Stardust Melodies Afghan Ta-Dah

* This post contains affiliate links which if you use for any purchase, may yield me a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thank you.
Namaste friends, Happy Republic Day.

Today India celebrates its 70th Republic Day and it is a proud day for every Indian. As per the tradition started by my Dad, I watched the Republic Day parade on TV. I love watching the parade, the spirited marching, the tableaus and the dances performed by school children. 
Don't patriotic celebrations and the National Anthem leave you teary-eyed? 
No? Only me?... Okay, never mind. 

On a side note, I don't understand all this controversy about (not) standing up for the National Anthem when it is played at the beginning of movies, at the theatres. 
Young men are giving up their lives at our borders so that you can relax, live a normal life and watch a movie whenever you want to. And you cannot stand up for 52 seconds while the National Anthem is playing! Disgusting!!
Worry not, that is the end of my rant :)

Now, on to the crochet front, I am going to share my most favourite project till date - the Stardust Melodies Blanket.

The Pattern:

This pattern was a CAL on Every Trick on the Hook by the super talented Polly Plum. 
It consists of 24 squares and 2 different types of borders. The CAL ran for 13 weeks with two patterns being released per week.

Now for the best part! Twelve of the squares were free (still free on the blog) and twelve were paid patterns on Ravelry. I decided to make only the free ones and repeat them to make my blanket. 
But two weeks into the CAL I was in love with the patterns and decided to make all the squares. :)

As you can see it was totally worth it!

Yarn:

The reason I was excited about this project was that it gave me a chance to get out my favourite yarn which I had been hoarding for years viz: Stylecraft Special DK.*

I had purchased the yarn from Deramores over the years, in small lots. Mainly because the cost of yarn along with shipping fees made it a bit expensive. And I was going to use it only for a very special project. 

The shades I chose are Apricot, Citron, Meadow, Pomegranate, Sherbet, Shrimp and Turquoise. I wanted a bright nursery theme and a mix of colours that would make the blanket lovely enough for a girl or a boy. :)

Hook:

I used a 4.50 mm hook* for the blanket, which was the recommended hook. It has given a lovely drape to the blanket.

I was going to block the blanket before posting it, but as "done is better than perfect", I decided to proceed with the blog post and not succumb to procrastination.

Each square was a delight and while some squares were a bit difficult, the ebook has charts for all squares. Polly has even added how-to videos on Youtube.

I joined the squares by holding them wrong sides together and sc into the back loops only. Since the squares were textured, I liked the ridge between the squares.

In spite of all that texture going on, on the front, the back of the blanket is really neat making it just right for little ones!

Can you tell I am in love with the blanket!

While it is all fine to say "Age is just a number", I think nature always catches up. I am now in my early fifties and while making this blanket I got a sudden and real urge to have little grand-babies playing around me.

Since that is a few years away I will just keep this blanket safely wrapped up, in anticipation. :)

In the meanwhile, my hexagon blanket is still in the WIPs basket waiting for a border and hopefully, I can reach a decision soon.

I hope you are following me on Instagram as I share my progress pics and crochet experiments there, before posting on the blog.

Another bit of news is that all my patterns are now available on Ravelry 

See you soon with some more crochet goodness. :) 

* This post contains affiliate links which if you use for any purchase, may yield me a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thank you.

Crochet Hexagon Blanket Free Pattern

Namaste friends, how are you?

Busy with your gift making/buying? Or are you lucky enough to reach the gift wrapping stage!

Let me help you with these ready-in-a-jiffy Free crochet patterns for a scarf and cowl.

November really flew by and for me, the main reasons were Diwali celebrations and long road trips. Since I don't drive, I am always in the passenger seat. And just staring out of the window while twiddling your thumbs seems like a crime to me! 

So I needed a crochet project that I could easily carry with me and it had to be easy enough to crochet in a moving car while occasionally admiring the passing scenery. 

The Hexagon crochet blanket seemed an ideal project to carry along. The hexagon pattern is very easy, in fact you could actually crochet it while looking out of the window. 

I decided to go for a new colour scheme, something different from my usual choice of bright colours. I think I would call this a woodland colour scheme with its brown, green and yellow colours. Do you like this colour combination?

I have used an Indian yarn called Ruby Grande.

