PATTERN: Queen Bargello Wave Bedspread AND Bargello Blocks Throw!

Hi everyone! 

Obligatory acknowledgement here that I've been terrible at blogging consistently again, along with vague intention to do better in the future... 

This year has just been bananas for everyone! Hot tip: International Student Exchange and Regional Human Resources Consulting are NOT relaxing industries to work in during a global pandemic, 0/10 do not recommend. The jobs themselves are fascinating and interesting, but after the constant tsunamis of feelings coming at me for months on end, the idea of doing anything constructive other than staring at the wall has been too much to contemplate.

However, I have made progress on my goal of getting written/designed patterns actually up there and published this year, and today is one of those red letter days!

In August, I finally published (to no announcement and fanfare) my Impossible Hexagon Sweater and Cardigan patterns, which I'll blog about another day (but here are the links to the patterns if you want to have a look:

Impossible Hexagon Sweater

Impossible Hexagon Cardigan)

But, to today's news!

After the success of our Bargello Wave Baby Blanket, we decided to try and figure out how to make a bigger version that didn't lean even harder to the right, and by goodness we cracked it! Today I can share with you not one, but TWO larger bargello blanket patterns! Both of these test beauties were made by my partner in crochet crime Anne, and I'm sure you'll agree she's done an outstanding job.

BARGELLO BLOCKS THROW

Pattern Link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bargello-blocks-throw 

This design is worked corner to corner using a unique block method, along with the classic bargello style of maintaining the same block height whilst changing the width of each column of blocks. This is what creates the wave effect! Anne took her test blanket to the beach and my jaw literally dropped when the photos came in.

QUEEN BARGELLO WAVE BEDSPREAD

Pattern Link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/queen-bargello-wave-bedspread

The bedspread is a massive 210cm square (unblocked) to fit your queen size bed, and is made with larger blocks and two strands of yarn held together. 

If you love both of these patterns, for the next two weeks 

(until Saturday 21 November), 

put both patterns in your Ravelry cart and use the code

UNDULATE

to get a discount! 

Tutorial: Fold A Star Blanket

Hello hello!

A couple of weeks ago, I finished a star blanket for a newborn baby girl for good friends of ours and complained to my husband that I never know how to fold these blankets. They always look oddly shaped when folded, are impossible to gift wrap, and so on. Well, my husband took one look at the blanket and was like "uh, yes, of course, you could fold it", took the blanket andddd folded it perfectly. Right. I was baffled and posted a picture on Instagram. It looks like I am not the only one struggling with folding star blankets, and I was asked to ask my husband to show the world how he folds star blankets...

So, I present the "fold your star blanket tutorial" :). The pattern I used for the blanket is from Celeste Young and the yarn is Life DK and Life Changes DK from Stylecraft. 

I would love to see your folded blankets! Can you tag us on instagram or use the hashtag #crochetbetweenworlds? That would be awesome!!

If something is unclear, please let me know, and I will try to describe it in other words. 

Take care, 

Anne

Tutorial: Fold A Star Blanket

Step 1

Lay it out with the wrong side facing up.

Step 2

Fold in the first side. I use the corners (the dips) as guidelines. With larger blankets, you might to fold it over a bit further though. 

Step 3

Fold in the second side. If your blanket is bigger than mine, the sides will overlap more and you might need to fold the side in a bit further.

Step 4

Fold in the upper half. If your blanket is bigger, you might need to fold it in a bit further.

Step 5

Fold in the lower half. If your blanket is bigger, you might need to fold it in a bit further.

Step 6

Fold the lower half in again to the middle and turn it over! :)

The Video

It might sound more complicated than it actually is. In fact, it is super easy... So, we made a short video - it doesn't have the highest quality (we filmed it in the middle of our move and were rather short on time) but I hope you get the idea anyway. :)

Nesting: Part 1

Hey everyone!

