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Crochet blog – update #8

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Hello and SORRY – it has been a few weeks since my last post.    I was calling these ‘weekly’ updates but that just hasn’t been happening.    My day job has been REALLY busy for a few weeks but should be calming down now, so hopefully I will get to spend my weekends here again.

I have still been busy with my crochet projects on the train each day.    I have also been able to work on with my Hearts and Spots blanket in the evenings.  Although I don’t want to get my laptop out after a day in the office – I don’t mind a bit of crochet to wind down before bed.

Here are the latest views of the blanket.   I still have to tie in all the ends but it is all stitched together.  The border would be finished if I hadn’t run out of yarn!   The yarn order is in for just two more balls of Drops Paris to complete the project.   The patterns for the squares are on my blog, heart square pattern here and basic square pattern here.   I am not fully happy with the way they fit together so I will be tweaking them over the coming weeks.   I plan to put a smaller version of the blanket together as a kit so watch this space on that.

This project is waaay too big for the train now so I have been working on other things in the mornings and evenings.   I started work designing more blocks and produced a pentagon….  not terribly useful as they don’t tesselate or fit together easily.   I might turn out a pattern for a ball (think football/soccer) at some point using these and a hexagon or two 🙂  I will put the hexagon pattern up on here in case anyone finds it helpful for a five sided project!   I suppose you could just keep going round and make a pentagon shaped blanket.

My other project on the train has been a little bag.   I am quite pleased with this so far.   It looks a bit basic as it still needs handles, decoration.  I think I might include a lining.   Again I am thinking about putting this pattern together as a kit on Etsy but I will share the pattern for free on the blog as soon as I can get it written up.

I have been using a lighter weight yarn for these two projects, Drops Muskat.   Another winner from Drops as far as I am concerned.  This yarn again is incredible value and consistent quality.  I have yet to find a knot!  The yarn is 100% mercerized cotton with a lovely sheen and tight twist which means that it doesn’t split much if at all when being worked.   Easier if you want to be looking up from the work a bit!  I have been using a 4mm hook for this yarn which seems to work well.  The finished work has great stitch definition so would really show off complicated stitches.

Finally, a team project has started in my house.    It started with me worrying about the cost of yarn.   I began wondering whether it would be possible to get hold of some yarn very cheaply by buying old knitwear and dismantling garments to recover the yarn.   This is where my Mum came in and if I am honest has completely taken over!   A trawl of local charity/thrift shops turned up a number of candidate garments.    We got to work (carefully) with scissors, unpicking and balling and the results have been amazing.    I will put up a separate post on the process and results as I could fill pages with what we found and learned.   For this post, in summary, we have recovered a huge quantity of yarn so far for a tiny outlay.   My Mum is now unstoppable in her search for woollies to dismantle and I have started my first project using this recovered yarn!    I am trying to top up what we find with yarn from my stash but as it stands far more is going into my stash than is coming out!!

Here are some of the pics of the project using the recycled yarn.   The inspiration for the project was the first yarn we recovered – a soft brown boucle yarn flecked with yellow and orange.    I came up with a pattern for a block using a cluster stitch (another new one for me).    I will share the patterns in a separate post.

My husband loves drawing and designing and was once an engineer before moving on to other things so he likes a bit of geometry and maths.    I enlisted his help for this project as I was short on time.   He came up with this layout below which I really like – I think I will be asking him for designs more often!   Here is his sketch.

I have had a very exciting time with the blog this month.   One of my posts on pricing of handmade work seemed to catch attention out there and drove far more page views than I have had previously.   My income from ads ‘soared’ to £1.83 in one month 🙂 clearly still a long way to go to being financially secure!

That’s all from me for this post – I have promised a number of follow on posts and patterns so I had better get working!   Please get in touch either by leaving a comment or joining my mailing list.   I love hearing from you all.

Happy crocheting!

Annie 🙂

 

Crochet blog – update #6

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Hello and welcome to my sixth update!   This week I made more progress on my blanket project.   I realised I have been calling it different names as is has progressed.   It started life as my Shades of the Rainbow blanket but more recently I have been calling it Hearts and Spots!   Whatever name it ends up with I have to confess, I am ready to move on… I have never been great at finishing things but this blog acts as a conscience so I will get it done!

