clover hooks | Mom in the Garden

Hi there! As I mentioned recently, I crocheted a blanket for my first daughter when she went to college a few years ago (you can see that blanket here). So of course when our second daughter was getting ready for college, the topic of another blanket came up. I wanted to make one for her, too! She started college this past fall, and I finished her blanket this winter.

Crocheting is a hobby I learned as a young girl and have enjoyed doing ever since. I like to learn new crochet techniques or try new patterns. I especially like working with lovely colors. Sometimes, the hardest part of a project is finding the right pattern to use with the right colors. It took me a long time to find the right pattern that was a good fit for my daughter. But after going through many, many patterns, we found one that was perfect! She then picked the colors, which are beautiful earthy tones of greens, brown and burgundy and cream.

The pattern is called Geometrics and is by One Skein of Love. At 92 pages long, the pattern is incredibly detailed with lots of pictures to ensure you keep on track. I found it to be a good pattern and enjoyed the rhythm of making the blanket. It was a little unusual for me, as it is made row by row and not in rounds. Also, the border is made up of two layers (front and back) that are crocheted together. That was a great way to avoid weaving in all of the ends from every row!

I used Caron ‘Simply Soft’ yarn, which is my favorite for blankets. And I used Amour Crochet Hooks by Clover because they are really comfortable.

Cliona and Dana holding the crochet blanket

Ta-da! Here it is! It is large enough to cover a single bed.

Cliona and Dana wrapped up in the crochet blanket

My daughter likes it!

Geometrics pattern by One Skein of Love (crochet blanket)

It was so neat to watch the pattern unfold with each row! Honestly, this was not a difficult blanket to make. It is all single and double crochet (American stitches). 🙂

Geometrics pattern by One Skein of Love (crochet blanket, the border)

The backside of the border is dark sage green and is as pretty as the burgundy on the front. I actually left a row of green showing on the front border, as I liked the two colors together.

Dana running with the Geometrics crochet blanket

I think it looks fabulous (great pattern)!

It certainly was a busy winter for crocheting this year. I wonder what project will be next? 🙂

Thanks for visiting!

In Peace,
Dana

Perfect for wrapping up in!

Hello! Well, Mother Nature has decided to keep us chilled a bit longer with another cold snap. The timing is perfect for me, as I just finished crocheting what I am calling an ‘Elmer’ sweater. Elmer is a colorful elephant from a children’s story, by David McKee, who teaches that being yourself is the best way to be. I made an Elmer blanket for my daughter a few years ago (you can see it here). The difference this time is that I added black while connecting all of the colorful squares, and Elmer the elephant doesn’t have that. I’ve been told by friends that this gives it a stained glass look. 🙂

Making this sweater was a huge challenge for me because I did not have a pattern, and I have not made many sweaters. All I had was an idea in my head. It was definitely a learning process, but in the end I was happy with how it came out. I made tiny granny squares, just two rows each. It took me about two months to make, and required way more squares than I’d originally thought! But I loved working with all of the different colors (29 Caron Simply Soft colors in all). A few years ago I switched to Amour Crochet Hooks by Clover. They have made a huge difference with comfort.

The colors should be random, but I did try – really hard – to make sure they were spaced out. This picture is of the back after I took apart my first block of sewing them together. I realized I needed more rows in both directions, so it was easier to unravel the joined up squares and start again. I had a tough time deciding which color to fill in that space with!

This image shows the original block, mentioned above and that was too small, on the right. On the left is the draft of the front of the sweater – including the ‘v’ neck, but without the ‘half squares’. I ended up going with 10 squares across and 8 squares down. The half squares took some fiddling with to get the stitches right – I needed to have 10 stitches on each side. I eventually figured it out! 🙂

in the process of putting together a patchwork granny square crochet sweater

My patience were very low with this project as my excitement was very high! Also, since I wasn’t sure what would have to be re-done or re-worked, I kind of rushed through parts to see if they would work. This picture shows the front, back and one sleeve pinned together to see if the sizing worked (it did!).

neckline of finished crochet granny square crochet sweater

I knew I wanted a ‘v’ neck, but I wasn’t sure what that would look like. I decided that I would keep the border for all three edges (neck, sleeves and bottom) a simple three layers of black. It just felt right.