Blocking is the process of neatening your crocheted fabric, usually through dampening the worked yarn and pinning it to the desired shape. Blocked granny squares in particular have steady edges and a consistent size, where unblocked crochet blankets can be wavy and uneven in appearance. Which also makes them harder to crochet together. Contrary to popular opinion you don’t have to wet your project to shape it, and you don’t need to go mad spending your hard earned dollars on blocking boards to get the finish you want.

I must admit I was so sceptical about blocking when I began crocheting. I think it’s because I am a bit of a natural corner-cutter. If something can be done faster, that’s the way I want to do it. However, my quick fix tendencies are no match for my need to see a job done right. (It’s fun in my head). Which is why I only made one blanket without blocking before seeing how wrong I was to skip that particular step. My natural scepticism has meant that I’ve come up with some unconventional but helpful tips for those occasions where blocking is needed.

Here are my own personal do’s and don’ts for blocking your next crochet project.

DO Block when working in 2D

Almost all two dimensional crochet projects can benefit from being blocked.

DO Dampen your yarn

I tend to put my crochet onto the blocking board then spray it down, with a towel underneath to catch any droplets. But you can spray your yarn then peg it up, either way is fine.

DO Stretch your work

When putting your crocheted fabric onto your blocking board, make sure to stretch it out. Don’t just stick it on according to its current shape, or it won’t neaten up.

DO Choose a solid board and pins

When you block your crochet, it takes the new shape because the fibers are under tension. This means that the board and pins are supporting the weight of the natural opposing pull of the yarn. To stay the right shape and be reusable for years to come, you need to choose a solid board and strong pins.

DO Go with metal pins

Not only are metal pins less likely to bend under the pressure of the blocking process, but there is no risk of snagging on splinters like with wood. Although it still pays to check the rods for burrs before sliding your crochet on!

DO Get the biggest board you can

Taking into account the size of your craft space and your budget, I recommend going as big as you can. This is based on my semi-frequent disappointment when I can’t quite fit the thing I’ve just made onto the board!

DO Get a board with plenty of size options

If you are going for a blocking board with removable pegs, look for one with the most pegs possible to fit the space available. This will give you more options for pinning out your work to the perfect size.

DO Plan your granny squares based on the board size

The granny squares I’ve pictured here turned out to just fit on the board. It was a close thing! In future I’ll definitely be working up the first square with the board next to me, to make sure I don’t over size it.

DO Block in sections

Remember to block your project in it’s composite parts, to make the best use of your blocking board.

DO Attach as soon as possible

Once you’ve blocked your squares and you are happy with how they look, attach them together as soon as you can to have the best chance of retaining that shape. Fibers do naturally shift back towards their original position once you remove them, but crocheting or sewing them together quickly helps to reduce this.

DON’T Soak the yarn

It’s really easy to over wet your crochet before blocking, and it’s not beneficial to the process. When sprayed down it should feel damp to the touch, but not be dripping or able to be wrung out.

DON’T Panic and dry your yarn with heat

If you have made your project too wet to block out, then pop it between two towels and just pat it dry. Avoid using a hairdryer as some yarns react poorly to intense heat and it’s hard to get an even dry.

DON’T Take it off too soon

If my time constraints allow me to do so, I like to leave my crochet on the blocking board for around three days. Some yarns are much more filling to neaten up and you can just leave them overnight, but in my experience there is no harm to waiting longer and it tends to give a more even finish.

DON’T Pin unevenly

Spoken from bitter experience, don’t quickly throw your work onto the board and go. Double and triple check that each edge is spaced exactly the same amount, or you’ll need to restart the blocking process over again when you’re done.

DON’T Be afraid to improvise

Blocking doesn’t need to be carried out on a specially made blocking board. I use heavy books to block bigger projects, or you can pin them using a clothes horse or washing lines. As long as you have a way to keep the crochet in the position you want it to end up as for a period of time, you’ve got a good chance of achieving the finish you’re looking for.

The post My 15 Do’s and Don’ts of Crochet Blocking  appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

When you start a new hobby, there are things that you’d never guess were controversial that you quickly realise are. For crocheters, your hook grip is one of them.

For several years, I just picked up my hook without thinking, and worked with it. And why not? It was going well for me, after all! There wasn’t any stitch I struggled to make, and as time went on I got pretty fast too.

But once I went from hobbyist to designer, and then started publishing my crochet patterns and tutorials online, I quickly learned that there are two ‘official’ ways to hold a crochet hook. And some crocheters have quite strong views on their fellow crafters sticking to those methods.

Knife vs Pencil Grip

When using the pencil grip your thumb and index finger hold onto the hook, one at either side. If the hook has an indent, then they will often focus around this point, but that’s not essential. The middle finger sits nearer to the head of the hook, on the same side as the index finger.

In the knife grip your index finger instead stretches down the hook towards the head, and your middle finger rests bent alongside it.

The Impact of Hook Grip Types

The standard grips vary not just between individuals, but depending on which type of hook you use. Standard narrow wooden, plastic or metal hooks lend themselves more to the knife style of grip, in my experience. However, these days many of us are more comfortable with chunky, ergonomic handles, which are often easier to hold with a pencil grip.

The level of friction on your hook also makes a difference, because it will alter how securely you want to hold your hook. A rougher or more textured grip is less likely to slip out of your fingers, so can be held more gently or potentially with fewer fingers required!

My Grip

I hold my hook with my thumb on one side, and all my other fingers (bar the little one) on the other side. Technically speaking, for me personally it’s a pencil grip, because that’s how I hold my pencils or pens too. Various teachers tried to train me out of it with no success, and honestly it has never caused me any issues there either.

But my method doesn’t tally with the textbook two grips, and in much the same way as I felt self conscious about writing at school because it drew attention, I also still to this day feel a bit exposed when I share videos which unavoidably show my unusual multi-fingered hook grip. But I shouldn’t!

