2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches Week 31 – Ball Stitch

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Ball Stitch

Well, we have had a week at home with no school runs or clubs to contend with. Bliss. It’s funny how you can easily fall into a life with no real routine or structure. My husband goes to work early, so the alarm is always set and getting up is the usual time. But once I’m dressed it’s pretty much free for all. Both our children will happily snuggle in our bed for a while. So a sneaky cuppa in bed may occur. I wonder one day if some crocheting in bed may happen?!? You never know – it could do. Our one thing in the day is little one’s afternoon nap. But that’s a nice thing to keep to as it gives me some special time with just my daughter. We keep hoping to paint our Smile Stones, but we still haven’t managed it! I reckon this is the week!! We found this one this week, just walking into town.

So for some reason my husband has been craving a chocolate and cherry mousse. Not sure why, I think it’s because we had a bowl of cherries on the table for pudding one night, which in my house, doesn’t last long. But then they had them with some chocolate ice cream. (Unfortunately, not some of my own making – my supplies have been demolished!) But I think the chocolate/cherry combo got them both wanting a mousse. Thus the Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake was born. It’s pretty yummy, if I say so myself! Think it will definitely make an appearance at the next meal I host. My daughter is usually the cook/food critique in our house – and I had a serious amazing thumbs up for this one. So pleased with that.

Other than slow mornings and chocolate cake bakings, we haven’t done a lot. We managed a nice family bike ride today and a trip to Brum yesterday,  which was good. Our opticians that we go to, are on route, so it seemed daft to not carry on into Birmingham after our yearly appointments. Feels strange going in at the minute. We used to go in most weekends before little ones. We’d mooch around, do a bit of shopping, probably have a Pret sandwich and then back to one of the parent’s houses for a spot roast dinner. It’s bonkers now to think that shopping in Birmingham is just not an option and utterly pointless with little ones in tow!! We just don’t do it anymore. I can never shop for clothes when the kids are with me and they definitely don’t want to be there, so we just don’t do it. Bless them. How your life changes with kids. We are currently looking up bike ride locations for next time, not which city is good to shop in. I’m sure our life will change again at some point, but at the minute – I wouldn’t have it any other way!!

So on our ‘not shopping’ trip to Birmingham we ended up at the Birmingham Museum to meet Dippy the Dinosaur. He’s on tour at the minute and it was definitely worth it. My daughter definitely got the specialness of it all, but I think my son was on a mission to just run around and explore. I definitely think, hands on attractions are on his radar at the minute. Funny.

So onto crocheting and more importantly – socks!! Oh my!!! My life seems to be revolving around crocheting socks at the minute!! I’m not entirely sure how it has happened, but I am currently addicted to crocheting socks!

I have written a pattern for a size 6-8 and a 9-11 sock at the minute. So just need to write it for a 3-5 and a 12-13 and I am there. And guessing a little peoples pattern needs writing too! But seriously I can’t seem to get enough of it. My dad spotted me walking around the house with a ball of wool in a cardigan pocket and a sock being crocheted in my hands the other day – it did make him laugh! I just can’t get enough of them. Oh well, I am sure I will get over it soon. Or maybe not, Hee hee. I definitely think everyone is getting a pair of socks for Christmas!!! Well, that’s the plan anyway!!! Here’s hoping!! This is the sock ball mountain at the minute!! Oooo, don’t you just love all those yummy yarny rainbows 🌈 colours.

So onto the blanket and this weeks wonderful stitch. I thought it was time that we had another cluster stitch. So this week I have chosen the Ball Stitch. The Ball stitch is ever so simple. It works up quite a bit quicker than some of the other cluster stitches and fits easily with rows of double crochet stitches. You could use it for a bag of some description. Hope you enjoy this one. It’s known in our house as the tomato stitch. They definitely look like little dark red tomatoes don’t they!! 🍅

 

Here’s my blanket so far. It’s getting quite hard to get it all in one picture!!

Supplies –

As always you need to choose a double knit yarn of any kind and you roughly need about 30g. This week I have decided to use a Debbie Bliss merino wool in a maroon/red colour.

It’s such a deep strong colour and has a rather close resemblance to some yummy reddy/black tomoatoes that we are growing at the moment. Well I say trying to grow. My little munchkin of a son keeps nabbing them off the plant in the garden and eating them, sometimes before they are even ripe!!

Luckily my daughter or myself tend to launch ourselves at him to stop him eating the green ones. But it does now mean we have a bowl of green tomatoes attempting to ripe in our kitchen. Poor things. Hopefully we can keep his little grabbing hands at bay, for the others to grow properly. And especially these rather weird looking ones!!! Love them!

Don’t forget your scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle. And of course your 4mm crochet hook.

Stitches –

Chain (ch) – To make a chain stitch, make a slip knot on your hook and then place the yarn over your hook and pull through the loop. Repeat this action to make a row of stitches.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Half Treble 4 Together (htr4tog) – A htr4tog is working 4 half trebles together. *Firstly yarn over your hook, insert through stitch, yarn over your hook, pull back through stitch. * Repeat ** 3 more times. You should now have 9 loops on your hook. Now yarn over your hook and pull through all 9 loops. This completes your htr4tog.

