Turning Quilts into Crochet Afghans

Lately I have been inspired to take a quilt pattern and make it as blanket with crochet. My inspiration comes from some of the quilts I have seen and pinned on Pinterest. Ah yes, Pinterest - a time waster but very inspiring.

The first one I made introduced me to two colour traditional Granny Squares. You can find a great tutorial video on how to make these at the Crochet Crowd http://thecrochetcrowd.com/two-toned-granny-square/ 

The last row of the border I also found on Pinterest which linked me to a blog called Bunny Mummy. 

This is Bunny Mummy's Double V Edging. I think it gives a finish to the edge without being distracting from the border itself or just abrutly finishing on the last row of three clusters.

The next quilt idea I crocheted is this one. However, I chose to do just six hearts. Which turned out to be a nice size for a single bed. 

This blanket also turned out to be excellent for using up little bits of left over yarn.

Yellow...

Green...

Pink...

Red...

Purple...

and Blue.

I am now searching for more ideas to turn the good old Granny Square into interesting patterns and blankets from quilting, cross stitch and Hamma Bead patterns.

Crochet Art

I had a couple of large blank walls in my bedroom that really needed some art. Something that I could look at whilst lying in bed on a lazy weekend morning. So, what if I was to crochet some mandalas and mount them onto canvases? That could work.

I had borrowed this gorgeous book from the library and found some ideal mandalas for my project in it. Perfect size and I could adapt my colour combos to them.

I made five mandalas and chose three to go on the wall together.

I painted the canvases then layed out the crochet, carefully centreing each one. They are attached to the canvases with matching sewing thread. 

Then onto the wall.

I'm so pleased with how they turned out that I'm going to attempt a much bigger one for the lounge. I've picked the colours and I'm looking forward to starting it.

Amineko -The Crochet Cat

Wondering what to do ???

Getting bored.

Showing off!!!

I'm so cool.

It's a hard life being a cat.

My friend.

This cat is so cute, poseable and can be made in a day. They are lots of fun and I think I will make some more and maybe experiment with stripes, thickness of yarn which will change the finished size, design some clothing and play around with the facial expressions. Should be fun!

Finally Finished

Yes, the blanket from the last post in January (where has the time gone?) is finally finished. I had a chuckle to myself when I re-read what I had said about the size,  probably only lap size. Well, it grew into something much bigger. 61 1/2" or 156cm. Big enough to sit nicely on a queen size bed. 

Now you may be wondering why this project has taken so long to complete. That would be because I had it nearly finished and then I pulled most of it apart and re-did it. Yep, you could say I'm mad but I was not at all happy with it. It was all squewed and pulled in different directions that no amount of stretching was ever going to sort out so it all came undone, down to the big centre block of squares and I started again. Starting again also gave me a chance to rearrange the colour sequence of the rows around the centre and I'm much happier with how it goes now.

Take a look.

                                   

                                   

For now it has been folded and put away for someday but if anyone is interested in having this big snuggly blanket it is available for purchase.

Crochet Blanket

Here I am making a new crochet blanket. Not the one I had in mind when I posted last but one that was started late last year then I think Christmas present making got in the way and it got put to one side. I found the four squares I had made previously and decided to build on them. 

One problem though - I didn't jot down what size hook I used so the next square I made was bigger than the original. Well, I thought, I can go about this two ways. Rip down the square just made or forget these four and stick with the new size. Hmmmm, stick with the new size and put these aside. Lesson learned? Yes! Take note of hook size and other important information like pattern design and source when beginning a new project. A timely post by Wink http://winkieflash.nl/2013/12/31/2013-wish-list-results/ reminded me to make some project cards that I can record all the important details on. 

So as you can see I am using the Willow block from Jan Eaton's book, 200 Crochet Blocks. Fantastic book with lots of inspiration for blanket making.

Sharron at Annie's Place shows us how to square up the main part of the block so it becomes more solid and less holey, if you get what I mean http://hookandbake.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/solid-willow-crochet-block-how-to.html

Original holey block,

new solid block.

