FREE PATTERN: The Blanket Stitch, Squared

Hey everyone!

I'm so excited to share a new free pattern with you today! I've been hankering for an easy evening crochet project and decided to make another Wrap with Love blanket. I wondered - could I make this easier for myself and do the same lovely squishy stitch pattern in the round rather than back and forth?

With a bit of experimentation and maths (I never thought I'd do this much maths in my life), I've got it! 

Without further ado, The Blanket Stitch, Squared :D 

Queue or favourite it on Ravelry here: 

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-blanket-stitch-squared 

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FREE PATTERN: THE BLANKET STITCH, SQUARED
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Finished size: 10" / 25cm 

Materials

40g DK/8 ply yarn
4.5mm hook
Scissors
Yarn needle

This pattern uses all US terminology

MC - magic circle (tutorial from Every Trick on the Hook)

st - stitch 
slst - slip stitch

ch - chain

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

dc - double crochet

Blanket stitch block: (sc, 2dc)

Directions:

Make a magic circle.

Round 1 - Into MC, (sc, 2dc) 4 times. slst to first sc, ch1 and turn. (1 block on each side)

Round 2 - In the stitch you just joined to in the round below (so just behind your working yarn), (sc, 2dc, sc, 2dc). *Skip 2st, (sc, 2dc, sc, 2dc) into the next st, which is the sc from the previous round* Repeat * to * 3 times. slst to first sc, ch1 and turn. (2 blocks on each side)

NOTE: Each stitch that has two blocks in it (i.e. sc, 2dc, sc, 2dc) is a corner! In the next row, the corner is worked in the central sc which is bolded above.

Round 3 - In the stitch you just joined to in the round below (so just behind your working yarn), (sc, 2dc). *Skip 2st, (sc, 2dc, sc, 2dc) into the next st, which is the sc from the previous round, skip 2st, (sc, 2dc) in next stitch* Repeat * to * around your square. slst to first sc, ch1 and turn. (3 blocks on each side)

Rounds 4-14 - Repeat Row 3, adding one more blanket stitch block (sc, 2dc) in between the corners of each row. Measure your square after Row 14 to see if you're close to 10"/25cm; if not, do another row or two! 

Round 15 - (make sure you turned at the end of Row 14!) sc in each stitch. In corner sc, work (hdc, ch2, hdc). slst to first sc to finish, cut yarn and weave in ends.

FREE PATTERN: Granny 5 Petal Flower Square

Did you participate in Granny Square Day 2022 this week? It's not something I usually do, but on Sunday evening I had some time to myself (!!) while everyone was asleep (!!!) and there wasn't anything else urgent that needed doing (!!!!) so I decided to do a little doodling with my hook and see if I could come up with something a bit different for my contribution. 

Squaring a pentagon can be a bit tricky, but I think I figured it out! The trick was to make 5 pointed flower into a circle first, and then square the circle ;) 

Queue or favourite it on Ravelry here: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/granny-5-petal-flower-square

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FREE PATTERN: GRANNY 5 PETAL FLOWER SQUARE
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Finished size: 6" / 15cm 

Materials

Small amounts of Stylecraft Organic Cotton in Buttermilk, Blush, Papaya and Gypsum
4mm/G hook
Scissors
Yarn needle

This pattern uses all US terminology

MC - magic circle

st - stitch 
slst - slip stitch

ch - chain

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

dc - double crochet

tr - treble crochet

blo - back loop only

flo - front loop only

Directions:

Round 1 (Buttermilk) - make MC, 15dc in MC. finish off. 

Round 2 (Papaya) - join to any stitch with sc. sc in each stitch around, slst to join to first sc. ch1. 

Round 3 (Papaya) - in FLO, [sc, (hdc, dc, hdc) in next st, sc] around. slst to join to first sc. finish off.

Round 4 (Coral) - in BLO of same stitch of Round 2 as you worked the (hdc, dc, hdc) in Round 3, join with sc. [ch4, skip 2 st, sc in next stitch] around, joining with slst to the first sc worked in this round. ch1. 

