Paint Party scarf

Did you know that all hooks are not created equal? Manufacturers do their own thing. Case in point is the I hook. My understanding is that Boye I hooks are 5.25mm while others are 5.5mm. We also have G at 4.0 but some put it at 4.25. And then there's #7 hooks which are not even given a letter at 4.50mm. It can get confusing, 

The important point is that whatever hook you start a project with you should continue that project with the same hook. If you lose that hook well there's nothing to do but find another. If you don't know the size you can do a few stitches and see if they match up with what you've already done.

Here's another thought ... If you need to do a repair on something you made a long time ago or just want to add to an afghan such as a temperature afghan perhaps ... work a few stitches in the hook you think it might be and see if the stitches look the same size.

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I was reminded of a video I did 13 years ago demonstrating how to crochet left handed. There are much better videos out there today that show left handed crochet but this was me trying to learn it to teach someone else. Because of the trouble I'm having now with my right hand due to arthritis I thought it might be a good time to revisit this. I also have arthritis in my left hand but it's not as bad as the right. So if you're interested just for fun you can find that video here. Then check out some better ones. LOL

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Finally, here is my latest scarf. I love the colors in this yarn, It is Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in color Paint Party. It's made in Turkey. I used an I hook. Finished size if 7" x 60". 

I worked a foundation dc of 20. In the past I shied away from the foundation stitches but now that I've had some experience with them it's really not that hard and saves so much time - not because of the counting as you have to count them too, but because of the time it take to go into chain stitches at the beginning of the process. Going into a foundation chain is slower, to me at least.

Happy crocheting!

Sandie

baby blanket

Here is a small afghan. My goal was 32" but I fell short. The finished size is 30" x 31". I added two rounds of border - first a round of dc and then a round of [(sc, ch 2, sc) in same stitch, sk 1]. I'm hoping this will work for them. 

Yarn is Lion Brand Mandala Ombre in color Mantra. 

I used an I hook and chained 90. The pattern is Bev and Sherry's Baby Blanket . For future blankets I'll need to do a longer chain.

Happy crocheting!

Sandie

fun shirts

Do you remember this handy tip by Hooked by Robin? She demonstrates how to crochet WITH your yarn tails. You need to leave an extra long tail but it will never come out if you use this method.

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I saw these cute crochet t-shirts at Amazon. I've seen them other places as well but these were less expensive.  

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FKGS6TVM/ 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DXC3YPR8/ 

I am still crocheting but not a scarf. I'm working on a small blanket and will post when it's done. 

Happy crocheting!

Sandie

scrap scarf

I posted a link to this method before but ran across it again today. In this video Donna Wolfe of Naztazia uses Navajo Plying or chain plying.to triple yarn thickness. I used this method to make one of my scarves with a #1 weight yarn. I wrote about it here. 

As noted in that blog entry Fiber Spider, Hooked by Robin, and Briana K have also done video demonstrations of this method. I'm sure there are others out there too.

I finished a scrap scarf this morning. I used an I hook for the body and H for the black border around it. In general, I use a hook a size smaller for borders.

I used leftover balls and just dc until I ran out. I had several balls of the yellow which is I Love This yarn Buttercup. I did 6 rows in black on each end. Finished size is 6 1/2" x 64 1/2".

Happy crocheting!

Sandie

Basix Mosaic Grapevine

Yarn: Premier Basix Mosaic Grapevine, 2 skeins

Hooks: I and H hooks by Laurie Whitaker 

Size: 7 1/2" x 61 1/2"

Pattern: foundation dc 22, 113 rows of dc with a round of sc for a border. I used the H hook for the border.

I used the stacked dc for this one. It is supposed to make the edges straight but I didn't find that to be so. I decided it needed a border. I had enough yarn left on the second skein so I was able to do it in the same yarn.

I made another scarf with the last skein of this yarn. I used a fdc of 20 since I had less than I used for the other scarf. It came out slightly smaller than the first one. 

Happy crocheting!

Sandie