We can’t have a new Crochet For Kidneys, without a new pattern can we? Part 1 had the Kidney Granny Square, Part 2 had Hexagon In Bloom and now Part 3 has the Delicate Daisy Square.
You will need double knit or light worsted acrylic yarn in four shades and a 4 mm crochet hook.
I wrote the pattern in US crochet terms. In UK crochet terms, the SC = DC, HDC = HTR, DC = TR, TR = DTR.
Make an adjustable ring (also known as a magic ring). Ch 1,16 SC in ring, slip stitch to first chain.
Round 1: Chain 11, slip stitch into same sc, *slip stitch into next SC, chain 11, slip stitch into same SC* repeat 14 more times (16 chain loops). Fasten off yarn.
Round 2: Join new colour in chain space of any loop. Ch 1, *SC in chain space, ch 3*. Repeat from * to * 15 more times. Join with a slip stitch to first chain.
Round 3. Chain 3 (count as DC), *3 DC in 3 chain space, DC in SC. Repeat from * to end. 64 DC. Join with a slip stitch to top of turning chain.
Round 4: Chain 2 (count as HDC), 2 HDC, 5 SC, 3 HDC, *[1 TR, 2 DC, 3 chain, 2 DC, 1 TR] in same stitch. Corner made. Skip 2 DC, 3 HDC, 5 SC, 3 HDC, skip 2 DC*. Repeat from * to * three more times. Join with a slip stitch to 3rd chain of turning chain. Fasten off.
You can use this method to turn any circle of 64 stitches, into a square shape.
Round 5: Join new colour to any corner space. Ch 1, *3 SC in corner space, 6 SC, Long SC, SC, Long SC, SC, Long SC, 6 SC.* Repeat from * to * 3 more times. Join with slip stitch to first chain. Fasten off. (Long SC is worked into the DC of round 3).
Round 6: Join new colour to 2nd SC of the three SC worked in corner space. [Chain 3 (count as DC), 2 DC, 3 chain, 3 DC]. Corner made. *DC in each SC and Long SC along to first SC of the three SC worked in the corner space (19 DC). [3 DC, 3 chain, 3 DC] in corner space.* Repeat from * to * two more times. Fasten off and weave away tail ends.
PLEASE NOTE: The squares in these photos are 13cm. To make the square suitable for the Crochet For Kidneys blanket, they need to be 15cm. If your tension is looser than mine, you may reach 15cm by Round 6. If not, do not fasten off round 6 and work as follows:
Round 7: [Chain 3 (count as DC), 2 DC, 3 chain, 3 DC]. Corner made. *DC in each DC of Round 6, [3 DC, 3 chain, 3 DC] in corner space. * Repeat from * to * two more times. Fasten off and weave away tail ends.
I hope you enjoy making this daisy flower square and that you won’t just use it for the Crochet For Kidneys blankets. These squares will make lovely cushions too! With three colours (plus the white border) the pretty colour combinations are endless!
Today I’m sharing a super easy crochet placemat pattern with you. You’re probably thinking that placemats are very boring right? Boring and practical. Who wants boring and practical? Not me! I want interesting and different, so I added a bit of cross stitch. Not just any cross stitch, no I added an exact replica (minus one tiny prongy detail) of the King Household’s knives and forks!
Check it out.
I love it! With these placemats your table is always set even if you eat with your hands. How very civilised.
So how did I do it? It’s dead easy.
To make the placemats you will need double knit cotton in three shades and a 4 mm crochet hook. I used Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK in Azure and Soft Lime and Rowan Handknit Cotton in Mist. Sadly Mist has now been discontinued but you can use white or any light grey yarn.
My placemats are 30 cm x 45 cm. The green one is worked in trebles and the blue placemat in half trebles. To achieve this size, I worked 33 rows of trebles and 43 rows of half trebles. The foundation chain for the green treble square was 54 chain stitches (51 plus 3 for the turning chain) and 53 chain stitches (51 plus 2 for the turning chain) for the turquoise half double crochet square. In both cases I did the big square first and then joined the other colour to the top and the bottom and worked 10 rows of double crochet. I don’t want to call it a pattern, because it really isn’t and you will make your placemat to fit your table / breakfast bar / lap tray. Use my rows and chains as a guide.
I may not have written up a proper pattern, but I would like to pass on some handy tips for you.
