Time out

Hello there,

although it's only been a few months since I've reactivated this blog, I'm afraid I have to take another break again.

I've never mentioned it before, but back in September 2016 I had quit my last job to figure out what I want to do (professionally) for the next few years of my life. Took a little longer than expected, and that's why I had a lot of time for crocheting and blogging :)

Well, in the beginning of July I started a new full-time job, and so I have to shift my focus again and give this new challenge my full attention. I hope you understand that with the limited spare time I probably won't be able to crochet and blog as much as I would want to. So I thought I'd better let you know that I'll be away from blogland for now, instead of letting you wonder what happened :)

Luckily, I was able to share some new patterns with you over the last few months, and of course they'll remain here on this blog, always accessible via my Patterns and Tutorials page.

Thanks for following me so far,

wishing you all the best,

Baby Sunburst Baby Blanket (with Square Pattern)

Hello, hello, hello!

Although I really love making baby blankets (and that's why I'd been making lots of them for sale recently), my favorite blankets are those that I make for friends, when a baby is on the way :)

When my friend was expecting her second baby (a little sister for the 2-year old boy), I asked her, what kind of blanket she'd like. She said that - since the little one would mostly wear her brother's neutral clothes in the beginning - she wanted a typical "girlie" blanket with girlie colors, flowers and stuff. So, what do you think? Is that a "girlie" blanket or not? :)

When my friend mentioned flowers, I searched Pinterest high and low for a pattern that I liked. And although I've found lots and lots of beautiful flower squares, somehow I couldn't make up my mind. Most flower squares are 3-dimensional, and although they are truly beautiful, in my mind I had the idea of a "flat" flower. Something like the traditional Sunburst Granny Square (I think the original designer is Priscilla Hewitt, please correct me, if I'm wrong).

Actually the Sunburst Granny Square would have been the perfect fit, but I thought it was a little bit too big: it's great for bigger blankets, but for baby blankets I somehow like to work with smaller squares. So I've tried to figure out a way to make a Sunburst Square, that's just a little bit smaller than the original.

Here you see the comparison, on the right is the original Sunburst Square (with 16 petals), and on the left is my adaption (a Sunburst with 12 petals):

Using the smaller version, I could join 9x9=81 squares to make a cute little blanket. I connected them with the last round in a continuous join-as-you-go method. Of course I've worked with Stylecraft Special DK again and used the following colors: Cream (for the background), Lemon, Apricot, Candy Floss, Fondant, and Sherbet.

Don't get me wrong - the original Sunburst Granny Square is perfect as it is, but if you ever want to make a smaller one, here's my version:

Baby Sunburst Square

based on the Sunburst Square by Priscilla Hewitt

Pattern Notes:

For this pattern I use US crochet terms. Starting with a "magic ring" (or sliding loop) we’ll need the following basic stitches: chain stitch (ch), slip stitch (sl st), single crochet (sc), half double crochet (hdc), double crochet (dc), and some

Special Stitches:

Puff-Stitch: *Yarn over (yo), insert hook into indicated stitch and pull up a loop to the level of your work* 3 times, yo and pull through all 7 loops on hook.

Double Crochet 4-together (dc-4-tog): *Yarn over (yo), insert hook into indicated space and pull up a loop, yo and pull through two loops* 4 times, yo and pull through all 5 loops on hook.

Round 1:

Start with a magic ring, ch1, and work 12 sc inside the ring. Join with a sl st to first sc and fasten off. (12sc) (The sl st does NOT count as a stitch!)

Round 2:

Join a new color with a sl st to any sc, ch-1 loosely (doesn't count as a stitch), and work (puff stitch, ch-1) in every sc around. Join with a sl st to top of first puff stitch and fasten off. (12 puff stitches)
(You can also start this round with a standing puff stitch instead of the loose chain)

Round 3:

Join a new color with a sl st to any ch-1-space, ch-1 loosely (doesn't count as a stitch), and work (dc-4-tog, ch-2) in every ch-1 space around. Join with a sl st to top of first dc-4-tog and fasten off. (12 dc-4-clusters)
(You can also start this round with a standing dc-4-tog instead of the loose chain)

Round 4:

Join a new color with a sl st to any ch-2 space, ch-2 (counts as first hdc) and 2 more hdc into the same space, ch-1. *(3dc, ch-2, 3dc, ch-1) into the next space, (3hdc, ch-1) into each of the next two spaces. Repeat from * around until you reach the beginning of the round (omitting the last hdc-group) and join with a sl st to top of beginning ch-2. Fasten off and weave in all ends.

