Tuesday 19 September 2023

Tumbling Blocks Crochet Blanket Course

  Hello, I hope you are all happily hooking and keeping well.


I have decided that it is time to retire some of my paid for crochet courses and make them into free online tutorials - this is so I can work on new designs and keep my offerings fresh and exciting.


So, the first one on offer was the Rainbow Links blanket, which you can find here - Links Blanket.


The next one I am releasing is the Tumbling Blocks Blanket - this design has been taken from a quilting design where you use three shades of one colour to make the piece look 3D.


Here is a little colour inspiration from other blankets that have been made using this design.






So, do you fancy having a go?  Sure you do... pop over to my YouTube channel and have a look.


I would love it if you would share photos with me.   Use the hashtag #soozintheshedtumblingblocks on Instagram, or tag me on Facebook - Sooz in The Shed.

HAPPY HOOKING!!






Tuesday 1 August 2023

Rainbow Links Crochet Blanket Tutorial

 Hello, I hope you are all happily hooking and keeping well.

I have decided that it is time to retire some of my paid for crochet courses and make them into free online tutorials - this is so I can work on new designs and keep my offerings fresh and exciting.


So, the first one on offer is the Rainbow Links blanket.  Of course, you don't have to do it in rainbow colours, you can do it in any colours you choose! And whatever size you choose. As I explain in the video, the pattern will work the same for all sizes.


Here is a little colour inspiration from other blankets that have been made using this design.


So, do you fancy having a go?  Sure you do... pop over to my YouTube channel and have a look.


I would love it if you would share photos with me.   Use the hashtag #soozintheshedlinks on Instagram, or tag me on Facebook - Sooz in The Shed.

HAPPY HOOKING!!






Monday 10 April 2023

CAL (crochet along) Log Cabin Mosaic Blanket - Week 6

 WEEK SIX!


Hello and welcome back to the Log Cabin Mosaic crochet blanket. This is Week SIX.  If you missed the previous weeks then you can find them here...

INTRO

WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO

WEEK THREE

WEEK FOUR

WEEK FIVE 


For week six we will be edging the blanket.



Always work in the BACK LOOP of this stitch only.

 

Round 1: COLOUR A (3dc in corner), *** 13dc across square, 1 dc in next 2 joining stitches, repeat from ***  (REPEAT FOR EACH SIDE)

 

Round 2: MAIN COLOUR (3dc in corner), 1 dc in every stitch all the way across (REPEAT)

 

Round 3: COLOUR A (3dc in corner), *** 1dc, 1 tr (down) repeat from *** all the way across to last stitch, 1 dc. (REPEAT)







And that is it!

I really hope you have enjoyed this CAL - and I would absolutely love to see some photos so tag me on Instagram or Tiktok @soozintheshed or using the hashtag #logcabincrochetwithsooz

Do contact me on soozintheshed@gmail.com or Facebook/Instagram @SoozinTheShed if you need any assistance.  Always happy to help.



Monday 3 April 2023

CAL (crochet along) Log Cabin Mosaic Blanket - Week 5

 WEEK FIVE!


Hello and welcome back to the Log Cabin Mosaic crochet blanket. This is Week FIVE.  If you missed the previous weeks then you can find them here...

INTRO

WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO

WEEK THREE

WEEK FOUR


For week five you will need to make 15 squares in total.


Here is the square video for a recap for you ....


And here is your joining video....



IT IS IMPORTANT to join the strips as shown in the photos, as joining them to the wrong side will interrupt the pattern.

Using Colours A & H – make 15 squares & join in strips of 7 and 8.





Then join....





And that is it for this week, this is the last week for the mini blanket, if you wish to you can make it much bigger by following the formation shown over the last few weeks, then come back for the edging week which will follow.  (week six of the CAL).



Do contact me on soozintheshed@gmail.com or Facebook/Instagram @SoozinTheShed if you need any assistance.  Always happy to help.

Alternatively I would love to see your photos so tag me on Instagram or Tiktok @soozintheshed or using the hashtag #logcabincrochetwithsooz

Monday 27 March 2023

CAL (crochet along) Log Cabin Mosaic Blanket - Week 4

 WEEK FOUR!


Hello and welcome back to the Log Cabin Mosaic crochet blanket. This is Week FOUR.  If you missed the previous weeks then you can find them here...

INTRO

WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO

WEEK THREE


For week four you will need to make 13 squares in total.


Here is the square video for a recap for you ....


And here is your joining video....



IT IS IMPORTANT to join the strips as shown in the photos, as joining them to the wrong side will interrupt the pattern.

Using Colours A & G – make 13 squares & join in strips of 6 and 7.





Then join....







And that is it for this week, do contact me on soozintheshed@gmail.com or Facebook/Instagram @SoozinTheShed if you need any assistance.  Always happy to help.

Alternatively I would love to see your photos so tag me on Instagram or Tiktok @soozintheshed or using the hashtag #logcabincrochetwithsooz

Sunday 26 March 2023

CAL (crochet along) Log Cabin Mosaic Blanket - Week 3

 WEEK THREE!


