Crochet-Along Clue 7 (Week 8)

[Patty]

One week late, but my afghan is seamed. I tried slip stitch but it seemed too bulky, so I seamed as suggested. It wasn't bad & I really like the way it looks. For years I avoided whenever possible making a motif type blanket because of the seaming. Little did I know how easy it was, thanks Bernat.

[JustBets]

What memories you'll have of this afghan, Alley and Kinda. I pray you can look back on it someday and remember the good. My condolences to you both.

My daughter got so excited for me seeing the motifs all laid out and halfway seamed.

[Shandeh]

I want to share a personal story about sisters, friends and the spirit of crocheters. My sister and I and 2 friends began the CAL together. Into the second clue my sister suddenly became ill, she was in ICU for over 3 weeks and we lost her on March 30th. Our two CAL buddies made our Clues for us during this time so we would not get behind. I am going to try to finish Clue 6 myself. I will sew our afghans together and our friends will help with the border. This is to be my sister's last afghan. There is no way to repay our friends but to give them our afghans when they are finished.

What a sweet, sad story!
Thank you so much for sharing with us.

[Shandeh]

So here we are, the morning of the final clue (?). I have enjoyed looking at everyone's progress on the spoiler page, I am behind though so any photos of my CAL will be a long time coming. Being a slightly inexperienced crocheter, I am seaming the way that felt the best to me which is slip-stiching the sides together. I have 2 rows seamed and am feeling a bit like the tortoise in the Tortoise and the Hare story. Slow and steady though right?

I'm cheering for you! Go Jcrochet!

[Shandeh]

:bravo: IT'S WEDNESDAY!!! GETTING MY MORNING CHORES DONE, THEN OFF TO GROCERY STORE SO I CAN SPEND THE REST OF MY DAY ON THE FINAL CLUE.

just a little excited i think. this was really fun and can't wait for the next one.

Sweet! Love how excited you are!

[Shandeh]

One week late, but my afghan is seamed. I tried slip stitch but it seemed too bulky, so I seamed as suggested. It wasn't bad & I really like the way it looks. For years I avoided whenever possible making a motif type blanket because of the seaming. Little did I know how easy it was, thanks Bernat.

Awesome! So glad you have gotten in the groove of seaming.

[Shandeh]

My daughter got so excited for me seeing the motifs all laid out and halfway seamed.

Neat! No doubt, you are an inspiration to her - on how to stick with a project and get it done!

[singtring]

Okay, I have hit a mental block!!! I am having a hard time with this mattress stitch...does anyone know of a good video showing this? Many of the videos show knits. I am probably over thinking this...my neighbour just called, I am going to take the dogs for a hike and hope that while out there the walk will help me re focus....

[dogfoster]

It's been awhile now since I looked at videos but I think the ones I saw were knit too, and I don't knit so don't know how many "layers" you have to work with. But for crochet, take the two motifs right sides up and place them next to each other. Secure them in the corner, then go up thru next stitch on the bottom loop only, then on other motif, go up with needle through corresponding bottom loop, then go up thru bottom loop on next stitch on the first motif, and zig zag back and forth like that. If your stitch count is off between the two motifs, you can easily fudge it by doing the same thing , (going up through one bottom loop at a time) for two of the bottom loops on whatever side you have too many stitches on. Then every so often you need to gently pull on the working yarn to tighten up the seaming. I used this mattress seaming for a lapghan I made. The yarn I was using pulled so much when I tried to tighten up the stitches so I switched to Caron Simply Soft and it slid through them very nicely.
After I got the hang of it, I held the two pieces with fronts sides facing together and just flew through it. But to begin I did place the two motifs side by side front side up and worked back and forth. Hope this helps. I was so happy to learn this joining technique and it took me a while to figure it out too.

[karenarp]

Okay, I have hit a mental block!!! I am having a hard time with this mattress stitch...does anyone know of a good video showing this? Many of the videos show knits. I am probably over thinking this...my neighbour just called, I am going to take the dogs for a hike and hope that while out there the walk will help me re focus....

Ok, this is not mattress stitch, but after trying both for my afghan I much prefer this one! It did take longer but I imagine the more seaming I do the faster and better I will get at it
http://doyoumindifiknit.typepad.com/do_you_mind_if_i_knit/2010/02/joining-up-with-an-invisible-stitch.html
This stitch truly made a flat seam, where the mattress stitch left a bit of a ridge (then again, maybe I just did the mattress stitch incorrectly! - anything is possible)