Building Blocks Cross Stitched

I am not a big fan of letting small children watch a lot of TV.  But lets face it, sometimes, when you have a toddler, you would just like to do the dishes or cook a meal with the least amount of fuss possible.  This is my excuse for letting Bug-A-Boo watch a bit of TV.  And what is the only show that my little rascal asks for time and time again?  It's The Muppet Show.  Not any of the movies, or the newer versions, but the original 1970's variety show.  And since only three seasons of the original five have been released, these episodes have been replayed many times in our household.

Now this little look into our home life is relevant to the current project because, my mind wanders.  It goes something like this: I'm watching yet another rerun of Kermit singing "It's Not Easy Being Green", having been raised on a lot of Jim Henson's work from the 70's and 80's I am reminded of "The Rainbow Connection" sung by the same Muppet, this reminds me of artwork that I used to like to draw with colored pencils in rainbow drops that sometimes met on the paper in interesting ways, which led to me starting to sketch the pattern for this month's cross stitch piece.

See, almost anything can be relevant... Sort of...

After the last framing attempt I decided to try to frame this one myself.  After a Google search, I found a pretty good tutorial on FeltMagnet titled "How to Frame Your Cross Stitch" by Kymberly Fergusson.  This is a pretty good overview of how to frame a cross stitched piece and what to look for while you're doing it.  My experience would have probably gone a bit smoother if I had read the tutorial more closely before jumping in, but what would have been the fun of that?

Looking at this piece now, it brings to my mind crystal formations forming and joining together.  Sometimes it reminds me of magnified portions of pictures from the Hubble telescope.  What ever it reminds you of,  I hope that you enjoy creating your own.

Feel free to change the thread, the gauge, or the size.  Just please don't try to sell the patterns as your own.

If you would like to purchase a pdf download of this pattern from Etsy, it can be found here.

If you have any questions about the pattern, please email me at GridMammalCrafts@gmail.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Building Blocks Cross Stitch Pattern

Materials:

·         18 Count Aida Clothe – Color: Off White

·         DMC 445 Thread

·         DMC 552 Thread

·         DMC 703 Thread

·         DMC 741 Thread

·         DMC 996 Thread

·         DMC 3801 Thread

·         Tapestry Needle

·         Embroidery Hoop

Finished Size on 18 Count Aida Clothe:

·         4” Wide x 3.5” Tall

Notes:

·         Each crossed Stitch is done with two strands of DMC thread over one square of Aida Clothe.

·         All stitches are full crossed stitches

Key:

Chart:

Bastard Fillet Crochet Table Runner

It's March, and in honor of this truly spectacular year, I give you a piece based on one of my favorite curse words, "BASTARD".

I never think of this word in any sort of legitimacy or legal sense.  To me, this particular relates relates to a certain behavioral disposition of a person or occurrence that is particularly annoying and/or aggravating.  It's like the work "dick", but without the biological connotations.  Plus, I find it more fun to say

For awhile, back when there was seemingly more time in the day, I was working on a project to transform some of our most common curse words into filet crochet pieces.  This was a surprisingly meditative task that brought a smile to my face when times were a bit on the irritating side.  One of my biggest of these projects, (mostly due to the amount of letters it has) was done with my favorite seven letter curse word.

With the current state of things today, it seems that this piece has taken on a more relevant life than when I first made it.  The lettering and border harks back to my interest in Celtic knot work (you may recognize the border from an earlier posting).  At the time that this runner was designed I was also reading a book on the Arts and Crafts movement, so some of those visualizations filtered into it's construction

I hope that you enjoy this runner and it brings a smile to your face.

If you would like a pdf of this pattern and have a Ravelry account, a copy can be found here.

If you would like a pdf of this pattern from Etsy, it can be found here.

Feel free to change the thread, gauge, or size to fit your needs.  Just please do not try to sell this pattern as your own.

If you have any problems that you think that I might be able to help you with, email me at GridMammalCrafts@gmail.com .

Bastard Runner

Materials:

·         5 Balls of Aunt Lydia’s Crochet Thread, Extra Fine Size 30, 500 yds, White

·         1 Steel Crochet Hook, Size 11, 1.10 mm

Gauge:

·         5 Filled Squares Wide x 8 Filled Squares Tall = 1 inch x 1 inch

Finished Size:

·         35” Wide x 21” Tall

·         108 squares tall x 276 squares long

Notes:

·         Chart rows that are highlighted yellow are duplicate rows from a previous chart.

·         This piece was crocheted along the short way from one side to the other, and the directions are written with that bias.

·         Remember, the last double crochet stitch in a block is the first double crochet stitch of the next block

·         All instructions are written in American crochet terminology.

Key:

            Filet Crochet

·        

Filled Square = 1 Double Crochet Stitch through the top of the next 4 stitches from the previous row

-         

First Filled Square in Row

-         

Filled Square

·        

Open Square = 1 Double Crochet Stitch, Chain 2, skip 2 stitches of the previous row, 1 Double Crochet Stitch in the next stitch of the previous row

-         

Open Square

Charts:

·         Unfortunately, for ease of reading, the pattern had to be broken up over several pages.  The edges of each row and column are numbered and the section of the pattern is labelled with a header.  The sections are oriented as shown in the following table.  I would suggest, depending on your tastes, working along an entire row as you go along.  This will take you across a couple pattern pieces as you finish each line.  On the final page you will find the pattern in its entirety, but very small to fit on a single page.

A	B
C	D
E	F
G	H

Just the Beginning:

            Base: Chain 324 (loosely) + chain 3     

                        (This the will create a base chain of 324 and the chain 3 will be the first double stitch of the wall of the first square)

            Row 1: Turn work, double crochet into the fourth chain from the hook, double crochet into the next 323 ch

            Row 2: Chain 3, turn work, dc into the second dc from the hook, dc into the next 323 dc, dc in the end ch 3

            Row 3: Chain 3, turn work, dc into the second dc from the hook, dc into the next 5dc, (ch 2, skip 2 dc, dc in the next dc) x 104, dc in the next 5 dc, dc in the end ch 3

Charts:

       A

       B

       C

       D

       E

       F

       G

       H

       COMPLETE