Hello and welcome back to the Log Cabin Mosaic crochet blanket. This is Week THREE.  If you missed the previous weeks then you can find them here...

INTRO

WEEK ONE

WEEK TWO


For week three you will need to make 11 squares in total.


Here is the square video for a recap for you ....


And here is your joining video....



IT IS IMPORTANT to join the strips as shown in the photos, as joining them to the wrong side will interrupt the pattern.

Using Colours A & F – make 11 squares & join in strips of 5 and 6.




Then join....






And that is it for this week, do contact me on soozintheshed@gmail.com or Facebook/Instagram @SoozinTheShed if you need any assistance.  Always happy to help.

Alternatively I would love to see your photos so tag me on Instagram or Tiktok @soozintheshed or using the hashtag #logcabincrochetwithsooz

Monday 13 March 2023

CAL (crochet along) Log Cabin Mosaic Blanket - Week 2

 WEEK TWO!


Hello and welcome back to the Log Cabin Mosaic crochet blanket. This is Week TWO.  If you missed the previous weeks then you can find them here...

INTRO

WEEK ONE


For week two you will need to make 16 squares in total.


Here is the square video for a recap for you ....


And here is your joining video....



IT IS IMPORTANT to join the strips as shown in the photos, as joining them to the wrong side will interrupt the pattern.

Using Colours A & D – make 7 squares & join in strips of 3 and 4.



Then join....





Using Colours A & E – make 9 squares & join in strips of 4 and 5.  


Then join....







And that is it for this week, do contact me on soozintheshed@gmail.com or Facebook/Instagram @SoozinTheShed if you need any assistance.  Always happy to help.

Alternatively I would love to see your photos so tag me on Instagram or Tiktok @soozintheshed or using the hashtag #logcabincrochetwithsooz


Monday 6 March 2023

CAL (crochet along) Log Cabin Mosaic Blanket - Week 1

 WEEK ONE!


Hello and welcome back to the Log Cabin Mosaic crochet blanket. This is Week ONE.  If you missed the intro you can go back HERE to find out all about it, including material lists etc.....

So, let's begin!   For week one you will need to make 9 squares in total.


Here is the square video....


And here is a handy little video for how to sew in your ends....


And here is your joining video....


IT IS IMPORTANT to join the strips as shown in the photos, as joining them to the wrong side will interrupt the pattern.

Week 1,  Using Colours A & B – make 4 squares & join into a square.



Using Colours A & C – make 5 squares & join in strips of 2 and 3.  



Then join the strips onto your original 4 square as shown in the photos below.





I hope that was easy enough for you, do contact me on soozintheshed@gmail.com or Facebook/Instagram @SoozinTheShed if you need any assistance.  Always happy to help.

Alternatively I would love to see your photos so tag me on Instagram or Tiktok @soozintheshed or using the hashtag #logcabincrochetwithsooz



Saturday 4 March 2023

CAL (crochet along) Log Cabin Mosaic Blanket - Intro

 Hello there,


I thought I might do a little CAL (crochet-a-long) to show you how easy it was to tackle mosaic crochet.   I often get told that some of my blankets look very complicated, and that is the beauty of this technique - it can look amazing, but actually isn't really that hard at all!

This pattern is just one square, but using a quilting technique to layer it up to create a log cabin effect.  It is a wonderful stash buster - just make sure you have enough stash for a full line  (I shall post the amounts needed below).

Every monday for 6 weeks, I will issue an update on this blog..... don't worry, it's not one of those waffly blogs where you have to read through LOADS of nonsense to get to the actual content.  I can't be bothered to type all that and I am pretty sure you don't need to read it either   :) 


Here is a little intro for you.....

The 6 week schedule will look like this....

Week 1.  make 4 squares & join

 make 5 squares & join

Week 2.  make 7 squares & join

 make 9 squares & join

Week 3.  make 11 squares & join

Week 4.  make 13 squares & join

Week 5.  make 15 squares & join

Week 6. Edging

Of course, if you would like a larger blanket, then I am sure by the end of the 6 weeks you will have worked out how to make it larger.  I have included a chart which uses up to 11 colours.



Hook needed...

4.50mm

 

Blanket Size...

Each square is 9.5cm big (approx) – so decide how large out would like your blanket to be.

 

64 squares (8 x 8) would give you a blanket of 76cm square 

100 squares (10 x 10) would give you a blanket of 95cm square 

144 squares (12 x 12) would give you a blanket of 114cm square 

196 squares (14 x 14) would give you a blanket of 133cm square 

256 squares (16 x 16) would give you a blanket of 152cm square 

 

 

Yarn needed...

Stylecraft Special DK  is my preferred choice, or any DK of your choosing

 

I would recommend a neutral colour for Colour A (cream, white, pale grey)  

 

You then need plenty of other colours - as seen in my sample.