This photo shows four more completed rows of squares.   Only four more to go and I can start the making up.   I have already made the majority of the blocks for those last four rows but still need to fasten off the ends.

I started to look into pricing of this project, researching on Etsy and google for similar items and found a huge range of pricing.   Some of it was incredibly low and looks to cover the cost of materials at best.   This got me thinking!   I built myself a little spreadsheet to calculate the cost of producing the blanket.   I know what the yarn cost including shipping and I used the UK minimum wage to value my time. The blanket isn’t finished yet but when it is I will know what I should be charging. The spreadsheet has a section to record the number of hours worked.   I think I will use one for every project from now on.   I created it as a PDF and set up a FREE DOWNLOAD HERE.   Pricing basics (25869 downloads )   I wrote a longer post on pricing which you can read here – pricing basics.

As a break from my big project this week I designed this new block in the picture above.   I have made it up in a few colours with some of my left over scraps. I am very pleased with the way it turned out.   Here is a link to the FREE PATTERN. There are no complicated stitches so it should be suitable for beginners.   I have listed the instructions in both UK and US notation.   I haven’t decided on my next big project but I would quite like to make a blanket with this block.   I worked it in Drops Paris yarn on a 5mm hook and the finished blocks are about 14cms square.

The problem with these little side projects is that they hold up work on the main project.   I do tend to get a bit distracted by new things.   Confession time, I have three other side projects on the go.   I am working on a cushion design, a summer top and a shoulder bag design.   The good news is that I will be able to share those patterns with you soon I hope.

For now it is back to finishing of little Hearts and Spots squares.   I hope you have a good week. Happy crocheting!

Annie 🙂

Wagon Wheel Block

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Hello!   This post contains a Free Pattern for my Wagon Wheel Block.   I wanted to create a block that would lend itself to Ombre projects and would also be suitable for stash busting as I have a lot of small remnants of yarn left over from my larger crochet blanket projects.

The pattern is made of simple stitches so should be suitable for beginners.    I made this up in Drops Paris which is 100% cotton in aran weight and works up on a 5mm hook.

Wagon Wheel Block – UK terms

Round 1.    Chain five and join to make a circle.

Round 2.    Chain 2, work 12 DC into the circle and join with a slip stitch to the second chain that started the round.

Round 3.     Chain 4,  (Tr, chain 1) repeat 11 times so that you have thirteen spokes to the wheel – (the chain that started the round plus 12 more spokes).   Slip stitch into the third chain of the 4 chains that started the round.

Round 4.     chain 2, DC into the space between the trebles on the previous round.   (2 DC into the space between trebles) repeat 11 times.   So you have two DC between each of the trebles on the previous row.   Join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 5.     Chain 4, (Tr, chain 1) repeat 24 times so that you have 26 spokes to the wheel – (the chain that started the round plus 25 more spokes).   Slip stitch into the third chain of the 4 chains that started the round.

Round 6.     Chain 2, DC into the space between the trebles on the previous round.   (2 DC into the space between trebles) repeat 24 times.   So you have two DC between each of the trebles on the previous row.   Join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 7.    Chain 2, (2DC into same stitch, Htr, 2 Tr into same stitch, DTr,  chain 5, miss three stitches and DTr into fourth stitch, 2Tr into same stitch, Htr, 2 DC into same stitch, DC, DC)  repeat twice, 2DC into same stitch, Htr, 2 Tr into same stitch, DTr,  chain 5, miss three stitches and DTr into fourth stitch, 2Tr into same stitch, Htr, 2 DC into same stitch, DC.  join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 8.   Chain 2, DC into each stitch from the row below to the corner 5 chains.   Work into each corner 3 DC, 2 chain, 3 DC.  Repeat to end of round and join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 9.     Chain 2, DC into each stitch from the row below.   At each corner work 2DC, chain 2, 2DC into the 2 chain space on the row below.    At end of round join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

NOTE – where you are changing colour on each round to create the ombre effect it works well if you move the start of each colour around rather than start and stop in the same place each time.

Wagon Wheel Block – US terms

Round 1.    Chain five and join to make a circle.

Round 2.    Chain 2, work 12 SC into the circle and join with a slip stitch to the second chain that started the round.

