Girls striped jumper- SUPER QUICK MAKE.

Here's my eldest blinking in too bright sunlight showing off her latest new jumper ...her current fave!
I bought the yarn in our Easter holiday up at Abakhan in North Wales ; it's available online from there too or from Readicut online also : approx £3.99 a ball. This sweater for a 10 year old takes 1.75 balls.
The balls are 200 g, 100% acrylic- yes I usually HATE this stuff but this one is very very very VERY SOFFFFT!- 312 m to a ball.
CHUNKY weight : rec hook 6mm.
I made it in just 2-3 days of crocheting in evenings only...!!!While on holiday, it was finished before we came home again.Easter in North Wales was bitterly COLD this year hence the yarn and the hurry!!!!

The pattern follows shortly and was inspired by the book: Crochet kids stuff by Sharon Mann and Phyllis Sandford . ISBN 52944 01584. Obtained from Borders in Oxford.
I think it's Canadian.
I was inspired by the sideways sweater on page 25 but mine has a few alterations.
Yarn, sleeve length, gauge, stitch , neckline : subtly different in all aspects.

The above is MARBLE yarn by James C Brett , acrylic. the colour is OCEAN : or CODE MC8

Here is some more yarn, there are quite a few different colourways available.I like saphire trio too as well as the lilac/greens one.Ocean is the one on the far right and in the middle: only 1.25 balls left.

PATTERN:
SIZE : front=back= 45cm long by 5ocm wide my eldest likes 'm baggy.
TENSION: Using all trebles( USA DC) 5 ROWS ARE 10 CM and 11-12 trebles are 10 cm.

FRONT=BACK = 55 STS BY 26 ROWS.

FRONT:

Start a loose chain - I do this on a 7mm hook- of 55sts.
The change to hook 6mm and work another 3 chain- ( turning chain) = 1 treble(dc) then work trebles to the end using BOTH loops of the starting chain.
TURN: chain 3 and work trebles all the way across again but ONLY in the FRONT loop.
turn at end, 3 chain and trebles all the way back but ONLY IN THE BACK loop.
Repeat the above 2 rows until 26 rows have been worked: there should be a line/ stripe effect on one side only caused by working the stitches in one loop only.LOVELY!
This is the outward facing side if you so wish.
The other side should be plainer.

REPEAT for the BACK.

Work in ends.

Now sew the shoulder seams together from the outer shoulder edge inwards towards the centre neck BUT ONLY for 3 trebles.
Then attach the yarn to one of the sides: eg the back and work 3 dc ( sc) in the next 2 trebles.
Then work trebles ( dc) in the next 3 trebles spacing them 2-3 to a treble row .
Then work 2-3 double trebles in the next treble row and triple trebles( 2) in the next treble row.
Cast off leaving a long length whci you then use to sew the open edge of the shoulder wedge to the shoulder edge of the front panel, matching the rows as for the back.
This gives a nicer neckline and more comfort that the original pattern.( from the book).
Repeat the mirror image for the other shoulder.

Basically you are crocheting a triangle onto one back panel
shoulder ,later sewing the edge to the front, to provide ease for the head and neck.
Please adjust the width and length of this for your child.

SLEEVES:
I have worked these from the shoulder downwards to be able to get the length'' just right''
for a very picky daughter!

Count about 24 trebles down from the shoulder seam and connect the yarn, work trebles(dc) 48 in total ( 24 along the back and 24 along the front) and then continue working in the front or back loop as required to maintain the pattern demonstrated on the front panel.
My sleeves are slightly shaped as follows:

Work 6 rows as 48 trebles.
Decrease 1 st at each end by working 2 trebles together on the 2nd/ penultimate sts in the row.
Do this for the next 8 rows until 32 sts remaining, then work straight until required sleeve length reached for your child.

Work in ends and sew sleeve seam from the cuff to the armhole and sew back and front panels together.

Then work the second sleeve the same as the first.

FINITO!!!

I have not added any finishing rows to the cuff , neckline or hem as picky lady is into grunge and does not like any of this. Not even a bit of crabstitch!
Feel free to do so and to add pom poms or embellishments however!
Or maybe limit it to 3/4 sleeves?
With turn backs?
Or a flare?
Or a beaded edge?

FEEL FREE HAVE FUN AND EXPERIMENT!!!!

The fabulous colours just happen with this yarn and it's why I was so attracted to it.

My next project will be a zigzag TV blanket or throw for the Fall 2008 for the kids as with fuel prices the way they are going and the colder winters : we will be needing some Afghans to watch TV in!Also using the yarn below.

( for us adults I'm plannung one in Debbie Bliss cashmerino....YUM YUM)

WIP which must be finished one day SOON!

Most recent is this motif in 4 ply cotton where I taught myself to attach the motifs together by crocheting the final round with connecting slip stitches into the previous motif.

I played with this in Turkey sitting in the shade watching the sea on a pontoon, lost a 3.5mm hook that way too!Plop it fell off my lap and through a gap in the wooden slats into the sea....
It's the grand flower hexagon on page 26 of 201 crochet motifs etc by Melody Griffiths.
I think I want to make a shrug/bolero or summer cardigan with it, V neck of course.
I have only a few remnant balls of it so have to see how it goes....