If you want to join the squares with a continuous join-as-you-go method like I did, you only work the first three rounds and then connect the circles in one continuous process using the 4th round of the pattern (i.e. with hdc's on the sides and dc's in the corner) with the ch-1 spaces and corners as joining spots.

I hope you've enjoyed this pattern! :)

A Tale of Five Blankets: Chapter 13

Hello World,

there's one more blanket left in my collection of baby blankets that I've made recently for my shop, and this might even be my favorite one (maybe because it took sooooo  long).

This blanket is made with 324 tiny 2-round granny squares that I've joined together while working the second round. So, 324 squares - that means 648 ends to weave in, plus some for the border. Phew, no wonder it took me so long :)

This blanket was inspired by two other projects, that I had seen years ago, and ever since then I had wanted to make a similar blanket. One is Sandra's Giant Granny Patches on Cherry Heart, the other one is Rajeswari's Giant Granny Patch Blanket on Diaper Mum.

Based on Sandra's and Rajeswari's color palette, I've made some substitutions here and there and added some more, so I finally ended up with 20(!) different colors of Stylecraft Special DK:

Cream

Stone

Mocha

Silver

Saffron

Apricot

Shrimp

Fondant

Lipstick

Claret

Plum

Pale Rose

Clematis

Wisteria

Aster

Cloud Blue

Aspen

Teal

Meadow

Spring Green

Since the blanket already had a good size for a baby blanket, I've only added some more rounds of dc and finished with the border I had already used for my Starlight Baby Blanket.

Although I've mentioned in the beginning, that this was the last baby blanket in my collection, there's still one more blanket to show - one that I made not for sale, but as a gift for my friend's second baby. It's a Baby Sunburst Baby Blanket, and I'm gonna tell you all about it in my next post. :)

Thanks for visiting today and I hope to see you soon back here,

A Tale of Five Blankets: Chapter 11 & 12

Hey there,

I'm back today with a new episode of my Tale of Five Blankets.

Today I want to show you two blankets with a similar color palette.

For the first one (above) I've worked with Stylecraft Special DK in Storm Blue, Duck Egg, Grey, Stone, and Cream. The pattern is Dots'n'Dashes by Darla J. Fanton, that I had already used several times before. I've made this blanket for my shop, and since it sold pretty quickly, I thought I'd make another one with similar, "boyish" colors.

If you're a frequent visitor of my blog, you recognize this pattern (my favorite one) at once: it's the double-ended crochet baby blanket pattern which is available for free on Woman's Day.

On one side I've worked block stripes with the Stylecraft Special DK colors Storm Blue, Duck Egg, and Mocha. For the back side I picked Cream.

Although I usually work with bright rainbow colors, I have to say that I'm pretty pleased with the way these two blankets have turned out :)

Spoiler ahead: if you're a fan of colorful blankets, you shouldn't miss the next chapter... :)

See you then and have a great day,

c2c-Pattern: Baby Lion

Pattern: Made in K-Town by Barbara

Please respect my rights as designer:

do not sell, share, translate, or publish any parts of this pattern (including pictures)

online or elsewhere without my permission.

Do not claim this pattern as your own.

Based on a free lion clipart, this graphic pattern

was processed, edited and simplified with the online-tool Stitch Fiddle.

Feel free to sell the finished items you’ve made from my pattern!

If you do, a link-back to my blog www.made-in-k-town.blogspot.de would be great.

Thank you!

Some General Notes:

To use this pattern, you should be familiar with the c2c-technique. A good tutorial with instruction videos and further ressources can be found on http://thecrochetcrowd.com/corner-corner-graphghans-beginners-tutorial/

The pattern does not include instructions for the border.

