Mum's Granny Along Again

For my Delightful Granny Students here is:-

Easy peasy lemon squeezy Crochet Lesson No. 2

I hope you can follow the pictures. It's very difficult taking them with one hand. As you can see this lesson has the same title as Lesson No. 1.

Lesson No. 2  - Becoming Familiar with the Chain.

Items needed - one ball of wool and a crochet hook. Any wool and any size hook will do for now. I'm using a 4.5 mm which is not too small and not too large. The wool is double knitting.

Make a slip stitch with the wool.

Put your hook through the loop and wrap the ball end of wool round the hook.

Hook the wool and pull it through the loop. (Remember last time it was your fingers that grabbed the wool through the loop. Now it's the hook.)

The hook is now through another loop. Push it through a little bit more and hook another piece of wool.

Drag that through the loop. Keep repeating until you can chain really quickly and you are confident holding the wool and the hook.  (It's underlined because that's an important bit.) You can keep pulling your chain out and starting again otherwise you'll end up with a very long chain!

This is the way I hold the wool. If you Google 'how to crochet' you will find that there are many different ways of holding the wool and the hook so that the wool is held fairly taut and the chain is held securely. Fingers, hook and wool should be firmly controlled. (Another important bit because this creates an even tension.) Experiment until you find a hold that is right for you.

Here's one way of holding the hook. I usually hold it like a soup spoon. (By the way, I am not resting on a bottom!)

Your chain (after practice) should look like this from above - just like a lot of little Vs.

If you turn the chain sideways it should look like this with loopy bobbles along the bottom.

Do you like all the technical terms? Here's a real one to learn - Ch.

Ch for Chain.

If you look at the last 2 pictures you can see I have completed 6 chain. Don't count the first V but do count the loop on the hook.

Evaluation needed for Lesson 1 (and links, if you wish to your Easy Peasy Finger Chain) please and welcome if you've just joined our Granny Along.

Lesson 1

PS Welcome New Follower. I'm in a bit of a crochet theme at the moment. 

Mum's Granny Along

Easy peasy lemon squeezy Crochet Lesson No. 1

I'm sure you can find many tutorials on how to crochet on the web. Here's my two penn'oth. Hopefully this series of easy peasy lemon squeezy lessons will lead to your first 'Granny Square' with no stress involved.

I must warn you that I am a slightly 'alternative' teacher. (If you already know how to crochet please skip this series.)

Here goes:-

Lesson No. 1 - Becoming Familiar with the Chain.

At the end of this lesson you should be familiar with the look of a chain stitch and be able to hold the string/wool confidently. 

Items needed - one ball of string or thick wool and your fingers.

Make a slip stitch with the string/wool.

Pull the wool up behind the loop ...

... and pull another loop through with your fingers.

Repeat until you have a long chain.

Now unravel it and begin again! 

Keep practising until you can chain really quickly and you are confident holding the string, the loop and the chain.

The beginning of this Youtube video shows finger chaining in action with more than one thread.

There are many different ways of holding the string. Find a way that is the easiest for you. Once you have achieved this you are ready for the next lesson. :)

Please let me know if you would like to be guided along to crochet your first Granny Square by joining this Granny Along. I don't want to be talking to myself!

I'm spurred on to do this by looking a DD's 'granny' which is ...

... grannying along nicely.

Kitchen window - January 2012

... and the tale that goes with it.

Got the right card for my friend?

Yep. Homemade - she likes that.

Got the right present for my friend?

Yep. Flowers - she likes those.

Got the correct date to deliver them?

Whoops - er - no. Only a week out.

Never mind. I like flowers in the house.

I'd better not forget the next birthday!

Welcome new followers. I hope you enjoy your visits.

Take Time

I found a small card from a friend in my drawer. On it was this verse.

Take time to think ...

It is the source of power.

Take time to play ...

It is the secret of perpetual growth.

Take time to read ...

It is the fountain of wisdom.

Take time to pray ...

It is the greatest power on earth.

Take time to love and be loved ...

It is a God given privilege.

Take time to be friendly ...

It is the road to happiness.

Take time to laugh ...

It is the music of the soul.

Take time to forgive ...

It is too short a day to be selfish.

Take time to work ...

It is the price of success.

Take time to do charity ...

It is the way to heaven.

So I took some time to share it with you.

Be Prepared

Two cards made for up and coming birthdays using card and other bits and pieces from my stash of crafty bits.

I'm not always this prepared and more often than not forget birthdays altogether!

I hope I don't forget these two though.

Right Angled Granny Triangle

I've only seen crochet patterns for half squares which don't look like a complete triangle ...

... so I experimented with patterns of my own. So far I've come up with 2 ways, one a little more complicated than the other. Here's the first one I tried. As you can see the clusters are smaller along the hypotenuse.

Here's my second attempt. This one is easier to make and the clusters are all trebles as per a normal Granny Square. I've not tried a larger version yet.

The reason I wanted a Right Angled Granny Triangle is (I'm sad) because I wanted the layout of my 2012 blanket to be a slightly crazy one with odd shapes and squares going here and there at different angles.

Here's one way of fitting in my Granny Rhombi. I may make them to zig-zag round the edge of the blanket interspersed with equilateral triangles.

Here endeth the Mathematics lesson on trigonometry, shape and tessellating. :)

Left overs

Left overs from Christmas.

Star

Poinsettia flowers - fake of course

Angel

The roses are now left overs from my Birthday. DD is drying some of them in the airing cupboard ...

... and I'm drying some of them (just the heads) in 2 shallow vases.

They go well with my other roses (fake of course).

They will either dry or die. Either way I'll enjoy them for a little bit longer.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

I'm still enjoying these leaves which were 'left overs' from a walk last year. They've been an Autumnal display and a Christmas decoration. Now they grace another vase in the front room next to my chair.

Welcome New Followers and Anonymous lurker! Enjoy your read.