Crochet Now Magazine | Geo Zing Wrap

For the latest issue of Crochet Now magazine (Issue 81) I’ve paired the popular corner to corner (C2C) technique with a bold geometric design in a new wrap called ‘Geo Zing’.

Picture of C2C Geo Zing Wrap featured in Issue 81 of Crochet Now Magazine — © Practical Publishing 2022 (Crochet Now Issue 81)

If you’re not familiar C2C crochet, it’s a stitch that creates a solid fabric by creating ‘squares’ which is worked on the diagonal. Once you’ve learnt the C2C stitch it’s easy to work and it’s fantastic for creating shapes (or pictures) with crochet.

Changing colours might seem a bit scary, but once you perfected your technique it’s more about keeping your yarn organised so that you don’t get in a tangle which can seem like the tricky part!

Picture of C2C Geo Zing Wrap shown on mannikin

I’ve actually kept this design to just two colours so as to keep tangling issues to a minimum! I used 2 balls of Scheepjes Whirlette in Tasty Treat (878) and Rose (859) with a 3.25mm (US D/3) hook. It’s a yarn cake made from 40% Acrylic / 60% Cotton with a weight of 100 grams [455 meters length].

Unlike the bigger sister Whirls, which you might be familiar with, Whirlettes are balls of solid colour, fabulous for mixing with a Whirl to extend a Whirl cake project or perfect for using on their own like I have.

I then used some matching Scheepjes Catona (in Cyan shade 397, and Tulip shade 222) for the tassels at either end. Catona is 100% mercerised cotton and comes in 10g, 25g or 50g balls, it has a soft delicate sheen that I thought would work brilliantly in a fringe.

This striking geometric print wrap will certainly add a zing of colour to your wardrobe as the sun starts to shine – and would make an ideal cover up for spring evenings or summer parties.

❤️ SAVE GEO ZING WRAP ON RAVELRY ❤️

Issue 81 of Crochet Now is full of lovely patterns; this month they are focusing on finding positivity in the small things. With that in mind, they’ve got plenty of bright and cheerful patterns to add a little cheer to your month (and a couple that might give you a laugh or two)!

The magazine is available to buy from most supermarkets or you can grab a digital version from www.craftstash.co.uk/books-magazines

Front cover of Issue 81 of Crochet Now Magazine — © Practical Publishing 2022 (Crochet Now Issue 81)

If you make up the Geo Zing wrap I hope you’ll share any finished photos with me on social media (facebook, twitter or instagram) or as a project on Ravelry – I love to see what you make! And finally you may wish to make sure you are signed up to blog (below) and / or my mailing list to get a reminder when new blog posts, discounts or new pattern releases are available.

Until next time folks! Happy hooking and keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

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7Aug2019

Bit of a roll with C2C…Cedar River Crochet Blanket

Posted in Blanket, Crochet, From the Stash, Tah-Dah, Yarn by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Howdy folks! How are you? And me? Well I’m on a bit of a roll with corner to corner (c2c) blankets actually and I forgot to tell you all about this other blanket I finished!

You may remember that I posted about the fun ZZ Block baby blanket I made (read about that here) which was completely non-traditional – well for my latest c2c project I’ve kept to a more traditional palette.

So here’s the finished blanket I made – what do you think? I seriously love how fast c2c blankets work up and this one, although this blanket is made up from smaller motifs, still works up relatively quickly.

The pattern is the Cedar River blanket by Kat Goldin (of Gartur Stitch Farm) which she originally created as a crochet-along for Deramores in 2015. I missed this design somehow when it was the crochet-along but stumbled upon it when I was looking for C2C blankets ideas and I love the bold geometric shapes the motifs create when put together in a certain way using different colours.

Capture_7bf16266-83e5-4052-a60d-56b7dd4c2ddf — © deramores.com 2015

For my colour choice I turned to my favourite gender neutral colour combination grey, white and yellow (or grellow as it’s also known). As my friend didn’t know what she was having I thought those colours would be perfect for her little one – and also I know her pram is grey so I thought having a little grey in the colour scheme would work perfectly.

