Yarn therapy

September 16, 2014September 21, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 1 Comment

Hi everyone! Did you have a great weekend? I hope so. Days are getting shorter but for some miracle we have had some really sunny days in my part of the world which have been even more bright recently by some well deserved yarn therapy.

Meet the softest, shiniest and prettiest of yarns: Ginger’s Hand Dyed Splendor 4 ply in the colour Wine o’clock (love the name by the way).

Hand dyed by the lovely Jess from Ginger Twist Studio it is 50% silk, 50% merino and just so soft. I have been dreaming about buying some of Jess’s yarn for months and months but couldn’t really afford it with my old salary without feeling extremely guilty. Also, where I come from spending anything more than 2 pounds on a ball of yarn is qualified as expensive (warm country, mostly acrylic yarn) so it felt crazy to spend that money.

But the truth is, some things are more expensive because they are simply worth a load more. This is the case for hand dyed yarns like this one: good quality yarns with unique colours created by very talented and dedicated people. So after receiving the first pay for my new job I decided to treat myself with this beauty, and I didn’t feel guilty at all! I know I will make something with it that will last me for years to come, I actually already started (couldn’t help myself). My next pattern will be a shawl using this yarn, I am taking a break from colourwork and trying something more simple this time.

Since this yarn may be a bit too expensive for some (as it was for me only a few months ago) I will do a bit research and look for some nice substitutes at different price ranges. I will keep you updated on my progress 😉

So that is it for now, my next post will be the Creative Blog Hop that has been going around, Jess actually nominated me for this in her blog and I have really liked reading other people’s answers to the questions so very excited to post something myself!

Sol

Free pattern and tutorial: Autumn Diamonds Part II

September 12, 2014September 11, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 6 Comments

Hello my dear readers! Hope you had a great week. I have been a very busy bee and have just managed to finish the second part of the tutorial for my fair isle mitts. Not long to go but the thumb needs some further explanation. Let’s jump right into it!

Autumn Diamonds Tutorial Part II

Size and gauge

Circumference: 20 cm

Gauge: Crochet 11 waistcoat stitches and 13 rows with a 4mm hook to obtain 5cmx5cm.

Gauge in this pattern is not essential. Fair isle chart is repetitive and you can add necessary stitches for your size and fill in the pattern in a way that satisfies you.

Materials

50g King Cole Merino in Aran (Colour A)

West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply – 1 ball in Pennyroyal (Colour B), 1 ball in Butterscotch (Colour C), 1 ball in Cardamom (Colour D) –> You will use VERY little of the last two yarns so you could use something from your stash if you don’t want to spend more on them.

4mm hook

Needle to weave in ends

Instructions

I have a new chart for the rest of the pattern. As usual you read it bottom-up, right to left and every stitch is a wst unless it has a “dc” in which case it is a UK double crochet. I know it looks mad, but I explain everything below. If you have followed the instructions of pulling tight when you sl st and ch 1 then your seam should be almost invisible, if not try pulling harder!

1. If you have followed the first part of this tutorial your mitten should look something like this.

2. Now we will start shaping the thumb. You will do this by adding two stitches per round, one at the beginning and the other at the end. So you have finished Round 35, joined with a sl st to first st and chained 1 (remember to pull tight)…

3. Now for Round 36 we will do the first increases. Instead of starting the round by making a wst, you will do a normal dc in the first st. So insert your hook in the first st…

4. And crochet a dc.

5. If you look at the chart the stitches that are dc are marked. Now you can continue the rest of the round following the chart using wst until the last st of the fair isle pattern which is yellow. Since the next increase stitch is white you will need to change colours before finishing.

6. The increase now is made by doing another wst in the same st as the last you made.

7. Sl st to first st, ch 1 and pull tight.

8. For Round 37 we increase again on the first and last st. So make a dc in the first st…

9. Now, the next stitch is the first increase we made in the last round, so it is part of the thumb and therefore it is a white st as well and also a wst since it doesn’t have a “dc” on the chart. So make a wst in the next stitch…

10. After the two stitches of the thumb continue with the chart until the last st of the main fair isle pattern, which is in yellow. Now the next st corresponds to the increase of the last round. Make a wst there…

11. … and then make another wst in the same st. This is the second increase of the round, now you have 4 st that make the thumb.

