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.

I found substituting yarn in crochet patterns a bit intimidating the first few times I did it with someone else’s designs, but it’s always turned out just fine. And now, over a decade into the crochet hobby, I don’t really worry about doing it at all. And that’s because I have a few rules that I follow when making changes, which I’ll share with you today.

So if you don’t have the right yarn at home, or can’t afford to buy the recommended brand – it’s no big deal. And if you don’t like the fiber, or want a different thickness, or even are allergic to the material used, you’ll also be fine swapping in a different yarn entirely. As long as you make sensible choices, and a few tweaks when you do.

DO use a similar yarn if you can

I try to start off by focusing on three main areas – yarn weight, fiber and color. So if my pattern recommends a DK weight, acrylic, pink yarn, that’s what I’ll seek out. But of course, that’s not always possible or practical.

DO use the same yarn weight if you want the same size

The finished size of a crocheted toy, blanket or item of clothing is dictated in a large part by the yarn weight. If you want the outcome of the pattern to be similarly sized to the one you’re following, keep that yarn thickness the same.

DO swap hook sizes if you change yarn weight

It’s tempting to keep the same hook even if you size up or down in yarn weight, because at a basic level it feels like it’ll help keep it consistent, right? Sadly, wrong. Always get your hook to match the yarn, even when following a pattern.

DO check your hook size even if the weight is the same

So variable are hook sizes, that you will find that different brands, fibers or varieties of yarn that are labelled as the same weight will often require slightly different hook measurements. Not all DK yarns need a 3.5mm hook, not all aran yarns need a 5.5mm hook. It ranges more than you might think, so it’s always worth checking.

DO try to use the same fiber

Unless you are subbing out your yarn due to an allergy, try to use the same fiber as is shown in the pattern as this can really influence the texture and elasticity of your finished crocheted item. If you do need to change fiber, away from wool for example, then try to find something that feels quite like it and has a similar amount of stretch.

DO color match before you begin

At the start of each project I lay out my yarns together, in their skeins, on a white sheet or clear table. Then I stare at them and make sure I’m happy with how they look in one place. It sounds a bit over the top, but it genuinely has saved me from some pretty awful color choices in the past.

DO check quantities and your budget

Price doesn’t just go up when you choose a more expensive yarn brand. It can also vary between yarns of the same cost, because the amount that you’ll need varies so much from skein to skein. Two 100g hanks of yarn of the same weight can have quite different yardages, so you’ll need more cakes of one brand than you would of another.

DO make a sample

Whenever you swap yarns, work up a little sample using the stitches you’ll need. Make sure you’re actually happy that it is likely to look and feel how you want it to.

DO check the gauge

The number of stitches per inch for a particular pattern changes based on a few factors. Different humans have varying tension, that’s why gauges exist. But something as simple as switching yarn can have an even bigger impact on the size of the stitches, and therefore how many fit in an inch space. This is particularly important if you’re making clothing to fit.

DO consider doubling up yarn strands

You can use multiple strands of finer yarns, to make up a thicker yarn, if you want the same weight. So say my pattern says use a 5mm hook and aran weight yarn? I could hypothetically use two strands of DK instead of one of aran. However, it’s still important to make up that sample to check you’ve got it right. Because this doesn’t directly translate for all types of yarn.

DON’T assume it will look the same

It never ceases to amaze me how different patterns look when tiny changes are made to the yarn. Just small changes, even with a color swap, can make a world of difference.

DON’T change yarn thickness if you want the same drape

This is a big one for substituting yarn in crochet clothes or wall hanging patterns, anything that dangles! To keep the crocheted product hanging in just the same way as your pattern shows, stick to that same thickness and fiber of yarn.

DON’T mix fibers and weights where they weren’t mixed in the pattern

Unless you like a bumpy, often misshapen look, mixing yarn weights in a pattern designed to use skeins of the same weight is never a good idea.

DON’T be afraid to experiment

All that being said… sometimes it’s great to throw caution to the wind and see what you come up with. I love making bold and different yarn choices, so give yarn substituting a go and see what you can create.

The post Tips for Substituting Yarn in a Crochet Pattern appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

Blankets are the first thing that a lot of people try to crochet. Whether it’s creating granny squares or working up some rows to practice your new craft, blankets are a lot of people’s crochet origin story.

