Phew, another pattern test is finished: No Limits, the new pattern by BebaBlanket.
No Limits is an Overlay Mosaic pattern worked in rounds but the pattern has also an option to work in rows. There are different charts for pattern variations, 3 for working in the round and 1 for working side to side. The best is: all variations can be combined with each other. And, when working in the round you don‘t have to cut the yarn after each round. All colour changes are made in one corner and you just carry the yarn along.
My No Limits is based on pattern variation No 2. It is made with King Cole Comfort DK in the colour Truffle (colour A) and Stylecraft Special DK in Cream (colour B) with a 4,5 mm hook.
I worked according to the chart as it is drawn (up to round 30) and repeated the pattern starting with round 19. After 3 repeats I had to stop because I ran the risk that my Truffle would not be enough for another repeat. I finished the pattern with one more round 19 in colour A and a round of back loop single crochet, also in the colour A.
My finished No Limits measures 80 cm in a square, big enough to cover my knees and lap on a chilly day.
A lovely pattern that is also suitable to play with colors a bit. But I especially like the corners.
is the new pattern by Ana Morais Soares from One Skein Of Love. At the end of last month, Ana asked me if I could test this pattern. As she wanted to release the pattern in the middle of July I didn’t have enough time to make a complete blanket. So I first tested just one repeat by crocheting a small swatch with 45 stitches and 44 rows and started the blanket afterwards.
Oh So XOXO Pattern
Oh So XOXO is an Inset Mosaic crochet pattern. For Inset Mosaic two rows (front and backside) are worked with one color. The yarn is not cut at the end of a row, so no tails to deal with.
The pattern is a repetition of two stripes with two different motifs. One repeat comprises 28 stitches and 44 rows so the size is easily adjustable.It is Ana’s fist inset pattern and has written instructions with detailed row by row pictures and also a chart.
My Oh So XOXO journey
I mostly use DK yarn for blankets and I absolutely love to use It for Overlay Mosaic. So of course I used Stylecraft Special DK for my test swatch… And made a new experience! For my taste DK yarn might be a bit too thick for Inset mosaic, at least for my taste. My swatch didn‘t have the fluffiness that Overlay has and felt pretty stiff even when working with a bigger hook …
Although I actually wanted to use yarn from my stash I made up my mind and ordered some thinner yarn, Drops Love You 7. The same quality that Ana used for her design.
Drops Love You 7 is a 100 % cotton yarn. A sport weight with a yardage of 170 m per 50 g.
My swatch in Stylecraft Special DK was made in the colours Grey and Cream. I really liked this combination! To get something similar for my final blanket I choosed the Drops colours Dark Grey and White. Of course the white is brighter than the Cream was and the Dark Grey is darker than the Graphite. Nevertheless I think it’s a beautiful and strong combination!
Drops Love You 7 is smooth and soft and I enjoy working with it. I am using my 3,00 mm Clover Amour hook.
My blanket will have the full size over 185 stitches and 286 rows (6,5 repeats). Without border it measures about 93 cm / 36,5 inch in width. I am currently working on the second pattern repeat, so still some way to go. But I love it! The pattern is easy to follow and very relaxing.
Publishing my first crochet pattern has been quite an experience. In different ways. Although I have tested various patterns in the meantime and basically believe that I know what a pattern should contain, I was surprised how much work it is to put everything on paper. It is much more than just writing down the sequence of stitches and repeats as I usually do for myself. The main difficulty for me was to formulate everything in such a way that – hopefully – everyone understands it and to give the whole thing a – hopefully – logical (and good looking) structure. I hope I succeeded in both. In any case, I can now appreciate all the work and effort that a designer puts into his design even better.
From the beginning I wanted to publish the instructions here on my blog. But I also wanted to know how it works to publish a pattern on Ravelry.
Publishing on Ravelry isn’t as difficult as I thought. You will be led through a kind of questionnaire in which you describe everything about your pattern. Basically, that’s all.
But I was a little bit overwhelmed when – within half an hour or so – I got a notification from Ravelry that my pattern made it under the top 20 on their Spotlight Debut Patterns page. Honestly, I didn‘t expect that. Actually I was more prepared for nobody to show any interest and then that – YAY!
Now I really hope that there are no mistakes in the instructions and that people are happy with the result!
Pattern testing
I‘ve finally finished a test for BebaBlanket, only some tails to work away and some pictures to take. It is a small blanket in Mosaic crochet worked in the round. The pattern will be released in the middle of July.
Another test for Ana from One Skein of Love is currently in progress. Also a blanket made with Mosaic crochet and the pattern will probably also be published this month. Fortunately it’s ok for Ana that my blanket won’t be ready by then.
Besides testing
The last few weeks I have been busy with very different things, not everything was crochet related.
Thank God hubby and I finally managed to get our first dose of the covid vaccination. So far without any problems. I spent hours in the vaccination center myself because I got an appointment – quite surprisingly and at short notice – that someone else canceled. Apparently a lot of appointments for the second shot were canceled that day (there are things I don’t understand … ). The process was correspondingly chaotic, but the staff was very friendly and tried to get everything in order.
But most of the time I spend on my tablet right now:
For some time now, I’ve been thinking about switching to another platform with this blog. I am still struggling with the design here and am looking for something that offers me more possibilities. So I am testing WordPress at the moment. It is possible to import content from Blogger to WordPress so that nothing is lost. But in my opinion everything has to be revised as in WordPress the structure (and also the fonts) are different. So I am busy behind the scenes … and I am afraid I underestimated the work that includes all of this … again …
With all the revisions, I noticed that I have mentioned my Greek Islands blanket many times but never shown it. Time to change that! So another post introducing my Greek Island blanket will follow soon.
In the meantime, here are a few impressions of our roof garden, where we had a visitor yesterday.
Hooked on Häkelmaschen 