Review of How To Crochet book by Mollie Makes

30 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by Natasja in Book reviews, My crochet, My ramblings, Ta-daah!

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crochet, crochet blanket, giveaway, granny square

The lovely people of Mollie Makes magazine sent me the book How To Crochet, published by Pavilion, to review here on my blog.

I have to apologise to the publishers that it has taken me this long to do the review, but I wanted to do the review justice by completing one of the 20 projects featured in the book.

I chose to make the Granny Square Blanket With Edging, designed by Anita Mundt. You guys know how I love granny squares! They are my all time favourite thing to crochet. For Crochet For Kidneys Part 4 I made two 2-colour 6-round squares in blue and in pink, and in 2013 I crocheted a traditional granny square blanket for a friend and even posted on my technique for choosing random colours.

I started the blanket on the 30th of June and finished it today. Precisely one month! This granny square blanket will also be my contribution to the charity crochet campaign, Crochet For Kidneys Part 5. I had two weeks in that month where I was on sick leave so I had bit more time than usual for crocheting. (I had an operation to my foot on the 18th of June. The cast is coming off on 13 August and a month or so later, it will be the turn of my left foot to go under the knife and stay in a non-weight bearing cast for 8 weeks – expect a few more blanket ta-daaaah blog posts over the next 3 months!)

I really enjoyed following the colour scheme suggestion in Anita’s pattern. I know how to make a granny square so I didn’t need the pattern for that, but I found that following the designer’s colour scheme took away all the worry that I may get my colours wrong.

In this pattern the colour combinations are partly fixed and party random. Rounds 1, 2 and 6 are fixed colours, round 3 is random and 4 & 5 are also random but you use the same colour for both rounds. Once I had decided on the colour for rounds 1 (green), 2 (white) and 6 (Parma Violet), there wasn’t much ‘randomising’ left to do. Choosing my colours for each square was really quick and I think I will stick to this partly fixed, partly random, colour scheme for all my future granny square blankets!

The colours I used were: Stylecraft Special DK in White, Saffron, Wisteria, Spring Green, Citron, Cloud Blue, Parma Violet (for the last round of each square) and the bright green was James C Brett Supreme Baby DK in SNG7. I really love that Parma Violet shade. It’s not grey, it’s not purple, it’s just a beatiful tie-it-all-together shade.

Please excuse the wonky photo but it’s difficult to get a blanket to lie flat and take a perfectly straight taken-from-above photo when you have only one leg to balance on!

For this blanket I also didn’t have to go looking for border like I do with my other granny square blankets – Anita’s border was just so perfect – I just had to follow her pattern.

The team from Mollie Makes (the UK’s most successful lifestyle and craft magazine) hand-picked the projects for this book. All the patterns were designed exclusively for this book by the team’s favourite crochet designers: Ilaria Chiaratti, Emma Lamb, Beata Basik, Cara Medus, Pip Lincolne and Anita Mundt. Apart form the Granny Square Blanket With Edging which I made, there are more fun and beautiful projects like the adorable set of Russian dolls from the cover photo, Bouquet of Flowers, pocket placemats and Monster Gadget Covers called Chomper, Nibbles and Tryclops. How To Crochet contains all the techniques you need to get started with crochet, with step-by-step instructions and clear, beautiful illustrations. Each of the 20 patterns have a Crochet Story which I really enjoyed reading – even if I weren’t going to make the project. How To Crochet is available on Amazon for £9.99.

If however you don’t want to purchase one, why not enter my giveaway!

I’m giving away two copies of How To Crochet by Mollie Makes. All you have to do is leave a comment on this blogpost telling me what your favourite time of day and/or week is to crochet. There’s no special reason why I ask this question, I’m just interested to know when my readers sit down with their yarn and hooky stick. The winners will be drawn randomly and announced on my Instagram feed (natasjaking) and crochetime Facebook page on 7 August. Good luck!