12. Sl st and ch 1. The main fair isle pattern will always have 42 st, but you will continue to add 2 st per round this way until you have 14 st on the thumb. Make sure you keep those 42 st for each round, for some rounds the fair isle pattern starts or finishes with white so it is easy to miss a st. Continue until Round 42, your thumb should look like this, with 14 st.

13. For Round 43 and 44 you will keep the same number of stitches for the thumb, so the first st in the round is no longer a dc, but a wst. Continue with Rounds 43 and 44 with no increases.

14. In Round 45 we will separate the thumb from the rest of the pattern. Your thumb should look like this.

15. Start Round 45 with 7 wst as the chart indicates.

16. Then instead of continuing with the fair isle pattern, you are going to do the next wst on the other side of the thumb.

17. Continue with the next 6 wst.

18. Slip st to first st and ch 1.

19. You will work the next two rounds of the thumb making 1 wst in each of the 14 st. When you finish the second round (third round of thumb separated from rest of pattern), sl st to first st. Fasten off. Your mitt will look like this so far.

20. Now we just need to finish the rest of the fair isle pattern, so we have to go back to Round 45 of the chart, which begins with a st in purple. So insert your hook in the first st of the fair isle chart (as you would normally underneath the two strands that make the ch), then make a slip knot with the purple colour…

21. … Pull it through, yarn over and pull through one loop on hook. Pull tight and now you can begin the first wst as usual.

22. Insert your hook in between the strands that make the V and pull up a loop.

23. Next st is in white but we need to add this yarn since we cut the white we were using when we finished the thumb. So with the 2 loops on the hook make a slip knot with the white…

24. … and pull through both loops on hook.

25. Continue the fair isle chart until the last st of Round 45. Now, before we join with the first st of this round, we will do a small trick to make sure that there is not a big hole where the join is.

26. Insert your hook in the white st of the thumb closest to the last st you made…

27. … and make a dc.

28. Now turn around and make a dc in the st that is closest to the first st of the round (the one I am pointing with my right thumb)…

29. Now simply join to first st of the round with a sl st and chain 1. You are ready for Round 46.

30. First st of Round 46 is white, followed by green. Continue with the round normally and for this round and all the rest forget about those 2 extra st we did on Round 45. So when you finish the fair isle chart for Round 46 with a green st…

31. Simply turn around and join with a slip st to the first st of the round, ch 1 and you are ready for the next.

32. And that is it everyone! Continue with the chart until Round 54 and fasten off. Weave in all the ends.

Ufffff… I know, that was very long, hope it is useful and as usual please let me know if anything isn’t very clear.

Cheers!

Sol

Free pattern and tutorial: Autumn Diamonds – Part I

September 5, 2014November 20, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 19 Comments

*Ravelry link*

Hello there! As promised, I have taken some time to post my latest pattern because I wanted to make a tutorial for you guys. Since it was turning out to be quite a long tutorial I decided to post it in two parts, and here is the first one! I ended up taking the photos by myself so they are not perfect but I hope they are clear enough and I promise the next tutorial will be better.

About the pattern, they are fingerless mittens with fair isle motifs using waistcoat stitch. I came across this stitch while looking in Google for ways to work fair isle patterns with crochet. I found a very nice and detailed explanation of the stitch here if you want more information, and it is a lot better than my tutorial 😛 The pattern is worked in the round and leaving the unused colour as strands in the back.

The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners in 4 ply and King Cole Merino. If you are in the Edinburgh area you can get it from Jess at Ginger Twist Studio. The pattern doesn’t use much yarn so you will have plenty left for another project and I already have something in mind for the leftovers so stay tuned!

This first part of the tutorial will take you up to right before the thumb, so you will have plenty to do before I post the second part.

Autumn Diamonds Tutorial

Size and gauge

Circumference: 20 cm

Gauge: Crochet 11 waistcoat stitches and 13 rows with a 4mm hook to obtain 5cmx5cm.

Gauge in this pattern is not essential. Fair isle chart is repetitive and you can add necessary stitches for your size and fill in the pattern in a way that satisfies you. HOWEVER, PLEASE NOTE THE FABRIC MADE WITH THIS STITCH DOESN’T STRETCH, so please take that into account when deciding how many stitches to do.

