Monday, 10 October 2011

Happy Hooker Backwards Project #35: Skullholders

The day before I went into hospital I had managed to whip up the next project in the Happy Hooker Backwards project.  I had been really keen but slightly apprehensive about this one so I was so happy to find the pattern a dream to do :)

Once I got the hang of switching colours I got to enjoy the simple nature of colourwork. Though I must admit the mess on the underside of this kind of crochet makes me very twitchy indeed!  It's just not neat, and I love neat.  If you are making colourwork things like these you can expect the back side of your work to look rather like this...


*shudder*

Terrifying isn't it?  But just try not to think about it because the other side looks like this...

DSC_0470


DSC_0469

DSC_0473

Of course in order to properly show off these potholders I had to recreate the picture in the book itself, which meant I had to make a pie.  I used a recipe from one of the contestants in the first series of the wonderful Great British Bake Off.  Remember Ruth's beef pie from series one?  Well, no, neither did I until I looked it up.  The recipe is here and let me tell you it was yummy scrummy...

Mosaic - Skullholders

One beef pie served up in style with the new skullholders :)

And here's the project lowdown:

  • Cost - about £3 - I used less than a ball of each colour to make a pair. 
  • Yarn - Any double knit would do, but I used Patons Smoothie DK as I am slightly in love with its creamy smooth texture.
  • Hook - 4mm
  • Difficulty - Once you get the hang of the colour switching this is no more difficult that just crocheting a simple square of single stitches. 
  • Overall happiness with finished object - very pleased with this one.  Not only were they a pleasure to make, but they are also very tactile and cool to look at, plus they are super-useful! AND I had to make pie to show them off.  Total bonus.



  • By the way do you like my pie dish?  Pretty cool right?  More on that later this week! 

    3 comments:

    1. If you want to avoid the messy reverse, rather than dropping the yarn when you change colour, lay it over the top of the stitches of the row below. Crochet as usual, but your stitches should hide the other yarn. It's a bit like when you finish a piece and weave in the ends, but you do it as you go along.

      Does any of this make sense? If not, I'll have a crack at blogging it so I can demonstrate with photos xx

      ReplyDelete
    2. You can either stitch right over the not-in-use color as you go, or you can cut the yarn and weave it in every time you change colors to avoid the messy back. :)

      Glad you got some good stuff done while you had to be laid up!

      ReplyDelete
    3. Yes, both these tips make sense! Thanks girls! For this project it didn't matter as the underside is hidden, but I am about to embark on another colourwork project to I'll give those tips a go!
      Ali
      x

      ReplyDelete

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