Getting ready

22 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, My ramblings, Part 4

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crochet, crochet blanket

The big day for Crochet For Kidneys Part 4 is almost here! John and I are taking the blankets to the Royal London Hospital on Tuesday so this weekend was spent writing note cards, putting the right card to the right blanket and updating the Facebook Group with all the blanket photos.

Each blanket has a notecard with the following message:

“I hope that you will feel the love that I put into each crochet stitch of this blanket, so that it may bring you hope and comfort. Love [name of crocheter]”

On the opposite side I wrote:

“Care instructions: Wash at 30 degrees on gentle wash. Do not tumble dry.”

and

“Feel free to join the Facebook Group “Crochet For Kidneys” if you want to get in touch.”

Here is one of the notecard, attached to Sue de Vos’s blanket.

Look how many beautiful blankets we have! The sun was shining into our apartment while I was folding and tagging blankets. I took that as a good sign.

I’m so proud of what you guys have achieved here. None of you skimped on creativity, quality of the yarn or the finish and some of you even made two blankets. You posted them from as far as Portugal and the USA without any thought to the cost of postage. Thank you so much.

Isn’t this a lovely sight? Nevermind the telly or the view, look at all those lovingly made crochet blankets for 27 dialysis patients!

I’ll update you all on delivery of the blankets, after Tuesday.

The last four blankets for Crochet For Kidneys Part 4

31 Saturday Oct 2015

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, Other people's crochet, Part 4

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charity blankets, crochet, crochet blanket

And so on this Halloween we reach the deadline for Crochet For Kidneys Part 4. It’s been a heart warming and humbling four months since my fourth appeal for crocheted blankets. My amazing blog readers and crochet friends delivered the goods – in spades! With the four blankets I received this week, we have reached a grand total of 26 blankets for the dialysis patients at the Royal London Hospital! That’s our highest blanket count since I started Crochet For Kidneys in November 2013!

This week Dorota’s blue and brown ripple blanket arrived all the way from Poland, Barbara’s second colourful traditional granny square blanket arrived from Portugal, Pauline Thomson’s granny square blanket in a comfy chunky yarn arrived from Scotland and Cecilia sent her very striking granny ripple.

Dorota Dobrowska

Barbara Boothman

Pauline Thomson

Cecilia Ockleford

Cecilia is an old-timer CFK member – you can see a photo of her in this blog post from the Crochet For Kidneys charity day back in November 2013.

Cecilia crocheted her first ever blanket for CFK3 last year, and this ripple is her second blanket. It takes Cecilia longer than the average to crochet a blanket because she suffers from muscle dystrophy. Just like last year, I feel very privileged that she would spend so much time on a blanket only to donate it to CFK. Thank you so much Cecilia, your selflessness is a true inspiration.

Everyone put so much care and love into their blankets I’m positive it will bring years of comfort and hope to the dialysis patients.

Whenever I look at my two cupboards filled to the brim with handmade blankets I am reminded of just how special you all are.

Thank you and blessings to each of you.

Nine more blankets for Crochet For Kidneys Part 4

11 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, Other people's crochet, Part 4

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charity blankets, crochet, crochet blanket

This week has been a bumper week for CFK4 – seven blankets arrived in the post, I received one blanket in person and I finished the pink blanket! That’s nine blankets for dialysis patients in one week! Isn’t that fantastic?!

Our grand total is now 22!!! This week we exceeded all previous Crochet For Kidneys, and the best part is, I know there are more blankets coming! You guys totally rock!

The first blanket I’m going to show you comes from Mary Gordon. Mary lives in Thames Ditton (where John and I lived when we started Crochet For Kidneys) so she is one of the very first contributors to CFK. I met up with Mary at Carluccio’s in Waterloo station on Saturday to pick up the blanket (and to catch up on all the Thames Ditton news.) I just had to open up the blanket and admire it right there in Carluccio’s because I know the kind of quality crochet Mary produces. Have a look at this blog post from CFK2 to see The Mary Border and her purple and white blanket. This year her blanket was inspired by the Rainbow. She wrote on the tag attached to the blanket: “This blanket is inspired by the colours of the rainbow – the promise of sunshine to come.” I just love that!!!