Materials

50g King Cole Merino in Aran (Colour A)

4mm hook

Needle to weave in ends

Abbreviations

wst – waistcoat stitch

dc – UK double crochet

sl st – slip stitch

ch – chain

Instructions

We will be following the following chart for the first part of the pattern which will take you right before we start the thumb. You read it bottom-up, right to left, each row of the chart is actually a Round and each square is a wst. It starts from Round 3, first couple of rounds are simply two rounds using colour A (white). The tutorial will show you how to do the first few rounds so that you learn the technique and can apply it for the rest of the chart. It is the same pattern for both mittens.

1. Foundation chain: With color A, chain 42

2. Making sure you don’t twist the chain, join the last chain to the first with a slip stitch

3. Pull on the yarn very tight to make the slip stitch as small as possible.

4. Chain 1, and then pull on the yarn tight again to make the chain as small as possible. These last two steps will be repeated for every round to make the seam less visible.

5. Round 1: Dc in first chain and every chain across. You need to crochet loosely all through the pattern to make it easier to do the waistcoat stitch.

6. Slip stitch to first dc, remember to pull tight. Chain 1 and pull tight again. *It was pointed out by someone trying this pattern that it might be easier to start with foundation double crochet rather than what I have showed here, so please feel free to try this out. Here is a tutorial of foundation double crochet.

7. Round 2: On the first stitch, insert your hook in the post of the stitch, between the two strands that make the “V”. Yarn over and pull up a loop.

8. Yarn over and pull through two loops on hook. First wst done! (Here is a better tutorial for this stitch if it is still not clear)

9. Wst in next st and each st across.

10. Slip st to first st, and chain 1. Remember to pull tight!

11. Round 3: We will introduce a new colour in the third round. The chart indicates that the first stitch is in colour A, and then you have 3 stitches in colour B. I will show you next how to make clean colour changes. Start your first wst: insert your hook inside the V, yarn over and pull up a loop.

12. Here is when you need to change colours. Keeping your two loops on the hook, make a slip knot with colour B.

13. Now finish the wst by pulling the new loop through the two you already had.

14. You just learned that you need to change colours in the last stitch of the previous colour. I will show you next how to not get your yarns tangled and get nice strands. Now the chart indicates we need 3 wst with colour B, then 3 in colour A and so on. So let’s do two stitches in colour B…

15. Start the third stitch up, insert hook in V, yarn over and pull up a loop. Now is time to organise your colours: put the white ball in front of you and the purple on the left. Make sure they are not tangled.

16. Drop colour B to your left, and grab colour A to finish the stitch. Pull colour A a bit to make sure that the last stitch you did on that colour is finished nicely. Then yarn over (don’t pull too tight so strand is not too tense) and pull through the two loops.

17. Now we need 3 white st, so we will repeat for the white: 2 stitches…

18. …and we change colour on the third. Insert hook inside the V, yarn over and pull up a loop. Now drop colour A and make sure you leave it in front of you.

19. Now grab colour B again on your left. You will notice that colour B comes under colour A. If you keep your yarns where they are and change colours this way they will never get tangled up and you will get clean strands. Yarn over colour B and pull through both loops on hook.

20. Your strands will look like this on the back. White ones will be higher and purple ones lower. Make sure that every time you pick up the new colour you pull on the yarn to make sure that the last stitch you made on that colour is finished nicely, but don’t yarn over with the new colour too tight or too loose so that the strands are not too tight that they will affect the tension or too loose that you might catch them too easily with something.

21. Continue with the chart until you finish the round. Slip stitch and chain 1, remember to pull tight. This is almost all the technique you need to continue with the chart. There only a couple of things left to show you: how to keep the length of your strands in check and what happens when you finish a round with one colour and have to start the next one with another. Let’s begin with the first one. Continue with the chart until the last stitch of Round 6, your mitten should look like this so far.

22. Here you will have to join and continue the next round in the same colour (white) for 3 more stitches. If you continue with the white as usual you will get a purple strand in the back that is 6 stitches long, I don’t usually let strands be longer than 3 stitches because they could get caught in something very easily so no matter how long a chart says I have to work with a specific colour, I always catch strands every 3 stitches. Let me show you how. First, join with a slip stitch to first stitch and chain one, pull tight as usual.

