Crocheted Heart

I wasn’t sure I like this heart when I was crocheting it. I used thick cotton yarn and the stitches were coming out uneven and not very pretty. But once I added the trim, I loved the heart!

There is something charming about its rustic look.  

You can see the pattern for this heart here.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I'm linking to Teach Me Tuesday Link-Up @ Growing Home,

Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home,  

Lacy Baby Blanket Tutorial, Step 1

I have made a detailed tutorial for the Lacy Baby Blanket, which is the most popular item on my blog. The tutorial consists of several steps (nine to be exact) as it is too big a project to fit into one post.

I believe even beginning crocheters can make this blanket following my tutorial (as long as you are familiar with basic crochet stitches).

So if you’d like to make this blanket with me, print out the pattern, gather your supplies and let’s begin!

In this step we get started by making a chain and crocheting the first row of the pattern.

Ch 146 loosely.

Keep your printed-out pattern at hand and refer to it as often as you need to.

We start the first row by making 3 dc in sixth ch from hook (note that the chain on the hook doesn’t count). Then we skip 4 chains and make 3 dc in the next chain. See the picture below.

Now we are going to work the instructions from * to second *, which read:

*ch 3, skip 2 ch, sc in next ch, ch 3, skip 2 ch, 3 dc in next ch, skip 4 ch, 3 dc in next ch*

We need to repeat working the instructions from * to second * across. That will be 12 times in total.

The picture below shows the instructions from * to second *  worked two times. 

Once you have repeated the instructions from * to second * 3-4 times, you probably will be able to memorize them and won’t need to look at the pattern.

When you have crocheted these instructions 12 times, you will see that you have 3 ch left. See picture below.

We are going to finish the row following the instructions after second *, which read:

sk 2 ch, dc in last ch

And make ch 2 for turning.

The first row of our blanket is finished!

If you stretch it on a surface, you should see 13 pattern repeats. Below, I show a picture of three pattern repeats to give you an idea of what I mean.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments below.

I'll post Step 2 next week.

Valentine’s Day Crochet Projects

I can’t believe that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner!

This year I don’t have much time to experiment and come up with my own Valentine’s Day patterns, so instead I searched the web to see what free patterns I could find.

The doily pattern is called Hearts Desire and is from Red Heart.

The pattern for the heart (symbol chart only) is from Tesourinha blog.

And finally tutorial for the tiny heart is from PinkFluffyWarrior blog. The tutorial is written using UK crochet terms; nevertheless, I managed to follow the pattern.

What are you crocheting for Valentine's Day?

I'm linking to

Adorned From Above Blog Hop @ Adorned From Above

Show and Tell Friday @ My Romantic Home,

Link Your Stuff @ Annamarie's Haakblog
Home Sweet Home Friday @The Charm of Home,
and Did You Make It?

Lacy Baby Blanket, Free Pattern

Today I finally can share the pattern that I promised to many of my readers and fellow crocheters. Sorry, it took me several months to get it written, but please make me some allowance since I’m only an amateur in all this business of pattern writing. I have made my best effort, but of course mistakes are possible.

The artistic credit for this blanket should go to my Mom since it was her original design.

The skill level for this baby blanket probably would be intermediate. However, I have made a very detailed tutorial to help beginning crocheters make this blanket. I’ll start posting it soon.

If you have any questions about the pattern, don’t hesitate to ask.

Happy blanket making!

Update: I now have a very detailed step-by-step tutorial for this blanket available if you need a bit of extra help. Click here to see it. 

This pattern is my (and my mom's) original design. It cannot be posted on other sites or distributed in any other form. If you would like to share this pattern, you can post ONE image on your site with the link to my original post. You can use this pattern to make items for personal use or for sale. If you sell finished items from this pattern, you must give design credit to Lacy Crochet blog (lacycrochet.blogspot.com). Please, respect my work. Thank you!

Finished Size: Approximately 36 by 28 inches

Materials:

Snuggly Wuggly Big by Loops & Threads, 1 ball (1263 yds/1154 m)

Boye Steel Hook Size 1 (note that I used a much smaller hook than recommended for this yarn as I wanted to achieve tighter stitches. I think the pattern looks pretier that way).

