Day 221 - Another FANTASTIC Crochet Lesson & Mandala CAL #2

Hi Crochet Holics!

If you missed last weeks Mandala CAL

you will find part one here

http://macscrochet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/day-214-2-fab-classes-1-crochet-mandala.html

So that was Part 1

Part 2 is now here

Rnd 7:  Using the same colour sl st across to the next ch-sp, *1htr, 2tr, 1dtr, 2tr, 1htr in each ch-sp, dc into 2nd tr of Rnd 6; rep from * to end, join with a sl st in top of 1st htr made. Fasten off & sew in end

Rnd 8:  Join a new colour in top of any dtr, 6ch, sl st in next dtr, rep to end. Join with a sl st

Rnd 9:  1ch, *9exdc (extended double crochet = put hook into ch-sp, pull yarn to front, yoh, pull through 1 loop on hook, yoh, pull through both loops on hook)  1htr in top of dtr from round 7; rep from * to end finishing with a htr in top of last dtr from rnd 7, sl st to 1st exdc made.

Rnd 10:  4ch (counts as 1tr, 1ch) miss 1 st.  *1tr, 1ch, miss 1 st ; rep to end.  Join with a sl st to 3rd ch of 4ch.

Rnd 11:  Join a new colour.  1dc in same place, *1bead st in 1ch sp, 1dc in next tr; rep from * to end

Bead Stitch = insert hook in st or ch-sp, pull up a loop (yoh,  pull through 1 loop) 3 times, yoh, pull through 2 loops on hook.

Rnd 12:  1ch, 1dc into each stitch to end

Top Tip:  Tease the 3ch to the front of your Mandala so that it forms a "bead"

More next week!

Well done KPK

~~~~~~~~~~

Day 221 is here.....

Tomorrow is the village show & I have entered this cardigan for the Crochet or Knitting Category

Can you spot the free gift from Simply Crochet magazine?

I knew it would come in handy one day

I did want to enter the Granny Square Bag too but I was told that I could only enter one crochet item!

Wish me luck for 1st Prize again

Day 214 - 2 FAB Classes! 1 Crochet Mandala Crochet A Long CAL

I took 2 fantastic Crochet Lessons today.

The first was with "PD"

We chatted so much that we nearly forgot to Crochet LOL but then she showed me her lovely Granny Triangles that she's making for Bunting - I suggested she used a contrasting colour ribbon to (A) use as an alternative to a chain & (B) give it some ZING!

We then went on to making (together) some motifs from Inside Crochet Magazine from a recent issue

As she had tried this at home but she misunderstood the pattern - so together we "conquered" it

If you have trouble reading or understanding patterns then give this book a try

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1484875117  You will get "whizzing" through patterns in no time as patterns are explained - long hand!

Now for the 2nd lesson with KPK

If you remember, she was working on a Mandala in her last lesson

take a look HERE

So for homework she finished it off & look at this beauty! 

She also brought in this scarf that we started to work on a few lessons ago from Crochet Workshop Book by Erica Knight

It's coming along very nicely!!

Considering that the original reading of the pattern & putting it into practice caused a few frustrated moments!!

So today, I told KPK that she would be designing her own Mandala!!

(with a little help of course)

So we crocheted  wrote out the pattern at the same time

And this is what we came up with so far

Aren't they just amazing

This is the pattern so far...

Rnd 1:  Magic Loop or Sloppy Knot, 3ch, 11tr into 3rd ch from hook (sloppy) or into Loop. OR 4ch, join to form a ring, 3ch, 11tr into ring.

Rnd 2:  4ch (counts as 1tr, 1ch) 1tr & 1ch into each st to end. Join with a sl st into 3rd ch of 4ch.

Rnd 3:  Join a new colour.  1ch, 2dc in each ch-sp, 1dc into each tr to end. Join with a sl st to 1ch

Rnd 4:  Join a new colour directly above a tr from Rnd 2.   3ch.  4trcl (4 treble cluster) miss 2 st  *3ch, 5trcl; rep from * to end. Join with a sl st to 3rd ch of 3ch.

Rnd 5:  1dc in each of the st on top of cl, 3dc in ch-sp

Rnd 6:  Join a new colour directly above a cl from rnd 4.  3ch, 1tr in same sp.  Miss 4 st. *2tr, 4ch, miss 4 st; rep from * to end.

Come back next week for more!!

Please let me know if you are going to join in - it would be lovely for me & KPK to see some photos 

Day 214 is here

And finally

This arrived in the post today

I didn't order one so I must have won a competition!! YAY

Day 196 - Teaching & Mandala's!!

KPK came for a lesson today & we decided to turn the tables

She read the pattern & told me what to do!!

This was excellent practice for her

We chose Winky's pattern in Simply Crochet magazine

It was a good pattern to follow - well written and with photo tutorials too - just like I do in my eLearning Courses & my book (see side panels for more on both of these)

So we both made lovely Mandala's

If you want to know more about Mandala's then CLICK HERE

KPK's homework is to finish following the pattern & bring it back finished in her next lesson!!

If you want to read more on Wink here's her blog 

http://www.acreativebeing.com/

I continue to add to my Jumper WIP.  In this heat it's very demanding to work in Pure New Wool!!

And finally - Day 196

Day 53 - Friday Day 54 - Saturday and Day 55 - Sunday

Day 53 - Friday

 I will start today's blog (Friday) by showing you the pictures that I took in my class yesterday.  As you may have read, my new pupil was taught to Crochet over 30 years ago but hadn't had the chance to crochet since!

As you can see she took to it like a duck to water, or should I say a hook to wool & within 2 hours she had produced a stitch swatch (above), learnt how to make a Granny Square, deal with colour changes & joined 2 squares together using the JAYGo method!

If this inspires you and you want to learn to Crochet then try my eLearning course https://www.coursecraft.net/courses/z9NcS

The big question on Twitter tonight is why we have different Crochet stitches in the UK to that of the US - The Symbols charts that we use are international, so why is the written part varied??  Could it be very simply that the stitches got lost in translation ??

To add to this and to my amusement too, a few of my US Twitter followers have since told me that they hadn't realised that UK & US crochet terminology was different, so it's just just us Brits that didn't know this!!

This was posted by Simply Crochet on Twitter earlier

Isn't this just so true!

Day 54

It's now Saturday & I woke up to this email this morning....

You have inspired me. I am one of those crochet designers from the UK that writes patterns in US terms. Thanks to your post I am changing that. I am creating a page for my free patterns in US terms and a page for UK terms. I haven't done previously as I have found that 90% of my followers use US terms. It may take me a while (I have another chest infection) but I'll hopefully be adding all my free patterns to this page. Sue

 http://crochetaddictuk.blogspot.co.uk/

 Hooray!

@jennyhats from Twitter writes a great online paper 

The Knit & Crochet News Daily

http://paper.li/jennyhats/fiber-help

& my blog or video tutorials  have now been mentioned 2 days in a row thanks to @insidecrochet & @timewasting

And another "share" is here.....

http://bit.ly/13A5ZKJ

thanks to Crochet Confections via Twitter.

Day 55

Before I forget, here are my Squares for the weekend.....

 

 Day 54

Day 53

And whilst we are on the subject of Granny Squares and if you don't follow Country Homes and Interiors Magazine, you might be interested in the chairty project.

http://country-days.co.uk/2013/02/24/sunday-morning-make-crochet-for-charity/