Anyway, I made 16 blocks and thought "do I really want to make lots and lots of the same block and then join them all? No!" So I made 16, 

joined them together, then a small row of white dividing the big square from the following rows of each colour combination, light then dark.

I'm loving the colours. They are so fresh and summery. I have been thinking it would have been nice made in cotton but it is difficult to get the colour range so in acrylic it will remain. I am so enjoying this blanket that even though there is a quilt or two sitting in my head I can't wait for the chores to be done each day so that I have spare time to sit and crochet. It's not finished yet and I have no idea how big it will turn out but probably only big enough for your lap. Check back again soon to see it finished.

New Year, New Bag

On Boxing Day I was wondering what I should crochet next. I had no project on the go as the Christmas deadline had been met, posted and received in time. After two weeks prior to Christmas of working and Christmas preparations, I finally had time to think of myself and have a well deserved sit down. But what to make??? A new blanket? Maybe, but really we have enough (there is one I'd like to make but I need to sort out more colours for it).  Maybe try out a new technique? Yeah I could do that I suppose, but no. Hmmmm... Got it! I need a new bag! My current one is filthy. Yes know, I could give it a wash but I'm ready for a change anyway. I know what style I'd like so now to find the colours. These two could work.

I had a look through my Bags & Jewellery pattern folder and found a pattern from Red Heart. It is a satchel style made in ripples. Perfect! I didn't follow the pattern exactly, in fact hardly at all. I increased the number of ripples across to nine instead of seven as I wanted it to be able to fit my iPad in it occasionally and used the instructions for the first couple of rows until the method was stuck in my head. Then I casted the pattern aside and made the rest up as I went along. I put a gusset down both sides and a made a flower for the flap (I love crocheting flowers). One strap later, long enough to put over my head so it's diagonal across my body and it's done.

TA-DAH!!!

Then to empty the old one...

...and throw the rubbish collected in it away.

This is the fourth bag I have made and will use daily. It will replace this one which needs a good wash.

That one replaced this,

which replaced this one.

Now that that's made I'll have to think of something else to make. Any suggestions?

Blanket for a New Baby

Six months ago my Mother-in-Law (who I shall refer to as Granny which is what the other grandchildren called her) passed away. Her daughter was at the time, three months pregnant and so Grandmother and Grandchild were to never meet.

Granny was a spinner and weaver and when she and Pops had their little farm she would spin, dye, knit and weave the wool from their sheep. Like any crafter she had a stash; a stash of yarn. After her death I was allowed to take four big boxes of yarn home. There are all sorts in those boxes. Two of the boxes hold woolen yarn on cones which I understand was from carpet manufacturers. The other two boxes had store bought yarn, wool that Granny had bought from other spinners and the best of all, wool that she had spun herself.

As soon as I learnt that my sister-in-law was pregnant I knew I had to crochet something for the baby with her Granny's wool. I had three colours to play with but chose the off-white and the teal. The brown would be ok for a boy but as I didn't know if baby was a girl or a boy I figured the teal and off-white would be safe.

I decided to make a blanket. The hardest part was choosing the design. I decided that squares would be the way to go as I could then control the width and length depending on how many squares the wool was going give me. I consulted my trusty book, 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton.

 After much page turning I settled on one block, number 86 Sunray.

I made 15 of each colour then slip-stitched them together. Not a bad size for a baby, it would fit in the cot and on a big bed later as a throw. I can't remember which book I eventually chose the border from but here it is all finished.

Not all of the off-white was from the same batch. There is some slight colour variation and some are fluffier than other squares. I also had to keep an eye on the yarn thickness.

Yesterday we all went to Auckland for the childrens orthodontic appointments. We were also able to fit in a visit to the newest member of our extended family. That's right, a beautiful baby girl was born a week and a half ago at home which was not planned. She was a week early and in a great hurry to meet us all. She is so tiny. It's hard to believe that my three were once that small. Here she is being held by my big girl.

                                      

The gift was received by my sister-in-law with tears (which started me off) when I told her the blanket was made with her mum's wool. A gift greatly appreciated and Baby will be wrapped in love.

I also had to make a little toy to go with it, of course I did.

                                      

Same colours too and just the right size for a baby.