Blake the Orangutan from Edward's Menagerie

Having seen mentions of the book Edward's Menagerie by Kerry Lord (Toft Alpaca) in quite a few places I was lucky enough to find a copy in my local library.

The library is a great place to find craft books and it gives you the opportunity to try before you buy.

When I had first finished him I didn't add any features but later thought he looked a little sad, as you can see adding just nostrils and mouth made a real difference.

If you don't want to borrow it you can buy it online at Amazon in both Kindle and paperback format: http://amzn.to/2vmMU6N

There are over 40 animals to make and I chose to have a go at Blake the Orangutan

The patterns all use a basic body and leg design with extra rows added or taken away depending on which animal you choose to do. I did find this a bit of a chore having to keep turning from one page, with the basic body parts on, then back to the pattern page for the specific instructions for the animal. I can see why they have done it that way though as it saves printing costs of having to write out each animal individually.

The pattern for Blake was easy to follow, what they call the 'fur' stitch I call the loop stitch - we all have different names for our stitches! If you would like to learn how to do the stitch I have a tutorial here, it is really easy once you know how: https://youtu.be/L-8g1HRjt1s
  
It was tricky remembering all the different parts to each round so I found it easier to write them down and tick them off as I went along. For instance you have to work a loop on every third or fourth stitch but at the same time increase or decrease in the round every few stitches so it is easy to forget where you are if you get distracted and miscount. 

Here is an example of my row count - we all have different ways of working and this works for me, you might find it useful:

In the top example V = increase in that stitch
0 = make a loop stitch - you therefore sometimes work a loop stitch on the second of the increased stitches.

In the bottom example:

The rectangle around two stitches [] = work those two together.
0 = make a loop stitch - you therefore sometimes work a loop stitch at the same time as working two stitches together.

I used Boyes double knit, it is a good quality yet cheap yarn. I used less than 100g for the main body and just oddments for the rest.

Here is my version of Blake - I've called him Pongo because that is the Latin name for Orangutan! :) Again these are before and after features were added, I'm sure you will agree he looks a lot nicer with a smile :)

Would I make it again? - Yes probably but I might add more loops, it seems a bit sparse, especially on the legs/arms. Plus I think I would make the arms and legs longer.



Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

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Diagonal Box Stitch C2C Blanket

I made this blanket using the Diagonal Box stitch, sometimes known as the Corner 2 Corner stitch (C2C)

It is really easy to do and you can make square or rectangle blankets and also, if you stop with one long edge and don't decrease (thus making a triangle) you can use it as a shawl/scarf.

If you would like to have a go I have made a tutorial for the stitch - not the whole blanket as all you need to know is how to start and finish then you can make your own blanket as big or as small as you wish.

I started mine in Cygnet Kiddies Couture, Blueberry stripe. It looks lovely. However it seemed to be getting quite expensive so to help keep down the cost I used a plain white in the middle, it gives it a nice two sided effect I think.

It grew really quickly and is snuggly and warm.

I added a border after this picture was taken, you can see how it looks with the border on the video.

Happy crocheting!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

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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!

Find me on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/PookieDoodleCrafts
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Pookie_Doodle
Ravelry: www.ravelry.com/people/pookiedoodle

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