I got the pattern from a booklet in a magazine earlier this year (sorry, can’t remember which one) and they are really simple to make.  The basic shape is really simple as it starts off as just a few circular rounds then the last one makes the curvy apple shape with a combination of slip stitches, doubles, half trebles and trebles.  Simple but very effective in my opinion!  I have tried to adapt the basic pattern to make a pear shape too but haven’t quite mastered that yet, but it isn’t far off.  I’ll share pics of that if I ever master it.

And in case you’re wondering, all the rubbishy stuff is still going on, but I have decided that as crafting and blogging are what keeps me sane and clinging onto the planet, I am not going to let them be affected!

There are so many places online that describe how to tackle this so much better than I could, so I won’t even try.  What I will say though is that it needs 3 hands, so I was on a losing battle from the off, along with a normal crochet hook and a broomstick, or a similar sized and shaped stick type thing to make the loops.  I used the biggest knitting needle I have which is 15mm but I think a bigger one would have been better, or even a bit of broom handle or dowelling.

So without the aid of a 3rd hand I managed to get off the ground.   It’s rather unusual technique in several ways, not least because you work from left to right making the loops, so it all feels a bit back to front!

I love the look of the loops crossing over each other.  It somehow reminds me of art nouveau styling.  Does that make sense, or is that just in my day dreamy head? 

I think it would be great as a scarf, cushion cover or even some jewellery items.  I still need to work on getting the hang of it, 6 rows does not an expert broomstick crocheteer make!  But as a starter I am impressed with the technique and will stick (sorry, no pun intended! Honest!!) with it!!

It’s a new way of sharing all things crochet in a gallery where you can upload a crochet image from your website and browse all the beautiful, colourful and inspiring things other crocheteers have finished or are still working on.  Each week images are updated so there will always be new and exciting things to see.  Have I added mine?  Of course I have!

Get yourself over to iCrochet (but do have a look round here too!)

I’ve been getting a lot of lovely comments recently, particularly on Flickr, about the colours and colour order of the stripes on my granny stripe blanket.  It made me realise that I haven’t shared what the shades or yarn are or what colour order actually is.  So here goes: 

1. 1023 Raspberry
2. 1061 Plum
3. 1241 Fondant
4. 1019 Cloud Blue
5. 1422 Aspen
6. 1316 Spring Green
7. 1432 Wisteria
8. 1390 Clematis
9. 1084 Magenta
10. 1081 Saffron
11. 1132 Shrimp
12. 1246 Lipstick
13. 1083 Pomegranate
14. 1067 Grape
15. 1034 Sherbet
16. 1003 Aster
17. 1068 Turquoise
18. 1062 Teal
19. 1065 Meadow

All yarn is Stylecraft Special DK.

I chose to use a repeat colour pattern for this blanket as I like the order of that and if I didn’t I would forever be scrutinising it to find combinations I am not happy with.  OK, I guess the other side of that coin is that you see lovely ones that hadn’t been anticipated, but I won’t think about that too much.

I haven’t done any crafting other than the granny stripe blanket for ages now and I am quite enjoying having just one large project to focus on.  However, I have had a whole weekend off crochet which as dampened my spirits a little, particularly when I needed a bit of a lift.  I was finding that my right wrist was getting quite sore after I had done quite a lot of crochet this past week.  I have read many times about crocheteers and knitters who end up with wrist problems and I really don’t want to have that.  So I rested like a good girl.

There is one, and only one, advantage of not crocheting!  It meant I could paint my nails!  How is nail painting linked to crocheting?  You may well ask!!  I love to have colourful painted nails but find that on the evenings I crochet I can’t do my nails as they are never fully dried and set before I pick up my work and as a result I get dents on my polish.  If I leave it until after I have crocheted for the evening I get dents in it from getting ready for bed. 

It may be a minor thing in the scheme of things, but it always makes me feel a little cheerier!

63,441 to be precise!!!  And that’s before any border (because I haven’t decided what sort of border to put on it yet)

I reckon I’ve completed approximately 19,000 of those stitches to date.

That’s 19,000 down 44,441 to go!!

I love spreadsheets so what else could I do but work out the formula to calculate the number of stitches: