LillaBjörn's Crochet World

It’s Granny Square Day today! And I am so proud of myself for not only being on time this year, but also for being able to design a special contribution. I called it just “A Sea Square”. Because of the blue shades I chose. And because a long-awaited sea vacation is waiting for me next week.

I don’t know if you feel the same, but for me the summer always feels like a “short life”. Everything is slowed down on one hand. In summer I am always traveling to Belarus, my home country, to see my parents and to reunite with my family and friends. Usually, there is no much time for design and crochet. This summer I have picked up my hook maybe twice in two long months.

And later, when I am back home from all travels, it’s quite difficult to get back to a creative mood again. Somehow summer is the most relaxed, but the most busiest time as well.

When I returned from Belarus two weeks ago a small package from Scheepjes was waiting in my mail box. The package contained three skeins of newly release Chunky Monkey yarn – in cream and two shades of blue.

Premium acrylic yarn in aran weight with anti pilling quality

And because there is no better way to re-start designing than to grab the hook, a cup of coffee and to actually start crochet – I decided to play with new yarn a bit to see what happens. And… a new square was brought to life.

I started with a simple center with linen stitch and used only two colors for a “false brioche” look, as I call it. Then a small border was added around the center. And then I thought I’d play with linen stitch and cables for a textured fabric.

This was my first time trying Chunky Monkey yarn by Scheepjes. It’s a heavier version of existing Colour Crafter line – premium acrylic in aran weight. I’ve made several blankets with Colour Crafter yarn, and I am very happy with their softness and drape. They were washed several times in a washing machine already, and I am still pleased with how they look and feel.

New Chunky Monkey yarn was improved with anti-pilling quality for even more durability and perfect look. The yarn is super soft, it doesn’t split and stitch definition is nice. Just a perfect choice for quick chunky projects – both in knitting and crochet.

Chunky Monkey yarn comes in 100g balls with 116m/127yards. 5mm crochet hook is recommended but I’ve noticed that bigger hook gave my square a better drape. Of course, everything depends on the exact type of the projects, but I would choose 5.5-6mm hook for cables and such.

Scheepjes Chunky Monkey yarn is available in local Scheepjes shops and via online retailers: Wool Warehouse and Black Sheep Wools (both in UK with international shipping), Caro’s Atelier (NL and Europe).

A Sea Square pattern will come soon!

And for now – Happy Granny Square Day!

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We are approaching my favourite time of the year – the fall! I am eagerly waiting for cooler days, more colors outside, moisture in the air. And even the light October rains! This is the time when I can breathe fully, take long walks in the woods with my dog and wear my favourite warm clothes. And I can predict that one of my most worn garments this autumn will be a freshly finished Metropolis Cardigan. Its crochet pattern has been released today, hurray!

credit: frozen-photo.com

Metropolis Cardigan is already the fourth (!) garment in my series of top down crochet designs. It’s following Esja sweater with brioche yoke, Huldra sweater with overlay colorwork and Fjell cardigan with extended mosaics.

New cardigan is featuring a simple lace and open yoke with a possibility to choose from two different cuffs: a small lacy border (can be also added as the bottom hem) or a “balloon” cuff for an even more gentle and feminine look.

credit: frozen-photo.com

The pattern is available online on Etsy and Ravelry and is offered with 20% discount through the first release weekend (until Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019). The pattern has been discounted already and the price you see is final, so no additional codes are needed.

credit: frozen-photo.com

The name “metropolis” was inspired by a brand new yarn of Scheepjes. It’s a fingering weight yarn with wool blend (75% Merino extra fine x 25% Nylon) coming in balls of 50g/200m and 80 (!!) gorgeous colors! Each color is named after a world’s famous city. For my two samples I chose shades 017 Multan and 019 Marseille. You can either crochet the cardigan in just one color, or combine different shades to give extra accents to the yoke and cuffs.

And I believe that “Metropolis” is a perfect name for a casual city garment which can be worn every day.

credit: frozen-photo.com

We had a lot of fun with Vitali Frozen (frozen-photo.com) taking pictures in the very center of Prague in June. The caves we found were artificially built but they look very authentic. It almost felt like being in Italy or Greece. And it was also the hottest day this summer with +34C!! But surprisingly woolly Metropolis didn’t make me too hot.

credit: frozen-photo.com

Because of the lacy yoke I would rate this pattern as advanced beginner or “light” intermediate. As with every crochet garment, the gauge is very important for the perfect fit and size. But otherwise the stitches are pretty general and simple.

The pattern contains full written instructions, three charts (for the yoke and two cuffs options) and progress pictures to guide you through the short rows and all lacy elements.

credit: frozen-photo.com

Metroplis cardigan is easy to adjust as-you-go to perfectly fit your body. All you need, is to try it on from time to time to see if extra increases or decreases are needed somewhere.

If you’d like to use the same yarn as I did, please, find Metropolis yarn in local Scheepjes stores and via online retailers: Wool Warehouse* and Black Sheep Wools* (both in UK with international shipping), Caro’s Atelier* (NL and Europe) and Temombo* (Canada and US).

credit: frozen-photo.com

Looky look at the wonderful pieces created by my magic testers. I’m pretty sure all of them will be used a lot!

1. Long sleeved version by Sandra Veneman (L size, Scheepjes Metropolis)
2. Summer version with ¾ sleeves and small lacy detail by Loele Van Den Bergh (S size, Scheepjes Skies Light*)
3. Light sleeveless version by Sarah Fabbri (L size, Scheepjes Skies Light*)

1. Longer version with ¾ sleeves by Esther Schippers (2X size, Scheepjes Metropolis)
2. Long sleeved version by Claire Shipton (M size, Sock Yeah yarn)
3. Colorful version by Laura Jackson (S size, Scheepjes Metropolis in 3 colors)
4. “Balloon sleeved” version by Faye Pike (XL size, Scheepjes Metropolis in 2 colors)

credit: frozen-photo.com

And just a remind, Metropolis Cardigan pattern is available online on Etsy and Ravelry and is offered with 20% discount through the first release weekend (until Tuesday, September 3rd, 2019).

Hope you enjoy!

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Hey! I know you have been impatiently waiting for the new Scheepjes CAL to be announced. And believe me, I have been waiting for this very moment even more impatiently. After almost two years of secret work finally here it is. Rozeta CAL! My pride, my dream and probably my most epic design!

What is the Rozeta CAL

Rozeta CAL is a rectangular blanket inspired by stained glass Gothic windows and magic of Northern Lights. Two different techniques were used to design this blanket: tapestry and overlay crochet. Round “flower” mandala is first framed with textured border and then squared up with corners. A rectangular tapestry panel is added at the bottom of the blanket. And finally, a stained glass border is crocheted around entire piece.

Inspiration

I’ve been a part of Scheepjes bloggers tribe for 4 years now (can you imagine it’s been 4 years already?!), and every year I enjoyed seeing and being a part – in a way – of annual Scheepjes CAL’s. I was observing from a distance and admiring all stunning designs and skills put into creating them.

Before Scheepjes approached me with a new CAL offer two years ago, I already had a few design ideas in mind which, I thought, would work nicely as crochet-a-longs. But after I felt brave enough to take this challenge and responsibility, I made quite a few swatches and apparently none of my ideas worked…

It felt like Rozeta was waiting for me from the very beginning. A picture of a stunning cathedral window literally “jumped” on me one day from Pinterest. And from that very moment I knew for sure I wanted to design a large stained glass mandala.

Word “Rozeta” is a Czech term in architecture describing large round stained glass window usually placed above the entrance of the buildings.

After first small test samples were finished, I thought that Our Tribe yarn would be perfect for this design. Its soft and beautiful color changes reminded me of Northern Lights which I have never seen in real life, but have been dreaming of. And suddenly I felt that it would be great to create my own “northern lights”, like looking at them through a beautiful “rozeta” window in different times of the day.

Here are several close-up to show magic colour changes and texture. And hopefully you’ll feel the drape of Rozeta blankets.

Not that I got a chance to create a design of my dream, I also developed a special colorway of Our Tribe yarn especially for Rozeta CAL – it’s called Lilla 2.

Our Tribe colorways were then “translated” into a brighter version with Colour Crafter yarn. I tried to keep the same look (each Our Tribe shade is presented with two Colour Crafter shades), with even bigger splash of colourful happiness! Both versions are very soft and drapey, and Colour Crafter blankets are a little bit bigger in size. I am in love with both!

Official Rozeta CAL Kits

There are 2 kits (Our Tribe and Colour Crafter) each available in 4 colour ways: Dawn, Twilight, Dusk and Midnight.

Colour Crafter: Price Dawn, Twilight, Dusk: €39 / £29.99 / $45, price Midnight: €35 / £25.99 / $40
Our Tribe (luxury): Price Dawn, Twilight, Dusk: €99 / £89 / $115, price Midnight: €89 / £79 / $105

All kits contain a Rozeta CAL special edition label, a wooden decorative ornament, a skein of embroidery thread, an embroidery needle and a letter from the designer. The Our Tribe kit also contains a Special Edition Scheepjes Project Bag.

Kits will be on sale via most Scheepjes retailers from September 18th 2019:

local Scheepjes Shops(support your local stockists)
Wool Warehouse* (International)
Black Sheep Wools* (International)
Deramores * (International)
Caro’s Atelier* (Netherlands and Europe)

Finished Blanket’s size

Rozeta blanket comes in one size:

Our Tribe - approx. 118 x 148cm/ 46.5 x 58.3” after blocking
Colour Crafter - approx.145 x 175cm/ 57 x 69” after blocking

Dates and Pattern release

Rozeta CAL begins on the 9th of October 2019 (following pre-CAL week on the 2nd of October, 2019) and it will run for 11 weeks - until mid December.

Each pattern piece will be made available as a downloadable pdf on Wednesdays 13:00 Dutch time / 12:00 UK time. You can access these from the official Scheepjes Facebook Groups or via the Scheepjes website: International CAL Group, Dutch CAL Group, Scheepjes Website

Pattern Support

I will follow Rozeta along and post mini photo tutorials for every week to help with the most difficult stitches and places. But please, note that in order the pattern is not revealed with progress pictures, there will be no complete photo-tutorial available.

However, Esther Dijkstra will provide detailed video tutorials at It’s All in a Nutshell every week (UK terms and Dutch).

Translations

Official PDFs will be available in English (UK and US terms), Dutch and German.

In coming weeks more information about Rozeta CAL will be published on my blog and in Scheepjes Facebook groups. So stay tuned not to miss the details!

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p.s. This blog post contains affiliate links (marked with *). I might be compensated with a tiny amount from purchases made via these links, while you will not pay anything extra. Thank you very much for your support!!

