Granny Square Cal 3

My Granny Square Cal from wolplein is finished! The descriptions of the squares is in Dutch. It needed a week or two to finish all the threads and also a few days to make a nice border.

The original blanket has a very simple edge. Just two rounds of sc and dc stitches. But in mine blanket were some squares a bit bumpy and dragging, and a nice edge will stretch the squares a bit so the dragging will be over. So I crocheted more rounds than the original two. In one of the seven rounds of the edge I made every 10 stitches a little red ball. So the edge is more 3-d.

I used some leftover Yarn for the squares. In my Ravelry account you can find all the colors. I haven’t measured the yarns weight and length. The used leftovers are from stylecraft special dk acrylic yarn. There are a lot of colors in this yarn, so you can choose a lot. Half way I had to order some white and silver, for these colors were most used.

The making of the blanket was a bit troublesome, because all the different descriptions. Furthermore a few squares were too small and a few too big, so I had to repair this before joining the pieces. I used the zipper method to assembel the blanket.

Now the blanket is ready I am satisfied with the result, although it was a wild ride. Alice

Granny Cal 2

How about the granny Cal. How is it going. Here is an update.

I am almost there. My pile of grannies is still growing. There are 19 grannies in my pile and I need 20 to make a small blanket. Each granny cost a day to make, for I have also a lot of other things to do. I try to make more time but there isn’t enough time in a day. Before I can assemble the squares, I have to hide a lot of threads. I always wait with this, so I can change in the last moment something on the square if necessary. I have already changed the last rounds so the squares are now of equal sizes. And where possible I made the last round in the color white. Each square is about 25 or 26 cm width. I also choose the grannies I like most, there are 35 grannies to choose from. Alice

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Granny Cal 1

I love to make blankets. Especially those with squares or grannies. Now I am participating in a Dutch Granny Cal. I am making it with yarn from my stash. In my stash boxes were a lot of Stylecraft special DK yarn balls in many colors. The squares came out to be very big, 25 cm or more, so I have a lot of modifications to do to make them all the same length. I have made already 16 squares and there are more to do. I can choose from 35 Grannies. Sadly the patterns aren not translated in other languages.

A few squares I have made in the gallery. Alice

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Granny pillow

In my bedroom came a new chair. It was a nice chair. I wanted a pillow on the seat of the chair. It had to be a very nice one. So with some cotton in my stash I made 25 little grannies. I used 9 colors from Catania cotton. It is a nice yarn with very lovely colors and i use them very often in little works or projects.

I am very pleased with the pillow. The pattern is from a book and called cornflower granny. Alice

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Happy New year

Happy new year to all my readers and followers, I hope 2021 wil be a year full of inspiration and nice crochet and knitting projects.

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  corona blanket

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  kaleidoscope cushion

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  coastal blanket

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  Fruit and garden Blanket

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  kaleidoscope cushion cover

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  Dia de los Muertos

Above some pictures of my projects in 2020. Not so much as usual, but there where four blankets and cushions, and that are some big projects. There is also a lot of stuff lying in my to do boxes, hopefully they will be finished in the new year.

Also started with the art doll project. This is time consuming but and also a nice challenge to do. I will write more in 2021 about this project.

art doll

Also my green cardigan is almost finished. Still three parts to go. They will be written soon.

green cardigan impression

More projects will follow, but for now enjoy your day. Alice

Kaleidoscope Blanket Cal – 4

I started very enthusiastic on this CAL, for it is a beautiful blanket to see. But after a while making squares and triangles it became very boring. So I made some variations in the pattern, changed colors and so on. But then Corona came and other projects became more prominent, so my work on this CAL was skipped. Later on the squares and triangles were put away in a box and were totally forgotten for a while.

squares

After finishing three other Blankets I picked up the work on the Kaleidoscope CAL. I knew I am not going to finish it. I thought about what to do with the already made panels. It came into my mind that i could make a nice cushion of the squares and triangles, a big one with the squares and a smaller one with the triangles. With 8 triangles I can make an almost round piece of fabric.

triangles

The squares were easy to join. And the cushion front cover measured about 50 cm in each direction. I bought a nice fleece for the backside and an inside pillow. But the work wasn’t done, due to the fact that I missed a color yarn to make the edge.