The post How I Hold My Crochet Hook and Why It Doesn’t Matter appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

When I began to crochet my own plushies, I often found that they gently nodded forward, either over time or immediately after I made them. And the reason basically always boils down to angles, weight, and, at the end of the day, our eternal foe, gravity.

But there is no reason to sadly accept floppy heads on your amigurumi, because I’m going to share several methods that I use to ensure my crochet toys’ heads stay upright and pointing in the direction I want them to.

• Stuffing, tension and stitch style
• Adding some extra support

Stuffing

New crocheters often struggle to fill their toys with the right amount of stuffing. If you overfill, it can make your amigurumi look distorted (I still have a couple of my earliest toys where you can see the stuffing making its escape out of badly stretched stitches!). But if you under fill, it can lose its structure and ability to retain the posture you’ve created, regardless of other factors.

This is why I always recommend you check your filling first, before going to more complex measures to resolve the issue. Sometimes I find that just pushing a little more wadding into the neck space can help your toy go from dozing off to fully alert.

Tension and Stitch Style

Everyone has a different natural tension. Mine is quite tight, and has been since my first few months in this hobby. But some people’s tension is much looser, and this can result in stitches that are a little more open and therefore less rigid.

A good way to check your tension is to make a sampler up of a 2D item, like a garment, and check the stitch count in comparison with the pattern. If you fit fewer stitches into an inch than they do, your tension is looser. You can try tightening your tension by holding your yarn more firmly in your non-dominant hand, and it can sometimes help to hold your yarn hand closer to your hook.

Yarning under instead of over can also create tighter stitches, but there is a lot of personal preference to this one. I’m a yarn over person, and always will be regardless of the pattern! Which is why, in the case of super floppy heads, I go with adding in some extra support.

Felt

Felt is easily available from craft stores, simple to snip to size and roll up. I recommend taking a section of felt that will stretch from the top of the head to half way into the body piece.

Foam

You can do the same thing with foam, and I actually prefer this because I find it more supportive, and just as easy to curl up and into shape. It’s also a bit easier to cut with scissors too. As with the felt, make sure it goes well into each piece to give maximum support, and ideally it should be as wide as the diameter of the neck section when tightly rolled.

Choose a color of foam or felt that is as similar to the yarn in that section as possible, just in case it shows if any of the stitches gape over time.

Packing Peanuts

You can achieve the same impact with a packing peanut too, but the likelihood of getting one the exact size you need is slim. And if you use multiples, I find they aren’t long enough to stay in place as well. Also, watch out for eco packing peanuts – they dissolve when wet! You don’t want to accidentally insert one into your toy!

Pipe Cleaners

I’ve saved the best to last. I love using pipe cleaners for support, provided the toy is not too large. The reason I am such a fan of them for this use, is that they are sturdy and directional. That means if you want to point the head off at an angle, lift the next, or indeed add a trunk, they will bend wherever you want them too and hold the position really well. I’ve put them to great use in my scorpion and tarantula patterns for leg and tail support, and can’t recommend them enough.

The post Say Goodbye To Floppy Amigurumi Heads appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

Today I’m going to demystify beginner crochet patterns, so that you can pick up any simple crochet toy pattern and follow it along without any added stress. I’ll cover the basic amigurumi stitches, and how to read different patterns’ terminology, abbreviations and the techniques involved.

If you want to have a hand with literally getting started in terms of casting on and tension, check out this article first.

Magic circles

We begin with a magic circle. This is a way of creating a central point to your crochet sphere that is completely closed. It enables us to put stuffing into toys without it falling out, and it just looks a lot neater than the other options.

Here’s how your magic circle begins:

• Wrap your yarn around your third and fourth fingers twice. Pinch the yarn ends between your thumb and little finger.

• Put your hook through the loops around your fingers, pick up the yarn and pull it through.

• Pick up the yarn and pull it through the loops on the hook.

Starting Your Toy

Your amigurumi pattern will almost always begin with a magic circle, into which you’ll work a set of single crochets. Usually 6 or 8, but it can differ.

The first instruction will be written as:

• ‘Make a magic circle of six stitches’
• Or ‘make a magic’, and then the next instruction will be along the lines of
• ‘Make 6 single crochets’, or ‘6sc’.

Single crochet decreases

Decreasing in the round involves joining two stitches together. Here’s how it’s done:

Hook through the next stitch, yarn over and pull through.

Hook straight through the next stitch, yarn over and pull through.

Yarn over and pull through all the loops on the hook.

This will be written as ‘decrease,’ ‘DEC’, ‘single crochet two together’ or ‘sc2tog’ with a number to denote how many times you’ll need to do it.

Learn by Doing

The best advice I can give you now when starting to crochet amigurumi, is to learn by doing. To fully understand how to make crochet stitches, the best thing you can do is to throw yourself into attempting them. Look at YouTube tutorials, read patterns, ask a friend, but make sure you’ve got some yarn and a hook in your yarn while you’re doing it. And you never know, it might be easier than you expect.

The post Beginner Amigurumi Crochet Stitches and Help Reading Patterns appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

I love a random crochet fact, but there isn’t always an appropriate moment to share it with you. So I’ve created this page with the sole purpose of sharing all of those fun and fascinating pearls of crochet wisdom that have seeped into my brain over the years, in an entirely out of context but hopefully entertaining way.

Let me know in the comments if you think of any I’ve forgotten, and which is your favorite!

In crochet there are often several ways to do the same thing

From color changes to weaving in ends, there isn’t a standard rule book for techniques that we are all following. Lots of people get to the same destination via totally different routes.

There is no wrong way to crochet

If you’re manipulating and knotting yarn with your hook, you’re doing crochet.

Don’t fight with your yarn

If it’s a nasty texture, too tangly, keeps splitting, just stop using it. Worst case scenario, it always makes for great stuffing!

The hook you choose matters

Be picky about which hook you use. A bad or inappropriate hook for you can truly ruin your crocheting experience. Choose one you are comfortable holding and that won’t catch on your yarn as you work.

