New pattern - will need a stitch guide

I am finally getting round to putting together the pattern for my kindle cover ..

I have used some "aran" style crochet to make this. When I started to crochet I never knew that you could do this sort of thing with  hook - I thought aran was the preserve of knitters.

For my cover I use  a sort of roaming cable, that drifts back and to across the front ....

And a sort of vines & berries pattern on the back

I've started writing out the pattern, but without photographs of what I mean by a "front post double crochet worked in front of the previously  missed stitch" its going to be almost unintelligible !

I think that this is providing me with the perfect opportunity to create a proper stitch guide that I can add to all my patterns & also include here.

Hopefully next update will be to say the pattern is finished & I have a full (or at least the start of) my stitch guide.

Kindle Cover

I got a kindle for Christmas and I decided to put my skills to good use and create a cover for it.  It gave me a great excuse to try out some cable stitches I've been wanting to crochet.

I created it using Anchor Style Creativa100% cotton yarn, its DK weight.  This yarn comes in wonderfully vibrant colours, I've done the front side in bright red and the back in lime green.

For the front I worked drunken cables, they wander back and forward across the work.

And for the back I worked some linked bobbles.



The back needed to be worked a little longer so that it creates a flap to cover the top of my kindle, it also has a couple of little button holes worked near the top edge.

I very rarely block my work, but as you can see from the pictures above I needed to this time.  The drunken cables tends to pull the sides in and out along with the wondering of the cables.

I blocked them by soaking in cold water for around 20 minutes, then rolling them in a towel to remove excess water.  Then I pin them out to the shape and size I wanted and leave them to dry naturally and completely.

In my case because these are relatively small pieces of work I pinned them out on my ironing board.

Once they were completely dry I backed them with felt.  I sew them using a bobbin thread that matches the yarn colour and a sewing thread that matches the felt.



I also sew around the button holes and cut through the felt. 



The last things to do is sew the front and back together





...... and add the buttons.  I added a couple of little flower buttons with crystal centers just for a little glam.



Now my kindle has a cosy new home.

Yarn weights & hook sizes

I don't know about you but I get royally frustrated with yarn weights quoted on patterns, I make an "educated guess" as to the correct weight and quite often end up getting it very wrong - which can be costly.  The patterns state to check the gauge first (which I highly recommend) but to check the gauge you need to have already purchased your yarn and given that a  lot of patterns simply refer to a yarn category rather than a particular yarn you need some information so you can make the best choice.

There are 7 categories of yarn, I've listed them below with their closest UK type and also the hook size that is usually used with the yarn category.

To add to the confusion the hook size and the knitting needle size are often different for a yarn ... and usually the yarn band only states the knitting needle size (what is this crocheter discrimination ???!!!)

I have tried to put all the information that you would need to "calculate" the correct yarn in the table below.


Here is a handy PDF file containing all of these conversions and more Conversions

Symbol	US Type	Ply	UK type	hook size (mm)	Needle Size (mm)	Wraps Per Inch
	Thread, cobweb, lace, fingering	1 -3 Ply	10 count thread	1.4 - 1.6	1.5 -2.25	18 +
	Fingering, stocking, baby	3 - 4 Ply	3-4 Ply	2.25 - 3.5	2.25 - 3.25	14
	Sport	5 Ply	Light DK	3.5 - 4.5	3.25 - 3.75	12
	DK, Light Worsted	8 Ply	DK	4.5 - 5.5	3.75 - 4.5	11
	Worsted, Aran	10 Ply	Aran	5.5 - 6.5	4.5 - 5.5	8 or 9
	Bulky	12 Ply	Chunky	6.5 - 9	5.5 - 8	7
	Super Bulky, Roving		Super Chunky	9  and larger	8 and larger	5 or 6

I've included the wraps per inch (WPI) measurement, you can use this where you don't have the yarn band anymore or if you are recycling old jumpers etc.

To measure the WPI you need a pencil or pen and a ruler or measuring tape.   I find it easier if you cut a nick into the top of the pencil to hold the yarn tight, then just wrap the yarn around the pencil until you have covered 1 inch - using your ruler or measuring tape to measure.

When you have covered exactly 1 inch count the wraps (in the image below 13) and that is your WPI.  You may find that the WPI doesn't match a yarn type exactly but you will get a reasonable understanding of the yarn type you have.

Then comes the question of hook sizes, clearly it would be too simple to have a standard :)

There are metric, US and old UK sizes.  Rather confusingly there is a cross over between the steel (or thread) hooks and the plastic hooks in sizes.  I've split them out to (hopefully) aid clarity.