The squares were a bit dull to see, so I joined them with a few nice colored threads and the zipper method. On the front side you will see these colors.

front

Because the fleece color is teal, I ordered a teal ball, when it arrived i made a nice edge with it. The teal square fleece of 52 cm was sewn to the teal colored edge. And with the pillow put inside the cover the cushion was ready.

The finished cushion

The joining of the triangles was a bit more work, they had to be sewn to each other. A edge was crocheted around the panels. It succeeded well enough and the result is two nice round panels. I will make later this year a cushion of the panels.

So a failed project can still be made in something nice. Alice

Green Cardigan — part 5

Part 5 is all about the front and back panels. How to measure them, how to crochet them and a bit about how to decorate them.

Make first a swap with the main pattern, so you can exercise this pattern, then make a backpanel without decorations. The front panels can be decorated with bobble stitches and relief stitches, using your imagination.

You can also exercise the decoration stitches in the swap of the main pattern.

Front of the green cardigan

You can find the instructions here >> Green Cardigan part 5. Much fun with making your own cardigan. Alice

Dia de los Muertos CAL – 4

The last part of this CAL isn’t the easiest one. There are a lot of bobble-stitches to make to form the crown on the skulls, so counting is essential to make these rounds. Then after a few simple rounds the cloth is ended. After all the dark rounds I enden with a purple round, Ik makes the cloth a bit brighter.

What left is the decoration of the skulls. I think it is beter to do this in an earlier phase. But the designer uses it also to secure the skulls. My decorations are minimal, I have sewed some nice beads in the eye socketholes, that is all.

It was a nice CAL to make, and I finished it just in time for the “dia de los Muertos” day, although my blog is a bit later than planned. I hope you enjoyed my writing. Alice

Cthulhu doll 2

After the green Cthulhu doll I made earlier, I made a purple one. This doll had to represent a female Goddess and because of that, she could mary with the green Cthulhu doll. So she must be dressed in a wedding outfit. What outfit would be suitable for a sea monster. I thought the wedding outfit must be black and look like a worn fishnet with seaweed.

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In making a second doll I also could test the written pattern and start to write the instructions down. Making is only faster then writing. And the whole procedure must be held secret because the dolls were gifts on a wedding.

The second doll is almost the same as the first one, only the head came out a bit larger. furthermore she is two colored, due to the fact that she is made from some leftover yarn. The yarn is some leftovers SMC Catiana cotton and hook size 2.5 mm.

Arms, feet and wings were made after these items from the small but mighty dragon, that I made earlier in 2018 and 2019 >> my little dragon

The wedding outfit is made from some leftover black lace. It had the structure I had in mind. It looks a bit by a net from a fisherman.

In the head some rims must be crocheted, to make the eyebrows and the nose-bridge. Both the dolls have also a skull rim on the top of the bald skull. The female doll has a veil of lace befitting the lace dress, the male doll a little hat. They also have wings and a nice tail.

Aren’t they cute and awesome?
I will soon finish the pattern and upload it to my website. Alice

Dia de los Muertos CAL – 3

The skulls have to be joined in this part of the CAL. The chin of the skull has to be joined with 9 stitches otherwise you will not get the skulls on the right places. It helps when you keep in mind that each skull is placed above one petal of the inner center flower or right above one of the heart stitches (light blue in my work).

In the Dutch translation of the pattern round 23 was a bit confusing due to the fact that on a few places 2 dc’s have tot be crocheted together. This is easily over looked when reading the pattern shallowly. It helps when you make a notice of the sequence of the stitches on a piece of paper in your own words. the following rounds will be no problem if this one is made in a correct way.

Some people already decorated the skulls before joining. The skulls will be very loose in that case, but on the other hand decorating is much easier tot do. Also it is easier to finish the loose threads. I choose to skip the decoration, but that will be explained in the last part of the CAL.

Round 29 will attache the skulls to the work. The last round (30) of this part will be the first of the flowers above the skulls. Also it will secure the skulls. Keep in mind that you have to crochet 15 stitches in the skull. If you made the skulls in the proper way there will be no problems in this round. I made a mistake in this round, can you find it?

Good luck with this part of the CAL. Alice