Well, this took a bit longer than I thought

Well, hello. It’s been a while. Happy new year. I cannot believe I’m only wishing you this now. It’s already February. If I’m honest, 2022 started off as an extremely stressful year. As if the last two years weren’t enough with a pandemic going on, someone very dear, and close to me, had her breast cancer come back with a bang, Matt needed urgent hand surgery, which was made riskier by leftover issues from 2018, and there was a lot of other stuff going on too. When it’s like this I find stress saps a lot, if not all, of my creative energy. There were several things I had been wanting to blog about, so I am aiming for a few posts in the coming weeks.

First off, I have a new amigurumi pattern coming soon, as announced on Instagram last week. I can’t wait to share the pattern with you. The pattern will be available on Ravelry and will be free.

The pattern is currently in the testing phase, and I am now working with an amazing tech editor to take my patterns to another level. She is fantastic. More on her in the near future.

There are a few crochet pots on the boil, and I look forward to sharing projects with you.

When I crochet I spend a fair bit of time listening to audiobooks. Most of my books are non-fiction, no matter how hard I try to listen to some fiction. One of the real gems I recently listened to was “The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning” by Margareta Magnusson. I know it is a much talked about book, so I had to find out for myself. I found it to be a delightful book, and not macabre, as one might expect from the title. I loved the practical advice on dealing with the emotional aspect of clutter, and the very down-to-earth approach to aging, decluttering, and ultimately death itself. One gets the feeling of making the most of a life well-lived.

For us as crocheters, letting go of our precious stash of yarn can be a horrifying concept. I have talked about my tendency toward minimalism before, but this was a totally different look at one of the reasons for taking the step of sorting through your things, and not keeping things that have no purpose. This includes things that may be fraught with emotion.

I have, over time, destashed my yarn collection drastically. I do still have a number of tubs of carefully sorted and stored yarn that I use for my designs. I’ve also started a new habit, one I never imagined possible. These days I tend to buy yarn that I specifically need for a project or design. If I like a yarn in the past I would buy it in every possible iteration of colour, or whatever metric I determined made multiple items desirable. That has been useful in my cotton stash for my ami projects, but generally has resulted in beautiful yarns going unused, with absolutely zero idea of why I might have bought them in the first place.

This isn’t to say that I don’t still buy yarn. I do. The difference now is that I am intentional about what I buy, and tend to usually use it for the purpose it was intended rather than it lying around, carefully stored in a tub, for years. It’s a whole new way of looking at how I consume things. I am a minimalist in many aspects of life, but yarn has always tripped me up. I won’t even talk about other crochet / knitting supplies. There certainly is a huge difference between collecting and hoarding, but let’s not kid ourselves that we don’t have a tiny bit of a problem.

I find that when there is less to go through I am less overwhelmed when choosing from the existing stash for a project. I remember reading that too many choices often overload people, and they end up choosing nothing at all. An example was a supermarket carrying different types of jam. When there were a limited number of choices people found it easy to choose a jam. When they were bombarded with a multitude of choices they often ended up choosing none of the available options. Too much choice makes us unhappy. Another interesting concept to think about.

I am the first to admit that my craft room, slash study, often looks like a bomb went off in here. The creative process really does seem to be a messy one for me. Having ADHD, and I won’t even mention the OCD, I find it very difficult to work in a disordered environment, so it’s a constant push and pull between creation and getting everything perfectly tidy. What I do know is you can’t organise clutter. There is stuff in here that needs to go. Once I get going with decluttering I’m really, really good at it. I don’t tend to hold onto things once the decision is made, and I don’t fret over it. It’s getting to the point of actually doing the decluttering. Getting momentum going. A body in motion stays in motion. This is generally true for me too. I intend to tackle this monster a little in the coming weeks, as my schedule will allow. I might share some of that with you.

If you are thinking of the enormous task of trimming down your craft supplies, such as yarn, I say go for it. Start with crafts you no longer do. That will certainly be easier, if not actually easy. Then work your way up to the hard stuff. The peace that comes with getting rid of what you don’t need is a marvellous feeling. Choosing to bless others with the unwanted items is a doubly extra delight. Nursing homes, schools, and I’m sure there are many places would kill for the craft supplies you tell yourself you are going to use again one day, but really aren’t.

Good luck. Let’s meet back here again soon.