Then there's the granny squares I also made in Turkey: in black narvik DK cotton and a Patons lumpy textured white DK cotton called Leila which I have had lurking in my attic for ages.

Thought I'd make the bolero in the May issue of CROCHET TODAY! ( It's on the cover) but as black and white is all the rage this summer- and I have a LOT of it- I thought I'd make mine in just black and white....and also my yarn is a lot finer so I had to increase the size of the squares ....and then....and then I just got stuck.

The oddly shaped one is worked as per the diagram on page 51 but I'm not now sure how to proceed....

Then there's the blazer type jacket that I wanted from Boden, I missed the boat in Summer 2007 so I though I'd make one from my stash and even bought a £20 crochet book just for the one pattern when I never did get going and bought the desired jacket in the Spring of 2008....

I started this in Rowan silk tweed and because I had bought the yarn in 2 lots I have worked the rows 2 by 2 from the yarn as the colour is ever so slightly different.

So it has a very subtle stripe ...

It's from the book: Total Crochet Fashions by Gayle Bunn a leisure arts publication ( a USA book with USA crochet terms)

It's supposed to become the let's do lunch jacket???????

I have done the back and started the front , but I have now lost weight- 2 stone!!!!- and am not so sure, I did less shaping becuase I wanted it loose BUT now I'm slim and curvy and maybe I want it smaller and properly shaped?

Or do I want it at all?

Granny Hexagons: a riot of colours!

The above came about because of 2 things: the coral reef project which made me buy colours I do not usually use - all from Thame market : pure cotton at £1.50 a ball- DK , and the May /June issue of CROCHET TODAY! which is now regularly stocked in my local WHSMITHS...( For USA readers this is a large newsagent type store)

I cam back from my fabulous 2 weeks in Turkey to find all the remnents of the reef lying about in my kitchen and it being too late to make any more pieces for the reef I decided on a shopping bag as we are going very GREEN in our household and all plastic shopping bags have been BANNED.
I have never done granny hexagons but the magazine had a great diagram so off I went playing with the colours: I had 2 browns, 2 reds and a yellow.
On holiday I learned to crochet motifs together in the final round of the next motif so I decided to do hexagons which tesselate nicely and this would cut down on the sewing or crocheting together- ''later'' - which in my experience often ''never'' happens.....!!!!

The magazine had them in 2 rows and only 2 colours but I was using a thinner yarn and a 3.5mm hook so I added a third row per motif by improvising and am pretty pleases with the result.

I have a regular side- repeating motifs and colours and an irregular side - more colours less repetition- see below!

I have used Wendy Supreme DK cotton, Sirdar CALYPSO DK cotton, Patons 4 ply cotton used double, Rowan handknit cotton- a freebie and a bit thick for this so used sparingly- Narvik DK COTTON ( lovely sheen but splits horribly)Young Touch- and some Patons DK pure cotton.

There are 4 rows of 9 hexagons each, connected in the round as a tube with pentagons as a border top and bottom : 18 of these in total.
It's not finished yet, it will be lined in red with 2 striped shoulder straps and a top striped border with a drawstring cord.
I'm planning to line the straps this time to prevent the stretching that happened with my ''library bag''- see earlier post.

REGULAR SIDE WITH BASE.

IRREGULAR SIDE WITH A FEW PENTAGONS STILL TO DO!

FINALLY : all those ends to be sewn in! I did crochet in the beginnings of most ends but like to sew the rest in securely later- 6 ends per motif times 54 motifs- uugggghhhhh....

Ps so far it weighs: 340 grammes ( before it's finished and EMPTY!!!This will be weight lifting when I go SHOPPING!)

and measures: 45 cm high and 42 cm across: that is an opening of the tube of 84cm.

IT'S ALSO VERY STRETCHY AND FITS me as a strapless vest top...! Shame it's colours I just cannot wear!( ie it's stretching to fit 38"!!!)

UK Coral Reef II

Here are some of the other structures I have made.
They include one with height- green and with a hyperbolic ''hat'' but with lesser degree of increases.
A long piece with hyperbolic increases on each side.
A piece in plastic stips cut from a plastic bag.
And my favourite as per my previous post.

Hyperbolic Coral Reef crochet

This is my favourite hyperbolic crochet piece that was made for the UK coral reef.

This is being exhibited in London at the South Bank Centre from 11 th June to 17 August.

I was lucky to attend a fun workshop and lecture there by the IFF.

( Institute for Figuring)

This one is a basic structure of 2 different coloured strands of DK cotton - courtesy of Thame market!_ worked in a circle and then increased every stitch on every row of dc- ie doubling every next row.( USA sc stitches all the way)

Finally I added some eyelash yarn at the end , still doubling or trebling the stitches so it's wonderfully wavy and very tactile.

Such fun to make and to play with, I was sorry to be sending it off- never to be held again.

The second picture is the WIP before all the eyelash had been added.