Christmas...

...is a time when i make the most things...but can't show anyone in case they're for you :( sorry for the lack of posts...i do have a peplum jumper i designed and made on the way but right now its drying...

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Starburst Afghan . . . Almost Finished . . .

Finally finished all the crochet on this blanket, just the dreaded ends to be sewn in and a little bit of blocking, but with its size and the weather i'm not sure how i'm going to do it...

Thick n' Quick Scarf . . .

Found this crazy ball of wool, its quite chunky yarn, its also very rare i see a colour change yarn in purple so I bought it for fun and have made a scarf. This scarf was Tunisian crocheted in the knit stitch which i've never used before and think it really works with chunky wool and a massive crochet hook...

Vacuum Packed Wool . . .

I finished the jumper for Esther quite early in the summer and before I went back to college a couple of weeks ago I remembered I had to sew in the ends. After it was all sewn up I had a sneeky try on and decided I wanted one for myself. I had a few balls of lilac marble colour change J.c.Brett wool which I started with and I only got as far as the body before I was all out. 

I ordered some more off of ebays and it arrived like this - vacuum packed - amazed, it made my day, id never have thought to do this...to begin with i was a little concerned as it what it was id bought, but i popped the plastic and puff back into balls of wool they turned. 

 

Happy Birthday Bunting with a little Crochet . . .

My sister has recently gone to Uni and wouldn't be home today her Birthday so I made this bunting, a mixture of fabric and crochet so she had a present to open but also something to decorate her room.

Starburst Entrelac Afghan: Update. . .

Chunky Granny Square: Update. . .

Chunky Granny Square . . .

I've so far finger-knitted approx 400g of acrylic dk and then using my massive (not actually sure what size it is) wooden crochet hook to create the granny square motif...I'm hoping to use 10 100g balls for a good sized blanket, with a contrast colour to finish around the edge...

Starburst Entrelac Afghan . . .

Slowly working on this Afghan since my holiday, its disrupting a lot of dissertation research...whoops! I haven't done a lot with Tunisian crochet so this is quite interesting how each diamond slowly expands.

Purple Vest . . .

This vest like most of my others has been adapted from a Doris Chan original. I have experimented with altering the stitch pattern on several vests and jumpers, this time I have used a combination of those possible patterns to create an almost chevron design.

Crochet White Vest . . .

Another vest, this time I finished it with an edging from the internet, it was described as 'goth' perfect for halloween costumes...this is a present for a relative, I'm glad it doesn't look 'goth' in white...

Alice's Jumper Complete. . .

Once she had decided upon the colours to finish the jumper it didnt take too long to hook up and be finished...yeye...

Alice's Jumper WIP . . .

I have been slowly adapting a Doris Chan pattern, first my florescent pink jumper by adding arms to her vest design along with numerous vest were I have altered the stitch pattern slightly. This is another alteration combining a different stitch pattern and sleeves for my sister to use up some balls of creme beige yarn I've had for ages. There isn't enough for a full jumper so a colour change is in order...

Just Got To Sew In All The Ends . . .

And then the jumper for Esther should be finished, now I just hope it fits...

Using Up Left Overs . . .

I had two 50g balls of the orange KoolKotton left from my making my sister a lacy cardigan, which I have now realised after looking for a link to the cardigan I never actually took a picture of the finished thing whoops! I decided to use it up and make her a vest like the one I have turned into a jumper, only 2x50g wasn't nearly long enough in keeping with the pattern so I repeated the V stitch row and I think it turned out quite well.

Too Florescent Updated - Now with Arms . . .

Acrylic Fabric Medium . . .

I've been working using textiles for my current course and I have found this stuff called Acrylic Fabric Medium, its mixed with arcylic paint normally a 1:1 ratio and as long as you heat set it once dry the acrylic paint as like fabric paint. I thought id test it out on some tshirts before I decided to use it in my college work. After a 30 wash it came out really well, only down side is it is a little stiff unlike some fabric paints, but i have loads of acrylic and can mix up lots of colours without worrying that i've wasted all the paint. 

Esther's Jumper Update . . .

Esther finally has a sleeve and a cuff on the way, once I get more wool she shall have another...

Tooo Florescent?...

I've been eying up this yarn for a while, it looked really pretty in the ball, but now I've crocheted it I'm not sure if its tooo florescent for me...I really liked the darker pink areas and for a whole ball there isn't much of that colour. I'm going to try and adapt the pattern to add arms, If i succeed I can always whip up another...

Esther's Jumper. . .

I've recently bought two Doris Chan books of crochet clothing designs and a friend of mine, Esther has commissioned me to make her one of the jumpers. This is my progress so far, I forgot to take much earlier photos.

Growing Wool Eater . . .

My wool eater has grown quite a bit, I intend to add two more white rows and perhaps a grey edging - we'll see...

Farpoint Topper . . .

Farpoint Topper is another pattern from the Doris Chan - Amazing Crochet Lace pattern book I bought recently. It has very simple construction of 4 pentagon motifs, I have finished making the last motif today and it is blocking at the moment, its a really simple design, one i'd like to try using a granny pentagon method. Simply create a pentagon motif which every side measures 33cm or 13".

Wool Eater Six Motifs . . .

Wool Eater Update . . .

Since here I haven't gotten very far with my attempt at a wool eater, I have made six blocks of two different colour rows so far and am slowly adding the final row of colour and joining. This did bring up the issue that I'd totally ignored the pattern and done the 2nd colour row wrong but I've worked around it.

Exhibition Point Six Six

I have dedicated this blog space to all crochet and handmade items I produce in my spare time, separate from the pieces I produce at college. My second year is over and to end nicely two of my final piece have been picked to be in an exhibition in Hereford called Point Six Six, along with the work of 12 other students. Its been a really good experience putting up a show but sadly this has caused my crochet to lapse just a little, well at least my blogging of it.

