Coraza crazy!

Safe to say, I have become a huge fan of this Coraza pattern. Created by the super talented Tinna who is also very well known for her mosaic crochet patterns. I needed a project to work on while our daughter takes her taekwondo classes, and since we are there for 2 hours 2-3 days a week on average I get a lot of time to work on them. So far I have completed 6 shawls while at the taekwondo school, the mauve one in the top row, which was a gift for my sister, and all the ones in row 2 and the last one.

The first 3 I completed prior, but led me to realize how perfect this pattern is for on the go. No row counting, no stitch counting, crazy simple stitch repeats of dc’s and chains. I use a 3.5mm hook, the red one if you also use the Clover Amore set and I mainly use Hobbii yarns like Sultan, Dahlia or Twister, or Yarn Art Flowers cakes would also be great for this. A single cake is the perfect amount. I add the tassels at home after I finish the last round, which lead to a bit of a bead acquiring frenzy for a short period of time, but I think I am good now, I have enough variety to select from and it is one of my favorite parts of the project.

To call out the elephant in the room, it has been years since I posted here, but I never stopped crocheting, I just relied more on Ravelry to keep my notes for projects, which will continue to be the case primarily, but I just thought it would be nice to post an update to say I am still here and still crocheting. Thanks for stopping by!

New Shawls

I found a new shawl pattern that is currently my favorite personal project. I have completed 2 so far and I started a third one recently. Here are the juicy details:

Pattern: Klaziena Shawl
Yarn: 2 skeins = 1 shawl. For the teal/grey I used Scheepjes Whirl and for the brown/tan/white I used YarnArt Flowers.

I followed the pattern as written until I got low on yarn and here is the border I came up with:

Ended on a pattern row 5

Next Row:
Ch 3, 1dc, skip 2, sc, skip 2,5dc, skip 2, sc
Repeat: [5dc, skip 2, sc, skip 2]

at the point do 7dc in ch2 sp

continue repeat, end with 2dc in last stitch.

After I finished the grey/teal one, still being home a lot due to the pandemic, I started a 2nd one in a brown/tan/white color way. Same border as the first one.

I have just started my 3rd one using YarnArt yarn for a friend who picked out the color she wanted. Excited to see how the colors turn out on this one as it goes :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Personal Projects Update

In and around all the baby blankets I have been doing I wanted to share some personal projects that I completed and have photos of :)

First up, a hat, with a pom pom! I had not made myself a hat in quite some time. And I just love this yarn and hadn’t made anything for myself with it yet so I gave this pattern a try. I will admit I made the band a little too big, but it still fits well enough. I should have done about 6 or so rows less than I did because it stretched a bit more than I thought it would with wear, but I still like it :)

I used this pattern. I will admit, I am usually not a “brim to crown” hat pattern person. I usually like starting at the crown and working my way down to the brim, but I am pleased I used this because I really wanted it to have a stitch like this with the color changes the yarn had. The pom pom was made the standard way you typically make pom poms, I won’t link to anything because I would say it came out ok but not amazing :) There are tons of videos/resources out there to help with them so I will leave you to find your own path with them.

Next up is a poncho style coverup. I documented this one actually already in my Ravelry account with additional work up details. But here are the basics:

Pattern: poncho with two rectangles
Yarn: Garnstudio DROPS Flora in Amethyst – I bought 8 skeins for the project

The biggest change I made was I used bobble stitches instead of popcorn stitches and I added some extra rows to make it a bit wider. I also used the suggestion to do a foundation hdc instead of chains and hdc because it let the panels stretch a bit better.

Here are details about the borders:

Outer edging:
[sc, sc, sc (ch 3 picot)] all the way around

Inner edging:
1 row hdc (3 stitch decrease hdc in 2 corners)
1 row hdc (also decrease every 5th stitch in longer side)
1 row hdc (also decrease every 5th stitch all the way around)

Thanks for stopping by!