23. You have done 3 stitches in white in the last row (Round 6), so now it is time to catch the strand in the 4th stitch of the same colour, which in this case corresponds to the first stitch of Round 7. So start the stitch as usual by inserting the hook in the middle of the V (sorry about the hair in the way and my horrible nails!)

24. Now, before you yarn over with the white, make sure that the hook goes underneath the purple strand. Now yarn over with the white and finish the stitch as usual.

25. In the back, your caught strand will look like this. I JUST REALISED THIS HAPPENS FIRST WHEN YOU CHANGE FROM ROUND 5 TO 6! SORRY ABOUT THAT… make sure you catch your strand there as well.

26. Continue with the chart normally. Now the final thing I wanted to make clear is how to change colours when you finish a round with one colour and start a new round with another. For example, this round finishes with colour B, and Round 8 starts with colour A. So continue with Round 7 until the last stitch and just like with any other colour change, before you finish the last purple stitch of this round change to the white, then slip stitch, chain 1 and continue the chart with the white. I was going to put more pictures but it is really the same as before so hope it is clear enough, just let me know if you have any questions.

Continue with the chart until you finish Round 35. In case you are wondering about when to cut the yarns, I did it every time I finished with one. For example, the first few rows of the chart are white and purple, then two rows of white, white and purple again, then white and yellow and so on. When I finished with the colour that isn’t white and changed to another, I would cut the old colour. So I would cut the purple if the next 3 rows of the chart are white and yellow (hope this makes sense, it is quite late!)

Uffff, that was long! Please ask if you have any questions. I will post the next part of tutorial soon and have added the pattern to Ravelry too, here is the link.

Have a great weekend!

Sol

A new crochet world: Aoibhe Ni

August 29, 2014August 29, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 4 Comments

Hello world! Hope you are all doing great and that weather where you are is nice and warm, very rainy in my part of the world today… Despite the weather, my very busy and difficult job, my very limited time for crocheting (or anything that is not working for that matter) and my tendency to get very low at times, I have to say I am feeling very happy today. I am very grateful for my life and those around me, even those that are far still fill my heart with joy and make me realise how lucky I am. Sorry for the cheesy intro but I thought I could share my joy with the world!

So I still haven’t done that photo tutorial I promised, I will give it a go tomorrow and see if I can do it by myself or if I will need someone else to hold the camera for me (Jess, if you are reading I am thinking of you!). I do have loads of pattern ideas in my head and I’m getting very frustrated that I don’t have the time to move forward with them, but that is life. I will get to them eventually and I guess you and I will both have to be patient! (I know, I hate it too…)

Since I didn’t want to leave you without a post this week I thought I would continue to share some of my inspiration and favourite designers with you. This time I would like to introduce you to the amazing Aoibhe Ni.

If you like tunisian crochet you will fall in love with this designer. Her patterns definitely fall into the “I can’t believe that is crochet” category and her technique is very unique. She uses the tunisian crochet technique in a way that you can do it with a regular hook so that you don’t have to buy a special one just for her patterns. This is so smart, thoughtful and budget friendly that I couldn’t believe it was true. And not only that, she uses tunisian stitches in a way I had never seen before.

With her designs you will learn tunisian crochet is more than simple stitch for cushions or scarves, oh, it is so much more! Her shawls in particular are STUNNING. I love that she uses lighter yarns and takes away that heavy feel that crochet is sometimes known for. Her designs are delicate, intricate and use lovely colours. Her yarn choice is usually expensive, but you can always substitute for something cheaper.

© www.halfadreamaway.com — © http://www.halfadreamaway.com

I have tried a few of her patterns and have loved them, sorry I don’t have more pictures but they were gifts so I don’t have them anymore.

The only thing you need to be aware of is that since this is a different technique for tunisian it may take some time to get used to it. Her patterns are difficult to understand at first and she uses mostly charts instead of written instructions. The first time I followed one of her patterns it felt like Chinese, but then the second and third were a breeze. She has a free pattern called Pax, I found it more difficult than the other two I tried and would recommend to buy Phoenix instead as a first try if you can. If not, then some people have done some beautiful projects with Pax so please give it a try.