Today I’ll share my top do’s and don’ts to help you get to grips with crocheting blankets, and hopefully avoid several of the mistakes I’ve made over the past decade in the hobby.

• The Do’s
• The Don’ts

DO These Things When You Are Crocheting Blankets

Let’s start with the more positive angle. Here are some things to remember!

DO use a bigger hook size for the starting chain

If your blanket begins with a starting chain, size your hook up by .5 to 1mm. Tensioning on chains is often tight, and it can pull one end of the blanket in tighter than the rest of the working rows. Sizing up a little solves this issue before you’ve even begun.

The post Crochet Blanket Do’s and Don’ts for Beginners appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

Crochet hooks are literally an essential part of the hobby, and yet the importance of choosing the right one is often overlooked. You’ll spend hours choosing the right yarn weight, texture and fiber, only to pick up the nearest crochet hook that meets your size requirements.

But picking the wrong crochet hook doesn’t just have the potential to make or break your next project, it could even turn you off the hobby for good.

Today I’ll share ten things I take into account when choosing which crochet hook to work with, from the grips to the tip!

• Ergonomic grips
• Shafts, throats and mouths
• Price vs aesthetics

But before I dive in, here’s a diagram to show you which parts of the hook I’ll be talking about:

Go with an Ergonomic Grip

Crochet hooks are easier to hold when they have a thicker handle end. Not only does it make the hook simpler to manipulate, but I find that I can use them for much longer periods than the classic stick-like versions.

Ergonomic grips are usually made of wood, rubber or plastic, but my preference is for the rubber gripped varieties.

Your Handle Needs Friction

To hold onto your grip and move it around using the fine motor movements of your fingers and wrist, you need friction between your hand and the hook. I’ve got a gorgeous wooden handled crochet hook, but it’s so well polished and sanded that it simply slides through my hand when I try to work it.

Having something creating friction means you will find it much easier to hold your hook without having to squeeze really hard, therefore reducing the amount of time you can crochet and increasing the likelihood of you finding yourself with a bit of a strain.

Grip Texture

Your hook’s texture isn’t just about friction, but about how it feels to you personally. Obviously you want to avoid hooks that are abrasive on your skin. But ideally you want something that is so comfortable you can barely feel that it’s there. Rubber really does seem to be a winner on this count too, for me.

Longer Shafts are Better

Crochet hooks vary hugely in terms of the shaft length, which is the space between the hook and grip sections. I find short shafts much harder to work with. I think it’s because they interrupt the natural flow of my stitches. Aborting them before I’m ready to stop working. It also means if you’re using a stitch that keeps a number of loops on the hook, like a puff stitch, that you’ll struggle to make it neatly.

Smooth Hook Heads

Hook heads are usually made of metal, and even if it looks at first glance like your hook is smooth I repeatedly come across hooks that have tiny metal burrs or bumps in the throat or mouth. This means that the yarn catches as you hook through, breaking your motion and often the yarn fibers too.

Avoid this by take a length of yarn and running it back and forth through the throat of the hook before you commit to using a hook.

Switchable Hook Heads

This one isn’t a priority, but I totally love hooks with replaceable heads. They save storage space, and you just unscrew each hook size and replace it with the one you’re currently working on.

Head Shape

Your hook’s head should be tapered at the top and have a fairly deep throat at the hook point. This will make it easier to insert into stitches, and to pick up your yarn as well.

Is The Price Right?

It’s no good creating the perfect hook if no one can afford it, right? I think we have to include a budget when we’re considering what to buy, because for most of us it’s an inescapable fact of life. My method is to look first at whether the hook meets my expectations, and then decides whether it fits into my finances. The one that meets the most of my criteria within my desired budget is the winner.

Crochet Hook Looks!

Aesthetics matter to me. I am more likely to pick up a pretty hook than one that’s plain and boring, and when I’m staring at a hook for quite a lot of my day it might as well brighten it up with its mere existence! Pretty patterns, cool designs and interesting shapes all make a difference to me when it comes to hook choice – but it’s the last thing on the list, and only if all the above points are equal.

*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 Ingredients for The Best Crochet Hooks 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.