The pattern contains a chart and also row-by-row instructions for the color-sequence in table format. To keep the structure clear, I offer this pattern as a 3 pages PDF.

More pattern notes are included in the PDF.

I hope you enjoy this pattern!

>>> Download Baby Lion C2C PDF <<<

Window Shopping

Hey there!

It's been a while since my last blog-post (thank you all so much for your comments on my Starlight Baby Blanket, I'm glad you all like the pattern!). Today I thought I'd show you a round-up of things I've made recently to fill the shelves of my new DaWanda-Shop. But don't worry - this is not an attempt to lure you into my shop :) I know that the readers of my blog are more interested in making than buying, so I've included some pattern-links for you!

Although I'm really not a fan of amigurumi (there's far too much attention and concentration required for my taste *gg*) I sometimes stumble upon a pattern that's just too cute to resist, like this clown here:

It's a paid pattern by Mari-Liis Lille from Lilleliis, and I can tell you it's really worth the money! She's got a whole bunch of lovely patterns, so I've also made these cute Cuddly Babies:

Since both these dolls and my baby-blankets take some time to make, I also wanted to offer some smaller, quicker-to-make items in my shop, and so I've made a selection of baby teethers. Using wooden rings, I sealed them with coconut-oil and simply worked a few rows of single-crochet stitches around half the ring and added a little hanger (just because I thought it looked cute *gg*):

The idea for the other rings I've made is inspired by the Bunny Slope Teethers, a free pattern from Playin' Hooky Designs. To make the strap that is attached to the ring I didn't work in rows like the original pattern suggests, though, but made up a pattern myself that is worked in the round.

And of course, I've made some items that are based on my own patterns, like this set of spiral coasters...

... or some pincushions in different color-combinations.

And just because I've heard on Television that toilet paper covers are SO yesterday, I even made one of those using my latest mandala-pattern - just to prove a point :) Well, the cover still hasn't sold yet, but I'm not losing hope! :)

Last but not least, I felt like making some more crochet covered stones. If you've been following my blog from the start, you know that every once in a while I've made those stones as gifts, and I thought they'd be a nice addition to my shop.

Well, that was mostly it, I hope you've found some inspiration today :) 

Currently I'm working on yet another baby blanket, but it's taking me longer than expected. In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you the pattern (both graphic and written) for the c2c lion blanket I've made recently.

So stay tuned for the next blog post with the free pattern! :)

Have a great and sunny day,

Starlight Baby Blanket Pattern

Pattern: Made in K-Town by Barbara

The stitch-pattern is based on the Fantasy Shawl, a free vintage pattern.
The adaption as a multi-colored baby blanket including border is my original design.
Please respect my rights as designer:

do not sell, share, translate, or publish any parts of this pattern (including pictures)
online or elsewhere without my permission.

Do not claim this pattern as your own.
Feel free to sell the finished items you’ve made from my pattern!
If you do, a link-back to my blog www.made-in-k-town.blogspot.de would be great.

Thank you!

Material and Size:
I’ve worked with Stylecraft Special DK in the following colors: Cream, Lemon, Apricot, Clematis, Sherbet, and Spring Green. Using a 4.0mm hook, my blanket measures 85cmx70cm (33.5”x27.5”). The pattern is easily adjustable to any desired size, so you can use your favorite yarn and hook without problems.

Pattern Notes and Special Stitches:
For this pattern I use US crochet terms. From the basic stitches we’ll only need the chain stitch (ch), slip stitch (sl st) and the double crochet (dc), plus some Special Stitches:
Star Stitch: will be explained in the pattern
Double crochet 2 together (dc-2-tog): yarn over (yo), insert hook into first indicated stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops on hook, yo and insert hook into the next indicated stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops on hook, yo and pull through the remaining loops on hook.
Double crochet 3 together (dc-3-tog): yo and insert hook into first indicated stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops on hook, *yo and insert hook into the next indicated stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops on hook*, repeat from * one more time, yo and pull through the remaining loops on hook.
crossed double crochet (crossed dc): will be explained in the pattern
double single crochet (dsc), sometimes also known as “mini bean stitch”: insert hook into indicated stitch or space, yo, pull up a loop (2 loops on hook), yo, insert hook into the same space again, yo, pull up a loop (4 loops on hook), yo, pull through all 4 loops on your hook.