It all started a year ago. I found a little puppy in the streets of Minsk. She was so small, and lonely. And scared, and cold. I could not leave her alone under the rain and took her home hoping to find her a new family. We gave her a name Milana. Thanks to support and help of my friends and readers she got everything she needed: a proper food, vaccination, a collar and a bed. she was livinf in a foster family for almost two months. And then, one happy August day last year she was adopted by a wonderful people. Today she is called Arti. And she is one of the happiest dogs in the world.

Add this pattern to your Ravelry Queue

I visited her this summer in Minsk, to give a hug. And also to bring the rest of the money we could raise for her and other stray animals in Belarus. The money was spent on vaccinations and food for dogs and cats in need. And they are sending many thanks to people who were helping us a year ago. Arti’s story had a happy end. And I truly believe that every puppy in the world deserves a loving home.

Last year I designed a “doggy pillow” in tapestry crochet for Inside Crochet magazine to celebrate this belief. And now, when copyright is back to me, I decided to republish this pattern on my blog. Hope you’ll enjoy!

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Purchase ads free ready-to-print pdf with full written instructions and photo-tutorial HERE on Ravelry and HERE on Etsy.

MATERIALS

Scheepjes Stone Washed and Scheepjes River Washed yarn, 78% Cotton x 22% Acrylic, 50g/130m

Yarn A: Stone Washed 829 Obsidian x 3 balls
Yarn B: River Washed 962 Narmada x 1 ball
Yarn C: River Washed 961 Mersey x 1 ball
Yarn D: River Washed 959 Ural x 1 ball
Yarn E: River Washed 952 Rhine x 1 ball
Yarn F: River Washed 960 Murray x 1 ball

Clover Amour 4mm hook
Yarn needle
Cushion pad, 50 x 50cm/19.5 x 19.5in
Scheepjes olive wooden button 3cm x 3

Stone Washed and River Washed yarns are available in local Scheepjes shops and via online retailers:
Wool Warehouse* and Black Sheep Wools* (both in UK with international shipping), Caro's Atelier* (NL and Europe), Knotty House* (Canada), Taemombo (US and Canada).

TENSION

Work 19sc and 20 rows to measure 10 x 10cm/4 x 4" using 4mm hook, or size required to obtain tension.

MEASUREMENTS

Finished cover measures 50 x 50cm/19.5 x 19.5in

PATTERN NOTES

The pattern uses sc throughout. The front panel is worked in tapestry crochet using the pattern chart, with each square representing one stitch. Read the chart from the bottom upwards, odd rows from right to left and even rows from left to right. Each row begins with Yarn A. Change yarn always on the last yarn over when there are still two loops on the hook, then place previous yarn on the top of stitches and work with new colour over it.

If you haven't tried tapestry crochet before, please, check THIS step by step tutorial.

TIP: beginning and end of each row are made with Yarn A only. Drop another colour in the end of the colourwork on the WS and grab it again on the way back. Make sure floats of yarn stay on the WS. At the end of each row turn the work and make a turning chain which will not count as a stitch.

a) beginning and end of the row on WS (contrast yarn stays in front of work):

b) beginning and end of the row on RS (contrast yarn stays behind work):

Abbreviations (US terms)

st(s) - stitch(es)
sp(s) - space(s)
ch - chain
yo - yarn over
sc (single crochet): insert hook in indicated stitch, yo, draw up a loop, yo and pull through both loops on hook
dc (double crochet): yo, insert hook in indicated st, yo, draw up a loop, *yo, pull through 2 loops* twice
RS - right side
WS - wrong side
*…….; rep from * to ….. work the instructions after * and then repeat that section as instructed

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INSTRUCTIONS

An original LillaBjörnCrochet Design (Tatsiana Kupryianchyk). Copyright 2014-2019. All rights reserved. This pattern is for personal use only. It cannot be sold, redistributed or edited in any way. Translations and video-tutorials are NOT allowed without permission. You can sell your finished products, but you cannot use my pictures to promote them. Please, always credit me as a designer of this pattern. Thank you!

Purchase ads free ready-to-print pdf with full written instructions and photo-tutorial HERE on Ravelry and HERE on Etsy.

Cushion Front

With Yarn A and 4mm hook ch91.

Row 1: 1sc in second ch from the hook, 1sc in each ch to end, turn – 90 sc.
Rows 2-8: ch1 (doesn’t count as a st – here and throughout), sc in each st to end, turn – 90 sc.
Rows 9-88: follow the chart. After Row 88 cut contrasting yarn. Continue with Yarn A only.
Rows 89-104: ch1, sc in each st to end, turn.
Row 105: ch1, 15sc, ch3, skip 3 sts, 25sc, ch4, skip 4 sts, 25sc, ch3, skip 3 sts, 15sc, turn.
Row 106: ch1, 15sc, 3sc in next ch-3 space, 25sc, 4sc in next ch-4 space, 25sc, 3sc in next ch-3 space, 15sc, turn – 90 sc.
Rows 108-110: ch1, sc in each st to end, turn.
Row 111: ch1, *skip 2 sts, 5dc in next st, skip 2 sts, ss in next st; repeat from * to end, fasten off – 15 “petals”. Weave in ends.

Cushion Back

With Yarn F and 4mm hook, ch91.

Row 1: 1sc in second ch from the hook, 1sc in each ch to end, turn – 90 sc.
Rows 2-8: ch1, sc in each st to end, turn – 90 sc.

Repeat Row 2 for pattern. Work 6 more rows with Yarn F. Continue in pattern working stripes as follows:

Eight rows with Yarn B
Eight rows with Yarn C
Eight rows with Yarn D
Eight rows with Yarn E
Eight rows with Yarn F
Eight rows with Yarn B
Eight rows with Yarn C
Eight rows with Yarn D
Eight rows with Yarn E
Seven rows with Yarn F
Six rows with Yarn A
Three rows with Yarn E. Fasten off, weave in ends.

FINISHING

Embroider your pet’s name on the cushion front using leftovers of contrast yarn (optional - you can make embroidery later, watch this blog soon for instructions). Place front and back with WS facing each other, align the bottom and join them together along three sides (leaving top open) with contrast yarn and slip stitches. Sew three buttons onto the back panel. Make sure they align with the holes.

Congratulations!! Your new pillow is now finished!

Purchase ads free ready-to-print pdf with full written instructions and photo-tutorial HERE on Ravelry and HERE on Etsy.

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Are you getting ready for Rozeta CAL 2019? I can’t believe only 3 weeks left and we’ll begin!! I better hurry up and crochet faster than I can to finish progress pictures and helpful tip&tricks for you. If it’s the first time you hear about Rozeta, please, check all information about this CAL HERE. And if you would like to purchase official kit with all yarn you need to make a blanket – it’s just about right time to contact your local stockist or order online. Because kits will be shipped out tomorrow!!

Rozeta design was inspired by gothic stained glass windows and the magic lights of Aurora Borealis. It was not very tricky to choose the right Scheepjes yarn for this project. It should has been Our Tribe, obviously. With it's fantastic colour changes. I even got a chance to develop a new colourway for Rozeta!

Later Our Tribe kits were translated with Colour Crafter yarn. I tried to keep the same colour palette in both yarns, but of course they look a bit different.

I’ve been asked a lot about the difference between Our Tribe (OT) and Colour Crafter (CC) kits. Well, first of all it is fiber composition. OT is wool blend yarn and CC is 100% premium acrylic. OT is fingering yarn (so a little bit finer and a smaller hook is needed; as a result, finished OT blanket is smaller).


This is just an example of Our Tribe colors. NOT the actual colors of the kits

OT is a variegated yarn. It means it contains several “muted” shades within one skein and they are changing softly. And CC comes in solid colours – that’s the reason why we have more colours in CC kits. Each OT shade is “translated” into two shades of CC, and also CC colours are brighter!

Twilight colours (Colour Crafter)

If you would like to learn more details about both yarns, please, check my reviews HERE and HERE.

So, there are two kits available for Rozeta, each in four different colourways: Twilight, Dawn, Dusk and Midnight.

The Luxury Kit contains 11 Balls of Scheepjes Our Tribe (70% Merino Superwash, 30% Polyamide, Sport weight), and the Colour Crafter kit contains 15 balls of Scheepjes Colour Crafter (100% Premium Acrylic, DK weight). The final Our Tribe blanket measures 115 x 145cm / 45 x 57” and the Colour Crafter blanket measures 118 x 148cm / 46.5 x 58.3”.

Aaaaaand, as always, Scheepjes included extra gifts in every kit! YAY! All kits have a Rozeta label, a decorative wooden ornament (which one - it will be a surprise!), a darning needle, and a string of embroidery yarn. The luxury Our Tribe kits also contain an exclusive large bag to carry all your Rozeta yarn goodies (with a logo!).

If you ask me what we will make with extras…. Emmm, you have to wait! :) Let’s keep it a secret for a while. ;-)

The kits will be shipped out tomorrow, on September 18th, 2019. You can find them in local Scheepjes shops and via online retailers. Thank you very much for supporing my work and using my links below to purchase the kit. I might be compensated with a tiny amount while you will not pay anything extra:

local Scheepjes stockists(Please, support your local yarn shop!!)
Wool Warehouse* (International)
Black Sheep Wools* (International)
Deramores * (International)
Caro’s Atelier* (Netherlands and Europe)

See you VERY soon!

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Welcome to Scheepjes Rozeta CAL 2019! Today is the pre-week and it means I will share all details and important information together with tips & tricks you need to know for a successful completion of your Rozeta blankets. Please, don’t worry too much if you don’t understand anything. During the CAL I will be posting helpful progress pictures with comments to some trickiest places on my blog. And you will be provided with detailed video tutorials. So really, there will be no chance to get lost. And if you still have questions, you can ask for a support in official Scheepjes Facebook groups (find all links below).

Introduction

The Scheepjes Rozeta CAL will begin next week, on October 9th, 2019 and will run for 11 weeks. Every Wednesday a new portion of the pattern will become available via Scheepjes website and in official Scheepjes groups.

We will be creating a rectangular blanket based on large tapestry mandala in the center with overlay round border and tapestry panel at the bottom. The blanket is asymmetrical. It was inspired by stained glass gothic windows and the magic lights of Aurora Borealis. Read more about the story behind Rozeta and my inspiration HERE.