Oh man I have been so bad at blogging and crocheting so far this year - my output is way down and my crojo has spent a lot of time AWOL. I've just been extra tired, what with growing a whole new human being! Kiah and I are having our first child, due in mid-May. So far pregnancy has not been enjoyable at all between the very hot summer, my chronic fatigue and all the usual "perfectly normal" things that go along with the whole process, so thank goodness there's only 9 weeks to go! We're not going to find out whether it's a boy or a girl until it arrives :) 

I have managed to make a few things though, and it's super exciting to be making baby things for me for once :P 

We have some big things coming along this year - continuing our work with Stylecraft and the Blogstars, a new collaboration with an Australian yarn retailer, and hopefully working with a mindfulness magazine called Breathe later in the year on another meditation CAL. Plus, there's a bunch of new designs at  various stages of production that I really should get moving on before all my time is devoted to a tiny screaming person! 

But, while that is all in progress, I thought I'd share with you the things that I've been working on over the last few months :) 

Neat Ripple Blanket

Pattern: Attic24 Neat Ripple

Yarn: Bella Baby Bambini Print, 50% Acrylic 50% Nylon

I started this blanket ages ago - the yarn is so soft and silky, and worked up so beautifully in Lucy's neat ripple pattern. When my crojo first disappeared in January it was really nice to pick up again and just do something relatively mindless and repetitive, and I'm so happy with how it came out!  

Rainbow Cloud Wrap

Pattern: Virus Blanket / Scallop Border for Virus Shawl

Yarn: Wolltraum My Melodyy 4ply in Mamma Mia (500g cake)

I made one of these for the Sydney Easter Show last year, and sold that one very soon after. I still had the other 500g cake which was wound with the colours in the opposite direction with dreams of making another one someday... Then, I was looking for a project I could take with me to sit in the extremely boring waiting room of the antenatal clinic, and picked up the second cake to give it a go! 

The pattern was so easy to remember after a few rounds, and it was a lovely project to just sit in front of the tv through this hot Sydney summer, no need to change colours or weave in ends... The texture is absolutely wonderful - warm but breathable - and I can't wait to wrap our baby in it! It's also machine washable (and goes in the dryer on low) so I don't have to be afraid to use it in case it gets dirty! 

For the edging, I found an edging pattern for the virus shawl and it was pretty easy to adapt to the square blanket. It finishes it off beautifully! 

Rainbow Happypotamus

Pattern: Happypotamus 

Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply in Rum Paradise 

I have been drooling over this yarn forever - such bright rainbow colours... But, I am not too excited about making more socks (knitting is just so slow!?) and as it's a wool/nylon blend, what else is it really good for? 

It's good for happypotami. The outcome is just so pretty, but the texture of the yarn is a bit scratchy from the wool so maybe this will be a toy for looking at on the shelf rather than playing with :P 

I only ended up cutting the yarn to start in a different place once, for the nose piece - otherwise every piece just continues on from the previous one, and it worked out really well!

I absolutely adore the colours! 

What's next? 

Anne and I are working on a project with the other Blogstars using Polly Plum's Stardust Melodies patterns and the new Bambino Yarn - but we'll tell you all about that next time! 

Hugs,
Michelle

Star Blankets

Hi there!

Hope you are all doing well! I miss the long summer days but oh well, autumn/winter means cozy crochet time on the couch, doesn't it? 

Some weeks ago I felt like doing another Star Blanket from Celeste Young's pattern. I made three of these blankets last year and they were such a joy to make! So off I ventured and pulled some skeins of Stylecraft Special DK from my stash. I did that just before we left for a weekend at my mum's and the light wasn't perfect, so the colors didn't turn out to be the ones I thought they were when I pulled them out of the bag the next day. Oops! With the help of my husband (who is much better with colors than I am) I managed to put together a blanket color order which worked very well together in the end. Phew! One skein traveled in vain though - there was no vain it actually fitted with the other colors (it did in dim light...).

When I finished the first blanket, I had quite a bit of yarn left over and thus I decided to make other of the star blankets with the same yet of colors just in reverse order. To tell the truth, I played yarn chicken with the last two colors but it worked out in the end! I used one skein of each color except for the white (1,5 skeins). 

I adore the blanket pattern. I fell into a rhythm very quickly and thus crocheting these rows was so relaxing. The finished look of the blanket is something really as well! I think I will make another one soon just because it is such a joy to crochet the pattern. I would like to make a larger one at some point but for that I would need more yarn for the outer rows.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! 

