When I raise up my hands

– I snuck up to the balcony

I know we’re due for the final installment of the Motif scarf but I have to show you what’s been distracting me from everything else.

Spinning!

2 weeks ago I got myself a birthday present, a Ladybug spinning wheel, and I have not been able to stop. I had one braid of fiber in my stash, I bought 3 more and a good friend gave me a giant bag of fiber for my birthday. Everything but the bag has been spun and plied. I offer you now, pictographical proof of the learning curve.

Yarn 1 – Sheep Spin from Sheep Shop Yarn Company (color Lime)

I  got this braid of fiber over a year ago in the hopes that one day I would be able to spin it up. I loved the colors.  Sadly, I have moved it around so much and fondled it so frequently that most of the outer fibers felted and it was a bitch to draft. Also, in my excitement to get-the-damn-thing-plied, I forgot to ply in the opposite direction.  Overspin, anyone?

Yarn 2 – Louet Northern Lights (violets colorway)

I thought this one would make a great second attempt since it was pre drafted and I could concentrate on getting my rhythm down between hands and feet without worrying about spinning a fiber to thick to fit through the orofice (Shut up, Kevin! That is the actual name of that part of the wheel. Shut up.) I did get better but I made the same mistake when plying – some direction plying equals wikkid curly-uppy yarn.

Yarn 3 – Coopworth Cross hand dyed by Sojourner Design

This was where I got it. I predrafted the fiber into 4 strips and spun 2 on each bobbin in the same order to get a plied yarn with a gentle transition from the blues to green and back. I rigged up a Lazy Kate and remembered to ply in the opposite direction and – Ah, Happiness!

Yarn 4 – Frabjous Fiber merino top(Green with Envy)

This stuff was like handling butter! So soft. I predrafted this into 8 different strips and spun 4 onto each bobbin, not really paring attention to color proportion or order. I ended up with one bobbin larger than the other by half. So, I plied until I ran out of fiber on the one bobbin and then I Navajo plied what was left on the other bobbin – Hence the 2 skeins.

Yarn 5 – wool/alpaca blend

This is a ginormous bag of fiber that my friend Annie gifted me for my birthday. I have filled this bobbin and the bag looks like I haven’t made a dent. I may need to spin all of this before I ply any of it. That may just be how I roll with this one.

We’ll finish up the crochet-along soon. Soon!

Toots

So wipe that dirty smile off

- Who wants to be right as rain

Ah, week three. I thought I’d give you a bit of a break and let you get those thirty some-odd motifs done. It really does finish up much faster is you have everything ready to join when we get to Row 2.

So, how about weaving in ends? Awesome.

Here we have a motif all done through Round 3. Let’s get rid of some of those pesky tails.

I always work from the inside out. You’ll notice that there is no dark green tail. Since the stitched in the second round are fairly close together I was able to crochet over the tail from round one, eliminating the need to weave in that tail.

3 easy steps to weaving a tail into a stitch (or group of stitches)

1.) Back through the tops of the stitch(s)

2.) Down through the body of the stitch(s)

3.) Through the “feet” or bottom of the same stitch(s). I try to g through the feet of at least 3 stitches in this step.

Trim that tail and call it done!

Now, chains are a little bit harder to work a tail into but it is possible.

You’ll need to get the tail up t the top of the chain by working up through the body of the stitch.

Then you’ll meander through the chain stitches. following the yarn through to mimic the stitches as close as you can.

Once you’ve reached the next stitch, head down through the body of the stitch. I like to double back through this stitch once more.

All trimmed, no tails dangling, ready to join everything together!

Next week we’ll tackle the tricky part that pulls the whole thing together.

Pop me a question if you’re stuck. Till next week Chicadees!

Toots

 

For a while I held your hand

- Honey, it’s ok

So, ready for the 2nd installment of the crochet along?

For this week you needed to have 3 pieces ready, 1 done all the way through Round 4 and 2 through round 3.

Let us get to the joining! Begin round 4 on the next piece and stop after the first 5 dcs.