Custom Crochet Beanie plus free pattern

In this tutorial we will discuss how to measure and custom-make a crochet beanie to fit. I’m going to deal with a lot of theory. Theory seems unimportant until you want to venture out on your own without the comfort of a pattern. Then a basic knowledge will stand you in good stead to make just about anything. Let’s do it!

Quick note: I make reference to the crown of the beanie a number of times, and that is what is critical for us to calculate. When crocheting a beanie the crown is made to fit up to the widest part of the head by crocheting a flat disc shape using increases. When we reach the size we require we stop increasing (usually) and continue with the number of stitches in the last round. This will then allow us to start working down creating a dome shape that will fit the head.

The scary maths part

Often on crochet groups I note that people aren’t certain of the maths terminology needed to do the calculations. Please don’t run away! Bear with me. It’s so simple once you know it. Here we go.

Working on the assumption that a beanie is basically circular, and our heads (bear with me!) have a circumference proportionate to the beanie we want to make we will use the geometry of a circle for reference. Let’s chat about the names of the parts we will use. Then I will give real-world examples of how to use them.

The circumference of a circle is the measurement of the outside., so basically the distance around.

The radius of the circle is measured from the center of the circle to any point on the outside of the circle. This value will be the same no matter where you measure.

The diameter of a circle is measured across the center of the circle from any two points along the outside in a straight line. The diameter is thus made up of two radii (plural of radius).

There’s a lot of other maths around the geometry of a circle, but we won’t really need that. The next important thing I need to tell you is about Pi, for which the symbol is π. Yes, pronounced just like the pie you eat. Yum! Same same. At least as far as shape is concerned.

Pi / π (this is Greek, and you see they weren’t just in casual repose scoffing grapes all day) is defined as the ratio of the circumference of the circle to its diameter. The beauty is that this ratio is the same for every single circle out there. Yep. Every one. That ratio is 3.14159… It’s a long number. Point is for our purposes we can simplify it down to 3.14.

By now I hear you wondering what on earth this has to do with making a beanie? Well, let’s put this into practice.

Putting theory into practice – the less scary part

If I take the measurement of my head, above the eyebrows and measure the circumference (this works in both metric and imperial) and let’s say it’s 57cm. I now divide my 57cm by pi (see above) which we’ve simplified to 3.14, so 57 / 3.14 = 18,15286624203822. Another big number. But don’t worry. Remember anytime you divide a number by a number with two decimal places it can get icky. We’ll simplify it down to 18cm (about 7 inches). What this tells me is that the crown of the hat must be about 18cm in diameter (give or take).

So let’s sum that up. To measure what the crown of the beanie should be we do this calculation:

Circumference of head / 3.14 = diameter of crown.

Another thought on rounding, if the stitch pattern is very tight I’ll likely round up, and if it’s quite stretchy I may round down. You should have a feel for what will work for the stitch pattern you intend to use.

This will work in both metric and imperial. The reason for that is that 3.14 is a ratio, so it really doesn’t matter what the base number you use is. You may just want to consider how much you round up or down by as if your base number is smaller (as in imperial) it will make a difference.

If you want a beanie with a snug fit you can also deduct about 2-3cm (about an inch) from the head circumference and then calculate the crown. This will ensure that you have negative ease (allowing it to fit more tightly).

With crochet we usually (not always, but usually) work from the top down starting with a flat circle. The flat circle will form the crown of our hat. The maths above works perfectly for this.

Assuming you’ve stayed with me thus far, we’re almost ready to crochet! Just a wee bit more theory first.

A bit of crochet theory…

Getting the circle of the crown to lie flat

Tension

Let me deal with the first and most obvious possible issue. If you follow the instructions for increasing to a T, but your crown buckles, make sure that your increases are correct, and if they are, address tension as a possible cause. If your tension is too tight your crown will not lie flat.

Now it doesn’t need to be flat as a pancake. A little curving is okay, but if it is totally convex, nope. I would recommend that if this happens you go up a hook size until it’s a bit flatter. This does mean starting again, but fortunately, you should see this happen three or four rounds in, if it happens at all. No number of sacrifices to the gods will fix it, so frog it and move on with your life.

