Granny Square Afghan, cont'd...

Alright, so with having the day off so our new air conditioner could be installed, I had a little bit of time. I know it isn't much, but here is an update. I decided that I would also add some emerald green and gold coloring to the mix. I like the pattern I've made thus far. The squares that are a single color don't take as long to make, but they're also kind of boring. Also, tying off and hiding the ends of all the loose strings is a bit of a hassle, and I'm pretty sure the I do it isn't the "correct" method. My thought on that is, as long as you like the way it looks then how can it be wrong?

Anywho, I connected my squares with that I think is a whip stitch. I don't know if I'm doing it correctly, but going back to my previous point; I like the way it looks so I don't care. Now I just have to make like, 70 more of these suckers and I'll be set.

The reason why I need to make so many is because my boyfriend is 6'8", and I would like this to at least cover part of him. Not all of him because I think I'd give up on the project before it was finished. Anyway, I'll go over how to connect these dang squares the next time I have seven of them in a row. Please leave comments and let me know what you think so far!

Granny Square Mistake

So, I will be the first to admit when I've done something wrong (well, sometimes, heh) but I realized I was putting too many double stitches in for the border of my granny squares. So here I am now, unravelling the squares I have completed already to fix them. Sigh.

Creating a Granny Square

How to make a Granny Square

Hey there guys! I hope the video quality on this isn't too bad. I had to shrink it down in order for it to load on the site so hopefully it's still viable.

The captions in the video have the steps you'll need to complete. Hopefully my man-hands didn't get in the way (man hands... it's a Seinfeld reference).

Once you complete the inside of the granny square, you'll need to do the border next. You can use any color you want. I'm pretty sure there's no etiquette here, but because this is for my boyfriend, and green is as manly as blue, I chose green.


This is the inside of the granny square. The larger the gauge of hook you use, the large the square and holes will be. Because I'm fond of my 5.00mm hook, this is the way mine looks.

Choose the border color you want. Like I said, I'm going with this dark green. Insert your hook into the first stitch BEFORE the two chain stitch gap, make a slip stitch.





 Once the slit stitch is complete, chain three. Just like the inside part, this will take the place of a double crochet stitch.

After the chain 3, do a double crochet stitch, chain 2 and then make two dc.

For each stitch onward, it will be one stitch per spot. The corners will be a two sets of two double stitches separated by a chain of two.


... I hope that made sense.

This is the border. As you can see there is only one dc for every space.

Once you get to the end (aka the beginning) of the border, make a slip stitch to close it off.

Completed granny square.

Granny Square Afghan

Making an granny square afghan

So, I didn't know what a granny square was either until I was looking through a pattern book my mom sent me and my boyfriend requested that I make him an afghan (afghan, not Afghan (big difference)). After looking through different styles, he told me he wanted one like how his grandma used to make. I found the type he wanted and proceeded down the rabbit hole.

Af·ghan

ˈafɡan/

1. A woolen blanket or shawl, typically one knitted or crocheted in strips or squares.

I'm sure you've seen them, these granny squares. They're about 10" by 10" and look holey. If you're unsure what I'm talking about, I've gone ahead and pulled a picture from google for you. They're typically made from a bunch of different colors. I'd say a lot of people got these types of blankets from, you guessed it, they're granny's (nana, grandma etc)!

First square!

Anywho, I'm going to make my boyfriend one, and this is going to be the first post about it. At first he requested blue, because blue is a manly color (or at least the manliest I have in my yarnventory (yarn-inventory)).

I thought it was going to be severely boring, so I decided to add a dark green to it as well, so sort of break it all up. I have two different colors of green, dark green and emerald green. I felt the dark green went better with the blue I am using. I believe the green is called hunter green and the blue is peacock blue.

I've only made a couple so far as I keep getting side tracked by other things. I really need to baton down the hatches and get this taken care of. Summer is just starting, I know, but I need to work on this because my boyfriend is 6'8", and in order to make this usable for him I'm going to need a lot of these darned squares. I'll be making a video on HOW to make these darn squares, because it will take too many picture to get this across, and I like making videos. 

1. 
   

The Double Crochet Stitch

How to make the double crochet stitch

Hey everyone! Sorry for the delay on this. I got a little sidetracked with a new project that I am forgetting to document for you guys. Anyway, this post is going to be all about the double crochet stitch (abbreviated dc). I'm using blue yarn for this as it pleasantly co-insides with this new project I'm working on.

1. First thing to do is to start with your beginning chain stitch. Once you're at your desired length, add three more chain stitches.

2. Yarn over the hook, insert your hook into the 4th chain stitch from your hook, yarn over the hook and pull the yarn through.

3. You should now have three loops on your hook.

4. Yarn over the hook and gently pull it through the first two loops on your hook.

5. Yarn over again and pull that loop through the two remaining loops on you hook.

Steps 1-5

You've successfully completed your first double crochet stitch.

Finished double crochet stitch

Repeat these steps until you get to the last chain stitch.

Turn your work, chain three and yarn over. You want to skip the very first stitch in the row directly below your turning chain, so insert the hook into the next stitch.

Repeat the double stitch pattern. You'll want your last double crochet stitch to be in the top chain of the previous rows turning chain.

Chain three and voila!