Here is where the magic of joining while you go happens. There are 3 chains that you have to make here in the corner. If we exchange that 2nd chain for a slip stitch we keep the style and length of the corner the same but will will connect it to the previously finished square.

Chain 1, then slip stitch into the chain 3 corner space on the finished square

Chain one more to finish the corner space and then complete the next 5dcs in the same ch5 space.

You should join in the middle of this side as well as at the corners for stability. Sc in the next ch5 space, ch2, slips stitch to the corresponding ch 5 on the finished square, ch 2 more and sc in the next ch 5 space.

Now repeat the corner – [5dc, ch1, slip stitch to ch3 space of finished square, ch 1 5dc] in next ch 5 space

The joining is now finished, complete this square by finishing Round 4. 2 squares joined.

Follow this sequence once more to join the 3rd piece.

Thats it for this week. Next week we’ll join the second group of 3 which gets a little bit tricky because it puts the whole scarf on the bias! But if you can follow along this week you’ll do fine next week.

Remember to pop me an e-mail if you have questions and if you’ve got pics of your progress send those along as well. I’d love to see how you’re doing

Toots

The moon maybe high

 Maybe millions of people go by

So, I’m a few days late. Better than months! Lets get to it, shall we?

Two years ago my daughters both got geometric coloring books and in the midst of coloring in a page with my youngest it hit me how much that page was beginning to look like a granny square blanket, so I changed the color palette and crocheted myself a scarf.

Then I taught a class at Webs based on that scarf but I always have people asking about this scarf and how I put it together so I thought I’d share

We’ll do this as a crochet-along for the month of January. I’ll post each week until we’re all done. This is a fairly easy square motif, its the joining that’s tricky since the scarf is put together on the bias.  Have fun choosing your 3 colors!

Join as you go square motif scarf.

You will need:

400 yds each of 3 different colors of worsted weight yarn. (I have used Cascade 220 in colors A -9451 Lake Chelan Heather, B – 9461 Kiwi Heather, and C - 9421 Blue Hawaii.

Size G/6/4.00mm Crochet Hook

Special stitches:

dc2tog =  double crochet 2 together, (Yarn over, insert hook into next stitch/space, yarn over and bring up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops) Twice. Yarn over and pull throughall 3 loops

dc3tog =  double crochet 3 together, (Yarn over, insert hook into next stitch/space, yarn over and bring up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops) Three times. Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops

First Square

To begin: With yarn color A, ch4 and join with a slip stitch to form a ring.
Round 1 – Ch4 (counts as 1dc and 1ch), *1dc into the ring, ch1* Repeat *to* 10 more times. Slip stitch to the third chain of the ch4 to join. Cut yarn A and fasten off.
Round 2 – Join yarn color B in any ch1 space. Ch3, 2dctog into the same space (counts as 3dctog), ch3. *3dctog into the next ch1 space, ch3* Repeat * to* 10 more times. Slip stitch to the top of the 2dctog cluster to join. Cut yarn B and fasten off.
Round 3 – Join yarn color C to any ch3 space. Ch1, 1sc into the same space, ch5. *1sc into the next ch3 space, ch5* Repeat * to * 10 more times. Slip stitch into the first single crochet to join. Cut yarn C and fasten off.

Complete all squares to this point. Finish with Round 4 for the first square.
Round 4 – Join yarn A to any ch5 space. Ch1, 1sc in same space, ch5, 1sc into next ch5 space. *Ch1, [5dc, ch3, 5dc] into the next ch5 space, ch1, 1sc into next ch5 space, ch5, 1sc into the next ch5 space* Repeat * to * twice more. Ch1, [5dc, ch3, 5dc] into the next ch5 space, ch1.

You will need at least 2  squares ready through Round 3  and 1 square through Round 4 for next week.

You will need 36 squares in total for the scarf. Work 35 through Round 3 and only 1 through Round 4 until next week. Yes, I actually do think you could get all that done in one week! Do 36 Round 1′s, the Round 2 on all, then Round 3. Totally doable.

Next week we’ll start Joining! Wheee.

Drop a comment here or e-mail me if you get stuck or have any questions ChickenBetty^at^Gmail^dot^com

Toots