Round 3.     Chain 4,  (DC, chain 1) repeat 11 times so that you have thirteen spokes to the wheel – (the chain that started the round plus 12 more spokes).   Slip stitch into the third chain of the 4 chains that started the round.

Round 4.     chain 2, SC into the space between the trebles on the previous round.   (2 SC into the space between trebles) repeat 11 times.   So you have two SC between each of the trebles on the previous row.   Join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 5.     Chain 4, (DC, chain 1) repeat 24 times so that you have 26 spokes to the wheel – (the chain that started the round plus 25 more spokes).   Slip stitch into the third chain of the 4 chains that started the round.

Round 6.     Chain 2, SC into the space between the trebles on the previous round.   (2 SC into the space between trebles) repeat 24 times.   So you have two SC between each of the trebles on the previous row.   Join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 7.    Chain 2, (2SC into same stitch, HDC, 2 DC into same stitch, TRC,  chain 5, miss three stitches and TRC into fourth stitch, 2DC into same stitch, HDC, 2 SC into same stitch, SC, SC)  repeat twice, 2SC into same stitch, HDC, 2 DC into same stitch, TRC,  chain 5, miss three stitches and TRC into fourth stitch, 2DC into same stitch, HDC, 2 SC into same stitch, SC.  join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 8.   Chain 2, SC into each stitch from the row below to the corner 5 chains.   Work into each corner 3 SC, 2 chain, 3 SC.  Repeat to end of round and join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round.

Round 9.     Chain 2, SC into each stitch from the row below.   At each corner work 2SC, chain 2, 2SC into the 2 chain space on the row below.    At end of round join with a slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round

And there it is.   I hope you like it as much as I do.   Happy Crocheting!

Annie 🙂

Hair accessory

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Hello!    I wanted to share this free pattern for a hair accessory with you.    Most of my making time at the moment is going into a large blanket made of smaller squares.   I am spending all my time making these squares and finishing off the ends.    The work is a stash buster in its own right as it uses small quantities of yarn to make each square.   However, I am still finding myself with some very small oddments and it hurts me to thrown those away so I have come up with this design to use even the smallest pieces of left over yarn!    Here is the finished result.



Instructions – Hair Accessory.

To make this you need small oddments of yarn, an elastic hair band/tie and the size of crochet hook appropriate to your yarn.   In my case I am using left over Drops Paris yarn which takes a size 5mm hook.

Start by making a magic loop that goes through the middle of the hair band.   I found this a bit of a mind bend to start with!   I am including a picture below so that you can lay your work down and copy mine if that helps!

Work 12 DC (SC US) into the magic loop.    You might need to vary this according to the weight of your yarn.   It doesn’t really matter how many stitches you put into the loop as long as you can pull it tight to circle the hair band – see below.

Without breaking the yarn work a chain to the length you require.   This will form one of the ‘ribbons’ in the final item.   If you are using light/acrylic yarn then the ribbon will spiral so you may need a longer chain.   In the yarn I am using the ribbons do not curl much and I used a chain of between 12 and 16 in the finished piece pictured.

When you have the chain to the length you require work back along the chain either using slip stitches or DC (US terms SC).   The SC will give the effect of a cord, DC (SC US) will give a thicker strip.    Finish off the strip with a slip stitch into the outer edge of the DCs in the magic loop.  This will reinforce the join between the ring and the strips and make the item more robust.

Join in other colours to the DC’s in the magic ring and repeat the steps above to add more strands to the accessory.   Keep these close together on one side of the ring so that the other side can sit against the wearers head without making it uncomfortable.

Finish the piece by sewing in the ends but this need not take long as you can run the loose ends down the length of the ribbons very quickly!    And that is it – you can play with colours – match them to other garments or use any random oddments in your stash!    These could look lovely on flower girls if they were worked all in cream/white or could be made to match the colours of flowers or bridesmaids dresses.

Hope you have a go at this and enjoy the results as much as I did.    I think it is a really fun way to use up tiny scraps of yarn and a lovely break from big projects.  Happy crocheting!

