More to say

First off, today’s Mystery Pattern instructions:

UK: 10. Tr 2 in every dc around, in B. Sk 3 ch and sl st in A under tr in A. Turn.
US: 10. Dc 2 in every sc around, in B. Sk 3 ch and sl st in A under dc in A. Turn.

Second, today it’s my turn to do the Freeform Game instruction:

March 10:

Do a series of fans to represent your full name, with slip stitches to the width of one fan for the spaces. E.g. “John Michael Smith” would be 4 fans, some sl st, 7 fans, some sl st, 5 fans.

I need to catch up with pictures from the last few days on the Freeform, plus I have a book review to post, but I’ll get this up now, and aim to have more for you later.

Weekend laziness

Not that Sunday is the weekend, here, of course, but I still got up late.

Anyway, today’s instructions are:

UK: 7. Ch 2 in A, ch 1 in B. Tr 2 in 15 dc around, in B. Sk 3 ch and sl st in A under tr in A. Turn.
US: 7. Ch 2 in A, ch 1 in B. Dc 2 in 15 sc around, in B. Sk 3 ch and sl st in A under dc in A. Turn.

Let’s see, today’s Freeform instructions aren’t up yet, so I’m perfectly justified in just showing you what I did with yesterday’s: (from top and bottom)

Repetitious

Day 5 is a good bit like day 3, but I’ve reworded it slightly to hopefully be more clear. If the two ends look different, day 5 is probably right. Sorry about that!

UK: 5. Tr 15 in B in corner below, sk 3 ch and sl st in A under tr in A. Turn.
US: 5. Dc 15 in B in corner below, sk 3 ch and sl st in A under dc in A. Turn.

Again I haven’t yet done today’s Freeform game instruction, but I can show you what the altered part looks like now, after yesterday’s…

Tomorrow’s instruction will be up late, after Shabbat.

Further instruction

Day 4:

UK: 4. Dc in A in every tr around and across.
US: 4. Sc in A in every dc around and across.

To clarify the clarification from yesterday’s instruction: the sl st should join to the 2nd tr/dc across, not the one at the corner. Those 15 tr/dc should form a three-quarter circle, around the corner. Sorry for any confusion!

I haven’t looked at today’s Freeform CAL instruction yet, but will hopefully have pics later. I might even talk about something other than crochet then too, but it’s not certain!

Not up so early (or late)

Day 3′s instructions go as follows:

UK: 3. Tr 15 in B in corner, sl st in A under tr in A. Turn.
US: 3. Dc 15 in B in corner, sl st in A under dc in A. Turn.

I’m going to try again to upload the pictures from this year’s Freeform CAL…
Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3: (2 pics, because the first is slightly blurry but shows the ruffles well, and the second isn’t blurry and shows how the yarn shines.)

It’s 2am. That’s the 2nd, right?

Seeing as I’m still up, I can give you the second set of instructions.

UK: 2. Ch 2 in A, ch 1 in B. *(Tr 3 in B, tr 1 in A) five times.
US: 2. Ch 2 in A, ch 1 in B. *(Dc 3 in B, dc 1 in A) five times.

I still can’t show you pictures, unfortunately, as I didn’t take progress pictures of my sample. When we get a bit further I might ask other participants can I share some of their pics…

I can, however, show you my project for the group Freeform Game. That is I can if Flickr ever uploads the pictures… I’ve gone up ridiculously in hook size (from a 3mm to a 15mm), so the stitches are coming out lacy at the moment, but I don’t mind that.

No, the pictures don’t want to upload. Maybe tomorrow…

February Ends…

And I complete a full month of daily blog posts, for the first time since 2008, if ever! And that’s just the right time to tell you that NatCroMo begins tomorrow, and with it my Mystery Pattern!

As with the past two years‘ Freeform Games, I’ll be posting all the instructions to one daily updated page, as well as on Ravelry. This year, though, I’m also going to put them into blog posts, for the convenience of those using RSS or similar. For those who like the freeform game style, there’s a group one taking place over on Ravelry too, so join in there!

Taking lines in various media for a walk

Before I started crocheting, I used to doodle quite a lot, in pen, or markers. This is an extreme (bigger and more detailed) version of the type, from a few years ago:

When I began playing with painting, I tried out the same idea there too:

(I never finished filling this one in, because I got put off by the smudge in the middle.)

So now I’m trying to get back into freeform crochet, and the new UK Freeformers group on Ravelry suggested various techniques for surface decoration, which I thought I’d try:

That began to look like one of my old line-walks, so I decided to continue. I haven’t quite finished it, but should be able to do that on the way home today.

I like abstract stuff, and it’s nice to find some continuity with what I’ve always done.

NatCroMo pictures

This is where mine is up to, but really I wanted to show you the gorgeous pictures Sidhechile sent me. Each of them appears with one of the figures she makes. I heartily recommend checking out her Etsy shop.

Beautiful, no? The others are also fabulous (and very varied), but you’ll either have to join Ravelry or wait until it comes out of Beta to see them. Some people have blogged some of their progress with it. Share did so here and here. Tara has here and here. (Those are the ones linked on the Ravelry pattern page. There are lots more that I’ll try to link to once I’ve packed and travelled!)

National Crochet Month

Or for me, that should be International, I think! Anyway, it comes from the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) and over on Ravelry the CLF has spawned an offshoot NatCroMo group for the month of March 2008. I’ve taken on giving out instructions for a daily game/CAL, and I’ll be putting them on a page here on my blog (which is where the Ravelry pattern page should lead to) as well as on the Ravelry thread, so please do join in, whether you have got your invite for Ravelry yet or not. (And if you haven’t signed up for Rav yet as a current or beginning crocheter or knitter, whyever not?)