Crochet Hexagon Pattern

Materials:

Yarn: DK wt yarn*

Hook: 4.5 mm

Yarn needle

Quantity of yarn and blanket size will be updated upon completion.

Gauge: Each hexagon is approx 7.5" side to side and 8.5" corner to corner

Note: Ch 3 at beg of each round counts as a dc.

          The pattern is written in US terms.

Stitch abbreviations (In US terms)

beg: beginning 

ch: chain

sl st; slip stitch

dc: double crochet

rep: repeat

sp: space

Rnd: round

nxt: next

Ch 4, join with sl st to form ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 3, dc into ring, ch 2, (2dc into ring, ch2) 5 times, join with sl st into top of beg ch 3. (12 dc, 6 ch-2 sps)

Rnd 2: Ch 3, dc in nxt st, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp, * dc in nxt 2 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp,* repeat from * around, join with sl st into top of beg ch 3. (24 dc, 6 ch-2 sps)

Rnd 3: Ch 3, dc in nxt 2 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp, * dc in nxt 4 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp,* repeat from * around, dc in nxt st, join with sl st into top of beg ch 3. (36 dc, 6 ch-2 sps)

Rnd 4: Ch 3, dc in nxt 3 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp, * dc in nxt 6 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp,* repeat from * around, dc in nxt 2 sts, join with sl st into top of beg ch 3. (48 dc, 6 ch-2 sps)

Rnd 5: Ch 3, dc in nxt 4 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp, * dc in nxt 8 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp,* repeat from * around, dc in nxt 3 sts, join with sl st into top of beg ch 3. (60 dc, 6 ch-2 sps)

Rnd 6: Ch 3, dc in nxt 5 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp, * dc in nxt 10 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp,* repeat from * around, dc in nxt 4 sts, join with sl st into top of beg ch 3. (72 dc, 6 ch-2 sps)

Rnd 7: Ch 3, dc in nxt 6 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp, * dc in nxt 12 sts, (dc, ch 2, dc) into ch-2 sp,* repeat from * around, dc in nxt 5 sts, join with sl st into top of beg ch 3. (84 dc, 6 ch-2 sps). Fasten off.

As you can see it is a very simple pattern. The hexagons grow with each addition of (dc, ch2, dc) into the corner ch-2 spaces. I decided to go for seven rounds as I wanted big hexagons. You can make your hexagons any size you like. 

In fact, with a chunky yarn, you could go on increasing and end up with a lovely hexagon blanket/rug.

Some patterns call for ch 3 at the corners, but for this blanket, I found that ch 2 was sufficient. Feel free to adapt the pattern to suit your purpose.

Here are the hexagons all joined together. I was going to stop here but the colours and the size of the hexagons seemed "too loud" for a baby blanket so I am going to add a few more motifs and make it a throw.

Joining the hexagons

For my first hexagon blanket - which you can see HERE I used the join-as-you-go method also known as JAYGO. But as this blanket was supposed to be a portable project I made all the hexagons first and then joined them.

The hexies are joined on the wrong side by slip stitching into the back loops only. I will go into detail in my next post.

I wanted the colour placement to be random. But "random" is something that just does not come easily to me. Maybe it is the Virgo in me, Lol!

So I came up with this chart to help me.

I love this method of joining as the hexagons seem to magically float next to each other and the actual joining needs only 2-3 days, (speed depending on what's on the telly). LOL! 

I had blocked the blanket but as I plan to add more motifs it is still a WIP.

I wanted to keep the sides straight so I have added half hexagons to the sides. The top and bottom edges will remain rippled.

Any suggestions for a border for this blanket are most welcome. :)

Please let me have your ideas in the comments.

Check out the half hexagon pattern and joining process in detail, in this next post.

Until then, Happy crafting! :)

* This post contains affiliate links which if you use for any purchase, may yield me a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thank you.

Baby steps and lots to share

Namaste friends, Mumbai is bedecked with flower garlands, strings of colourful lights and everywhere you can hear music that makes you want to get on your feet and dance. All this is in celebration of Navratri - the festival that celebrates Shakti - woman power, and the triumph of good over evil. I have mentioned a bit more about Navratri in this post.

Nav also means New and my BFF Ashlesha egged me on that there is no better time to begin my new foray back into blogging, to write my first post for 2018. So a big thanks to her for her encouragement.

