Designs By Muggins

Third Dynasty of UR 12″ Afghan Block Square c. 2016 Margaret MacInnis

Inspired by cuneiform writing, I strove to create a block that has multiple layers of interest, and the more you look at it, the more you see. No hidden messages (at least I don’t think I put any in there, but if you are looking for secret treasure, you’ll have to hook it and figure out for yourself..)

photo by dmbonner–much thanks! Thank you also to dakotastamper for testing on the fly.

photo by wg96girl

Yarn in two colors: Color A (less than 15 g–1/2 oz or 25 yds ) and Color B (about 60 g–2 oz or 100 yds).

Yarn in three colors: See photo above by wg96girl for ideas; Yarn in more colors to achieve variation as above. Block shown also has Canada Goose border.
Hook: I used an H or 5.0 mm but I am somewhat of a loose hooker; I think most people would use an I or 5.5 mm hook
Terms: All American terms

STITCHES AND ABBREVIATIONS
BLO: back loop only
FLO: front loop only
Invisible Join: see link
Magic Circle: see link
sk: skipped/skip
RND: round
DL: drop loop to back and hold on stitch marker for use in another round
Continue reading →

Oftentimes, you’ll be looking a couple of stray blocks and wonder what to do with them.
I like to just make cushions to match whatever the other blocks were doing. I recently joined gifted blocks into two afghans for a recipient (on behalf of our Comfort’ghan Group on Ravelry). At the end, I had two blocks that ‘didn’t quite fit in’. In one case, a beautifully knit block with great borders, had the wrong sort of composition for the fancy afghan, but a bit too much of everything for the texture afghan. So I chose it to go in a cushion, and speak for itself! Another block, albeit gorgeous, just didn’t quite make the cut because it was the odd-man-out for colour (although it was in the specified colours, no one else made one in that colour and it didn’t quite fit). Continue reading →

I finally finished all the edging and thought about what pattern I would use to border this beautiful group collaboration effort, that I was responsible for unifying. My first thoughts were: Continue reading →

So satisfying to ‘free-hand’ borders!

Join is No-Hook-Out (TM) Continuous, developed by yours truly and found here. Very interesting and quick to do. I joined 25 – 9″ blocks in just under 3 hours! (It took me about 10 minutes per block first to put the black equalize round on, though). So including equalize time, maybe 8 hours altogether, and then 3 more hours to actually put the borders on. Not too bad altogether–12 hours or so.
Continue reading →

I recently had the pleasure of joining for our Ravelry group, two comfort’ghans for a member whose husband had surgery. I received quite a few blocks in the mail, and sorted them into blocks suitable for one or the other of the afghans. You can see the first one, the afghan for Verna, in my No-Hook-Out Continuous Join Tutorial. I also joined the afghan for her husband, Carl, in the same way. I’m now furiously applying borders to both afghans, trying to get them done for mailing on Wednesday or Thursday. Continue reading →

No-Hook-Out (TM) Continuous Join Tutorial for Afghan Blocks of any size and yarn weight  c. 2016 Margaret MacInnis

Materials: You need about 100 g (170 yds) of heavy worsted or aran-weight yarn for every 8-10 blocks of 12” each for joining; more for equalizing if you haven’t done that yet. If you are working with DK weight yarn, you will need less. I used exactly 200 g–7 oz for the cranberry join above in the photo; in fact, I had about 2 yds left, so 338 yds. Vanna’s Choice cranberry. My Canada Goose border is in Vanna’s Choice silver blue.

Hook: I like a US H or 5.0 mm for joining, one size smaller than I make most of my blocks in. DK users work accordingly.

Tapestry needle and Stitch markers: if you like to mark corners as you work

Time: 8-10 hours for 20-12” blocks, including a border round following Continue reading →

Happy Easter A’ Chà isg sona

Chicken Feed Block

Materials

Yarn—heavy worsted or aran-weight: Color A and Color B

Color A could be further divided in Color A1 and Color A2 (same intensity, similar shades–or highly contrasted dissimilar )

Color B could be further divided in Color B1 and Color B2 (same intensity, similar shades)

Four Color Suggestion as worked by dmbonner (photo same)

Color A darker: Rnds 1A and 2A, 4A and 5A–cranberry
Color A1 matching darker: Rnds 3A and 6A and 7A—royal blue
Color B lighter: all other B’s. Don’t switch from  6B to 8B—light blue
Color B1 matching lighter: 3B and 5B and 9B—light yellow

US H or I hook (5.0 or 5.5 mm)

Yarn needle

STITCHES AND ABBREVIATIONS

BLO: Back loop only.

DL: Drop loop and hold on st marker keeping to back for use again in following round.

fp: Yo as indicated for st, insert hook from front, to back, to front again around indicated stitch post, finish st as normal.

bp: Yo as indicated for st, insert hook from back, to front, to back again around indicated stitch post, finish st as normal.

BeghdcPC: Beginning popcorn; ch2 as hdc, 3 hdc in same st or sp, drop loop, insert hook in top of beg ch-2, pick up loop and pull through snugly, PC made. Ch indicated number of sts following.

hdcPC/PC: Popcorn; 4 hdc in indicated st or sp, drop loop, insert hook in top of 1^st hdc made, pick up loop and pull through snugly, PC made. Ch indicated number of sts following.

dtrc: double treble; yo 3 times. Continue reading →

Pattern http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ginkgo-crescent

Yarn Paton’s Silk Bamboo in Sapphire–I used just shy of 4 skeins for the 216/8 st version. (about 385 yds).

Needle–I used 5 mm (US 8) circular needle

Gauge–my gauge was close to 18 sts in 4 inches Continue reading →

Photo taken at my farm in rural Saskatchewan. This was one of 6 or 8 sets of parents and goslings. When the goslings are a little older and get their wings, they are called fledglings. A group of Canada goose parents and babies is called a creche. A general ground group of Canada geese is called a flock, and a flying group is called a skein. Which is a fun term for us! Continue reading →

Canada Goose Border Tutorial

Block worked  by vegasangelbrat, border by me, block pattern by Julie Yeager, Firenze, available for purchase here.

c. 2016 Margaret MacInnis

For BAMMM SHAZAAM–your blocks should be pre-bordered with 39 side sts + 1 st per corner.

Materials: Yarn for bordering, blocks you want to border, pattern, yarn needle, scissors. Continue reading →