Hello and welcome to Patchwork House . . . . .
my little corner of the world in England, where you will find me addicted to colour and playing with yarn!


31 May 2015

Colour inspiration

  
 Flowers are often my inspiration for blankets.
When I see a garden my
 brain translates the beautiful colours into yarn!

This beautiful tulip garden at the home of 
my Instagram friend Pat @relovedpreloved
was my inspiration this week



Those beautiful tulips sent me rushing to my sample squares
 and here is my colour recipe
in
pomegranate shrimp fondant apricot
spring green saffron and lemon with soft peach.


This blanket is to be a gift
 for a baby girl due to arrive at the end of June.


Half term happiness for me
 has been oodles of crochet time


and I've had the pleasure of making this little pram blanket
 from start to finish in just a few days.


The colours have been so refreshing
full of citrus appeal


and memories of childhood sweets!


I love the starburst flower pattern by Jane Brocket
(my pattern is from an old copy of Mollie Makes).
Its really quick making them in batches
 and crocheting over the ends of rounds 1 and 2.


My preferred joining method for this
 is continuous join as you go 
using the contasting colour of soft peach.


and here we have it
tadaa!


So now its just a border that remains
 and this will be some simple rows of treble clusters
 followed by a scalloped edge.


Where did May go? It went so fast
 and not a hint of summer weather here yet!

Its back to school for me tomorrow to exams, 
300 papers to mark this week
 followed by 60 reports to write the week after.
I may be absent from your feeds for the next few weeks!

Happy hookin friends

Heather

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26 May 2015

Joining Squares Method 3 - Continuous join as you go

Continuous join as you go tutorial
(Tutorial uses English crochet terms)

1 Arrange your squares in a suitable colour order


2 Here is a map to show you the direction to work
 starting in the top right corner


3 Attach contrasting yarn in the  corner of the top right square.
 Begin by making 3 trebles to form half of the corner. 
Continue to make clusters of 3 trebles in each space.
At the corner make 3 trebles 1 chain 3 trebles in the same space.


4 Continue in the same manner along the 2nd side of the 1st square.
At the corner make 3 trebles 1 chain


5 Make 3 trebles into bottom right corner of square 2.
Before making next set of 3 trebles 
you will now link back to the first square


6 Put hook under and into the space.


7 Pull yarn through to make 2 loops on hook


8 Slip the 2nd loop through the 1st loop on the hook to leave 1 stitch.
You have now joined square 2 to square 1.
Make 3 trebles in next space


9 Continue making joining stitch in between every group of 3 trebles.
At the corner make 3 trebles, join to square 1,
 then 1 chain 3 trebles to complete the corner


10 Continue along row 1 joining all the squares along the top
then follow direction of yarn shown to complete row 1


11 Along the bottom of row 1
 - to complete a corner make 3 trebles


12 in the corner space pull through a loop


13 join with slip stitch


14 1 chain then 3 trebles in next corner


15 Continue till end of row,
BUT DO NOT COMPLETE LAST SIDE OF SQUARE 1


16 Attach square 1 from row 2


17 Work along making 3 trebles in each space
 with a joining stitch between.
At the end of the square make 3 trebles for the corner
 then you are going to join into the square diagonally above to the left.
After joining make 1 chain and 3 trebles to complete the corner
 and continue down the left side of your square.
You will now be feeling the rhythm and be ready to attach square 2 of row 2.


18 Work along joining square 2 of row 2.When you reach the corner
 you are ready to join the first group of 4 corners.

19 Join into the square diagonally opposite. 

20 Next make 1 chain 3 trebles to complete the corner.


21 When complete the 4 corners look like this when joined


22 Continue following direction of yarn


23 and you will end up back at the beginning
 with the amazing bonus of only 2 ends to sew in!



This is a very fast joining method and I like the addition of the
 contrasting colour to add a background to the blanket.

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful.

If you like this Turquoise Colour Pack you can buy it

If you have enjoyed using my free tutorial
 please consider making a small donation 
via the Paypal app on my sidebar.
 This will help support my crochet journey
 and enable me to provide more free posts in future.

