pattern

Free Pattern: Happy Triangles

~ solrencoret ~ Leave a comment

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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!

x

Sol

 

 

 

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A thumb-size problem

~ solrencoret ~ 6 Comments

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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.

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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.

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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 🙂

x

Sol

Lazy Sunday

~ solrencoret ~ 2 Comments

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Hope you are having a Sunday as lazy as mine, just nice food, time with my boyfriend, crochet and TV 😀 Above is a sneak peak to what I have been up to lately, if it turns out nice there will be another pattern on your way! I am writing the pattern for the Yeoman lace project, so I hope to post that soon.

Have a great week!

x

Sol

Free Pattern: Night to Day Wrist Warmers

~ solrencoret ~ 7 Comments

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*Ravelry link*

My first pattern! I am so happy to share this pattern with you and hope your wrists will be happy with them, mine surely are!

Some comments first:

  • This pattern uses techniques for fair isle crochet. You can check the following videos by Crochet Ever After for the basics:

Fair Isle Crochet Tutorial #1: How to Change Color

Fair Isle Crochet Tutorial #2: How to Catch Your Float

  • I carried the yarn in strands at the back instead of inside the stitches as when doing tapestry crochet because the colours are very contrasting. I made sure to catch the unused yarn every 3 stitches regardless of the chart, e.g. if the chart says 7 stitches in the dark colour before changing to the lighter one I would do: two stitches in the dark colour, catch the strand in the third, two more dark, catch the strand on the 6th and then change to the light colour before ending stitch number 7. Shorter strands reduce the chance of catching them when you put them on.
  • To get a straight seam when joining each round I used this technique by Crochet Ever After which also makes the joining less visible. Basically, when you are working in rounds you usually do the last stitch, join with a slip stitch to the first stitch, chain one and then continue the pattern in the NEXT stitch to the one you slipped the hook through when joining. This makes the joining move one stitch with every round and then you get a diagonal seam. By doing your first stitch in the SAME stitch as where you did your slip stitch you always join in the same place. So if Round 1 and 2 of the pattern sound confusing check the video for further guidance.
  • You don’t really need a gauge for this pattern, you just have to check the size first. I added 4 stitches to the original pattern shown in the picture since my wrists are very small. Before starting the pattern, chain the number of stitches required, join to first chain and check if the circumference is large enough that it fits the part of your hand where your thumb starts, otherwise you won’t be able to put them on. If it is too small for you I have added some empty columns to the chart in this file: print it and fill in the squares randomly and adapt the rest of the pattern to your new number of stitches. Just remember the chart is for half the number of stitches since you repeat it once. You can also do more rounds of the solid colours depending on how long you want them.
  • This pattern is available for free to my dear readers, and you are welcome to sell finished products (but of course not the pattern), I only ask that you credit the pattern to me.
  • Finally, this is the first pattern I have ever written so I apologise for any mistakes and please ask any questions you may have, I will be happy to answer them.

 

Night to Day Wrist Warmers

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This pattern is crocheted in the round, without turning your work and on the back loop only. The middle section of the pattern uses a fair isle technique to change colours and carry the unused colour as strands in the back, as explained in the comments above. The pattern is written for one standard size, but click here to download a printable chart that allows you to add stitches if the pattern is too small.

US terms

sc blo – single crochet in back loop only

ch – chain

st – stitches

 

Materials 

Hook: 3.5mm

Yarn: 1 x 50g ball Excelana 4 ply in Cornflower Blue, 1 x 50g ball Excelana 4 ply in Nile Green (I only used approx. 15g of each colour)

Needle to weave in ends

 

Instructions

With darker colour chain 40, join to first chain (make sure not to twist them) with slip stitch and pull hard so that the chain just made is less visible.

Round 1: Ch 1, sc blo in first ch (where you just did the slip stitch) and in every ch across. Join with slip stitch to first sc. Don’t turn (40 st).

Round 2: Ch 1, sc blo in st where you joined with slip stitch in previous round, sc blo in next st until the end. Don’t turn (40 st).

Round 3 -10: Repeat Round 2.

Round 11-24 : Follow chart below from right to left and repeat once for each row (chart is for 20 stitches, in each round once you get to stitch number 20 go back to the first stitch of the row and repeat for the next 20).

Cut darker yarn and continue with lighter yarn only, leave a tail long enough to make it easy to weave in.

Round 25-31 : Ch 1, sc blo in st where you joined with slip stitch in previous round, sc blo in next st until the end. Don’t turn (40 st).

Fasten off, weave in ends.

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I have added this pattern to Ravelry as well if you want to add it to your queue 😉

Please post a comment if you have any questions and enjoy!

x

Sol

 

Killing my yarn stash: Excelana 4ply

~ solrencoret ~ 2 Comments

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As with most things, this pattern didn’t start the way it ended. I bought this yarn from the lovely Jess at Ginger Twist Studio with the idea of doing some tapestry crochet in the shape of diamonds, little woolie style. I bought a yellow colour along with the blue and light blue but they really didn’t look well together. The navy blue was too contrasting to carry it inside the stitches without being WAY too obvious.

I was thinking that the two tones of blue looked well together and started scratching my head looking for ideas. That is when I thought they looked like night and day and the pattern started forming in my head. I bought a notebook with little squares, loads of coloured pens and started to make a chart for a random transition from night to day.

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Now, let me tell you that coming up with a random pattern of dots is actually not random at all and takes loads of attempts. When I was finally satisfied I thought I would do it with tunisian crochet and frame it for my wall (I have some granny squares framed and they look lovely, pictures soon).

If you have done colour changes with tunisian crochet you know that it can be done but if you have to change colours too often in a row it becomes a bit of a challenge. Fair isle crochet came to mind, but of course, this works much better in the round. So my nice “crochet painting” became a pair of wrist warmers, and I LOVE THEM. I really never expected they would turn out this nice so I am really proud and a bit more confident in myself and this little project of mine.

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I have to write the pattern for these as well, though it might take a bit. I need to do the chart and probably add a few more columns since my wrists are incredibly small, I guess they are OK for a child size though 😛

If you are interested in fair isle crochet I used the tutorials from Crochet Ever After, as well as her technique for changing colours when closing each round so that it makes an almost invisible join.

x

Sol

Killing my yarn stash: Yeoman Yarns Red Lace

~ solrencoret ~ Leave a comment

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Hope you are all having a lovely day. Following the introduction of myself and my yarn stash killing project I thought you might want to see what I have accomplished so far. My first project was to find a purpose for a red lace yarn from Yeoman Yarns. They have some lovely colours if you want to check them out. This yarn is not soft, but not too scratchy either. I bought it to make a shawl for a friend, I used the pattern Love is a Prism by Julia Wardell (beautiful!) but got loads of yarn left.

I wanted a really simple project and remembered that I had really liked the tunisian crossed stitch in the shawl pattern so decided to use that and just simple stitch, I really like the result. I used the biggest hook I had to make it lacy.

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It looked boring without some fun edging, I knew how I wanted it to look but couldn’t come up with a way to do it so finally I found a pattern in a Japanese crochet book that is very similar to my mental image and I think it really adds to the final result. I will write up the pattern and post it soon, if you have not tried tunisian crochet this is a very simple project to start with.

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By the way I still have yarn left! I could’ve made it longer but I was getting bored… I know, should’ve just used it all but too late now 😛 If you are in need of some red lace yarn please let me know.

x

Sol