Round 5 (Coral) - ch1. in next chain space, [sc, hdc, 3dc in next st, hdc, sc, ch1]. repeat [] around, joining to first sc with slst. ch1. 

Round 6 (Coral) - sc in each stitch around, including the ch1 space. finish off.

Round 7 (Papaya) - join with sc in blo of the stitch after the sc in a ch1 space. [hdc, dc, (dc, ch2, dc), hdc, dc, sc, spike dc into top of dc of Round 3 below, sc]. Repeat [] around, skipping final sc on final repeat. slst to first sc to join, ch1. 

Round 8 (Papaya) - sc in each stitch, with 3sc in ch2sp at the point of each petal. join to first sc with slst and finish off.

Round 9 (Gypsum) - join with sc in centre sc of 3sc worked into a ch2sp of Round 7. [sc, hdc in next 2st, dc in next 2st, tr, dc in next 2st, hdc in next 2st, sc in next 2st] repeat [] around, omitting final sc on final repeat and join with slst to first sc. ch1. 

Round 10 (Gypsum) - [dc in next 3st, 2dc in next st] around, but do 3dc in the final stitch not 2. Join with slst to first dc. ch1. 

Round 11 (Gypsum) -  [sc in next 3st, hdc in next 3 st, dc in next 3st, (2tr, ch2, 2tr) in next st, dc in next 3st, hdc in next 3st, sc in next 3 st] repeat [ ] around and join to first sc with slst. ch1.

Round 12 (Gypsum) - sc in each stitch around, working 3sc in the corner ch2 space. finish off and stitch in ends! 

New Project: Colour Planning Made Easy!

Hi everyone! 

The busy time is starting to finally tail off around here - I ended up leaving the Law Society job because it was too much for the fatigue monster to manage, then got a sizeable crochet order finished, and now the Carousel CAL has settled into a nice sedate rhythm (can't wait until we get to play with pentagons next week!). 

So, I've had a bit of a chance to pull out some long-considered ideas about how to make things easier for myself to plan out colours for crochet project. 

How many of us have done this before to work out a rainbow, or grades of colour for a project?

It's messy, takes up a lot of space, and gets yarn ends all tangled up (or at least it does for me). I've seen Lucy's gorgeous peg system, and a few other similar ideas (yarn wrapped on embroidery thread cards, paddlepop sticks, etc etc) but I don't think those would suit me. I need really secure, solid colour samples, that pack up really small and light, and to avoid using my terrible handwriting on anything! 

I do have the Stylecraft Special DK shade card (now somewhat out of date)...

...but it's not great for seeing how different colours look together. 

The solution? Two inch, two-row solid granny squares in each colour, with the colour name and number stapled on the back! I started with the new Stylecraft Batik range to see if it would work (only 16 colours at the moment).

Ta-dah! The staples are really secure, but barely show on the front of the square. I made a little chain string for them out of scrap yarn and a button, and now they are hanging on one of my drawer handles, ready to pick colours! 

Next stop: the Special DK, which currently has 74 colours (gulp).

In anticipation of getting around to doing this, I've been making a solid granny square out of each colour as I pick them up to work something. There's... 30 so far. A long way to go, but once it's done it should be far far easier to choose colours for a project! My husband is tracking down a large hinged plastic or metal ring that I can string the squares onto, so it's easier to just open the ring at the colour you want rather than having to pull them all off. 

EDIT: Giant Hinged Rings are called Jailer's Keyrings! Thanks craftymummy! 

Now, I am spoiled by mostly working in my fave Stylecraft yarns, but if you have a range of brands in your stash, you could mix up all the colours of the same weight (just add the brand and "model" to the paper tag) and put them all on one ring! 

Do you have a colour sample collection like this? Would it be useful to your project planning? 

Around the Bases CAL - Afghan Square Round Up!

Hello everyone! 

It's been another hectic week here, but I've managed to tick one thing off my list - my centre square for the Around the Bases CAL, starting on August 9! 

I'm going to use all Stylecraft Special DK for this afghan, choosing colours with a random pull from my bag of scraps and rejecting only if I've used the same colour in the last 10 rows already. It's made for some interesting colours so far... but that will be part of the charm!

