Let Me Tell You The Story...

Oh, yes...the story of the Vintage Crocheted Blanket. 

 I was so proud of myself figuring out this ripple pattern. 

 Patience less me taking the time to draw a diagram and practice test after test repeat until I was satisfied I had "it right".

Although... as I worked it up... the thought crossed my mind my pattern didn't look exactly like the pattern in the photos. 

My "valleys" were identical but my "mountains" seemed a little off.

 I told myself it must be the light or the angle of the photo.

Then I started to play around with the new crochet diagram software (Crochet Charts - StitchWare.com) I purchased.  

As I was trying to construct the diagram for this ripple I realized I didn't crochet my double V-Stitches correctly. 

Duh...this isn't a hard stitch to do. 

And because of that I didn't place the hook in the right spaces around those stitches.

So my "mountains" weren't quite as steep as shown in the photos.

After realizing this I practiced a few rows on my test piece and finally managed to get it done correctly so it looked like the photos.  

However, I decided not to frog my blankie.  

It looks nice as is so I will continue with my erroneous pattern version.

That's all for now on this blankie.

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Remember my black and white motif?

You know the cute, little granny square I was playing around with in black and white yarns? 

Here's my rough first diagram of it. 

Still have to work on it a little bit. 

Move the symbols closer together....

What do you think? 

 Have you tried making your own diagrams?

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My funny for the day:

(Source:  Pinterest)

Vintage V-Stitch Crocheted Blanklet

Remember this Black and White beauty from Pinterest?

Source:  Pinterest

I ordered this downloadable $5 pattern from ChurchMouse Yarns & Teas (located in the state of Washington).

 It's a ripple pattern using V-Stitchs and Double Vs. 

 I know from experience that I have to read any ripple pattern over and over again and I have also found that drawing a stitch diagram of the repeat (pattern didn't come with one) helps me tremendously. 

 I'm a visual person. 

 I'm not a crochet designer and hand drawing a crochet pattern diagram isn't easy for me.

I would love to have a computer software program I could use to do diagrams. 

 Years ago I did some internet research to see if there was any software program out there dedicated specifically to making crochet diagrams that was easy to use and not expensive.  

I didn't find anything then.

But I googled again today and was surprised because I found something interesting called StitchWork Software (see video below) that I will have to check it out in more detail later (i.e., cost and if it works on a MAC).

Anyways I drew up scribbled a hand drawn diagram to follow.  

And believe me it's easier to read that those scribbles then to try to read the typed pattern.

Because I always lose my place when reading them.   

   

I won't go into how many foundation chains and first row trys I had to do.  

It was MANY!

You have to get that first row right because everything depends on it being correct.

So I practiced and practiced.

Went to bed dreaming having nightmares about this crochet pattern.  

Oh, I even googled "vintage V-Stitch afghans" and found a similar free pattern (here) based upon the V-Stitch and Shell combination - and it was pretty.   But the mountains and valleys were steeper than I wanted.  I played around with this pattern, trying it out and decided it wasn't the same as the one I ordered.

I also found a similar ripple diagram for reference (here).

The point is... don't forget to check out the internet - there is a wealth of information out there to help us crocheters out.

If you don't know how to do a V-Stitch there are videos on YouTube to watch.

Once I figured out the repeat pattern and how I wanted to start and end the row - as a straight edge - it went pretty smoothly.  

I used a foundation chain of 160 as suggested.   That sounds like a large afghan but it's a ripple and comes out smaller then a straight across afghan would for that many chains. 

So this is baby size blankie.

The second row is a little tricky but I finally determined stared at the photo over and over until the light bulb clicked where to put the hook in what spaces.

Now I can say it's an easy repeat in many ways, easy on my hands to crochet, easy to follow, easy to see if you make a mistake.  Yes, I admit every once in a while I'll miss making a V-Stitch and do a double crochet in error.   Now I've learned to look back at my repeats before I leave that row. 

Because you "turn" at every row the pattern is the same look on either side.  

And just with the practice sessions and a few rows done I have the repeat memorized.

The pattern gives instructions to make as a 2-color, 5-color and a 10-color version.

I know I will have to do a full blown color version!   

So what do you think of this ripple pattern?  

Do you love it or not?  

Little Star Dish Cloth

Want a cute and easy dish cloth to crochet?

Well, I'm cleaning and straightening out our Danish wall units in our family room. 

 That's where I store my crochet books and free patterns I print out. 

While cleaning I found this adorable pattern (go here to download a pdf) from Bella Crochet called "Little Star Dish Cloth".

 Update:  If you don't want to sign up to get the free pdf at the link above, you can go directly to Bella Crochet's blog to print out the pattern (here).

It's so cute. 

I like using my crocheted dish cloths in the kitchen.  

Smaller ones in a size like this one - fits my hand just right - and when it's dirty just throw in it the clothes washer.  

