9/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

So, this is Square 9. I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Fuschia.

OH NO !!  Puff stitch again, I don't like Puff Stitch.... or at least I didn't think I did.  But I have worked it out, I was working way too tight, keeping my loops on my hook rather neat and full of tension, the trick is to work a bit looser, baggy in fact, then the hook just slides through all 7 loops and Bob's ya Uncle!

There is a definite side to this stitch, on one side you can see the bobble of the puff stitch, on the other it just looks like plain DC  (or SC if you are reading the US terms)

Because this stitch was quite solid, it took a while to work this square, but I love the texture, it would make a great stitch for a chunky jacket.

Squares so far:

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

8/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

So, this is Square 8. I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Raffia.

This square consisted of a shell stitch and a picot stitch.  In my opinion it would have been nicer without the picot stitch as it just wobbles about there looking out of place, still, it's not my pattern is it and it is nice to learn all these new techniques.

The pattern was easy, peasy to pick up once I got going, and worked up really quickly but I had a nasty curved corner, I pulled it out and followed the pattern twice, but it still curved.  I can easily sort it when sewing the squares together but there is obviously an error there in the instructions.

Squares so far:

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

7/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

So, this is Square 7. I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Candy.

I had to tackle this square three or four times, each time concentrating very hard on the 'special stitch' which was supposed to be a DC DEC  (Double Crochet Decrease - US terms).  Only the DC DEC didn't seem to work at all, it seemed to put way too many stitches in place.  You were supposed to work the decrease into the side of the shells, but working it into one stitch, which meant you did end up with the same amount of stitches there having decreased them, but too much bulk.  That probably made no sense at all, but it does in my head  :)

So I adapted it and changed the DC DECS to plain simple DC - it worked.

And it looks just like the photo in the book - an error in the instructions perhaps?

Squares so far:

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

6/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

So, this is Square 6. I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Jade.

This square meant me learning a new stitch - puff stitch - I hate it !

You end up with 7 loops on your hook which all have to be hooked off in one sweep, I got into so many knots and it unravelled so many times I nearly threw it away in temper.  But I persevered and got there in the end.

Easy enough to follow instructions for this one, it has a lovely texture when it is complete. I love the pattern the puff stitch makes, I just wish it wasn't so blooming fiddly.

Squares so far:

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

5/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

So, this is Square 5. I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Raffia

I could only do a foundation chain of 33 stitches for this one as anything more and the pattern would have pushed the square to be too big for the rest of the squares.

I really liked this pattern, I didn't actually like it when viewing it in the book, but worked up it is really nice, I could see it making a lovely summer top.

What I didn't care for was the 'humps' on the top row when I had finished, but it would have taken another two rows to finish on a straight edge which would have made the square too high.  I shall just have to deal with those humps when adding a border to the total piece at the end.

Squares so far....

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

4/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

So, this is Square 4. I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Candy.

In multiples of 12 + 16, I thought there was no way I was going to work this into a 38 foundation chain, but I did.  I really need to work out what those multiples mean, anyone?

Anyway, I looked at the photo of this pattern in the book and my heart sank - looks complicated I thought, but actually it was the easiest so far.  Once you have got passed the 3rd row of the pattern you simply repeat the 3rd row for every following row.

So, yeah, it was easy, but it's not the prettiest to look at, it looks like you have just hooked a cluster into the wrong stitch.

Squares so far.

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

3/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

This is square 3, I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Jade, which is a most beautiful shade, almost jewel like - I love it, and I usually wouldn't go for that colour at all.

It states the pattern is in multiples of 6 + 8, well, there isn't going to be many of those in a 38 stitch foundation row, but I needed to keep this square a similar size to the previous ones so I decided to start with 40 chain on the foundation.

This happened to work out perfectly.  

The pattern was complicated to follow, and I made the mistake of putting it down for a week and not being able to find what row I was on.  I didn't want to start again but it took me about 25 mins of pure concentration to work out which of the 4 rows I was supposed to do next.

The pattern itself is easy enough to be fair, it's the turning instructions that seemed to complicate matters.

Squares so far.

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

2/50 Stitches for Afghans

I am working through this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans by Darla Sims.

You can find previous reviews HERE.

So, this is Square 2. I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Pistachio.

It looks like it should be the easiest pattern to follow, but it's not! There are confusing instructions on where to place your next stitch, sometimes it mentions CH SP (Chain Space) then sometimes it mentiones CH SP-3 (Which is a chain space of 3 spaces) in both instances you are working into the same gap (just different rows).  Once you have got it, its easy enough to follow without referring to the pattern, but by then I was finished :)

No "Special Stitch" for this square.

This pattern said it was in multiples of 4+6 so you would think I would be safe in starting with a foundation chain of 40, but no, I had two chain left - so started again with 38.

Squares so far....

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)

1/50 Stitches for Afghans

I bought this book - 50 Stitches for Afghans - from Hobbycraft.  It's not good when you see new stuff come in, you just gotta buy it !! :)

It's by Darla Sims and it's a booklet type paperback.

I am going to try and work through all 50 stitches with a small review on each one, so watch this space  :)

Starting at the beginning with Square number 1.  It would have been really nice if the squares had been given a name to refer to the stitch, but alas, just numbers.
I am using Patons 4ply Cotton in Fuschia.

So the first thing that strikes me is that although the pattern shows you a square and tells you how many multiples you need (for example Square 1 is multiples of 3+6) it doesn't actually tell you how many foundation chains to do.  (or even to do a foundation chain at all) so for beginners they would totally stumble at the first paragraph.

As I had planned to do all 50 squares to create a type of sampler, I did want all the squares to be of equal size, they are not as the multiples in each different square add up differently.  So I am just going to have to get as close as possible and hope for the best.

Also, the terms are written in US crochet terms, so I have to remember to convert them into UK terms.

So presuming that multiples of 3+6 mean I need a foundation chain of something divisible by 9, I chain a foundation row of 36. This gives me a square of about 13cm.

I followed the pattern exactly but I have a bulge in one corner, the square in the photo shows the exact same stitches, but no bulge.  Following the pattern onwards I feel that there are two Triple Crochets in that corner that do not want to be there.

The "Special Stitch" used for this square is a "V-Stitch".

ps: The Amazon links are affiliated  if you click and buy I might get a few pennies.  Just so you know :)