Tales from - Get Hooked - Crochet Classes for Beginners - Lesson #4

All I can really and truly say here, for all the work that my pupils brought into their classes today is a great big fat huge WOW!

My first pupil brought in these amazing Granny Squares - yes they are a simply plain square, but by using a multi colour wool some of the squares have the illusion of being made with colour changes!  Well done VM - all she has to do now is to decide the order in which the squares are joined and which method to use the join the squares!!

Next is work by JB - she not only made one but two mobile phone covers to practice working without a seem, as you would with a hat, but with a turning chain.....

She also bought some crochet cotton and made these fantastic pieces - as you can see, she's gone full steam ahead and done some colour changes without having been taught!

And last but by no means least is LW

LW brought these beautiful plain granny squares in to proudly show me and proud she should be!  They are in a beautiful pastel green, which may not show clearly on the photo and she will add some more pastel colours to these to create a blanket.

During the lesson we made a Treble Crochet round and she quickly picked up the logistics to how these are created.  Here is her class creation which she plans to add to at home after a trip the local craft shop to buy some more wool!

Well done to you all - you have all shown a true flair for crochet after only a few lessons!

Summer Breeze Top is finished!

Yes, it's finally completed & I am pleased with how it's turned out.  There are a few things I would do differently next time (yes I will be making another one) 

1. I will not be making the "band" as big - I measured around the middle of my boobs and should have done the average of that bit and my body.  Once sown together, the back "hung" so a plan of action was needed as I could not unpick the whole lot, so what I did was to gather the front from armpit to armpit.

2. I will make the straps 2 or 3 chains thicker but not as thick as the pattern suggested (14)  I made 7 chains but 10 would have been better.

3. I will make the strap length smaller as I followed what the pattern suggested and painstakingly had to unpick them both and reduce the length and stitch them back!  So next time it will be 14 inches.

4. I will not be doing the suggested back flap again.  Can't see the point, but I have done it on this one.  I suppose you could make it into a "feature" as they suggest putting buttons down this and I might make some small flowers and put them down this bit, but I am not sure yet.

 I decided to add some crochet flowers.....

....Instead of the suggested buttons.

Easter Saturday's New Project......

I decided to go for a new project this weekend, as I can easily pick up on the Granny Square Blanket

And the Vintage stripy blanket, as and when I feel like I need a change!

So I have started on the Free Pattern that I received from Lion Brand Yarn via email, the SEA BREEZE TOP

As you can see, I have chosen to do this in Pampas, which is a soft olive green colour and I have used the same wool as I use for the Granny Square Blanket as the pattern required 50% cotton and 50% acrylic.  It's a lovely wool to work with and I managed to get 6 balls of this colour very cheaply (£3.20) on ebay recently.  It's normally £1.99 per ball!

I am really pleased with my neat edging.  I think I may have got it after all.  I have been making the turning chain, in this case 2 chains, as the rest of the row is working in half treble crochets ( the pattern says half double crochet, which is US stitching, so I converted it to UK), looser than I have been doing recently, and this has helped me to keep the constant 26 chains across at all times.

I read that for my size I had to continue to work until the piece (this is the band across the bust that I am working on here by the way) measured 37 inches, so I had one of those lightbulb moments, ran upstairs - well ok I hobbled quickly - and got my tape measure out from my sewing box - I measured around my bust and soon realised that an extra few inches wouldn't go amiss!Wow this is going to be a made to measure top!!

When you got to your required length you have to:

Overlap the short ends of Band by 1 in. (2.5 cm) and pin to form center back. Sew along one long edge of the overlapped section to secure the 2 layers together along that edge only. Bodice sts will be worked along this joined edge. Overlapped section is center back.

I think I did it right!!

Then you have to:

Ch 2, work 122 (138, 154, 170, 186) hdc evenly spaced around lower edge of Band; join with sl st in first hdc.

This did take a little while to work out, but then it clicked - I had to start the bodice off from the Band and not as a separate item!!  So I joined the yarn at one edge (neat edge hehehehe) chained two, and added about 136 half treble crochets.  I did loose count a little after 120 but I had a good idea that I was on the right amount or thereabouts.

So this is the first row being added....

And this is the result at the end of row 4.  I now have to change to the bigger needle size and work until the bodice measures about 14 to 15 inches - so a job for a rainy wet Easter Sunday then!!

Link to the Free Pattern - Lion Brand Sea Breeze Top