Crochet-Along Clue 8 (Week 9)

[Niterpi]

i'm thinking about making a bunch of half octagons and sewing them into the borders so the afghan will have straight edges.

I was thinking about that last night!

I have done all of the CAL's so far and this is the only one that I haven't been happy with the final result. The design looks kind of like I took random pieces from my stash pile and sewed them all together. Which would be fine if I were doing this on purpose, as I make "ugly afgan's" all the time. The difference between those and this is that in my "ugly afgan's" I purpose my yarn to not match, had I known that this is what it would look like in the end I would have chosen completely different colors! I know that the point of the mystery is to NOT know what the end result will be, but this just looks sloppy to me. Also, the boarder lacks any actual design. Only one row?! We have a TON of extra yarn (almost a full skein of every color), and it is just a boring sc round. I sort of feel bad for complaining, as this has been happening a lot over the last couple of weeks, but the boarder really just pushed me over the edge. If you are going to as us to spend $30+ on yarn please give us a design that we will ALL be in love with, not just most or some of us. I know that we are all at different skill levels, but isn't that the point, to learn as something as you go? Honestly, the only thing I have learned in the last 9 weeks is the DTC, and I didn't even use it because it looked horrible in the octagon! Oh people are going to be mad at me for posting this rant. I am fully prepared for that though. The KAL afgan is beautiful and if I knew how to knit at all I would do that one in a heartbeat! I guess it comes down to you can't please all of the people all of the time. I'll quit now. Sorry for offending those that this has offended.

i have a bunch of extra yarn also. thinking the half octagons can be in main color and the border in the other colors. for the half octagons, I'm thinking about starting with a half granny and then using clue 5 as a template turning it into a half octagon. - that is my working theory right now! could change tomorrow!

[linda2012]

http://www.bernat.com/sg_cr_pearlshell

This would make a beautiful border for our blanket! It sort of repeats the overall design. It's one of the patterns in the Bernat stitch gallery. Also, my thoughts were taking me to suggest a row of either single (or double crochet) in each of your colors, with a final row of reverse single crochet, in either your main or contrast color, depending on how your color choices blend together.

I was thinking of reverse single crochet too. It adds strength and texture to the edge. (NOTE: To do decreases in reverse single crochet border, you can just skip the stitches.)

I really like the looks of rsc! It seems to totally finish the edges because it closes up all the stitches, and gives a nice substantial edge!

[dkcrocheter]

http://www.bernat.com/sg_cr_pearlshell
http://www.bernat.com/sg_cr_shellsandcolumns

These are from the Bernat Stitch gallery and would make a beautiful borders for our blanket! They sort of repeat the overall design. Also, my thoughts were taking me to suggest a row of either single (or double crochet) in each of your colors, with a final row of reverse single crochet, in either your main or contrast color, depending on how your color choices blend together.

On another thread, there was the suggestion of filling in all the edges and evening them out using dc, tc and dtr, if you wanted to have straight sides, then add a final row of contrast in one of the patterns above.....or you could do half octagons to fill in, then one of the borders above........hummm.

Lots of options....especially if you have plenty of yarn left!

HI! Where might I learn how to do reverse single crochet and doing half octagons? thank you

[crochetqueen]

http://www.bernat.com/sg_cr_pearlshell
http://www.bernat.com/sg_cr_shellsandcolumns

These are from the Bernat Stitch gallery and would make a beautiful borders for our blanket! They sort of repeat the overall design. Also, my thoughts were taking me to suggest a row of either single (or double crochet) in each of your colors, with a final row of reverse single crochet, in either your main or contrast color, depending on how your color choices blend together.

On another thread, there was the suggestion of filling in all the edges and evening them out using dc, tc and dtr, if you wanted to have straight sides, then add a final row of contrast in one of the patterns above.....or you could do half octagons to fill in, then one of the borders above........hummm.

Lots of options....especially if you have plenty of yarn left!

HI! Where might I learn how to do reverse single crochet and doing half octagons? thank you

The reverse single crochet is super easy, you just crochet from left to right rather than right to left. If you want a video tutorial you can look it up on youtube. The half octagon might be more difficult to figure out. I'm not sure if there is anything anywhere to teach you. It might be something that you have to just make up on your own, unless someone here has figured it out already and is willing to share their "pattern."

[dkcrocheter]

Oh great, thank you so much. Yes, that would be nice if there was some type of pattern to go by for the half octagon. I have stared at it trying to come up with ways of how I could make that happen

[linda2012]

Try this video on the reverse crochet, also called the "Crab Stitch." It's easy, but feels a bit awkward at first since you are working from left to right!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE-ObvYb ... re=related

Haven't had time to work out a method for doing the half octagons yet. Someone will probably put one up soon. Someone mentioned that Clue 5 would probably be the most adaptable.

[Niterpi]

Oops have to do half hexigonss to fit the edges not half octagons!

[Niterpi]

Traditional hexigon does not fit. I'm done trying to "straighten" out the edge
. I am going to stick to a more basic border

[fuffy]

although, the afghan pics people have posted are lovely - especially the ones that were not made according to the plan - I have to agree with the person who said this is not an attractive design. I am also disappointed with the finished product. I won't be doing another Bernat CAL again.

[Older]

Oops have to do half hexigonss to fit the edges not half octagons!

You could also do half-squares plus half-octagons . Might be easier.