Other Recent Gift Projects

Here are a few other projects I have done recently that I have pictures from to share :)

I made this blanket and hat set using the Loopy Love Blanket pattern from Moogly. I used 3 different colors of Inca Eco cotton yarn by Galler Yarns that I have had for awhile. The border was mostly made up as I went. I think I did 1 row of sc’s all around in each of the colors. Then a row of dc’s with the green. Then with the yellow I did shells with corners that were regular dc’s to make the corners feel a little more decorative.

This next project is my most recent new baby gift. My friends were going with a “moon and stars” theme so I decided instead of a typical rectangle blanket I would make a star shaped play blanket and attach some stars on it, keeping the nursery room color theme in mind.

I used CARON Jumbo Ombre in the color Faded Jeans. I started with the beginning rows of the star from a pattern, but quickly just opted for regular rows of dc and increasing every other row. So I would not say I followed an actual pattern except to get me started. For the border I finished with a row of [sc, picot, sc].

Then I added some small stars and based mine from this pattern. I wanted the stars to be a bit bigger than the pattern called for, so I did another round of dc’s and thus was able to get 6 points for my stars instead of 5 since I had more stitches. Then I just secured them to the blanket with the tail which I left extra long since I knew I needed some for this purpose. I really like how it turned out :)

Here is the blanket in its new home!

Up next will be some personal projects I have completed. Thanks for reading!

Finally an update!

In the handful of years it has been since I last updated, I have continued to make tons of baby blankets for friends & family. While I did not get a photo of each one, here are a handful I did manage to grab a photo of before gifting them :) All these ones used a standard C2C pattern. For the border, I would do a round of [sc, ch3] all the way around. Then I would do 3 dc’s into each ch3. You can get close up photos of this and a longer explanation in this post.

I will do another post next of some of the other projects I have done using other patterns. Enjoy the colorful gallery :)

Baby Blanket Bonanza!

Threads by ionyka - Baby Squares Blanket1

Patchwork Squares Blanket

I wanted to share a few more projects that I have wrapped up recently, all baby blankets as I relax between my 38th & 39th week of pregnancy. The big day is right around the corner, I can hardly believe it!

The nursery room is all set and I wanted to add a few personal touches to it to make it complete.

First up is a pattern I found awhile back that I wanted to use with our nursery colors. I liked the mix and match look of the squares and knew it would be something I could do relatively quickly as the patterns are fairly basic. Continue Reading →

Mountain Colors Cowl

Threads by ionyka - Mountain Colors Cowl1

I attended Stitches West this past weekend, I am fortunate that it is held just about 1.5 miles from our house, score! I did not really have a huge list of any yarn I needed in particular this time, seeing as I have so many baby related projects I am already working on or already have ready to go. So my shopping purchases were limited, but I did come across this beautiful tweed-esque style merino/silk yarn by Mountain Colors called Twizzle in Wild Horse. (Ravelry Yarn Link). Continue Reading →

Striped Chevron Blanket Legacy

My Grandmother has made countless chevron striped blankets for our family, I honestly cannot say how many she actually made, but its a LOT. I personally am the proud owner of 3 of them. The first, pictured below on the left was one she made for me when I was younger because it matched the wallpaper in my room growing up. The one on the right was made for my sister around the same time.

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My 2nd Scalloped Shawl

IMG_4458

I have received so many compliments and Likes on my first Scalloped Shawl that I knew I had to do another at some point! This time it was a request from my Mom that lead me back to this fantastic pattern. She wanted a black shawl with gold accents that she could wear with nice outfits during the cool months. I spent the better part of 2-3 months causally looking around this past summer for yarn that would work well for this project.

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My First Baby Blanket

GrannySquareBlanket1

I am thrilled to share that as I write this I am into the 19th week of my pregnancy and feeling great! The holidays are upon us and although I did not get around to any more holiday themed items this year, that is ok, plenty of time for next year right?! ;)

Continue Reading →