 

You can absolutely use up yarn stash, but make sure that COLOUR A stays the same throughout, and the second colour must be the same for each “L” section (as shown by the numbers in the chart), or the Log Cabin pattern will not work.   You must change the second colour for every “L” section that you make, or again, the pattern will not work.

 



For each square you will need approx 5g of Colour A and 6g of the second colour, so count the squares on the chart and check you have enough.

So, please do join me back here on monday where we shall begin!  Hopefully you are as excited about trying this as I am at seeing photos of them.

Do tag me on Instagram or Tiktok @soozintheshed or using the hashtag #logcabincrochetwithsooz


Happy Hooking!   :)


Tuesday 26 April 2022

The Kaleidoscope Project - confetti disc

 As part of a uni assignment I am creating a type of kaleidoscope – the viewer will be made from mirrors and the discs will all be different using various forms of architectural glass techniques.

This disc is created to look like confetti

I cut a disc of glass from clear glass and laid it in the kiln where I then placed small pieces of paper thin blown glass shards all over it.


It then went into the kiln overnight to be fused together.

I think it looks quite interesting.


And it looks really pretty through the kaleidoscope.




 


Monday 25 April 2022

A puddle of circles

One of our lessons in Uni was on how to cut circles from glass.

The easy bit is actually cutting the circle, the harder bit is breaking it out from the rest of the glass…. So it’s good to get a bit or practise in.


I cut nine circles out in total, using three different colours and various different sizes.

Then I thought I might pop them in the kiln to fuse together and make an interesting wall hanging.

After being left overnight to fuse in the kiln, I was quite excited to open the lid and see what I had.

It’s maybe a little more ‘puddly’ than I would have chosen, I should have not fused it as high as I did in retrospect, but I still quite like it.




Sunday 24 April 2022

A really useless jug!

For some random reason I decided to make a useless jug.  

I wanted it to be a challenge to pick up due to a strangely shaped handle, and just in case someone fancied using it as a jug or a vase, I put holes all the way down the back to make it totally leak if water was added.

Why?  No idea.  Just a strange idea.

Anyway… I hand build it using rolled out slabs of clay.


I then painted it in a few coats of different coloured slips.

Can’t even remember what colours I used as I was just grabbing anything from the cupboard, so it will be a nice (or not) surprise when it comes out of the kiln.


I decided to do some random designs on it too with my Sgraffito carving tool.  I marked off some sections to begin…


… then lightly marked a pattern so I could go back and carve it properly once done.


Quite pleased with the outcome so far, it will look a little different once glazed and fired.






Saturday 23 April 2022

Making coloured slips for clay

 Today I spent most of the day making loads of coloured slips, for my Sgraffito work.

I had 7 different coloured stains, which I bought from Bath Potters.

I bought…

Azure / Black / Emerald / Coral / Violet / Honey / Sepia.


The first thing to do was to get my equipment together.  I needed a clean bucket, water jug, 120 gauge sieve, a bowl and a stick mixer.   You can use a wooden spoon but it’s a bit quicker with a mixer.

 

I weighed out 200g of ball clay powder, 200g of china clay powder, 20g of stain and roughly a litre of water.

I put all the powders (whilst wearing a mask of course) and the water into a large clean bucket.



Then I blitzed it with my stick blender until it was nice and smooth.


Once that was done it was time to run the coloured slip through a 120 gauge sieve, and into a clean bowl, to make sure there was absolutely no lumps left.


Lovely and smooth.  Ready for painting onto leather hard clay.

I then poured it into a lidded container and labelled it.   As slips can look a bit different to the powder colour once mixed.

Then I had to thoroughly clean every piece of equipment properly so not to cross contaminate the next mix.

Can’t wait to try these out now.




Friday 22 April 2022

A hot glass Graal collaboration

I arranged to do a collaboration with a fellow student, Brynn. 

This piece is created in three parts.

 

1: making a glass ‘embryo’

2: Carving a design

3: Blowing the embryo into a sculpture or vase

 

The Embryo is made from glass.  First a coloured piece which is then coated in clear before being rolled in a thick coating of frit.  Brynn did this part of the process/

This is then left to cool down in the annealer.


Next it was my job to create a design on the glass.

I covered it completely with a good strong masking tape, then draw an illusion pattern design on it, before cutting it out with a super sharp craft knife.  

This took ages!  Much longer than I anticipated  😊

It was then off to the sandblaster to take off the top layer of glass – the frit rolled part.  This would then show through the clear layer to the colour underneath.

If I thought the cutting took a long time then the sandblasting took forever!  I was soon clocking up the hours on this piece.


Then I handed the piece back to Brynn, who removed all the tape and put it in kiln to bring up to 550 degrees so he would be able to blow it.

Once at the correct temperature it was lifted out of the kiln and warmed up some more in the Glory Hole.

Then it was time to blow…….

Brynn decided this piece would be a sculpture.  He has a little cold working to do to make the bottom nice and smooth and so it stands up properly.


All in all, a good result.