The theory of increases

The theory of how we increase is we will start with a magic circle or chain joined to form a circle. Into the circle we will place a number of stitches. Let’s say it’s 12. In the next round we will increase by working two stitches into each stitch, which in this case will give us 24. So far so good. In round 3, we will work an increase (two stitches into one stitch) and then a stitch into the next stitch. We will repeat this and it will give us a total of 12 increases (totalling 24) and 12 stitches, which gives us a grand total of 36 stitches. In round 4 we will work an increase followed by a stitch in each of the next two stitches. We will repeat this all the way around giving us 48 stitches. In round 5 we will work an increase followed by a stitch in each of the next three stitches, and repeat this, giving us a total of 60 stitches. The number of increases will always be the number you initially crocheted into the circle. And the distance between them will usually increase by an additional stitch per round between increases from the previous round. You could do this in perpetuity. Fortunately we’re only making a beanie!

Using my handy measuring tape I will stop when the crown reaches as close to the diameter I calculated earlier. In this case 18cm. Then in theory I will stop increasing and work the same number of stitches for the subsequent rounds as I did on the last round of the crown until I reach the length I want the beanie to be. Generally speaking, this is measured from the top of the head to the base of the ear. When your beanie reaches this total length, you can fasten off. I must mention that you may want it longer, or shorter. You may want to add ribbing that folds over. There are myriad ways you might style a beanie, so the above is just a guideline.

Can we crochet now? Why, yes. Did you take the measurements of the head circumference and the length from top of head to base of ear (if that’s how long you want it)? Yes? Let’s go.

Petals & Posts Beanie Pattern

If you head on over to Ravelry, you can download the free pattern that will give you the exact steps for making your own Petals & Posts Beanie. You will find that the theory above will help understand the pattern. It’s a breeze to make, and so quick.

download now

If I don’t speak to you again before we celebrate Christmas, I wish you all a very happy and peaceful festive season, whatever you may be celebrating.

How to be the best fibre artist you can be

I started to knit very early in life. At the grand age of six I was wielding those knitting needles, and Tunisian hook like a tiny little savant. I have my extremely patient grandmother, whom I called Ouma, to thank for that. Even though my great-grandmother, Oumie, Ouma’s mother, was a crocheter who was talented beyond imagining, I did not learn to crochet from her, and didn’t learn until I was in my thirties. I applied dogged determination. I was going to learn to crochet if it killed me. My first fiddly attempts did not scare me off. In fact they galvanized my stubbornness.

At first it was excruciatingly difficult. While knitting gave one the idea of tension, it was rather different. Tunisian crochet was a sort of knitting / crochet hybrid, and was a tad helpful. I started to immerse myself in crochet magazines, books, websites, blogs, the whole lot. The one thing I did that was the game changer was crochet every single day. I would challenge myself constantly, and in so doing steadily increased my skillset.

A current WIP, Six day kid blanket by Betty McKnit (Beth Elliot) on Ravelry

I read a book a while back, when it first came out, called Atomic Habits by James Clear. I recently reread the book, or rather listened to it on Audible. I’ve been mulling it over in my mind for some time, and there are principles that apply to pretty much anything one wants to do, or learn. The book deals with some ideas that I found quite fascinating.

The first of these is the idea of 1% improvements, the rule of marginal gains. You may also see it referred to elsewhere as “microexcellence”. In the book James talks about the British cycling team, and how this theory was applied, and how it moved them from mediocrity to stellar performance. Often we think that focusing on just the big things will lead to the biggest gains, but small and consistent tweaks can make the real difference. The rule, or theory, of marginal gains relies on small but consistent improvement over time. It was Albert Einstein who stated, “Compound interest is the greatest force in the universe”. This applies to effort too.

To put this into practice, let’s talk a bit about crochet (or knitting, etc). When I first started out everything seemed so intensely difficult. I looked at patterns and wondered how on earth I would ever get to that skill level. By my reckoning the only way I would get there is by sticking with it no matter how hard it was. Crochet would have to be a habit that I practiced every single day, so that’s what I did. As I gained skill I kept challenging myself to continuously improve by attempting ever more difficult techniques. It has gotten to a point now where, when paging through a crochet mag, or book, there usually isn’t a pattern I don’t have the skill to take on. It doesn’t mean I know everything. I don’t think any of us could live long enough to know everything about our chosen craft, but by challenging ourselves all the time we can learn a staggering amount.

