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Any traveller on Indian Railways will know there is crochet on the train. Bottle holders in the AC coaches are made by hooks. As I travelled to Hyderabad last night, I noticed this:
I think that phone camera photo is too dark, but that holder can no longer hold a bottle. It is, in effect, bottomless. And thus, paradoxically, filled with nothing.
Before leaving, I managed to pick up that final (as in currently available to me) hank and managed a few more squares. When I stopped, I had this:
Likely if I had started a little earlier, I’d have finished this too. This square and half of another, I reckon.
Question to my readers. I’m writing these posts on my iPad. And uploading smallish images. What is the quality of these pictures that you see on your screens?
We moved a month ago. In Bombay we haven’t got a house yet, so most of our luggage is cling film wrapped, corrugated cardboard protected and in a garage.
I fully intended to carry my ASIL with me, but in an evil moment, gave it to be packed. I only have some 4-ply acrylic and a crochet hook. And have been making relentless grannies. So much so that ennui has hit. And I decided not to do anything about finishing off the last hank. Nevertheless I shall not be carrying the project with me to Hyderabad, where I am going tomorrow.
The project began with this.
It does not feel very harmonious yet. I wonder how it will turn out.
It will be mostly a join-as-you-go project, but for portability I decided I’d make all the squares from four of the hanks. Which I’ve almost done. Except I ran out of steam on the last hank, and made only three or four.
I bought some weaving videos from interweave, and watching is making my hands itch and my heart burn to get weaving. No idea when that will be.
Some time ago I wove with some gifted yarn (yarn gifted to me, not that it was exceptionally talented :p) I was trying a new technique on my table loom (Ashford, 8H, 24″) and found that the yarn was turning my loom pink. But I got a feel of the technique (overshot), and I turned that into a cushion cover (it barely fit).
Then a friend saw it and asked me to make her a few covers. With complete freedom to choose colours. I decided to use black for background, with five different colours, and the undulating twill draft.
I haven’t been able to find a source of cotton yarn that will sell me quantities suited for my limited use. So I chose Anchor knitting cotton, which isn’t a very economical choice, but the only feasible one, since most of the colours don’t run.
I underestimated the shrinkage from weaving and from washing, so I had to add commercial fabric to make the sizes my friend wanted. It was nevertheless an interesting experience and I loved how the fabric looked on the loom.
My friend seems to be happy with them. What struck me as strange later was that I didn’t choose any colours in the blue spectrum. Perhaps because the inspiration was in the red-ochre range? There was the green, though.
I decided to see if having an app would make me blog better.
In the past year or more I’ve become obsessed with weaving, helped along by some ennui in knitting and crochet, plus an odd sort of pain in my left forefinger, the one that tensions the yarn when I crochet. Which served as an excuse to do more weaving.
I now have three looms, and have been waffling about getting a fourth.
Stay tuned. In the meantime, admire these.
Regular readers might remember the shawl-turned-tablecloth-turned-parasol I wrote about a few years ago. I’ve gone and done it again, but much smaller this time. Read the rest of this entry »
We had some unseasonal rain here in Hyderabad (where I’ve been visiting for the past few weeks). What I made will not protect against that. It’s entirely decorative, with very little practical application. Only the “Ooh” factor.
Doily on a frame
I’ve long been watching all the gorgeous crochet parasol patterns whenever I come across them, and been wanting to make one myself. I didn’t think I ever would. Then inspiration struck. I’ve been using this modified shawl as a tablecloth on the coffee table in Kochi. I removed it after Chandra began “cruising” (walking with support), because I was afraid she’d pull it off and fall. Not too many eyes view it anyway, or appreciate it. So I thought I’d put it on an umbrella frame a la crochet parasols.
I thought about finding a large enough empty frame, but didn’t. After coming here, though, I saw an old grandfatherly type of umbrella my father had, its original silk slightly moth-eaten, and it struck me as ideal for the purpose. From the thought to the deed took only as long as it took to sew the lace to the spokes, after ripping the silk from the frame. The central cast-on was sloppy enough to allow me to simply poke the top through. I wondered if I should let the excess lace droop around the spokes, but then decided against it.
Instead I ran some spare yarn through, tightened it, knotted it and wove the ends through. And there you have it.
Something I made that actually looks like art! I wish I could get a larger audience for it, though! I think not enough people noticed it in Chandra’s birthday party, stuck as it was over a light above the mouthwatering dinner spread. Plus I was too busy hostessing to point it out to people who’d appreciate it. I think I shall tell my mother to carry it around when she goes out in the summer. She was after all, partly responsible for me doing this, by asking if I could make a crochet parasol like one she saw at a saree exhibition once.
Side on
ETA: I only realised now that I haven’t linked to my Ravelry project page on this post. Remedying that right away.
I’ve never seen Fall (Autumn) myself, though we are supposed to have, in Indian tradition, 6 seasons (Vasant, Grishm, Varsha, Sharad, Hemant and Sisir), it’s usually only, mild, hot and hotter. Or damp, damper and dampest if you live in Kerala.
