Crochet Motifs: Putting It All Together

If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

Benjamin Franklin US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)

I've always wanted to crochet a top or skirt or handbag using motifs so I picked a motif pattern from a Japanese book I have called 300 crochet motif, edging.  I thought "This is going to be fun and easy and is going to look gorgeous."   An investment in knowledge would have been the better way to go, but not me.  I think I know what I'm doing.  Ha.

Let me tell you, it's not as easy as it looks!  Making the motifs was easy enough and went along quickly.  As soon as I had enough - or what I thought was enough - motifs to make a handbag with, I started sewing them together. 

This is what I ended up with because I didn't have a good plan in mind to begin with....

I mean, YIKES!  So I went on a search on the internet to see if I could find a pattern for putting all these together without having to ruin what I've already started....

I found several patterns that would accommodate what I already had laid out and sewn together...

This one looks very similar to what I had going so I'm working on following the lay out that was pictured on this blog:
Stitch And Chat. 

I've learned a lesson by all this, that I can't just crochet and expect everything to turn out easily.  I have to have a plan in mind besides just picturing something in my head.  I think in the future I'll make paper motifs and put them together first, making a pattern outline for my crocheted motifs.  Taking out the stitching after motifs were already sewn together was very difficult and nerve wracking.  I was fearful I would cut the wrong thread of yarn and ruin a motif or two.  A few times I pulled on the wrong loop when trying to take out a stitch and had to work the yarn back into the motif so it wouldn't hang like a dead leaf about to fall off a tree. 

I'm going to finish this bag, even if it kills me and it might do just that.  lol.  It's been a headache but once I'm done with this one I'll be able to make the next one (for my daughter) in no time at all.  I found crocheting the motifs was fun and easy and went along very quickly.  I'm really looking forward to the next motif bag because I know what I need to do now.  **take the time to check a pattern before just sewing motifs together and hoping I'm doing it right**  duh.

Will post the finished product as soon as I'm done (which at this rate could be in a year or so!  lol)

Crochet Tutorial: Seed Stitch

In an earlier post I mentioned the Soft Seed Stitch Scarf and Hat pattern and thought I would post a quick photo tutorial for the seed stitch for you.


After working a round of making stitches in the BLO (back loop only) of previous row :


sc in first st, dc in unused loop of next stitch:

 This photo shows how the unused loop of the stitch from the previous row lines up with the stitch above which you leave unworked.  You only work the dc into the bottom loop as shown below (hopefully)

Red arrows indicate where a dc is worked.  An "X" is where you do not work a stitch.  The white arrows show where the sc is worked.  Hopefully this helps.  Here's a few more photos that may help you see how it's supposed to look and one showing the dc pulled forward to skip a stitch and sc in the next..  (You skip the stitch that the dc would have been made in if you were working in  that same row.)

Above the photo shows end of hook pointing to the unused loop of stitch of previous row (between two dcs) - the loop where the dc will be worked. 

Photo above shows the dc just worked pulled forward (at the asterisk), exposing the stitch that you will skip and working the sc in the next stitch.

I hope this helps and does not confuse!

Good luck and have fun!