Annie 🙂

Heart square

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Hello, in this post I am sharing a free pattern for a heart in a square with you.     A few weeks ago I designed a crochet heart and shared the pattern as a stash busting project.   I wanted to include my stash busting hearts in my Shades of the Rainbow blanket so I have designed a pattern to put the hearts into a square of the same size as my sample squares.

Here is a link to the heart pattern.   This pattern starts with a completed heart.   The heart you made should look like this.   I have also included the heart pattern again at the bottom of this post.

The picture above shows the start point for this pattern and the points where the outside border joins the heart are indicated with an X.

Heart in a Square pattern – UK version (US version below)

First round – slip stitch into the side of the heart in the stitch indicated in the picture above.  CH2, DC into next stitch, CH5, miss three stitches, TR into the next stitch (at the top right of the heart), DC into next stitch, CH5, DC into stitch at the top of the left side of the heart, TR, CH5, miss three stitches, 2DC, CH12, DC into the bottom stitch of the heart, CH12 and slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round to join to your start point.

Second round – CH2, DC, (2DC, CH2, DC) into the corner, 2DC at the top right hand side of the heart, 5 DC across the centre/top of the heart, 2DC into the top left hand side of the heart, (DC,2CH,2DC) into the left hand corner, 2DC, (7DC, 2CH,5DC) into the bottom left corner, DC into the stitch at the bottom of the heart, (5DC,2CH,7DC) into the bottom right corner and slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round to join to your start point.

Third round – CH2, DC all round working 2DC,2CH,2DC into the corner chains.

You should end up with a square that looks like this 🙂

Heart in a Square pattern – US version

First round – slip stitch into the side of the heart in the stitch indicated in the picture above.  CH2, SC into next stitch, CH5, miss three stitches, DC into the next stitch (at the top right of the heart), SC into next stitch, CH5, SC into stitch at the top of the left side of the heart, DC, CH5, miss three stitches, 2SC, CH12, SC into the bottom stitch of the heart, CH12 and slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round to join to your start point.

Second round – CH2, SC, (2SC, CH2, SC) into the corner, 2SC at the top right hand side of the heart, 5 SC across the centre/top of the heart, 2SC into the top left hand side of the heart, (SC,2CH,2SC) into the left hand corner, 2SC, (7SC, 2CH,5SC) into the bottom left corner, SC into the stitch at the bottom of the heart, (5SC,2CH,7SC) into the bottom right corner and slip stitch to the second of the chains that started the round to join to your start point.

Third round – CH2, SC all round working 2SC,2CH,2SC into the corner chains.

In case there are issues with the heart link or just in case you would like this pattern all in one place – here is the heart pattern:

Heart Pattern

UK terms

Make a magic loop, chain 3 and working into the magic loop, 3 dtr, 3tr, chain 1, 1dtr, chain 1, 3tr, 3dtr, chain 2, slip stitch into magic loop and pull the thread to close the centre of the heart.

second round – 2 sl stitch into the gap behind the three chain from the first round.  3dc into the next stitch (top of the left side of the heart), 3 dc into the next stitch and 2 dc into the following stitch.   Work 4 dc to take you to the bottom loop of the heart.  3dc into the bottom stitch of the heart, 4 dc, work 2dc, 3dc, 3dc into the next three stitches, 2 sl stitches and one final slip stitch into the centre of the heart.

third round – 2 slip stitches then 2dc into the next five stitches (around the top of the left side of the heart) 7 dc, 3dc into the bottom stitch of the heart, 7dc, 2dc into the next five stitches, 2 slip stitches and finish off to complete the heart.

US terms

Make a magic loop, chain 3 and working into the magic loop, 3TRC, 3DC, chain 1, 1TRC, chain 1, 3DC, 3TRC, chain 2, slip stitch into magic loop and pull the thread to close the centre of the heart.

second round – 2 sl stitch into the gap behind the three chain from the first round.  3SC into the next stitch (top of the left side of the heart), 3 SC into the next stitch and 2SC into the following stitch.   Work 4SC to take you to the bottom loop of the heart.  3SC into the bottom stitch of the heart, 4SC, work 2SC, 3SC, 3SC into the next three stitches, 2 sl stitches and one final slip stitch into the centre of the heart.

third round – 2 slip stitches then 2SC into the next five stitches (around the top of the left side of the heart) 7 SC, 3SC into the bottom stitch of the heart, 7SC, 2SC into the next five stitches, 2 slip stitches and finish off to complete the heart.