Hold your hook however you want

There are two semi official ways to hold your hook – the knife or the pencil grip. Both in my opinion not terribly useful or accurate names, given I don’t hold a knife or pencil like either one! But you can hold your own hook however you please, just be careful you aren’t causing yourself avoidable discomfort.

Use your hook however you want

Not everyone picks up the yarn or enters a stitch in the same way. Whether you are an end in first person, or a pick up with the hooked section person, it all has the same results. Different things work for different people.

Count your stitches whenever you remember

Don’t just count in chains or when you know you’ve lost count, do it whenever it occurs to you. Even in a very familiar pattern, and especially when working in rounds.

Anything can be a stitch marker

Although I own numerous stitch markers designed to do the job, I mostly use yarn scraps!

Try new things regularly

Even if you don’t want to, aren’t in the mood or just want to repeatedly do the thing you’re familiar with, I urge you to try something new. Switch out a yarn type, experiment with a different hook or learn a new stitch. It all keeps your interest and expands your knowledge.

Don’t agree to projects you don’t want to take on

We’ve all been there, and the pressure is real. When someone we care about or even want to impress asks us to help them, it’s hard to say no. Give yourself a holding message to pass on, and decide whether it’s really something you want to commit to before you say yes.

Value your work

Appreciate what you’ve done, at every stage. Hard work, skill and time all go into make your projects. And if you decide to sell them, don’t undervalue yourself in monetary terms just to be nice.

Take a break

Schedule days when you don’t crochet, or limit the time you spend. This will serve to save your wrists, shoulders, hands, and possibly mental health too.

It’s okay to ask questions

Being brave enough to ask for help is a huge part of the learning experience. And I’d encourage you to ask the same question to different people too, if there is something you are struggling with.

Use multiple sources

Watch a tutorial from a different crocheter if you find a technique confusing. And read as many pattern and stitch books as you can. Immerse yourself.

Complicated isn’t more valid than simple

Every crocheted piece of work matters. Everything you make with your own hands. It isn’t important what anyone else thinks of your creation. It’s all about you!

The post 15 Surprising Crochet Facts and Tips for Beginners appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

The best yarn to crochet swimwear is often a bamboo or cotton blend. It is soft, absorbent and dries quickly. It doesn’t sag over time, bleed colors when you wash it, and is tolerant to the harsh chemicals of your local pool!

Today I’ll share my top 15 favorite yarns for crocheting swimwear and the material properties to look out for at the yarn store if you want to choose your own!

• 15 best yarns for swimwear.
• What materials to look for in your swimsuit yarn.

Crochet Swimwear

The first book of crochet patterns I ever bought – sometime in the early 2000s – included a pattern for an amazing black and white bikini set. But it included a caveat that obviously you couldn’t actually swim in it. Back then, there simply weren’t any yarns readily available to the average person that could be turned into functional swimwear. These days however, crocheters actually have a choice of yarns for making swimwear – whether for sunbathing, wearing at a festival, or even actually swimming in.

Crochet swimwear is here to stay, but since it all needs to be made by hand it – quite rightly – comes at a price.

The Best Yarn to Crochet Swimwear

The best yarns to crochet functional swimwear from are light weight, fast drying synthetics, with a small proportion of spandex or elastane to make sure they hold their shape. However for non-functional swimwear – for example a decorative bikini top that’s just for looking great in summer – you can worry less about these properties. What you might want to consider instead is a smooth, strong natural material like cotton or bamboo, which really shows off the detail lace or picot stitches.

Swimwear to Sunbathe in

Despite the name, plenty of us make swimwear without any intention of ever actually swimming in it! Crochet swimwear is perfect for sunbathing in, or making a statement at a party or festival. And if getting wet isn’t a concern, it has to be said that your yarn choices are far greater! So this is the category of recommendations we’re going to start with. Here are some tried and tested favorites, and what makes them such suitable choices:

Lily Sugar’N’Cream

• 100% cotton
• Widely available and easy to get your hands on
• Affordable – great for making a trial version of a new pattern
• Wide range of solid, ombre and self striping colors
• But, it’s not the softest to wear against your skin, and it’s so thick that gaps between your stitches are going to be hard to avoid
• Hook size: H (5mm)
• Buy it here*

Bernat Softee Baby Cotton

• 60% cotton, 40& acrylic
• Acrylic makes the fiber more durable, and machine washable
• It also helps garments hold their shape better
• Widely available in stores, and often available with seasonal discounts
• But, the color palette is limited to soft pastels
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here*

Lion Truboo

• 100% rayon from bamboo
• Bamboo is an ultra sustainable and renewable source of fiber
• Extra smooth and gentle on your skin
• But, you might find it’s a bit too soft and supple, if you need your bikini top to give a bit of support
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here*

Universal Yarn Bamboo Pop

• 50% bamboo, 50% cotton
• DK/light worsted weight
• Huge range of color options
• Bamboo is a sustainable alternative to cotton, with lots of the same properties
• But, it does split easily and some of the colors are slippery to work with
• Hook size: G (4.5mm)
• Buy it here*

King Cole Bamboo Cotton

• 50% bamboo, 50% cotton
• DK weight yarn
• Lightweight and soft – ultra comfortable to wear
• Washes well
• Hook size: F (4mm)
• Buy it here*

Gazzal Baby Cotton

• 60% cotton, 40% acrylic
• Very durable and resilient to washing
• One of the finest yarns in this list – this can be a good thing or a bad thing!
• On the one hand you use it to show off some beautiful and highly decorative stitching
• But on the other, it’s fiddly and takes much longer to make progress with
• Hook size: B (2mm)
• Buy it here Paid Link

Drops Muscat

• 100% mercerized Egyptian cotton
• Slightly smaller balls than usual – great if you want to incorporate a few colors into your swimwear, but you don’t want to spend extra or end up with lots of leftover yarn
• Machine washable
• Holds the structure of lace work well
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here

Best Yarns for Swimwear to Swim in

Next let’s turn to the functional swimwear yarns – the ones you can actually dive into the pool wearing. These all have properties which mean they’re still wearable when they’re wet. They also all tend towards being narrower. This means they’re going to take longer to work up, but the results will be tighter, and the gaps between the stitches will be smaller. This is going to protect you from showing a little too much in your swimsuit, and you’re less likely to need a lining.