Useful Links

Tips & Tricks PDF: You can find the Tips & Tricks PDF HERE. It contains all the information you need to successfully finish the blanket, including gauge, sizing, materials, and special stitch instructions. If you have ordered the kit, please make sure to pay EXTRA attention to the gauge information.
Video Tutorials: Esther Dijkstra of It’s All in a Nutshell has made step-by-step video tutorials for each part of the Roseta CAL. You will be able to find all the videos HERE as they become available.
Facebook: Rozeta CAL is hosted by Scheepjes and official support will take place in both Scheepjes groups on Facebook: International (English language) and Dutch. Please, join one of the groups to share your progress pictures and ask questions. Group admins will crochet along with you and some of them have already completed their Rozetas. So they are ready to help, and of course I will be present in the groups as well!
Ravelry:Add Rozeta CAL to your Ravelry Queue. If you don't use Facebook, please check Rozeta thread in my Ravelry group. You can follow Rozeta CAL there as well. But please, note that this is an inofficial CAL thread.
Instagram: If you are on Instagram, you can find me HERE. Please add your photos using #scheepjesrozetacal2019.
Special Stitches and Techniques: If you would like to get prepared for Rozeta CAL and try your hand in some techniques used in this project, please see THIS POST.

Translations

Rozeta CAL patterns will be available in English (both UK and US terms), Dutch and German. You can find all the translations HERE on the Scheepjes Website. I am sending my thanks to Christa Veenstra and Theresa Pearson.

Difficulty

Rozeta CAL is an intermediate pattern. It uses tapestry and overlay crochet. If you have never tried your hand in any of those techniques, don’t worry! The pattern contains lots of additional notes to help you stay on track with the stitches.

Special Stitches and Techniques

Please, find a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE. Gauge is VERY important for this pattern, especially if you will be using the kits. Please, take your time to practice with tapestry before CAL begins next week.

Rozeta Kits

There are two kits for Rozeta CAL, each in four different colourways: Twilight, Dawn, Dusk and Midnight. Find all details about content of the kits HERE.

Kits are available from most Scheepjes retailers:

local Scheepjes stockists(Please, support your local yarn shop!!)
Wool Warehouse* (International)
Black Sheep Wools* (International)
Deramores * (International)
Caro’s Atelier* (Netherlands and Europe)

Timeline

Each Wednesday new portion of the Rozeta pattern will be released on Scheepjes website. The patterns will contain written row-by-row instructions. You will also find progress pictures on my blog and very detailed video tutorials by Esther from It’s All in a Nutshell.

Pre-Cal: 2 October 2019 General Information (this post), Special Stitches and Techniques
Week 1: 9 October 2019 - Central tapestry mandala Part 1
Week 2: 16 October 2019 - Central tapestry mandala Part 2
Week 3: 23 October 2019 - Central tapestry mandala Part 3
Week 4: 30 October 2019 - Overlay border Part 1
Week 5: 5 November 2019 - Overlay Border Part 2
Week 6: 13 November 2019 - Overlay Border Part 3
Week 7: 20 November 2019 - Overlay Border Part 4
Week 8: 27 November 2019 - Corners
Week 9: 4 December 2019 - Bottom tapestry panel Part 1
Week 10: 11 December 2019 - Bottom tapestry panel Part 2
Week 11: 18 December 2019 - Stained glass border
Bonus pattern: Coming in January 2020…

Testers

I am sending many thanks to wonderful testres who helped me polishing the Rozeta pattern and who made gorgeous sample blankets: Hilde Tindlund, Fiona Kelly, Theresa Pearson and Mark Roseboom.

See you next week!

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In this blog post you will find a list of special stitches and techniques used in Rozeta CAL pattern. Please, take your time to study it carefully and maybe even try with the hook. Pay special attention to the gauge information!

Before you start working on a gauge swatch, please make sure you organize the colors according to the color key given in Tips & Tricks file. In every part you will find yarn amounts of every color used. To make sure you have enough yarn, please take your time to weigh every skein (without a label) before using it, and make accurate notes of how much yarn in every color was used. Simple kitchen scale will work fine for that.

Color changes

The pattern is written for all colorways at the same time. Please, pay extra attention to which color should be used on the next round, as colors for Our Tribe and Colour Crafter versions will differ.

!!! IMPORTANT: for two color version (Midnight - Black & White) – Yarn A is used for Yarn A throughout and Yarn B is used for ALL other color changes.

GAUGE and Tapestry Crochet

Rozeta blanket begins with the central mandala in tapestry crochet. If you haven't tried tapestry crochet before, check THIS step-by-step tutorial.

Before making an actual gauge swatch with kit yarn, please first try with leftover yarn from your stash. When you feel confident with the technique, use yarn from the kit to make the actual gauge swatch for your blanket. The gauge circle will be a beginning of week 1 - so once you get it right, don't frog it!

To make a gauge swatch:

Use two colors at the same time.
Always change to new color when you still have 2 loops on the hook (to finish last stitch in new color).
After color is changed, place previous yarn on the top of crocheted piece, carry the tail behind the work and continue to crochet with new color over it.
Each round should be joined with the same color as used for the beginning of the round. Before join always change to same color as first stitch of the round.
Ch2 in the beginning of the round doesn’t count as a stitch. So first stitch of the round is made in same stitch as join.

If done correctly, your gauge swatch will look the same on right and wrong sides. And carried yarn should not be visible (much) through the stitches. Don’t freak out to make it totally invisible – that might be impossible, especially with Our Tribe yarn which is fingering weight.

Please, find instructions for a gauge swatch in the Tips & Tricks file HERE.

Wonderful Esther Dijkstra of It's all In A Nutshell made helpful videos for you: English UK (right handed), English UK (left handed), Dutch (right handed), Dutch (left handed).

!!IMPORTANT!! Gauge is important for this pattern! To make sure it doesn’t change throughout the pattern, please, make checks after every few rounds. The mandala must stay flat! Approx. measurements of every part are given in the pattern to help you.

For an easy check: one row with dc (in tapestry - US terms) measures in height approx. 1cm/0.4in in Our Tribe yarn and 1.12cm/0.44” in Colour Crafter.

Punctuation

* An asterisk indicates pattern repeats. You will need to repeat all the instructions between asterisks the number of times specified. This is a hard-core repeat and will consist of multiple instructions. Due to the complex nature of the instructions for the Diamonds, these instructions will be highlighted in grey in the first 3 parts of the pattern.

Parentheses ( ) indicate repeats. You will need to repeat the instructions between parentheses the amount of times specified. This is a lower level repeat. Parentheses are also used to indicate a group of sts to be worked into the same st/sp.

Square Brackets [ ] are used to indicate a group of sts to be worked in the same st/sp when using parentheses would be too confusing.

SPECIAL STITCHES

Please, note that US terms are used in this photo-tutorial

Most of the stitches used in Rozeta pattern are very common and simple. You’ll find their complete list in the Tips & Tricks file. For basic stitches and techniques, please, see a photo-tutorial from Ubuntu CAL (created by Dedri Uys). However some trickier stitches are also used throughout. Please, see photo tutorial for them below.

Dc2tog (Double crochet 2 together): *yarn over, insert hook in indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, yarn over, pull through 2 lps; repeat from * once more, yarn over, pull through all 3 lps on hook.

Dc3tog (Double crochet 3 together): *yarn over, insert hook in indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, yarn over, pull through 2 lps; repeat from * 2 more times, yarn over, pull through all 4 lps on hook.

FPtr (Front post treble crochet): yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yo, draw up a lp, [yo, pull through 2 lps] 3 times.

Some places in Rozeta pattern require keeping your FPtr stitches straight. You should play a bit and see what is the best place for it to be “anchored”. Usually this will be the stitch from two rows below (unless otherwise stated in the pattern) lying a bit forward from the current stitch.

FPtr2tog (Front post treble 2 together): *yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, [yarn over, pull through 2 lps] twice; repeat from * once more around the post of the same st, yarn over, pull through all 3 lps on hook.

You can either make both legs of FPtr2tog around the post of the same stitch, or complete FPtr2tog in a so called “modified way” (for a neater look). Make first leg as usually around the post of the indicated stitch. And then make a regular tr into the hole at the bottom of the leg just made.

FPtr4tog (Front post treble crochet 4 together): *yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, [yarn over, pull through 2 lps] twice; repeat from * 3 more times, yarn over, pull through all 5 lps on hook.

Tr4tog (Treble crochet 4 together): *yarn over twice, insert hook in next st (or sp), yarn over, draw up a lp, [yarn over, pull through 2 lps] twice; repeat from * 3 more times, yarn over, pull through all 5 lps on hook.

“Modified” tr4tog (treble 4 together): yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of the indicated st, yarn over, draw up a lp, [yarn over, pull through 2 lops] twice, *yarn over twice, insert the hook to the hole at the bottom of stitch just made, yarn over, draw up a lp, [yarn over, pull through 2 lps] twice; repeat from * 2 more times, yarn over, pull through all 5 lps on hook.

The idea of making “modified” tr4tog is the same as modified FPtr. First leg is made around the post of indicated stitches below, and next 3 legs are added into the hole of the leg just made. Please, more information about front post clusters HERE.

Pc (Popcorn Stitch): Make 5 dc in the same st/sp. Remove your hook from the last st and insert it into the first dc of the 5-dc group. Grab the last st with your hook and pull it through the first st, ch1 (doesn’t count as a st).

“Modified” pc: Make FPtr around the post of indicated st, make four more tr into the hole at the bottom of the post of the first FPtr. Remove your hook from the last st and insert it into the first FPtr of the 5-dt group. Grab the last st with your hook and pull it through the first st, ch1 (doesn’t count as a st).

Using Stitch Markers

Sometimes the pattern will ask you to mark certain stitches or increases. Don’t underestimate this and mark as much as possible. In overlay crochet border it is very important to make stitches in correct places to keep the pattern flowing straight and smoothly. Even one stitch shift will cause the leaning of the petals on one of the sides.

Also make sure to read instructions carefully and try not to miss slip stitches in the beginning of some rounds. If you have any doubts, always refer to Esther’s videos. That will save you lots of time and will prevent of frogging.

See you next week. Aaaaaand... we'll begin!!

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I still can’t believe Rozeta is out there already. I’ve been keeping it for myself for such a long time (for over two years). And suddenly it went LIVE last week. And you even started to make gauge swatches. I am happy, scared, nervous and excited – all in one! But there is no way to go back, haha. So today we begin!

Part 1 of Rozeta CAL is done in tapestry crochet – we will be growing a cute flower. If you made a gauge swatch last week, just continue with it, as your swatch is also a part of Week 1.

And if this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

If you are late to the party, there are still kits available for purchase, through they are flying fast.

Kits are available from most Scheepjes retailers:

local Scheepjes stockists(Please, support your local yarn shop!!)
Wool Warehouse* (International)
Black Sheep Wools* (International)
Deramores * (International)
Caro’s Atelier* (Netherlands and Europe)

I hope you did a thorough home work last week and organized your colors according to the color key. Week 1 is a great opportunity to double check your gauge as you will find exact yarn amounts of each color you should use to complete it.