Many thanks
wishing you a happy hooky adventure

Heather

X X X


















Joining Squares Method 2 - Crochet together from the back

Crochet together from the back tutorial
(Tutorial uses English crochet terms)

1 Arrange your squares in a suitable colour order 
and make a final round on each with a contrasting joining colour.
Sew the final end in on each square using a darning needle.


2 Place 2 squares together with right sides facing. 
These will be the right hand squares on the 1st and 2nd rows.
Attach yarn through both corner loops


3 Place hook through both of the 1st stitches 
(4 loops on hook) and make a dc


4 Continue along whole row making dc then fasten off at the end.
Repeat for all rows in the same direction.


5 The joining stitch will form a ridge on the back of your work.


6 Turn your blanket
 and complete the rows in the opposite direction.


7 When finished the front has a smooth neat join


This is a very strong join. I like the addition of the
 contrasting colour to add a background to the blanket.
If you have liked this Turquoise Colour Pack you can buy it 

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful.

If you have enjoyed using my free tutorial
 please consider making a small donation 
via the Paypal app on my sidebar.
 This will help support my crochet journey
 and enable me to provide more free posts in future.

Many thanks
wishing you a happy hooky adventure

Heather

X X X









Joining Squares Method 1 - Crochet together from the front

Crochet together from the front tutorial
(Tutorial uses English crochet terms)

1 Arrange your squares in a suitable colour order


2 Use a contrasting colour for joining


3 Place 2 squares wrong sides together. 
These will be the right hand squares on the 1st and 2nd rows.
Attach yarn through both corner loops


4 Place hook through both of the 1st stitches 
(4 loops on hook) and make a dc


5 Continue along whole row then fasten off at the end.


6 Repeat for all rows in the same direction.
The joining stitch will form a ridge on the top of your work.


7 Turn your blanket
 and complete the rows in the opposite direction.


This is a very strong join and I like it made in a
 contrasting colour to add another dimension to the blanket.
If you have liked this Turquoise Colour Pack you can buy it

I hope you have found this tutorial helpful.

If you have enjoyed using my free tutorial
 please consider making a small donation 
via the Paypal app on my sidebar.
 This will help support my crochet journey
 and enable me to provide more free posts in future.

Many thanks
wishing you a happy hooky adventure

Heather

X X X








25 May 2015

Hexie Happiness

Hello and happy half term!
How wonderful to be full time Patchwork Heart for a week!
 I am totally in my happy zone!

A few weeks ago
 feeling that my creativity was being stifled I began playing.
I was inspired by the wonderful colourful images in my feed 
on both Facebook and Instagram from the talented



So I dug out her book
Granny Squares
and started playing with hexies


Join as you go is my favourite joining method
I love the texture it creates and making the blanket as I go.


These tesselating shapes are just perfection to me!


I loved the simplicity here
 of working with just 3 colours
I used 
in
fondant pomegranate and raspberry


it was so easy to work out 
which colour order came next
 as at each corner 3 hexies meet 
meaning that you just need 1 of each


I worked from the centre outwards in rounds
and love the hexagon shaped blanket with its uneven edges



It wasnt long before a simple picot edging
completed the blanket
and it was sold!


So what next I thought . . .
colours
BRIGHT COLOURS
and a bigger hexie blanket! 


The idea of this blanket was to try out some
that I had been given


This time I worked in rows
 using 11 shades


oh what fun planning each row


I love the multi coloured hexagons
and my next hexie blanket will use even more shades


Comparison wise
Stylecraft Special DK wins every time for me
 for blanket making.
I have to say again and again
 it is so soft, beautiful to work with and has great washability.
The Hayfield Bonus I found to have a very cheap feel 
and the different colours have different thicknesses so its not for me.
I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to try it
as I know many people like its large colour range.
I am sure the blanket will look great when complete though
 and have confidence that a wash with plenty of fabric softener
 will help it along nicely!

Thank you for the many lovely comments you all send, 
I am sorry that I do not have time to reply individually. 
I love to share my work to encourage and inspire you!
If you have enjoyed my posts
 please consider a small donation
  to support my crochet journey
by using the Paypal donate logo on my sidebar


Have a wonderful hooky Bank Holiday my friends

Heather
X X X









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