I am constantly in awe by how hook and yarn can give such a wide array of results and this designer is really stretching the boundaries. I am very thankful to such people and hope that you will be too. Stay tuned for the tutorial!

Happy weekend!

Sol

A new crochet world: Kat Goldin

August 21, 2014August 21, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 1 Comment

Hello everyone! I assume you are as happy as I am that tomorrow is finally Friday (yay!). I have been so busy lately that weekends seem to come rather quickly and they are gone even quicker. I had some time today so I thought I would start to talk a bit about my inspiration and how this crochet journey began. I will write a series of posts highlighting designers and patterns that I like or have tried and hopefully it will help when you are looking for some inspiration yourselves or just some really nice pattern to try.

Before I jump to it, I wanted to give you an update on the fair isle pattern I have been working on: both mittens are done and I was going to start writing the pattern when I realised that a photo tutorial would be very useful for some parts that might be confusing with just written instructions. So, I have decided to take a bit longer and do a proper tutorial for you guys, hope it is worth the wait! Have never taken photographs of me crocheting, I am predicting it will be quite interesting…!

Back on subject, let me tell you a bit about my crochet journey. I learned to crochet when I was around 10 years old and have been crocheting on and off ever since. A few years ago I started to find some free patterns online and was drawn back into crochet once again, but it wasn’t until around 2 years ago that there was a real change in the way I saw crochet.

As it happens, some friends were having a baby and I decided to crochet something as a gift. I was already living in Edinburgh and I went to the library to find some books when I came across Kat Goldin’s book “Crochet at Play”. I have crocheted many baby items, but for the first time in my “crochet experience” I was seeing something different, something I hadn’t seen before. Fun and different patterns that weren’t the typical light pink or blue baby blanket or the white cardigan with matching hat. Those patterns are lovely, but I have seen them MANY times before.

“Crochet at Play” has slippers with claws, hedgehog mittens, wolf cardigans, fox scarves, octopus pillows and much more. For the first time in my crochet experience I was seeing fresh, interesting, inspiring patterns. I think that is one of the reasons why I had left crochet aside: patterns didn’t have attractive colours, didn’t look wearable or practical, sometimes they looked outdated. I am not sure of the timing when patterns like these caught my eye, maybe they have been around for a while but it was my first encounter and that really kicked off this crochet journey.

I really recommend Kat’s book, she is great if you have any questions (talking from experience!) and she has some other beautiful patterns that, as her book, are different. She has designed modern and wearable garments and accessories, with lovely colour combos and fibres (check her website here). She has become one of my favourite designers and can’t wait for her new book coming out in September.

Maybe the knitting/crochet boom has helped, maybe the beautiful new yarns available online to every part of the world has contributed as well. I often go on Ravelry and there are so many lovely patterns, but only some of them catch my eye: those that use techniques I haven’t seen before, or different stitches, or combine colours differently. The ones that I think: “I have never seen that in crochet” or “That doesn’t even look like crochet!”. This has driven my own creative process for my patterns: I am trying to design things I haven’t seen before. I think granny shawls are lovely, but I won’t make a pattern for one when there are so many around and when I know more talented people can get more beautiful colour combos than me. I want to try new things, challenge myself and make my small contribution to this new crochet world, one with endless colourful opportunities.

Have a great Friday 😉

Sol

A journey update

August 16, 2014August 21, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 3 Comments

Hello everyone! Hope you had a great week. I mentioned in my last post I started a new job and it has taken over my life recently, as with any big change I am trying to juggle things around and unfortunately crochet time has been reduced. This means that patterns may not come as often, but they will come! I will continue to post crochet goodness and share my projects and patterns with you and I hope you stick with me during this transition process. I want to share more of my inspiration, patterns and yarns that are catching my eye so expect some of that soon.

In the meantime I thought I would update you on that thumb problem of mine… and tell you that I got it! The first fingerless mitten is done and the thumb has been mastered at last. I am so happy with this pattern and want to share it with you guys as soon as possible but first I need to get the other one done so that I can take some more pictures for you. This way of doing fair isle is my favourite I have to admit, it takes longer but the patterns are clear and they don’t distort.