Ahem... by the way, did you see I mentioned Mumbai above! Yes, my friends, we have finally moved back to Mumbai our hometown and we are thrilled to bits. :)

Seven years is a long time to spend away from your family, siblings and friends. But I will always have fond memories of Ahmedabad - the clean and beautiful roads, the tons of fast food options and of course the lovely friends I have there.

Year 2018 brought a lot of wonderful things for us;

- Hubby was offered a new job in Mumbai - hence the move back,

- we shifted to a new house near his workplace, where I got one room especially for my yarn!!

- our son completed his Masters and

- we went to the US for his convocation!! 

Unfortunately, in all this excitement, my blog was neglected, but always on my mind. Now how does one get back into things after such a long gap? With baby steps of course! :)

Now the good thing is that through all this, I was crocheting like crazy. Had to, as that is the only thing that kept me from going bonkers. Even crocheted on the plane from Mumbai to Atlanta and then back from New York to Mumbai! I have a set of wooden crochet hooks specially bought for this purpose. Can't afford to lose my special favourite hooks in airport security, you see. ;)

Here are pics of some of the items I have made. Each item will get a separate post later with all the details.

If you have reached this point, thank you so much for visiting my blog and sticking around. Do watch for the next post as there will be free patterns.

I have added tons of crochet books to my collection which I will share in a later post.

Also, I am now conducting crochet classes and I am super excited about it. More details will be shared on the blog later.

Let me know which of the above projects has piqued your interest.

Or just drop a few lines in the comments. it will mean a lot to me.

See you later, crafters :)

Have you found your CALing?

Namaste friends, so have you found your calling yet? Don't worry I am not asking about any deep life calling or purpose of life etc. :) What I mean is crochet CALs.

My crochet Word of the Year 2016 is CAL and there seem to be so many just CALing (ahem) I mean calling out to me. I am having a tough time making up my mind and choosing between them. Some of the projects are from 2015 and some are new while some are yet to be released but definitely scheduled for 2016. So here goes;

1. Lydia Blanket

This one is not exactly a CAL but a new pattern just released by the lovely Dedri at Lookatwhatimade. It is a gorgeous granny square blanket and the rose border is to die for. I am in love with the border and i suspect that is what is spurring me on. 

2. Sophie's Universe

This is an amazing project once again by the very talented Dedri. It is huge and will be the largest project I have ever attempted and completing it will be a challenge. I am not sure about my colour choices but I am also on a stash busting spree.

3. Queen Mandala
This CAL is a gorgeous mandala for which you have to join THIS Facebook group. New instructions are released every week and the CAL is on week 10. I have just reached week 4. What do you think, do the colours go together?

Yarn: For all the above projects I have used a yarn brand called Ruby from Ludhiana. The yarn comes in gorgeous colours and has a mohair like feel but the yarn is thicker than DK weight.

Hook: I am using a 5.00 mm hook for all these projects.

Some more CALs I hope to do this year:
Sunny Log Cabin blanket by Attic24. I plan on busting my Stylecraft yarn stash for this blanket. You can see my stash HERE.

Lily Pond Blanket - Beautiful blanket by Jane Crowfoot, with huge gorgeous flowers. May have to order yarn for this one. Yay!...an excuse to buy more yarn. (Happy dance...happy dance)

AND a few more that are soon to be revealed!!
Frida's Flowers - once again by Jane Crowfoot, from 5th April. Once again with ginormous flowers and I am sure lots of new techniques. I am so curious about this one!
FRAN Mystery CAL - a manghan. Part 1 was revealed on 7th March. Maybe something special for sonny boy.
Mandala Madness CAL - a circular blanket with 18 weekly parts, beginning on 17th March '16.

In my next post I am going to list some more CALs 2016, which I came across while doing research for this post. So if you are tempted to start one but none of the above appeal to you, worry not. But do start something after all it is NatCroMo!  :D

Until then, ciao.

Corner to Corner Blanket Edging

Happy Navaratri to all my dear readers.  

Navaratri is a Hindu festival celebrated for nine nights (nava means nine and ratri means night), dedicated to the nine forms of Shakti the Mother Goddess. As with all other festivals in India, this festival too is celebrated in different ways in different parts of India, but always with great pomp and splendor involving a lot of color, lighting, music and dance. The tenth day is known as Vijayadashami or Dussehra which marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura as well the victory of Lord Ram over the Demon king Ravana.
Click the links in the above passage to know more about the festivals and the deities.

