robot afghan wip

As you may recall, I was unable to crochet at all for about a month and then limited use of hand for a couple weeks after that. I am now almost fully able to crochet without pain so I've been slowly working on an afghan for my grandson. His birthday is coming up and he loves robots. His mom made up a chart for me.

 I was able to make a few squares a day for a while. I started putting them together and I've now got the robot portion of it done. It will pop out better once the edging is completed I think.

Because there are literally hundreds of tails to sew in for these small squares, I have decided to try a "regular" edging around the robot itself even though I have all the yellow squares already done and a few more of the blue completed. LOL You know how I hate sewing in those tails! I may add the other squares later if I have time. Not being able to crochet for a while messed up my timing.

Because of the nature of the robot it would naturally turn out longer than wide. I'm thinking I may add more rows to the sides first and then go around the entire thing. Still in the thinking stage at this point.

The squares are 3 rounds of daughter's cross-stitch square. At first I left a long tail 3x the width of the square but found that was not enough as it left only a short strand after assembling the squares. (If Lily Chin can leave small tails I can make do with these, eh?), so for the rest I left a very long tail, about 4x the size of the square. That is what I recommend using for assembly. You still have to sew in the remainder but it stops you from having to join additional yarn for assembly.

The squares are approximately 3". (If you want a larger afghan you can use larger squares but measure carefully. Remember I still have sides to do on this one.) Grandson is going to be 2 so I didn't want it TOO large. 

The yarn is Knit Picks Brava Sport Silver (light grey) and Celestial (blue) and Stylecraft Special DK graphite (dark grey). The yellow, if I end up using it, is Stylecraft Special DK Sunshine, very bright, almost orange.

The robot itself is now about 21" x 51". I didn't actually measure but given each square is 3" that should be about right. The robot uses 38 light grey squares, 23 dark grey squares and 57 blue squares if I counted correctly.

If you are brave enough to work all the squares on the chart as it is, you will need 32 yellow squares and a bunch more blue. I'll count it out for you on the post showing the completed afghan - don't expect that any time soon but I am hoping by mid October.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Who dishcloths

I had to come back and show off the Who dishcloths made by daughter. Yes, they are knitted but they are COOL!

She also made me a birthday cake and my all time favorite Hershey fudge which is very difficult to make. What a gal! Thank you, daughter!


Happy crocheting!
Sandie

owl cushion review

I'm still working on dishcloths, but took some time out to work on an owl pattern I purchased on Etsy. Owls are really popular now as you probably already know and this was a beautiful pattern.

The pattern I'm working is a gorgeous owl cushion (pillow). Though I think it is well worth the just over $5 (U.S.) purchase price, it is written differently than I am used to and it has taken daughter and I some collaboration to translate it into a form that is easier on my brain.

I have been in contact with the designer and will be sending her my interpretation. I've gotten most of it down now though I can't absolutely guarantee my translation is what she meant. It did seem to work well and looks like the picture on the listing. (The interpretation is just for my own personal use, though the designer can use it however she wishes.)

Let me give a small example of what I mean from the pattern.

Pattern says:
attach a new color between two sc last row, 1sc in the same space (1ch - 2sc) 15 rtimes, (total 16) 1ch, join round with slst fasten off

My interpretation:

attach new color in any ch-1 space of last round with a single crochet, sc in same space, (ch 1, 2 sc) in each ch-1 space around, ch 1, join with a sl st to beg sc (32 sc) fasten off

You can see that all the instructions are there in both cases. The wording is just unusual to me. The designer is from the Netherlands and she says it has a Dutch touch to it. She did a great job in the development of the pattern. It really is gorgeous and looks like an owl when complete.

The pattern itself is not difficult. The body is worked in rounds (not rows as labeled). The side bits and head portion are worked in rows. My numbers didn't come out exactly as hers on one row (I got 37 and she had 38 - could be my error), but otherwise it worked fine. There ARE a lot of tails to sew in if you leave them til last as almost every row is worked in a new color. I suggest sewing over those you can as you go along. On my second one, I wove the strand through the back loop of the next stitches and then crocheted over it. (Yes, I am paranoid and cotton is particularly bad for poking out.)

Here is a picture of what I've done on the first side (tails not sewn in). I used worsted cotton rather than double strand sport so my finished product is larger (15" across the widest part of the round body). I haven't done the surface stitching. It buckles slightly but won't do that once it's in pillow form.

After I finished that one, and wrote up my interpretation, I made a second one and tweaked my written pattern a bit. I will be froggin' the edging and the last couple rows of the first one to match the other one. :-(  I also still need to do the surface stitching. Then they can be joined together into a pillow. The second side does not use the same color combinations. Here is a picture of the second owl (tails not sewn in yet).

I really like the pattern (as evidenced by all the time I spent on making and interpreting it) and think this would be a neat gift to someone who enjoys owls. The pattern is in pdf format and was delivered very quickly even given the time difference. There is also a second option for a medium size owl using the same eyes and beak.

Small side note. Today is my 60th birthday and I thought I'd share the Smartglo hooks I received as part of my gift.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie