Zooty Owl's Crafty Blog

Colourful Crochet, Craft, Cooking, and Contemplations

Showing posts with label stripes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stripes. Show all posts

Thursday 30 October 2014

Holiday Ripple: Print Friendly Pattern



Pattern Terms:   US 

Materials:   2 strands of DK worked together (equivalent to 16ply OR Super Bulky yarn)

Quantity:  Approximately 1800g to 2000g of DK (8ply / light worsted weight yarn)

Hook:  9.00mm

Measurements:   180cm x 180cm (216 plus 4 ch over 120 rows)

Stitches used:    chain and double crochet (US) (for UK readers this would be chain and treble)

The pattern is worked in multiples of 9 plus 4

(If you have never rippled before it is a good idea to make yourself a practice swatch - 18ch (2 x 9) plus 4ch = 22ch)

My son made this fabulous chart to explain the pattern:


crochet ripple

 (Leave a fairly long tail with every colour change - this will be used to make our fringe.)

Foundation Chain:   216 plus 4 (220) 

Row 1:  Into fourth chain from hook work 1dc (counts as 2dc);   (1dc into next ch)x3;   skip 2ch ("valley" formed);  [(1dc into next ch)x3;   (1dc, 1ch, 1dc) into next ch ("mountain" formed);   (1dc into next ch)x3;    skip 2ch] repeat to last 6ch;   skip 2ch;   (1dc into next ch)x3;   2dc into last chain;   turn work

Row 2:  3ch, 1dc into first dc (counts as 2dc);   (1dc into next dc) x3;   skip 2dc [(1dc into next dc) x3;  (1dc, 1ch, 1dc) into 1ch space (at the peak of the "mountain" on the previous row);  (1dc into next dc)x3;  skip 2dc (across the "valley" on the previous row)] repeat to last 4dc;  (1dc into next dc) x3;   2dc into last dc (this "dc" is actually the 3ch start at the beginning of the previous row)

Keep repeating Row 2 until your workpiece is the required length.

Beaded Fringe

Thread beads of choice randomly onto the tail at the end of one row and the tail at the start of the next row.

Hold one tail between the thumb and forefinger of your left hand and the other between the thumb and forefinger of your right hand.     Start twisting the yarn tighter in the same direction as the twist of the yarn tails.

Bring the twisted tails together and gently twist them in the opposite direction.  Knot the ends

Monday 9 September 2013

Banana Ripple and Lemon Sorbet

Scrapbooking  (next to crochet and cardmaking) is my absolute favourite thing to do!!  - the cutting, layering, pasting, embellishing - OOH love it!

I have never taken to the digital scrapbooking and cardmaking craze - but lately I have been having a lot of fun "scrapbooking" my craft photo's with Pic Monkey!


crochet baby blanket

This will never replace my "paper" scrapbooking  - but it is perfect for my online sharing!

We have not "eased" into spring here in Johannesburg - the days are already hot, and Mr Owl and I have been enjoying fruit salad and ice cream for lunch for the past few days.

Last week I was admiring the gorgeous colours of the fruit salad and banana ripple ice cream as I carried it out to the lapa (thatch gazebo thingy) - and lightbulb!!! - I just had to make a Banana Ripple Baby Blanket!!   I started the square "log-cabin style"  - about halfway through I switched to working the whole way around with each colour change.    It worked up quite quickly, and as I was crocheting I was already planning my next ice cream blankets - choc chip mint, berry ripple, chocolate and fudge..........


crochet baby blanket

I made this one a few weeks back and had no idea what to call it.     Ice cream inspiration......... I love those pretty sorbets that you get in the orange and lemon skins..... and YAY my blanket had a name.

My arm is still pretty useless at the moment (thank you eight legged creature!) - not capable of any major creative feats.      Baked a batch of  muffins using some Golden Cloud Vanilla Muffin baking mix - add 2.5ml of cinnamon and 1 grated apple to the mix - sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top before baking) - not quite made from scratch but still homemade and freshly baked!    And quite yum!!


cinnamon muffins

Played around on Pic Monkey again!!

Tried to make sense of my WIP's


seed stitch

Seed Stitch Baby Blanket - not much progress has been made here (only 32 rows so far).

Miss M's Groovyghan (well not actually a work in progress - but I have chosen the colours if that counts??) - a Christmas gift for my niece.

Stormy Seas Groovyghan (second one I am making in these colours - as I had quite a bit lof yarn left over from the first one)     Changed the layout and the flower squares a bit for this one.   Came up with a brilliant (I think so) flower square granny - will share soon!

Lacy Baby Blanket- been busy with this one since the beginning of time!   This is the second one I am making using this pattern - the first was a commissioned blankie.    I want to share the pattern for this one - and committing pattern to text is probably what is causing the hold up!

Cushion Covers - started out as a set of three but due to loss of interest in this project will now be a set of two!

Scrapbuster project - making 5 row, single colour granny squares from whatever scraps I have left from other projects.

Oh and then there is my Scrap-Scrapbuster project - another Hexagon Scrapghan - this one is going to be even busier than the first!

Wow!   I have been waffling on for ages - can you tell how bored I am not being able to Craft??

Think I will make some tea - and I have a ridiculous craving for a peanut butter and syrup sarmie!

