Silent Sunday 31st August 2014

Diamond Stitch Crocheted Baby Blanket

I pin a lot of beautiful crochet on pinterest. I plan to make it all eventually, one project at a time!
I found this beautiful blanket on Happy in Red and fell in love with it. When I read the pattern properly and realised how easy it was I was even more excited.
Up to now I have pretty much avoided crochet that involves straight edges. It's just so hard to keep the sides from meandering (even on something as tiny as my little Earphone Wire Tidy pattern I struggled) I like granny squares and other things that go round and round. But this gorgeous pattern, this made it easy and very do-able.

This was my "work in progress" that you could see in my Silent Sunday photo on 20th July.

If you want to have a go you need to pop over to Happy in Red to get the pattern. What I am sharing here is what I did to make this blanket based on Ester's lovely instructions.

I chose white and rainbow dk and used:
White 2 x 100g balls
Yellow 1 x 50g ball
Red, Orange, Green, Light Blue, Medium Blue, Lilac and Wine 25g of each

I used a 5mm hook and started with a chain of 123.
With the border the finished size is 39" x 36"

Ester from Happy in Red has written the pattern as 5 rows but really once you are past the foundation chain and row one it is only 2 rows of pattern. 
You are basically doing a granny stripe with clusters of 2 trebles (that's UK tr or US dc) turning it over each row and going back the other way.

The white row has a single stitch at each end, the coloured row is all clusters of 2.

I am SO wishing at this point that I had taken photos as I went along to show you!

I intended to do 6 complete sets of the rainbow and was rocking and rolling along nicely until I came to do the last orange row. I was about 4 inches short of the end when I ran out of wool! Very frustrating! I didn't want to buy another ball of orange just for 4 inches and as all the bright coloured had been 25g balls (apart from the yellow which I wanted for the border) I didn't know if they would be enough like the red had been, or not enough like the orange. 

In the end I decided that I had started with red so would end with red too and I frogged the part done orange row.

Then I went back to Happy in Red to see what border Ester recommended. She suggests a granny type clusters again with coloured chain/sc row or two.

My blanket had a white row top and bottom already so to even it up I started by working a white row down each side. I did clusters of 3 tr in each white "post" stitch on the row ends. That's the row marked with an arrow below:

Next I followed Ester's border instructions and using yellow (as that's the colour I still had plenty of) I did a chain/"sc in the spaces" row. 

I had to tweak the pattern a little as my blanket has cluster of 3 stitches down the sides and cluster of 2 stitches top and bottom. I didn't fight it, I just went with what I had. So on the sides there is a 3 chain, sc in the space, 3 chain etc and on the top and bottom there is 2 chain, sc in the space, 2 chain to the end. 

In the corners I did 4 sc.

I followed this basic principle for the next row - back to white again, so the clusters are in 3's on the side and 2's top and bottom. 

The last row was easy peasy, just sc in each stitch and 4 in the corners again. 

I really hope all of that made sense. I am so pleased with how this came out. It is a thing of beauty, a joy forever! It is a gift for my cousin's baby due later in the year.

And the best thing about running out of orange wool is that I then had a little leftover from each colour and I have started playing with a cute "stash busting" project which I will share properly when it's finished.

Happy in Red has a load more lovely crochet and sewing projects that are definitely worth a look when you have a minute.

You might also be interested in:

Grey and Bright Crochet Flowers

Earphone Wire Tidy

Harry Potter Scarf Pattern

Crochet Owl Brooch

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not go and have a look!

1 Year Blogiversary

I can hardly believe that this week it's a whole year since I took the plunge and pressed that Publish button.
I've been wondering what to do to celebrate. I even googled "Celebrating my Blogiversary" to get ideas. (and my phone auto corrected to "Celebrating my Block Eraser" ????? really?)

• Should I pass on all the bloggy wisdom I've learn't in the last year? Most of the technical stuff is on my Blogging Stuff Pinterest board, and really I still feel like I'm swimming in custard half the time! I'm not really the best person to be giving advice. Apart from "Be Yourself" and "Enjoy" I don't know what else I could say.
• Should I do a give-away? Hummm, what about international postage costs? A lot of you lovely  readers are not in the UK.
• Should I share my most popular posts? Just check out the sidebar - they are all there!
• Should I share 365 facts about myself? That would probably be way too much information and besides a look at my pinterest boards probably says more about me than anything else!

