May 19, 2009

Swoon!

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Sandra Juto’s amazing crochet work by sfgirlbybay. The moment I saw this afghan my heart swelled and I knew I was in love. I keep staring at it, studying it, and coveting it. I have to make one.


I’ve been harboring the desire to pick up crochet seriously for some time now, even putting it on my list of things to accomplish this year. At first I thought this was way out of my league but as I’ve studied Sandra’s blog and flickr stream I’ve realized it’s made out of granny squares. Each granny square is a fun little project of its own, making the whole afghan doable for a complete novice like myself.

Sandra’s afghan uses a pattern she created herself. After a few googling sessions though I believe it’s based on a sunburst granny square. Lots of tutorials exist online so I hope I can figure it out. Now I need yarn and lots of it. Typically granny squares use up all your scraps of yarn from other projects but I’m starting with nothing. No yarn and no yarn buying experience. What I do have though is a gift certificate to a yarn shop the dudely gave me a Christmas or two or three ago.

Before I dive right in, any crocheters out there? What advice can you share with me? I need every piece you can throw my way!

Photos by Sandra Juto, smosch.com

3 comments:

Misty said...

Wow, that is a gorgeous afghan. I've also been inspired by all the gorgeous colorful crochet blankets out there and started one myself a couple of months ago.

I'm not sure if you are interested in various shapes, but Attic 24 has a nice tutorial on hexagons. http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/hexagon-howto.html

I just used a motif book and chose a motif that I liked.

I would highly recommend the join as you go method. You can find it at http://moonstitches.typepad.com/photos/block_meet/01.html
Even though she gives hexagons as an example, you could still apply it to the square shape that Sandra Juto used for the final round (the white portion) of her pattern.

Best of luck!

Tamara said...

Hi Tory....I will endeavour to post my pattern by Sunday....I think my pattern is a lot easier than the sunburst pattern...at least I hope so.

Don't worry about your crochet skills, I taught myself just over a year ago, and if I can do it than so can you...happy to help in any way I can:)

Tam xo

peawink said...

It really is a breeze and very satisfying. Just make sure you stick with one hook ... somewhere along I grabbed a bigger hook and didn't realize - will just have to make a matching pillow. My biggest tip is to tuck in your tails as you go. Hold them along the edge of your crochet and stitch them right in .... saves a lot of time in the end.