Please, carefully weigh your skeins (without the labels) before and after work to see how much yarn you used. And also measure your piece after you are done. Then you can be sure you are “on track” with gauge and yardages, and yarn in the kit will be enough to finish the blanket successfully.

Here is a couple of extra notes for you:

Relax! The tension of the inner yarn should be relaxed and even. If you pull it (even a little bit), it may result in shrinking of your mandala and it will become smaller.
Make sure your stitches are even throughout. Tighten a loop a bit after every color change.
Don’t try to make your piece look perfect. The inner yarn WILL be seen through the stitches, especially if you work with Our Tribe yarn.
If you missed an increase on previous round, just add extra increase on the current round without frogging and remaking. In wide sections with one color these extra increases will not be noticeable. Though ideally you should be careful, count well and not miss anything :)
IMPORTANT! To make sure your gauge doesn’t change throughout the pattern, please check it after every few rounds: the mandala must stay flat! Approximate measurements of every part are given in the pattern to help you. For an easy check: one row with dc (in tapestry) measures approx. 1cm/0.39” in height in Our Tribe yarn and 1.115cm/0.44” in Colour Crafter yarn.

Find complete written instructions on Scheepjes website HERE. And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right handed, UK left handed, NL right handed, NL left handed.

Photo-Tutorial

Round 1. First two rounds are worked with main color only.

Round 3. On this round we start using new color and continue to work in tapestry crochet.

Rounds 4-6

Round 7. Please, note that first two dc (increase) will be made in same stitch as join. Slight cupping after this round is normal. Please, gently stretch your mandala with hands to see if it’s flat. In the end of this round you will change to another color for Colour Crafter version.

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11.Don’t miss a slip stitch in the beginning of the round!! The repeat section on this round will start and end differently – in the middle of main color.

To make the join invisible, don’t grab contrast yarn up when joining the round, but do it with only Yarn A. the join on the right side will be neater, and you’ll have floats of yarn on the back side.

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

And we are done with Part 1. See you next week :)

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Hello and welcome to Week 2 of Rozeta CAL 2019. To be honest I was a little bit nervous about the previous week when we only started. I know some of you have never tried tapestry crochet before and I was anxiously waiting for the first Rozeta flowers to pop up in my social media feeds. But you did just great! I love seeing all the beautiful and unique color combinations. And I love watching your Rozeta flowers grow.

This week we will continue to work with the tapestry. So all important notes and tricks from Part 1 will be valid this week as well. Please check a detailed photo tutorial below and pay extra attention to the notes. They will help you to avoid mistakes. And will prevent you from frogging.

The first part was relatively fast to make. It was aimed to warm you up a bit and give you enough time to master tapestry crochet and polish your gauge. The next parts will become longer and more intense. And I hope you will have lots of fun!

If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE. Find Part 1 here.

Find complete written instructions on the Scheepjes website HERE. And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Round 15. The tapestry pattern continues to flow. We are working with Yarn D now. Please, note that the first 2 dc (US terms here and throughout) are made in the first stitch as join.

Round 16. The pattern continues to flow with an unusual color change at the end of the repeat.

Round 17. Nothing unusual happens in this round.

Round 18. Pay extra attention to the end of the round. After final ss, you should end up in the first stitch with Yarn A.

Round 19. The very first dc2tog of this round is made over the same stitch as ss and next stitch. For an easy count, please make sure you make the first dc2tog over first 2 stitches in Yarn A. The rounds again will be joined in the same way as at the beginning of the mandala – you should change to Yarn A at the end of the last repeat.

Round 20. At the end of this round change to Yarn E (for Colour Crafter version only).

Round 21. We will continue with Yarn E for the Colour Crafter version. Because the pattern is becoming more detailed, the repeats in the written instructions are getting longer. Don’t be scared. Just continue following them word by word as you did it before.

Round 22. After this round is completed, you will have visible waves on the edge. This is normal!

Round 23.

Round 24.

Round 25. There are three small color changes inside every repeat. Please, pay attention to them.

Round 26. There are no unusual changes in the colors on this round. The pattern continues to flow smoothly. Don’t forget to cut contrast yarn at the end of this round.

Congratulations!! You have just completed week 2 of the Rozeta CAL! See you next week.

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Hello and welcome to Week 3 of Rozeta CAL! Can you believe it’s third week already? I am in love with all your wonderful Rozetas I see online these days. Fantastic colorways, and such a neat crochet work. This week we will continue to grow and then finish our tapestry mandala. This week is even easier than the previous one, as there will be no unexpected changes in the colors, and the tapestry pattern will continue to flow smoothly.

Common important note for the whole part! Increases in the beginning of the rounds (2dc in next st) are always made in the same stitch as join.

If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE. Find Part 1 here,Part 2 here.

Find complete written instructions on the Scheepjes website HERE. And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Round 27.

Round 28. Because of the increases, there will appear “waves” on the edge.

Round 29. In the end of every repeat Yarn A might slightly be seen through stitches. Don’t worry – that’s ok! You might also notice light “bubbles” between the petals – they should be easily flattened with hands.

Round 30. At the end of this round don’t forget to change to Yarn C for Colour Crafter version. Cut Yarn B.

Round 31.

Round 32. The rounds are becoming longer but easier, as pattern repeats are simple. Watch your tension! It should not relax too much. Your mandala should stay flat.

Round 33. The round begins and ends inside section with Yarn A. Please, make invisible joins again as in Part 1.

Round 34. Yay! This is the last and the easiest row of the tapestry mandala! Cut contrast yarn for both version st the end of the round.

Round 35. Make this round with Yarn A only (but don’t cut it at the end). Increases should fall symmetrically. Please, check them against the petals.

Congratulations!! You have just completed week 3 of the Rozeta CAL! See you next week.

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Hi there! I hope you are doing great! Maybe you have noticed, or maybe not, but it has been a bit silent on my side for quite a while. Rozeta CAL was the only huge reason to continue blogging regularly. But otherwise at some point I haven’t touched my hook for weeks. Usually my blog is about crochet, new designs, tips and tricks. And today’s post is also presenting my new design. But I also felt like sharing something personal.

***
This summer was endless. And quite tough. Lots of anxiety about Rozeta and how it would be accepted, lots of work behind the scenes to perfect final bits of the pattern and complete progress pictures. Lots of stress to stand out in front of thousands of people and to present my work to the world. This is something I have already used to as a designer with 5 years experience. But still the responsibility is there.

My family has survived a move to a new house last week. We literally packed our life into the boxes and brought it somewhere else in one day. Before that we needed to manage the yard, as there was no fence, and no grass. Just deep and sticky mud everywhere. But now… Now we have the fence, the grass and even our internet is back!

All my yarn is still resting in the boxes everywhere. It’s waiting for unpacking and arranging in a freshly prepared craft room. But I keep delaying this moment, as I simply don’t have any vibes to come back to my stash. It feels like I need time. For everything.

This summer I lost my friend.

It feels like balancing in an unreal world. In between “before” and “tomorrow”.

***

Before summer I had quite a few design ideas. Lots of them. My sketch book is full of drawings. And my swatch box is full of tiny swatches. But now we are moved and everything needs to find its own new place. Including my thoughts and my inspiration.

Two weeks ago I felt like making a mandala again. Mandalas are well known for their healing power. Repeated pattern helps the bothered mind to settle down, and rest for a while. Drawing with yarn helps breathing deeply.

And a new design started to grow in my hands.

I called it Mira Mandala. I wanted so much to release it now, in October. And I addressed my testers with ask for help. They only had one week to test it (sending HUGE thanks their way, you ladies are my crochet heroes!). And today the pattern is ready for release!

In the picture below you can see masterpieces by testers: 1 - Laura Jackson, 2 - mine :), 3 - Sandra Veneman, 4 - Faye Pike, 5 - Sarah Fabbri, 6 - Claire Shipton

So here is Mira Mandala. My first official design and first official crochet pictures from a new home. And my new life.

The pattern is now available for purchase on Ravelry HERE and Etsy HERE. And you can save 25% through this weekend (no codes are needed, as the discount was already applied to price).

I made two mandalas myself. One with Catona yarn* in bright colors. And another one with Softfun* (both yarns by Scheepjes). The size of both mandalas is generous for a pillow, for example. Or they will make nice wall decorations.

Mira is a “classical” overlay crochet mandala, as we know them. Thick and heavily covered with overlaid stitches.

The pattern is now available for purchase on Ravelry HERE and Etsy HERE. And you can save 25% through this weekend (no codes are needed, as the discount was already applied to price).

I hope you’ll like it!

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p.s. I rarely go out to the city center. But today in the morning I had to pick up some documents and decided to have breakfast at Podnebi café, my most favourite place in Brno.

This is the perfect time of the year for me. Just what my tired soul needs… And today I bought a brand new book “The Art of Making Memories” by Meik Wiking, the CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen. Hey, my new life! Here I’m coming!

Hello and welcome to Week 4 of Rozeta CAL! We have finished tapestry mandala last week and today will move to something new. Todays part is easier in some way, as we will only use one color per round. But don’t relax too much :) You’ll need to concentrate and count the stitches well. But hey, haven’t we counted with tapestry already.

Complete photo-tutorial with step by step pictures for Week 4 of Rozeta CAL

I am in Utrecht right now, typing from a hotel room and watching calm October evening through my window. No wind, no rain, a little bit of sun. And beautiful colorful trees. Autumn is here. Just the way I like it.

It’s Monday now but I decided to prepare this blog post in advance as I will most likely not have time tomorrow and on Wednesday. I’ll be at Kreadoe – one of the biggest craft shows in the Netherlands. If you are there as well, make sure to stop by at the Scheepjes stand and say Hello. We will have Rozetas on display! I know you have your own already, but just in case you would like to see them for real and maybe squish them a little bit?..

Today’s part of the Rozeta CAL is about texture. Not too much, but just to warm you up before a massive overlay border begins. We’ll try a kind of overlay crochet technique, and hopefully by the end of the week you will feel skilled, comfortable and confident.

As already mentioned, we’ll only use one color per round. It means there will be no inner yarn you can pull to adjust the tension and keep your mandala flat (I know some of you did this with tapestry). So please, adjust your gauge as you go, compare your yarn amounts to the numbers given in the pattern. And switch to a bigger or smaller hook if needed.

The basic rule is: your mandala should remain flat and “perfectly” round!

Also please, carefully read pattern notes in the written instructions. They are available on Scheepjes website HERE. If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here.

And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Round 36. Nothing special happens here. Just a simple round with dc stitches (US terms here and throughout the tutorial)

Round 37. Here is the first tricky place. We will be making FPtr stitches and they should be vertical. To keep them straight, please, always choose the stitch lying a little bit forward from the current one. It may feel, like this stitch is too far, but when you complete FPtr, you will see it’s just the right one!

