Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Tuesday Tutorials

Some time ago I showed everyone how to make a Tunisian Shorts Rows Square. Today I going to tell you how I used that technique to make this blanket.


I don't have any close up pictures of the corners so I hope my description of how to do them, along with the previous tutorial will be sufficient.

I started this by making two sides of the border. This was so that I had a base to work the the first squares onto. For this tutorial I am going to assume that people already know Tunisian Simple Stitch and have read my tutorial on how to make the short rows square.

To start, I did 5 chain, picked up a stitch in the second chain from the hook (2 loops on hook) then worked a reverse pass (yo, pull through 1 loop, yo, pull through 2 loops). The next row is made by doing tss in the next stitch and picking up a loop in the next chain then work a normal reverse pass. Continuing by picking up one more stitch in the chain with each row until all chains have been used (5 loops on the hook for the forward pass). Work 150 rows of tss.

After I did the 150 rows I turned the corner by first shortening the rows (leaving the last stitch unworked) then lengthening the rows in the same way that I did for the square washcloth. I then worked enough rows to enable me to start making the first panel. You could go the full 150 rows across if you want but I chose to do just enough to give me a base for each panel. You cannot complete the border until the main body of the blanket is complete.

The first panel is made by picking up 25 stitches in the ends of the rows nearest the corner then 25 stitches up the side (ie count 25 stitches from the corner along the base, pick up a stitch on the inside edge and work towards the corner then pick up 25 stitch up the side working away from the corner) (50 loops on hook). This is the base row for the first square of the panel. Work a standard reverse pass. Work 22 tss, tss2tog twice, 23 tss then a standard reverse pass. Work 21 tss, tss2tog twice, 23 tss then a standard reverse pass. Keep reducing the number of stitches in this manner until only 2 stitches remain. Insert hook in the second stitch, yo, pull through all loops on hook (1 square finished).

The second square is made by picking up stitches across the top of the square and the next 25 stitches up the side of the border. There should be 50 loops on the hook. Work a reverse pass as normal. Continue is the same manner as the first square.

Repeat this process for the remaining 4 squares of the first panel.

The second and all subsequent panels are made in much the same way except the stitches are picked up on the side of the squares in the first panel.

Once all panels are made (150 rows on each side should give 36 squares in a 6x6 grid) it's time to complete the border. Turn the corner in the same manner as the first corner was done. for each row of the border, pick up the stitches in the normal manner. Put the hook through the end of the next row of the adjacent square, yo, pull through the row and the first loop on the hook (this is just and extension of the yo, pull through first loop on hook that is done in the standard reverse pass and just links the row with the adjacent square) then continue the reverse pass as normal.

When the last 2 sides of the border have been completed, having turned the 3rd corner in the same manner as the previous 2, it is necessary to shorten rows, linking with the appropriate row of the start of the border in the same manner as the border was linked to the sides of the squares (this is probably the trickiest part of the whole blanket). The border can also be completed by shortening the rows as normal and sewing the 2 halves together if that is easier (I've never really liked sewing seams).

If you do try to make this blanket and have any problems just send me an email to the address associated with this blog (there's a link in my profile) with photos and a description of the problem and I'll try to help.

Richard.

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