Some time back I showed you the corner to corner blanket I had made. It looked quite good as it was...without a border, but when I came across a pretty neat border pattern I had to add it to my blanket.

Isn't that spiffy! I love the knit-like effect of the stitch. My lovely friend Susan at Felted Button has a PDF pattern for the the blanket as well as the edging and its FREE!!

Here's a closer look:

Teddy dear wants to sleep on the blankie  :)

The pattern by Susan is called Spring into Summer has detailed pics for the blanket as well as the edging.

I think the stitch is called crochet stockinette stitch (correct me if I am wrong). Mikey at Crochet crowd calls it the Camel stitch and he has a video which shows how to do the stitch.

So, how do you like my blanket? I think it is super cute. And so does BowWow!  :)

Did you like the edging? If you use this stitch in your project please do share your pics/blog post.

You can see this blanket in my Etsy Shop.

See you soon, Happy Crafting.

A small note: If you have any questions about patterns, hooks, yarns or anything else, please write to me only at crochetkari@gmail.com. This will help me to reply to you specifically and you will get faster replies. 

Crochet Corner to Corner Blanket

Hello friends, Hope the week has started well for you.

First, I have a question for you. Do you have any favorite crochet teacher whom you follow on the internet?

Actually I follow a lot of crochet "gurus". I am a self taught crocheter and for many years i.e. until I discovered the joys of internet, books were my teachers. But now with the internet, there is an explosion of information on any topic under the sun, including Crochet. So while there are tons of free patterns available, there are also crochet videos galore, to learn any crochet technique  you want to - Entrelac, Tunisian, bobble stitch, crocodile stitch, ripples, or even crochet bags, blankets, hats, scarves and what have you!

One of my favorite crochet gurus is Mikey of The Crochet Crowd. Last year I made my very first Ripple Blanket (also my very first large project!) by participating in an Afghan challenge. According to Mikey the corner to corner crochet technique was "hot trending", so I decided to give it a try.

What do you think? Isn't it lovely?!! What is unique about this technique is that it starts out as a triangle and then you can modify the size as you crochet along. Which means you can make it a square or rectangle and even decide the size after you have started crocheting it.

Here is a link to Mikey's video for the corner to corner technique where he explains it in great detail.

I had not decided on a size for the blanket as I was hoping to get the two opposite corners to match each other. So two corners have the variegated yarn...

And since I had started with a blue triangle I was praying that I should be able to get blue again in the last corner.

I am sure that there must be a way to calculate and get precisely matching corners, but for now I am very happy with the results.

The yarn I used was "Fine" or yarn weight 2 and with a 3.5 mm hook, I was afraid that it will take me ages to complete the blanket. But this pattern is so simple and easy that once you get the hang of it you can do it while chatting with friends, watching TV, or even when waiting at the doctor's or the bus stop. Yes...it is that easy! Believe me you don't even have to look down at it.

So if you have never tried this technique, give it a go with this free pattern from Redheart.com. Redheart also has tons of other free patterns for any crochet item imaginable, so browse around while you are there.

If you don't have time to try an whole afghan, no problem, try your hand at the crochet corner to corner technique with this video for a C to C scarf. You will be amazed that such an easy technique can produce such beautiful results.

I have to weave in the ends!!  :(

Do you think it needs an edging? Maybe you could suggest an edging pattern.

And before I sign off, a reminder about the pattern giveaway on my blog which is open till Saturday 28th June.

On my telly: Homeland. What about you?

Rippling Success

Hello there, Glad you joined me today.

I have a lovely finished project to share today. Something that I have been working on for a couple of weeks. Actually that is too quick for me, but the reason this project reached completion is because it was an Afghan challenge at The Crochet Crowd.

So, here goes my latest Ta-Dah......

Ocean Waves Throw

This is my very first attempt at a ripple pattern and I am quite happy with the result. This is also my first large, mammoth project after my Aqua and White granny square baby Blanket. 


The ripple consists of two rows. The first row is worked in the back loops only. This gave a 3D effect of waves rippling and lapping against the shore.

Maybe that is the reason it is named the Ocean Waves Throw. The pattern is free on Red Heart.com. The CAL is open till 17th May 2013 in case any one wants to join in.

