name afghan

Coke has this new gimmick called Share a Coke where each bottle of soft drink has a name written on it. Of course this makes folks look for their name and the names of family and friends. Cute gimmick, but there are some folks who can never find items with their own names for whatever reason. Perhaps they are spelled differently than the majority of folks with that name or just not in the top 250 name list they used. Find out if your name is on a bottle here.

My own name, for example. My full name is Sandra. My nickname is Sandie. I am almost always able to find items with Sandy (Coke has it) but rarely Sandie. I can sometimes find Sandra but it's not on this particular Coke list. I don't drink Coke so no biggie for me.

Anyway, all this to say that a sweet relative of mine mentioned that she can never find anything with her name on it so I decided to make her a name lapghan as a surprise so she could have something with her very own name. Here is the result. (Guess what her name is. heh)

The yarn used is leftover skeins purchased for Doctor Who scarves.

The edging is Red Heart Burgundy. The two tan colored solid stripes are Vanna's Choice Taupe. Some of the other skeins did not have labels but here's what I remember (if my memory can be trusted).
Bernat Waverly Gypsy Gold
Red Heart Soft Wine
Vanna's Choice Honey, Eggplant, Toffee, Rust
Knit Picks Dublin, Sienna, Eggplant, Currant

There is a grey but I don't know which it is.

The yarns were all worsted weight but not necessary all equal in thickness. The RH Soft is slightly thinner than the rest and the Bernat Waverly is a little thicker. It all came together pretty nicely except when I went to work the edging.

I ripped that edging out at least three times. LOL I could not get it to lie flat and I do attribute this somewhat to the thinner yarns. I finally settled on one round of single crochet, then one round of (sc, ch 3, sk 3) which I adjusted along the side that was giving me trouble. Then for the final round I worked (3 dc in each ch-3 loop, ch 1). I think it came out pretty well.

I might give an additional tip if you decide to do this and use that edging. When working the ch-3s you need to extend those chains to match the length of the stitches beneath them or you will have puckering there. In other words, work loosely and pay attention.

The strips are joined with a whipstitch. The lettering is my own design, but basically is just square lettering. Easy for anyone to do. I used 3dc mesh. The letters are 5 squares across and 9 down.

[update] I'm unable to update the web site currently, but if you want a filet alphabet chart Pinterest is a place to start. You can also google "filet alphabet chart" and will get a number of hits. I'm happy to send my alphabet chart to anyone who inquires as well. Just send me a note via the contact form. One caution - some of the alphabets I saw did not design each letter to be the same size. If you are making squares and need them to be the same size, make sure you choose a chart design that does this. In other words, all the letters being the same number across and the same number down. For example, all my letters in the chart used here are 5 across and 9 down. In order to get a "center" you need an odd number. I also have a larger chart which includes lowercase letters but I have not tested it in a project yet.

That's all for now.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

hats

I know it's been a while since my last post. Apologies for that. Life gets in the way of the best intentions.

I've been working on a couple of things. Today I will show you the hats I've been making. These hats were made with Patons Classic Wool using my pattern Classic Adult Beanie which can be found on this page at Crochet Cabana.

I ordered 8 skeins of yarn (6 deep olive and 2 black) and was able to get 9 hats out of that, with possibly enough of the green to get another hat. I will be attempting that later. I am noting this info down because I was thinking I could get 12 hats from that yarn and I will be short of that goal. I was relying on my previous memory so  ... not going to do that again! LOL Here are pics of the hats, the leftovers, and the bill.

I ordered the wool from Knitting Warehouse. Michael's also carries this wool. A new Hobby Lobby just opened up in our area so I will be checking them out soon as I can as well.

I hope your crochet world is in good order and you're enjoying the projects on which you are working. In my world, crochet has taken a back seat to my sweet growing-much-too-fast grandson.

I've also been having a spot of trouble with updating the web site so I need to figure that out. If there are things you want to save from the site, I would offer the suggestion that you save them off now as with my luck the whole thing will disappear while I'm trying to update it.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

join in round

Last time I mentioned joining the rounds of a hat with a (ch 1, dc) so when you come around you have an actual stitch in which to insert your hook rather than a chain. Well, a chain is a stitch of course, but the pattern stitch is what I mean. In this case, a dc. 