Mary Gordon

Trish Harris of France made two blankets, despite suffering from Carparel Tunnel Syndrome. Thank you so much Trish for contributing – your blankets are beautiful and I really appreciate the effort you put it. I hope the CTS clears up soon so you will be hook-in-hand again.

Trish Harris

Jude Garrett crocheted this super colourful blanket. She also attended the CFK2 event along with Mary. You can see Jude hard at work in this blogpost. Jude wrote that her 7-year old has now also started to crochet so next year we can expect a joint mother-and-daughter blanket! Wouldn’t that be just the sweetest thing!?

Jude Garrett

It looks like Sue de Vos was also inspired by the rainbow just like Mary, but Sue did rows of trebles for her rainbow blanket. So many colours!

Sue Ribbens de Vos

Sue’s second blanket is a gorgeous traditional granny square blanket in more muted shades than her striped rainbow blanket. I love the border and the way she joined her granny squares.

Sue Ribbens de Vos

Next up I want to show you Tamika’s two fantastic blankets – a blue, green, beige ripple and a stunning turquoise, green, white and brown granny square blanket. I love the unusual colours!

Tamika Joyeux

And finally my second blanket for CFK4, the pink mitred squares.

Natasja King

Thank you again to everyone who crocheted a blanket and posted it to me. I know it takes a lot of time to crochet a blanket and postage is not cheap. You produced beautiful blankets which I will be proud to hand over to the Renal Unit of the Royal London Hospital. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Two more blankets for Crochet For Kidneys Part 4

04 Sunday Oct 2015

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, My ramblings, Other people's crochet, Part 4

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charity blankets, crochet, crochet blanket, crochet4kidneys

The blankets for the dialysis patients are coming in weekly now and our total blanket count is up to 13. Thank you everyone!!

This week I received Wendy “Eddy” Gould’s very non-square purple and white blanket. This is our second striped blanket in Crochet For Kidneys Part 4. Wendy also contributed a blanket for CFK3 last year. She really embraced this year’s brief of “any design” 🙂

Wendy “Eddy” Gould

This extremely sunny blanket was made in Faro, Portugal. It’s the crochet work of Linda Baker, a friend of Barbara Booth whose blanket I showed you last week. Even if I hadn’t known Linda lives in Portugal I would have thought that this blanket has a distinct sunny Portuguese or Spanish feel to it. Don’t you agree? These two ladies are bringing the sunshine of Portugal to our blanket collection and they are making two blankets each. Fantastic!

Linda Baker

Not so much sunny as girly, my pink blanket is almost finished – I’m crocheting the edging at the moment and then have to work away the ends.

Thank you again to everyone who has crocheted blankets for the dialysis patients. Most of you are repeat contributors to Crochet For Kidneys which makes me appreciate your efforts even more. Blessings to you all!

Four more blankets for Crochet For Kidneys

13 Sunday Sep 2015

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, Other people's crochet, Part 4

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200 crochet blocks, crochet, crochet blanket

I received these four blankets from a mother and daughter team, Emma and Sandra Ashman. Thank you so much ladies, the blankets are beautiful!

Sandra Ashman

Emma Ashman

Sandra Ashman

Emma Ashman

How many hours of work went into these four blankets?! There are so many different square motifs in these four blankets! Ladies, am I right in saying that you have been using the 200 Crochet Blocks book by Jan Eaton…? 😉

Thanks to this mother and daughter team, the CFK4 blanket count is now up to nine. Thank you ladies, you are stars!

Your blankets for Crochet For Kidneys Part 4

07 Monday Sep 2015

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, Other people's crochet, Part 4

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charity blankets, crochet, crochet blanket, crochet4kidneys

Dear readers and Crochet For Kidneys blanket makers, please forgive me for not having updated you on the progress of CFK4 since June, when I showed you my Shades Of Blue Granny Square Blanket.

