound . Looking forward to some pics of your at yarn!

Fabulous knittIng and yarn! I love the pattern @BucketofTeaMassiveCake.

After saying I didn’t need any more cutesy things in my house I was struck by the urge to crochet a pumpkin with some spare orange yarn. I’m going to make two smaller ones to go with it as the pattern is nice and repetitive.

Morning, All! I am so, so, so cross with crochet today. I had (yet another) attempt to attach my bag handle last night. And OF COURSE to bloody ridge is still there. I know everyone keeps saying to just slip stitch it on, but I really, really want to crack it. On the positive side, I think know why I have a ridge now - the pattern says to slip stich to the bag body, then dc to the handle, but after I finish the slip stitch, my yarn is on the wrong side. It's bringing it back over again that's creating the ridge. So I just need work out why that is happening (and I am fairly confident that the answer is 'I'm doing my slip stitch wrong', which is another reason I am cross - of all the stupid things to get wrong!). Another positive is that at least after last night's attempt, it looks a lot neater and is in the right place now, probably because I thought to put stitch markers in where the handle should be before I took it back. Although that, of course, will make it all the more annoying to take it back (again).

Eventually, after much swearing, I gave up, set it aside, and in an attempt to get my crojo back, instead picked up the striped mug cosy I want to do. Unfortunately I then spent the next hour alternately chaining 35, messing up the join/initial htc stitches, swearing some more and unravelling the whole thing, before finally giving up and watching the accompanying video. I think I can see where I was going wrong now (and also on the bag handle - this is where I got my clue!), but by then I was too tired to try again. I think tiredness generally was a big part of the problem tbh.

But today is a new day! And I am honestly so inspired by all the gorgeous photos above, of @Fairislefandango 's Drops Sky sleeve scarf, of @BucketofTeaMassiveCake 's gorgeous cardigan, of @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound 's yarn (which is so very much the sort of thing I want for my poncho, eventually), and @StillNiceCardigan 's very seasonal pumpkin. It really has picked me up and made me want to crack it so very much, so thank you all.

The scarf sleeve is looking lovely @Fairislefandango and the pumpkin is very cute @StillNiceCardigan

Well done for persevering @QuantumWeatherButterfly I’d have given up now and just decided it was a flat bucket or a large clutch bag by now! Try doing your strap unattached to the bag, then attach either with a slip slip or by sewing.

I have turned the house upside down. I’ve (half) sorted the yarn cupboard. I’ve cleaned the car. I still can’t find my bloody pink yarn. I’m going to have to buy some more over the weekend and I know the minute I buy another ball, it’ll turn up and it’ll have been on the corner of the TV stand or somewhere equally obvious (I’ve dusted the whole TV stand so it’s definitely not there at the moment).

I thought crochet was supposed to be relaxing @QuantumWeatherButterfly ! I think I would have abandoned any attempts to attach the handle by now as aI don’t have a lot of patience.

Haha - I’m just too stubborn for my own good. But don’t tell DH I admitted that😂

I’m still at basic level crochet @QuantumWeatherButterfly so this is possibly a rubbish suggestion but would the seam be on the right side if you turned your work round 180* and then did it? I’m impressed by your perseverance!

Have you looked very hard at your DD @InTheNightWeWillWish and then checked all your shoes? Mine liked to hide things in my boots

Nice pumpkin @StillNiceCardigan!

I’ve no photos of it yet @Fairislefandango , but we spun as thick as we could and then as thin as we could and plied them together, sort of wrapping the thick around the thin but not core plying it! I need practice!

@SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound it’s not just DD that likes my yarn, the labrador is guilty too! I’ve checked both their usual hidey holes for ‘treasure’ and still can’t find it, including shoes.

Ooh, plausible deniability by both then @InTheNightWeWillWish

I’ve cleared off my bobbins and I’m so chuffed with my wool, I love the colours. I’m thinking of using it as a changing contrast colour in something, maybe a yoked sweater.

Ooh that's gorgeous @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound ! Beautiful autumnal colours.