Here's the link to the exhibition blog and my own art blog;

www.CAA2013.blogspot.co.uk

www.lucysalter.tumblr.com

Crochet and Fishing . . .

 

This weekend has been full of fishing and crochet...The purple piece above is in essence the Sambuca jacket I have made quite a few times now but I hope to sew up the opening and wear it backwards like a jumper. The two piece's below were started only this weekend as I watched Danul catch lots of fishes nice and warm from the car. The red piece is another Sambuca Jacket the body is complete but I will need more wool for the sleeves, its a birthday present to come. The white vest is a new pattern from one of the books i recently purchased and crocheted up really quite quickly, another birthday present. Just lots of ends to sew in ... wooop...

 

Granny Square Cushion . . .

Finished the Granny Square Cushion I was making as a present, luckily completed with just a little of the grey spare. It was given to its new owner this weekend with the response of ''ohh isn't that lovely'' and me suggesting it was turned over as what she was looking at was the back. Good result all round, sad to see it go though, think I might need to make a few for myself...

Wool Eater - Sorf of ...

Sarah London has published the Wool Eater blanket pattern on her website and has started a Crochet Along at the beginning of this year, she has a Flickr account where all the people taking part have uploaded images of their blankets. I'd downloaded the pdf and had a go at the pattern a while ago but didn't really know what to do with it until now. Whilst in Aldi I came across 400g giant balls of 8-10ply wool for only £2.50 - bargain - so I have decided to start making a blanket using the Wool Eater pattern as a block of two rows of colour for a third to be added later and join all of the blocks together...

Granny Square Cushion

 Currently working on a cushion for someone's birthday...I've seen alot of Granny Square cushions but realised I've never made one...Sadly I am running out of wool and accidentally just bought the wrong grey grrr...

Plethora Continued...

I subscribe to Inside Crochet - its full of patterns, not always amazing, but the last issue held a patten by Doris Chan, really easy to work up and quite adaptable. So I've made one for me using cheap acrylic DK in black, and have two works in progress, one for my aunty in black smoothie dk, and one for my sister in orange "kool" cotton...

Plethora of Crochet Jumpers . . .

I have been through a phase of trying to make my own jumpers without using a pattern, but I realised I don't think I've ever made a jumper from a pattern. That all ends now...I found this quite unusual pattern on Red Heart Yarns the pattern is downloadable but be warned its in American terminology. I used two balls (200g) of J.C.Bretts Marble chunky yarn in this quite unusual green and purpley brown.

Learning New Crochet Stitches . . .

I am currently working on a Doris Chan designed lace cardigan but ran out of wool on Sunday grr...so in the mean time whilst I wait for the shops to open I had a little go at following some video tutorials for some interesting crochet stitches I've always wanted to try...

Entrelac Crochet - a form of tunisian crochet, in the first image I followed the tutorial and changed colour each row. In the second image I made much smaller squares 3stitches by 3 rows and only changed colour every two rows, this made an almost chevron pattern. Looking around this stitch would work really well with colour changing yarn.Catherine Wheel Stitch - creates repeated circles linked by lines when you change colour, looking online there are so many good colour combinations for this pattern.Crocodile Stitch - Layering up of what look like petals or scales, very textured and three dimensional, but all very simple crochet stitches and great video tutorials.

Flowery Tea Pot Cosy . . .

Recently it was my Gma's birthday and for Christmas she had brought my sister and I and how to Knit tea cosy book, I can't knit to save my life so my sister and I worked together to create this floral design, she knit the base structure and I crocheted on the flowers.

Finger Knit Crochet Rug . . .

I have been wanting to use up some of the wool I have, loads of purple and pinks that although I love the colours these days I tend to crochet things I can wear and I don't honestly wear that much purple so I have decided to start a massive ball of finger knitting and crochet it in the round with my new, quite massive, crochet hook...

Machine Knit & Crochet Baby Blanket . . .

This has been one of the first projects I have done using my knitting machine - other than samples and tests to see what i can do. It was a basic knit stitch with intervals of tuck / missed stitches to create a pattern and texture. I then used crochet to add on a granny square edging and a frill.

Crochet Jumper . . .

This jumper is of my own creation, I made two square-ish shapes with neck holes and then added on two sleeve-ish shapes and seamed up the sides and under the arms all in one. I copied one of the jumpers I already own and Im quite pleased with outcome, i added a scalloped edge to make it slightly longer so it draped better, but im really pleased with my first attempt.

Slip Stitch Crochet Scarf . . .

Now I have a short gap between finishing a project and starting a new one so I have been making for mee...This is a scarf I have made, Ive got a thing for subtle change in colour at the moment or should i say tone as greys are one of my favourites...

Tutorial:
Three colours A B and C, Lightest to Dark,
Chain 75 - 80 (enough to go around your neck comfortably)
Slip Stitch into each chain across, continue for 16 rows, Fasten off.
Change to colour B and join to colour a 3 rows down in order to create the ridge between colours.
Continue for another 16 rows, fasten off.
Again change to the next colour and repeat.
Then seam up to create a cowl scarf.

This scarf could be made a lot longer to go around your next twice, i also might make a purple version with loads of different colours so i will make the bands a lot shorter.

3DSP On The Wall . . .

This is the 3DSP work I have been doing, experimenting with different types of crochet and also different materials to crochet with consolidating into a focus on Loopy crochet using a DK acrylic wool and some paper yarn or the black equivalent i found plastic wire. . . The final board of samples were achieved most recently in which i think i took quite a big step into my experimentation...