The next thing James talks about is the “plateau of latent potential”. This is an interesting phenomenon. I think it is best described as where you don’t always notice how far you’ve come, because your improvements are small, but one day you have an epiphany, and realise that you have made incredible progress. You have arrived at a skill level you didn’t think possible. It takes a little time to realise that potential, and it won’t usually happen over a short period. Over the longer term, looking back you will be amazed at how you have mastered your art.

Compound interest is the greatest force in the universe.
– Albert Einstein

In order to become something you must take on board the identity of what you want to become. You have to consider yourself a crocheter, knitter, weaver, whatever it is. Then you do what crocheters, knitters, weavers, do. The outcome becomes a byproduct of the identity you’ve adopted.

Practicing your fibre art means turning it into a habit. The four laws of habit creation are described in Atomic Habits as follows:

Let’s start with the cue. The cue must be obvious. That’s super important. Place your work where it is easy for you to pick up and work a few rows. The cue will trigger the craving. “Ooooh, I’d love to work a few rows! It’s so relaxing.” The response to the craving must be clear and obvious. Pick up the work and satiate the craving. The reward must be satisfying. I have no doubt that when it comes to fibre arts that the enjoyment, and relaxation, as well as the visible result of your effort, is a huge reward. This habit loop, practiced often, will lead to the consistent effort required for mastery. The reward will make you want to perform the habit over and over again. Making the hobby a habit may sound formulaic, and risks boredom, but it won’t. In order to become really good at anything you need to put in the time so that it feels natural. Mastery is the outcome, but with fibre arts you get the double pleasure of enjoying the journey too.

One of the easy ways to incorporate a new habit into your life is to habit stack. Habit stacking is where you tack on a new habit to an existing habit so that it’s easy to work it into your day. Maybe a few rows with the morning cuppa. That’s twice the enjoyment. What a pleasure.

To become really, really good at anything requires hard work, and consistency. With fibre arts mostly being skills-based, it is essential that the movements become as natural as breathing. The only way that is going to happen is if you do it every single day. I often tell those I have taught to crochet that it’s fine if they don’t have a lot of time to practice. Fifteen minutes a day is enough. Consistency is critical. I cannot emphasise this enough. Do as much as you have time for, but make sure you make it a habit. This may sound like it would take away from the pleasure, but on the contrary. By mastering the movements and skills required, you will take your journey to places you couldn’t have imagined. One day you will be quietly sitting with a cup of coffee (or whatever beverage pleases you), and you will realise you’re not a beginner anymore. You are very, very good.

“the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.”
― Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

Glorious Grannies

There are few things as simple and fun to make as your traditional granny square. It’s dead easy, and the simple repetition is a meditative set of movements that calms the harried mind.

This week, while working on very complicated projects, I had such a strong urge to make a few grannies. Normally when I start something I have a pretty good idea from the get go what it will be. This time I simply wanted to make for the sake of it, and felt I would figure out the details later. So, I grabbed some yarn and just began.

My week is not without deadlines, and I daren’t procrastinate, but I derived immense joy from the colours and simplicity. For the newbies out there I thought I would share a few bits of info on granny squares, how to make them, and securely weaving in ends.

In the end I decided that this set of grannies would become a cushion cover. I made it from Scheepjes Stonewashed, which is a blend of cotton and acrylic. It’s gorgeous to work with, and comes in an astounding number of colours. What amazes me most is they managed to assign a colour appropriate gem or stone to each colour. That was surely no mean feat.

Righto then, lets start with how to make a simple granny square. I will demonstrate how to make a solid colour square, but should you wish to change colours at any point, simply fasten off and join the new colour in any corner.

How to make a granny square

For this tutorial I am using Scheepjes Stonewashed in colour 819 “New Jade” and a 3.5mm hook. If you are using DK use a 4mm hook, or for any other weight the ball band should give you an idea of the hook size to use.

This tutorial will use UK terms.

Explanation of stitches

Slip stitch: insert hook into stitch, grab yarn with hook and pull through stitch to the front of work, pull through loop on the hook.

Treble: yarn over, insert hook into space, grab yarn with hook, and pull through space to the front of work, three loops on hook, yarn over pull through two loops, yarn over again and pull through remaining two loops.