However, I do believe the colours I just chose for two projects are Fall colours, the colours of the foliage as it prepares to drop. I’ve wanted to break out of my comfort zone of inoffensive pastels and typical choices, so when I decided to make a couple of covers for the new TV at my parents’ home and the DVD player, I took my courage in my hands and chose these. I wasn’t sure how they’d work, but I think they do fine. (My mother did tease me though, “Would you wear a saree in these colours?” The answer to that I think would still be NO.)
I also took the opportunity to try two patterns I’ve had my eyes on for a while. The first of those was the diagonal box stitch (also called crazy stitch, I think). I found a good tutorial at Crochet Cabana here. Then there was the popular Wooleater blanket from Sarah London (who always has such gorgeous colours on her blog).
Yarn: Unnamed acrylic in sport weight, 5 different colours, about a hank each. The whole batch cost me Rs 88/-. Cheap!
Patterns: The Diagonal Box Stitch for the TV cover (above) and the Wooleater pattern for the smaller DVD player cover. I can now tick both of them off my list of crochet-to-do. Both are easier than they look and once you ‘get’ them, you don’t have to look at the instructions again.
Hook: 4.00mm
Time: The pieces themselves were quick, but the ends, oh my. There were around a 100 ends on the TV cover which I finally wove in while watching the Winter Olympic coverage. The DVD player cover had a few less, mainly because I used less yarn (the leftovers from the TV cover). The DVD cover ended up scrappy since I focused on using up the yarn rather than making sure the rows had only one colour. No problem, I wanted to use up all the yarn anyway. Great value for money.
Size: Didn’t really measure, but they are good for the purposes they were meant to serve.
Extra: Had teeny amounts of yarn left, some of which ended up in this:
It’s a hairband I made up in an hour, and it is adjustable. And yes, the baby is wearing a handknit, more of which later. Let me leave you with a link to Rima’s blog. Her use of colour inspires and amazes me.
I sometimes wonder if I’m going to become a semi-split crafter. Most of the time the only thing that appeals to me in crochet increasingly is thin thread and therefore mostly doilies and lace, while with knitting I can still manage the bulky cables. I think of a pattern in crochet and run through the yarns in my stash mentally, and then I shudder at the bulk and density of the probable result. Many projects get shelved even before I take hook to yarn. But doilies – no problem. The lacier the better and any thread will do.
My mind is prejudiced for knitting as being thinner in general than crochet, so it feels as though yarn = knitting. Perhaps it is the general climate of where I live. I can’t really say. Can’t feel it matters, even.
So what’s my point? Nothing. Just thought I’d record what I’ve been thinking for a while now.
Now I’m going to drown you in crochet lace. Doilies, four of them. Run now if you can’t stand the things. Two are filet, and two non. I really enjoy filet, especially in the round.
This first one is from a Japanese publication, Living with Beautiful Crochet, published by Nihon Vogue. European and Asian crochet lace is always entertaining. Here is my Rav project page for it. And the Rav pattern page. Apart from the fact that this one begins in the centre and is worked outward, I loved that the final row is smooth, picot-less and with no jagged edges. The steps usually formed in filet patterns are my downfall, because I can never quite get them crisp, while picots anyway are a bugbear. This worked up at 24″ with a 1.5mm hook and the thread is a nameless lachha (hank) that has amazing yardage (@Rs 15). I raided Jaishree’s stash for this, since I was visiting her when the itch struck and I believe I hadn’t taken any of my WIPs with me. To ensure I had enough thread, I may have grabbed rather more than I should have, so naturally I had to find another project for the rest of the thread.
This one appealed to me immediately for its unusual shape. I just love how filet uses filled-in and vacant blocks and lacet stitches to create the illusion of shading in just one colour. This is the nearest I’ll ever get to painting or any other creative endeavour. Here are my Rav project page and pattern page. Filet also apparently goes quicker for me than other charted patterns, since you get into a groove counting off the blocks and rows. I enjoyed the bilateral symmetry of this design, which I believe is a vintage pattern and has several sources, including a free download at Freepatterns.com (you need to register at the site, also free). With the same 1.5mm hook, this one’s 18.75″ x 21.75″.
Both these have gone under the plastic on my dining table. I have a vision of making enough different doilies in white and then crocheting them together to make a tablecloth. No idea if it will ever come to fruition.
The next couple were sort of commissioned. A friend wanted a doily in beige or cream, so I made this one.
It’s actually called Clockwork White, and is from Magic Crochet magazine #60, June 1989, designed by Chantal Chevalier. As you can see, it has the dreaded picots. I used a 1.5mm hook with Jyoti thread for a finished size of 20″, but possibly could have used a 1.25mm one for better density. My project page is here, and the pattern page here. Unfortunately one of the stitches caught some colour from something else that ran, so I put this aside to make another one.
