Uncategorized Archives — Picking Up Stitches

Blanket coverage – time to get cosy!

February 17, 2021 by Annie Leave a Comment

A blanket was just what was called for over the past few weeks. It’s been FREEZING here, so I’ve been busy finishing yet another one. Although they take some time, I really like to have a blanket on the go to pick up and crochet while I watch the TV.

I thought you all might like to see the blankets I’ve made so far. There’s also news of my Waffle Stitch blanket. The pattern’s here! (And don’t forget, I’m offering 1-2-1 Zoom lessons if you want to learn how to crochet any of the stitches seen in this post!)

Here’s the oldest blanket I have. I didn’t make it, my grandmother Vera did, back in the 1960s.

She knitted it in strips from wool left over from garments she’d made (hence the rather odd colour choices!). We lived with her as a child and I always remember her with a blanket on the go. This is the one that I had on my bed all through my childhood. It came with me to college and to every place I’ve lived since. It’s now full of holes, but my dog Lily doesn’t seem to mind, as it’s now on her bed!

Lockdown blankets

I started my first lockdown blanket during the summer of 2020. I chose to order the Attic24 Dune kit. You can find the pattern here and the kit here. It seemed relevant, as I live at the seaside, and it has a lovely shell-like pattern in soft, shoreline colours…

Although it was so boiling hot, I crocheted it happily outside in the garden, and it didn’t take too long once I got started!

I used it in my craft room at the end of the garden – mostly as a blanket for Lily to lie on at my feet while I stitched!

My friend Ellen has spent all of lockdown alone in her flat near the Yorkshire moors. I knew she’d love a cosy blanket for Christmas. I used another Attic24 stitch pattern – this time Neat Ripple – but I used blues and greens with shots of mustard and orange. She loves it!

It’s big enough for a single bed (or the end of a sofa!)

Strangely, my sister Helen sent me a picture of the blanket she’d just finished – the colours are very similar, aren’t they!

One for our home

I then thought I’d crochet my partner David a contemporary style blanket. I decided to design one in waffle stitch. I’ve put the pattern here (and if you’d like help with making it, I offer 1-2-1 Zoom lessons too). It’s ended up being a stylish addition to our sofa – so warm, in modern colours from Stylecraft DK.

Blanket design that's coming soon - the Waffle Blanket

A blanket-coat for Lily

Of course, Lily couldn’t be missed out. As she didn’t need yet another blanket, I designed her a blanket-style waffle coat which she wore happily when out in the freezing snowy weather.

I’d love to see your blankets!

Learning to crochet or knit on Zoom!

November 6, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

Learning a new skill is a brilliant thing to do at any time. But especially during lockdown, it’s wonderful to take up a new craft to keep you busy while you’re stuck at home.

For me, teaching people to knit or crochet has been so difficult since the beginning of lockdown. I always like to be able to see clearly what people are doing when I’m teaching them. That way, I can help them with whatever they’re finding most challenging. Here’s one of the lessons I held in North London last year, before the pandemic hit our shores.

Of course now, with the two-metre rule, teaching like that is almost impossible. I’d been wondering about how I could carry on teaching people who were interested in learning to crochet or to knit during lockdown, and I’ve now decided to offer one-to-one lessons using Zoom!

That way you can still get individual attention and learn how to make exactly what you want! Also, I’ll be able to teach you, wherever you live! Even if you live outside of London or Thanet, where I usually teach

So although I won’t be teaching you like this…

Learning to crochet at a cafe before lockdown

… you’ll still have my undivided attention, just via a screen.

If you haven’t yet used Zoom, all you need is a computer or tablet and an internet connection – it’s so easy! Don’t worry, I’ll explain exactly what you need to do…

Just think what you’ll be able to make!

And what a brilliant pastime knitting and crocheting is while you’re stuck at home! I’ve been busy finishing all sorts of projects – I finally had time to crochet a blanket by Attic24 I’d been meaning to make for ages…

Just think – if you learn now, you’ll still be in time to crochet or knit some Christmas presents! So take a look at the crochet projects on my page here or decide what you’d like to learn to knit and drop me a line if you’re interested in arranging a lesson… More info here

Helpful Notes on the Spring Bag CAL

April 28, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

I thought I’d add some (hopefully) helpful notes here, to explain how you can prepare each section of the Spring Bag CAL so that they’re ready for joining together eventually, then tomorrow, Part 2 of the instructions will be here…

Helpful notes 1 – Darning in the ends

As there are lots of colour changes in this pattern, guess what?! That means loads of ENDS!!!!! You’ve probably already noticed if you’ve done the first Part. And each one will need darning in, so that your work won’t unravel as soon as you begin using the bag. Make sure you leave a long enough end when you start each new colour and when you cut off the colour at the end of the round, to make it easier to darn in.

A useful technique

If you can manage it, a useful thing to do is to crochet over each new end as you go along, then at least it’s partially darned in automatically. It only works on rounds where you’re working a number of stitches in the same place though…

Here’s an example – it’s the second round. I’ve joined in my yarn and done the initial 2 chain stitches. You can see that I’ve placed the green loose end along the top of the lilac stitches on the first round.

Now, when I insert the hook through the space for the first treble, I’m also putting my hook under that loose end.

Once I finish my treble, it’s secured that end in place.

I do that again with the double treble and treble.

Here’s what it looks like on the back…

Now it’s quite secure, so I can leave the loose end at the back. To be on the safe side, I usually still darn the yarn back the opposite direction once I’ve finished the round, read on for how to do this…

Get your darning-in needle out

Once you’ve finished each piece of this CAL, it’s easier if you darn in any loose ends. That way, when you come to join the pieces together, there won’t be so many ends getting in the way.

You’ll be darning in on the back of the work so it isn’t visible on the front.

Thread that needle and look for some handy stitches that you can weave the end through… Here I’ve found some brown treble stitches to weave my pink thread through.

I put my needle through the middle of the stitches – here I’ve gone through 3 stitches.

Now I turn back the other way, miss the first stitch and thread the needle through the middle of the stitches going in the opposite direction.

This should be secure now, but you can turn and go back the other way, missing the first stitch if you prefer. Now you can trim the end off completely, safe in the knowledge that it won’t unravel.

Notes 2 – Blocking

Blocking is a step that you do to set the crocheted piece into it’s final shape. So only do this stage once you’ve finished the whole of a main square (that’ll be after Part 3 on Friday). Then block out each completed piece as it’s finished.

Get yourself a pile of towels, or fold one up so you have several layers. Using rustproof dressmaking pins (if you have rustproof ones), place your square on the towel and pin the corners so that piece is exactly a square. Don’t stretch it too much, just ease the corners slightly so that each side is straight. Now you can add a few more pins along each side.

If you have a mist spray bottle (like a plant spray), just lightly spray the square with tepid water. You don’t want to make it soaking wet, just slightly moist. If you don’t have a spray bottle, you can just cover the square with a damp cloth till it’s damp. Now leave the square until it’s completely dry.

Sometimes with acrylic yarn, an extra boost is necessary. I very carefully use my steam iron. VERY IMPORTANT DO NOT TOUCH THE CROCHETED PIECE WITH THE IRON (if you do touch acrylic yarn with a hot iron, it will ‘melt’ or fuse in place, or even stick to your iron which is not what you want at all!). I hover my steam iron a couple of inches above the pinned-out crochet piece and give it a short burst of steam. Once I’ve done this to the whole piece I leave it till it’s completely dry before taking out the pins.

So now you know all about the finishing touches, you’re ready for the next few parts of the CAL.