Knit/crochet club didn't entirely go as planned today. I took in a massive bag of odds and ends of yarn, plus all my (gazillions of) knitting needles and all my (not very many) crochet hooks.

17 students came, of whom 12 were total beginners needing equipment. All but 2 wanted to do crochet rather than knitting. The room was partly occupied by noisy 6th formers. Still... my few experienced crocheters helped teach the newbies. Everyone managed a chain eventually, and we'll find a quieter room for next time! Oof!

@QuantumWeatherButterfly - so impressed with your determination! I'm always giving up on projects when they don't go quite right or I get bored with them!

That looks fabulous @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound !

I’m impressed that everyone managed a chain @Fairislefandango when I did my beginner’s crochet course one lady took six weeks before she could manage one - I marvelled at the teacher’s patience!

I’m off to the knitting and sewing show at Alexandra Palace tomorrow with DD2. She does a lot of sewing so we are both very excited. DH is already muttering about how much I’m going to spend.

A crochet baptism of fire @Fairislefandango it sounds like it went well though, I wonder if they’ll starting accumulating their own needles and yarn soon?

Thanks! I think it might be my favourite thing I’ve ever spun. It’s Shetland and it’s so woolly and sheepy smelling too. I blitzed the house today and nearly met my step goal without going outside so I just have to fold and put away the laundry tomorrow morning and then I can play with art yarns

Oh that’ll be fun @StillNiceCardigan! if you can get any pics of yarn stalls for the thread so we can live vicariously though you that would be nice 😂Enjoy!

I’ll take some photos @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound We are planning on being there when the doors open so there should be plenty of opportunity to enjoy it all.

Am looking for a bit of advice as a novice crocheter...
My first project is a chevron style Blanket using UK double stitch.
As it's such a simple pattern & easy stitch, is there any way I can do two rows at the same time?
I've seen this in online videos but it's using UK treble stitch.

And yes, maybe doing a basic granny squares blanket might have been less work in hindsight...

Oh, I went to that show years ago with my mum, @StillNiceCardigan - it was fun even then when I wasn't a crafter myself, I'd love to go again now. Hope you have a lovely time.

That yarn is absolutely stunning, @SpinMeRightRoundBabyRightRound - you're right to be proud of it xx

@MenopauseSucks you can work two rows at a time but it’s usually when you about to join a second colour or the second ball of the first colour you’re working with and when you are working with the project facing the same way all the time. It wouldn’t matter which stitch. A good example of when you can work two rows would be on a border but you would need stitch markers to make sure lots of work doesn’t unravel.

The issue with most crochet is that you work to the end of the row, turn and work back. Some stitches look different from the front and the back, so you need to be careful. The front and back of the UK double crochet is very similar front and back so it shouldn’t make your blanket look different. What you will need to be careful of is that you’re reading the row above it in reverse. Hopefully for something like a chevron blanket it won’t matter as there will be the same number of stitches before you reach a chevron, the issue could be the row starts on the up on a chevron and ends on the down - the pattern will be written for that but you would be starting at the down end and would need to modify what you were doing. If you’re confident with the pattern and can recognise the stitches you do for the up part and down part of the chevrons then you can have a go. You would also need to work two rows and come back to the same end you were working before to start your next rows. The advantage of crochet is that you can always undo it, put stitch markers where you have followed the pattern and then if you don’t like working in two rows or you can’t get the pattern right drink there then you undo it to there.

If you are working with the same colour, I wouldn’t do it, unless you are on your last row with that ball. You’ll have to get another ball or try to cut your yarn where you think it’ll run out. Working single rows of the same colour will lead to a lot more ends to be sewn in - and there will already be a lot of ends with a chevron blanket anyway. For most people sewing ends in is the worst. If the blanket is too repetitive for you, either try a smaller project or turn it into a scarf and then try a stitch sampler blanket - most crochet alongside have a variety of different stitches and there are a number of free ones online. I’m just in the middle of the sirdar Day Tripper but oh this thread we did the Spicier Life one.

Here's my photos from the very very busy knitting and sewing show.