FPtr will NOT be 100% vertical. But your task is to keep them “more or less” vertical. In the picture below you’ll see an example of the wrong placement. This is what you are trying to avoid.

And don’t forget to skip the stitches of the previous round behind FPtr just made.

Round 38. A simple one. Please, mark all increases. You’ll need these markers to correctly align the stitches from the next round.

Round 39. And here you’ll see why we marked the increases. If you have no increase (marker), then make 5sc. If you are passing the marker – then make 6sc. Easy like that. Remove markers in the end of this round.

Round 40. Another simple round, and again mark all increases as you make them.

Round 41. After this round (and on next rounds) you will be turning you work in the end of every round, alternating work on right and back sides. To help yourself stay on track, please always mark the last stitch of the round before joining. If you mark it, you will clearly see where the first stitch of the next round will go.

Round 42. Continue with Yarn A. You marked the last stitch on the previous round and turned your work. Now you are working on the wrong side. Follow instructions for this round and again – mark last stitch of the round before joining and turning.

TIP: to make the join more invisible, when joining the rounds on the wrong side, insert the hook from back to front.

Round 43. On this round we are starting to build the base for the wide textured border. And correct stitch placement is very important for this round. Make sure your first sc goes in the last (marked) dc of the previous round. And try to keep all your FPtr straight and vertical again.

Round 44. You are working on the wrong side. Mark all increases on this round.

Yay! You are done! Congratulations! And see you next week.

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Hello and welcome to part 5 of Rozeta! And we are almost in the middle as the CAL will run for 11 weeks. Can you believe that?! Time flies! Yesterday I returned back home from KreaDoe – one of the biggest (if not the biggest) craft shows in the Netherlands. It happens every year in Utrecht, and this year was 30th already! It was the longest week for me with being in the middle of something huge, meeting lots of people, making new friends. Thank you very much for stopping by at Scheepjes stand and saying Hello. I enjoyed meeting you.

KreaDoe

At KreaDoe you can discover all kinds of different crafts, you can buy supplies and take part in the workshops. Scheepjes stand was meant to inspire people. You could see and try most of the Scheepjes yarns, see finished projects, meet the authors of the books… and meet ALL Rozeta blankets!

I felt like a real pop star surrounded by Rozeta blankets, including two in new colourways. Lots of greetings and selfies! (Have you seen the pictures with me all over social media during last week? Not something a true introvert like me could do, but yeah, it was fun!)

Mike from a Mike’s Creatieve Wereld also stopped by to chat with me. Apparently he is making vlogs (in Dutch) about every week of the Rozeta CAL. And he also made a video tour around KreaDoe. It was nice to watch it and come back to those few busy days. Maybe Mike’s video will inspire you to come next year? In minutes 8:36-11:22 you will see a Scheepjes stand, and minutes 30:28-33:55 are about Rozeta, and me. :)

New kits!

In the video above and the photos you can see two new colorways for Rozeta: High Noon (the yellow one) and Witching Hour (the moody grey one). Both kits are on its way and a little bird whispered to my ear that they should arrive to stores in next two weeks, together with a new batch of original kits.

So… if you would like to get one and join Rozeta, maybe it might be a good idea to contact your local store and ask if they will stock the kits? And if not, maybe you could still book them from international retailers? (Thank you for using my affiliate links below (marked with *), with every purchase I might be compensated with a tiny amount while you will not pay anything extra):

local Scheepjes stockists(Please, support your local yarn shop!!)
Wool Warehouse* (International)
Black Sheep Wools* (International)
Deramores * (International)
Caro’s Atelier* (Netherlands and Europe)

Week 5

But let’s come back to the Rozeta CAL. We are on the week 5 already, and will continue to grow our mandala with overlay crochet stitches. Lots of fun is waiting for you (I hope).

This part is worked in back and forth again, alternating right and wrong side. Please, continue to mark last stitch of every round, as it will help you to see where the first stitch of the next round goes. Cut yarn only if the pattern is asking you to do so (no cutting on two-colored version). And don’t forget to skip the stitches behind the front post ones.

Check the flatness of your mandala after EVERY round (lay it down and try to flatten with hands). It should stay flat! If you see any signs of ruffling or waving, please, adjust your gauge for the next rounds.

Written instructions are available on Scheepjes website HERE. If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here and Part 4 here.

And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Round 45. This round will be easier than the previous ones in locating front post stitches, as you will be making them around front post stitches from two rounds below (of the same color, if you are using the kit). The markers will help you to see where you should make 6sc (US terms here and throughout the tutorial). Otherwise you will be making 5sc. Don’t forget to skip 2 sts behind every pair of FPtr.

Round 46. Nothing special is happening here. You will be working on the wrong side. Mark second dc of every increase.

Round 47. This one will be a little bit tricky, as we will be making FPtr2togs. You can make them in a usual way, but I prefer so called “modified” way of making them. It means that first leg is attached around the indicated stitch, and for the next leg you will insert the hook into the hole at the bottom of the first leg just made. Marked stitch of the previous round will be always skipped behind one of the FPtr2tog. And don’t forget to make 2ss in the beginning of the round.

Round 48. YAY! You survived the previous round! And that also means that you learned something new, and next rounds will be easier to handle. Round 48 is very normal again, nothing unusual happens here.

Round 49. Don’t forget to make a slip stitch in the beginning of the round. We will be making 6sc and 7sc between FPtr4tog’s. for an easy count maybe mark every section with 6sc? It will be made after every three sections with 7sc. In other words, you will make 6sc in every fourth section!

Round 50. Simple round on the wrong side.

Round 51. This is the last tricky round of the Part 5. We will have lots of bobbles (72 in total) and I hope you will enjoy them. I prefer to make tr4togs (“bobbles”) in a modified way – similar to how you made FPtr2togs on Round 47.

First leg of the tr4tog will be attached around the indicated stitch and next 3 legs will be added into the hole of the first leg just made. Please, refer to the picture below and Esther's video. You will skip one stitch behind every bobble. At the end of this round cut Yarn C for the Colour Crafter version.

Round 52. This round should not give you any troubles. Please, mark second dc of every increase.

Congratulations! And see you next week!

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Hello and welcome to Week 6 of Rozeta CAL. It feels like I am living fromt Wednesday to Wednesday recently, and that Wednesday is almost every day. Time flies and I almost run out of progress pictures. So next weeks I’ll probably have to join you and crochet along with every one else. Well, maybe still one week ahead. Otherwise how can I show you all tips and progress pictures?

If you are reading this, you have (hopefully) survived after Week 5. We did have several tricky rounds and I know some of you had to frog them and remake again and again. But they are all finished now and it also means you learned something new. And next rounds should be easier to handle, as we will in fact repeat the same stitches again.

This week we will continue growing overlay border around our Rozeta mandala. And it will be 3/4 finished!

But before we jump directly into photo-tutorial, let me share something cute with you. I am following you progress with Rozeta every day in both official Scheepjes groups on Facebook – International and Dutch. I just love seeing all your stunning pictures, and especially the ones with your furry friends. I thought I would make a collage of those pictures (thank you very much for permission to post them on my blog!). How cute are our little friends?..

And now back to Rozeta. For Part 6 we will continue crocheting in the same way as we did in previous week. We will use only one color per round and alternate right and wrong side.

Please, continue to use markers for last stitch of every round to make sure first stitch of the next round is placed correctly. And please, continue to check the flatness of your madnala after every round: lay it down (and most likely the floor will be the best option, as your mandala might not fit onto the table anymore), flatten with hands and check it against any signs of waviness. If you see some, please, adjust the gauge for the next rounds.

And one more important thing. Rounds on the wrong side with just dc seem to be very easy, as we are repeating the same stitch all way around. But because they are so simple, it’s easy to relax too much and make a mistake in stitch counts.

The placement of increases on these rounds is very important for correct placement of the overlaid stitches on the next rounds. And if you make a mistake on one of the rounds on the WS, then overlaid stitches might not line up as needed. And you will have to improvise to bring everything back to symmetry again. Or another option would be to frog previous round with just dc and remake it.

Written instructions for Week 6 are available on Scheepjes website HERE. If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here and Part 5 here.

And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Round 53. This is a kind of repeating Round 47 – at least you will be making FPtr2togs (US crochet terms here and to end) in the same way. For an easy count, please, watch marked stitches. They will be always skipped behind one of the FPtr2tog.

Every repeat consists of 4 petals. And you will be making 4sc after the first petal inside every repeat. Maybe to help yourself, you might want to mark that first petal in every repeat. Then you know for sure where you should make 4 sc.

Round 54. Easy round but correct placement of every increase is very important!

Round 55. With an exception of the very beginning and end, this round has a rhythm: 8sc, FPtr4tog, 7sc, FPtr4tog. Sing this as a song while crocheting, and you should be fine :) Cut Yarn B at the end of this round.

Round 56. Easy again, but very important round! Change to Yarn F at the end of this round.

Round 57. Continue with Yarn F. Please, take your time to carefully make first and last stitches of this round. Don’t miss a slip stitch in the very beginning!

You don't really need to count stitch on two rounds below for making "bobbles". Just try to keep "bobbles" straight and vertical.

And maybe mark the end of every repeat? Then you will see where you should make 2 sc. they wil lbe before bobble in every fourth petal.

Round 58. As all previous round on the wrong side.

Round 59. This is the last overlay round for Part 6 (YAY!). And the stitch counts are easy as ever. Follow the beginning of the round carefully. And then just repeat 2FPtr and 7sc between them. All. Way. Around. Isn’t it fun?

Don’t forget to cut Yarn F for Colour Crafter version.

Round 60. Relax and enjoy! And don’t forget to mark all increases (first or second stitch – no matter!

Congratulations!! You are all done and ready for Week 7! And I should better hurry up to be on time next Wednesday… See you soon!

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Sea Square was designed especially for Granny Square Day 2019 and Chunky Monkey yarn by Scheepjes. It uses a combination of linen stitch and “brioche” crochet. With lots of texture, light weight and nice drape. It can be turned into a pillow cover or used as an afghan block.

Disclosure: this blog post contains affiliate links (marked with *)

Pattern Notes

Sea Square is worked in rounds with alternating right and wrong sides. The rounds are joined in the corners. Only one color is used per round and yarn is not cut at the end of every round (unless otherwise stated in the pattern).

What you’ll need

Yarn in three colors.

I used "Chunky Monkey" by Scheepjes* (Aran, 100% Premium Acrylic; 100g/116m/127yds.), yarn weight: Aran (8 wpi)

Yarn A: 1218 x 1 ball (60g)
Yarn B: 2005 x 1 ball (25g)
Yarn C: 1302 x 1 ball (55g)

Crochet hook 5mm or size needed to get an acceptable gauge.