I may have mentioned that I’m trying to be good, where buying yarn is concerned, as I really do have so much, so I went stash diving again for this blanket and found some StyleCraft Aran yarn so I didn’t have to buy anymore. The pattern is actually written for making in double knit and a 4mm so I knew my blanket would come out a little bit bigger using the Aran (worsted) and a larger hook but that’s the yarn I had enough for so I just went with it! In case you were wondering what colours I used in my version they are;

White (1001)
Lemon (1020)
Grey (1099)

The blanket was obviously bigger in the end but still okay as a baby blanket or a lap blanket I thought.

It’s always a nice rest for me working on someone else’s pattern because I’m not having to do the brain work, someone has already done all that for me, and I can just hook away without having to stop and make notes and that sort of thing.

More often that not I have these sorts of projects as the ones I take out and about with me too as it’s more difficult to be designing on the go – do you have projects like that? This one was great for taking out and about with it being motifs and I remember a lot of it being completed on various train journeys!

The clever design of this blanket produces such a pleasing effect that I just love and mum to be loved it too. If you like this blanket it’s available for free from Deramores – where you can also buy the yarn for the blanket too if you are inclined to do so.

I’m now looking for my next c2c blanket project – do you have any suggestions of ones you have enjoyed? I’d love to hear them.

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx

3Apr2019

So I finished a thing…ZZ Block Crochet Blanket

Posted in Blanket, Crochet, From the Stash, Tah-Dah, Yarn by Keep Calm and Crochet On UK

Hey folks! I’m celebrating today as I’ve finished a thing!!! I’ve completed a whole baby blanket for one of my lovely friends who is expecting a second baby boy later this month.

I do like to make my friends a baby blanket if I can, and I adore seeing their little ones wrapped up in something I’ve made them – it’s a guaranteed way to make me smile. But then I love to see children either wrapped in or dressed in handmade things full stop don’t you?

So here’s the finished blanket I made – what do you think? I love how this blanket turned out, my husband calls it the superhero blanket because it’s got that cool zig zag flash design running through it!

The pattern is the ZZ Block blanket by fellow blogger Rosina (aka Zeens and Roger) and when she posted this design on Instagram back in October last year it was a serendipitous moment – I knew it was going to be the perfect blanket to make for my colour loving friend!

My friend comes from Zimbabwe and she’s an avid lover of all bright colours and the bold graphic c2c design by Rosina just seemed to fit what she’d like perfectly.

I don’t know if you’ve seen Rosina’s original blanket but it features the zig zag in yellow, turquoise, blue, magenta and pink on a grey background.

I really loved the colours she used and the grey contrast but I personally really wanted to see what that zig zag looked like in a rainbow! Plus I’d found the perfect set of bright little baby tops that I knew would fit perfectly with my rainbow theme – especially if I could colour match!

As I’m trying to be good, where buying yarn is concerned, I went stash diving and found some of the Paintbox Yarns Simply Aran yarn I had left over from making my zig zag zing cushion (free pattern from LoveCrochet available here) and I had enough Paintbox yarn to complete the rainbow colours. I did have to buy a bit more grey – but I figured as I was using up some of my stash then it was still good to do that! The Paintbox colours I finally ended up using (in case you want to know were):

Granite Grey (206)
Rose Red (213)
Mandarin Orange (217)
Buttercup Yellow (222)
Neon Green (210)
Marine Blue (233)

In the pattern notes it suggests that if using a 4.5mm hook and aran (worsted) weight yarn (which I planned to) that the blanket would be 80 x 110cm / 32 x 43 inches. This was going to be a bit big for the amount of yarn I had so I fiddled a bit with the initial pattern a bit to reduce it slightly. It’s still the pattern in a nutshell, just smaller as I was careful to keep the integrity of the design feature that I loved. I didn’t actually measure the finished blanket (I forgot!) before I gifted it but it ended up what I would say was just the right size for a baby blanket / lap blanket.

I was so pleased with the end result of this blanket and mum to be loved it too – especially because of all the bright colours which I knew she would!

If you like this blanket the chart (it’s not a written pattern) is available for purchase from the Zeens and Roger Ravelry store where there’s also a link to a video with extra C2C help if you need it.

Sometimes it’s nice to go non-traditional for a baby blanket isn’t it as the end results can be really fun! Do you like to go non traditional or would you usually make something for a baby in more traditional pastels perhaps? I’d love to hear your thoughts…

Until next time; keep calm and crochet on my friends xx