How to use and change colors:
I’ve worked the first two rows, every following star-stitch row (repetitions of row 2), and the last row (the last repetition of row 3) in Cream (the main color) and every dc-row (repetitions of row 3), except for the last row, in a different color. You could also do it the other way round, i.e. working the star-stitch rows in different colors, and the dc-rows in the main color. When changing colors at the end of the row, you already use the new color to finish the stitch, i.e. at the end of the star-stitch row, you already pull through the five loops on your hook with the new color and work the following ch in the new color as well. At the end of a dc row, you finish the dc (pull through two loops) with the new color. When you drop a color, cut the thread and leave a tail – we’ll work over the tails when we come to the border. (Tip: before I work over the tails, I knot the tails together that are right next to each other)

Note:
Although the pattern is pretty easy to do, I had some troubles explaining it in words (especially the border), so I made an extra swatch and took pictures of the progress to help you with my instructions. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Pattern:

Row 1
Ch-131 (or any odd number of chains as needed for desired width), dc in 5th ch from hook, *ch-1, skip 1 ch, dc in the next ch*, repeat from * across, working the last dc into the first ch from beginning, ch-2 and turn.

Row 2
Note: the expression “pull up loop (pull up lp)” means: insert your hook into indicated stitch or space, yarn over (yo), and pull through the stitch/space.
Pull up lp in second ch from hook, pull up lp in first dc, pull up loop in first ch-1 space, pull up loop in next dc, yarn over (yo) and pull through all 5 loops on hook, ch-1 (The chain is often referred to as the “eye of the star”). *Pull up lp in the ch just made, pull up lp in the same dc, pull up lp in the next ch-1 space, pull up lp in the next dc, yo and pull through all 5 lps on hook, ch-1 (star-stitch made)*, repeat from * across, working your last star-stitch like this: pull up lp in the ch just made, pull up lp in the same dc (that’s the last regular dc in the row), pull up lp under the next ch (= turning chains from the start of the last row), pull up lp in the next ch (that’s the next of the turning chains, see picture), yo with a new color and pull through all 5 lps on hook, ch-1 to close the star stitch, ch-3 and turn.

Row 3
Dc into the eye of the next star-stitch, *ch-1, dc into the eye of the next star-stitch*, repeat from * across, working your last dc into the turning chain (the one, where you’ve already pulled up a loop in the previous row, see picture). Finish the last dc (i.e. pull through 2 lps) with the main color, ch-2, and turn.

Row 4 - end:

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until your blanket has the desired height. For the last repetition of row 3, use your main color.

A word about turning chains: experienced crocheters might wonder, why I started row 1 with a dc in the 5th chain from the hook instead of the 6th, and why I use 3 turning chains instead of 4 at the end of row 2. Actually, you would expect 4 turning chains, to count as the dc and ch-1 we need, and the original pattern for the Fantasy Shawl does indeed suggest 4 turning chains. However, I’ve tried it like this, and found that after a few rows the edges started to widen and make a bend. Working with 3 turning chains like I do here, we end up with nice, straight edges. I guess you just have to trust me here :)

Border:

Before we start with the border, you might want to pick your favorite side of the blanket. The sides look a bit different, so you start the border with your favorite side facing you. I’ve picked the side with the right side of the star-stitches facing (right picture)

Rnd 1:

The first row of the border is a round of dc with 3 dc into the corner-stitches. Make it like this:

Top Edge:
Continue with (or attach) your main color in the right corner, ch-3 (counts as dc) and 2 more dc into the same stitch (that’s your first corner), then make a dc in every ch-1 space and in every dc across. For the next round to work out, it’s important that we have an even number of dc on the edges (not counting the 3 corner dc on both ends), so you have two options: either you squeeze in an additional dc somewhere, or you work a dc-2-tog over a ch-1 space and the following dc (that is what I did, see picture). Make 3 dc into the corner-stitch.

