Airwhaler: Miscellaneous Items

Airwhaler enjoys making a lot of little projects that only take a few hours, such as dishcloths and potholders.  The entrelac dishcloth, whose pattern is found on Ravelry, was made with a Tunisian crochet hook.  The dishcloth is a decent size, having a diagonal that is almost the length of the diameter of a kitchen stool.

On a stool

Potholders are also easy items to make.  For her friend's birthday, Airwhaler made her a potholder that is similar to the ones shown below.  The design of the potholder is called a granny mandala and can be found on Crochet with Raymond.

The center of each potholder is something called an African flower.  I quite like the African flower in the middle of the potholder; it complements the pattern surrounding it.

Potholder 1

For the back of the potholder, Airwhaler just made a simple circle.  She then crocheted a border around the two to attach them together.

Potholder 2

Airwhaler: Ripple Blanket

My friend Airwhaler is a very avid crocheter, and I can often find her crocheting in the car and at home.  She has completed many projects, which I have asked to feature on my blog, since they are so interesting.  This post is the first in a series about Airwhaler.

Currently, Airwhaler is working on a ripple blanket.  She found the pattern on Attic24, a crocheter who blogs from England.  For her blanket, Airwhaler bought Stylecraft Special DK yarn from http://us.deramores.com/, which ships for free if the order is $50 or more.

All of the yarn

More yarn!

Airwhaler generally follows the pattern described by Attic24, but after crocheting many rows, she has her own advice to share.  She purposely started with an extra 15 chains because she knew she was accidentally going to skip a few.

The ripple blanket requires a lot of different colors, so Airwhaler has become very adept at changing colors.  Midway through making the blanket, she found an easier way to change colors, found here.  She adds that she basically crocheted over the ends and did not tie a knot.

Airwhaler has generously provided me some photos of her blanket, which show the wonderfulness of the ripple pattern.

The close-ups show in even better detail the stitches and beauty of crocheting.

Ah, wonderful!

What a beauty!

Materials

I am usually not very picky about what materials I use, as long as it all works.  I will grab any pair of scissors that are sharp enough to cut through duct tape and will use any crochet hooks and knitting needles I see first.  However, I am very picky about which kind of duct tape I use.  Like most people, I use the Duck Brand duct tape.  I find it the best quality duct tape I can buy.

I have rarely used other brands of duct tape because I love the Duck Brand duct tape so much.  From what I have observed, other brands are stiffer and have a more plasticky feeling to them.  Duck Brand duct tape breaks in overtime, shaped and bent by the contents of whatever the duct tape item is holding.  The wallets I have seen made from other brands were rigid, even after months of use.

The other fault that I find with other brands of duct tape is that it is not as durable.  Because of the inflexibility of those brands of duct tape, they rip easily, creating holes and tears that can only be fixed by adding more duct tape.  With the duct tape I use, I have never had holes or tears, just occasional thinning on the little corners caused from folded edges.  The pencil case I made two years ago is still in use today in near perfect condition.

The only downside of using Duck Brand duct tape is that their printed and pattern duct tape rolls are severely overpriced.  Some of the patterns and printed tape cost the same as the color rolls, but only offer half the amount, and some of the printed duct tape is twice the cost for an even smaller amount!  I refuse to pay so much for so little.