I think this pattern will be a milestone in my crochet journey and I am so happy with the discoveries and new places this process has taken me. I already feel more confident when approaching a pattern idea and I think the knots in me are loosening bit by bit. I think I can even see colours a bit more clearly! And a big part of this nice and happy feeling inside me is because of all of you: visiting my blog, liking my patterns on Ravelry, pinning them on Pinterest or leaving a nice comment. So I just want to say a big THANK YOU for being a part of my crochet journey and cheering me up all the way. Means the world!

Hope you have a great weekend with loads of time to crochet 😀

Sol

Free Pattern: Happy Triangles – BLO version

August 8, 2014October 4, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ Leave a comment

*Ravelry link*

Happy Friday everyone! It has been a very busy week for me, I started a new job and it has brought many challenges and has occupied most of my time so I hadn’t had the chance to share the second version of my last pattern with you.

My Happy Triangles pattern published recently used UK double crochet and a 3mm hook for a DK weight yarn, which gave a very tight and dense result. I wanted to share with you the version of this pattern using UK double crochet in the back loop only (BLO) and a slightly bigger hook.

So the first obvious result with this changes is that you get a bigger purse for the same number of stitches: 22.5cm long instead of 20cm. I made this purse a bit shorter to get a more rectangular shape, so with 6 rows of triangles you get a 22.5cmx14cm purse.

Secondly, the BLO makes the triangles look straight and since the colours are not contrasting they look sharp as well. The seam technique I mentioned in the pattern works great with BLO so you get a very straight seam, in the original pattern it twists up a bit so that it shows on one side of the purse. It doesn’t bother me but if you prefer a straight seam then BLO is the option. Finally, using BLO gives a different texture to the fabric than the one you get doing the stitch normally, you get ribbed rows that I believe look quite nice.

So if you prefer this version of the Happy Triangles pattern, here are the instructions! I made a slight change to the base so that the seam runs along the side and doesn’t show.

Happy Triangles Pattern – BLO version

Size: 22.5cm x 14cm

Materials

Rico Design Essentials Cotton DK: 1x50g ball White, 1x50g ball Blue Green, 1x50g ball Pistachio

3.50mm hook

Fabric for lining ( I bought 20cm of a fabric and it was enough)

Needle

Pins

30cm zip

Abbreviations

dc – UK double crochet

sl st – slip stitch

ch – chain

htr – UK half treble

BLO – back loop only

Instructions

Base: With white yarn Ch 50, 2htr in 3rd ch from hook, htr in each st across until last ch, 6 tr in last ch. Turn to work on other side of ch, htr in next ch and each ch across until last ch, 4htr in last ch, sl st to first htr (104 st). Don’t turn.

*Remember to pull tight on the sl st and the ch 1 when starting a new round to keep the seam straight.

Round 1: Ch 1, dc in BLO in each st across until the end, sl st to first dc (104 st). Don’t turn.

Round 2: Ch 1, dc in BLO in next st and each st across until the end, sl st to first dc. Don’t turn.

Round 3-26: Follow chart below, from bottom-up and from right to left. Each round has 104 st (each square is a st) so you need to repeat the 8 stitches in the chart 13 times for each round (13×8=104). Remember to continue working each dc in the BLO. Repeat the chart until you have 34 rounds in total so that you have 6 rows of triangles, 3 of each colour. You don’t have to cut the colours if you don’t want to, all the ends will be hidden once you do the lining.

Round 27-28: With white yarn, ch 1, dc in BLO in next st and each st across until the end. (104 st)

For the lining I used the same post by Futuregirl, tuck in all the ends between the lining and the purse, no need to weave them in!

As usual, please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a great day!

Sol

Free Pattern: Happy Triangles

August 1, 2014August 8, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ Leave a comment

Hello everyone! First, I apologise for all the days of silence, there is a lot going on at the moment and the blog has been on my to-do list every single day but hadn’t had the chance to write anything. To make it up to you I will share a new pattern with you guys, remember my geometric little purses? Well I have been sewing and sewing for days! I finished the fabric lining for one but still working on the second one so I will share the pattern of the finished purse and the other will come soon. Both patterns are quite similar but as I mentioned before the end result is quite different.