Loose ends are the bane of the crocheter’s existence. You feel like you’ve finished this huge crocheted work of art, sit back, and dozens of long yarn strands waggle in the air, laughing at you. Items I crocheted a decade ago still taunt me today with their dangling ends, but thankfully as I have learned and gained experience over the years, my more recent projects no longer have these issues.

I use three different methods to hide loose ends in my crochet now. Those at the edge of the blanket I often hide within a border, and those in the central parts I either weave in with a needle, or tease through the existing stitches with a crochet hook.

There is no perfect method, there are pros and cons to all three of these. But I do have a favorite!

• Crocheting a border.
• Weaving in with a needle.
• Using your crochet hook.

I recommend leaving your yarn tail long enough that you can work it through at least a dozen stitches. This not only makes it easier to disguise the loose end, but means if the crochet stitches are damaged or unravelled in the future you’ll have more yarn to work with on the repair.

Hiding Loose Ends In A Crochet Border

If your loose ends are at the edge of your crocheter garment then adding a border can be the easiest way to hide them. Especially if there are an awful lot from repeated color changes.

To hide your loose ends within a border simply let the end lay other the stitch that you are working into.

Hook through the stitch, check the end is laying over that stitch, yarn over the hook and pull through. Yarn over hook again, making sure the loose end is still in place, and pull through the loops on the crochet hook.

The main benefit of this method is it is fast, and often you were going to crochet a border anyway so you aren’t putting any extra effort in at all.

The downside is that it really only helps if your loose ends are hanging out at the borders.

Weaving In Loose Ends With A Yarn Needle

When I’ve got long tails of yarn to hide within the body of my work, this is my preferred method for hiding them.

Pick up your loose end in your non-dominant hand and rub the point it was cut a few times between your fingers to bring it to a point. Insert the end through the eye of your needle.

Make sure you pull a fair chunk of yarn through your needle’s eye, otherwise it’ll fall out when you start sewing.

Color matching where possible, insert your needle into the nearest stitch. Line it up with the center of the stitch, so that there is yarn to either side. This will help to hide it in the body of your work.

Push the needle through at least a dozen stitches if possible, and then neatly snip the end with a yarn cutter or scissors. Line your cut point up with the edge of a stitch, but be very careful not to clip the yarn of the stitch itself.

This method is the best for amigurumi loose ends or for hiding loose ends within a blanket with tight stitches like single crochets.

The downside is threading each strand of the yarn onto the needle takes time, and if you aren’t a sewing fan it’s a frustrating fine motor movement you could do without.

Hooking Your Loose Ends Into The Fabric

Hooking your loose ends into your crochet is in many ways the most obvious way to deal with a problem. After all, you already have a hook on your if you’ve just finished making something. But for me, the best way to hook loose ends in is to pick up a smaller size.

In the example I’ve shown on this article I made the corner to corner blanket with a 6mm crochet hook, and the hook I used to hide some of the stitches was 4mm. So a whole third smaller in size.

When I hook yarn into my work I can only do about four stitches at once maximum, so it’s a bit slower than the needle. But you don’t have to spend time threading it, you just hook through the stitches, pick up your tail, and pull it through.

The main benefit of this is that all crocheters have hooks, so you’re not grovelling around looking for a needle. You also don’t need to work with a different tool to your used to, or to fiddle about getting chunky yarn through an unreasonably small eye.

The downside is that you will find it harder to push a hook through your stitches, and you can run it through fewer stitches in one go than you can with a needle.

Needles For Me!

In most cases, my favorite way to hide loose crochet ends is with a needle. I’m comfortable using this tool, have them in a variety of sizes and don’t mind spending some time weaving in and out after my blanket is complete.

But the other methods are fine too, and it really is largely down to personal preference.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on socials with your response.

Happy Crocheting,

Lucy Kate, x

The post Sewing, Crocheting and Hooking In Your Loose Ends appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

Shrinking crochet works by matting natural fibers together so that the fabric becomes tighter and more rigid. And I have recently found that knowing how to shrink crochet opens up a whole new world of possibilities for the kind of items I can make.

I decided to go with shrinking my crochet by hand in hot water, but you can do it in a washing machine, and even tumble dry afterwards to condense the project even further.

