Raw Rustic Cotton and Bamboo Throw!

Good Morning from a sunny Mother Africa!  The Throw that I have been working on for a while ('cause I ran out of yarn and so did my supplier) is finally finished - well that is apart from the weaving in of ends that is still happening . . .  It is such a soft, beautiful throw and I enjoyed every minute of the process from selecting the colours to deciding upon the appropriate hook sizes, joining methods and edging. I have made about 4 different postings about this project over the past weeks and attach the links below where appropriate. 

Pattern: 

The 70 squares are hooked in HDC

Ring: Ch5, close with ss. 

Row 1: Ch2 to form first stitch and then another 15hdc. Close round with ss. 

Rows 2-5: Ch2 to form first stitch and then 1hdc, 1ch, 2hdc (this is the first corner). Rest of the 3 corners 2hdc, 1ch, 2hdc. For the rest of the stitches between the corners: 1hdc in each. 

Repeat until there are 5 rounds in total.

See my posting On the Hook! where I blogged about the idea and stitches

Yarn:

 hand-dyed cotton, bamboo and cotton-bamboo mix

See my posting titled Wabi Sabi for more about inspiration for projects and yarn choices

Joining Method

I absolutely fell in love with the joining method I used for this throw.  I will be writing more about the method in another posting and will also refer you to a YouTube tutorial by someone else that thoroughly showcases this easy but visually appealing method. 

At first I was interested in joining the squares via the flat braid method, but I realised that the method was not suitable to a highly textured yarn.

Edging

I tried out a lattice edge in two different sizes - 3 chains as well as with 5 chain lattice but discarded the effort as I felt a simple edging would be more suitable to the yarn. The final edging consist of 3 rows hdc in the bamboo/cotton yarn and one row sc in the cotton.  The hooksizes suitable to these yarns are 3,75-4,5 mm.  I however hooked the throw in 5,5 and 6,5 mm - using the 6,5 mm for the lightest in weight in order to achieve the texture I was after.

Blocking

I steam blocked the squares in a rather rustic manner on a block made of nails and a rustic piece of wood 

See my posting titled Why I blocked all my squares for more information on the process

Stitch and Texture 

Squares in hdc, edging in sc

This throw is showcasing lovely texture by using a simple pattern, 3 different kinds of yarn and 2 different hook sizes.  It is lovely to say so myself and I am still playing with the idea of joining the squares with the flat braid pattern.

See my posting titled Progress where I blogged about the yarn and texture

I will post about the next wip on my hooks soon!  This time it is a modern looking Baktus stripey scarf in single crochet. I have a soft spot for the Baktus knitted scarfs that made the rounds among the Norwegian blogs a while back and designed a skinny version in single crochet to achieve the minimalist look I am after.

Have a wonderful weekend!

4kcbwday6 - Blogging the Blocking

This is a Blog Week posting, day 6

See my posting Why I blocked all my squares for info on steam blocking

4KCBWDAY6 - A tool to covet