Monday 23 August 2010

My adventures in crochet

Well its been a rough couple of weeks, I have been taking medication that has left me feeling like a dizzy zombie and I have had zero energy for a couple of weeks now. As a result I have not been making anything, I have been getting home from work, cooking, and collapsing on the couch until bedtime.
One thing I have been able to do is crochet, it requires little effort on my part and my bum does not have to leave the couch, so that is what I have been pottering on with.
Remember on holiday whey I taught myself to crochet, well I wanted to do a round cushion and came up with this:



It looks all well and good until you look closer; I followed instruction on how to crochet in the round and kind of made the pattern up as I went along really as the instructions ended at the third row. I guessed at how to increase, as a result it came out wrong.

Have a look at the extra bit, I would have to fold it over to make it into a true circle and that is just no good.

Goodness only knows what I am going to do with this, perhaps a mini blanket for the cat, I'm sure she will be quite happy with the wonkyness?!?!

I have since followed instructions on how to do this properly and I have produced this:


I am much happier with this one it is actually round. I am not terribly happy with the seam that appears in there, I must be doing something wrong when I start a new row each time I will have to look into this but for now I am quite pleased with it.
Here is my dodgy seam:


I followed Lucy's pattern from Attic24 that the lovely Amanda guided me to (thanks Lucy and Amanda). I am rather pleased with my shell edging though and I found these little round duck feather cushions at Dunelm Mill last week which will be perfect for this job. So here it is all done and dusted and I plan for this to live on my bed.

Once I get my energy back and some inspiration I might start on a crochet throw for the bottom of my bed, I love them but I think it might be too big an undertaking for me, perhaps granny squares might be the way to go... watch this space.

~ ♥ Back Soon ♥ ~

20 comments:

LaaLaa said...

It's gorgeous, Kandi! Really lovely colours. Well done you. xx

Anonymous said...

Well done you. I think you're doing fantastically (and I'm very jealous). Dunelm is great for cushion pads, I buy mine there too.xx

Unknown said...

Great crocheting Kandi! Really wish I could crochet granny squares.
Dx

Bethany said...

Very nice!! I love your color choices!
I am weaning off of a medication and it's making me feel a bit wonky in the brain, so I can sympathize with don't-have-to-move crafting :)

VintageVicki said...

Very pretty - I am envious of anyone who can crochet - that skill is one I want but cannot get. I try but it doens't like me :(

Anonymous said...

Lovely and lovely colours too Kandi.
Em xx

verykerryberry said...

Your circle cushion is lovely- great soft colours. Hope your medication evens out for you

Hazel said...

Jealous! I've been dying to make a colourful round rug for aaaaaaages. Whats been stopping me is buying wool. I had imagined it would need to be thick. Was the wool you used quite thick or fairly normal? I remember the lovely wool you got before you went on holiday, did you use that?
I told you crochet was easy peasy :) x

Alexandra said...

I think your cushion is gorgeous, i love the colours...i just can't get the hang of crochet xx

jane p said...

I used to crochet bags in rounds way before I sewed bags. The reason I stopped was cos I didn't like to see the seam.

Serenata said...

The cushionn looks great, and I am sure your cat will love the first attempt.

I know all about medication knocking energy levels...I'm currently struggling with some new medication I am on, but feel I am slowly making improvement...now I just need them to actually work on the pain!

I'm currently working on a crochet project for the same reason, easy to do and not too much concentration required.

Lucy in the Clouds said...

Your description of yourself as a 'dizzy zombie' made me laugh!

You've done so well! I prefer the second one as I like the white in it. As for your first attempt - I feel your pain, I'll be uploading some pics of my previous attempt at crochet today so feel free have a look and feel better about yourself!

Amanda Makes said...

I think you've done incredibly well! I too started of with 'spare bits' and a very visible seam at first but you've soon sorted that. I love the colours you've chosen. So sorry that you're not feeling well, chick. Sending you a big hug! Love Amanda xxx

Alex said...

It's looking gorgeous! What beautiful colours.

I think the first one is beautiful too though, despite the extra bit. Far too nice for a cat blanket!

Dawn said...

Hope you feel better soon.
The cushion is so pretty, what lovely colours!

Vix said...

Amazing achievement! I never mastered crochet, my Mum was amazing but I didn't inherit the gene. xxx

Jacey said...

What a beautiful cushion, its so pretty, the colours are lovely, I made myself a big floor cushion that too has the tell tale join seam running all the way down it, when you find the secret of avoiding this please let me know, nobody else seems to notice but its the first thing i see when I look at the cushion.
Jacey

sm1971 said...

That's lovely - wish I could do that, but I can only do a 'line' in crochet; you sound like you only learnt recently too, so especially well done!

Pooky said...

Gorgeous colours you've used there! So how did you manage to get rid of the "extra" when you tried again.......I've started about 10 times now but the flappy bit keeps appearing....any hints would be handy.

Kandi said...

Pooky, I have left you a message but incase anyone else is interested to get rid of the extra bit what you have to do is increase one stitch each row, but not the double, eg:
dc once into first stitch and then twice into next stitch, next row, dc once into TWO stitches, then dc twice into next, you keep increasing the single stitch TWO, THREE etc. each row. Have a look here for a great pattern from Lucy, it's easy to follow too: http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/crochet-bag.html
Kandi x