Abbreviations

ch chain(s)

sc single crochet(s)

dc double crochet(s)

sl st slip stitch

hdc half double crochet(s)

( ) contains explanatory information

{ } work all enclosed instructions in the stitch or space indicated

* * instructions between asterisks should be repeated as many times as indicated or as many times as there are stitches to accommodate them

When I refer to shell(s) in this pattern, I mean 3 dc made in same space.

Ch 146 loosely.

Row 1: 3 dc in 6^th ch from the hook, skip 4 ch, 3 dc in next ch, *ch 3, skip 2 ch, sc in next ch, ch 3, skip 2 ch, 3 dc in next ch, skip 4 ch, 3 dc in next ch* 12 times, skip 2 ch, dc in last ch. Chain 2, turn.

Row 2: 3 dc in next dc, skip 4 dc, 3 dc in next dc, *ch 3, sc in next sc, ch 3, 3 dc in next dc, skip 4 dc, 3 dc in next dc* 12 times, dc in last dc. Ch 2, turn.

Row 3: same as Row 2.

Row 4: dc in next dc, *ch 3, sc in space between next 2nd and 3rd dc (it’s the space between two shells), ch 3, skip next 2 dc, 3 dc in next dc, 3 dc in next dc* 12 times, ch 3, sc in space between next 2nd and 3rd dc (the space between two shells), ch 3, skip next 2 dc, dc in next 2 dc. Ch 2, turn.

Row 5: dc in next dc, *ch 3, sc in next sc, ch 3, 3 dc in next dc, skip next 4 dc, 3 dc in next dc* 12 times, ch 3, sc in next sc, ch 3, dc in next 2 dc. Ch 2, turn.

Row 6: same as Row 5.

Row 7: 3 dc in next dc, *3 dc in next dc, ch 3, sc in space between next 2nd and 3rd dc (the space between two shells), ch 3, skip next 2 dc, 3 dc in next dc* 12 times, 3 dc in next dc, dc in next dc. Ch 2, turn.

Repeat Rows 2 through 7 additional 14 times, until you have 91 rows in total.

In the last row don’t make last ch 2 and do not turn.

Trim

Round 1:

Working in end of rows: *ch 1, hdc* in each space across. Make {ch 1, hdc} three times into the corner space.

Wave in the short tail of yarn from the beginning chain.

Working in original chain: *ch 1, hdc into next shell, ch 1, hdc into ch-3 space, ch 1, hdc into next shell, ch 1, hdc into ch-3 space, ch 1, hdc into ch-3 space* across. (You must have 5 hdc per one pattern repeat). Make {ch 1, hdc} three times into the corner space.

Working in end of rows: *ch 1, hdc* in each space across. Make {ch 1, hdc} three times in the corner space.

Working into the last row: *ch 1, hdc into 2nd dc of next shell, ch 1, hdc into space between two shells, ch 1, hdc into 2nd dc of next shell, ch 1, hdc into ch-3 space, ch 1, hdc into ch-3 space* across. (You must have 5 hdc per one pattern repeat). Make {ch 1, hdc} two times in the corner space. Make a sl st to join with the first hdc.

Round 2:

Ch 4, *dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1* across.

Make first corner in the following way: dc in ch-1 space between 1^st and 2^nd hdc, ch 1, (dc, ch 3, dc) all in next ch-1 space, ch 1.

Continue crocheting *dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1* across.

Make second corner in the following way: (dc, ch 3, dc) all in next ch-1 space, ch 1, dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1.  

Continue crocheting *dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1* across.

Make third corner in the same way as first corner.

Continue crocheting *dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1* across.

In the last corner, make (dc, ch 3, dc) all in next ch-1 space. Ch 1, sl st into 3^rd ch of beginning ch-4 to join.

Round 3:

Make a round of crab stitches the following way: 1 crab stitch into each ch-1 space and 2 crab stitches into corner spaces. Sl st into space between 2 dc of Round 2.

Round 4:

Make loose ch grabbing each dc of Round 2 around. Sl st into first ch to join. 

Fasten off.

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