Tag: regular crochet

Tied Up with a Bow: Crochet Square by Pam Knighton-Haener

Finally I can show you a square that I made some weeks ago.

In August I had the pleasure to test another one of Pam’s lovely designs: Tied Up with a Bow. She now released the pattern and it’s available on Ravelry and in all her other shops.

In case you don‘t know Pam yet: Pam Knighton-Haener is an American designer and the person behind  A Yarn of Serendipity. Most of the beautiful Afghan squares you can find here on my blog are designed by here.

The original pattern is made with Aran / worsted weight yarn. The final size will be 11 or 12 inch, depending on the hook size you use. The skill level is mid intermediate.

As with all of Pam’s designs, many different stitches are used. Of course everything is explained in detail and there are clear pictures for each round!
And of course the final size and the final number of stitches per side match all the other squares Pam has designed.

Talking about the pictures: Especially for the modified star stitch I found them very helpful! For this special stitch, it was much easier for me to work from the pictures than from the written instructions. However, that may be just personal.

My test version

During the test I made a version with Drops Safran, a sport weight yarn that has a yardage of 160 m / 50 g. Usually I use a 2,75 mm hook when working with this yarn, but this time I didn’t feel comfortable and switched to a 3 mm hook.

I had actually chosen 5 colours for this design. For some reason I couldn’t find a matching spot for two shades of green I had chosen, so in the end I only used 3 of my colours

71 – Marzipan
22 – Light Brown
28 – Orange

Can you see the little bows?

My colour placement

My finished square measures about 22 cm / 8 1/2 inch. I have to admit that using a 3 mm hook made it a bit loose.

My second version

After testing, I just had to make a second version. I lately fell in love with the colour Lincoln from Stylecraft Special DK. I have had two balls in my stash for ages but have never used them. Inspired by Pam’s single coloured version, I thought that the Tied Up with a Bow square would certainly look nice in this colour too. I didn‘t get disappointed …

For this version I used Stylecraft Special DK in the colour 1834 – Lincoln. Only round 11 is made with colour 1822 – Pistachio.

I used a 4 mm hook and the final square is about 26 cm / 10 inch.
I am absolutely happy with the result!

Time flies …

I don’t know where the time is. This year just seems to be flying past me … We’ve just been on holiday, got a new car, celebrated Easter and now it’s already May – my birthday month …

To be honest, I haven’t done that much crochet recently. At least not much I am able to show right now.
I am still playing around with Tunisian crochet. So far I have never worked with two colours in Tunisian crochet. So I am just practicing different techniques and I’m curious to see what effects you can achieve with it.

Besides, I am currently working on a shawl in Tunisian crochet, designed by Rachel Henri.

Comme un Air de Printemps

means Spring is in the Air in English and is available on Ravelry.

I love the construction of this shawl! It is more ore less worked in strips that are connected as you go. Therefore you even don‘t need a Tunisian crochet hook. A normal hook is absolutely sufficient as long as it is long enough to carry 12 stitches or so.

I am using a 4-ply sock yarn with 76% Cotton. The colours are a soft mixture of grey, pink and lilac. Unfortunately they do not show so well in my picture.

And I was also able to do two small tests.

Easy Come Easy Go

is the new pattern by Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity that was just released. Her the link to Ravelry, but it’s also available her other platforms.

I was happy to test this pattern a few days ago and am very pleased with the result.

My version is made Stylecraft Special DK and a 4 mm hook. I followed colourway 1 – Pam offers two different ones in her pattern – and replaced the colours as follows

  • Colour A – 1067 Grape
  • Colour B – 1026 Apricot
  • Colour C – 1240 Soft Peach
  • Colour D – 1832 Mushroom

First I was a bit unsure about this colour combination but I think it worked quite well. However, I am sure this square will also look great in just one colour.

The finished square has 39 stitches per side. Of course the final size will depend on the yarn you use. Mine measures about 26 cm / 10 inch.

At the moment I’m thinking about making a wall hanging from different afghan squares. This one would be a good start. Let’s see….

Dream, Sparkle, Shine

I also helped testing a new pattern designed by Ana. Her lovely Dream, Sparkle, Shine.
Ana had chosen a great colour combination from Hobbii Mocktail yarn.

The pattern is available on Ravelry too.

I had no suitable colour changing yarn in my stash so I had to experiment a bit with my Stylecraft Special DK.

Photo credit: Ana Morais Soares / One Skein of Love

This turned out to be more tricky than I thought and I was not quite able to achieve the effect I had in mind. That‘s why I made only a smaller piece over a few repeats.

I used Cream as background colour and always used the 5 contrasting colours in the same order. I love the colour combination! (Although I didn’t get the desired effect and although a bit more contrast might be better for mosaic crochet.)