Here are the conversions;

Steel/Thread Hooks

Metric (mm)	US	UK
0.60	14	6
0.70	13	-
0.75	12	5
0.80	11	-
1.00	10	4
1.25	8	3.5
1.50	7	2.5
1.75	6	2
2.00	1	1
2.50	0	0
3.00	00	2

Plastic Hooks

Metric (mm)	US	UK
2.00	-	14
2.25	B/1	13
2.50	-	12
2.75	C/2	-
3.00	-	11
3.25	D/3	10
3.50	E/4	9
3.75	F/5	-
4.00	G/6	8
4.50	7	7
5.00	H/8	6
5.50	I/9	5
6.00	J/10	4
6.50	K/10.5	3
7.00	-	2
8.00	L/11	0
9.00	M/N-13	00
10.00	N/P-15	000
12.00	O-16	000
15.00	P/Q	-
16.00	Q	-
19.00	S	-

Another link to that conversions file.

Aran Crochet Shawl

As promised, an update on the progress with my aran crochet.  It certainly is not a forgiving art, there have had to be a couple of re-do's on this one following lapses in concentration.

As a first attempt I am quite happy with it.  All I need to do now is add a the finishing touches, a feature to the bottom & a button.  I have a lovely huge coconut flower button I plan to use.

The biggest challenge with this has been getting the twists to work well, I changed how I was doing them as I went along & really was only happy by the last one - isn't that always the way?

The shawl is still curling a bit too so I think that I'll have to wash & block it, which is going to be a challenge given the length.

So what do you think for a first go?  Was it a success or not?

Aran crochet diamonds... lesson

My aran crochet shawl is progressing quite well now.  The first critical lession I have learned is that its a very visual process.  You really need to view the pattern and keep a close eye on where things are going, the pattern description can be complicated or indeed simply confusing.  But that can be easily overcome by watching the pattern progress.

The key stitch is a front post treble (FPTR) in combination with half treble (HTR) stitches.  The plain parts of the work are done using HTR and the cables and raised areas are achieved using FPTR's

The "back" rows are all done using HTR, therefore the raised stitches are worked into the last "Front",

The difference in the heights of the stitches (TR & HTR) keeps things level while the TR is worked into the row below.

The classic aran pattern of cables & diamonds is worked by altering the number of stitches before & after the FPTR sitiches, this pulls or pushes the raised rows into the right position.

In the pattern above there are raised rows either side of the diamond, this really helps to keep the pattern right.  These raised rows don't move so they can be used to visually ensure that the pattern is working out right.

To achieve the diamond shape, each front row the number of HTR's worked before making the FPTR is changed, starting with 3 HTR in this particular pattern.  The FPTR is always worked into the lower FPTR.

This means that when the V of the diamond is being worked you are actually skipping an HTR from the previous row & then working these skipped HTR's into the centre of the diamond.    Then the reverse is true for the ^ of the diamond.

As you can see its quite difficult to explain in words ... Much easier to visualise.

The patterns are worked over a consistent number of stitches, it is simply the number of HTR's that proceed & follow the FPTR stitches that are altered to create the diamond pattern.

In my pattern above the diamond is worked over 11 stitches.  I'm ignoring the bobble for the purposes of this explaination.

1. 3HTR, 2FPTR, 1HTR, 2FPTR, 3HTR ( 11 stitches)

2. 2HTR, 2FPTR, 3HTR, 2FPTR, 2HTR  - To achieve this, work the first 2 HTR, skip one HTR before the 2 FPTR, work the 2FPTR stitches,  then work into the HTR sits above the second FPTR, work the 1 HTR from the middle of the diamond, work the HTR  above the 3rd FPTR (creating the 3HTR for the middle of the diamond), then work the 3rd & 4th FPTR, skip 1 HTR and work the last 2 HTR stitches

3. 1HTR, 2FPTR, 5 HTR, 2FPTR, 1HTR (worked in the same manner as above)

4. 2HTR, 2FPTR, 3HTR, 2FPTR,  2HTR - to achieve this I work the 1 HTR, then 1 HTR into the HTR that sits above the 1st FPTR.  Work the 2FPTR. skip 1HTR, work the 3 middle HTR, skip 1HTR, work the second 2FPTR, work 1 HTR into the HTR above the 4th FPTR, work the last HTR

5 3HTR, 2FPTR, 1HTR, 2FPTR, 3HTR - in the same manner as above.

This may not be a classic way of working aran crochet, but it works for me.

Aran crochet

I have done quite a lot of aran knitting over time, but up until now I have not tried anything more aran than a simple twist using crochet.

So always one for a new challenge I thought I'd try to create an aran shawl in crochet.  So far its slow going,  It takes a bit of time to understand how to create the shapes and make sure that everything hangs together.

I have chosen to use Sirdar Click chunky.  I have always preferred the look of aran when done with quite chunky yarn.  I am using the Cobble (0129) shade.

You can see my attempts so far

I think I have mastered the bobble ... the jury is still out on the cable though !!

I'll update with progress as things move along.