Mandala Madness - version 4 - Part 15

So, the last time I worked on this version of the blanket there had been a couple of unexpected snow days and what better excuse to stay indoors in the warm and snuggle under the blanket and crochet. This time however instead of snow the weather has decided to be gloomy and won't stop raining. I don't mind the snow or rain as such as long as I can be indoors in the warm working on my craft stuff!

The blanket is now up to the end of part 15 and the last round contains one of my favourite stitches. The ruffle stitch. It looks so effective. What I particularly like about it with this blanket is the fact that I have finished the seventh cake of wool and have now started the eighth. Bring on the greys and purples again! The ruffle stitch has been done in the pale grey for most of the round which makes it really stand out when compared against the dusky pink colour of a couple of rounds before. There is also so many front loop trebles in the last round of this part. They will get folded in the next part and make a lovely folded stitch that will give more definition and texture to the blanket.

Trebles seem to be a theme throughout this section. There are many treble clusters as well. I like how they are done in both rounds 94 and 95. This has meant that the gap left in between them in the first round has been filled in the second round. A really nice touch.

I am looking forward to how the greys and purples work into the blanket through the next part especially as the blanket is getting so big now. I may even have to start on the next cake which will contain the blues and greens from earlier on in the blanket. Oh for more rain or snow days!

Onto part 16 ..............

More Emoji's anyone?

So, I had this idea a couple of weeks ago that I would like to have a go at crocheting some Emoji bag charms. Like you do. After spending what seemed to be a lot of time trawling my local shops trying to find that perfect shade of yellow wool, they were either too pale or too orangey or just too wrong, getting the pattern right seemed to be much less stressful.

I made the first one and had the idea that I wanted it to have the heart eyes. I had some heart buttons and thought that they would be perfect. If I am honest, I am still not too sure about them. I think I will have a go at trying to do a crochet heart to stitch on instead but still keep this one as it is so I can compare.

There are now ten emoji's in the little family of bag charms. I have even done some in different colours rather than all in yellow. No two of them are the same. They have different expressions, the yellow ones, and the ones with the same expression are in in different colours. Some of them I like more than others and some are starting to look as though they are part of the Mr Men series of characters even though they are not meant to be! The next development I think I will be having a go at is making them more into a ball shape as opposed to a stuffed disc. I think also I might try and use felt to create the eyes and open mouths etc. and see how I feel about the quality of final bag charm, whether the crochet features add something more or whether the felt does.

Whatever the next step for these crochet little Emoji's, I know that their story has not ended just yet.

Mandala Madness - version 4 - Part 14

So, lately I have been working on making up my patterns for little crochet bag charms and have managed to come up with 5 different designs. I now have prototypes for: emoji's, watermelons, trainer sock (with pom-pom detail), mini sock with lace trim and mini backpacks. This is what happens when you have an idea and feel you can run with it. However, yesterday the weather decided to take a dramatic turn and the snow that we had a couple of weeks ago decided it was going to return! The dramatic drop in temperature meant a welcome return to doing my blanket again. I mean, what can be nicer on a cold day than snuggling up under a blanket that you are working on with the added bonus of keeping lovely and warm. I mean, you just can't do that with the crochet that you have been working on no bigger than a couple of inches across!

So, onto the blanket. I am now halfway through the 7th "cake" of Stylecraft batik swirl and these colours are really working well together. The blue/green band that sits in between the grey and lilac colours has blended in now and doesn't look quite so out of place against all the other shades of pinks and purples that the blanket has. The pale olive green shade is also tying the blanket together. Although I like purple and green together, I do get a bit apprehensive when the next one comes in but when I stand back and look, especially once the next purple shades are there, I really like and appreciate that "pop" of a different colour.

Part 14 has a lot of doubles and trebles in it which is a yarn eater, especially the double trebles! They do give a great texture and I like how they are all done as front post trebles, connecting with the ones from the round below. I have now managed to catch this blanket up with the black version so it will be really nice to do them at the same time in part 15. Its also been quite a while since I have worked on the other one and the colours are very contrasting against this ones subtle colour changes (in comparison). Just need a few more snow days!

Onto part 15 ............

Emoji's anyone?

So, have you ever looked at something and thought " I bet I can make that in crochet. " Well that's exactly what happened to me recently.

I had been working with a group of students and we were looking at emoji's and also Kawaii images as a starting point, something to inspire their ideas and designs. We had produced some mood boards and were also searching up further images on the internet. Now, I have been doing quite a bit of crochet for the last few months but only with making my Mandala Madness blankets. This has been great at teaching me lots of different stitches and how the use of these can alter the shape of the "fabric".  I have in the past made bag charms but these have been done in felt. I really wanted to see if I could use my gained knowledge in crochet and replicate a couple of the images that I was using in my work with my students.

After getting the basic shape right and working out where (and how long) to put the loop for the jump ring next came the fun bit of trying to work out the faces. Did I go with glued on felt? Did I try to embroider everything? Did I try to crochet some of the features? After a bit of trial and error I found what worked best for me was to embroider some of the features and crochet others. The glued on felt (in my opinion) didn't look quite right. I also added heart buttons for one of them but the jury is still out on whether I like it or whether I should try and crochet tiny hearts.

I like the melons that I have done, but again it took a bit of trial and error with techniques to get the "pips" how I liked them.

I have also been working out my own patterns for mini back packs and socks now I have found out that I can take an idea and realise it in crochet. More on them another time .......... xx

Mandala Madness - version 4 - Part 13

So with the weather deciding to take a turn for the worse, snow, freezing rain and wind chills taking the temperature to minus figures it was lovely to curl up under this blanket and get part 13 completed. It is only one part now behind where my black Mandala Madness blanket is.

This part saw the introduction of the next swirl and I had to decide which one that would be. I had planned on reversing the order of the first four but on closer look I thought that the first swirl would look much better next to the shades of greys and lilacs than the one that was mostly pinks and purples. I am so glad that I did this as it looks great. One of my fears with this swirl is the fact that there are quite a lot of different colours and so the sections are much shorter. This would have an impact on whether they would get all the way around. They didn't and I am ok with that as the colours still separated out in the rounds. They didn't end up as block colours but still had the desired stripe effect.

I really like the semi circles that this part has and all those trebles! It really does change the overall appearance of the blanket. The swirl has really tied it back to the textures that I started with and I like how the green shade is working its way up through the blanket. The thing that I am learning with this blanket is that it is ok to have an idea, to have a thought on how to continue with the different swirls. But it is also ok to change that plan, that idea if a better thought comes along. To go with the flow and not be resistant to change.

Loving this pattern .........