testing out the stitches

I bought my CAL yarn!  I got the Stylecraft Special DK in these shades (which I mentioned in my last post):

I bought two of each color except the pale rose, in which I only purchased one because the only thing I’m using it for is the border.  That’s 21 skeins, which will be more than plenty, I believe, to make a full sized blanket, although I may only choose to make a large throw so that I can make a second throw another time.  I do love throws…

Anyway, with some scrap wool I had lying around, I tested out some stitches I’m hoping we can use, and they all worked.  I have a picture for you but I must say that it looks a poor due to the nonexistent lighting in my apartment and the fact that the yarn colors themselves were mostly dark ones…

Labeled for your convenience!  There are some rows of plain old dc and hdc (US terms) in there as well just to space out the fancy rows.

Whatcha think?  I think I would like to figure out something else that would fit with the stitch count I’ve got going (I’ve been doing so much math — I had to look up a least common multiple calculator online and it knocked many of my stitch ideas off the board).  I’ve already found this granny spike pattern that should work, and the wave and chevron stitch from the inspirational blanket  would also work.  I do hesitate to do consecutive rows of sc just because it make such a tight, stiff fabric that would be at odds with the other stitches, but a couple of rows here and there would be fine.

Not seeing your favorite stitch pattern?  If there is a stitch you would like to add, see if it fits this count (or see if you can alter it to fit):

The total of stitches across can be any multiple of 24, and then add 1 more stitch.  i.e. 25, 49, 73, etc.  (This is the number of STITCHES across, NOT the number of chains we start out with, due to the fact that we add extra chains to count as our first stitch.  Make sense?)  This means that any pattern repeat that evenly divides into 24 will work (2, 3, 4, 6, 8), so long as you can stick on that extra 1 stitch at the end, which most of the time isn’t a problem.  If your stitch pattern works, share it and someone else might want to use it!  The Ravelry group page would be a good place for that because you can add pictures of a swatch.

If you’re a new crocheter, I’d recommend practicing the “fancy” stitches beforehand.  Here are some tutorials for what we’ve got lined up now:

catharine wheels

bobbles  (I know this is my tutorial but I ended up adding an extra stitch in the bobble itself for added poof)

full star stitch

granny stripe

You know, as eager as I was at the onset of this idea to get going ASAP, I’m now glad that we don’t start for another month.  Gives us all time to get our yarn together, practice any difficult stitches, and add more stitch patterns if we want to.  I finished my last assignment of grad school today (HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!!), so I should have more time on my hands unless I magically get a job and have to move or something.  Magically is about how it would have to happen — none of my fellow students are having any luck finding a job either.

Anyway, please let us know if you’ve got a stitch idea, and I’ll be looking, too!  Thanks for stopping by!