Colorful crochet blanket

 I'm so happy I finished a new blanket, here are a few pictures with details of the process.

First of all, these squares are not my design. I learned to crochet from my grandmother and she taught me how to read charts and how to read an actual crochet doily. So, if I see a doily in a detailed picture I am able to make a copy of it that looks fairly similar if not even identical. I saw one of these squares on Instagram, so, here we are.

I made squares with the same pattern from 20 different colored yarns and then let my son play around with them until he was happy with the result. It took him about 5 minutes to come up with the layout below.

He's only 8 years old, but he has a good eye on colours, so I went with his layout.

Notice how all the squares are a little curled? I usually don't block individual squares, only the final result gets a blocking steam/wash, depending on the yarn.

I used slipstitch joining in the backloop for the squares. I join them in rows.

Between two squares I ch1 to keep some distance and leave a little elasticity in the blanket.

This is how the back side looks when joining with slip stitches. Just make sure you use a slightly larger hook or work a little loosely like I do. 

Rows and columns joined. The ch1 between the squares makes more sense now.

...and this is how the backside looks in the corner.

An attempt to show how I join... I might need to try taking more pictures next time... and on lighter colours. 

All squares joined! Now off to make an edging. Anything can be done, from one to more rows of single crochet, double crochet, crabstitch, scalloped edge...

what I did was use 4 shades for the edging from dark gray to white .

I think it turned out quite nice.

This blanket can be found in my shop TinyOrchids.

Fingerless mitts

Is anyone else fond of fingerless mittens?

I know I am!

I always thought that to keep warm one needed big, bulky gloves made of insulating material. Maybe it is our climate with not very harsh winters but quite windy and wet autumn and spring, but I slowly became convinced that covering my wrists and palms usually is enough for my fingers to remain usable.

I saw a few interesting pictures on Pinterest and I began wondering how I can make something similar to the next three pictures. A little bit of thinking and backwards engineering and I came up with my version of mittens knit sideways.

Black fingerless mittens

Brown fingerless mittens

Purple fingerless mittens

 These are only three colors I finished lately. More colors are coming.
I love them because they are seamless, fairly tight, yet they still allow my fingers to move.

Talking about autumn weather, this gloomy, wet rainy weather doesn't help one bit with the photos. I had to ask my husband to take these pictures at night, with artificial light. Lucky that my camera is good enought to take decent pictures that can be easily edited. I tried to get the color of the mittens as close to reality as possible.

After I came up with my version of these fingerless mittens, I saw that there are more similar patterns available on Ravelry. Still I have the feeling it could be beneficial to write down my version of these. So my next project is up. Now I need to make a lighter colored version, so I won't have so much trouble with taking detailed pictures of every step.

Baby socks, baby feet...

What is it with tiny babyfeet that I love so much?

Tiny little perfectly formed toes that need protection from the cold. 

Each time I see a baby, I remember my first little socks. My first attempt to knit socks was for my little son. He was 1 month old and he seemed so uncomfortable when his little toes were unprotected. In the middle of august he seemed to be cold... So I began looking for patterns. There are many patterns out there, paid, free, on blogs, in magazines. 

I made a pair of little socks and they just did not fit right. They were bulky and always fell off his feet. I tried to add ties to his ankle, but that was not the answer. 

Many women can relate that in the last month of pregnancy and after giving birth we seem to lose some of our skills. Either we just forget things easier or the baby occupies so much of our attention that we cannot think of other things. It was my case anyway. It took me a few days to remember that once I had made my own patterns for sweaters. So I had the skills to modify the patterns of baby socks I found, to get the results I wanted.

After a few trials and errors, lots of starting over, careful studying of my baby's feet, I came up with a pattern I was satisfied with. I don't need ties and the socks are not sagging and falling down, Yay!

I made them so many times I could knit babysocks even in my sleep. 

Many of my friends had babies after me, so they were the perfect test subjects for my new design. All of them were happy to receive a handmade, carefully crafted, colorful gift for their babies.

Thin autumn socks

Three years later I still love babyfeet and I still love making babysocks. Here are a few from my newest collection.

Thick socks

 I also learned how to make them from newborn size up to 1 year and 18 month sizes.

Notice the difference between the modeled baby socks and the plain baby socks from the last picture? Those chubby little legs make all the difference.

More of these beauties can be found in my shop here.

Taking pictures of blankets...

You'd say taking a picture of a blanket you just finished is not that hard.

Lay it out on a flat surface, have good light, clean the lens of the camera :-) and then shoot away.

But how much better is this picture?

Getting cozy

 I have to admit that taking the pictures I'm about to show were not easy, but not hard either. I just needed that extra little something. Namely my little one still asleep while the sun is already up.