So instead, I've decided to just thank all the people who have helped me.

First my gorgeous family.

They've put up with me photographing everything I do. They've taken photos of me and for me. They let me take pictures of them modelling the things I've made. They eat weird meals at weird times because I've got carried away with something else (sometimes even slightly burnt food - honestly honey, it's supposed to be crispy!) usually eaten off trays as I've got my latest project spread out all over the table. They give me blogging/craft related presents. I hog the computer, I hog the camera and they hardly ever moan. Love you guys x

Next The Craft Blogging Community:

What a lovely bunch of people you all are! I've had so much help and advice from other bloggers. I don't know if all bloggers are like this but craft bloggers are so generous with their support. They follow you on a whole host of social medias, they tweet, Google+, stumble and pin the heck out of your projects. Thank you so much if you have done any of the above!

Next the inspirational women in my life who are no longer with us:

The whole reason I starting this in the first place, you can read about them here.

Finally You:

You are here, reading my post. Wowza, that's really cool. Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully you will have a nosey round and be inspired to try a craft or two, maybe you will even stop by again another time.
Here's to the next 12 months!

Doctor Who Scarf Bracelets

It's Baaaccckkk - Doctor Who - 23rd August. I'm just a teeny bit excited!
I may have mentioned once or twice that I am a huge Doctor Who fan. (My level of fan-ness is huge, not me, I'm regular sized!)

Being a child of the 70's and growing up actually hiding behind the settee (yes, we really did that) Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor was My Doctor. I love the other Doctors too and have high hopes for Mr Capaldi but the truth is the Doctor you grow up with will always be your Doctor, that's just how it is. Tom Baker had the awesome scarf and I've made a tie for our son, (pattern here) inspired by that scarf. For myself I thought I would make a bracelet.
I've been experimenting and made two versions.

On pinterest I found the original BBC scarf pattern here which said I needed these colours of DK wool : Purple, Camel, Bronze, Mustard, Rust, Grey and Greenish Brown.
After extensive research this is what I chose:

Version 1 - a wrap around bracelet:

This was my original idea, a long bracelet version of a long scarf. I think it's a bit bulky after all - see what you think.

Printable version here
Using 2.5mm needles, cast on 10 stitches in purple.
Using knit throughout work the stripes like this:

3 purple row 26 camel 8 bronze 6 mustard 10 rust 4 purple 10 green 4 mustard 8 camel 6 rust 4 bronze 6 purple 20 green 4 mustard 8 grey 4 rust 10 camel 6 purple 6 green 4 mustard 8 rust 4 purple 18 bronze

4 grey 16 rust change to mustard and k1, cast off 2, k4, cast off 2 k1 k1, turn the knitting round, cast on 2, turn it back round, k4, turn it round again cast on 2, turn back and k the last stitch. (you've made 2 little button holes that will line up when you join the side seam. I don't know if this is a standard way to make button holes but it works for me. If you know a better way, use that!) k4 more rows in mustard then cast off.

This is the right side,

and this is the wrong side, with all the colour changes.

Fold the knitting in half length ways, then using one of the ends for each colour (doesn't matter which one) over sew the side seam. It is a bit of a pain, having to keep rethreading your needle but it looks better when you use the same colour as each stripe and you don't have to worry so much if your stitches are not very neat.

The other "ends" I just trimmed a little bit shorter and then left, they will be hidden on the inside anyway.

Now you need to turn it right side out. This was a bit tricky, but just keep gently pulling it through - don't be rough with it or you'll pull it out of shape. 

This is how my button hole ended up:

Add a small button on the non-button hole end and you are done.

What do you think? I like it but I don't luurve it.

(Can I just point out - whooo, look at me with nail varnish on - fancy!)

Version 2 - a cuff bracelet lined with felt:

Using 2mm needles and purple wool cast on 10 stitches and using knit through out work the pattern like this: printable version here

1 purple row 12 camel 4 bronze 2 mustard 6 rust 2 purple 6 green 2 mustard 8 camel 4 rust 2 bronze 2 purple 10 green 2 mustard 4 grey 2 rust

12 camel 2 purple 2 green 2 mustard 6 rust 2 purple 8 bronze k4, cast off 4, k2 k3, turn knitting round and cast on 4, turn back round and work the last 3 st on row. (this will make the button hole) k another row with bronze change to camel and work 1 row cast off

See the button hole at the end.