Take care

Anne

P.S. I know that the blankets need a good blocking at some point... I will get there. Eventually. 

PATTERN: Bargello Wave Baby Blanket!

Hey everyone! 

My brand shiny new Bargello Wave Baby Blanket pattern has been published!!

You can find it, buy it, queue it and favourite it here on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bargello-wave-baby-blanket

There is a discount coupon running until Monday night, you can find it by checking out Crochet Between Worlds on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/crochetbetweenworlds/) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/crochetbetweenworlds/) ;) 

But for now I'm just going to post heaps of photos, because I am so in love with this design and the pretty colours <3 <3 <3

FREE PATTERN: Modern Heirloom Blanket by Tracey Cooper

Hi everyone!

We have a very special treat for you today - a guest post and free pattern by designer Tracey Cooper! You can find Tracey at Cooper's Craft Corner on Facebook and Instagram. We have watched this blanket grow over the last few months and it is just gorgeous - enjoy :)

_______________________________________________________________

Thank you so much Michelle and Anne the help and support you have extended to a new designer. 

I have been a crochet addict for as long as I can remember. While I have over 20 years experience in designing my own patterns this is the first one I have shared. 

This pattern was designed for a client who wanted a timeless yet modern blanket. Versatile enough to be used as a throw or bed spread, modern enough to be seen by visitors.

The natural fibers chosen by the client give this blanket a soft and silky feel while providing the warmth and cosy feeling of wool. I love the way natural fibers breathe, they keep the warm in while letting the sticky feeling out. 

This pattern is super easy and a great piece to work on while 'netflix and chilling' on these cool winter evenings.

 

----------------------------------------------------------

MODERN HEIRLOOM BLANKET by Tracey Cooper

----------------------------------------------------------

Queue or favourite on Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/modern-heirloom-blanket

View or Download PDF here: Modern Heirloom Blanket 

Difficulty: Easy / Beginner

Materials:

7 x 200g balls Bendigo Woollen Mills Stellar 8ply in 154 Malachite

4mm/G crochet hook

Tapestry needle

Stitches:

This pattern uses US terminology.

dc = double crochet

ch = chain

fdc = chainless foundation double crochet. There is a fantastic tutorial for foundation half double crochet here. The foundation double crochet is done exactly the same way except you dc instead of hdc.

In this pattern I have used the chainless turn. When starting a new row, pull your loop up to the height of a DC stitch, then dc in the first stitch. Alternatively you can turn and chain 2 as the first dc in each row, skipping the first stitch.  

Gauge doesn't really matter for this pattern. My gauge was 25 stitches per 20cm of fdc unblocked, which gave a finished and blocked size of 162cm x 172cm. 

Thie pattern can be sized up or down by starting with a multiple of 3 + 2 fdc starting stitches.

INSTRUCTIONS

Row 1: 299 fdc. This will give you a first row of 299 dc (299)

From now on you will work all your stitches through the front loop only of the below stitch. 

Row 2: Turn. dc in the next 2 stitches going through the front loop of the stitch only, *ch1, skip 1 stitch. dc in the next 2 stitches* repeat to end of row. You will end up with 100 groups of 2dc and 99 ch1 spaces (200dc + 99ch).

Row 3: Turn. dc in the front loop of each stitch (299)

Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until you have 115 rows, ending on a Row 3.

Weave in all your ends and block for best results.

________________________________________________________________

Thank you so much Tracey for sharing your gorgeous pattern with us <3 

July's Corner to Corner Blanket

Hi there!

As life is incredible busy at the moment, I needed an easy going crochet project to calm my mind and keep my hands busy in the evenings. So - of course - I turned to the corner to corner blanket pattern. My favorite blanket pattern of all time and my "meditation pattern". And since a very dear friends of ours told us that they expect a little girl later this year, the idea of a corner to corner baby blanket was born!

I finished the blanket last week and since then I can't decide if I should add a border or not. A border gives the blanket a neater look and also it may last longer. So that would speak for a border but... the blanket is so colorful, I can't quite decide which color to use. Usually I would add a moss stitch border but for this colorful blanket, it would be too much. Hmm. 