This is not his blanket. I just needed to take pictures of it. 

So, first thing first, take down his blanket. Thankfully the weather is still warm, and he has only a light blanket he usually throws down anyway.

Then lay the just finished, freshly blocked blanket over him. Arrange it a little, without waking the kid! I'm a professional at this!

Then take a few pictures from the best angles. Careful, the sound of the shutter can be really loud in a silent room. I was lucky this time. 

I even managed to take a few pictures of the blanket folded, to show the colors on each side. Little baby feet peeking in on the pictures are the added bonus.

And a close-up just for fun.

These kind of blankets are so fun to make. I don't plan ahead the colors or exact yarns i'm going to use. Thankfully I have enough colors in my yarnstash :-)

Most of it was made from wool sockyarn, but a few stripes are made of cotton and even sturdy acrylic. I found that this way they are more interesting for babies. Not only the colors are attractive, but touching it adds to the experience.

The first blanket I made this way was mesmerising for my then 8 month old son. Tummy time was interesting, with little fingers exploring the shapes and colors. Afternoon nap was also more fun as this is a very lightweight, warm and breathable type of blanket. And we could take it everywhere just because it was not very big.

Happy memories of my first blankie!

If anyone wants the same kind of happy memories, this blanket from the pictures can be found in my Etsy shop along with other blankets.
Or you can try and make your own. It is not as hard as it looks and patterns can be found everywhere for free.

Pig, piggy, piglet...

I love knitting.
I don't have much patience.
So, small projects are perfect for me.
That is why I love knitting small baby socks or pigs. Yes, pigs.

While looking for small items to make for my sons, I stumbled upon these beauties. It was a free pattern, so I went for a try. Let's just say, it took me many trial and errors to end up with these:

Rainbow piggy

Again, knitting is the easy part. 

At this point you have no clue how big they are... or how small.

Pictures are sooo important. Let me show you one of my first trials at taking a picture of the first piggies I made.

Pink piggy

Hmm, something doesn't look right... Ok, photoshop can help with clearing the background, but looking back at these... I just acknowledge it as one step on my path.

Now let's see if I improved anything

Autumn piggy

These became my best sellers at one point. 

Here is a little sense of scale:

Autumn piggy

Next improvement was, (besides clearer pictures, which could be taken outside in the afternoon on a white table) when I learned how to knit in beads as eyes.

New collection of pigs

This picture also shows size very well. 

Size can be shown by adding a ruler or a coin, but holding a small item in the hand seems the best for me. Yes, it would be even nicer to convince my son to hold it and stand still for 10 seconds, but I have to see that happen. 

Now back to the little rainbow piggies. In the next picture I'm barely touching it, but still you get a sense of the scale. A human hand also helps at judging the colors. Our eyes tend to adapt, and our brains recognize colors better if in the picture is a familiar object, not just plain white background.

Rainbow pig

And last but not least, a picture taken on my phone. That should really give you a sense of scale, since most people own a smartphone. Ok, most people out of the people browsing the internet. (My father doesn't have a smartphone... but he's not browsing the internet either)

Rainbow piggy

If anyone would like to see just how many colors and combinations I made so far from this pattern, you can check them out here.

Details, details...

Adding a macro lens to the collection is one of the most important things I did. A DSLR camera will reveal its true nature once you begin using the right lens for each job.

Autumn forest shawl

Dove gray shawl detail

Blue yellow crochet lace shawl

For the first weeks after receiving my camera ( NIKON D3300) i played around with the kit lens. It was fun! Still something was missing... I couldn't capture details, I had to crop the pictures to get rid of the unwanted bits.

So with the first occasion that an ad popped up on my facebook, that accessories for my camera were 20% off, I went for it. And never looked back. Enjoying the moment. :-)

More pictures of each shawl can be seen in my shop over on Etsy, here.

Or you can come back, to see what I have to share next...

In the middle of things

Recently I purchased my first DSLR.
The passion for photography has creeped in slowly over the last two years, resulting in this much needed investment.

White leaves shawl

I wanted to take stunning pictures of the beauties I make. Yes, I knit. And crochet...

Now the most important thing about these is presentation. If you can't show your items "live", you have to have pictures that "speak" to people. Here comes professional photography. Or let's say "passionate" photography.

That is ME in the picture and I'm not the one holding the camera. :-(

This was just about enough text, now I'll show a couple of pictures with right and wrong settings that just happened in real life.

The pose could be ok, but the focus is waay behind me, resulting in blurred subject with a clear background. NO

Autumn stripes angora shawl

This is much better, focus is almost in the right spot. The blurred background makes the subject (me, again) stand out.

If anyone is wondering, I knit these beauties by hand and they are for sale in my shop over on Etsy, here.

I'll be back with more pictures soon.