2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches – Week 23 Starburst Stitch

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The Starburst Stitch

Hmmm, my lovely blanket seems to be being used as a train track!!!! Little monkey!! Oh the joys of the little people. I’m pleased I’ve taken this picture, as I feel like it marks the week of our little man suddenly becoming utterly obsessed with his Brio train track. He just loves it. So pleased for him. He seems to be spending many a happy moment sitting in the middle of his track fiddling with bridges and moving the crossing barriers. I love how you can show him something new and his little face lights up in amazement at the simpliest of things. It’s so lovely to see and watch his abilities grow! Bless him. Hmm, I wonder if I could crochet something for his train track! Now there’s a thought. I’ve already had an idea for a car storage system, but will share that when I have put my idea into action. I reckon crocheting can be found in all areas of our lives. Haha, I do have a lovely friend who is new to the crocheting world and keeps calling it croqueting! Haha – they will remain nameless, but it does make me chuckle each time it’s said!!!

My daughter had a new little doll last weekend for being such a good girl. She was so excited. It was on her birthday list which isn’t for quite a while yet, so as soon as she entered the toy shop, she was on a mission to find it! So obviously her little doll, Snowbeam, needed a place to sleep. So out comes at breakfast, 2 balls of dk sublime and one ball of 4ply cotton. Nothing like a bit of speed crocheting at breakfast with a 7mm hook.

Quite chuffed with the end result!! Think it might need a little flower decoration though.

This week I was reminded of the feeling of living away from loved ones and setting off on new adventures. I think everyone deals with different situations in their own way. I was never any good at living away from home. I’m definitely a pack member! And pack members stick together!! My husband’s cousin has just started out in London and moved into her own little pad. She has a big new job in the big city and is loving every minute of it. So I decided a little mandala love was required! Couldn’t resist making this little one. Thought she might need a little crochet love in her life. I used my Beautiful England pattern, which you can find in the patterns catergory. This one in only up to round 9. Hopefully she’ll like it.

For the very first time ever, I have had a few fellow yarn chums over for a little woolly crocheting and knitting club. It was rather a surreal moment to have my conservatory sofa consumed by happy crocheters and knitters, while the little man was asleep upstairs. I usually run around like a lunatic at this time of the day, so I can tell you it was a welcomed change. I’m hoping to hold the group every week and obviously open it up to more fellow yarn lovers at some point. But I just need to check that it fits with the little man. Bless him – he would have an absolute ball with everyone’s yarn stash and hooks/needles! Next week I’m putting my teacher hat on and teaching my two knitters how to crochet. Fingers crossed it will go well. I’ve just ordered a stash of 4mm Clover crochet hooks. They are my favourite kind of hook, so thought it was best to teach with them. Ekk. Wish me luck…

Hope you are all enjoying the start of the summer. We are loving spending time in the garden. My little man is utterly obsessed with watering the plants. Our tomatoes have never grown so well!! I love crocheting in the garden – doesn’t happen very often, but I managed some crocheted bunting for my daughter’s fairy world in the evening. My feet were getting rather cold though – where’s a blanket when you need one!!

This is her fairy world. There’s still a few bits to add to it, but it’s nearly there. I keep adding little extras for her to find. My friend reckoned that if I kept the garden fairies happy, the kitchen and house fairies would come in and help clean! Haha, if only! I’m still waiting for the day they arrive!

I did manage a little moment of fun with my wool winder this week. I wanted to make a little yarn cake for my dear friend’s daughter. She has just started out in the crocheting world, so I thought a cotton yarn cake would be a nice birthday pressie for her. Thought she could make a continuous Grannie Square blanket with it or a stripy bag. Will be great to see what she makes with it.

Hmm, I think we had better get on to this weeks blanket stitch. Now it’s a bit of a tricky one this week, but totally worth it as I am sure you will agree. It’s called the Starburst Stitch. It’s very similar to a fan stitch, but it creates full circles, thus it’s called a Starburst. Hope you like it and can follow my instructions.

Supplies –

So this week I have used a lovely fresh calm cream yarn from the wonderful Rowan baby merino silk range. It’s 66% wool and 34% silk. So rather nice and lovely to work with.

So once again you will need about 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.

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.

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.

Treble 4 together (tr4tog) – *Yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through the 2 loops.* Repeat ** 4 times. (5 loops) Now yarn over your hook and pull through all the loops.

Treble 9 together (tr9tog) – *Yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through 2 loops.* Repeat ** 9 times. (10 loops) Now yarn over your hook and pull through all the loops.

Ok so here we go … 

Right, so the Starburst Stitch. Now it’s rather a complicated stitch, as it has quite a few elements to it, but once you get the hang of it, you will be well away. It’s such a stunning stitch it just had to be added to the blanket!!

