Friday, December 31, 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

Wishing all my viewers A Very Very Happy New Year.  May  Every Day Of The New Year Glow With Good Cheer And Happiness For You And Your Family

Friday, December 17, 2010

Basic steps in crocheting

Right tools and supplies

such as yarn while making your crochet product. Normally tools meant for crochet are not very expensive and you can choose a variety of such inexpensive tools such as yarns, crochet hooks, and patterned diagrams. You may also need a pair of scissors and other tools depending upon your selection of patterns.

Start your initial crocheting by duly holding the crochet hook with your right hand and bend the hook of the loop using forefingers. You may then pull through the knot on the centre of the hook.


Now slide the loop of the hooked thread to form a slipknot on the hook. Repeat the process so as to make chained stitches duly ensuring the appropriate thickness of the chains.


Now you can make a double stitch by bringing back the thread or yarn on the top of the loop so as to make the thread to go around the hook. You may use your forefinger for grabbing the knot and tightening the chain stitches of the crochet.

You may skip the first double stitched chain and proceed further on the knot that is not properly hooked on the knot of the loop. You have to ensure that the chains do not loosen and the strands are properly aligned with the other threads. To make the product robust you can have tighter knots on the chains of the crochet.

Now you may bring the centre of the hook in position to the next hole of the second double stitch chain. After getting through the hole, you may slide the thread passing into the center of the third double stitch chain that will go on the upper part of the loop. Now you have created two loops on the double stitch chain. This will make the loops tighter and stronger.


After returning from the first chain, bring back the hook from back to the front and after sliding the needle, make a knot on the center hole of the first chain. The hook must be carefully pushed through the middle to create a knot from the first loop.


Returning from the third loop, now you may create another extra chain stitch to make a reversed counter clockwise loop. This is done for retaining the knot to support the double stitched chains. You can start from the first step afresh to create new chains in a new row and create the similar loops alike from the previous rows.


You can then create a single crochet stitch on the first loop tightening the next loops of the double stitch chains on the previous rows. As far as possible try to create similar loops to ensure that the following double stitch chains will be similar to the loops made first. Make a final knot to ensure that all the stitches are intact and are at appropriate places.


Finally, you may cut the excess thread leaving at least 6 inches in the last chain for enabling any extension in case of need. What you have seen is only meant for beginners and there are other complex designs, which can be mastered only over a long period of crochet practice.

Origin of Crochet ( the 't' is silent )

How it started?
Crochet was not known before 18th century. Crocheting originated from parts of South America, Arabia and China during early 18th century. Later it became very popular in Europe. Though crocheting was practiced earlier, the present day crocheting practiced with hooks came into being very late as people of olden days used only their fingers for making loops and chains.
One form of embroidery namely “tambour Embroidery” reached Europe during the 18th century and people started doing the art using smaller needles that are very similar to crochet hooks used today. Though there are conflicting evidences for having found crochet pieces in Egyptian tombs, history of crocheting could not be traced before the 18th century.
In earlier days, lace working was very much prevalent and in early 18th century crocheting took over the lace work. Crochet materials were less expensive than that of its lace counterpart and people started crocheting using various natural fibres and various types of hooks such as wood, ivory and brass.
Now of course,  hooks available  are made of steel, aluminium  and plastic.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

ALL ABOUT YARN

TYPES OF YARN

WEIGHT refers to the thickness of the yarn and there are six main categories, ranging from super fine to super bulky.

FINGERING is also known as sock yarn, or baby yarn and is worked on small needles.

SPORT yarn  is slightly heavier and is worked on medium needles..

WORSTED is probably the most popular yarn, usually used for  sweaters, scarves and throws and is worked on medium to large needles..

BULKY OR CHUNKY is the next heaviest yarn.  This is a heavy yarn great for scarves and ponchos and usually worked on  large needles.


SUPER BULKY
is the heaviest yarn, used for even bulkier scarves, hats, blankets and sweaters and worked on super large needles..

TIP: The thicker the yarn the faster it knits up.  For a quick project, make a scarf out of super bulky on big needles.

YARN FIBERS
Yarn is made up of all sorts of fibers.  You'll find  yarns of cotton , wool, acrylic, silk, mohair, angora, blends and now even organic and bamboo.

WOOL
Wool is  incredibly versatile and not itchy  as it used to be.  MARINO WOOL comes from a long-haired sheep and makes a fine, soft, luxurious yarn.  TIP: if you use wool remember that it will shrink in warm water, although there are now some Washable Wool Yarns  available.

COTTON
Cotton is also very versatile yarn, and good for all sorts of projects.

It is usually relatively inexpensive and is widely available in many  colors, weights and textures. TIP: Cotton does not hold its shape as well as wool and tends to stretch out.  Although It's  more washable than wool, it can shrink as well if washed in hot water.

ACRYLIC
Acrylic yarns have come a long way.  Although there's nothing natural about them,  it's inexpensive and  machine washable.  It's great for baby gifts because, as I found out when I became a grandmother, today's new mother's don't have time to worry about anything like how to care for it.  They can just throw it into the washer and dryer and forget about it.   Acrylic yarn comes in an amazing  array of colors, textures and weights.  Many of the new novelty yarns are acrylic, and with them you can make a fun scarf, handbag, poncho or hat.  In the last few years there's been an influx of novelty yarns such as eyelash yarns (fluffy, hairy) and ribbons. With those novelty yarn you, as a beginner, can make something that looks like it was made by an advanced knitter.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Knit Stitch

1.  Hold the yarn and the needle with the stitches in your left hand.  The empty needle is in your right hand.  Point the needles toward each other to form an X..


2.  Insert point of right needle in first stitch, from front to back, just as in casting on.


3.   Keep the needles crossed by holding both needles with the thumb, index and middle fingers of your left hand. Do this by holding the right needle with the thumb nail on top facing you, and the nails of the index and middle fingers underneath that right needle and facing away from you. With your right hand, pick up yarn and wrap the yarn counterclockwise under and around the bottom needle.  Do not wrap it around the left needle.


4.  Hold the yarn in place around the right needle in between your right thumb and index finger and guide the right needle towards you through the center of the stitch on the left needle. The right needle should now be on top of the left needle.


5.  Pull remaining yarn off the left needle by pulling the right needle up and to the right  and pull the newly formed stitch off  left needle to the right needle. You will have a newly created stitch on the right needle.


Continue till  the end of the row and all stitches are on the left needle.
You have knitted your first row!