Ok so here goes …

1 – Ok so first things first, attach your new yarn and chain 1. Now work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc in each stitch across the row. To do this, you’ll be working 1dc in each of the chain stitches and then 1dc in the double crochet stitches from the row below. When you’re working stitches into the chain stitches – just pick up the top loop of the chain stitch. (See photo below.)

You should then finish with 1dc in the last stitch. (200)

2 – Turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Then work 1dc in each stitch across the row. Then 1dc in the last stitch. (200)

3 – Right so now we are ready to start the ball stitch. So start by turning your blanket and chaining 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Work 1dc in the next 2 stitches.

We’re now ready to start the ball stitch, which basically is a htr4tog stitch. This is basically when you are working 4 half treble crochet stitches together. So start off by putting your *yarn over your hook and inserting into your next stitch. Then yarn over your hook and pull back through the stitch.* There should be 3 loops on your hook.

Now repeat ** 3 more times. You will now have 9 loops on your hook.

Ok so now it’s time to put your yarn over your hook again and pull through all 9 loops. This completes your ball stitch (htr4tog.)

So now it’s time to crochet 1dc in the next 3 stitches.

*Now work 1htr4tog in the next stitch and then 1dc in the next 3 stitches.* Repeat this ** across the row. (200)

4 – Ok so for a final row, turn your blanket, chain 1 and then 1dc in the same stitch.

Then work 1dc in each stitch across the row.

You should finish the row with 1dc stitch and then fasten off and sew in your ends. (200)

And there you have the lovely ball stitch. Think it’s definitely one of the simpler of the cluster stitches. And loving the fact that the little balls look rather similar to our yummy dark red tomatoes. It’s definitely all about tomatoes in our house over the last few weeks – look at those colours that I have used on the last 3 weeks of the blanket. Love it. I’m sure it wouldn’t make others smile, but it definitely gives me a big grin on face. Hee hee, happy days.

 

Hope you have all enjoyed this week Year of the Stitches CAL.

Don’t forget to share any pics of your beautiful blankets on their holibobs.

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx

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2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches Week 30 – Ridged String Network

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Ridged String Network

Holibobs!!! Well what a week. We have been on what I can probably call – our yearly trip to Cornwall. And oh have we had fun. It’s been such a fun, family filled holiday. It’s one of those, when the main aim of the holiday is to chill, yet you cram in as much adventure as possible. We did chill, but only as much as you can with two little bods in tow!

We spent the week in Talland Bay, which is terribly picturesque! It has a little beach, with a wonderful Beach Cafe and lots of little coves and rock pools that need exploring.

One of the days, we headed out on the coastal path to Polperro, which is a quaint little coastal town. We first came across it in February last year, when we stayed in the area. It has a lovely little cafe at the top of the harbour. Couldn’t resist a croissant/cappuccino stop here, after a rather long walk.

It’s definitely worth a visit, if you are in the area.

Have you ever been crabbing? My daughter was so excited when we went. She managed to catch a whopping 13 crabs, but apparently my sister has caught 24!! So we have some catching up to do!

So this week, I have been concentrating on my 4ply sock pattern. Think it’s coming along. The first sock, wasn’t so good. It seemed rather long and the heel was a little weird, but this second one seems better. So hope I can get it published for you guys as soon as possible. I am really hoping to make them for birthday pressies and Christmas pressies. But we shall see. (Note the very sandy crocheting picture below – goodness sand gets everywhere, doesn’t it!)

Think I need to get an order in with HeyJayYarn, so I can make some more super soft sock yarn.

A certain little Uni Unicorn had her first adventure this week. She definitely had quite a few trips to the beach. Makes me so happy when a little PipsRainbow creation is loved and cherished so much. Apparently, another little Uni Unicorn went on their holibobs the other day too. Love how they are finding their way in the world.

Now, just look at that window. This was in our local Beach Cafe in Talland Bay. It definitely stopped me for six!!

I mean, what a view. I walked in and there it was!!! A place to sit, drink tea, eat a few cream teas and above all, crochet!!! I mean, there was even a vase of crocheted flowers in the corner – what could be more perfect!

It just screamed sit down and crochet!

As a family of four, we sat down and shared a bowl of ice cream. My daughter was in her element, slurping and licking yummy ice cream and my son, well, he knows what ice cream is now and was trying every which way to try and sample this creamy delight. Oh and did I mention that he was trying to escape out the window at the same time as well. Haha! What is he like – my little explorer. It was at this moment, when another family of four walked past. Two boys, a dad and his wife. The two kids were screaming for ice cream, the dad was laden down with all sorts of beach fanalia and all the mum wanted was a family photo!! Haha – the dad looked across into the window and caught my eye – within a split second, he had made a facial expression to me of what can only be described as – ‘REALLY – she wants to capture this moment!!!’ Haha, bless him. He was not impressed and seemed to realise that I knew how he felt!! Funny. Amazing how a simple look can communicate something to a complete stranger. I looked back and gave him that knowing smile!!! She took her photo, with all 3 of them being grumpy and off they went!! She was happy, at least.