Cascade Cotton Fixation

• 98.3% cotton, 1.7% spandex
• Machine washable
• This yarn has the hippy, boho look of cotton, but with a bit of stretch to help it fit better and stay up when wet.
• But, there are some notable gaps in the colors available
• Hook size: F (3.75mm)
• Buy it here

Ice Yarns Swim

• 100% polyamide
• A yarn specifically made for swimwear!
• Doesn’t absorb and hold onto water like natural fibers will
• Fast drying
• But, the color palette is very limited
• Hook size: D (3mm)
• Buy it here

Alize Diva Stretch Bikini

• 92% microfiber, 2% elastane
• Possibly the holy grail of functional yarn to crochet swimwear from
• Holds its shape in water
• Dries fast
• But, it is very fine to work with
• Hook size: B (2mm)
• Buy it here

Alize Diva Plus

• 100% microfiber
• Similar properties to the Dive Stretch Bikini, but thicker and therefore faster to work up
• Huge range of colors
• But, it’s not widely available outside of Europe
• Hook size: G (4mm)
• Buy it here Paid Link

Himalaya Bikini

• 100% polyamide
• Lightweight and fast drying
• Easier to get hold of internationally than Alize brand yarns
• But, it’s another narrow one!
• Hook size: B (2mm)
• Buy it here

Himalaya Celinda Stretch

• 93% Acrylic, 7% elastane
• Added elastane means the garment stretches with your body and holds its shape when wet.
• The fiber has less of a sheen than the Diva Stretch, if that’s something you want to avoid.
• And it’s slightly thicker, making it a bit easier to work with.
• But, it’s not widely stocked, and some colors can be tricky to get hold of.
• Hook size: D (3mm)
• Buy it here

Best Yarn to Crochet Swimwear with

To crochet swimwear, it’s best to leave the fuzzy wools and linens in your stash, and reach for cottons, bamboos, and functional yarn made from materials like polyamide instead. If you want to swim in your crochet swimsuit, choose a specialist functional yarn with added spandex or elastane, so that it doesn’t lose its shape and fall off in the water!

If you’ve crocheted your own swimwear, let us know what yarn you used and whether you’re happy with the results using the comments section down below!

*The products linked in this pattern were carefully selected by Lucy Kate Crochet. If you decide to purchase using the links provided, we may earn a small commission on that sale. This is at no extra cost to you.

The post 15 Best Yarn To Crochet Swimwear With appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

No one wants to find a hole opening up in a treasured crochet blanket. Whether it’s a blanket you made yourself, received as a gift, or inherited from your family. But holes do happen, due to things like wear and tear, accidents, and moths. There are a few ways of repairing holes in crochet blankets. From restoring it exactly as it was, to visible mending techniques that tell a story of your blanket’s history.

• Replacing granny squares
• Patching holes over
• Sewing up holes
• Grafting across holes
• In praise of visible mending

Repairing holes in crochet blankets

Holes appear in your crochet blankets for all kinds of reasons. They can be the result of a yarn end working loose, moths chomping through the fibers in winter, or a space between your stitches getting snagged against something and torn. I find that lever handles on doors are a terrible culprit for this!

Luckily, crochet doesn’t ladder or unravel at the same speed as knitted fabric. So you shouldn’t experience the panic of a hole that just won’t stop growing, from the moment it forms. But a hole in crochet fabric will still get bigger if you stretch or poke at it. So it’s a good idea to put your damaged crochet blanket to one side as soon as you spot a hole, and resist the urge to use it until you’ve performed a repair.

Sewing up holes

One option for mending small tears is to sew them up with your tapestry needle and some yarn. This works best for narrow splits and tears, where the sides already meet. It’s not a very discreet or attractive way to mend wider holes. As you sew up a hole in a crochet blanket, take care to catch any loops of yarn that could further unravel if they’re not anchored back in place.

You can watch someone mend a tear in a crochet blanket by sewing the two sides together, and see how it turns out, in the video:

A needle and thread (or yarn) are also your best friends for correcting the appearance of small gaps caused by

• missed stitches
• uneven sized holes in the center or corner spaces of a granny square
• spaces where the corners four granny squares haven’t quite lined up correctly when you joined them
• or gaps caused by a lapse in tension, perhaps because you were working with an unfamiliar stitch.

These aren’t problems that will get worse with time. They’re just small visual flaws that sometimes have an annoying habit of drawing your attention. To mend them I use yarn or sewing thread, depending on whether it would be tricky to hide yarn. Run the yarn or thread around the edges of the hole, hiding it in the stitches. Then gently pull it tight like the top of a drawstring bag, until the hole reaches the right size. Secure it with a double knot and weave in the loose ends. No one will be any the wiser about what happened!

Replacing granny squares

If your blanket is constructed from granny squares, one option is to take out a square with a hole in it, and replace it. If you made the blanket yourself and you have enough of the yarn leftover in your stash, you can replace the square with an exact replica. But if this isn’t possible, a new square with a special motif to commemorate the repair can be just as successful. For example a square with the initials of the blanket’s owner surface crocheted onto it.

Make your replacement square to the same dimensions as the original one, and from the same fibers. If your blanket has been washed since it was made, wash the square too and make sure it still fits the space afterwards. Some yarns behave and shrink differently in the wash! Carefully unpick the joins holding the damaged square in place. It can be tempting to only unravel the seams as far as the corners of the old square, and insert the new square by working around its four sides. But the repair will look more polished if you unpick the seams beyond the corners, and inset the new square using four straight joins, like tic-tac-toe grid.