The next hat I made, I worked as is normally done, joining in the top chain of the turning chain. This is what that looks like.

Here they are side by side. What do you think? I folded the hats to make it easier to photograph. I personally don't see that it makes a whole lot of difference which you choose to use. I'm sure there are other joins that you can use as well if you have a preference.

That's about all I've been doing crochet-wise. I've been more into reading lately as that is something I can do while I'm rockin' the wee one. I use the Kindle app on my phone (or iPAD but that's a little heavier to hold with a little one). :-) Didn't have that option when my own were tiny tots. I like it!

Did you know you can save patterns purchased at some places (like Annie's Attic, for example) to your Kindle or Kindle app? I can also borrow some ebooks from my library which can be read on my Kindle. At first I wasn't sure I'd like ebooks, but now I am really hooked on them and it feels strange to have to search for where I left that paper book I started.

Hope your summer is going well!

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

hats hats hats

I'm getting slower in everything I do these days. About three weeks ago I was asked to make some hats for the troops and, of course, I agreed as I always support our troops when I can. I didn't have any wool (needed for anything going to ground troops) so I had to order. I chose Patons Classic Wool since I've used it before and it is what I used in my patterns. It's about $6/skein. I ordered from Knitting Warehouse on 6/11. I received the shipping notice on 6/16 so I'm sure I received it soon after that.

I bought Black and Deep Olive. I may later get some of the Chestnut Brown. I hope to get a dozen hats out of my purchase. We'll see how that goes. They aren't needed until November so I have plenty of time. Thanks to the coordinator for giving me an early heads up this year.

Anyway, I've only made 3 hats in 2 weeks! Not that long ago I could have whipped one of these up in a couple hours. I'm not sure if I'm moving slower or if I just have too many other things going on to interrupt me. 

For troop hats the simpler the better, so I decided to use my Basic Beanie pattern which was developed for this purpose and can be found at Crochet Cabana on the hats page. These are meant for warmth so close stitching is desired. Since the Patons yarn is worsted, but a little thin, I used a G hook.  I am using double crochet for the main part of the hat with a rim of single crochet. 

Here is the hat as shown from the front.

Here is the back of the hat. It shows the join of each round. For the beginning of each round, I use a ch 1, dc so that when I come back around, I am joining to an actual dc, not in a ch-3. I haven't done it with the ch-3 in quite a while. Perhaps I'll do one that way to compare. 

For those who can read my shortcut, the rounds are 12 dc, 24, 36, 48, 48, 60, 60, 72, 72, 84, 84. I worked 18 rounds of dc and 4 rounds of sc. 

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Doctor Who scarf finished

The double crochet version of the Doctor Who 4th Doctor's scarf is finished. I even added fringe! 

I began the scarf on June 1. I finished the body of the scarf on June 9th and the tails were all woven in by June 11th. Fringe was added this morning, June 12.

Here are pics taken outside in daylight. I think it gives the best representation of the colors.

Finished size is about 10" x 12' 2"

For this scarf, I used
Purple = Knit Picks Brava Sport Currant
Camel = Stylecraft Special DK Camel 
Mustard = Sirdar Hayfield Bonus DK Pumpkin
Rust = Stylecraft Special DK Copper
Grey = Stylecraft Special DK Graphite
Greenish Brown = Sirdar Hayfield Bonus DK Moss Green
Bronze = Knit Picks Brava Sport Brindle

The details:
I chained 42 for my foundation chain, worked first dc into the 4th chain from hook and used ch-2 for my turning chain. All rows are worked in double crochet.

For gauge, I followed a general rule of 2.5 rows per inch and used doctorwhoscarf.com inches pattern for reference (with permission). I multiplied it out using the general rule for fractions - if it's over a half inch, go up. In other words, if I needed 6.5", I multiplied 6 x 2.5. The result is 16.25 which is less than sixteen and a half, so I dropped the quarter and made it 16. If I needed 5.5" I multiplied 5.5 x 2.5 and got 13.75 which is more than thirteen and a half so I went up to 14 rows.

Pattern can be found at my Doctor Who weebly site (under My Scarves) at http://gallifreyancrochetin.weebly.com/ 

Happy crocheting!
Sandie