I designed a square!

I sat down and designed a square for use in making afghans. I was actually trying for a 12 inch square, but it only came out to be roughly 10 inches. Still, it's rather pretty... my son said it reminded him of a rose and he really liked it, so I named it after him.

QUINCEY'S ROSE
(copyright Krynne 2011)

Hook used for model was H hook.
Yarn used for model was Red Heart Comfort (colour "red")

Special stitches used:

Begin Cluster: Ch 2, yarn over, insert hook into stitch, yarn over & draw through stitch, yarn over, draw through 2 loops on hook, yarn over, insert hook into same stitch, yarn over & draw through stitch, yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook, yarn over & draw through all 3 loops on hook.

Cluster: Yarn over, insert hook into stitch, yarn over & draw through stitch, yarn over & draw through 2 loops on hook, (yarn over, insert hook into same stitch, yarn over & draw through 2 loops on hook) twice, yarn over & draw through all four loops on hook.

X Stitch (also called a Double Crochet Cross Stitch): Skip one stitch, make normal DC in next stitch, insert hook into skipped stitch, make regular DC.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Make 8 SC in magic ring, SS at top of 1st SC to join.

2) Make Begin Cluster in 1st SC, ch 2, (Cluster, ch 2) x7, SS at top of Begin Cluster to join.

3) (Ch 4, SS into top of Cluster) around, ch 4, SS to begin ch 4 at beginning of round to join.

4) SS into ch 4 space, ch 3, 4 CD in ch 4 space, (5 DC in next ch 4 space) around, SS in top of ch 3 at beginning of round to join.

5) Ch 3, (DC, ch 2, 2 DC) in same space, *HDC in next 3 stitches, SC in next 3 stitches, HDC in next 3 stitches, (2 DC, ch 2, 2 DC) in next stitch; repeat from * around, SS at top of ch 3 at beginning of round to join.

6) SS to corner ch 2 space, ch 3, (DC, ch 2, 2 DC) in same space, *ch 1, (skip next stitch, X stitch, ch 1) x4, skip next stitch, (2 DC, ch 2, 2 DC) in corner ch 2 space, repeat from * around, ch 1, SS in top of ch 3 at beginning of round to join.

7) SS to corner ch 2 space, ch 3, (DC, ch 2, 2 DC) in same space, ch 1, *(HDC in each stitch & in each ch 1 space) across to corner ch 2 space, ch 1, (2 DC, ch2, 2 DC) in corner ch 2 space, ch 1, repeat from *, SS to top of ch 3 at beginning of round to join.

8) SS to corner ch 2 space, ch 3, (DC, ch 2, 2 DC) in same space, *DC in next 2 stitches, (ch 3, skip 2 stitches, SS in next stitch) x5, ch 3, skip 2 stitches, DC in next 2 stitches, (2 DC, ch 2, 2DC) in corner ch 2 space, repeat from *, ch 3, SS at top of ch 3 at beginning of round to join.

9) SS to corner ch 2 space, ch 3, (DC, ch 2, 2 DC) in same space, ch 1, *skip next stitch, HDC in next stitch, SC in next 2 stitches, SC in next ch 3 space, ch 1, (3DC in next ch 3 space, ch 1) x4, SC in next ch 3 space, SC in next 2 stitches, HDC in next stitch, skip next stitch, (2 DC, ch 2, 2 DC), in corner, repeat from *, ch 1, SS in top of ch 3 at beginning of round to join.

10) Ch 2, HDC in next stitch, *(2 HDC, ch 2, 2 HDC) in corner ch 2 space, HDC in each stitch & in each ch 1 space across, repeat from *, SS in top of ch 2 at beginning of round to join.

11) Ch 3, DC in next 3 stitches, *(2 DC, ch2, 2 DC) in corner ch 2 space, DC in each stitch across, repeat from *, SS in top of ch 3 at beginning of round to join.

Fasten off, weave in all ends, block & enjoy!

I've added this to Ravelry. Please feel free to post photos of your squares you've made!

It's been a while...

Sorry I've not written in almost a month now... I was a bit distracted by other things, such as my Nerd Wars group on Ravelry. This group holds a tournament that runs over a 3 month period. Each month the game master sets 6 different challenges for each team to work on. Some are rather easy while other are quite difficult. This past month (June) I managed to fulfill 5 out of the 6 challenges... and still work a bit on my 3 month long dissertation. I'll post them here in the order I finished them:

My 1st challenge was to make something inspired from a popular YouTube video. Extra points were given if you could somehow tie it in with your team (I’m on Team Rangers - from the TV series Babylon 5). I decided to take the video of the end credits of the game Portal and make the cake that can be seen in the beginning of the video. To tie it in with B5 I mentioned a scene where Security Chief Garibaldi is chatting with a co-worker about cake.

My 2nd challenge was to create something in 3D. Again extra points were granted for linking to our team. My creation was an amigurumi ant. This ties in to B5 as G'kar is speaking to a visitor in regard to "something" she saw near a planet she'd been surveying. G'kar explains that some things are too complex for us to understand. He picks up an ant, shows it to the woman (asking what it is) and as she answers he places it back onto the flower. He states that if the ant asks another ant "what was that" it could only give a similar answer he had given her earlier... that it just can't be explained.

My 3rd challenge was to represent something representing Electricity, whether it be lightning, the current running our electronic gizmos, or the static electricity from loving your cat too much on a dry day LOL! My entry was a representation of a Jacob's Ladder. This device creates a sparking arc that travels from bottom to top. It is often seen in the older monster horror classics, such as Frankenstein. I further went on to mention that in that film electricity is being used to re-animate the dead. In B5 an entity known as Lorien is introduced. He has a human form, but his natural form is of pure energy. In 2 different scenes Lorien shared some of his energy to revive the mortally wounded Captain Sheridan.

Each team also had what they classed as a Team Unity Project, where they chose a subject and we all had to make something for this project. We could then use that project in one of the main 6 challenges. Our Team Unity project was Star Stuff, based on a quote from Delenn, that everyone... be they human, Minbar or Drazi... were all created from the same universe. My Star related item was a simple Baby Mobile full of stars. Perhaps something Sheridan and Delenn would hang above their son's crib.

My 5th & final challenge was in the form of donations of newborn/baby items... we were to show how generous even a Nerdy Geek can be. The donations actually didn't have to be created by us, but I decided to make mine. I crocheted 7 little preemie sized baby hats (and will be donating them to CHEO). I chose colours that could have been used by 2 of the well known alien races on B5: the lighter pastels of green, yellow & blue I felt represented Delenn's homeworld of Minbar, while the shades of purple and darker blue could have come from Londo Mollari's wives on Centauri.

The 6th challenge was to take an adage or phrase (such as "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" or "A rolling stone gathers no moss) and create an item to represent this phrase. Sadly I was unable to think of anything to use for this challenge (and still tie it to my team). But there were a great number of them submitted (not only for this challenge but for all the others too) and I got loads of neat ideas for future projects LOL!

Overall I had loads of fun trying to think of the projects to make for these challenges. I even managed to get some of my dissertation done, though not as much as I'd like. I'll definitely have to work harder on that. The new challenges for July have just been posted and I've already got a few ideas in mind for them!