So for the moment the blanket remains "un-bordered". What is your take on this? 

I choose the colors for this blanket from my yarn stash. At first I wasn't 100 % sure they would work together but now I am very happy with it! I didn't note down the color names but if anyone wants to know, I will look it up. Just drop me a line! Oh, the yarn is Stylecraft Special DK of course. My favorite yarn for baby blankets because a) there are so many colors to choose from and b) it washes very well. 

Life is calming down a bit at the moment and man, I need that. Fingers crossed I can regain some of my energies over the next couple of weeks. At the moment I am working on a new amigurumi design idea. There is a vague notion that it might work, but I won't know until I crochet it up. Cross your fingers! What is on your hooks at the moment?

Take care

Anne

Ta-dah! The Peacock Double Spiral Afghan

Hey everyone! 

There's projects going on left right and centre here, including some super exciting stuff that we can't talk about yet ;) 

So for today, I'm going to share my finished Peacock Double Spiral Afghan with you!

My friend Lori wanted a snuggly blanket to go along with the ones I have made for her children, in peacock colours, and something a bit crazy and possibly paisley inspired. After some thought, I remembered buying this gorgeous Kaye Adolphson Double Spiral Throw pattern aaaages ago because it was so beautiful, but hadn't had the opportunity to make it yet - this was the moment! Lori also loved it, and after much discussion we came up with the colour selection in my very favourite (and colourful and hardwearing) Stylecraft Special DK. The colours are Mustard, Gold, Grass Green, Green, Teal, Empire, Royal, Turquoise, Emperor and Lobelia.

The next challenge was randomising the colours! As you know, making something look actually random takes a lot of preparation - I made up a table of colours, and when I needed extra spirals I outsourced to a wonderful engineer friend who is pretty amazing at spreadsheets! 

The double spirals were lots of fun to make (despite all the ends), and I got into an excellent rhythm working on those while watching tv, and my siblings playing the new Zelda Nintendo game. 

Rather than 5 x 5 spirals, I ended up making it 7 x 5 (so 35 double spirals) to make it a bit longer and more cuddly for an adult to snuggle under on the couch. It finished up about 1x1.5m. 

I decided to do the joining before the slipstitch detailing, in case blocking required more stretching and persuasion than the slipstitching would allow. And... oh man, the joining. I won't lie, the blanket very nearly got tossed off the balcony a few times! 

After doing a practice join 4 times, having it not sit even close to flat each time, and frogging whilst doing lots of swearing, I reached out to the designer for help. Kaye kindly sent me some higher quality, more detailed photos of the joins, which really helped. Thanks Kaye! I am hoping she will add those photos to the pattern as well so that future crocheters will have an easier time of it. The key was giving up any expectation I had of being able to do it evenly and regularly, and embracing the fudge. I do not like fudgy crochet.

After a preliminary block (just with water, which did very little), I worked the slipstitch detailing on the double spirals and the mini-spirals that fill the space between the double spirals. Using one colour cut down on the ends, but it still took a long time, and many many many more ends. I need a new yarn needle as all the silver has come off!! 

Final blocking time! I read up online about steam blocking acrylic, as this blanket was going to need some pretty intense help to get it to sit even vaguely flattish. I borrowed my Mum's steam iron, washed the blanket, slithered around on the floor on my stomach getting it all viciously pinned out, and started steaming... and brown lumpy goop splattered out along with the steam. Plus, it seemed to all be rising rather than going into the blanket. It was time for some creative thinking! 

My husband sprayed the blanket generously with cool water, and we let it soak in for a while. Then I put on a podcast, stuck my headphones in, and let rip with the hairdryer on high, moving slowly across each section until they felt warm and less damp under my fingers. We then left it all pinned out and went away for the Easter long weekend... 

And, it worked! The edge is still frilly (but was impossible to block, so I'm calling that a feature), and it's not 100% flat but looks much less like a coral reef! 

The slipstitching looks so good contrasted with the royal blue joining colour, and really brings it all together.

So, in summary: I'm glad I made this once, but I am in no hurry to make another one!