1 – So start off on the wrong side and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch and 1dc in the next stitch. Now *work 1dc in the chain 1 space and 1dc in the next stitch.* Continue ** across the row and then work 1dc in the top of the chain 3 from the row below. (200)

2 – Right so turn your work and then in this row chain 1, then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now miss 3 stitches. We are now going to start our first starburst, so *work 9tr stitches in the next stitch. (So all in the same stitch!) Then miss 3 stitches and work 1dc in the next.

Once again miss 3 stitches.* Now repeat ** across the row.

After the last fan miss 2 stitches and then work 1dc in the last stitch. (25 half starbursts)

3 – Turn your work and chain 3. Miss the first stitch and then work a tr4tog over the next 4tr stitches. To do this place your *yarn over your hook, insert into the treble stitch, then yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through the 2 loops.* Repeat ** 4 times. (5 loops)

Now yarn over your hook and pull through all 5 loops.

Now chain 4 stitches and then work 1dc in the next tr stitch. (This is the 5th of the 9 tr stitches from the row below.)

Now chain 3 and then work tr9tog over the next 9 stitches (these stitches are 4tr, 1dc, 4tr) So to do this place your *yarn over your hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over your hook and pull through. Yarn over your hook and pull through 2 loops.* Repeat ** 9 times. (10 loops)

Now yarn over your hook and pull through all the loops. This completes your 9trtog stitch.

So now it’s time to repeat the process across the row. *So chain 4, 1dc in the 5th of the 9th tr stitches from below, chain 3 and then work 9trtog over the next 4tr, 1dc, 4tr stitches from below.* Repeat this across the whole row.

For the last starburst in the row, chain 4, work 1dc in the next stitch, chain 3 then work a tr4tog over the next 4tr stitches and then 1tr in the last stitch. (24 half starburst and 2 quarter starbursts)

4 – Phew – so we are now on the last row of this new stitch. I hope you are all still with me. I promise it will be a simple stitch next week!! ☺ Right so after you have turned your blanket start by chaining 4. Then work 4tr in the top of the tr5tog stitch – this is at the base of the chain.

*Now miss 3 chains. And work 1dc in the next dc stitch where the arrow is.

Then miss 4 chain stitches and now work 9tr stitches in the top stitch of the tr9tog stitch from the row below.*

Right so repeat ** this across the row. After the last 9tr stitches, miss 3 chain stitches, then work 1dc in the next 1dc stitch. Ok so now work 5tr in the top of the tr4tog stitch from below. You can see where the arrow is in the picture below where the 5tr stitch needs to go.

Once you have worked the 5tr stitches, fasten off your yarn and sew in your ends. (24 half starbursts and 2 quarter starbursts.)

Right now that wasn’t so bad was it!?!?! Hope you all enjoyed it. Originally I had crocheted a fifth row, but I realised that to give the full effect of the stitch, it was best to leave it here. The change of colour will definitely help the Starburst stitch to stand out. I do think it’s worth the fiddliness. Such a pretty stitch. Please ask for help if you need any help.

Anyways, just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for following me and having a go with this years PipsRainbow CAL. I am loving how the blanket is coming along and feel that by the end of the year, we will all have a mega blanket that can also be used as a reference guide for all the new stitches you have all learnt! Yey!! There’s still so many to have a go at, but scarily we are nearly half way – meaning we are nearly half the way through the year!!! Bonkers!!! I promised myself I would start crocheting early for Christmas this year!! Maybe I should be thinking about that soon!!! Ekk!!!

Hope you all have a super week.

Happy hooking everyone!!

🌈Xx

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2018 CAL - Year of the Stitches Blanket

Year of the Stitches – Week 21 Cable Stitch

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Cable Stitch

Well hello my lovely people! Hope you have all had nice weeks. It’s been both extremes of weather for us here, I reckon I could have worn my big coat on Thursday it was so cold. It’s definitely been a funny week. But I did have a lovely trip to one of my local wool shops this week with my Mum. And well I may have bought some Illustrious West Yorkshire Spinners wool. Well it kind of jumped out at me and it would have been rude not to buy such stunning yarn and I did buy it to go with the yarn I bought on my birthday. So that’s ok isn’t it!! Haha! The mind of a yarn addict in full working order!! Justification complete! Yarn bought and stashed away. I was thinking though, I might create my own yarn cake with it all. So I can carry around one big ball of yummy yarn with me and create my birthday shawl. A good plan me thinks. Here’s the colours! Think it will go well as a gradient triangular shawl! Holiday project me thinks!!

Doreen the lovely lady in the Knitting Corner shop, showed me this fantastic contraption!! It’s a yarn swifter. It’s terribly clever. I was explaining how I sometimes get in a pickle when I wind up wool from a skein/hank. And she said you could use one of these devices, thus allowing you to wind wool on your own. So basically your skein/hank goes round all the edges and then moves freely, releasing the yarn as you wind it up. Very clever and a super present for someone who buys and winds a lot of wool. Hint hint!! 😁 Think you can get different types of them, but this one was from the lovely www.knittinggiftsshop.com website. It’s beautifully made, but guessing quite big to store in your home. Heyho, one day maybe. Doreen did say she just winds hers up by hand. So I might have to have a go at that. (I’m sure my husband would be relieved if he didn’t have to help of an evening!!)