Start with a slipknot and chain 5. Join to form a ring. For round 1 we will be working into the ring as indicated in the following image by the needle:

Next, chain 3 (this counts as the first treble. Work two more trebles into the ring. Chain 3. This will be your first corner. Work another 3 trebles into the ring. Your work should now resemble the following:

Chain 3 to make the next corner, and work 3 trebles into the ring to form the next cluster. Repeat this step to create the 4th and final cluster ending with a chain 3. Join to the top of the beginning chain 3. Your work should now look like this, with 4 clusters of 3 trebles and 4 chain 3 spaces.

If you were to change colour for the next round you would fasten off your work and join the new colour into any corner. Since we are making a square using one colour you need to slip stitch into the next stitch (as indicated by the needle). See the following image for guidance:

Slip stitch again into the corner. Now you are ready to do the next round.

For round 2 we once again need to chain 3. This counts as the first treble. Next work 2 trebles into the corner space and chain 2. Work another 3 trebles into the same corner space. You now have your first corner of the second round made. The reason we chained 2 instead of 3 in the making of the corner on the second round is I like to make a fairly compact square that isn’t too loose with the holes too big. To this end, while you may find many patterns for granny squares chaining one between clusters, we will not be making chains between the clusters.

We will repeat this first corner by working 3 trebles, 2 chains, 3 trebles into each chain space around. End off with a slip stitch into the top of the beginning chain 3.

You will note that you now have four corners, made up of two clusters of 3 trebles, with a 2 chain space between clusters. You also have an additional space between clusters. This is important for the next round.

To begin round 3 you will need to once slip stitch your way into the corner space. Then chain 3, and work 2 more trebles to form the first corner cluster, then 2 chains and another 3 trebles into the same space. Corner made. Now you will also need to work a cluster of 3 trebles into the newly formed space between the clusters (as indicated by the needle in the above image). Next you will make the second corner by working 3 trebles, 2 chains and 3 trebles into the next corner space. Repeat this all the way around and join with a slip stitch into to the top of the beginning chain 3.

At the end of this round your square should look like the one in the image below, and note that you now have 2 spaces between corners. For each round you work you will find additional spaces between corners on each side of your square. You will always work a 3 treble cluster into these spaces.

Round three, and the additional spaces indicated.

You can make the square any size you please, from a few rounds, to a massive square blanket. When you have attained the number of rounds you require, simply fasten off your work. Change colours as you please, or use just one colour. The possibilities are endless. I’m going to go ahead and work another two rounds, leaving me with a five round square.

Weaving in ends

I don’t know a single crocheter who enjoys the process of weaving in the ends. You will hear people try to find all sorts of ways to avoid doing it properly, which results in their work inevitably coming undone. My way of thinking is that if you are going to spend all that time and money on a project it really isn’t that much effort to work in those ends properly, thereby ensuring they never, ever come undone. I have seen beautiful heirlooms with sad holes in them because people avoid this step. So to you, dear crocheter, I say spend a little time on this and you will be glad you did.

Fortunately my five round square above only has two ends. The more colours the more ends. Lets start with the end that is left from making the first round, and centre of the square.

Turn your work over so the wrong side is facing you. You will always, unless instructed otherwise, work your ends into the wrong side.

First thread the yarn onto a sharp needle. I prefer metal needles with a nice point, but use whatever works for you.

Work the needle through several stitches at a time of the centre ring, working your way once all around.

Next you are going to work backward. Skip a stitch in the opposite direction, and work your needle back through the stitches working several stitches at a time. Repeat the process a few times and snip of the end close to your work. I like to use embroidery scissors as they are precise, reducing the risk of accidentally cutting the work itself.

Next we are going to work on the end where you finished your work off. If you changed colours you can apply the same method to any part of the work. Thread your needle with the yarn end, and work your end in several directions, skipping stitches and working back over sections already worked. Once you are satisfied that you have repeated the process enough times, you can snip the yarn end.

The work is turned as needed while you work the end, always into the wrong side of work.

Wrong side of granny square with ends worked in

And voila! You have a completed granny square. If your granny square is a bit wonky, or isn’t as flat as you’d like, check out my tutorial for spray blocking your work. It makes a huge difference.

The Funky Sheep

Tag Archives: Crochet

Well, this took a bit longer than I thought

Custom Crochet Beanie plus free pattern

The scary maths part

Putting theory into practice – the less scary part

A bit of crochet theory…