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Archives for January 2014

Throw Back Thursday Crochet… The love of doilies!!

Last week I showed you a beautiful afghan my Grandmother Beatrice Ryan Ramshaw had made for her sister-in-law…  I loved pulling it out and wrapping up in it… Great memories of my Great Aunt and my Grandmother!!

This week I pulled out a small part of my Doily Collection…  She was known for her thread work and I remember many times watching her work on a doily or tablecloth!  When I was growing up, I would get to spend the night with my cousin at our Grandmothers house… She watched Big Time Wrestling and Crocheted…  Our treat was 7 up and Mothers Chocolate Chip Cookies…  We played dress up with her fur coats and beautiful dresses and we even were allowed to try on her gorgeous costume jewelry!  Great memories!!  So here are just a few of those doilies I inherited…

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I use these doilies all around the house… I may have up to 50 of her doilies in my collection!!!  I do love working with thread… Just a month ago I found a beautiful ball of Peacock colored thread and whipped up my own doily…  I thought of her so much while I was working on it!!!

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Love this color!!! I would love to make a table runner out of this thread… Wouldn’t that be beautiful??

 

What about you??  Have you worked with thread…and if you have what have you made… Any tablecloths,,, table runners or doilies?

 

Happy Crocheting….

Elena

Wednesday Facebook Fan Favorite…Week 24

Have you ever thought of your crochet season??  That’s when you tend to crochet more… mine is September-April… That’s not saying I don’t crochet the rest of the year… But, those colder months I have some sort of desire to work on things that keep me warm!!  I can see that in our Facebook Fan Favorite Series...  Each week over the last few months, there has been way more of you talking about and sharing these Daily Free Pattern finds…   This weeks winner had almost 2000 comments, likes and views all on its own… And many of the other weekly finds had close to the same!!  So here is the weekly Facebook Fan Favorite…

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Patchwork Purse by Patons

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Patchwork seems to be a hot trend this winter and if you are a bag/purse collector this stylish  design may be just right for you!

If you are new to our Facebook segment,,,  Each day I present a Daily Free Pattern Find that I have found while browsing the internet…  The winner is selected by your views, comments, likes and shares!  Also, Past segments (and there are tons of Free Patterns) are stored in my Facebook Photo Library…  There are now 2 Photo Albums for this series,,, One album for 2013 Free Pattern Finds and a new 2014 Album…

CAL News:

We are having so much fun working on our Crochet-A-Long!!!!  Last Friday on our Facebook “Show and Tell”, There were so many beautiful pictures posted…  I have had a sneak peek already of a few week two projects… love them!!!  It isn’t to late to join in the fun,,, Week 1 and 2 pattern sections are posted in the Crochet-a-Long tab at the top of the page and are easily completed…

Also you can follow along with the other 118 members over on Ravelry… And we have our own Pinterest Page just for our CAL progress pictures… Hop over and check all the great pictures out!!!  If you would like to post your CAL pictures on the pinterest page,,, Just shoot me an email to [email protected] and I will have an invite sent by Pinterest for you to join in…

How is your CAL afghan coming along??  Mine is lovely so far… and I think you are going to LOVE week 3 pattern section!!!

Happy Crocheting…

Elena

Beatrice Ryan Designs Crochet A Long Afghan.. Week 2

I hope you had a great week and had fun crocheting your Granny Squares…  Are you ready to put them together and move on to the next step??

There are two methods frequently used to join Granny Squares… You can whip stitch them together or crochet them together… Since I am a total crochet-a-holic and not so much a seamstress… I always have crocheted mine together… But if you prefer the look of the stitching method that will be great too… I found 2 great tutorials for these methods incase you haven’t joined Granny Squares together before…

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The first method is Crocheting Granny Squares together. This tutorial is by one of my favorite Crochet Artists… Lucy from Attic 24… She is famous for her colorful Granny Squares and this tutorial is very clear and it will walk you through this method if this is the one you  would like to use!!!  Click Here for the Crocheting Granny Squares Together Method…

The second method is to Sew the Granny Squares together. I found a great tutorial from Lion Brand Yarn to demonstrate this method… Click Here for the tutorial on How to Invisibly Seam Granny Squares Together Method…

Stitches:

Sl St – Slip Stitch     Ch – Chain     Hdc – Half Double Crochet

Instructions for Week 2:

Join your Granny Squares together in on of the above methods.  You will join them in 2 rows of 4 squares.  See my Granny Squares below for placement.

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wpid-IMG_20140119_145132_074-1.jpgThis is the front side of my Joined Granny Squares…

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This is the back side of my Joined Granny Squares… Notice the slight ridge the Sc joining forms… I like this for my self and over time the ridge slightly lessens as the yarn settles into place.  But, if you don’t like the ridge the whip stitch method would be a better choice for joining.

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Step 2 – Working with neutral or main color:

*Tip 1: You will want to make sure when making row 1 & 2 that the top and bottom row have the same number of stitches and the right and left sides each have the same number of stitches. 

*Tip 2:  When working or row 1 & 2…It will be important to have an even amount of stitches on each side of your work, the exact count isn’t important,,, but the even numbering is!!  Next weeks pattern section will be thrown off if you have odd amounts of stitches…When counting your stitches,  the center stitch of the corner will not be added into your count..  You should check your stitch count at the end of each of the four sides and make sure it is an even number and that the parallel sides have the same number of stitches… This will ensure your afghan will remain in an even rectangle shape.

Row 1:      Join with Sl St in any corner.  Ch 1, 3 Sc in corner. *Sc in each stitch across to the next corner, 3 Sc in Corner*. Repeat * * Around, join with Sl St to first Sc.

Row 2:     Ch 4 (counts as Hdc plus ch 2 for corner), Sk 1 Sc, Hdc in next Sc.  *Hdc across to 1st Sc of next corner. You will skip the center Sc of previous row corner, Ch 2, Hdc in next St and each across to next corner*. Repeat * * Around, Join with Sl St to 2nd chain of beginning Ch 4. Finish off. You should have approx 44 Hdc on the sort sides of the rectangle and 94 Hdc on the long ends of the rectangle.

Below is an up close picture of the corners for reference.

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And here is a photo of week 2 completed… 8 Granny Squares joined, 1 row of Sc’s, 1 Row of Hdc’s….

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Congratulations… You have finished Week 2!!!  Don’t forget to hop over to Facebook next Friday for Show and Tell at 5Pm EST… and Pinterest to see what everyone has done so far!!!

Happy Crocheting… Elena

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