Crochet Works

I have recently finished two crochet projects, a blanket and a cardigan. The blanket was started over a year ago, set aside, worked on, set aside…you get the gist, right? It was a large project, with so many colors and so much weaving in of the ends. I finally picked it up again a few days ago and worked hard to get it finished. It is called Mystical Lanterns by Janie Crowfoot. Here is a link to her site, where you can purchase the pattern. Or you can also find it on Ravelry here. I loved this blanket when I saw photos of it and knew I had to make it. I purchased CotLin DK weight yarn from Knit Picks for my blanket. I also picked up a few stray skeins of StyleCraft yarn in DK. I wanted to try StyleCraft because one of my crochet heroes, Susan Pinner, uses it a lot. I believe I found mine on eBay. The CotLin yarn is a cotton and linen blend. I really liked working with it better than kitchen cotton yarn. It’s a bit easier on the hands.

The pattern I purchased was a physical booklet. Janie Crowfoot does an amazing job at writing her patterns and providing many helpful photos for each step. I really appreciated this so much. You crochet a single lantern motif, then when you do the second one, you join it to the first one you made. Then you end up with a strip of 11 motifs all joined. Her instructions for the half motifs are perfect. You will need to do these to offset the placement of the lantern motifs. Then once you have all your strips complete, you crochet them together. I used white CotLin yarn to do that. You work on the wrong side of the blanket to single crochet the strips together. This gives you a beautiful join on the front, yet it’s sturdy and goes faster than whipstitching the strips together. Here is a close up of the back of the blanket showing the white single crochet join. My cat Dewey is supervising.

I plan on using this blanket in my new Aliner camper, which I will have in just a few days. It has always been my dream to have a little camper, and while I could’ve had one years ago, it just didn’t seem like the right time. But a used, pristine camper came up for sale very close to my home and when I went to see it, I knew it was meant to be! Photos and blog post on that later!

And now for the cardigan!

So I am on Instagram a lot. You can find me at jenthestitchingfren. And that’s where I saw a video post by Wilma of Wilmade. Her post showcased her Tulip Square Cardi and it looked so easy! I saved the post thinking, someday I might make this. And then literally 24 hours later, I had purchased the yarn for the project and got started. This cardigan was quite simple and fast to make. I had to do it. I believe within one week I had completed the cardigan and I have since worn it. It feels so comfy to wear. If you’re in the market for a simple yet beautiful cardigan that you can crochet, definitely go to Wilma’s site or find her on Ravelry and purchase the pattern. It’s an affordable pattern and supports a young crochet designer whom I am happy to support!

If you’ve never crocheted a garment before, you might wonder how the ribbing along the bottom and the cuffs of the sleeves are done. The ribbing is crocheted separately and whipstitched onto the pieced squares and triangles. Easy to do and fast as well.

I used I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby.

Thanks for stopping by! I have so much more to share, so stay tuned.