Gauge for Chunky Monkey: after 7 rounds square measures 10cm/4” across.

Alternative yarn – Scheepjes "Softfun"* (DK; 60% Cotton x 40% Acrylic; 50g/140m/153yrds):

Yarn A: 2466 x 1 ball (20g)
Yarn B: 2510 x 1 ball (10g)
Yarn C: 2519 x 1 ball (15g)

Crochet hook 3.5mm

Gauge for Softfun: after 10 rounds square measures 10cm/4” across.

Alternative yarn – Scheepjes "Stone Washed"* (Sport; 78% Cotton x 22% Acrylic; 50g/130m/142yrds)

Yarn A: 813 x 1 ball (25g)
Yarn B: 804 x 1 ball (10g)
Yarn C: 830 x 1 ball (17g)

Crochet hook 4mm
Gauge for Stone Washed: after 10 rounds square measures 10cm/4” across.

Alternative yarn – Scheepjes "Organicon"* (Fingering; 100% Cotton Organic Soft; 50g/170m/186yrds):

Yarn A: 216 x 1 ball (13g)
Yarn B: 200 x 1 ball (6g)
Yarn C: 201 x 1 ball (11g)

Crochet hook 3mm

Gauge for Organicon: after 13 rounds square measures 10cm/4” across.

This square was made by Laura Jackson (aka @taemombo)

Finished size

The size of the finished square depends on the yarn and hook you use. Mine are approx. 35cm/13.5” for Chunky Monkey, 25cm/10” for Softfun and Stone Washed, 18cm/7" for Organicon.

Abbreviations (US terms) and Stitch guide

BPdc (back post double crochet): yo, insert hook from back to front to back around the post of indicated stitch, yo, draw up a lp, [yo, pull through 2 lps] twice.
ch– chain
dc (double crochet): yo, insert hook in indicated st, yo, draw up a lp, [yo, pull through 2 lps] twice.
FPdc (front post double crochet): yo, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yo, draw up a lp, [yo, pull through 2 lps] twice.
FPtr2tog (front post treble crochet 2 together): [yo twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yo, draw up a lp, (yo, pull through 2 lps) twice] twice, yo, pull through all 3 lps on hook.
sc (single crochet): insert hook in indicated stitch, yo, draw up a lp, yo and pull through both lps on hook.
rep– repeat
ss (slip stitch)– insert hook in indicated st, yo, draw yarn up and pull second lp through the first lp on hook.
st(s)– stitch(es)
yo– yarn over

Pattern repeats:

[…….] x times work the instructions between brackets the total number of times stated
*…….; rep from * to ….. work the instructions after * and then rep that section as instructed

INSTRUCTIONS

Round 2 (WS): With Yarn B. Ch1, 1sc in same sp, [ch1, skip next st, (sc, ch2, sc) in next sp] x3, ch1, skip next st, 1sc in same sp where first sc of the rounds was made, ch2, join with ss in first st inserting the hook from back to front, turn, ss in next sp (change back to Yarn A by grabbing it up behind work)– 2sc and 1 ch1-sp on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 3 (RS): With Yarn A. Ch2, 1sc in same sp, [*ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next sp; rep from * to last sc before ch2-sp in next corner**, ch1, skip next st, (sc, ch2, sc) in ch2-sp in the corner] x3, rep from * to ** once more, 1sc in last ch2-sp (where first sc of the round was made – here and throughout), join with ss in first sp (change to Yarn B), turn – 3 sc and 2 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 4 (WS): With Yarn B. Ch1, 1sc in same sp, [*ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next sp; rep from * to one sc left before next ch2-sp in the corner**, ch1, skip 1 st, (sc, ch2, sc) in ch2-sp] x3, rep from * to ** once more, ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next ch2-sp, ch2, join with ss in first st inserting the hook from back to front, turn, ss in next sp (change to Yarn A) – 4 sc and 3 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Rounds 5-8: Rep Rounds 3-4 twice

Round 9: As Round 3, don’t turn at the end of the round– 9 sc and 8 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 10 (RS): Continue on RS with Yarn B. Ch3 (counts as ch2-sp), hdc in same sp, [*hdc in next sc, 1FPdc around st of same color from 2 rounds directly below, skip sp behind FPdc, rep from * to one sc left before ch2-sp in next corner, hdc in next sc**, (hdc, ch2, hdc) in ch2-sp in the corner] x3, rep from * to ** once more, 1hdc in last ch2-sp, join with ss into first sp, don’t change yarn, don’t turn– 8 FPdc, 11 hdc on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 11 (RS): Continue on RS and with Yarn B. Ch3 (counts as ch2-sp), hdc in same sp, [1BPdc around each st to ch2-sp in next corner, (hdc, ch2, hdc) in ch2-sp] x3, 1BPdc around each st to last ch2-sp, 1hdc in last ch2-sp, join with ss in first sp, turn (change to Yarn C, cut Yarn B)– 19 BPdc and 2hdc on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 12 (WS): With Yarn C. Ch1, 1sc in same sp, [*ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next st; rep from * to one sc left before ch2-sp in next corner**, ch1, skip 1 st, (sc, ch2, sc) in ch2-sp] x3, rep from * to ** once more ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in last ch2-sp, ch2, join with ss in first st inserting the hook from back to front, turn, ss in next sp (change to Yarn A)– 12 sc and 11 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 13 (RS): With Yarn A. Ch2, sc in same sp, [ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next sp, *ch1, skip 1 st, 1dc in skipped st from 2 rounds below (in front of work), ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next sp; rep from * to one sc left before ch2-sp in next corner**, ch1, skip 1 st, (sc, ch2, sc) in next ch2-sp in the corner] x3, rep from * to ** once more, ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in last ch2-sp, join with ss in first sp (change to Yarn C), turn – 5 dc, 8sc and 12 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 14 (WS): With Yarn C. As Round 4 – 14 sc and 13 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 15 (RS): Ch2, sc in same sp, [ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next sp, *ch1, FPtr2tog (make first leg around st of same color from 2 rounds directly below, skip next st of same color from 2 rounds below, make second leg around next st of same color from 2 rounds below), ch1, 1sc in sp directly above same st as second leg of FPtr2tog just made; rep from * to one sc left before ch2-sp in next corner**, ch1, skip 1 st, (sc, ch2, sc) in next ch2-sp] x3, rep from * to ** once more, ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in last ch2-sp, join with ss in first sp (change to Yarn C), turn – 6 FPtr2tog, 9 sc and 14 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Rounds 16-19: Rep Rounds 14-15 twice. After Round 19 you’ll have 8 FPtr2tog, 11 sc and 18 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 20: Rep round 4 – 20 sc and 19 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Round 21 (RS): With Yarn A. Ch2, sc in same sp, [ch1, skip 1 st, 1FPdc around sc of same color from 2 rounds below, *ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in next sp, ch1, skip 1 st, 1FPdc around next st of same color from 2 rounds below; rep from * to one sc left before ch2-sp in next corner**, ch1, skip 1 st, (sc, ch2, sc) in ch2-sp] x3, rep from * to ** once more, ch1, skip 1 st, 1sc in last ch2-sp, join with ss in first sp (change to Yarn C, cut Yarn A), don’t turn – 10 FPdc, 11sc, 20 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Next rounds are made on RS.

Rounds 22-24 (RS): With Yarn C. As Round 3. After Round 24 you’ll have 24 sc and 23 ch1-sps on each side, ch2-sp in each corner

Fasten off. Weave in all tails. Block square to measurements.

Congratulations!! Your Sea Square is now finished!

Purchase ads free ready-to-print pdf with full written instructions and photo-tutorial HERE on Ravelry and HERE on Etsy.

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Hello and welcome to Week 7 of Rozeta CAL. Today is the Day! We will finally finish the central mandala. Isn’t it exciting? Just a few more rounds to go and the beautiful flower will blossom in all its glory. We’ll not meet with something new or unusual on this part. The petals continue to grow in the same way as in previous weeks. The rounds will become a bit longer, but hopefully instructions will be easier to follow. I can’t wait to see ALL your fantastic Rozeta mandalas finished.

Before jumping directly to the photo-tutorial, I thought I would show you something. My Rozeta journey began two years ago. I took random colors of the Scheepjes Our Tribe yarn and strated to play with them. I knew it was meant to be a tapestry. But I had no idea where this play would bring me. And how big my mandala would be.

So here it. The VERY first Rozeta sample. Now looking back at it I am thinking the colors would match my interior perfectly. If you know me well, I am all about the greys, and the teals, and the blues. And even blacks (not matter how many shades of the black you can have). If you are curious these are the shades: 970 Cypress Textiles and 975 Canadutch for smaller center, 969 Lilla Bjorn and 967 Simy for the rest of the mandala.

And just in case you missed this, two new colorways for Rozeta CAL - High Noon and Witching Hour (the choice of Simy Somer) are arriving to the shops today!

Kits are available from most Scheepjes retailers:

local Scheepjes stockists(Please, support your local yarn shop!!)
Wool Warehouse* (International)
Black Sheep Wools* (International)
Deramores * (International)
Caro’s Atelier* (Netherlands and Europe)

***

And now back to our Rozeta.

We will continue to work in back and forth alternating right and wrong sides. And only last three rounds will be made without turning – all on the right side.

Written instructions for Week 7 are available on Scheepjes website HERE. If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here and Part 6 here.

And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Round 61: We’ll make this round with Yarn F (G for Colour Crafter). The rhythm and instructions are pretty easy. You only need to watch for the increases from the previous round. And if their placement was correct, then this round should not bring you any trouble.

Round 62: Simple round with just Yarn A. To help you check the placement of increases, they should be made in one of the two FPtr from previous round (US terms here and throughout).

Round 63: This one is a bit tricky, but in fact it is a kind of repeat of Round 47 (from Part 5). Please, read the notes carefully. Don’t miss 3 ss in the beginning. For an easier count – please, check groups of 3 sc against tr4tog’s (“bobbles”) below. 3sc will be placed above every other tr4tog.

Round 64: Please, pay attention to the end of this round. After you join the round with ss, two more ss will be made and you will mark dc where you made last ss.

Round 65: The beginning of this round is a bit tricky, as it’s difficult to see ss. If you are not sure and pictures below don’t help, please, refer to the CAL video tutorial. Another tip would be to pay attention to the position of last sc of first 9sc in this round. Please, check the position of your sc against the picture, and adjust previous sc as needed.

Round 66: Nothing special is happening on this round. Please, change to Yarn D at the end.

Round 67: Only 3 more rounds to go!! YAY! This one is simple again. Please, pay attention to correct placement of increases.

