Monday, 31 October 2016

DAY 8 Blog tour : The Twisted Yarn

Find a fabulous free pattern on the Twisted yarn blog
click link and check it all out
Phil has been very creative and made a gorgeous scarf for you all

find the competition link for another chance to win the yarn pack Phil has used

Sunday, 30 October 2016

SPINNING TOP HEXAGON PATTERN

use a set colour combo or use up all your left overs







POPCORN FLOWER CENTRE HEX BLANKET
for this blanket i used
gold
spice
pomegranate
pistachio
sage
empire
storm blue
and Parchement
and will be making another project with what's left and the other colours..so more to come 


12 petal popcorn flower centre


Followed by circle hex's all in the same colour combination

Followed by 12 more Circle Hex's but you could so flower hex's on this round too if you wanted too




 Pomegranate, Spice, Gold, Empire, Saffron 

The original Spinning Top Design was created to use up left over dk, but you can pick a handful of colours to make this easy hex pattern 
Make it hot and spicy or soft and pastel...



Parchment, Storm Blue, Sage, Pistachio, Pale Rose

Mix all you left overs together or find a smaller colour combination you like, so many to choose from and i'm sure you can think of many more.......  










  1000g of yarn, just perfect for an large Autumn blanket.........and one or two small creations too



For an Aran weight Spinning Top blanket there's an option to add a Popcorn flower in some of the hex's.....or all if you want too..pattern below

I picked 8 colours to try 

 Using the Spinning Top hex dk blanket as inspiration...such a satisfying pattern to work on 

The Aran version looks just as fabulous and grows even quicker than the 
Dk Spinning Top.

The Aran hex measured 9" across, so 19 x 9" hex's would make a reasonably generous throw/blanket




A Blanket pattern with or with out the flower 

a flower centre...with a second round of hex's all in the same colour way but no flower just the circle hex,  then a third round of 12 hex's in random colours making 19 hex's in all. 
Then finished off with a deep border...



PARCHMENT BORDER
 You would need an extra yarn in one colour to do the deep border




SIMPLE BORDER PATTERN 
ROUNDS 1 -2: Corners: 2dc, ch2, 2dc, dc in each st, x 2rows
ROUND 3: Corners, dc, ch3, dc, ch1, miss 1st st, dc in next st, ch1, miss next st dc in next repeat to dip, miss 2 sts, in dips repeat, to end sl st to complete.
ROUND 4: 2sc, ch2 2sc in corners, 1sc in every st, 1sc in dip sp, sl st to complete, cut and sew off ends
You can add more border rounds if you want too






BASIC SPINNING TOP HEXAGON PATTERN
4mm and dk
5mm Hook and Aran
6mm and 2strands of dk or chunky yarn
US Terms
UK  Terms in brackets

Make a finger wrap of 4/5 wraps, or chain 5 sl st into a circle




Round 1: cont. in same col, ch2 counts as first dc [tr], in all rounds.
24dc [24tr], into circle sl st to complete round.


Round 2: att, next col. in any st,  dc [tr], into next 3sts, ch2, miss a st, dc [tr], into next 3 sts, ch2, miss a st, repeat to end, ch2 sl st to complete. (3sts each side)


Round 3: att next col. in the top of any first dc on any side,  2dc [2tr] in first st, 1dc [1tr] in next st, 2dc [2tr] in next st, ch3, move to the next group of 3sts and repeat.
Repeat for all sides.  Sl st to complete. (5sts each side)


Round 4: att. next col. in the fist st of any group, 2dc [2tr] in first st, 1dc [1tr], in next 3 sts, 2dc [2tr], in last st of group, ch3 move to the next side, repeat.
Repeat for all sides, sl st to complete.(7sts each side)



Round 5: att. next col. in any first st of group, 2dc [2tr], in fisrt st, 1dc [1tr], in next 5sts, 2dc [2tr] in last st of group, ch2 move to next side, repeat.
Repeat for all sides, sl st to complete. (9sts each side)
Stop here for smaller hex....and use this round as the join as you go for a smaller hex version.

Round 6: att. next col. in any first st, 2dc [2tr], in first st, 1dc [1tr], in next 7sts, 2dc [2tr], in last st, of group, ch2, move to next side, repeat.
Repeat for all sides, sl st to complete. (11sts each side)


Round 7: att. new col. in any first st, 2dc [2tr], in any first st, 1dc [1tr], in next 9sts, 2dc [2tr], in last st, of group, ch2, move to next side, repeat.
Repeat for all sides, sl st to complete.(13sts each side)

ROUND 8 IS THE JOIN AS YOU GO ROUND
Round 8: att. last joining col. in any first st, 2dc [2tr], in any first st, 1dc [1tr], in next 11sts, 2dc [2tr], in last st, of group, ch2, move to next side, repeat.
Repeat for all sides, sl st to complete.(15sts each side)


JOIN AS YOU GO
Use a sl st at the end of each st, to join to the previous hex, for this design do no join the ch 3 sts only the dc sts should be joined together, this leave a tiny triangle in the centre of each join
 held up to the light you can see the secondary 'hole' or lace pattern that appears after joining...love these secondary patterns in designs 

BIGGER HEX?
if you want a bigger hex then continue the pattern adding the 2sts each side on each round.

join as you go with 9sts, on the smaller hex on round 5 below
using the simple dc [tr], sl st join mini film on how to do this stitch 
PICTURE TUTORIAL HERE on doing my favourite joins you go sl st join
 delicate colouring called for a more delicate flower
DELICATE FLOWER CENTRE OPTION
Finger Wrap, 
Round 1: ch2 2dc[2tr], ch2, 3dc[3tr], ch2, repeat 4 more times, (6 X Granny Shells of 3dc [3tr]).
Round 2: granny shell in each ch2 sp, with ch2 between
Round 3: back to main pattern above.
 This colouring would certainly fit very nicely into my dining room.


Use a liited palette of colours or go for gold and use up all your left overs...both make fab blankets 










 4 or 5 round option another possibility...so many possible colour ways to play with



Popcorn flower Hex Pattern

ROUND 1: ch2 counts as first dc [tr], 12sc [12dc], into the circle, sl st, to complete, cut and weave in ends. [12sc (12dc)

ROUND 2: ch2, counts as first dc [tr], 2dc [2tr], into each st, sl st to complete, cut and weave in ends [24dc (24tr)]

ROUND 3: Att yarn in any sp between a pair of dc [tr], of round 2. Ch3 [counts as first tr (dtr)], 5tr [5dtr], into first sp, turn motif over and sl st into the back of the first tr [dtr], ch3, 
return to front of motif, 5tr [5dtr], into next sp, turn to back and sl st into the ch3, turn back to front and repeat in each sp, to end, sl st into first st, cut and weave in ends.

ROUND 4: CONTINUE WITH THE BASIC PATTERN ABOVE
 Difference in size between the DK and Aran...so much quicker to make the Aran blanket though about half an hour per motif for me to make 






 adding a flower to 2 to the centre of a few hex's works very well too



 LEFTOVERS: All my dk left overs version, same pattern just makes up into a slightly smaller hexagon





 this blanket is made from all of the Special and Life colours that I had as left overs



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