All your colour changes should be on the same side. Now you just need to sew all those bloomin' ends in!

Once all the ends are sewn in it looks like this, a little bit bumpy along the edges and not very even.

Cut a piece of felt just a fraction smaller than the knitting and pinned it centrally onto the knitting. Then using regular sewing thread, over-sew it in place as neatly as you can. 

As you stitch the felt in place try to even out any slight unevenness of the knitting. Ease the narrower sections out a bit, the felt will hold them in place. 

Finish it off with a button and "Robert's your Father's Brother!" (Does that expression even work internationally?)

I love it! Hurray! 

I mostly used bits of wool from my stash, the grey was the only one I bought new and that was for the tie. The good thing about that is I hardly spent a thing, that bad news is the different makes of wool are all slightly different thicknesses. That's what made it all a bit uneven, but in the end that didn't seem to matter too much.

Now I'm off for a nice cup of super heated infusion of free radicals and tannin, and a Jammy Dodger.

You might also be interested in:

Harry Potter Scarf Pattern

Day of the Doctor Tribute

Origami Cash Gift Card Wallet

Doctor Who Knitted Scarf Tie

I'll be linking up at these great link parties

Special Date Coin Keyring

I saw this idea somewhere AGES ago (I think it was etsy but I didn't pin so I wouldn't spoil the surprise, I didn't know about private boards then, doh!) and knew I wanted to make it for my husband for our anniversary. A keyring with coins with dates that signify the milestones in your life together - how lovely is that?!

I started checking the dates of my coins straight away, it took me a while to collect all the dates I needed but luckily I saw this idea almost a year ago so I had plenty of time. 

I found 2 coins for each year so I had a spare - this turned out to be an excellent idea - we'll get to that in a minute!

I went for 5 coins, all pennies, but I have seen this done with different coins. I chose the year we met, the year we married and the year each of our children were born.

I had no idea how to get holes in my pennies so I rang my dad who said "No problem, 5 minute job, pop over this afternoon!" 

Turns out, not so much with the 5 minute job! They spin if you don't hold them somehow, but you don't want to hold them in a vice and damage the edge.

I don't have photos of what we did as I was at my dad's and without a camera, so I have drawn you a little picture of what he fashioned for the job.

It was a block of wood about 3cm wide, 2cm deep and 10cm long. He drilled a penny sized dip in it and cut through the middle to about half way. The penny sat snugly in the dip then the whole thing was clamped in a vice. The wood squeezed the penny but the sides were not damaged. 

• Each coin had a little starter dent whacked into it with a centre punch and hammer (This was my job!)
• They went into the wooden hold-y thing above and were clamped in a vice
• A hole was drilled
• A larger drill bit was used by hand to go over the holes again on both sides. This took the rough bits off (again - my job)

The coins get extremely hot when you drill them so don't touch them straight away - you have been warned!

What can go wrong: We did have a few fails so I was really glad of my spares. The drill slipped and scratched the coin.

Too close to the edge.

The Queen looks like she had been shot in the crown (is this treason?)

I used these seconds to make a second keyring for me - no need to waste them!

We also learnt that UK coppers like this changed between 1987 and 1992 from being made of a copper/tin/zinc alloy to copper plated steel. Interesting!

I just slipped the coin for each year that came out best onto a keyring for the anniversary gift.

I popped it in tissue paper in a gift bag and made a cute little heart tag - awwwh!

And this is the card I made to go with it.

The clever people over at Buttons and Paint have also tried out a slightly different version of this idea as a cute Fathers Day gift. 

They used a different way of holding the coin still whilst drilling, which might work for you. 

I was really pleased how this gift came out and my husband loved it too - which was, after all, the whole point. Oh yes, and thank you dad for your help, this wouldn't have happened without you.

You might also be interested in:

Cardboard Tube Pillow Pouch

UK Coin Picture

Button Cluster Key Ring

Simple Speech Bubble Cards

I'll be linking up this project at all these lovely link parties