Things have been a bit hectic the past two months. It’s all very, very good though. My weekends were spent preparing for interviews, watching Lynda.com videos to improve my skills, celebrating Big Events with new and old friends, doing a bit of travelling with iVan the campervan and in general just enjoying life.

During July I went for job interviews and in August I heard that I got the job as legal PA at a very big Media & Entertainment company just 20 minute walk from our new home. I am super, super, excited and feel very blessed to have landed that job. I just know it’s going to be the start of Something Great.

My last day at the old job was Friday and I start the new one next Monday so this week is my time to reflect, recoup and recharge – and with recharge I mean catch up on my blog and crochet.

So without further ado back to the blankets for Crochet For Kidneys.

I’ve received four beautiful blankets so far from Gerlene Kennedy, Jan Appleton, Marion Nelson and someone with a postcode of DE66. The lady didn’t add a note so I don’t know anything else about her.

Gerlene Kennedy

Someone living in Derby

Jan Appleton

Marion Nelson

I love these blankets for being so very different. The beautiful colours, the combination of those colours (shout-out to Gerlene and Jan for great use of colour!), the neat stitches and attention to detail that the ladies put into their work is really inspiring. A special mention should also go to Gerlene for using the softest silver grey yarn ever. I just couldn’t stop touching that yarn!

I was so inspired that I decided to move away from a regular granny square for my second CFK4 blanket. I’m making metered granny squares in shades of pink. I’ve never done mitred squares but I really like the effect those off-centre rows create. I’m using up all my DK acrylic pink yarns for the blanket. This is going to be one very pink blanket!

I look forward to receiving more of your blankets and I promise to post them on the blog much sooner than I did for these four blankets.

Happy hooking friends.

Natasja

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 ta-daaah!

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Ta-daah!

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#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet, crochet blanket, Mood Blanket

Behold my Crochet Mood Blanket 2014!!! All 357 squares of it in its colourful glory! I started it on 1 January 2014 and completed it 31 December 2014 – precisely one year in the making.

crochet mood blanket 2014

The Crochet Mood Blanket is the brainchild of Stacey Wentworth-Hall (@frofunky on Instagram). You basically just crochet or knit a block or stripe everyday (or once a week if that suits you better) using a colour that you feel reflects your mood.

If you would like to get on board for 2015, have a look and join the Facebook Group here.

Our blanket will be moving between the living room and the bedroom. I just love how colourful it is! It cheers up any space!

The Mood Blanket has taught me a lot about myself and how my moods change. John said the blanket is a testament of his patience 🙂 I love that for years and years to come I will always be able to look back at my blanket, and therefore on my emotions during 2014. It’s been a good year and for that I am very, very grateful.

lacy cross crochet squares

The border I chose for my Mood Blanket is a variation on Border #39 that I used for my Dad’s Atlantic Waves Ripple blanket. The border is made up of three rows of single crochet, a row of double crochet (which in the original Border #39 is a treble) and a final three rows of single crochet. I used all seven of my colours for the border.

Seeing as the Crochet Mood Blanket is based on the days of the year, I wanted to be able to remember where it all started. In other words which square represents 1 January 2014? I did this by switching around the colours of the first two rows of the borders. See?

Around the square for 1 January, I used purple as the first row, whereas for the rest of the blanket I used yellow for the first row of the border. I don’t think anyone else would even notice this small switcharoo, but it’s the perfect reminder of my very first mood of 2014 – in this case a happy lime green.

The nitty gritty of the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014:

Pattern: Lacy Cross from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton
Yarn: Hayfield Bonus and Hayfield Baby Bonus
Crochet hook: 3.5 mm
Joining method: Join as you go
Border: No. 39 from Around The Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman.
Size: 21 rows of 17 squares, which makes 357 squares. Completed size with border is 165cm x 135cm.
Colours: The colours of the Mood Blanket were chosen to represent my seven moods. This is how may of each colour I used for the blanket:

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

I did some number crunching and at the end of 2014 I can reveal that I had 6% sad, 7 % irritable, 7% ditsy, 4 % stressed, 30% not great but not bad either, 29% happy and 17% grateful days. I know this because of a crochet blanket! How crazy and amazing is that?!