Patching holes over

Here’s a solid granny square crochet blanket I made about 13 years ago. You can tell from its condition it’s been well-loved since then!

About 6 years ago, one of the granny squares started to unravel from the center. I didn’t have any matching yarn left to replace the square, and I didn’t yet feel confident trying to graft in a new center. But what I did have was half a dozen crochet hearts I’d made for another project, then abandoned without finishing it.

So I took the route of sewing one heart over either side of the hole, using blanket stitch. It’s a pretty unsophisticated solution, but I think it looks quite homespun and charming in its own way. This was my first ever crochet blanket, and it has plenty of other imperfections in it already. But it also has huge sentimental value and I doubt I’ll ever part with it. I can imagine eventually it’ll have many more patches too!

Besides hearts, you could make squares, hexagons, circles or ovals. You could even turn your patch into an intentional embellishment. For example make a round red patch, and embroider a green stem and leaf onto the blanket to turn it into a juicy cherry!

You can also patch a hole in a crochet blanket with woven fabric appliques. It works best if you choose a fabric weight that sits comfortably with the weight of your blanket. For example brushed cotton or needle cord for a DK or worsted yarn blanket, and heavy flannel or chunky elephant cord for a bulky yarn blanket.

Grafting across holes

Finally, for a truly invisible mend, you can fill a hole in a crochet blanket by recreating the stitches that used to be there. If you do this with leftovers of the same yarn, your repair will be completely seamless. But I actually love how this technique looks with a contrasting color of yarn too – it’s got heaps of potential for beautiful visible mending.

Grafting across a blanket hole with new stitches is a bit more advanced than any of the previous approaches, but nonetheless it is totally achievable. Just take it one step at a time, and don’t try to rush. Here’s a video showing how it’s done:

In praise of visible mending

Visible mending has existed for millenia. From functional darning on clothes with oddments of yarn, to the beautiful Japanese tradition of mending broken pottery with gold or silver lacquer. More recently, interest in visible mending has been revived by creative menders sharing their work on social media. The philosophy behind it is simple. Rather than trying to conceal or camouflage repairs so that they can’t be easily recognized, fixes are turned into decorative features in their own right. The presence of a visible repair on a blanket becomes part of its story, and a celebration of how much service it has given you.

Visible mending also turns repairing holes in crochet blankets into a fun and satisfying creative process in it’s own right. Not just a chore! And of course when you stop trying to make your repairs inconspicuous, you no longer need to stress about whether you’ve succeeded. So there are practical and sentimental advantages of visible mending. And for me, they really helped break down the psychological barriers that used to prevent me getting started on a repair in the first place.

Repairing holes in crochet blankets – summary

Fixing holes in crochet blankets is eventually an inevitable part of owning crochet blankets, for most people. Yarn is not indestructible! But happily there are several ways of mending holes, so that you can continue snuggling under your favorite blanket. My favorite techniques are the ones that aren’t disguised – big patches, and contrasting grafted stitches, so you can see exactly where the original blanket ends and the repair begins. Let us know which approach you like best on the comments box down below!

The post Repairing Crochet Blankets appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

Joining granny squares tends to provoke mixed emotions and coping strategies! Do you love it or hate it? And do you start joining your squares in stages as soon as you have enough to make a start, or wait until they’re all finished and do all your joining at once? I’m usually an all-at-once kind of gal. I get a big rush of excitement when my granny square projects make a clean transition from square-making to square-joining! But whenever you start, here are five of the most commonly used joining techniques to choose from, and how to match them to different projects.

1. Whip stitch join with a tapestry needle
2. Mattress stitch join with a tapestry needle
3. Slip stitch join with a crochet hook
4. Single crochet join with a crochet hook
5. Join-as-you-go

First things first – tools

Before settling down in front of your favorite TV series and a pile of granny squares to join, gather your tools:

• Yarn. Most crocheters join granny squares with one of the same yarns used to make the squares. But if you’re stash-busting and you don’t have enough, then anything in the same fiber and weight will work.
• Tapestry needle. Also known as a wool needle or darning needle. Tapestry needles have a large eye for threading yarn through, and a slightly dull point, so it’s easier to feed it between your stitches. I’m using a plastic one which came in a children’s craft kit, but you can get metal ones with a specially curved tip that makes stitching seams even easier.
• Crochet hook. Not all joining methods require a crochet hook, but you’ll need one for the slip stich, single crochet, and join-as-you-go techniques.
• Scissors. So obvious, and yet always the thing I realize I’ve started without.
• Optional – stitch markers or clips. Some people like to use stitch markers or clips to hold the edges of their granny squares together as they work. But your squares will line up in the end whether you do or don’t.

What order to join your grannies in?

Usually, for granny square blankets the squares are joined in a single height row (as if you were making a scarf) and then those rows are joined along their long edges. For smaller projects, like granny square crochet bags, you could lay out your squares and make all the horizontal seams first, followed by all the vertical seams. This means fewer ends to weave in later, but you’ll need to either finish in one go, or have space to leave the squares undisturbed while you take breaks. Finally, for join-as-you-go grannies, you add one square at a time, in zigzag rows. But we’ll come back to that in a minute.

Now let’s dive into the five most common joins!

1. Whip stitch join

Arguably the quickest and simplest way to join granny squares is using whip stitch. It’s so easy that it hardly needs to be learned! You can work whip stitch through both loops at the edge of a granny square, or just the back loops. But working through the back loops only is more usual, as catching four loops (two from each side) makes for a bulky, inflexible seam. If you use a non-matching yarn, your whip stitch will show as a row of visible dashes on the front of your work. I don’t dislike that look, but it’s not for everyone. It looks best on items with a bit of a boho aesthetic, like this bag I’ve been working on:

Method

To whip stitch two granny squares together:

• Place them side by side on a flat surface, or hold them upright, with the wrong sides together.
• Secure your yarn through one corner space of each square with a simple overhand knot.
• Thread the yarn from front to back through the back loop of one square, and from back to front through the back loop of the corresponding stitch on the other square.

