Sunbonnet Potholder - 1

Our next project is a Sunbonnet Potholder. It's pictured at the right along with an Irish crochet doily. The picture is from the American Thread Company booklet as is the pattern.

The pattern calls for 3 60-yd balls of Peach size 5 pearl cotton and 1 60-yd ball of White for trim. It also calls for a steel crochet hook no. 8 and a bone ring.

I'll be using Peaches & Creme worsted weight cotton yarn and a size 7 (4.5mm) crochet hook. If you'd like a ring to hang the potholder with, I'd suggest using a plastic ring instead of a bone ring.

The pattern starts:

"With White, ch 36, and work 34 sdc on ch" (sdc is the same as hdc or half double crochet)

First, note that the pattern does not say to skip 2 ch sts before starting the half double crochet sts. It's understood. The next picture shows the first hdc being worked in the 3rd ch from the hook.

Note: Since we're using worsted weight yarn instead of size 5 thread, we will be making quite a few adjustments to the pattern.
The first is to replace the first line of the pattern with:
"With white, ch 22, skip 2, hdc 20, ch 2, turn"

Note also how the chain sts are laid out to be crocheted into. The hook goes under the topmost part of the chain.

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It's easy enough to count to 36, but to illustrate a technique, I've chained more than 36 sts. If one is making a base chain of a few hundred chain sts, it's much better to err on having too many ch sts instead of possibly too few.

The next picture shows the potholder after the first row is complete. There are several ch sts left over.

The hardest part is undoing the slip knot. The next picture shows what the chain looks like after the knot is undone.


Then all one has to do is to keep undoing the chain until there are no extra chain sts to undo.

Next time, we'll finish the bottom of the bonnet.

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Washing and blocking crochet

Here are the instructions from the American Thread Company booklet on washing and blocking crochet (or knits).

"Using hot water and a mild soap, make thick suds, add cold water until suds are fairly warm.

"Let the article stand in the suds a very few minutes, then squeeze in and out until thoroughly clean. Rinse in clear water several times or until sure the soap is removed. Roll in a bath towel. This will absorb some of the moisture.

"The work is now ready for blocking. Lay the work on a padded ironing board or a flat surface and pin in position with rust-proof pins, stretching it gently to correct size and shape. Press through a damp cloth and leave in position until dry."

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Time off

I'm going to take a little over a month off from posting on this blog. It will give me time to figure out what to post about next. There are several patterns that look interesting in the American Thread Company booklet that I inherited from my MIL. But, I'd like to crochet them before posting. Then there are some pillow case crocheted edgings that I did a long time ago with my grandmother's help. But, I'd have to figure out the patterns. And then there's the Irish crochet shawl that I helped my daughter make when she was in elementary school.

So, I've got some ideas. But, I'm not even sure anyone reads what I've written so far. I can see from the meter that the blog gets around 100 hits per week. But, it could just be from people doing searches, ending up here, and then immediately leaving. So, if you like what you see on the blog or have any suggestions about further topics, please leave a comment.

By the way, the reason I've been posting about crocheting is that I volunteered to. If anyone would like to volunteer to post about any fiber arts subject, contact the owner of the blog through the Yahoo! Bits and Bobs group or the Ravelry Bits and Bobs group.

Lacet Stitch

Recently, as I was reading posts from one of the Yahoo! groups that I belong to, I came across a lovely filet crochet iris pattern. I like the pattern so much that I just had to share the link. The pattern uses open and closed filet crochet squares and also the lacet stitch. The lacet stitches appear in the corners of the design.

The directions and picture of the lacet stitch at the right are from the American Thread Company booklet.

As you recall, for a basic open mesh, one has "ch 2, sk 2" between the dc's that form either side of a mesh square. (A row in open mesh is dc 1 -- or, rather ch 3 as a substitute for the dc 1 --, then *ch 2, sk 2, dc 1* across.) For a closed mesh square, one uses "dc 2" in place of "ch 2, sk 2".

A lacet stitch is the size of a 2 x 2 square of filet crochet squares. Instead of crocheting "ch 2, sk 2, dc 1, ch 2, sk 2, dc 1" to form 2 open mesh squares, a lacet stitch has "ch 3, sk 2, sc 1, ch 3, sk 2, dc 1" for the first row. In the following row, to complete the stitch, substitute "ch 5, dc in next dc" for what would be "ch 2, sk 2, dc 1, ch 2, sk 2, dc 1" if making an open filet crochet mesh.

