Tag Archives: Crochet

Happy Hexagons

I am still having problems with my joints, which has limited the amount of craft I can cope with – my knees complain if I spin for too long and my hands don’t cope with knitting needles very well.  I have fallen back on crochet and found I can manage that, especially as I treated myself to a new Clover hook which is shorter and chunkier to hold than my normal metal hooks.

Whilst in shopping mode, I also made the mistake of visiting the Kemps website and a few bargains just sort of fell into my basket…  I am using Twilley’s Freedom Gorgeous DK yarn, which is a bamboo/nylon mix to crochet hexagons to make a blanket, which gives me some sense of achievement as each finished hexagon feels like I have completed something!  At first I thought it would be a disaster because it is a four ply yarn and looked as if it would be rather splitty, but it didn’t turn out to be that much of a problem.

I am using Attic24’s idea of joining the hexagons as you crochet the last round so there is no sewing up at the end (although there are still plenty of ends to tidy up).  I have almost half the yarn so far, so should end up with enough of a blanket to keep away the chilblains next winter (or this summer, given the current weather)!  It’s a colourful creation:

Next time, I’d buy a couple more colours – I have six and could really do with at least seven so I could have a central hexagon and six all round it all with different edge colours.  (Yes, I am a control freak, I could not cope if I ended up with two the same colour touching!)

Advertisement

Free Crochet Pattern – Creme Egg Creatures

Happy Easter!  You’ve just about got enough time to rustle up a few of these little fellows in time for an Easter Egg Hunt with a difference – the creatures have a slot in the back so you can hide an egg inside!

Creme Egg Creatures Pattern

Getting started with crochet – using a magic ring

Another photo tutorial for you… I like writing step-by-step guides!

I’m about to add a free crochet pattern which uses the magic ring technique, so I hope this tutorial will help if you haven’t tried it before.  Using a magic ring can be a bit fiddly, but it helps to avoid that irritating hole that appears in the middle of your work when crocheting in the round. 

Here’s how it works:

1  Create a ring with your yarn, making sure that the end that leads to your ball of yarn is on top of the yarn that leads to the cut end

2  Use the hook to reach through the ring and pick up the yarn

3  Pull the yarn back into the centre of the ring

4  Pull the yarn through, up and away from the centre of the ring

5  Yarn over hook…

6  …and pull through the stitch on the hook

7  You can now work your first stitch (eg, double crochet) into the ring – if you are using ‘tall’ stitches such as trebles you might want to create a chain of a few stitches first

8  Continue working stitches…    

9  …until you have the number you need for the first round

 10  Pull the cut end of the yarn (gently!) – the ring should close in and pull the stitches into a neat circle

 11 Add a slip stitch to close the round of stitches