Monday, 14 November 2016

Bertie The Teddy Bear using Sydney the Amigurumi Teddy Pattern

When I first saw Sydney the Amigurumi Teddy pattern I fell in love with it at once.

The pattern can be bought via Ravelry, it works out around £5 depending on the exchange rate for the dollar at the time, it is made by One and Two Company: http://bit.ly/2g7PqID

The pattern is really well set out with lots of photo instructions as well as written ones, these help you to get the correct positioning of features in particular.

I found it an easy pattern to follow and Teddy was made in just one week working in the evenings while watching TV, it grew really fast as it is made with very thick yarn and I used a 4.5 mm hook - I used Cygnet Chunky: https://bit.ly/2g7LVSt but you can use thicker or thinner yarn however that will change the size of the bear.

Mine, who I've called Bertie,  came out at around 20" tall from ears to toes. He is really cuddly and everyone who sees him falls in love with him, the features make him look so cute.





Happy crocheting!



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Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Ribbed Leg Warmers Free Pattern

I made these leg warmers to help keep my calves warm while running in the winter.

The pattern is available for free on Ravelry - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/long-ribbed-leg-warmers

I did alter the pattern slightly as my calves are quite slim at the top and I thought they would fall down if I did 2x2 rib at the top and 3 x 2 rib at the bottom, so I changed the way I did them and began in 2 x 2 rib and worked upwards from the bottom.

For the last 3 inches I decreased in every purl section of the ribbing by working two stitches together, this made the top section slightly tighter and it seems to have worked really well and they stay up without any problems.





Thank you tot Totli for this lovely free pattern.

Happy crocheting!



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Crochet stripes in the round without those ugly staggered joins

Have you ever worked some beautiful stripes in your crochet work only to find that when finished you have quite an ugly staggered look where you changed yarns?


Would you prefer them to look like this?



There are two methods to help prevent this happening, one is for when working in continuous spirals and one is for when working in joined rounds.

For continuous spirals:

See video link for a full tutorial. https://youtu.be/PaHEHTFNcDY

Basically you simply have to work half the last stitch on the round, leaving two loops on your hook, then using the next colour pull through both loops to finish the stitch. 
Then work a slip stitch into the next stitch.
Then continue on as normal. 

For joined rounds: (Again see the video tutorial for a better and full explanation).

Basically you drop the last loop from your hook, put the hook into the first chain of the previous round and through the dropped loop, then pull the new colour through them both,  then work a chain and begin the next round in the new colour. 

The video below gives a far better view of what I mean as it is easier to show you than try to write it down! The first part of the video is for continuous/spiral rounds and the second part for working in joined rounds.




Happy crocheting!



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