Tunisian Crochet Started...

After indecisively trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my newly purchased Tunisian crochet needles I finally decided on something. I had seen a lot of mentions that it is a good stitch to use for charts so why make a plain boring afghan when I can find a cool chart to Tunisian crochet. I used YouTube to learn how to work a graph using this method. I first started with a circle chart with circles of different sizes and colors but after about 25 rows I was not pleased wit how this was going so I did one thing I don't like to do....pulled it apart. I continued my search and wanted a whimsical heart that could be done in any color but still be for a baby girl. This is the pattern I chose from Passion Creative Blog after looking at many images on Goggle. There are a lot of cross stich patterns on this blog.

The blog/website is in French which is where the translate tool comes in handy. Although I did not need any directions because fro cross stitching as a young child I remembered how to read a chart. The thing I like about doing this in the Tunisian crochet method is that I only have to read the chart one way. I wanted this to be a nice size blanket that could be used in the crib, in the car seat, or whatever so after finding the middle mark in the chart I added stiches to both sides as well as below and above the charted area to add size to the blanket. I printed two copy's and put one in a sheet protector an used one to mark off as I go as well as any notes about stiches and color (as seen in the first picture). I chose a tan color for the heart that was in my stash and I found a pound of caron in an off white in my stash also which I'm using as the background. I did use the bobbin method in the form of bobbins and mini yarn balls as far as the different sections so I wouldn't have to carry yarn except in some spots. It's fairly easy and only gets difficult when my three year old tries to take off with my balls of yarn as I am crocheting. When I run out of a color in a particular section I use the magic knot method to attach more yarn. I have made more progress since I took this picture-15 more rows completed so only about 76 more to go.... My goal if to do at least 10-15 rows a day!

Another Project at the Same Time- Sunburst Granny

In addition to my Tunisian crochet heart blanket I have grown to like the Sunburst Granny Squares. I found a great tutorial over at Nittybits BlogSpot. Jenny does a great job with this tutorial. Again with yarn from my stash I just chose three colors and this is what I came up with. I now have about 34 sunburst and I still want to make some with a purple center so maybe I'll do about 42 total or more depending on how I feel.

As you can see I still need to add the 5th row to make it a square but I'm debating whether to do each or join as I go. Row five will be white.

Now I'm back to crocheting...

Thanks for stopping by,

T. Mitchell