• Repeat with the next pair of stitches, and so on.
• When you reach the next corner, check your tension by giving everything a little squish, stretch, and a jiggle.
• Secure with a half hitch around the corner chains of both squares, and weave in your ends.

Here’s how the front and back will look when you’re done:

2. Mattress stitch join

Mattress stitch is a little slower to work than whip stitch, but hardly any more difficult. It’s worked through the back loops at the edge of your square only. And once you’ve threaded the yarn back and forth, you pull it completely taut, so that it interlocks the loops from each square like a zip. In fact it zips them together so effectively that if you pull the yarn all the way through and out again, you squares probably won’t immediately detach from one another! Mattress stitch joins are also very well hidden from both the front and the back, so they’re ideal for joining granny squares in two different colors, and for blankets without a right side, e.g. linen stitch granny square blankets.

Method

To join two granny squares with mattress stitch:

• Place them side by side on a flat surface, or hold them upright, with the wrong sides together.
• Secure your yarn through a corner space of both squares with a simple overhand knot.
• Thread the yarn from front to back through the back loop of one square, then from front to back through the corresponding loop on the other square. It’s a similar motion to threading shoelaces!

• Every couple of inches, hold the yarn firmly and pull the stitches taut. Ziiiiiiiiiiiipp!

• Secure at the next corner with a half hitch, and weave in your ends.

Your finished seam should look like this:

Which is to say, be practically invisible!

3. Slip stitch join

If the prospect of picking up a tapestry needle or doing any kind of sewing makes your blood run cold, then joining granny squares with a crochet hook might be more within your comfort zone. Crochet seams are a bit bulkier than sewn seams, but since they’re constructed in a similar way to the granny squares themselves, there’s a visual harmony which means it works anyway.

A slip stitch join is barely visible on the front of your blanket, but leaves a clear line of stitch-tops on the back of your work. So it works best on blankets with a distinct right and wrong side, like waffle granny square blankets.

Method

• Make a slip knot on your crochet hook, and hold your squares right sides together.
• Insert your hook through the back loops only of each stitch – the ones at the outer edge of your ‘sandwich’.
• Start with the back loops of the corner turning chain adjacent to your edge – insert your hook through both, yarn over, then draw through both back loops and the slip knot. Wiggle your yarn a fraction looser than you usually would for a slip stitch, so that you can comfortably cover the distance to the next stitch.
• Then move on to the next pair of back loops – insert your hook through both, yarn over, then draw through both back loops and the loop on your hook.

• Repeat to the next corner, make a slip stitch into the back loops of the first turning chains, cut the yarn and pull the tail all the way through. Weave it in.

Here’s the end result:

Single crochet join

This join makes a statement out of seaming! Unlike a slip stitch join, it’s made into the front loops of the stitches at the edge of your granny square. It’s intentionally slightly raised and very visible. There’s not much point making it in the same color as your squares – choose a complementing color or even a contrasting one!

Method

• Make a slip knot on your crochet hook, and hold your squares wrong sides together.
• Insert your hook through the front loops only of each stitch – the ones at the outer edge of your ‘sandwich’.
• Start with the front loops of the turning chain at the end the side you’re seaming. Insert your hook through both loops, yarn over and draw through both front loops, yarn over and draw through both remaining loops on the hook (one is the slip knot).
• Then move on to the next pair of front loops – insert your hook through both, yarn over and draw through both, yarn over and draw through both remaining loops on the hook.

• Repeat to the next corner, including the front loops of the first turning chain, cut the yarn and pull the tail all the way through. Weave it in.

Here’s how it will look:

Join-as-you-go

Finally, the join as you go technique. This method for joining granny squares takes a bit of forward-planning, but it’s worth it, because it completely does away with seaming your squares together. To start you’ll need one finished square, and another square (or all the rest of your squares) worked up to the second-to-last round.

You’ll use the last round to join the incomplete squares to the already finished one. This is where the forward planning comes in – if you’re using lots of colours, you’ll need to try and picture how the squares are going to look with their final round, before you’ve actually made it.

Method

To join as you go you’ll complete the final round of your granny square, substituting some of the chain stitches for slip stitches into the neighboring square.

• Join the yarn at a corner of the incomplete square and work along the first edge in the usual way.
• In the next corner space, dc 3, ch 1, then sl st 1 into a corner chain space of the complete square. Dc 3 into the corner space of the incomplete square to complete that corner.
• Sl st in to the next chain space on the neighboring square.
• Continue working dc 3 into the chain spaces on the incomplete square, followed by 1 sl st into the next chain space on the complete square. Here’s a diagram of where your stitches are going. The steps are labeled 1 – 10, and start after you’ve made the first dc 3 into the corner space of the incomplete square.

• To continue, ch 1, dc 3 into the the corner space of the incomplete square to complete that corner, then work along the final two edge in the normal way (not joining any other squares at this stage).

Handling corners

Granny square corners usually have 2 chain stitches. When you join as you go, you replace one or both with a slip stitch into the corner(s) of the neighboring square(s).

• When you’re only joining to one other square, replace one corner chain with a slip stitch, and make the other chain as usual.
• When you’re joining to two other square, replace both corner chains with a slip stitch – one into each neighboring granny square. Like this:

The gold star represents where I would start working to join this square. Here’s how they look when all four squares have been joined:

I only made four squares to demonstrate the join-as-you-go technique here, but if I had more I would join them in the following order:

Summary

Joining granny squares tends to provoke mixed emotions. For some people it’s a bit of a chore. But finding a method you enjoy (or at least don’t hate) can ease the tedium. Switching techniques from one project to the next can also make the process feel fresh each time. Let us know which method for joining granny squares you’re going try on your next project in the comments box down below.