HANDY TIP 1: place a stitch marker in your first and last hdt or tr. That way you will know where to insert your hook for the next row and wont accidentally create extra stitches on the sides. In patterns where the turning chain counts as a stitch (for these placemats I didn’t count the turning chains) you will place the marker in the top chain of turning chain. So if you are working in hdt, place the stitch marker in the 2nd chain, and for a trb place it in the 3rd chain. Stitch markers are, I dare say, essential where turning chains are to be counted as stitches. I think apart from my crochet hook en scissors, stitch markers are probably my most valued crochet tool.
HANDY TIP 2: to save you from weaving away the tail end when you join the new colour for the double crochet side panels, flick the tail end of the new colour over your working yarn as you make the stitches. The tail end will magically grow shorter and eventually disappear, yet be safely encased within each stitch. It’s a very clever way of halving the tail ends you have to weave away! At the same time you can crochet over the tail of the old colour. This method saves you from having to weave away two tails. Score!
Here’s a video showing you how I do it.
Once the crocheting is done, you’ll want to get on to the cross stitch bit, but before you can cross stitch on crochet you have to block the piece – that’s the HANDY TIP 3. If you do it afterwards you run the risk of the cross stitch design going all skewy. The double crochet panels will naturally want to curve and it will be worked tighter than the rest of the placemat, so blocking really is essential here.
So how should I block you ask? It depends on what fibre your yarn is made of. If your fibre is artificial, like acrylic: 1) pin the piece in the shape you want it to be onto a couple of towels on top of your ironing board, wrong side facing up, 2) cover with a damp cloth and then 3) hover with your steam iron over the cloth. Do not let the iron touch the cloth. All you want is a bit of steam to set the shape. Also don’t hover very long – a few seconds will do. If it’s a natural fibre like cotton or linen: 1) dampen the crochet, 2) spread it out on a foam board or layers of towels right side facing up, 3) stretch and lightly tug the crochet until it’s perfectly round or square or whatever shape it should be. Then 4) pin it and 5) let it dry over night. I used cotton for my placemats so this is the method I used.
If you’re wondering about the red lines on my foam blocking mat, they were drawn on by me with a Sharpie on a wintry Sunday afternoon a couple of months ago. It took the whole afternoon and was a very boring job, but I’m really glad I took the time to do it. The point of blocking is to get the edges of your crochet straight, so to me it makes sense to have straight lines on the blocking board. (Although looking at the photo I didn’t really follow those lines very well did I…?)
Once blocked you are ready to embroider.
You will need a piece of double crochet to embroider on. Cross stitch onto crochet can only really happen on double crochet stitches. The dense texture and evenly spaced short stitches replicates Aida (the fabric used for cross stitch) perfectly. As an added bonus, when you make double crochet stitches in double knit yarn, your stitches will almost certainly be 5 mm squared, which makes it perfect for designing with quadrille paper. Which brings us to the next item you will need: quadrille paper (it’s like graph paper, but the squares are all 5mm squared). You’ll also need a pencil and of course your eating utensil of choice.
Using a pencil, trace the outline of your knife and fork onto the quadrille paper.
Now you fill in each square with a x. Your knife and fork shape will not follow the straight lines, but that’s where creative licence comes in: in conventional cross stitch you also use half stitches but for cross stitch onto crochet, that’s tricky to do, so whenever the line goes through less than half of a square, ignore that square. Here you can see the outline of my knife encase three squares (two full ones and a half), but I only created two cross stitches.
The overall effect is still a knife and that’s all that matters. Creative licence also turned my 4 prong fork into a 3 prong. I just had to forgo a prong in order for there to be unworked space between my prongs. It’s a small sacrifice to make.
Once you have filled in the squares with x’s, go over them with a pen so they are darker and you can see if you are happy with the shape created.
Cut out the shapes and place them on your placemat, moving them around and spacing them evenly. Use pins to indicate the top, bottom and any other points along the knife or fork that you want to be sure to get right. I placed pins where the prongs stopped and where the shape changed from xxx to xx. These are just guides to keep you on track.
Now you’re ready to start cross stitching. You’ll soon get the hang of it and will almost naturally feel where the stitches have to go. The key to neat cross stitches is to keep the bottom stitches all slanting in the same direction, and the top ones in the opposite, but same, direction.
