crochet love – Page 10

Year of the Stitches – Week 18 Grannie Stitch

Grannie Stitch

Well hello long weekend!! I definitely feel like we are all ready for this one. Still can’t quite believe it’s May though!! The blossom is out in full force around us. This beauty is on our door step! There’s something about tree blossom isn’t there that just makes you feel so good! Think it’s because it is so uplifting with such colour and new life after the long wintery months.

We are lucky to have another stunning blossom in our back garden. Amazingly, considering how big it is now, survived the trip from our old house a few years ago. The tree is quite happily snuggled up now in our garden. It was given to me by my dear dear Godmother for my 30th birthday. Such a wonderful present, as she knew how much I love my garden and the fact that it blossoms every year on my birthday. She sadly passed away a few years ago. So terribly sad. Such a wonderful lady.

She made the most incredible chocolate cake. It was kept in a large Tupperware box under the counter in the kitchen. Soon as you walked in the door you would check if the box was full or not and if it was, you were in for a treat!! It was always washed down with a glass of milk!! So in true PipsRainbow style, here’s one I made in tribute to my dear Godmother Sue!!

Don’t you just love this time of year!! I think the best time is in the evenings when you’re walking home. Everyone is relaxed and happy!! The sun is still out and the birds are chirping!! Roll on the summer!!

So I hope everyone’s blanket is going well. Mine seems be being used as a bandage here!! It definitely gets a lot of use in our household and not always as a blanket!!

So last week, I had a little mishap with a ball of wool. It did used to resemble a skein! Hmm! I think I might need my Dad’s help on this one!! He is my wool sorter extraordinaire!!

I did manage to wind some of the wool up into a ball. My poor husband is always on hand with my precious wool winder. See, crocheting is just the best! It brings people together!! Haha! I’m sure my husband would much rather sit and chill of an evening. The one thing I do love about crocheting is how versatile it is and the ability to be able to crochet literally anywhere in the world! I reckon we should start that on instagram! Photos of crocheting in random/interesting places!! Let’s do it! Hashtag #icancrochetanywhere. This photo was taken in a waiting room. It was hiding in my bag, but as soon as I sat down out it came!! I did manage to stop and look around the waiting room, slightly shockingly I was the only one not on my phone! I wonder – is that what the world is coming to? No one looked up until their name was called! No one spoke to anyone! Heyho! I think that’s why I love crocheting so much! #icancr ochetanywhere. Maybe, the more we talk about it and crochet in public, the more people will pick up a hook and go for it!! I wonder if we could have a National Crochet Day! How mega would that be!! Right I think I might be rambling now!! Hmmm ok, on to the blanket!

Supplies –

Ok, so the colour. This week I’ve decided we had better have a sunshine colour!! It’s been a beautiful weekend for sun, so here’s hoping that it stays!! This is a ball of Sublime yarn that my mother brought me from the wonderful Blacksheep Wool shop. I think I have spoken about it before, but it is on my ‘to go to’ list!!! Mum absolutely loves it there, so totally needs a visit from a little old me!! It’s in Warrington, so not a crazy distance. This one is a lovely rich yellow, it’s almost golden to be honest! Looks mega next to the plum from last week. So as always you need about 30g of double knit yarn, a 4mm crochet hook and a blunt ended tapestry needle. Ooo and don’t forget the scissors.

Stitches –

Chain stitch (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Treble (tr) – To make a treble crochet, firstly yarn over your hook, insert through space/stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through space/stitch. There should now be 3 loops on your hook. Then yarn over hook and pull through the first two loops, yarn over hook and pull through the last two loops.

So this week I have decided to use the one and only Grannie Stitch. Now I know that this will be old news to a lot of you, but some it might not be. It’s such an easy and well known stitch. So I felt it needed to go in! I do have a lot of love for the Grannie stitch, as it was the very first stitch I really knew and used to make my very first crocheted item!! Well, kind of an item – it was a Grannie square coaster, but by golly I was proud of it!!

So without further ado, I give you the Grannie Stitch in all its glory!! Year of the Stitches Week 18 off we go!!