Then I will sit and sip tea and hope that the Courier arrives with my wool order.     Sooo excited!!

Monday 24 June 2013

Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan - Shades of Blue

Enjoying a sublime cup of Orange Tea, relaxing in my lazy chair with my laptop.

My cat just ran into my craft room - gave me a really nasty look - her usual "morning corner" has been taken over by my photo props.    She has now somehow managed to squeeze herself in behind the props and is looking decidedly grumpy!

But without further ado and as promised HERE- Shades of Blue Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan! 
diagonal box stitch crochet afghan

The yarn I used in this project was actually from another project which I had frogged!    No planning (or much thought) went into how much yarn was needed for this project.    Of course I ran out of three colours a good couple of rows before I finished.

I left it unfinished for a couple of months trying to find a match for the colours.     Almost five months later still no match!.    Nothing quite as annoying as an almost finished project just lying around - had to make a plan.   I completed this diagonal box stitch afghan using baby blue and went on an internet search to find something to add a bit of Oomph to the plain corner.  Found a pattern for some lovely hearts which I appliqued on (rather badly!)   Added a border of 3 rows dc, 1 row ch and sc.


Box Stitch Crochet Afghan

Oh I love blue!


box stitch crochet afghan

And did I mention how much I love blue??


box stitch crochet afghan

Lunch time!    Think I am going to have a toasted cranberry chicken mayo!    Ooh yum - always used to have that for lunch at my favourite little Cafe - which sadly closed down when our local mall was renovated - now I just have to be content with my version of this delectable treat!

Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan - Dusty Rose

Monday again!!    Why do the weekends go by so fast???

It was my daughter's 22nd birthday on Saturday.   Her boyfriend gave her 100 roses in all shades of pinks and reds - absolutely gorgeous. You will see some of them in the photos I have taken - she was sweet to allow me to use them as a prop! The sunniest part of Sunday was spent photographing my recently finished projects to share with you!

There was a pattern for a diagonal box stitch lapghan in the September / October 2012 issue of Crochet Today.   I had never crocheted anything on a diagonal before and the GYPSY BLANKET was my first attempt at this.

This was another one of those mile a minute patterns that get you "hooked" and I recently made two more afghans using the diagonal box stitch.

For this Dusty Rose Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan I used cream, beige and dusty rose with a repeat stripe as follows:

2 rows cream
6 rows dusty rose
6 rose beige
6 rows dusty rose

2 rows cream
6 rows beige
6 rows dusty rose
6 rows beige


diagonal box stitch afghan

Finished it off with a very simple border - two rows of double crochet in Dusty Rose and then a row of tiny shells in cream:


diagonal box stitch afghan

Final measurements 200cm x 230cm (quite impossible to get the whole thing in for a photo!).    Had a lot of fun posing some of my Teddy Bears on it though!!


diagonal box stitch afghan

Off to make a quick cuppa and do some chores and then I will post my Shades of Blue Diagonal Box Stitch Afghan ....... HERE

Sunday 23 June 2013

Ripple Crochet Afghan - Autumn Shades

Here are some photos of my second ripple crochet afghan  (still quite addicted to the ripple!!) - (photo's of the first one here).    This and the Blue Hues ripple crochet afghan have been stash / scrap buster projects - so putting the colours together in a random but fairly organised way was challenging but a ton of fun!

For this ripple afghan I used:   Blue, Teal, Beige,Camel Red, Dark Grey, Cream, (and a small amount of pink and some variegated yarn) - strictly speaking not all autumn shades - but I thought it looked quite autumny!


crochet stripe
Cheerful Ripples


crochet stripes



crochet stripes


crochet stripes
Looks So Warm on the couch in my Craft Room


freeform flowers
Added some Crochet Flowers
crochet stripes
Folded up neatly just waiting for me!

My blog has been terribly neglected this year - something which I am determined to remedy!

The weather has been perfect for photos the past few days and I have put aside my WIP's to photograph my recently finished projects to share with you.

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Ripple Crochet Afghan: Blue Hues

I received an insanely easy free ripple crochet pattern by e-mail one morning while sipping my first cuppa and just had to give it a go before breakfast.

It worked up really fast too and the great thing about this is that you can use up all the odd bits and pieces of yarn that always seem to accumulate.


crochet stripes

About a year ago I made a whole lot of flowers to decorate an afghan I had made my sister for her 40th birthday (note to self - find the photo's and upload them!).    I made up my own patterns for the flowers as I went - having so much fun that I never wrote down what I was doing - figured that it would be easy enough to replicate from sight.

There were quite a lot of flowers left after I had completed the Birthday Afghan and I have been using them to add a bit of Zing to my various odd projects


crochet stripes



crochet stripes

The border is simply two rows of double crochet in baby blue, a row of double crochet and a row of single crochet and chain in some oddment of variegated yarn.


ripple crochet


ripple crochet afghan

Love!  Love! LOVE IT!!


crochet stripes

I am rather "hooked" (pun intended!) on this pattern now and was quite sad when I finished this project

Luckily I have finished quite a few big projects lately and so there were plenty of odds and ends just waiting to become another Ripple afghan.

Until next time ........ Happy Crafting!!