Making the Mood Blanket was a great eye opener. I had to be honest with myself about my moods. If that meant that there were three days of being depressed, then so be it. Three grey squares it shall be. I also had to reflect on my day at the end of every day. Some days may have started as green (happy) days, but then something would happen at work which upset me and the day turned into a stressed day. At the end of the day I had to look back and decide what was the prevailing mood for the day: the happiness of the morning, or the stress? Did I allow the stress to get to me or did I look on the bright side and manage to keep my day happy. If I allowed the stress to get to me, then it had to be honest with myself and make the day a red day.

At one point during 2014 I also realised that although I had lots of green (happy) days, I didn’t have that many grateful (turquoise) days. That’s not good and that’s something I had to, and still have to, work on.

If you are ready to be honest with yourself and stick with it, you can use a crochet project to analyse your moods, attitude and emotions for a whole year. As a bonus you’ll have a blanket at the end of the year. I highly recommend it.

Delivering the blankets for Crochet For Kidneys Part 3

25 Tuesday Nov 2014

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, Part 3

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charity blankets, crochet, crochet blanket

John and I are back from our visit to the Royal London Hospital where we delivered 17* crochet blankets to the Renal Ward Sister today. Looking at them together in this collage it really makes my heart very happy to be part of such a great group effort.

crochet for kidneys charity blankets

Everyone who saw the blankets were blown away by how beautiful they are and the generosity of everyone who gave up their time and talents to crochet squares and blankets. I was promised that the blankets will be distributed to the dialysis patients at Royal London Hospital (and their satellite dialysis units) who are frail and/or a bit depressed and could do with cheering up and a warm handmade blanket.

Thank you to each and every one of the 26 ladies from six countries (England, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, Australia and the USA) who donated crochet squares and blankets. I wish you bucket loads of blessings for the good work you have done!

On recommendation of one of the Renal ward nurses, we will make blankets for Whipps Cross University Hospital and their satellite dialysis units next year. Yes, you read that right – there will be Crochet For Kidneys Part 4! I think we will stick to the same format as for Part 3: 15 cm squares with white borders which you join up in strips of 6, or you can make complete blankets of 9 rows of 6 squares. I will launch CFK4 in August 2014 so that we can hand over the blankets around 27 November which is when John has his yearly living donor check-up.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed a piece of crochet for charity. I don’t think you, or I, can know how much it means to the dialysis patients.

xxx

If anyone wants to give a monetary donation to the Royal London Hospital Kidney Patients Association (read more about them here), you can do so on their JustGiving page here.

*I will be sending a 18th blanket by post to the hospital as soon as it arrives from the USA. You can see Cindy Flishman’s cheery blanket in the bottom left of the collage.

As seen on TV (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia )

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by Natasja in As seen on TV

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crochet, crochet blanket, crochet on tv

ItsAlwaysFunnyInPhiladelphia_S06_EP08

This totally retro 1970’s colour scheme granny square blanket can be seen in Season 8, Episode 6 of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Thank you Cade for sending me the screenshot!

Just like The Roseanne Show couch blanket and the blanket on Amy’s couch on The Big Bang Theory, this is a traditional granny square blanket. All the squares are the same, made up of a light yellow, dark orange, lime green, light orange and finally a brown round. I would guess the blanket is the same size as the blanket in Taxi – roughly 9 rows of 14 squares.

If you want to make a retro 70’s throwback granny square blanket like this one, I suggest these Stylecraft Special DK shades:

As for the pattern, visit my Photo Tutorials tab for instructions on how to crochet a multi colour granny square.

Don’t you just love granny square blankets? Even the TV shows know that a granny square blanket can make any house a home, no matter what the colour scheme.