I have found there are significant pros and cons to each technique, and today I’ll share the factors I took into account before I started. Because whilst I’ve been familiar with the process from reading about it and watching videos online for a while, shrinking crochet isn’t something I had ever done (intentionally) until recently. Here’s what you need to know about the process, and how my first experiments with it went!

• Why shrink crochet?
• How to shrink crochet in the washing machine
• How to shrink crochet by hand
• Can you shrink crochet clothes to make them fit better?

Why shrink crochet?

Shrinking or felting crochet means agitating it in hot (usually soapy) water, so that the fibers become matted together and the fabric starts to contract and become stiff. Changing the properties of your crochet so dramatically opens up the possibility of using it in projects for which it wouldn’t otherwise be suitable. For example:

• Tote bags. Shrunken, felted crochet is less stretchy, so you can use it for bags without a lining, and it won’t get sag under the weight of its contents.
• Slippers. Felted crochet is more durable for walking on than unfelted crochet. Since shrinking crochet into a smaller space also makes it denser, it is warmer too – perfect for cold toes.
• Badges and brooches. Shrinking crochet makes it more rigid, so small shapes will stay flat and not flop.
• Hats. After you shrink it, matted crochet doesn’t have any holes between the stitches, and (because it is pure wool) naturally repels water. Ideal for keeping dry on drizzly days.
• Baskets. Speaking of holding its shape better, shrinking bowls and baskets made from wool makes them more functional, and less likely to slump to one side. Which is what led me to try the project in this article!

Getting started

The obvious way to get started with shrinking crochet is by following a pattern that includes details of which yarn to use, what tension to work at, and how, exactly, to shrink it. But I ended up approaching it from a different angle. I had some small balls of merino yarn leftover from making a pair of bed socks last year, and a granny scarf commission, and I was keen to try something new with them. So, I decided to try shrinking a crochet trinket dish, relying on a wing and a prayer rather than a pattern.

If you’re going to freestyle your first crochet shrinking project, here are some things to consider when you get started:

• Yarn
• Stitch
• Shrinkage
• Risk factor

Yarn

Felting relies on the flat ‘scales’ that cover the surface of natural wool getting lifted up when they’re rubbed, and locking together, so that the fibers become tightly matted. So, you can only shrink crochet if it is made from 100% wool yarn. Single ply yarns work best, because it’s easier to agitate every side of every fiber. Plied yarns will work too, but they may take a little longer to felt, because the interior of the yarn, takes more effort to agitate.

A quick note about cottons: Lots of cotton yarns also shrink by about 5% the first time you wash them, but they don’t felt. Patterns using cotton yarn usually allow for this shrinkage.

Stitch

Shrinking crochet works via the friction of rubbing yarn on yarn. So short, sturdy stitches that already have lots of close yarn-on-yarn contact felt and shrink more readily than long, gappy stitches. Since the felting process eradicates all stitch definition, this isn’t the time for fiddly decorative stitches either. In short, single and half double crochet are ideal! 

Shrinkage

Different yarns shrink differently – both in terms of how readily they start to shrink, and how small they ultimately get. If your project needs to meet certain dimensions after shrinking, you’ll need to felt a swatch of your yarn first. Then use it to calculate the size your project needs to be before felting. Or, make something where the final size doesn’t matter too much (like a trinket dish!)

Risk factor

When you start shrinking your crochet in the washing machine or a bowl of hot soapy water, you put it into the lap of the gods. It’s a bit like putting pottery into a kiln – there’s always a chance the results won’t be what you expected! So it’s probably not something to try for the first time with your most expensive, hand dyed, artisanal yarn, unless you’re following a pattern that someone else has already tested.

How to shrink crochet in the washing machine

The easiest, most hands-off way to shrink crochet is in the washing machine. Skip right past the delicate settings and wool wash options on your machine’s menu, and go straight to a short, hot wash cycle. Pop your crochet into the drum, add a little laundry detergent and a towel or some denim jeans to create friction, then press start. Now cross your fingers and wait!