Round 68: This is the last overlay round for the mandala. We will be making small bricks again as in Part 4. Try to keep your front post stitches straight.

Round 69: Stay on the right side and count very well. This is the last round of the mandala and thus it's very easy to feel relaxed. But correct stitches on this round will give correct base for the corners. So please, be careful. We will be shaping octagon. At the end of this round you will have either 50 or 51 sc along one of the 8 sides. This is not a mistake, so don’t worry.

Hurray!! You are done! And see you next week :)

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Hello and welcome to Week 8 of Rozeta CAL. I can’t believe we are that far already! The longest rounds are over and today a new bit is waiting for you. We will grow four corners to square up the mandala. Yes, you heard it right – all four corners in one week. The very first one might need a bit more time, as you will be coming through the new shape and joining technique. But next three corners should be easier and faster. A corner a day and you will be more than fine and in time for the next week.

Before the Rozeta CAL began I received quite a few e-mails and private messages about joining in the pattern. If there are any seams, and if separate parts should be put together. This week’s instructions will answer all your concerns. No, we will not make separate bits and join them later.

The corners will be attached to the mandala (or the octagon to be more precise) as-you-go.

Each corner is started with Yarn A (main color). Corners are worked in rows alternating right and wrong sides. And at the end of every row you will skip certain number of stitches on the mandala and then make a slip stitch to attach growing corner to the octagon.

Please, read instructions carefully, especially for the ends of the rows. They will tell you exactly how many stitches you should skip on the octagon (mandala) and where every slip stitch goes. If you count well, the last rows of the corners will be attached in the ch2-spaces on the edge of the mandala.

Written instructions for Week 8 are available on Scheepjes website HERE. If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here and Part 7 here.

And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

Here are a few helpful tips:

~ Always mark the first and the last stitch of every row (and move the marker as you progress). It will help you to see where exactly the first and last stitches of the next rows will go. Honestly, markers will save you time and prevent from frogging in many places.

~ Watch the shape and size of your corners carefully. If you switched for the smaller hook on the overlay edge of the mandala, then continue with a smaller hook for corners. Or even change to even smaller hook at some point. The angle of your corner should be approx. 90 degrees. If it’s getting smaller, then you most likely need to adjust your tension.

You can easily check the angle with just a square/rectangular piece of paper. Place it onto your corner as shown in the picture below and watch the edge of your corner. It should be approximately the same angle.

~ DON’T STRESS OUT if your corner is becoming a bit larger or anything. The corners will NOT have ideal shape, but we will add a border around entire blanket later, and we will block it. So any slight differences in shapes should be solved and work themselves out.

~ DON’T STRESS OUT if after nearly finishing the corner you realize you have a bit more or less stitches on the edge of the mandala before next ch2-space. You can improvise and skip more or less stitches than stated in the pattern towards the end of the corner. If the shape of your corner is not vividly weird, there is nothing to worry about.

But of course if your corners look too much asymmetrical or you obviously messed up with something – then you’ll need to frog and remake. But let’s hope that won’t happen.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Row 1. It’s very important to find a right placement for the first group of stitches. Follow the instructions in the pattern, find the correct stitch and attach Yarn A in the third stitch before marked one. After Row 1 is finished, be sure to mark the first and last stitch of the row.

Row 2. This row is made on the wrong side. Stitch markers should help you to find the first and last stitches easily. Be careful when making slip stitches at the end of the round. You should look for the free stitches on the edge of the mandala (after the one which is already occupied with slip stitch from the previous row). If you are not sure, please, watch Esther’s video.

Row 3. We continue to work on right side again. A bit of texture will be added here with back post stitches. A cute ridge will appear on the right side.

Row 4. We continue with the texture and add another ridge by working front post stitches on the wrong side.

Row 5. Nothing special about this row. It should be easy to find the first and the last stitch of the previous row. Please, count total stitches at the end of every row – they are not too many and it will save you lots of nerves on the next rows!

Row 7. We’ll add a bit of texture again – with popcorns this time. There are different ways of making them, but for Rozeta we will do them as 5dc (US terms here and to the end). You’ll have 4 popcorns along each edge.

Row 8. Easy one, but please refer to the pictures below about how I crochet over the popcorns. I insert the hook into the hole. So dc of this row is “growing” from the inside of the popcorn.

Rows 9-11. Repeat previous rows. But please, pay extra attention to the end of Row 11. There is a slight change at the end of the row from Row 5. You’ll be make chains and skip stitches differently. This will be valid for some of the next rows, so please pay full attention to the written instructions.

Row 12. This row is made on the wrong side and it is the last one before we change to a new color. For a neater join (for this row and all next rows on the wrong side), please insert the hook from back to front! This small trick will make the color changes almost invisible. Please, follow instructions for cutting the yarn carefully. And we will not cut Yarn A at any point. It s fastened off only at the very end, when the entire corner is completed.

Here you’ll have an important note about color changes for Colour Crafter version. Please, read it carefully. There will be a change of colors for each two of four corners. Each two opposite corners will be the same and they will slightly differ in colors from another two corners.

Row 13. Here your gauge maybe become slightly relaxed, so please watch your tension and check the angle of the corner as shown in the tips above. Maybe you might even want to change to a smaller hook for next rows.

Row 14. Change back to Yarn A at the end of this row. Again, insert the hook from back to front.

Row 15. This row will remind what we have done in Part 4. Front post stitches will be worked around the stitches of same color from three rows below and you should keep them vertical. To give you a visual tip, FPtr should be placed in central stitches between each pair of popcorns. They will divide popcorns into equal cells.

Row 16. Change to Yarn B (B/C) at the end of this row.

Row 17. This row is similar to Row 13. Popcorns will be placed directly above FPtr below.

Row 19. Similar to Row 15. FPtr will be again placed symmetrically between popcorns. And they should be vertical.

Row 21. At the end of this row magic should happen – you should end one stitch before next ch2-sp in the octagon’s corner. As you can see in the picture below, my magic didn’t really happen, but because my corner looked ok and symmetrical, I didn’t bother to find a mistake and frog. I just tweaked skipped stitches a little bit on the next rows.

Row 23. The magic should happen again and you should end in the ch2-space. YAY!

Row 24. Same as for Row 23. You should end in ch2-sp in the corner (play with skipped stitches if you don’t).

Next Round. You will be working around entire large square with Yarn A. A few decreases will be made. We’ll use the stitches of the different height to shape all the sides and make the square more or less a square.

At the end of this part you can block your square slightly to get ready for the bottom panel. But don’t stretch it too much!!

Hurray! Part 8 is complete! See you next week!

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My designing journey began 5 years ago with a small crochet bear. I made one hoping to sell it at the local craft market. And it was sold in no time. Later Fredrik, a good friend of mine from Sweden, ordered another bear from me for his friend’s baby. He was hoping to give me the push in designing. And it worked! I made quite a few little bears since then. And I am always very sentimental about them. So when Scheepjes asked me to design “someone soft” for their new yarn release, I didn’t hesitate for a moment. A baby bear it was meant to be. A Baby Bear of Furry Tales. And this pattern is released on my blog today. Hope you’ll enjoy!

About Scheepjes Furry Tales yarn

Furry Tales is a fluffy, faux-fur yarn perfect for creating the snuggliest and cuddliest of soft toys and items for children to be enjoyed during story time. Available in a selection of vibrant monotones, magical space-dyed colourways and natural shades with contrasting white tips whose names are inspired by fairy tales, this yarn can create everything from the most lifelike toy bears to quirky, colourful critters. Its tactile quality and comforting touch will be sure to draw the attention of your little ones.

Furry Tales is a soft and durable yarn that pairs perfectly with many Scheepjes yarns, for example,
Stone Washed and Catona. It can be used to create a variety of stuffed toys for children to enjoy
at home or to be used as props by teachers in the classroom during story time, accessories for
infants like cuddle blankets, or faux-fur trims on garments and homewares.

Specifications: 100% Polyester, 100g / 57m, Needle/Hook Size 9mm, Super Bulky Weight, Sold as 100g balls.

Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links (marked with *). If you purchase yarn via any of links below, I might be compensated with a tiny amount while you will not pay anything extra. Thank you for supporting my blog!

You can find Furry Tales in local Scheepjes shops and via international retailers (coming to stock very soon):

Wool Warehouse* and Black Sheep Wools* (both in UK with international shipping), Caro's Atelier* (NL and Europe), Knotty House* (Canada and US).

**************************************************

Baby Bear of Furry Tales: FREE crochet pattern (ENGLISH - US terms)

NEDERLANDS

Purchase a ready-to-print pdf with all instructions and photo-tutorial without advertisements HERE on Ravelry and HERE on Etsy. Pdf is only available in English (US crochet terms).

Once apon a time there lived a baby bear...

Photo credit: Scheepjes

Materials:

Scheepjes Stone Washed* (831 Axinite x 1 ball)
Scheepjes Furry Tales (973 Baby Bear x 3 balls)
3.5mm and 4mm crochet hook
A pair of safety eyes, leftovers of cotton yarn for the face embroidery, leftovers of yarn for the striped scarf, yarn needle to put the Baby Bear together.

Finished size: approx. 40cm
Gauge is not critical for this pattern.

Abbreviations (US terms)

approx.– approximate
ch– chain
rep– repeat
sc– single crochet
st– stitch
sc2tog– single crochet 2 together

INSTRUCTIONS

Copyright! An original LillaBjörnCrochet Design (Tatsiana Kupryianchyk). Copyright 2014-2019. All rights reserved. This pattern is for personal use only. It cannot be sold, redistributed or edited in any way. No translations and video tutorials are allowed without permission. You can sell your finished products, but you cannot use my pictures to promote them. Please, always credit me as a designer of this pattern. Thank you!

HEAD

Round 1. With Stone Washed* and 3.5mm hook. Make magic ring, ch1 (doesn’t count as a st), 6sc in magic ring, tighten ring, don’t join the round – 6 sc

Continue to work in continuous spiral, don’t join the rounds. For an easy count, mark last stitch of every round and move the marker up to the next rounds as you progress.

Round 2. Skip ch1, 2sc in each st around – 12 sc

Round 3. [1sc, 2sc in next st] x6 – 18 sc
Round 4. [2sc, 2sc in next st] x6 – 24 sc
Round 5. [1sc, 2sc in next st, 2sc] x6 – 30 sc
Round 6. [2sc, 2sc in next st, 2sc] x6 – 36 sc
Rounds 7-10. 1sc in each st around. At the end of Round 10 change to Furry Tales yarn on the last yarn over. Cut Stone Washed yarn – 36 sc

Round 11. Continue with Furry Tales yarn and 4mm hook.
12sc, [1sc, 2sc in next st] x12 – 48 sc

Next rounds of the head are made with Furry Tales yarn. It will be very difficult to see the stitches, so try to keep the same tension (it will be obviously looser with Furry Tales yarn) and number of stitches as per pattern. If you miss some of the stitches, just add increases evenly to keep up with the correct stitch count.

