Ruby's Crafty Diary

Hi again. As you all know by now my current WIP is the Pom Pom Rug. This was designed by Ellen Gormley and was featured in July August edition of Crochet Today

The pattern itself is very simple. A circular base using Red Heart Super Saver in Magenta.

Here’s a tension swatch of 3 rounds

As you can see it’s just treble crochet but worked in the back loops. This leaves the front loops to work the pom pom yarn through.
Here’s a closer view.

The finished base should measure 40″, but I think I can safely say now that I have a tendency to crochet a bit tight. My finished base measures 36″. Tension is the one key factor that you must knit or crochet to, especially if you are making garments. Now that I have more experience of crocheting this is something that I will have to keep in mind. However, for these sort of projects, it’s not too big a deal, so I’m glad I didn’t have to frog it and start again.

Here’s the finished base

The pattern said to use 3 skeins but I ended up using just under 2 skeins. Now Red Heart Saver is allegedly America’s best selling for the past 70 years. I must admit that it has quite a coarse feel to it, which, for this project, doesn’t really matter as you would need something hard wearing for the base. I’m not too sure whether it softens up in the wash, but I found it quite scratchy. Not the sort of yarn I would personally choose to use to make up a garment. But like, I said, it may come up nice and soft after a wash.

So, that’s the first stage of the process. It really didn’t take long to make up as the yarn is like an Aran and worked on a 6mm hook, it grew very quickly. Taking it to the local football match last Saturday gave me plenty of time to really plough through it. They’re only our local town’s footie team. They don’t really play very well, but DH, George videos all the home matches for the few fans that turn up and he also runs their website

OK, part 2 will follow later. Don’t forget that you can always have a peek at my Ravelry page to keep you updated with pictures and other queued projects.
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/girlyracer

Beware though if you are a knitter and/or crocheter, Ravelry should come with a warning

Hello fellow yarnies. Some of you will know that my DD, Laura-Jayne is off to University this September. She’s off to Lincoln Uni to do an undergraduate course in English with Journalism. We’re just waiting nervously for her A Level results to come through. We’ve roughly, another 3 weeks to wait before we know the final outcome.

Like many 1st year undergraduates, she’ll be living on campus. The accommodation is basic but comfortable but they can’t decorate it with paints and wallpaper. In fact, they’re even strict on putting up posters on the walls. Only blue tack is allowed. So the only way to jazz up their rooms is for the students to accessorize with soft furnishings and personal effects. With this in mind I’ve been looking to hone my new crochet skills on different projects.

Last month I was in my local WHSmiths going through the craft magazines. Well, there’s loads for knitting and other crafts, but not much out there for crochet. But I did spot for the first time the US magazine Crochet Today

Whilst flicking through it I saw the pattern for the Pom Pom Rug. It’s a fair sized rug, 40″  diameter so it’ll be perfect for LJ’s dorm room.

Well, when I saw it I thought oooh yes. Showed it to LJ and she fell in love with it. Even the colours are her as she loves bright colours. So I checked for yarn and of course being a US magazine it uses US yarn. Not being too familiar with converting US to UK yarn I thought, blow it, I’ll buy it online from the States.

It uses 2 types of yarn. Red Heart Super Saver for the base. This is an Aran / 10 ply (8 wpi)

and Red Heart Pomp-a-Doodle for the top layer, which is a Super Bulky (5-6 wpi).

I got the Super Saver yarn on eBay really cheap, 3 x 7oz (198g) skeins with shipping cost me £16.38. The Pomp-a-Doodle was more expensive to buy as it retails at $4.99 for a 50g ball, plus I got hit with customs. I bought 10 balls in total, plus shipping and customs came to £74.87. So this rug is costing me, or, should I say DH £91.25.

Ooops . Mind you, if you equate it to a comparable UK yarn, it’s probably only a little bit more than I would’ve forked out. I’m lucky that DH doesn’t mind and is quite understanding when it comes to my hobby purchases.

Well, that’s enough rambling for now. I’ve got some piccies of the rug but I’ll save that for the next installment.

Continuing on my vintage squares, here are the next 4 in the series.

Square 5 is a treble square with a large cross. Worked in Turquoise, this square is just rows of basic treble crochet.

Using some leftover Clover Pink yarn, a cross shape made of cross stitches is embroidered in the centre. This one was quite easy to embroider.

Square 6 is a ribbed pattern square. Looks very much like knit one purl one in knitting.

Worked in Maize, the ribbing effect was achieved by working in relief treble crochet. This is normal treble crochet but it is worked around the stem of the stitch through the back and through the front. Not a difficult stitch to master.

Square 7 is a half treble square with a star motif.

Worked in Sailor Blue yarn, the square is worked entirely in half trebles,forming a dense fabric. With Redcurrant, a simple star was embroidered in the centre in straight stitch.  A couple of small stitches helped to fasten the straight stitches.

Square 8 is a square with coloured bobbles.

Using Aubergine yarn, this square has a treble crochet background. The bobbles are then worked in alternate rows using leftover Redcurrant, Clover Pink, Maize, Sailor Blue and Vanilla yarn.

Got some more squares to make up, but at the moment I’m busy working on the rug for my DD. I’d like to have it ready for when she goes to Uni in September.