The blanket is approximately 36" by 60".
The yarns are from this stash. 
It used up around 625 grams of yarn and has a total of 80 rows.
It took me about 15 days to complete, which is something new for a procrastinator like me! Most projects get started and then they languish in the WIPs basket till I "feel the love" for them again.  LOL!

I think Rajeswari's idea of adding a border and lining the blankets is a good one and I may try it later. Right now I just want to relax and admire my handiwork.

And of course all completed projects have to be clicked in my favourite spot - the swing. Only then can it be called an FO.

Now off I go to visit my favourite blogs and see what you all have been up to. I have found two lovely scarf patterns that I am dying to try but my WIPs basket is beckoning me  :(

I will be going on vacation in the month of May. Where?... can you guess if I give you a clue? Okay... it is the only place where you can get frostbite and sunburn at the same time!!! Let me have your guesses....hehe. Yeah I know...I am so wicked!

By the way, I am having some problem with Google Friend Connect and am unable to follow other blogs even if I click the "Join this site" button. Is this problem related to the discontinuation of Google Reader...any ideas? Would love to have any suggestions on this matter.  :)

Looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great week. Make time for craft everyday.

WIPs Wednesday

Waves Ripple Afghan

Basket weave

 

Shells n Diamonds

Lucy inspired flowers

Newly laid pigeon eggs

Granny Square Baby Blanket

Baby Blues

Hi friends, how are you? I know I did the disappearing act once again. But there is a good reason for it. I wanted to post only after I finished the project in hand :) As I mentioned in my last post I had to very sadly unravel the baby frock I was working on as the skirt looked huge. The granny squares made for the yoke were too cute and I wanted to salvage them. So I made a few more and joined them to make a blanket.

And Ta-Da........

Crochet Baby Blanket

Isn't it super cute!! Okay, I know it is only a small baby blanket, no reason to jump with joy. But for someone like me who is notorious for starting new projects and then just adding them to the huge pile of WIPs this is really something great. The fact that I actually finished a project and a large one at that!

I love "instant gratification" projects, you know purses, coasters, pouches, bookmarks, they give you Ta-da moments very soon. Somehow gathered up all my patience and plodded on through this project, granny square after granny square.... 63 in all, phew.

To keep myself from getting bored I decided to make half of them in reverse combination ie blue with white. 

Okay, confession time, do you know why I actually managed to work non stop and complete this blanket. Because I desperately wanted to try this lovely border!

I just wanted to see how the border would work out and I love the way those aqua jewels peek through the white snow. The stitch is known as Block stitch, I think. I had to unravel the border a couple of times as the corners were not turning out right, but finally it turned out quite nice and neat.

Well, what do you know! A couple of days after I struggle and get the border right, a lovely tutorial was put up by Cherry Heart. If you want to try this border you might want to look it up first.

I just love this blankie, my first actually big project. I wish it was an afghan so that I could snuggle under it. What do you think?

Granny Square Baby Blanket

Bitten by the blanket bug, I have suddenly become ambitious and I have jumped right into making  another baby blanket. This new blanket has a lovely thick texture and practically no "holes". Hope to finish it soon and share it with you.

Another reason I am late in posting this is because I have just discovered the joys of sharing on Facebook. A few clicks and you are done. 

The difference is almost like the one between theatre and cinema. Confused?? Okay  :) Let me explain, as a teen I would watch these movie star interviews on TV (yes, a confirmed TV addict right from childhood) and if they were theatre artists as well, they would go on and on about how theatre is so much more fun, thrilling, how the audience reaction is instant, you don't have to wait till the movie is released to know your fate, how you cannot afford to make mistakes,  and how you instantly know whether your audience is moved or not with your acting.................. Well, now I know what they meant!

Putting up my projects on Facebook was just like that!! Likes and comments follow soon and you can also reply to them soon. And with that done I just forgot to write about it. But I won't let that happen in future  :)

Over the last few days I have been answering a lot of queries regarding the Floral pouch, on Facebook, on the blog, by email, so I am thinking of doing a tutorial for the purse. What do you say, people? Raise your hands for aye. Okay just joking, don't raise your hands just let me know in the comments.

See you soon. Let me know what you have up to. 

Have a smashing week ahead.