I am still working on the fair isle fingerless mitts, they seem to be the right size now but the dreaded thumb is coming soon so fingers crossed I will get it right this time.

As usual, a few comments about the pattern:

The colour changes are done leaving the unused colour as strands in the back. I have used this technique in my Night to Day pattern so check that post for links to videos explaining how to change colours and get nice strands. I also mention there a technique to keep the seam straight from Crochet Ever After, follow the links for instructions.
When doing chart patterns I usually work in the back loop only because otherwise the shapes of your chart will lean to the right when you crochet them. For this purse I didn’t work in the back loop only (BLO) and you can see that the triangles lean a bit. I still like the result but if you prefer a more neat-looking pattern then wait for the next one which does use the BLO. You can work in the BLO for this one but I would advise not to use very contrasting colours. The dark green against the white didn’t look right when working in the BLO, the edges weren’t clear so I used light colours for the next pattern and it looks a lot better. Check this post where I talk about the differences with each technique.
I wanted to get a very tight fabric for this purse so I chose the smallest hook size recommended for this yarn (3.00mm). This did slow down the process considerably because it was a struggle to get the hook through for each stitch, but you do get a nicer fabric and the triangles will look neater as well. If you are a very loose crocheter and can’t help it, then I advise you to use colours that are not very contrasting to make sure that the shapes are still clear. You can also wait for the next pattern which was crocheted looser.
The light green colour is very bright but it looks quite dull in the pictures, sorry!

Happy Triangles Pattern

Size: 20cm x 14.5cm

Materials

Rico Design Essentials Cotton DK: 1x50g ball White, 1x50g ball Blue Green, 1x50g ball Pistachio

3.00mm hook

Fabric for lining ( I bought 20cm of a fabric and it was enough)

Needle

Pins

22cm zip

Abbreviations

dc – UK double crochet

sl st – slip stitch

ch – chain

htr – UK half treble

BLO – back loop only

Instructions

Base: With white yarn Ch 50, htr in 3rd ch from hook, htr in each st across until last ch, 6 tr in last ch. Turn to work on other side of ch, htr in next ch and each ch across until last ch, 5htr in last ch, sl st to first htr (104 st). Don’t turn.

*Remember to pull tight on the sl st and the ch 1 when starting a new round to keep the seam straight.

Round 1: Ch 1, dc in BLO in each st across until the end, sl st to first dc (104 st). Don’t turn.

Round 2: Ch 1, dc in next st and each st across until the end, sl st to first dc. Don’t turn.

Round 3-34: Follow chart below, from bottom-up and from right to left. Each round has 104 st so you need to repeat the 8 stitches in the chart 13 times for each round (13×8=104). Repeat the chart until you have 34 rounds in total so that you have 8 rows of triangles, 4 of each colour. You don’t have to cut the colours if you don’t want to, all the ends will be hidden once you do the lining.

Round 35-36: With white yarn, ch 1, dc in next st and each st across until the end. (104 st)

For the lining I used this great post by Futuregirl, she uses a sewing machine but I had to do it by hand since I don’t have one. Took ages to finish but love the result. Just tuck in all the ends between the lining and the purse, no need to weave them in!

As usual, please let me know if you have any questions and here is the Ravelry link 🙂

Have a great day!

Sol

A thumb-size problem

July 23, 2014July 23, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 6 Comments

I am not sure why, but in the last few years I have felt a pressing need to be efficient and productive with my time. When I was at university I wouldn’t mind spending a whole weekend in bed watching TV, it was actually one of my favourite ways to spend the weekend. Now, every spare moment of time I have I feel the need to squeeze as much out of it as possible. It is not healthy but I can’t seem to shake it off.

If you follow my blog you will see I have started to create my own patterns, which has brought much joy to my life. A lot of people (maybe most of them) create patterns because they can’t help it, they are creative beings and ideas and colours are floating in their minds all the time: it is just natural. For me, I am designing patterns for the exact opposite reason: it is really hard for me. I see everything in black and white and 2D, I am horrible with colours (though Pinterest is helping) and I am the less creative person I know. I have been dancing for years and I can learn a choreography very fast, but if I just put the music on and try something on my own nothing comes to me. The patterns on this blog are the result of long research (what stitches to use? how do you mix colours?) and a lot of time and effort. So I am doing this as a challenge to my natural way of being, and oh boy, it is a challenge.