  • Background – 1005 Cream
  • Colour A – 1064 Mocha
  • Colour B – 1844 Toy
  • Colour C – 1832 Mushroom
  • Colour D – 1218 Parchment
  • Colour E – 1240 Soft Peach

Originally I wanted to make a cushion out of it, but then I had another idea. I had a simple cotton bag, a promotional gift from a pharmacy, with logo on one side. My patch had the perfect size to fit on the front side. So I made a small border – just one round of single crochet – and sewed it on. Voila – a new project bag.

And that’s all there is for today! Have a lovely time 💕

Something nice and small – Still feasible before Christmas

Are you celebrating Christmas and still looking for a little something to give as a gift or decorate? These two crochet patterns, Glittery Christmas Baubles and Sparkly Stars, are really quick to make and look fantastic.
I’ve had a lot of fun crocheting them over the last few days and have found them quite addictive. The yarn you use will make them look very different, so they don’t necessarily have to look Christmassy. It all depends on your preference.

Both patterns require very little yarn, so they are great for using up any leftovers.

Glittery Christmas Baubles

The pattern is from Ana Morais Soares from One Skein of Love.
As the name of the pattern applies, Ana has used glittery yarn in some parts. I did not have anything with glitter on hand – so mine are made with some leftover yarn from my Legacy Blanket.

A little side note: Yes, my Legacy Blanket is finally finished! To be precise, it’s been finished for about a fortnight now, but I haven’t managed to take some nice pictures yet. The weather here is mostly pretty grey at the moment – clouds, rain, or fog. I hope it gets better in the next few days!

Back to my baubles, I think they clearly show what I meant at the beginning – they look more rustic than glittery and Christmassy.

I’m totally in love with this look!

I used

  • Drops Lima (100 m / 50 g) – colour 100, Off White
  • Drops Merino Extra Fine (105 m / 50 g) – colour 07, Light Brown
  • Drops Merino Extra Fine (105 m / 50 g) – colour 15, Light Greyish Green

with a 3,5 mm hook.

The bauble itself consists of two halves that are sewn together. First, you crochet the two halves, then you join them together while inserting the bauble.
Ana used a Christmas bauble for this. Unfortunately, I didn’t have one that was the right size. So I put a polystyrene ball inside mine. It’s a 7 cm (2 3/4 inch) ball. The circumference is about 22 cm, just over 8.5 inches. It fits perfectly!

Of course, you can use various decorative stitches to join the two halves. Alternatively, if you prefer not to stitch them together, a crochet join, such as a simple zipper join, works very well.

I tried different joins, and the one shown on the left is my favourite.

It is made with slip stitches worked through the back loops. On each half, I inserted the hook top down, from outside to inside. I started with a slip stitch through the back loop of a stitch on the lower half, then slip stitched through the corresponding stitch on the upper half. And so on … It creates a nice kind of braided effect.

Sparkly Stars

Sparkly Stars is a pattern by Joy Clements from Crochet Road, which I spotted on Ravelry. These five-pointed stars are as quick to make and as addictive as Ana’s baubles. They can also be used simply as winter decorations.

Here, too, the final look can be influenced by the yarn and colours used.

The pattern offers two different sizes, contains detailed pictures and also a link to a video tutorial.

I used the same yarn and colours as for the baubles, but this time with a 4 mm hook. So again, no sparkle or glitter.

My small stars are about 9 cm and the tall ones about 14 cm.

Both patterns, the Glittery Christmas Baubles and the Sparkly Stars are available on Ravelry.

Glittery Christmas Baubles on Ravelry
Sparkly Stars on Ravelry

I will definitely make some more baubles and stars using different yarns.

Have a lovely time 💕

Test No.3/2022 for Pam

Sweet Delusions Square

… another beautiful design by A Yarn of Serendipity – Pam Knighton-Haener and my test no. 3 out of 4 that I have completed for Pam this year. And still more to come … YAY!

The Sweet Delusions Square is featured in the BAMCAL 2022 – Crochet a Block-a-Month— on Ravelry. It’s the square for the month August.
The pattern is available as a free download on Pam’s website or as a paid pattern on Ravelry. The paid version has additional features like the very helpful round-by-roubd pictures and links that help you to navigate through the document.

For Sweet Delusions I stayed with my Hobbii Rainbow cotton 8/4 just as I had intended. I like the result and think the colours go very well together.
Although I can imagine it in different colours as well. Maybe different shades of green and a little bit of cream? Or shades of purple? There are so many possibilities!

Pattern

Sweet Delusions Square
available on Ravelry

Designer

Pam Knighton-Haener from A Yarn of Serendipity

finished

14. June 2022

Technique

regular crochet

Yarn

Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4

Colours and Placement

28 Light Jeans Blue – colour A
69 Lilac – colour B
46 Old Rosa – colour C
29 Jeans Blue – colour D
97 Mist – colour E
following colour way 1

Hook

Clover Soft Touch, 2,5 mm

Finished Size

about 20 cm

If you like Pam’s designs just have a look at my other tests:

My test versions

I hope you get some inspiration!