Crochet update

Hi,

I know I've been promising an update of my crochet projects for a while and here it is!

 Maddie is very fond of all my crochet!

Project number 1, ripple blanket:

This was my first ever attempt at crochet and I'm feeling quite proud of it!

It's about two-thirds complete now, and I'll probably just keep going with it until I run out of the yarn!

 As you can see the cats are quite fond of it too!

They often try to sit on it, or under it, on my lap while I work on it in the evenings.

Project number 2, little woollie's crochet-along

I've caught up!

 I decided to follow the crochet along on a small scale until I am more confident with all the new stitches and patterns - and until I'm a little better at controlling my tension!

I tried the bobbles in a different colour but it looked a real mess, so I unravelled it and did it again in all one colour - I will practise different coloured bobbles soon!

Promise!

My 'outlined clusters' are a bit wonky, not square like Jules'!

But after a lot of fiddling I'm quite proud of my catherine wheels!

This is going to be a cushion cover, and if I'm happy with it I'll make a matching blanket for my bedroom!

Project number 3

 I call this my 'Sampler blanket' as I'm using all the stitches I know and adding more as I learn new ones!

 As my crochet-along project is so much smaller than the blanket Jules is making herself I keep 'catching up' so I needed something else to occupy my craving to try out new stripes!

Most of them so far are the same as the crochet along but not necessarily in the same order!

Hopefully I'll add in some more new ones from my crochet book later!

I'm still getting confused between UK and US terms as my book is English but I'm following Jules' US instructions!

Hopefully working on this sampler blanket will help me understand!

This blanket is 150 chains across and measures approximately 38 inches wide.

 I decided to use just 6 colours

 I started with a few rows of hdc then repeated the same stripes in dc

 Next I did some granny stripes

Then more dc stripes but hooking between the stitches - don't know what this is called, I'd better ask Karen as she taught it to me!

I rather like them

 Then I used Jules' chevron stripe.

Then some more grannies.

I love the way those grannies look, they remind me of jelly-tots!

 A row of my cheating one-colour bobbles, then another set of jelly-tot stripes as I like them so much!

Another go at Jules' outline clusters - still not very square, but I'm sure if I keep practising.....

And finally another set of dc rows as I was having a lovely 'crochet and chat' afternoon with number 2 daughter Alison and couldn't concentrate on anything else!

Now I can look back at all the stitches and stripes I have done to see what they will look like when I'm following a pattern.

I hope!

 My stash is getting low, better order some more!

Happy crocheting!

xxx