I have been working with colours lately and have fallen in love with fair isle patterns. Have borrowed all the books I could find in the library and I think I have finally found a stitch that allows you to see the patterns clearly on the fabric like when knitting. Since I can’t knit this is the only way I am ever going to do fair isle. So I looked for some patterns I liked and assembled them into what it would be a pattern for fingerless mittens. It started off great, I actually love how the colours look together and have been trying for ways to use them for months so it is a YAY! for me. But then… there was the thumb. What you see in the picture is what is left after I pulled my thumb attempt apart (yes, I was mad). I also realised the mitten was going to be too small and need to do it bigger, but since the pattern is a repeat of 12 st it will have to be a lot bigger and all this discouraged me so much.

Spending so much time trying to come up with a pattern when I could just follow another person’s pattern is very contra-intuitive for me and harder than I thought it would be. I was ready to throw it all in the bin last night, but today I have decided to persevere. Yes, there are some lovely patterns out there but not this exact one, and if I actually crochet something nice like this I will be so happy with the end result that all this will be worth it. And I will try to convince myself that I can take as much time as I need, there is no deadline, no rush: this is not a job. Finally, I will remind myself that I am doing this not only for the result, but for the journey. A journey to a more creative and colourful life 🙂

Sol

Geometric Pattern Update

July 20, 2014July 23, 2014 ~ solrencoret ~ 2 Comments

Hi there! Hope you are having a nice weekend wherever you are. Since it’s Sunday morning I am still in bed while writing this post, love lazy mornings like this and the older you get it seems harder and harder to get them.

I wanted to give you an update on that geometric pattern I have been playing with, the one with the triangles? Well I have done two samples with different techniques and wanted to share my thoughts with you.

The pattern is a simple triangle pattern with three colours, first I tried it with white, lime green and petrol green (I can’t get the pictures to show the real colours, it is a very bright green but it shows a lot darker). With this sample I used UK double crochet as normal changing colours with strands on the back. I wanted a sharp image so used a 3mm hook to make tight stitches. The result is quite nice in terms of the fabric, it is tight and stiff which suits the purpose of being a purse. The triangles are sharp enough but they do lean towards the right (you can see in the picture that the triangles move with every row, at the bottom row I ended with a dark one and at the top row with a lighter one). To be honest for this pattern this doesn’t matter as much as I would’ve thought, the visual effect is still nice, the triangles just lean a bit but I can live with that.

Now, the downside of this pattern was to crochet with a small hook. The yarn calls for a hook between 3 and 4mm but using a 3mm was indeed a pain, you do struggle a bit with every stitch and it felt like it took forever to finish.

After this first sample I wanted to try something different. I know that working in the back loop only will stop the stitches leaning to the right, but when I tried this with the petrol green colour the triangles didn’t look very defined because the colours were very contrasting. So I decided to get a couple of pastel colours to work with the white and try working in the back loop only. I also changed my hook to a 3.5mm to make it faster and easier.

As you can see the result is indeed a nicer pattern, no leaning of the stitches and the triangles look sharp enough with these colours. The only downside of this sample is that it is not a stiff fabric, the 3.5mm did make quite a difference. So I guess that if I were to make this properly I would use the pastel colours with a 3mm, but I am pleased with my sample so will line it with a cotton fabric and see if that makes it a bit stiffer.

I will write a pattern for the pastel colour purse once I have a finished product with fabric and zip, not very good at sewing so I will probably ruin it but have to try 😛

I am still playing with colours and chart patterns and have already started something else, will share it on the week once it is a bit bigger.

Hope you have a great day!

Sol

a crochet journey

Tales of my journey to a colourful and creative life

Author: solrencoret

Yarn therapy

Free pattern and tutorial: Autumn Diamonds Part II

Free pattern and tutorial: Autumn Diamonds – Part I

A new crochet world: Aoibhe Ni

A new crochet world: Kat Goldin

A journey update

Free Pattern: Happy Triangles – BLO version

Free Pattern: Happy Triangles

A thumb-size problem

Geometric Pattern Update