The really special thing about this CAL is that each one is going to be unique, because WE get to choose the starting square! 

I spent quite a long time on Ravelry looking at different square options, before narrowing it down to a shortlist and coming to a decision. It was really hard! I ended up deciding on a square and then converting it to a rectangle - after Sophie and the Lily Pond, I need a break from square afghans :P 

But what to do with all the other pretty squares that I found? It seems a shame to just forget all about the lovely crochet that I found... 

So, shared here for you (and me) are the big afghan squares that tempted me the most as the centre square for this CAL :) They are in no particular order, and all pictures are from the pattern pages and belong to their respective owners. 


Tropical Delight
Published by Mellie Blossom

Cost: Free! 
Link: http://www.mellieblossom.com/free-tropical-delight-crochet-pattern/

Starburst Square
by Tera Kulling

Cost: Free!
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/starburst-square-2

August Sun
by Donna Kay Lacey

Cost: $1.99
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/august-sun---wwbamcal

Firenze
by Julie Yeager

Cost: $2.99
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/firenze-afghan-block

Grand Granny
by Angela Harriman

Cost: $1.00
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/grand-granny

Daisy Centre Mandala Square
by Zooty Owl

Cost: Free!
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/daisy-centre-mandala-square

Denna Square
by Polly Plum

Cost: Free! 
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/denna-square

The Enchanted Garden
by Courtney Jones Laube

Cost: $3 + $1.99 for the Crocodile Stitch Flower pattern
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-enchanted-garden-tote

Sophie's Garden

Cost: Free!
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sophies-garden

The Darkness Held at Bay
by Shan Sevcik

Cost: $1.50
Link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-darkness-held-at-bay-10-and-12-block

So, what did I go with in the end?

The Darkness Held at Bay, with some extra rows of bphdc after the centre square to make it rectangular, and then an extra row around the edge to get to the right stitch count :) 

What do you think? Are you interested in joining this CAL too?  Which afghan square would you use to start with?

Hugs,

Michelle

PATTERN: Mini Heart Square Tutorial

A few weeks ago, I started working on my new afghan pattern, the Rainbow Hearts Afghan. It's the same style as the Rainbow Twist and Turn Bargello Afghan, in that it uses small squares in a particular layout, with the join-as-you-go technique so that I don't have to sew 1,000 mini squares together! 

I really wanted to put some secret hearts into the blanket, as well as the more obvious ones, but I just couldn't find exactly what I wanted - two row granny equivalent, cute heart that sits on top of the surrounding row, and in the same colour for both the heart and the background! 

This one from Petals to Picots was going to be too big... 

This one from How to Crochet a Heart was perfect for the heart centre, but didn't have any information on how to make it a square... 

This one from Mollie Makes was close to what I wanted, but the heart sat flat in the square rather than sitting on top, and required either two colours, or detaching and rejoining the same colour to start the second row, and who has time for all these ends! 

So, inspired and encouraged by the above, here is my Mini Heart Square, all in one colour :)

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PATTERN: MINI HEART SQUARE
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http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mini-heart-square

Materials:
3-4 metres of yarn (depending on what weight you choose - you can use any size yarn you like! I used my favourite Stylecraft Special DK for this tutorial) 
Hook to match yarn (I used a 3.5mm hook for this tutorial)
Scissors
Yarn needle for weaving in ends.

Terminology:
This pattern uses all US terminology
slst - slip stitch
ch - chain stitch
dc - double crochet
tr - treble crochet

Special Stitches:

Stacked Standing Double Crochet - sc into target stitch. Insert hook under two leftmost strands of sc, yarn over hook to do a second sc.

No Slip Magic Circle - I prefer this double loop to a single loop magic circle as I found I was weaving ends in with an extra circle before doubling back with the single loop - this cuts out one extra weaving step! Nerdifacts has an excellent picture tutorial on the No Slip Magic Circle :)

Working into the Third Loop- You will need to familiarise yourself with the construction of the dc and tr stitches to be able to find the "third loop". This is the horizontal bar that goes across the back of each stitch, just under the back loop. In this image from the Craft Yarn Council's page on how to do a double crochet, I've labelled the back loops and third loops for you :) The theory is much the same for the treble crochet - it has the same third loop behind the back loop at the top of the stitch.