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Crocheted ball fringe

The final part of the section on trims from the American Thread Company booklet (at the right) is a crocheted ball fringe.

It starts out as the cap on the cap fringe did:
"ch 4, join to form a ring, ch 1". But, instead of making 6 sc's into the chain ring, make 8 sc's.

Then for the next round, as with the cap fringe: "2 sc in each sc". (You are now working in a spiral.) -- 16 sc's in this round.

The next 4 rounds are just like those worked for the cap fringe. -- 16 sc's each round

Next, comes the part where you stuff the ball with scraps (cotton or wool or the like) before starting the narrowing process.

This pattern uses a different method of decreasing than was discussed earlier in a post on increasing and decreasing. Instead of crocheting 2 sts together, you just skip a stitch.

So, the next round is "start narrowing by skipping every 3rd st". -- 11 sc's this round (by my count)

Then for the next 2 rounds, you narrow even faster by "skipping every other st." -- either 5 or 6 sc's in the first round (depending on whether you skip then sc or vice versa) -- It really doesn't matter. And either 2 or 3 sc's in the second round. Finish this part off by making a slip stitch.

Finally, without breaking the yarn, make a chain of whatever length you'd like, and attach it. From the picture, it looks as though one does not join the chain to the mesh by slip stitching the last chain st to the bottom of the mesh. Instead, one attaches the chain by placing the chain around the mesh and then making a slip st to join the last chain st to the third (or possibly 4th) from last ch st -- thus making a small loop into the mesh.

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Crocheted cap fringe

Continuing through the section on trims, we come to the crocheted cap fringe. The instructions are at the right and a picture below, both from the American Thread booklet.

One starts with an open mesh just as for the other fringes. Because of the width of the caps, the fringe is attached to every other open mesh.

The first step is making the caps. Just as when making the Irish Crochet Rose, one starts with a chain ring -- "ch 4, join to form a ring". Join is just another way of saying slip stitch.

Then "ch1, 6 sc into ring, join".
The ch 1 at the beginning of the round is to get the tops of all the sc's at the same height. Otherwise, without a ch 1 at the beginning of the round, the first sc would be a little smaller in height than the rest. One would join (slip stitch) into the top of the first sc made.

A ch 1 at the beginning of a sc round is used when working in the round. No ch 1 at the beginning of a round is used when working in a spiral.

"2 sc in each sc" There are now 12 sc's in the round. Notice that this round didn't begin with a ch 1.

"without joining rows, work 2 rows of sc working 1 sc into each sc" The last 2 rounds are worked in a spiral. This forms the sides of the cap.

"Break thread" You don't need to slip stitch into the next stitch. But, after you cut the thread and pull the thread around the hook until the loose end is through, you should first weave it into the next stitch as you start weaving in ends.

For the fringe itself, we'll need about 20 6"-lengths of thread. Tie the strands together in the middle with a simple overhand knot. Pull one end of the strands up through the middle of the cap, through an open mesh hole, and then back through the top of the cap. (A crochet hook is useful for this.) Then make another simple overhand knot over the last one to secure the strands. My best guess is that a knot on top of a knot inside the cap will give the cap a little extra bulk and also keep the cap from sliding off.

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Double and Triple Knot Fringes

Last week, we talked about a single fringe. The fringe was attached to a mesh -- a filet crochet open mesh (dc 1, * sk 2, ch 2, dc 1 * across).

The directions for and pictures of double and triple knot fringes shown here are from the American Thread Company booklet.

The first difference between the single and multi-knot fringes is the length of thread/yarn used. (Because of the knots, one needs to use longer lengths of yarn to get the same length of fringe.) The second difference is that the strands are attached every other mesh opening.

For all of these fringes, the first knot is the cow hitch. Make the hitch every other mesh opening.

Then, take half of the strands from one fringe and half of the strands from the next fringe. Knot them together using an overhand knot. It looks better if the flat part of the knot faces outward. Then, for the double knot fringe, trim the bottom of the fringe to make it even.

(The overhand knot is the simplest kind of knot. The picture in the Wikipedia article shows 2 overhand knots.)

For the triple knot fringe, make a second overhand knot -- again splitting the fringes in half as in the pic. The first and last fringes will be a little different because they are on the edge. Again, trim the fringe to make it even across.