Tuesday, August 26, 2014

It's a shawl roll call

I've really been enjoying knitting or crocheting shawls for our Prayer Shawl Ministry.   My first shawls were knitted, so I decided to try my hand at crocheting the next one. 
This shawl is based on the familiar Granny Square pattern, but made into a triangle shape.  For this shawl, I used the yarn from this scarf, which I never wore, so I tore it out and combined it with the rest of the yarn to make it into a shawl.  The pattern came from this website.


For the next shawl, it was back to knitting.  I chose this pretty heathery purple yarn,
and used a waffle weave pattern,
to make this shawl:
One really nice thing about the waffle weave pattern is that the edges didn't try to curl.

The next shawl was just straight garter stitch in a chunkier yarn.  It was a variegated yarn with color changes that were very spaced out, and the resulting shawl had a self striping effect.  I didn't get a photo of it before I turned it in, but here is the little bit of yarn I have left:


After the nice break of garter stitch, it was time for a challenge.  I had found a crochet pattern that looked like a large version of a crocheted doily, and I decided to give it a whirl.

After the first rows, I began to think it was going to be too small, so I started over again with a bigger crochet hook.

I'm so glad I did!  The resulting shawl was very soft and pretty, and I ended up giving it to my mom.  The pattern came from the Red Heart website .

Back to knitting for the next shawl.  I saw this very unusual color combination in a variegated yarn:
It didn't have quite the impact I thought it would have when I knitted it up into a basket weave stitch, although I still liked it:
I separated the yarn into colors to make the fringe, and I liked it better.

My most recent finish is another crocheted half-circle shawl:

This had just enough challenge to keep it interesting, and just enough repeat to keep it simple.  I found the pattern on the Lion Brand website.   I will probably use this pattern again.

My current shawl is on the knitting needles.  It will have to wait for it's own post.


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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Tiny Dancer



My most recent project has been making a Mini Tiny Dancer quilt, designed by Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts.

I started by sorting through my batiks and pulling out all my beloved jewel tone shades.  From each one I cut a trio of half-hexagon shapes.

I knew I was going to like the final result, when even the trimmings looked pretty enough to photograph:

Then it was time to put down the camera,  and pair them up two by two:

There were ninety half-hexagons that each needed a little triangle topper:

Then it was time to lay out the 15 blocks the pattern called for:

I liked them so much, I made 5 more:
Aaah, that's more like it!

The blocks are pieced together in rows, and all the seams are pressed open.
The back is almost as fun to look at as the top!

And then it was done!

I haven't yet figured out how I want to quilt it, but I would like to accent the little "dancers".




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