Haven't done a craft based blog for ages. Seeing as this was the main reason why I set up this thing, apart from the chance to rant a bit on annoying things that currently annoy me, it is only right that I indulge my craft side and start typing about it.
For me, my craft is very much a solitary pursuit-most of my friends cannot knit, crochet or sew (to be honest my sewing skills are rudimentary to say the least). But I have decided to contribute to the K2TOG project
knit2together.tumblr.com which is aiming to cover six pillars of the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in honour of the Olympics. The colours are representative of the Olympic flag and also represent the flags of the US and Jamaican teams, who will be based in Birmingham. All that is needed is to knit garter stitch rectangles 21 by 50 cm, which will be sewn together. This hasn't been completely straight forward as there are 3 different yarns of different weights which (unsurprisingly) have been working up differently. The first yarn I chose was chunky weight wool, in yellow.I had to redo my first rectangle as I started it in the shop with the 6 mm bamboos that were provided, and my gauge was too loose. At home I switched to my metal needles and it was the correct gauge, but I'd ran out of yarn before it was 50 cm in length. The solution to the problem was 5 mm bamboo needles. The 3rd rectangle I also redid as it was messy and it annoyed me. I've now switched colours as more blue and black rectangles are needed. These are worked in dk merino, held double. Several knitters have blindly followed the instructions given without considering the finished size of the rectangle so they are too small to use, so we've been asked to cast on more stitches than recommended-I needed one more. I think the elasticity of the merino is the problem, the rows are much closer together than with the yellow yarn, even though I'm working with larger needles. I ran out of yarn at 46 cm. I'm attempting it again, with 6.5 mm needles. Whether I will just run out of yarn sooner I will find out.
On Ravelry one of the groups that I have joined is Crochet in the UK, for UK crocheters (or those more familiar with UK crochet terms. One of the things I have noted is the ire that some of the members show at American patterns. I have written the following in order to hopefully address this:
How to spot a US
crochet pattern
For UK crocheters it
can seem difficult to find online crochet patterns with UK
terminology as the overwhelming majority of patterns available are
American. The yarn craft industry across the pond is considerably
greater than on our little island so this is perfectly logical. Also
logical is being able to recognise whether a pattern is in UK or US
terminology and work it with no hassle.
There are 3 main things
to consider:
1. The picture of the
finished article
2. The written/charted
pattern.
3. The yarn brand used
to create the original piece.
1. LOOK AT THE IMAGE!
A picture paints a thousand words. Know what a fabric created in the
most common stitches (UK double and treble crochet) looks like, that
way you can compare this to the written pattern.
2. The main point of
consideration with regards to the difference between UK and US
terminology is that the US are one stitch 'behind' in the naming of
the stitches, therefore the UK double is US single, UK treble is US
double, UK double treble is US treble and so forth. Looking at the
written pattern will give significant clues as to its origin:
a. Is the pattern
based on mostly single crochet (sc) ? UK single crochet (US
slip-stitch) creates a very dense, sturdy fabric so unless the
finished article is a belt then you can be 99% sure that the pattern
is American.
b. Does the pattern
mention half-double crochet (hdc)? There's no such thing as
half-double in UK terms, it is a half-treble (htr) so you can be 100%
sure the pattern is American.
Charted patterns are
your friend as they visually represent what you're supposed to be
aiming for and summarise what can be reams of text in one picture.
Universally, crochet symbols are essentially the same so you can lose
the attachment to the written names of the stitches and work away til
your heart's content. The only difference is for double crochet
(UK). In both UK and US charts this stitch is represented by a
cross, but with differing orientation-UK patterns represent it as a +
symbol, US as either a + or an x.
From left to right-chain, single/slip-stitch, double/single (both orientations), half-treble/double, treble/double, double-treble/treble, triple treble/double treble.
All other special crochet symbols-clusters, V-stitches, decreases etc. are variations, you can see the individual stitches shown above in each symbol.
3. Yarn brands are an
excellent indicator as to whether the pattern is UK or US. This
isn't an exhaustive list but popular US brands include Aunt Lydia's
(specialising in crochet cottons), Bernat, Berroco, Cascade, Caron,
Lion Brand (including Red Heart, TLC and Vanna's Choice yarns) and
Takhi. Well known in the UK is Patons, but they produce several
yarns that are unavailable in the UK, e.g. Grace is a sport-weight
cotton in the US, the UK equivalent is 4-Ply Cotton.
Hopefully this
information shall help you along the way in your crochet.
