Category: Pattern Tests

The Suga‘ Dudes

Testing The Suga‘Dudes

I am happy that I had the opportunity to test for misssBerlin again! Also at the risk of repeating myself: I LOVE her patterns and especially her little Dudes. Meanwhile they are spread all over my house.

Her request came at just the right time for me.
It comforts me a little bit over the fact that our vacation, planed for mid-march, was canceled due to Corona. The test was about three new caps only. But of course the final pattern will also contain the instructions for the three cute little Dudes.

The recommended yarn for these little creatures and their different caps is mostly a level 2, or sport weight, cotton yarn. My favorite yarn is Scheepjes Catona, which is hardly available in Germany, or Schachenmmayr Catania. Due to the ongoing lockdown my choice of cotton yarn is slowly shrinking. And I noticed again that I seem to have only a small selection of red shades. But it always seems to me as if I don‘t have the right colors when starting a new project. Do you know this feeling?

I listed the colors that I used in detail on my Ravelry project page. My favorite color for the Dudes themselves is Catona, Linen No. 505, it is a bit lighter than Linen No. 248 from Catania. The Dudes on my photos below are made with Catona.

“They are bald and shy, so they cover their heads and half of their faces with whatever they find in their surroundings …”

misssBerlin

….. writes Dana, the person behind misssBerlin, about the Dudes in the intro of her patterns

This time you have to take care, that they don‘t hide on the coffee table. But that would probably not be a good idea. The Suga’ Dudes look so delicious that they definitely would fall out there.

They come along with some yummy decoration, like Ganache, Candy Sprinkles, Whipped Cream, and a topping of raspberries, strawberry and cherry.


Everything is explained very well in the pattern. But it‘s always advisable to read first, otherwise you will be like me.

The Cupcake Dude

…has a topping of Ganache, Candy Sprinkles and a little red cherry …

The Sundae Dude

… makes me drool with his fresh, velvety raspberries

The Waffle Dude

… comes with a topping of Whipped Cream and strawberry

and here the complete trio

Aren‘t they cute and yummy? I really love this pattern and enjoyed testing it!

The pattern for the Suga‘Dudes was just released in misssBerlins Ravelry store.

Mix and Match

My latest test …

This is my preliminary result of the lastest test from BebaBlanket, Mix and Match. I still have to decide about the border, but so far I am very happy with the result.

Tiramisu yarn

The yarn for this blanket was sponsored by Stenli yarns, a Bulgarian company. I am very glad about that! Thank you!

Tiramisu is a Cotton Merino Mix and comes in 450 g bobbles.
I already used it for my Greek Islands blanket and fell in love with it. It is soft and smooth to work with. (And I am NOT saying this because it was sponsored) It is considered to be a DK weight. Personally I think it is a bit thinner, so I used a 3,5 mm hook.

Both blankets I made with Tiramisu have a comfortable weight and a nice drape.


My Mix and Match journey

The pattern alone makes Mix and Match a good match to my Greek Islands blanket. Therefore I wanted to use not only the same yarn but also similar colors. For my Greek Island blanket I used Denim (my favorite color) as main color. The second color (it had no name, sorry) was color changing from beige to brown. So for my Mix and Match I decided to go also with Denim combined with the color Sea Shore, a combination of brown, creme and light blue. 

Stenli yarns are not available in any shops here in Germany. You have to order online, directly from the web-shop located in Bulgaria. That means: orders always take some time … I really was happy when my yarn arrived in November.The disappointment couldn‘t have been greater when I started with the test. What I didn’t realize when placing the order online was the fact that the color Sea Shore has not only color changes from blue over beige to brown. A white thread runs through each of the colors and therefore the brown in particular becomes very “busy”. It distracted the geometrical shapes of the pattern completely.

I had no choice but to reorder yarn – this time a harmless, solid beige – and started again at beginning of December.

Like in my Greek Islands I wanted to use Denim as base color (color A), but then the next problem arose: especially with design 3 there was kind of an optical illusion for me that drove me mad. 

The upper stripe shows my first attempt with Denim as color A. Even triple-checking the pattern didn’t help, my eyes kept seeing mistakes. I had to switch the colors and to restart for the second time. Does this only happen to me? 

So, admittedly my start was not the best! But the tide has turned! And t was worth the whole effort for me!

Mix and Match crochet pattern

Mix and Match is done in Mosaic Crochet, the so called Inset Mosaic. I don’t know if this in an official name or just a creation by the Facebook group, where I first read about it. In contrast to the Overlay Mosaic technique two rows are always worked in one color. The work is turned after each row – so worked from front- and backside – and there is no need to cut the yarn.

The pattern includes 4 different designs (squares) with identical stitch counts, so you can combine them any way you want. Or just follow one of the 5 suggested layouts that are also part of the pattern.

I choose layout 4, consisting of 3 designs arranged in 3 different ways. The complete layout has 6 squares in width and 9 in height. 

My blanket turned out about 98×117 cm without border, and I used about 500 g Denim (color B) and 465 g Beige (color A) so far.

The pattern is easy to follow but challenging. You have to work very carefully, otherwise you might mix up the designs. I often had to go back two rows to correct a mistake.

But again: the result was worth the effort!  The pattern is available on Ravelry.

 

The Succulent Dudes.

My little Succulent Dudes …

Look at this sweet little Trio: Echeveria, Saguaro and Domino Cactus Dude. This is the latest pattern I was able to test for MissBerlin. Aren‘t they cute?

They are the newest members of her Dudes collection. All small, bald and just too cute. Only to differentiate at their different caps, which also give them their unmistakable characters.

I fell in love with this little creatures the first time I saw them 💕

That must have been the Pumpkin Dudes back then, sometime in 2019. Later I was able to test „my” first Dudes pattern – the Woodland Dudes. The Pine Cone Hat is one of my all-time favorites, although it has faced great competition over the years.

Here some more photos:

The pattern for these lovely Dudes is available via Ravelry.

 

Review 2020

My pattern tests in 2020

Today I searched for some photos and came across this one by chance. I put this together at the beginning of the year as a review of my tests in 2020. I was surprised how many there were. Every single one of them was great fun.

You can find all of these patterns on Ravelry.

Here a topdown list of the names and designer, just in case you want to get some details:

1st row from left to right

  • Fly with Me Shawl by BebaBlanket
  • The Squash Dudes by misssBerlin
  • The Spooky Dudes by misssBerlin
  • Tidelands Wrap by Suzanne Carlson

2nd row from left to right

  • Kate the Camel by YukiYarnDesigns
  • Chevron Apache Waves by BebaBlanket
  • Sunny Spring Cowl by Suzanne Carlson
  • The Yule Dudes by misssBerlin

3rd row from left to right

  • Bloom Forever by BebaBlanket
  • The Juicy Dudes by misssBerlin
  • Greek Islands Blanket by BebaBlanket

4th row from left to right

  • Carter Jude Square by Pam Knighton-Haener
  • Peacock Dance by BebaBlanket
  • Raspberry Juice the Bunny by misssBerlin

5th row from left to right

  • Mosaic Christmas by BebaBlanket
  • Coral Reef Garden by BebaBlanket
  • Dioon Pillow by MyCrochetory
  • Gantavi Bag by Noelia Rodriguez (Shamana Crochet)