 I'm going to make two more in coordinating colors. 

 I'm using cotton yarn and it's so thick to hook with compared to acrylic.

Hubby and I watched this program on cable TV today called "Extreme RVs".  There's a company in Denver that takes used Air Stream trailers and customizes them for clients.   I've always wanted to take a vintage trailer and fix it up. We love our "Little Guy" (Pleasure Way travel van) but we are always thinking what will be our next RV down the road. Hubby is favoring a small motorhome C, like a "Born Free," and towing a Jeep Wrangler.   Nothing like daydreaming....

Hubby went out to run some errands and I said to him, "What shall I do this afternoon?"

 "Do I crochet, blog, watch TV or read?" 

 So many choices for a retired gal to consider.

Life is good. 

 And we have another trip to Walt Disney World coming soon. 

 Yippee!

 I'm going to see if I can order this vintage crochet pattern (here) - and yes, make a black and white blanket.

I really like it.

Mickey likes it too.

And how is your day going?

Mod Gingham Dishcloth

I love GINGHAM!

I was in Pinterest today and did a search for "gingham" and was delighted with the results. 

 Lots of pretty gingham to drool over.

And I found a free Lily Sugar n' Cream gingham dishcloth pattern!

It's similar to the pattern I'm using to make my Gingham Blanket (here). 

 I tried a few rows in acrylic yarn just to see the pattern layout. 

For a dishcloth I would use the cotton yarn instead of acrylic.

Of course by extending the foundation row you could make a small baby throw.

Link for the free Mod Gingham Dishcloth pattern (here).

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I made a goof today.

Can you guess what this is?

I know it's not pretty.

This is the dust container for our central vacuum system.

The dark thingy in the middle is a knee high stocking.

I was using it on the end of my vacuum hose to clean fake flowers today.

And it was working quite well - sucking all that dust right off the flowers.

Of course I was too lazy to put a rubber band around it to securely hold it in place.

I didn't need any dumb rubber band.  

I could hold it in place.

Ha!!!

Right!

I accidentally stupidly let go of the stocking...

 ...and it was amazing how quickly it disappeared down that vacuum hose.  

I quickly turned off the vacuum hoping that it was still trapped within the hose section and hadn't reached the vacuum pipe system.

When Hubby got home and I explained what happened he said it would be highly unlikely that the stocking was still within the hose section.  

He said once it is in the hose it travels.very.quickly.

So he checked it out.

He was right... it wasn't in the hose section.

He found the stocking in the vacuum system dust container. 

Well, thank goodness it didn't jam up the pipe system.  

That's what I was afraid would happen.

So it ended OK. 

I learned my lesson.  

I got off easy this time.

LOL ! 

Gingham Blanklet

I got restless last night and probably FINALLY tired of crocheting doilies. 

 I wanted something NEW to crochet.

I grabbed some crochet books and started looking through them for INSPIRATION. 

 I spent time in Ravelry looking at Santas. 

I must find something!

Nothing was happening until my eye caught this cute gingham blanket in Melody Griffiths' book "crochet afghans." 

 That looked interesting...a gingham blanket {{{yippee}}} a new stitch to try.

I pulled some shades of red, blue and green Caron Simply Soft yarn I had in my stash. 

 I decided to go with a ruby red (forgot the name of it), pink (watermelon) and white for the three colors. 

 I'm using an H hook.

I worked up three rows..errr...top looked ok but not the bottom. 

 You could see my yarn colors threads stretching across the back. 

 That didn't seem right but I couldn't see how else to do it. 

 Then I studied the book's photos and realized Melody showed both the front and back of her throw.

 There were no threads loose across the back. 

 Obviously I wasn't doing the stitch correctly. 

 I googled "gingham stitch video" and found a video for this stitch.

It wasn't a great video - no close ups - but the author's commentary helped me figured it out.

Back to my project...frogged back to the ruby red foundation second row and started again. 

 This time it worked like a charm. 

 This gingham pattern is tiny just three double crochets - but you could make it larger if you wished.

This stitch would be great for potholders too. 

 It may not be the last time I use this interesting stitch.

I highly recommend Melody Griffiths' book "crocheted afghans." 

 You may remember I made her "Sunshine and Shadows" throw previously (see it here).  

That's the beautiful afghan shown on the cover of her book!

Off to another sweet DO NOTHING day except what I want to do. 

 Life is GREAT!

My Little Frosty Snowman

I had fun crocheting this cute, little snowman !

Meet Frosty the Snowman!

I thought Frosty's hat looked lonely so I crocheted a teeny, tiny flower for it.

Here's Teresa's "Crochet Geek" wonderful Frosty Snowman pattern (here) along with a video tutorial. 

I didn't see her video until I was working on the head. 

Duh! 

I recommend watching it first.

She makes the best videos.  

Not too badly done for my first one.  

LOL!

Let me know if you crochet one too!