The post 5 Methods For Joining Granny Squares appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

How much yarn it takes to crochet a blanket depends on the size of the blanket, the yarn, and the pattern. Baby blankets can be made with as few as 3 balls, whilst a king size blanket might need 30! And you may want to approach big blanket projects differently depending on how many of those balls you can afford to buy before you start. I’m here to help you calculate how much yarn you’ll need for your next blanket, as accurately as possible.

• How much yarn for a crochet blanket
• Factors that affect how much yarn you’ll need for a crochet blanket
• How to make your yarn go further
• Saving money
• Avoiding ending up with too much or too little yarn

I LOVE big crochet projects. The kinds that take months, or even all year. There’s something deeply satisfying about dipping in and out of them, watching each small contribution accumulate, and passing milestones along the way. But I’ve learned that it does pay to do some planning before you commit to such a big undertaking. For example by calculating how much yarn for a crochet blanket – and that’s what I want to help you with today.

Factors that affect how much yarn you’ll need for a crochet blanket

First up, here are some factors which separate the projects that gobble up yarn, from the projects which stretch it out as far as possible:

• Choice of stitch
• Tension
• Color changes

Choice of stitch

Crochet is already notorious for how quickly it uses up yarn, compared to knitting a blanket instead. And the type of stitch you decide to work with is going to be significant too. A dense stitch like knit stitch, moss stitch or star stitch is going to use more yarn per square foot than something more ‘holey’, such as a traditional granny blanket, or a lacy shell stitch. Likewise, elaborate 3D stitches will use up yarn faster than simple flat stitches.

Tension

If you tend to crochet ‘tight’, then you’re going to use more yarn per square inch than someone who crochets ‘loose’. The difference in how much yarn you use is going to be marginal on a small blanket, but it has the potential to be significant on a large blanket.

Color changes

There’s no escaping it – color changes create waste! Compared to a single color blanket, you’ll end up with the leftovers of not just one color, but several. I find this is especially true of blanket designs that have lots of small details in a wide range of colors.

Does the weight of the yarn matter?

Good question! And the answer is yes… and no. It depends on how you measure the amount of yarn you use to make a blanket. Lots of yarns are measured in ounces on the wrapper, and blankets made out of bulky yarn weigh more than lightweight yarn blankets of the same size, because they are thicker. Here are some stats from my stash to give you an idea:

• The lightweight yarns (around size 3) are between 70 and 95 yards long per ounce, depending on the fiber (cotton yarns are heavier and come shorter than wools, for example).
• Medium weight yarns (approximately size 4) are 50 – 70 yards long per ounce.
• Bulky yarns (size 5-ish) are 30 – 45 yards long per ounce.
• Super bulky yarns (size 6) are 15 – 20 yards long per ounce. This category contains all the yarns which have ‘blanket’ in their name too!
• And finally the jumbo yarns (size 7+) are just 6 – 12 yards long per ounce.

How many yards of yarn for a blanket?

To crochet a blanket you will need anywhere between 6 and 95 yards of yarn, depending on the weight you use!

So you’d need more ounces of a bulky yarn than of a light weight yarn, to make a twin size blanket. However, bulky yarns are usually sold in heavier balls, so that the yardage remains roughly consistent anyway, despite the change in thickness. Which is why making a small sofa throw in a simple flat stitch still requires about 6 – 8 balls of yarn, regardless of what weight of yarn you choose.

How to make your yarn go further

Blankets are physically large projects, and the total cost of the yarn involved can be enough to stop you getting started. But here are some tips to make your yarn go further, and add a few extra inches to your afghan:

• Use lace stitches or panels. Look for shell stitches that give good coverage but use slightly less yarn than solid stitches. Or, alternate rows of solid crochet with rows of granny stitch or lacework, to create visual interest and make your yarn go further.
• Turn your stash into granny square centers. Use yarn you already have to make up the middles of granny squares, so you only need to buy yarn for the outermost row. Use the join-as-you-go technique in the video at the top of this article so you don’t need more yarn for sewing the squares together later.
• Work with a single color. Alternatively, cut down on waste by using just one color, and using different textures and patterns to create visual and tactile interest.
• Use a larger hook. Using the largest possible hook suitable for your yarn will produce looser tension and make your yarn go slightly further. The difference isn’t huge, but your blanket will feel more supple and drape better too!

Saving money

If calculating how much yarn for a crochet blanket has brought you out in a cold sweat, or filled you with dismay because the price is putting your project out of reach, don’t give up hope. Here are some money saving tips.

• Blankets don’t need to cover your bed. Even one big enough to cover the bottom half will make your bed beautiful, and keep your feet cosy!
• Buy yarn packs. Lots of retailers offer discounts on several identical balls of wool bought at the same time.
• Shop end of lot sales. Yarn is produced in dye lots, and sometimes there is a bit of variation between one dye lot and the next. So, when manufacturers and retailers start to get to the last few balls of a dye lot they might sell them at a discount because they can’t guarantee future stocks of that color will be exactly the same shade.
• Buy a few balls at a time. Let’s face it, a lot of us take months to finish a blanket, so you don’t really need all the materials upfront anyway. Buy what you need to get started, and a little more each month after that. This is actually really great for keeping motivated and avoiding project burn out too.
• Buy up other people’s stashes. Look in thrift stores and online for leftover yarn being sold by other people. Turn mismatched colors and fibers into something cohesive by using them in alternating stripes with a neutral colored yarn you’ve bought new.

Avoiding ending up with too much or too little yarn

Gathering exactly the right amount of yarn before you start making a blanket is a bit of a guessing game. Here are some ways to avoid falling short, or realising you have far too much.

• Work to a pattern. Patterns take the guess work of how much yarn you’re going to need. Either choose a pattern you love and buy the yarn it calls for, or find a yarn you love and then look for a blanket pattern that uses it.
• Buy a kit. Go one step further, and buy one of the many crochet blanket making kits you can find online. The pattern and the exact amount of yarn you need all in one place, often with thoughtful extras like the correct size hook, some stitch markers, and a tag for your finished article.
• Check your tension. For patterns you’ve designed yourself, buy a sample ball of yarn and make up a small swatch to compare with the tension notes on the wrapper. Then use this work out how many balls you’re going to need in total.