 

That’s all for now.    I will be sharing my completed blanket in a few weeks – just a few more squares to go – and a lot of ends to tie in!!

Happy crocheting!

Annie 🙂

2 June 2018

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Hello 🙂  Welcome to the third weekly update on my journey to being a full time craft blogger and designer.    Ooooh that sounds exciting when written down….  but to put it into perspective, this journey could take me the remainder of my working life and I might not actually be a full time craft blogger until I retire from paid employment in my 70’s!

This week I have been working on defining my goals and developing a tracker so I can measure progress.   Some of my goals feel like an awfully big stretch from where I am now but all the advice out there says to aim high!   The goals needed to be broken down into smaller targets for the next six months.   Here they are from my bullet journal…..   I will be adding to these targets as I work out what is most important and what works.

One of the top tips for beginner bloggers is to set up and manage your own mailing list.   I learnt quite a lot this week whilst researching  and setting up my mailing list.  If you are reading this you might have been invited to join mine!    I hope you will join 🙂  I will write a separate post on this in a couple of weeks when I can comment on how well it is working for me.

Focussing on the technical side of my blog this week I have also been researching hints and tips for bloggers on Pinterest.   There seem to be so many blogs out there about blogging and many of them are promoting courses that claim to enable bloggers to turn their hobby into full time income.   The courses are expensive!!   I am not against investing in my blog.   I have spent a little already on getting set up with my own website using 1&1  there is a link to 1&1 below (note this is an affiliate link which could give me a little income at no increased cost to you).   1&1 have several low cost entry plans where you can set up and really own your blog from the start giving more flexibility and protection for your work.   Many of the plans come with free domain names and it is good fun checking out which names are available – checking costs nothing 🙂

1&1 Ionos

At the moment, I believe that there is so much more I can learn from reading and researching without spending money on courses.   I have a long list of things to work on and I will share with you anything that makes a big difference.    The top tips I will be working on this week are as follows:

  • Improve board descriptions on Pinterest – include key words
  • Apply to join group boards – although this is getting a mixed press currently
  • Declutter my blog

On the creative side this week I have merged two projects!!   My sample blanket that was stalled because I couldn’t come up with a design I really liked, and the heart patterns from last week.   I have made a pattern for the heart within a square and it is the same size as the sample square pattern I produced earlier this year.   Here is a link to the free pattern for the sample square.   I will be writing up the pattern for the heart square this week so I can share it in next week’s update.

I have worked up a few heart squares in the Drops Paris – 100% cotton yarn and here they are laid out in the start of the design I plan to complete.   This is a great stash busting project.   The other really good thing about this project is that it is perfect for working up on the train!   I have worked out that I am going to need more yarn though…. not a help to my stash busting efforts.    I have a room full of yarn and seem to keep needing to buy more!! 🙂

I picked up a tip from Kat over at KrazyKabbage on the best conditions to photograph large projects outside and I have managed to take this photo of my big Sunshine Flower blanket.   This is the best photo I have taken so far – very happy with it.

In the evenings this week I worked a few more sections of my Spring Flower blanket.   I am really pleased with the way this is coming on and I am documenting the pattern at every stage so I will have another item to list on Etsy when I am done.  I don’t have a photo this week but will share again next week.

I will probably list the blanket on Etsy too but when I cost the blankets in terms of the time they take to make, plus materials, the price I need to charge makes them unaffordable.   I am listing them with little hope of a sale but at least they show the patterns.

Finally a weekly status report.  I am hugely excited by the leap in my advertising income which has almost doubled…… to 31p  🙂

  • Pinterest followers – 556
  • AdSense income to date – 31p
  • Subscribers – 1 (me – it was a test)
  • Etsy listings – 10
  • Etsy sales – 0
  • Page views last seven days – 34

I am starting to track page views – apparently this is key to success.    Stickytapeandstring.co.uk is currently running at around 140 page views per month.   Some bloggers quote 1000 per day as being the level you need to be taken seriously…. As I say – this is not going to be a short journey!    More next week….

happy crocheting and happy blogging,

Annie 🙂