NOTE: Shrinking crochet in the washing machine also surrenders a lot of control over the process, especially if you have a front-loading machine that can’t be opened mid-cycle. If you have a top-loading machine that can be opened mid-cycle, check on your crochet every 10-15 minutes, and more frequently as it approaches being ‘done’. Bear in mind some projects might need multiple full cycles to become fully felted.

How to shrink crochet by hand

The alternative to shrinking a crochet project in the washing machine is to felt it by hand in a bowl, sink, or bath tub. The big advantage of this is that you have very close control over the process and when to stop it. On the other hand though, physically agitating a large item like a tote bag or sweater for long enough to felt it can be a tough work out!

I shrunk my crochet bowl in a big tupperware cake box, using water heated to 160°F. I added some hard rubber balls raided from my daughter’s toy stash to help agitate the fibers, and a squirt of dish soap.

Then I put the lid on and started shaking!

Here’s what I learned

• It’s hard work! Shaking it in the box wasn’t enough in the end. Once the water was cool enough to put my hands in I spent many minute scrunching and rubbing the fibers together to complete the process as far as possible.
• There’s a point at the beginning when your work just gets incredibly saggy and stretched out, and the whole idea starts to feel very, very cursed.
• Not all fibers are equal. All the yarns I used were 100% merino, plied, DK weight. But try as I might, I could not get the gray yarn to felt, even long after the black and tan yarns had long felted.

Once you’ve taken the process as far as you want to (or in my case, as far as it will go), rinse your piece in cold water to remove the remaining water, and either dry it in a tumble dryer (which will likely shrink it further) or leave it in the sun to dry.

Before and after

Here you can see how the size of my little dish changed before and after hand felting it. Before shrinking it was about 4.5 inches across, and pretty floppy (which is why I had to rest it upside down to photograph it!)

And after, it is just shy of 4 inches across, and stiff enough that the sides stand up:

After this photo was taken I tried machine washing and tumble drying it to make the gray yarn felt too. But all that happened was the black and tan yarns shrank even further, the gray yarn remained almost unchanged, and the uneven shrinkage of the different yarns caused the bowl shape to get distorted. On the bright side, I have discovered an extremely washable merino wool for other projects! (In case you’re wondering it’s Bloomsbury DK by The Yarn Collective, and the black and tan yarns that felted readily were Rialto DK by Debbie Bliss).

Can you shrink crochet clothes to make them fit better?

We’ve all, on occasion, messed up our tension so badly that a crochet garment like a hat or a sweater is just so big and baggy that it’s not even wearable. It’s a heartbreaking twist at the end of a lot of hard work. But can saggy crochet be saved by shrinking it?

Well, it’s not the craziest idea, but it is a gamble. It’s worth considering first whether you’d be better off frogging the whole thing and recouping the yarn for another project. If you decide to take a chance, bear in mind that:

• All of the dimensions will shrink. A sweater won’t just fit more closely, it will be shorter in the body and sleeves, and the neckline will be tighter too.
• It will move differently. A garment that drapes fluidly before you shrink it will be stiffer and more boxy once you’ve shrunk it.
• There’s no going back. Did I mention it’s gamble?

How to shrink crochet – summary

Shrinking crochet by felting it in hot soapy water completely transforms it. The size, appearance, feel, and movement of your work will all change. It’s a really fun process to experiment with, but the results won’t always be what you expect. This means shrinking oversized crochet clothes is a significant gamble.

Have you ever shrunk a crochet creation by accident? Are you considering intentional shrinking a crochet sweater? Let us know in the comments box down below!

The post How To Shrink Crochet – (Mis)Adventures In Felting appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.

Over the year’s I’ve learned there are basically two elements to getting tension right:

• Being accurate.
• Being consistent.

Being accurate

Gauge is usually given in terms like

• 14 rows of 7 HDC = four inches x 4 inches (for a sweater in DK yarn)
• 26 SC = 4 inches (for a hat in 4 ply yarn – only one dimension is given because the item isn’t flat)

Accuracy means hitting those numbers as closely as possible, so that your finished sweater or hat matches the size promised by the pattern.

Being consistent

Lots of things can alter our tension – our mood, our energy levels, whether we’ve been drinking caffeine or alcohol, how quickly we’re trying to go, and even the music we listen to as we work! Learning to keep tension as consistent as possible, despite all these factors, is simply a matter of practice. But if it varies from one section to the next, the overall gauge is likely to be affected.