Well in that moment, I looked at my happy little family, sharing their ice cream and giggling. I looked out of the window at the view and I was so utterly utterly thank you of them and my family holiday. There was definitely no grumpiness here. It was in this moment – I vowed to myself, I would come back and sit in this window one day with my latest project and crochet hook. Whether it be on a family holiday, with the kids in the water, splashing away happily or one of them is sitting beside me or even just with my most dearest, most wonderfullest husband in the world, sitting beside me. I will come back here to crocheted. Promise made – July 2018.

Another little place we visited was a little harbour called Mevagissey. It was a quaint little place.

Loving the little boats and all the different colours and boat names. Some people have some funny ideas about boat names. One was called Girl Rachel. I mean, surely everyone knows that Rachel is a girls name!!! Funny!!! I reckon PipsRainbow would be a good name for a boat, wouldn’t it!!!

Does anyone else have a project that just keeps on going? I can’t seem to finish this one. It’s my Seaside Shawl. I’ve realised that I only seem to work on it, when I’m near the sea. I reckon I should keep it that way. It will truly be my Seaside Shawl then. This week, it found its way out on to Harlyn Bay. Now, I say it made its way out – it was literally minutes!!! It was pouring down and the wind was about 25mph! Luckily on shore! When I took this picture the ball of wool kept falling over, it was that windy!!! But yeah I managed a couple of stitches, whilst a little lady and her daddy were catching waves and my little man was having fun pretending to drive his Daddy’s car!! Maybe, the next beach this little Seaside Shawl sees, I might have chance to crochet a few rows instead of stitches!!

So, think we had better get onto the blanket.

Supplies –

So once again I have used wool from the lovely Rowan range. It’s a stunning deep red colour. I was hoping it would represent my feelings and love and luckiness that we have had a super family holiday together. It’s so very precious isn’t it. I think so many people I know seem to take family holidays for granted or think it’s their right to go on holiday!! Well I for one, feel extremely lucky to have had this week, with just us 4. We have chilled, enjoyed each other’s company and had some super adventures!!! Just what a summer holiday should be about!! Happy days.

So once again you will need about 30-40g of double knit yarn and not forgetting your 4mm crochet hook, scissors and blunt ended tapestry needle to sew in the ends.

Stitches –

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

Back Loop Double Crochet – So basically to work a back loop double crochet, you need to insert your hook into the back loop only of the next stitch, then yarn over, as usual, pull through and the yarn over and pull the 2 loops. (So basically it’s a double crochet stitch, but workin th first part of the stitch in th from part only.)

Ridged String Network – This stitch is a very simple stitch. So basically you chain 3, miss 3 stitches and then work 1dc in the back loop of the next stitch. It’s as simple as that.

Ok so here we go …

1 – Attach your yarn and chain 1 onto the right side of your blanket. Work 1dc in the same stitch. *Now chain 3, miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the 1tr stitch in the row below.*

Repeat ** across the row.

Work 1dc in the last tr stitch in the row. (200)

2 – Turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the back loop of the same stitch.

*Now chain 3, miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the back loop of the dc stitch from the row below.* Repeat this **across the whole row.

Finishing by working 1dc in the back loop of the last dc stitch in the row below. (200)

3 – Repeat row 2. So turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the back loop of the same stitch. *Now chain 3, miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the back loop of the dc stitch from the row below.* Repeat this ** across the whole row. Finish by working 1dc in the back loop of the last dc stitch in the row below. (200)

4 – Repeat row 2. So turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the back loop of the same stitch. *Now chain 3, miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the back loop of the dc stitch from the row below.* Repeat this ** across the whole row. Finish by working 1dc in the back loop of the last dc stitch in the row below. (200)

5 – Repeat row 2. So turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the back loop of the same stitch. *Now chain 3, miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the back loop of the dc stitch from the row below.* Repeat this ** across the whole row. Finish by working 1dc in the back loop of the last dc stitch in the row below. (200)

6 – Repeat row 2. So turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the back loop of the same stitch. *Now chain 3, miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the back loop of the dc stitch from the row below.* Repeat this ** across the whole row. Finish by working 1dc in the back loop of the last dc stitch in the row below. (200)

7 – Repeat row 2. So turn your work and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the back loop of the same stitch. *Now chain 3, miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the back loop of the dc stitch from the row below.* Repeat this ** across the whole row. Finish by working 1dc in the back loop of the last dc stitch in the row below. (200)

And there you have the lovely Ridged String Network stitch. Hope you have enjoyed this one. I reckon it would bea great stitch fro a shopping bag of some description – hmmm, now that needs thinking about …

Happy hooping everyone.

🌈Xx

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