Airwhaler: Double Knitting

Along with crocheting, Airwhaler can also knit, and she does so occasionally.  She decided to learn how to double knit, but was surprised at how difficult it was.  According to her, "It's awful.  It looks really cool but is kind of miserable to make because each row takes twice the normal time.  But it's still fun in a horribly sick way."

So for anyone wanting to double knit, Airwhaler has warned you.

Airwhaler: Granny Bunting and Scarf

Following instructions from Attic24, Airwhaler crocheted a few granny bunting triangles.  She made six in total with varying designs and color schemes and sent all of them to England for Yarndale.

Airwhaler also made this scarf with knitting needles.  She did not follow any sort of pattern; the ends are simply sewed together to form a möbius strip.

Airwhaler: Crochet Flowers

Airwhaler recently got a book called 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet from a friend, and she has been making flowers nonstop!  She plans to connect all of the flowers she made into one long chain.  Believe it or not, she has over 40 flowers already made!  She only sent me a sampling of her collection, and I cannot wait to see her entire stock of crocheted and knitted flowers.

Chrysanthemum 

Airwhaler: Granny Square Blanket

A granny square blanket is pretty standard in the crocheting world, and an online search for "crocheted blanket" immediately comes up with links for granny square blankets.  Airwhaler made a lovely blanket from 54 squares, each with its own unique pattern and color scheme.

To join all of the squares together, Airwhaler followed the tutorial on Carina's Craftblog, and she crocheted together all of the squares in a pattern along the diagonals.  It alternates between squares with random color combinations, two color combinations, and solid color squares.  The blanket is pretty cool.

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!