STEP 1 - HEART CENTRE

Into a magic ring, (3ch, 3tr, 3dc, 1ch, 1tr, 1ch, 3dc, 3tr, 3ch) and then slipstitch back into the magic ring. Pull on the end to tighten the magic ring. This forms the central heart.

STEP 2

Have a look at the back of your heart, and find the 3rd dc you made. 

We're going to use the back loops of this stitch to move our working yarn up to the edge of the heart. Ch1, then slst into the first loop of that 3rd dc, then into one of the next loops, then ch1 again. The arrows in the picture below show the slip stitches. There isn't really a wrong way to do this, you just want to get your yarn up towards the top of the stitch without using either of the top loops of the stitch or the third loop.

STEP 3

Once you've found the third loop of the third DC, do a stacked standing dc into that loop. Ch1.

STEP 4

Now we need to find the next loop, which is the 3rd loop of the 4th dc, so skip
(1ch, 1tr, 1ch) and locate that third loop.

Into this loop do (3dc, 2ch, 3dc, 1ch). One corner made!

STEP 5

Now comes the tricky part! Locate the second last tr of the heart:

and then find the 3rd loop of that tr:

Do another (3dc, 2ch, 3dc, 1ch) into that loop.

STEP 6

Find the FIRST TREBLE stitch that you made. It might seem like we're making the heart square asymmetrical, but I promise it's this that makes the heart look straight on the square! Locate the 3rd loop of this stitch, and do (3dc, 2ch, 3dc, 1ch) into that loop.

STEP 7

Now we're back to where we started, woohoo! You need to be careful that you use the same loop that you did to start... 

... and that you insert your hook to make the stitches in such a way that your first stacked dc and the trail of slip stitches and chains behind it are all to the left of your hook.

Make (3dc, 2ch, 2dc) in that loop, and then slst to the top of your first stacked standing dc. Finish off, and weave in your ends.

Tadah! A Mini Heart Square, the same size as 2 rows of granny square, all in one colour :) 

FRONT:

BACK: 

Of course, if you want to make your heart a different colour to the background, you can either use Mollie Makes's pattern linked at the top, or this pattern and simply finish off the heart, and start your new colour afresh at Step 3 of this tutorial :) 

Sophie's Universe Update! Plus, a brand new CAL

Hello everyone! 

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments - we love reading and replying, and also reading your blogs to find out what's happening in your worlds :) You can find us on Bloglovin', and also on Facebook and Instagram for updates in between posts. 

Today I delivered my competition entries to the Sydney Royal Easter Show! I'll find out by post whether I've had any success, and I am hoping to go to the exhibition on Tuesday 24 March to see if my work has been exhibited - wish me luck! 

Part 9 of the Sophie's Universe CAL was released this week! Amongst other things, the rows of very cute pink tulips are now on both sides! Also, the "short sides" are now longer than the "long sides"... Thank you to my amazing photographer Kiah who stood in at the last minute to save my shaking hands from blurry photos :) 

Kathryn is also finished with Part 9 now:

Nicole has left the Garden and is now journeying through the Universe!

Since I clearly don't have enough to do, I've also picked up another Crochet-along, from the incredible Julie Yeager! You might remember my Stained Glass Afghan that I started in Vanuatu last year - Julie designed the Stained Glass Afghan Square that I used. 

Fortunately this one is only to make a 12" square over 8 days, with one part every day. As usual I've coopted a wonderful friend to do it with me, so here are Parts 1, 2 and 3 from me and Yvette!

If you love Julie's patterns as much as I do, you'll be thrilled to know that as part of National Crochet Month, she is offering discount codes!! The codes are on her blog, and you should definitely go get them and then drool over her patterns on Ravelry ;) 

Phew! What a week! I hope you all have a lovely relaxing weekend :)