Keep doing this until your work is complete!

The Half Double Stitch

Yo, knitta’s, I’m really happy you learned the single stitch and I’mma let you finish, but the half double is my favorite stitch of all time.

/dropsmic

No, but seriously, the half double really is my favorite stitch. It’s a small enough stitch that is versatile for anything (hat, scarf, tiny Persian rugs) but is large enough to make projects not take forever. I like to use other stitches for the pattern and texture they provide. This post will walk you through the half double stitch.

Starting chain

First, create your chain (if you don’t know how to create the starting chain, please see the post “A Chain Is Only As Strong As It's Weakest Link”).

With your last chain stitch loop on your hook, loop the yarn around your hook (aka yarn over or yo) gently insert the hook through the 3rd chain stitch from your end stitch, yarn over and pull through the chain. You should now have a total of three loops on your hook. 

Yarn over

Insert hook

Three loops

Yarn over again and pull through all three loops on your hook. Repeat these steps until you finish your last half double stitch on the last chain stitch. With one loop on your hook, do two chain stitches. Turn your work. Now, you should see on your previous row of stitches what looks like a little indent. This is actually where you’ll insert your hook for the next stitch. So, yarn over, insert your hook into the first stitch of the previous row, yarn over and pull through. With three loops on your hook it’s just like it was previously.

Yarn over	Gently pull through	Half double stitch complete!
Chain two	Turn	Indents

Rinse and repeat until you get to your desired project size.

Have fun!

Hooks and Needles

Hooks and needles, pins and needles... same thing, right?

So, I went to Walmart today because I taught myself the Afghan stitch and realized my current set up wasn't working. The arts and crafts section of Walmart is somewhere I should never be with lots of money and free reign on spending. Anyway! I picked up this little bunch.

Some yarn

     Red: Holly berry

     Purple: Dark orchid

     Mix: Dragonfly

A super long crocheting needle specifically for the Afghan stitch and knitting needles. I wasn't lying. I'm going to teach myself to knit. 

All in all it was less than $20, but I could have walked out with a ton more. If you're thinking you might want to make something from the Afghan stitch, I'd get the really long hook for it. It will make everything so much easier.

I wonder what I should make now....

A Chain Is Only As Strong As It's Weakest Link

How to start crocheting

And how to do a single stitch

To start, you're going to need a hook and a skein of yarn.

skein

skān/

noun

1. a length of thread or yarn, loosely coiled and knotted.

   • a tangled or complicated arrangement, state, or situation.

     "the skeins of her long hair"
   • a flock of wild geese or swans in flight, typically in a V-shaped formation.

   
   

The other thing you're going to need is a hook. Hooks come in many different sizes and often a pattern will recommend which size to use. My personal favorite size of hook to use for any project is a 5.00mm hook. I find it's comfortable for me and keeps me from pulling my stitches too tightly. If you're not sure what size you think you might like, Walmart has a set of hook with varied sizes that isn't a whole lot of money. Walmart also has a fairly good selection of yarn. The Red Heart brand has a lot of different colors and that tends to be the brand I shop.

A slip knot...

Most will tell you to start with a "slip knot" to start off, but to be honest I don't ever do it and I'm 99.99% sure it doesn't really make a lick of difference, as long as you get the yarn attached to the hook. When tying your knot you want to make sure you leave about six (6) inches of yarn at the end. But here's a damn slip knot for those who want to see it. It was confusing for me and it didn't really do much for me. But here is a picture of one anyway, because I know you guys wanted to see it.

Now it's time to start our chain! Using your hook, pull the yarn through the loop on your hook. Once you have the new loop on your crocheting hook, pull a new loop through and continue. Rinse and repeat until you get your desired width/length. You're just making a bunch of loops out of the same length of string.

And that's how you make the beginning of literally ANY crocheting project. But you don't want to just make a long chain, right? You're here because you want to make pot holders and drink coasters for your coffee table. Well, keep calm, you're going to be able to make all of these things in due time, you just have to learn how to turn the project around.

There are a TON of different types of stitches, which I will cover later, and all of them are started off the basic chain differently. For now, because we're starting out, we're going to start with what's called a single stitch.

1. Thread your hook through the 2nd chain stitch
2. Hook the yarn and pull it through
• You should now be carrying two loops on your hook.
3. Hook the yarn and carry it through the two loops you carry.
4. With one loop on your hook, insert your hook into the next chain
5. Repeat steps 2-4 until you get to the last chain stitch.
6. When you've completed you're last single stitch on the last chain stitch, do one chain stitch and turn your work.

You should now see within the previous stitches an indent. This is where you'll insert your hook to continue with
your work. Repeat all of the previous steps. You keep doing all of this until you have a project of the desired size.





And that's how you create a chain and do a single stitch! Hopefully you can see these pictures... I wanted to show them all without it taking up a ton of space. If you'd like to see larger versions let me know and I'll post them. 

Welcome to Stitches and Rows

What’s up my knittas!

This is my inaugural post for my new blog Stitches and Rows. On this blog I’ll chronicle my weird craft projects as well as post some “How-to” tutorials and any new techniques I’m giving a whirl. Please, feel free to leave comments and ask questions, I will try and respond as soon as I can.

Please enjoy!!!