What Happens When You Crochet Tight

When you crochet tightly, you make smaller loops with the yarn, which means smaller stitches, and more stitches are needed to fill a square inch of space. Overall, this means your finished item will be:

• smaller
• more rigid
• more dense (ie. with fewer visible gaps between the stitches if you hold it up to the light)

You’ll probably find that your fingers start to get a bit tired and sore as you work too, since the yarn is pulled more tightly around the hook, creating more resistance. And you might also have difficulty inserting the hook through your work, or drawing yarn back in the other direction.

What Happens When You Crochet Loose

If you crochet loosely, you make big loops with the yarn, which means bigger stitches over all, and you’ll fill a square inch with fewer of them. Your work will be:

• bigger
• more fluid
• more gappy

You might find your working loop slips off the hook more easily too, and needs frequent recovering. Over several rows, you might also start to notice that your edges don’t look very straight, even though you’ve counted the number of stitches accurately.

Is It Better To Crochet Tight Or Loose?

Let’s face it, it’s actually better to crochet accurately, according to the gauge given for the project you’re working on! Crocheting tight or loose is going to produce a finished item which is either smaller or bigger than it was supposed to be. For projects with multiple sections which have to be joined, you’re likely to discover that the corresponding seams don’t turn out the same length either.

How To Achieve Neutral Tension

The best way to achieve the correct tension is to make a swatch of work before you start. Check the gauge in the pattern, work up a sample with the number of stitches and rows described, and check it matches the measurements given. It’s boring, like doing a patch test with hair dye, but it’s also important (like, well, doing a patch test with hair dye). In the long term, it will save you time and tears.

Here are some ways to improve your chances of achieve the right tension:

• Use the hook size and yarn weight recommended by the pattern. Always make a project the pattern designer’s way the first time. Save experimenting for next time, when you’re more familiar with it.
• Make yourself comfortable. Tension in your body is likely to turn into tension in your work. Sit comfortably, and use a hook grip to avoid cramp in your fingers.
• Try different ways of holding the yarn. There are lots of ways to hold your yarn, so compare and trial different methods to find one which complements or balances out your natural tension. Sprinkle a little talcum powder on your hands if they’re prone to getting clammy.

If your gauge is still tight or loose, it doesn’t necessarily mean you need to change how you crochet for the whole project. Different yarns produce different gauges, even if they are superficially the same (for example one DK acrylic vs another). And crochet patterns are written by humans, who might crochet tightly or loosely themselves. If your swatch doesn’t seem quite right, it’s always worth checking comments left by other crocheters who have followed the same pattern. They may well have had the same experience. Quite often they will leave details of how they overcame it too. For example using a slightly smaller or larger hook.

Times When Tight Crochet Is Good

Crocheting tightly isn’t always a bad thing. Tight stitches produce strong, durable, stiff crochet, which is ideal for homewares, such as storage baskets, trinket trays, place mats and rugs. Basically, anything you don’t want to stretch or flop over! Try coupling tight crochet with waistcoat stitch or moss stitch using a cotton yarn, to produce drip proof coasters and sturdy pots for pens (or crochet hooks!).

Tight crochet is also better than loose crochet for amigurumi and other items which are going to be stuffed, since it is denser. You’d rather not be able to see the stuffing peaking between the stitches!

In Praise Of Lovely Loose Crochet

On the other hand, loose crochet really lends itself to some specific types of project too, such as supple baby blankets and featherlight shawls. Try using soft natural fibers like silk-blend, merino or alpaca yarns to make sweater patterns in open lace crochet stitches, for the perfect amount of stretch and drape.

Sometimes, It Just Doesn’t Matter

Best of all (in my opinion!) are the projects where tension just doesn’t matter. Whilst it’s worth the effort when it matters, there’s no denying that it’s nice when you don’t have to think about it! Projects which generally turn out well at any tension are thinks like:

• scarves
• snoods
• blankets and throws
• facecloths

These items are good for practicing getting even tension, and working out whether you are generally a loose, tight, or neutral crocheter.

The post Is It Better To Crochet Tight Or Loose? appeared first on Lucy Kate Crochet.