When you’ve finished your embroidery, crochet a border of double crochet stitches in the main colour all around your placemat to visually pull it all together. Make three double crochets in the corners. Weave away the (very few) tails you have left – remember Handy Tip 2? – and maybe block it again just be sure that the placemats are perfectly straight on the sides and pointy in the corners. That’s all there is to it. Easy, right?
Doesn’t it look great?! Now that you know that one square on quadrille paper equals one double crochet square in double knit yarn, you can draw – and therefore cross stitch – anything on your crochet! How about cross stitching the words “breakfast” “lunch” or “dinner”? Or personalising the placemat with the name of each of your family members?
PatternPiper published the sweetest crochet heart tutorial on her blog. It’s the perfect Valentines Day project. Don’t forget that I am giving 14% off on pink, red and white yarn in my Etsy shop with the code 14LOVE.
I’ve been wanting to make one for a while but have always found hearts a bit tricky!
I like to try and figure crochet out for myself. I love admiring other people’s work and I will make things from the lovely patterns from my Simply Crochet magazine subscription. But I figure that if I want to sell my crochet makes then they should be a PatternPiper original – including the pattern.
I know that there are similar crochet hearts out there, but I can honestly say that I worked out this dinky little heart pattern all by myself and haven’t referred to any other patterns or tutorials.
So, here is my first attempt at writing a tutorial – it’s blumin hard work don’t you know! I’ve probably gone into far too much detail, but I’m a self taught crocheter and I wanted to…
The very talented Caroline, blogger at Patchwork Harmony and editor of online publication 91 Magazine as well as freelance editor, writer & designer, published my pattern for these lacy crochet coasters on her blog today. I’m very honoured to be one of her crafty guest bloggers – the woman won the Women in Publishing New Venture award 2012 for Pete’s sake!
I can honestly say that I’ve never seen anything I’ve crocheted styled and photographed so beautifully. I think a Big Mac wrapper and loo roll will look beautiful if Caroline styled it for a photo shoot!
You will find more beautiful photos and the pattern for the square and round lacy crocheted coasters on her blog here.
Do have a look at the brilliant 91 Magazine. The magazine features news, style tips, shopping ideas, interiors, features on craft and vintage style and proudly supports small businesses, designers and crafts people. It’s unputdown(load)able.
The pattern is in the Ravelry database here. Please link your lacy coasters to the pattern so that Caroline and I can see what you made!
Here is the Granny Square in Bloom pattern, as used in Liezel’s cushion that I blogged about here.
If you click on the picture, it will open as a PDF document which you can print. The PDF contains step by step photos. The pattern also appears on the Photo Tutorials tab of this blog.
If you don’t need step by step photos, here is the written pattern. I use US crochet terms*:
With colour A chain 5, slip stitch in first chain to form a ring.
Round 1: Chain 1, 8 SC in ring, slip stitch in chain. 8 SC
Round 2: Chain 1, 2 SC in each SC, slip stitch in chain. 16 SC. Fast off colour A.
Round 3: Join colour B. Chain 3 (count as DC.) *Popcorn stitch, 1 DC* Repeat from * to *. Join with slip stitch in chain. Fasten off colour B.
Round 4: Join colour C to any Popcorn stitch. Chain 1, 2 SC in same stitch. *Long SC in DC, 2 SC in Popcorn* Repeat from * to *. Join with slip stitch in chain. 24 SC. Fasten off colour C.
Round 5: Join colour D to any Long SC. Chain 3 (count as DC). 8 DC in same stitch (9 DC shell made). *Skip 2 SC. 9 DC shell in Long SC.* Repeat from * to *. Join with slip stitch to chain. Fasten off colour D.
Round 6: Join colour E to SC of round 4. You will need to fold over the shells of round 5 in order to reach the SC of round 4. Chain 3 (count as DC). DC in same stitch. DC in next SC. *Chain 2, 2 DC, 1 DC*. Repeat from * to *. Join with slip stitch to chain.
Round 7: Chain 4 (count as DC plus 1 chain). *3 DC, 2 chain, 3DC* in chain 2 space of round 6. Corner shell made. 1 Chain. 3 DC in chain 2 space of round 6. Shell made. 1 Chain. Continue working *corner shell, 1 chain, shell, 1 chain* around in each 2 chain space of round 6. Join with slip stitch to chain.