Side Edge 1:
While working down the sides, work your stitches over the tails of the color changes. Place your stitches into the spaces of the dc-rows and into the side of the star-stitches. This is either the eye of the star, or the first turning chain that marked the beginning of the star-stitch row, depending on which side you’re working down first. It will be the other way round, when you’re working the second side.

Work 2 dc into the first gap, then a dc-3-tog over the same gap, the next star stitch-row and the next gap. *2 dc into the same gap, dc-3-tog over the same gap, the star stitch, and the next gap*, repeat from * across, until the last gap and make your 2 dc in there. Now count your stitches (without the 3 corner dc): if you’ve got an odd number of stitches, make one more dc into the same gap and finish the edge with 3dc into the corner stitch. If you’ve got an even number of stitches, you can work your 3 corner dc right away. (note: with an even number of star-stitch rows, the stitch-count should work out without adjustments: in my example I had four star-stitch rows and an even number of stitches on the edge, see picture)

Bottom Edge:
Make a dc in every ch-1 space and in every dc across (actually you’re working your stitches not into the dc, but into the chain where you’ve made your first-row dc of course). Adjust your stitch-count like you did for the top edge (i.e. by working a dc-increase or a dc-2-tog), and work your 3 dc into the corner stitch.

Side Edge 2:
Same as Side Edge 1, close the round with a slip stitch to beginning ch-3 of the first corner. Don’t turn.

(In case you wonder, why I’m working all those dc-3-togs along the sides: I wanted to make a nice dense edge to cover the loose tails completely, but without increasing the stitch count. Alternatively, you could just make 2 dc into each gap and 1 dc into the side of the star-stitch row, if it doesn’t bother you that the tails might be showing.)

Rnd 2: 

The second border round is worked with crossed dc. If you’ve followed the pattern exactly as described so far, you should be at the ch-3 that counted as your first of 3 corner dc, so we can start with the new corner right away:

Ch-4 (counts as dc and ch-1), and - working behind these turning chains – make a dc into the dc before. That’s your first crossed dc. Dc into the next “free” dc (=the second corner dc), ch-1, crossed dc – working behind the stitch just made – into the the stitch before (=first corner stitch =top of 3 turning chains). Dc into the next free dc (=the third corner dc), ch-1, crossed dc into the stitch before (=second corner dc). Dc into next free dc (= first dc of the top edge), ch-1, crossed dc into the stitch before (=third corner dc). Now that we’ve made our first corner with 2 dc (regular or crossed) coming out of each corner dc of the previous round (see picture), we can go on with the edge: *skip the next free dc, dc into the next dc, ch-1, crossed dc into the skipped dc*, repeat across until you reach the next corner, then continue as described for the first corner, i.e. not skipping stitches between the dc, but working two dc (regular or crossed) into each of the 3 corner dc. Then go on with the crossed dc along the straight edge again. Continue this way until the end of the round and join with a sl st to third ch of turning chains. Do not turn.

Maybe this sketch can help, too:

Rnd 3:
We’re almost there! Sl st into next ch-1-space, ch-1 (doesn’t count as a stitch), dsc into same space, ch-1. For the dsc – or “mini-bean-stitch” – see pattern notes above. (Dsc, ch-1) into the next space, (dsc, ch-2, dsc) into the next space – this is your corner, see the following sketch:

Unfortunately the sketch looks pretty crooked (sorry, I’m not that good at drawing graphic patterns), but in reality the corner ch-1-space (marked light green in the sketch), is right in the corner, right above the middle corner dc of the first border round, you can see it better in the next picture:

Continue with (dsc, ch-1) in every ch-1 space around, with (dsc, ch-2, dsc) in the according spaces of the remaining corners. Join with a sl st to first dc, fasten off, and weave in all the ends. And that's it! :)

I hope that the instructions were not too confusing

and that you’ve enjoyed this pattern!

As usual, you can share your finished project and notes on Ravelry.