I chose this one for the unusual design, this time from Decorative Crochet #5 and it’s called Starflower, by Mayumi Sato (see, Japanese again). My project here and the pattern page on Rav here. The petals at the centre were made by a technique new to me, and the doily overall took longer than I anticipated to make. I used the advice of a fellow Raveller, and used a measuring tape pinned to the centre to make the circle mostly uniform in diameter (25.5″ with a 1.25mm hook, density of stitches much better).
We were chatting about blocking and decided we need to have bedsheets pre-printed with concentric circles and squares so blocking becomes easier 🙂 I use my spare bedroom bed for all my blocking. Failing pre-printed bedsheets, we could always mobilise an old plain sheet and use tailors’ chalk to make the shapes. This doily’s gone to its recipient now.
So there you have them, my last four doilies. The filet ones remain my favourites. How about you?
I didn’t realise I hadn’t blogged for the whole of December. I have become quite sloppy with my blogging and must be grateful to have any readers left!
So scrambling to fill the gaps, here are a couple of doilies I crocheted in that month.
First up is this one, an oval doily. Ravelry project page here.
I made this because someone on Ravelry was having a problem with some of the instructions and I had the pattern, so I decided to try and see where the problem might be. In the end, I had only two places where something was fishy. I do wish they’d convert patterns like this to charts, because trying to read and follow long written instructions makes me cross-eyed. Anyway, here goes.
Thread: Some of the Jyoti brand thread I got on my last visit to Hyderabad. Since it was white, there wasn’t a problem about whether the colour would run. About half a 50gm skein. Very good value.
Hook: 1.25mm
Pattern: Oval Doily #3 by Lucille LaFlamme from Leisure Arts #2791, Oval Doilies to Crochet. The Rav page for the pattern is here. I had the following points to note:
- In Rnd 3, I fell one stitch short, but I fudged that.
- In Rnd 13, the third Ch4 should read Ch5, but that is obvious when you come to that point.
Time: 4 days.
Size: 15.5″ x 10″ Despite using smaller thread and hook than recommended, I got the recommended size. Funny. I wouldn’t have thought I was a loose crocheter.
Extra #1 I hated the picots in the last row. I’m never happy with them. I try using beads in some cases.
Then Jaishree came visiting one weekend. We’d been talking when I visited her about which of us was a tighter or looser crocheter, because we found we use different size hooks for the same size thread. We’d even begun a doily to check how much bigger or smaller our final doilies would end up, but that pattern somehow got shelved. So this time, when I stumbled across some doily patterns at the non-English websites of Coats and Clark, we picked another, smaller pattern and began that. I picked up what remained of the Jyoti skein and she used a pink skein of Jyoti. Here’s mine. Ravelry project page here.
And here are the details.
Thread: Would you believe there is still some thread left from the Jyoti skein? If you believe the yardage requirements given in the patterns, this 50gm skein has amazing length…either the cardboard cores in the recommended thread account for a lot of the ball weight, or this thread is lighter, or something.
Hook: 1.25mm. I apparently have a death grip on my hooks, because towards the end of this doily I broke the handle on this one. It was quite upsetting because although I heard the crack, I foolishly believed it wouldn’t break completely immediately. But it did, and I finally resorted to reinforcing it with packing tape and pins to finish the doily. Very kindly, however, Jaishree brought me a spare for future use. I really love these hooks and haven’t used any others for thread since getting them.
Pattern: Tulpe (Tulips) from Coats and Clark GmbH (Germany). The Rav page for the pattern is here. I went looking for the non-English patterns, becuase I knew they’d have doilies. And I love the European doilies for several reasons, including the fact that they are charted, and they have unusual designs and motifs and shapes, plus it isn’t all pineapples. I found this one and a couple more, including one on the French site.
Time: 3 days.
Size: 15.25″ I still don’t know what size Jaishree’s ended up, but possibly it would be larger, since it was already larger at a comparative stage before she’d finished it.
Extra #1 Nothing much. Nice elegant pattern, quick results…
So. These two FOs of mine are not in the order they ought to have been (there’s a whole block missing after that shawl I blogged about last time) but these were handy to link to and write about.
Sometimes I just get an irresistible itch to make something with thread and hook. And then I can’t resist scratching.
Even as a child I was a jealous and capricious pest. And that hasn’t altered one bit with passing years. So naturally when I saw that some of my friends had got together to make some lovely pineapple soap sachets, I had to make one too. I had this soap from Ruth lying around, but it was round, so I searched for and found a round pattern. Used some scraps of thread and a satin ribbon, and hey presto…Even if it isn’t as pretty as the ones my friends made. Unfortunately that’s a lesson that I never learned, that imitation is possible, but not always successful.
Here you go.
I am deliberately posting small pictures so you won’t see the wonkiness. Aren’t I clever?
And the specs. My Ravelry page is here.
Thread: Apna Anchor size 20
Hook: Pony handled steel hook 1.00mm. This is fast becoming my favourite thread hook.
Pattern: Round Soap Sachet by Priscilla Hewitt.
Time: A couple of hours. Seriously.
Size: 3″across
Extra #1 Nothing much. I’ve said it all.
swakrta.com 