Round 8: Continue working shells in chain 1 spaces and corner shells in chain 2 spaces around, each shell seperated by 1 chain.
I hope you enjoy making your Granny Square in Bloom squares. The pattern is in the Ravelry pattern database, so please link your projects so that I can see what you make!!
*Shelley has translated the US crochet terms into UK / Australian terms over on her blog. You will find it here.
The dreaded weaving away of tail ends. It’s a not a fun job, but has to be done right. Right?
I reckon if you have a yucky job to do, you may as well do it well so that you won’t have to do it again. Do it once, and do it right I say.
Below is a GIF (a series of photos in a loop) to show you how to weave away the tail ends in a way that they will stay stuck. The GIF may take a few seconds to jump to the next photo, so just give it time. It will loop back again to the first photo so you can watch the process again and again. For clarification, what you’re looking at is the back of a granny square.
The trick to keeping the tail neatly and tightly woven away is not so much the weaving action, but the change of direction. Try to change the direction of the weave as many times as you can. In a typical shell, like in the photos above, I manage to fit in three directional changes. I’ve never had a tail end come loose, so aim for at least three.
GIF Give your yarn tails a bit of love and they will stay hidden through the years of snuggling, stroking and cuddles.
Last week I showed you how to make a single colour granny square. Today I’ll show you how to crochet a multicoloured, traditional granny square.
This is probably what you think of when you think “granny square”. If you’ve seen granny square blankets on shows like The Big Bang Theory or the Roseanne show, this photo tutorial will show you how to make one in the same style. I’ve blogged about those famous granny square blankets here and here. If you want to make those blankets, just use black as your final round and be as bright as you like with the other rounds.
As for the green bunny in the photo…. I just couldn’t resist. His fur matched the centre of my granny square so perfectly, he was just begging to be on the cover!
You can hop on over (see what I did there?) to the Photo Tutorials page here, or click on the photo above to download the pdf photo tutorial.
The title of this blog post is quite a mouthful isn’t it? But if you’re a crocheter, I bet you anything you would have asked this question a few times.
To crochet is lovely, but to weave in tail ends not so much. If you’re making a granny square blanket for instance, you’ll have two tail ends per colour, per granny square to weave away. Most granny squares are at least 5 rounds, so that’s 10 ends per granny square! Weaving in those ends quickly adds up to One Massive Job. I know of quite a few crocheters who haven’t finished a project just because the weaving in of ends seem too daunting.
In this photo tutorial I show you how to work away a tail end, as you crochet. If you do this, you’ll only have one tail end (the one that you create when you finish off and cut the yarn) to weave away. That’s one half of The Weaving Away Job done!
As I say on the cover of the photo tutorial, I am demonstrating the technique with a granny square, but the technique can be used for joining a new colour in a row as well.
The tutorial is available to view on the Photo Tutorials page here, and clicking on the photo above will take you there too.
I learned to crochet with the help of YouTube, yarn websites like Garnstudio & Lion Brand and crochet bloggers. These are free websites, or run by people like you and me who just want to share their knowledge and make other crocheter’s lives easier. I’ve learned so much, and taken away so much inspiration from others that I think it’s high time I start doing the same.
This blog is already my place where I share what I’ve done, but I don’t feel I’ve really taught anyone anything. Not in the way that I’ve been taught by bloggers who take the time to take step by step photos, or make detailed videos.
In light of this, and St. Francis of Assisi’s wise words: “For it is in giving that we receive” there is a new section on my blog called Photo Tutorials.
I’ve only made one tutorial so far: How To Make A Single Colour Granny Square. It’s not a ground breaking new design, but I had to start somewhere. 🙂 In time I will add more photo tutorials and eventually video tutorials as well.
I will do all my photo tutorials as PDF documents. That way I don’t create huge blogposts, and the document can be printed. It will also include a (hand drawn!) crochet diagram. I think crochet diagrams are great. If you learn to crochet with a set of photos and then look at the diagram for what you’ve just crocheted, it should be easy to grasp how to crochet from diagrams. That’s how I learned, so I’m hoping it will work for others too.
Please give me your feedback. If you think it’s okay and clear enough, I will use it as a template for all future photo tutorials.
You can find the link to my Photo Tutorials page here.