Ok so here we go …

1 – Right, so first things first, attach your yarn onto the right side of your blanket. So chain 3 (acts as 1tr), then work 1tr in the same stitch. Now miss 2 stitches and work 3tr in the next stitch. Right so now *miss 2 stitches and work 3tr in the next stitch.* Repeat ** across the row.

When you come to the last 2 stitches in the row, work 2tr and then 1tr in the last stitch. (200)

2 – Right so turn your blanket and chain 3 (This acts as 1tr.) So miss this first stitch and second stitch, then work 3tr inbetween the Grannie stitches below.

Now work *3tr in between the next Grannie stitches below and repeat ** across the row.

Ok so at the end of the row work 3tr in the last space inbetween the Grannie stitches and then work 1 tr in the top of the chain 3 stitch from the row below. (200)

3 – For the final row, turn your blanket and chain 3 (acts as 1tr.) Work 1tr in the same stitch.

Now work 3tr stitches inbetween each of the Grannie stitches in the row below.

Now work the last Grannie stitch, so 3tr stitches inbetween the last Grannie stitch and the chain 3 stitches. (200)

And there you have it! The Grannie Stitch. It just had to be added to the blanket!! Well hope you all enjoy your long weekend and have some lovely calming moments for crocheting!!

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx

Year of the Stitches – Week 15 Floret Stitch

Floret Stitch

Well hello everyone!! Hope you have all had a good week. It’s been our last week of the Easter holidays and we’ve definitely had some fun. I have loved having my girl at home with me!! We have not ventured out much, but made the most of no school runs!! It’s been great spending time with her, whilst the little one is asleep! You can’t beat a bit of painting or lego building, but it does seems to end up that I do the building and she plays with the bits I’ve finished! Haha, I don’t mind to be honest!!

We’ve had a rather successful week of finding smile stones. Not sure if you have heard of them, but they are great fun. They are painted stones that are being hidden mainly in Staffordshire, but I think all over the country now, you can find them and publish them on their Facebook page! Can’t wait to make our own!

So my lovely friend’s daughter came up to me the other day with the outline of her foot. It was so sweet. I said I would write the pattern for children’s slipper socks for her Mum to crochet! I have already made my daughter some, so just needed to adapt the pattern. Hoping to share the pattern on here soon. It’s going to have 3 sizes ranging from a 9 to a size 3. It will then link on to the adults slipper sizes. My niece is a size 3, which is lucky, so making her a pair. Loving the colours from the amazing West Yorkshire Spinners range. Think these are going to be the watermelon design!!

Right so we had better get onto the blanket. This week it is a beautiful stitch called the Floret Stitch. It’s combines different heights of stitches to create a pretty cool pattern! It’s usually made up of two different rows, so if you ever use it for something else, make sure you have an even number of rows.

Supplies –

So this week I have carried on with the seaside theme and used a light grey, hopefully resembling where the water breaks into waves. The wool I have used is from a lovely range called Millamia. It’s merino wool and is incredibly soft and lovely to work with. Hoping to use more of it in the blanket.

As always I have used about 30/40g of double knit wool. Remember you can use any kind of yarn, just make sure it’s double knit weight. Don’t forget your blunt ended tapestry needle and scissors.

Stitches –

Chain stitch (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Slip stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Decrease by 2 treble crochet (2trtog) – So start off by yarn over your hook, then insert into the stitch. Yarn over your hook and pull through. (3 loops) then yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops then yarn over your hook and insert through the next stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. (4 loops) Then yarn over and pull through the first 2, then yarn over your hook and pull through the last 3 loops.

Ok so here we go …

1 – So you are starting with your blanket on the right side. Attach your new yarn and chain 3. Then work 1tr into the same stitch. Now during this row, we are going to reduce the stitch count again to the original 200 stitches. So we need to reduce it by 3 stitches. So you are going to work a 2trtog at the beginning of the row, one in the middle and one at the end. So firstly work 1 2trtog stitch and then carry on with 1tr in each stitch. If you are unsure of how to work a 2trtog stitch, please refer to the stitch information above.

Once you are roughly in the middle of the blanket, work your second 2trtog stitch. Once again carry on working 1tr stitches into your row. Finally with 3 stitches to go, work the last 2trtog stitch and then finally work 1tr in the last stitch. This finishes your first row and your stitch count is now back to 200. (200)