Friday 10 July 2015

Motifs Make Me Happy

Hello, hello! It's already July and it's been months since I made a blog entry! I will talk about this hiatus on a different post because projects need to be shared. Right away!

I have been busy decorating a "special place." As some of you might know, I am quite fond of crocheting motifs. I use them mostly to make accessories and home accents. The motif pattern I recently undertook wasn't new to me. I actually made earrings with it, using DMC Pearl Cotton Thread. This time though, I wanted to try it out with bulky yarn, and this is what I got.
I didn't exactly plan to make 7 pieces. My original plan was to use the original pattern as a jump-off point to make a larger piece by making my own pattern. I had several attempts but all of them didn't come out right, so I went back to the same smaller pattern and decided to attach each one as I went along.
Each motif is around 14 inches in diameter. I crocheted them using 2 strands of Gantsilyo Guru Bulky Cashmere Blend in Royal Purple and Grey and with an 11.5mm Susan Bates Crystalites Hook. I tried making a motif with just a strand, but it didn't come out as bulky as I wanted. I used 2 whole cakes and around 20% of another cake for each of the 2 colors (total of 3 cakes per color).

By the way, if you're wondering how I used 2 strands using the last cake (because for the first 2, I just put together the strands from both of them), I just pulled out the inner tip of the cake and combined it with the outer one. It's a good way to conserve yarn (instead of getting 2 cakes), especially when you're just going to use a short length.
Using this yarn for a "rug" is quite a splurge just because the feel is really nice. Projects crocheted or knitted with this yarn are usually scarves/shawls or afghans. I would rather look at it than step on it! This is a good project though if you want a decorative piece on your floor that you want to sit on or you want your kids to play (or lie down) on. It's not the kind of rug you wipe your shoes on (excuse the feet).
Aren't motifs awesome?!?! Try looking at them under a different light and experiment with them using bulky yarn. You can create an entirely new project just by changing the size of your yarn.

The motif pattern is Pattern No. 186 from the "300 Crochet Motifs Pattern Book." All materials are available at our online store, Gantsilyo Guru Selections.