How much yarn is needed for a blanket:

Working out how much yarn you’ll need for a crochet blanket isn’t an exact science. Since running out before you finish is definitely undesirable, it’s better to overestimate how much you need, but aim to have as little leftover as possible. You can do this by buying yarn as you go, working with a limited color palette, or following a pattern. There’s a kind of irony that so many of us start granny square blankets to use up our stashes, but end up with a fresh new batch leftovers in our stash by the time we’ve finished. Let us know if you’ve ever wildly miscalculated how much yarn you needed for a crochet blanket in the comments box down below!

The post How Much Yarn For A Crochet Blanket appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

Right side vs wrong side crochet doesn’t mean one is bad and the other is good. I’m pleased to let you know that it’s not a moral or ethical distinction, it just tells you which way up the crocheted material was when it was made! Sometimes that doesn’t matter at all, but on other occasions, I have found that knowing the difference and having the correct side facing you as you start the next row is critical to the success of my project.

I’ve worked up some examples to show you the difference between the right side and the wrong side of crochet. I’ll also share my experiences of how to tell when it matters, and when it doesn’t.

• What are the right side and wrong side of crochet?
• Why does it matter?
• How to tell right side vs wrong side crochet apart

What are the right side and wrong side of crochet?

Basically, the wrong side of crochets is the back of your work. And the right side is the front, or the side that everyone will see. If you’re making a sweater for example, the wrong side will end up on the inside facing your body, and the right side will be on the outside. For lots of simple, flat stitches, the difference between the right and wrong side is very subtle. The right side is the side on which the stitches look a bit more defined and attractive. When you’re working with 3D stitches like puffs, shells and waves, the right side is also the side on which the stitch clusters look correct. Which usually means being raised, rather than sunken.

Why does it matter?

Sometimes, it doesn’t! Although how much it doesn’t matter can itself be a matter of opinion. We have a couple of simple granny square blankets at home that I made in plain old double crochet. My husband either can’t tell the difference between the two sides, or finds them both equally attractive, because he spreads them out the wrong way up all. the. time. But I can totally see a difference, because I turn them back over whenever I realize he’s done it!

So for some items, like blankets or scarves, it’s fairly easy to make a case that the difference between right side vs wrong side crochet doesn’t matter. This is particularly true when crochet is worked in back-and-forth rows rather than in the round. When you crochet back and forth, each row ‘faces’ the opposite direction to its neighbors. In other words, it is half made of front-facing rows and half made of back-facing rows anyway. However, there are some times when you do need to tell the front and the back of your work apart. Good examples of this are:

• Keeping track in more complex projects
• Assembling garments
• Stitch patterns that are worked over more than one row
• Working with texture

Keeping track in more complex projects

In some crochet patterns you’ll see the terms ‘wrong side facing’ or ‘right side facing’. These terms can be abbreviated to ‘WS facing’ and ‘RS facing’. For example in a pattern for a piece of clothing you might see:

Sc next 20 (24, 32, 40) rows, ws facing.

This is basically a reminder of which way round your work should be at the end of the next stage of your pattern. The numbers in brackets represent how many rows to work to make the garment in different sizes. But whichever size you’re working on, when you finish that section and turn your work to start the next row, you should be looking at the wrong side of your work. If you count 20 (24, 32, 40) rows and you’re looking at the right side of your work as you start the next row, then count again!

Assembling garments

This is probably the classic example of when getting your crochet the right way round matters. Clothes are assembled so that the wrong side of your work faces your body, and the best side faces outwards. Since lots of sections are usually symmetrical, there’s nothing that would actually stop you from sewing them together the wrong way round. But, if you assemble a sweater with some panels facing inwards, and some facing outwards, the inconsistency will be visible in the finished article.

Stitch patterns that are worked over more than one row

Whenever you make a repeating stitch pattern which is constructed over two or more rows, being able to tell the right side vs wrong side of your work is helpful for keeping track of where you are in the cycle. Especially if you have to put your work down unexpectedly!

Working with texture

Finally, if you’re working with three-dimensional stitches, keeping track of which way your work is facing is important for making sure your pattern faces the right way when you’re finished. This is true for puff stitches, bobbles, shells, waves, petals, ribs and cabling. It is especially true if you’re going to use more than one three dimensional stitch, and you need to make sure they all face the same way in the end.

How to tell right side vs wrong side crochet apart

In general, for right handed crocheters, the right side of your work is the side facing you when the tail where you cast on is in the bottom right hand corner. Take a look at these examples:

In all the ones which are right-side facing, the tail from casting on is on the bottom right hand corner. The top left hand corner with the stitch marker is the working end of the yarn (trimmed, for the photos). For a left handed crocheter, the reverse would be true.

Right side vs wrong side when you’re working in the round

The difference between the wrong side and right side of crochet is subtle when you work in back-and-forth rows. But it’s much easier when you work in the round. When you work in the round, either on some thing flat like a granny square, or something three dimensional like amigurumi, the right side is always the side facing you as you work. And when all the stiches are oriented the same way, the front and back look obviously different too. Take a look at these little granny squares to see what I mean:

Can you see how the wrong side looks smoother, but not in a good way? When I assemble these squares, I’ll make sure they’re all the same way up, because it would look wrong to have some of them with their reverse facing up!

Right side vs wrong side in crochet – summary

The right side of your crochet is the side which will be seen by the world. Sometimes, such as when you’re working in the round, or making 3D stitches, it’s obvious which side is the front. But on other occasions, it won’t really matter. If you’ve ever had a bad experience realizing your work is the wrong way round, let us know in the comments down below!

The post Right Side Vs Wrong Side Crochet – How To Tell Them Apart appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.