Giving cushions a makeover

Partly to brighten up our sitting room and partly to use up all the yarn I bought for projects that are not now going to happen, I've decided to revamp all the cushions. This is the first. I think it came out quite well, considering I just improvised the design.

I used the Redheart corner-to-corner pattern to make 2 squares which were sewn together round 3 sides and buttons added on the back of the cushion to close the top. The border is just a simple shell stitch, a simplified version of the border in the Redheart pattern. (I didn't like the picots, so left them out.) The yarn is James C. Brett Marble Chunky from my stash. Very simple and quick to do and it matches the snuggly corner-to-corner blanket I made for myself!

Front

Back

I plan to work my way around all the cushions now, trying out different designs. A cushion cover is an good size for experimenting with new stitches and there are only so many blankets a small house and two people can use! :)

How to decrease when crocheting the corner-to-corner stitch

Someone on the Creative Crochet Crew -- The Group Facebook group was getting in a muddle over where exactly to place the slip stitches for the decrease when making a corner-to-corner blanket. In order to try to help, I did some photos which I thought I'd also post here, so I have the tutorial handy in case anyone else has a problem.

1. Here is what the piece looks like as you finish the last of the increase rows. Until now, each row has been getting longer, but from now on, we're going to decrease to stop the piece growing and instead get it to narrow down to a point.

2. Turn the work and slip stitch into the trebles (US double crochet). I find that crocheting into just the two nearest the 3 chain loop works best.

3. Now slip stitch into the 3 chain loop which is on the same block.

4. Chain 3. You can see where the next block will fit. The decrease has started to make a straight edge and from now on, the project begins to decrease in width.

5. Here the decrease is complete and we're working the rest of the row.

At the end of this row, you can either carry on increasing, in which case you will end up with a long rectangular strip, for example for a scarf. Or, after you have reached the end of the row and made the turn, you can start to decrease at this side as well.

My big snuggly blanket is finished!

Once the Christmas presents were all finished, the next big project to work on was my big snuggly corner-to-corner blanket made out of James C. Brett Marble Chunky. I still have a few final ends to weave in, but as I've already started using this blanket, I think I can count it as finished. It's the biggest thing I've ever crocheted!

I made this partly to use up all the marble chunky in my stash. I'd bought it with the intention of making scarves and cowls to sell, but then I got a teaching job and had much less free time, so I abandoned the idea of selling items. As well as using up my stash, I did also buy a couple of extra balls to make sure it would be really big and snuggly for wrapping myself in while I watch TV. As you can see, it is as big as our bed!

Photographing so I could blog about it wasn't easy. It was raining hard, so taking it outside for better light and more space wasn't an option. The only place large enough to spread it out was our bed.

So... I had to stand on a chair and hold the camera above my head at arms length. Even increasing the ISO led to lots of blurred shots and these are far from perfect, but I think they do show off the beautiful way the colours vary.

Not all crochet patterns work well with variegated yarn, but the corner-to-corner pattern comes out really well and now I have a big snuggly blanket to wrap myself in while watching TV in the evening. :)

Here's a close up of the pattern.

And here's the border. I felt that the blanket needed a simple border, but I didn't want to just do rounds of double crochet (UK) that I'd used on the c2c lap blanket for my dad. Instead I did a modified version of the border from the original Red Heart Pattern. I simplified it and didn't do the picots, so this is just shells of 5 UK trebles.

In which I start a snuggly blanket just for me

I have finished several blankets in recent weeks, all for other people. The weather so far has been stormy but mild, but as we head towards the coldest part of the winter, I thought it was time I made a blanket just for me.

I have several big fat balls of James C. Brett Marble Chunky. This is a yarn which comes in lovely variegated colours and works up into a nice soft fabric. I'm making another corner-to-corner using this pattern. I was really pleased with the one I made for my Dad and I've noticed from looking at blankets that other people have made that it shows off a variegated yarn really well.

This is the yarn that I'm using and though I only started today, I have already produced a satisfyingly large triangle. It's a really easy pattern and will be something soothing to work on over Christmas and won't take much concentration. Ideal for these dark days when I'm not at my best and sometimes feel that I'm functioning on only half a brain.

Something I'll be making for me!

I have made several small blankets for other people recently, so I thought it was about time I made one for me. I've unravelled a couple of items that I made with a view to selling, but which no one bought. I also visited my lovely local wool shop to add a few more colours to the mix.

I plan to start crocheting a corner-to-corner blanket some time this week using this James C. Brett Marble Chunky. It's acrylic, so it will be very practical for an everyday snuggling blanket, but it's very soft too and comes in a variety of wonderful colours.

As I think I've mentioned here before, until a few weeks ago, I thought I was more or less retired and had started lots of crochet projects to keep myself occupied. I then uttered the fateful words, (in relation to clearing and decorating Dad's bungalow so we can put it on the market), "I'm not working now. I don't have anything particular to do. I can take it on as my project." Unfortunately for all my free time, the universe was listening and totally out of the blue, found a teaching job for me. Though it's part-time, with just 10 hours of teaching a week, because I haven't taught any of the courses before, it's taking hours each week to get up to speed with the topics, prepare lesson plans and prepare presentations and handouts. I was determined not to abandon the crochet, however, because I find it very soothing, though obviously progress slowed right down and I've had to re-think all the things I wanted to make for Christmas presents. I will still make them, but I'll forget about deadlines and do them as random gifts throughout the year instead. Anyway, here is the latest completed project, which is a lap blanket for my Dad.