Rounds 12-19 (8 rounds). 1sc in each st around – 48 sc

Round 20. [6sc, 1sc2tog] x6 – 42 sts
Round 21. 1sc in each st around – 42 sc
Round 22. [5sc, 1sc2tog] x6 – 36 sts
Round 23. 1sc in each st around – 36 sts
Round 24. [4sc, 1sc2tog] x6 – 30 sts
Round 25. [3sc, 1sc2tog] x6 – 24 sts

The head is shaped a little bit. Look at it from the front. A wider fluffy part above the nose will be a forehead of the bear’s head. Insert safety eyes symmetrically between the last round of the nose and the forehead. Stuff the head firmly. Make sure to put enough stuffing into the nose part.

Round 26. [2sc, 1sc2tog] x6 – 18 sts
Round 27. [1sc, 1sc2tog] x6 – 12 sts
Round 28. 6sc2tog – 6 sts

Cut yarn leaving approx. 30cm tail. Close the hole using yarn needle.
_______________________________________________________

BODY

With Furry Tales yarn and 4mm hook.
Rounds 1-6. Repeat first six rounds of the head – 36 sc
Continue to crochet in continuous spiral until the body measures approx. 15cm.
Next round. [4sc, 1sc2tog] x6, fasten off – 30 sts
_______________________________________________________

EARS – make two

With Stone Washed yarn and 3.5mm hook.
Rounds 1-6. Repeat first six rounds of the head – 36 sc
Rounds 7-12. 1sc in each st around. After last round fasten off leaving approx. 50 cm tail – 36 sts
_______________________________________________________

ARMS – make two

With Furry Tales yarn and 4mm hook.
Rounds 1-2. Repeat first two rounds of the head – 12 sc
Continue to crochet in continuous spiral until the arm measures approx. 12cm. Fasten off.
_______________________________________________________

LEGS – make two

With Furry Tales yarn and 4mm hook.
Rounds 1-2. Repeat first two rounds of the head – 12 sc
Continue to crochet in continuous spiral until the leg measures approx. 10cm. Fasten off.
_______________________________________________________

FINISHING and PUTTING TOGETHER

Fold the ear. Using the yarn tail sew it together through the loops of the last rnd and pull the yarn for the desired shape. Position ears onto the head and sew them around to the head using yarn tail.

Stuff the body a little bit (it should not be firm) and sew the head onto the body opening using Stone Washed yarn in two strands and yarn needle. Don’t stuff legs and arms. Sew them onto the body with two strands of Stone Washed yarn. Hide all the loose tails inside the body.

Embroider the face using THIS step-by-step tutorial.

Crochet a scarf using leftovers of Stone Washed yarn (I made mine with 4mm hook and sc stitches – 7sc for width). Make a fringe if you wish.

Congratulations!! Your Baby Bear is now finished!

Purchase a ready-to-print pdf with all instructions and photo-tutorial without advertisements HERE on Ravelry and HERE on Etsy. Pdf is only available in English (US crochet terms).

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Hello and welcome to week 9 of the Rozeta CAL. If you read this it means you survived the corners, and we can move forward to the bottom panel with arches. I am often asked why I decided to add this panel only on one side of the blanket to make it asymmetrical. As you probably remember, Rozeta was inspired by the gothic church windows. And bottom panel seemed ideal to recreate the same effect. It took me at least two months to figure out the stitch pattern for this part. I had many sleepless nights and made countless swatches. Until finally was decided to come back to tapestry technique again.

The bottom panel consists of two parts and we will be making it during two weeks. I hope it will take you less time than the corners and long rounds on the mandala’s edge. And I also hope it will give you extra time to catch up with the CAL if you are a bit behind. Though, it’s not a race of course, and you should not keep up with the same pace at any point.

As already mentioned, today we will be doing tapestry crochet again. But we will work in rows and not in rounds. At the end of every row you will turn your work – so we will be alternating right and wrong side all the time.

!!!IMPORTANT!!!

There is one very important moment I would like to draw your attention to. We will carry two yarns across the rows, in the same way as we did for the central mandala. BUT. The very beginning and the end of each row will be made in Yarn A (main color) only. It means that you will begin every row with just yarn A and will change to a contrast color as indicated in the pattern. You will grab contrast yarn up from previous row. And you will make sure the floats always stay on the wrong side. After the last repeat with contrast yarn is completed, you will drop it (ALWAYS leaving on the wrong side), and you’ll finish the row with Yarn A only.

Why do we need this trick? Tapestry crochet tends to shrink your piece. Especially if you are trying to pull inner yarn (please, DON’T PULL it while working on the bottom panel). And because Rozeta blanket consists of several different shapes (tapestry circle, overlay circle, corners) we need the bottom panel to be the same width as your current square. So it must not shrink. And if we make the edges with just Yarn A, we’ll have a narrow section on each side of the panel without inner yarn. And it will allow us to stretch the bottom panel a little bit, if needed for blocking.

Another important thing I would like to tell you is that the inner yarn WILL be SEEN through the stitches throughout. Mainly because we work in back and forth. So please don’t try to do anything extra to hide it. Scroll down the photo-tutorial below and you will see, that my inner yarn is not hidden.

This is all for now :) Let’s come back to Rozeta. Written instructions for Week 8 are available on Scheepjes website HERE. If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here and Part 8 here.

And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Row 1. We begin on the wrong side. The yarn is attached in any ch2-sp in the corner. No matter which corner you choose. Begin with just yarn A, change to contrast yarn as indicated in the pattern, continue with both yarns across. After last repeat drop the contrast yarn in front of work (on the wrong side), and finish the row with just Yarn A.

Row 2. This and next even rows don’t give you exact instructions. You will be working with just sc stitches (US terms here and throughout) changing the yarn as per previous row. Again, begin this row with Yarn A, change to contrast yarn on the last yarn over before the next stitch of same color (grab contrast yarn up behind your work), continue with both yarns across until you finish last repeat with contrast yarn, then drop it behind work (on the wrong side) and finish the row with just Yarn A.

Row 3. Nothing unusual happens here. Just follow written instructions grabbing up and dropping contrast yarn as needed.

Row 5. New color change appears on this row.

Row 7. On this row you will get waves on the edge because of increases and decreases. At the end of this row cut Yarn D for Colour Crafter version.

Row 9. On previous rows you were making dc3tog’s, and now we change to dc2tog’s. Just something to remember :) I made a mistake on this row myself and had to frog.

Next rows are just the same as the previous ones. Nothing special or difficult.

Row 15.

Row 17.

Row 20. This row is very special as we will be adding overlay popcorns. They will be made in a modified way – same as you made bobbles on the overlay round border. Please, note that all modified popcorns are made with tr stitches, so they are longer than the ones we made in the corners. After completing the popcorn change back to Yarn A on next ch1, skip one stitch behind the popcorn and continue to carry both yarns across the row.

Row 21. Same as Row 19. Please, refer to the picture of how I insert the hook into the popcorns. All ch1 on the top of popcorns should be skipped.

Congratulations! We are done through the half of the bottom tapestry panel. One more week to go and we can jump to the final border. Can’t wait!!

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Hello and welcome to Part 10 of the Rozeta CAL. We are almost finishing this week – can you believe that?! Our Rozeta window will be completed and all we need is just to frame it with the final border. And it means next week will be the last one… Today we continue building bottom tapestry panel. We will work in back and forth as on previous part. A few more popcorns will be added, and the arches will be shaped at the bottom.

If you are using the kit, you might have noticed that some of the colors are almost finished. If your gauge was on spot throughout the CAL and if you took your time to carefully measure your blanket after every part and if you weight the yarn after every part – then you could compare your usage of yarn with numbers given in the pattern.

But if you haven’t done anything of mentioned above, you might start running out of the colors on this part already. Yarn B might be the tightest in both Our Tribe and Colour Crafter kits. This color will be only used this week for the bottom tapestry and we will not need it for the border. You’ll need approx. 13g of Yarn B in Our Tribe and 11g in Colour Crafter. But if you don’t have enough yarn already, don’t worry!! You can substitute it with Yarn F which you should still have plenty of!

Bottom tapestry panel (and especially final stained glass border which we will be making next week) is not strict with placement of colors. So if you feel like you are running out of some of them, you can play around and replace the colors to your taste.

If you feel like you are running out of the main color (Yarn A), you can simply omit several rows at the bottom of the tapestry panel to make it shorter, and use different colors for the final border.

But again, if your gauge was correct and if you used approximately the same amount of yarn for every part as noted in the pattern – you should not run out of yarn in any color by now. The yardages for the Rozeta kits were calculated based on the yarn usage from all testers (and we had lots of them). And the yarn usage given in the pattern is the maximum what testers used.

I hope I calmed you down, and now we can move on to the instructions! Written instructions for Week 8 are available on Scheepjes website HERE. If this is the first time you hear about Rozeta, please check General Information HERE and a photo-tutorial for Special Stitches and Techniques HERE.

Find Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here, Part 8 here and Part 9 here.

And don’t forget to check videos by Esther of It’s All in A Nutshell: UK right-handed, UK left-handed, NL right-handed, NL left-handed.

PHOTO-TUTORIAL

Row 22. Starting with this row we will be building “branches with leaves” inside the arches. On this row make FPtr’s (US terms here and throughout) around the popcorns below. And don’t forget to skip one stitch behind every FPtr.

Row 24. The popcorns on this row are made around single crochet stitches from 2 rows below. Esther made them a bit differently in the video (she is making them around dc from previous row). Either way will work well, and the exact placement of popcorns should not give a significant difference in the final look. I just felt like it is easier to find fourth sc on both sides of FPtr below. Please, change color after every popcorn (in ch1 on top of it), and after FPtr. And don’t forget to skip the stitches.

After this row we will cut Yarn C for Colour Crafter and will be using only Yarn B for both versions for the next rows.

Row 25. Simple row with new color for Colour Crafter. If you don’t have enough of Yarn B, you can switch to Yarn F at this point.

Row 26. FPtr on this row are made around FPtr below. Skip one stitch behind every FPtr.

Row 28. Make popcorns in the same way as on Row 24.

Row 30. Repeat of Row 26. Cut Yarn B for both versions at the end of this row.

Row 31. On this and all next rows we will use only Yarn A and Yarn F.

Row 32. Repeat of Row 24 but with Yarn F.

Row 36.

Row 37. On this and all next rows we will be making increases and decreases to shape the bottom of the arches.

Row 38.

Congratulations!! Part 10 of the Rozeta CAL is completed! See you next week!

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