I am always amazed by the creations that the little people around us can create. One of my best friend’s daughter’s has made an absolutely spectacular hat for her Uncle’s stag do.

She has based it on the sheep that they had at their families farm – the Hill Radnor Rams.

She is only 9 years old. Can you imagine! What an incredible achievement to have designed and created this wonderful hat for her uncle! Hats off to you little lady. (Excuse the pun!!) Your uncle is one lucky man. She made it in some lovely merino wool, so it will be ever so soft and warm to wear.

You are a true crocheter in the making!! Can’t wait to see your next project and will hopefully share many more on PipsRainbow.

I don’t know about you guys, but I do love a bit of May blooms!!

There’s something about woodland family walks with sun streaming through the May time leaves. 

The flowers on our school run are so full of colour and richness too. Our neighbours seem to be giving us a real treat of May flowers. Look at this corker!!

I loved these as a kid. I used to imagine that they were fairy hats and that the plant was their shop where they bought them from!

May is definitely one of my all time favourite times of the year.

So on to the blanket. This weeks stitch is the wonderful Cable stitch. It’s very similar to its sister stitch in the knitting world. It’s quite a clever stitch as the combination of the stitches helps create an illusion of the stitches changing places.

Stitches –

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

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.

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.

Cable Stitch (Cable st) – This is a stitch where you work 1tr across other stitches. So start off by missing a stitch and then working 1tr into the next 3 stitches. Then put your yarn over your hook and insert the hook into 4 stitches to the right (so back on yourself) into the dc stitch that you missed. Then yarn over your hook and pull back through (3 loops.) Then finish off the tr as normal. So yarn over your hook and pull through the first two loops, then yarn over your hook and pull through the last 2 loops.

Supplies –

So this week I couldn’t not use the lovely lilac colour that seems to be surrounding us all at the minute. So I have chosen this lovely yarn from the wonderful Wendy range of merino wool from our local Knitique shop. They have the whole Wendy range in there, so it was great to stock up on all my colours.

There’s something quite calming about lilac. My Mum loves this flower and it always makes me think of her as it comes out around her birthday. This beautiful lilac tree is on our school run. I hope the people that live at the house didn’t mind me taking a picture. My daughter was all up for me walking on to their lawn to get a better pic! Amazing how kids don’t have any inabitions.

So for the yarn, you will need about 40g of dk yarn. Remember you can use any kind of yarn. Most of blanket is either merino wool or a cashmere mix, so I wouldn’t necessarily use a cotton yarn. But I do think a nice soft cotton yarn blanket would be lovely, especially for the summer.

Ok so here we go …

1 – So this week we are starting on the wrong side of the blanket. Start off by a attaching your new yarn and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc in each stitch across the row. (200)

2 – Now turn your work and chain 3. (This acts as 1tr.) Then work 1tr in the same stitch.

Now miss next dc stitch and then work 1tr in each of the next 3 stitches.

Then work 1 cable st into the dc stitch you have just missed. So yarn over your hook and insert the hook 4 stitches to the right. So back on yourself.

Then yarn over your hook and pull back through the stitch. (3 loops) Then yarn over your hook and pull through the first 2 loops.

To finish off, yarn over your hook again and pull through the last 2 loops. And that’s your finished cable stitch.

Now your ready to repeat this across the row. So *miss next stitch and then work 1tr in the next 3 stitches. Now work your cable stitch in the missed dc stitch which is 4 stitches to the right.* (Remember your working a treble stitch across all of the 3 stitches.) Repeat ** across the row.

When you get to the last 2 stitches, work 1tr in each stitch. (200)

3 – Right so turn your blanket again and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc in each stitch across the row.

At the end of the row, work your last dc stitch in the top of the chain 3 stitches from the row below. (200)

4 – So here we are repeating row 2. So turn your work and chain 3. Then work 1 tr into your first stitch. Then *miss a stitch and work 1tr in each of the next 3 stitches. Now work your cable stitch into the missed stitch, 4 stitches to the right.*

Repeat ** across the row. After the last cable stitch, miss 1 stitch and then work 1tr in each of the last stitches. (200)

5 – In this row we are repeating row 3. So turn your blanket and chain 1. Then work 1dc in the same stitch. Now work 1dc across the row.

Work the last dc in the top of the chain 3 from the previous row. (200)

And there you have it, the super cable stitch.

Definitely one to remember! It would make a lovely blanket or give some great texture to a jumper. I really hope you have enjoyed this weeks instalment of Year of the Stitches! Thank you so much fo following PipsRainbow and having a go.

Happy hooking everyone!

🌈Xx

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