Blogville Knitters Challenge: My favourite make

This challenge is from Karen at Nothingbutknit – feel free to join in!

I’m pretty certain my favourites are going to change over time, as I (hopefully) have many years of makes to come, and I’m constantly improving and developing.

But as of right this very second, I am still most proud of my first Lego blanket.

That is definitely my crowning crochet achievement. I never get tired of showing people photos of it! I made it for my Dad’s birthday, because Lego always reminds me of him, I designed the bricks, the layout, and the border all by myself, and I used up a hell of a lot of stash to make it. I’m happy every time I see it again.

Another particular favourite of mine is the needle felted bunny rabbit I made at an I Sew 2 workshop last year.

I had never needle felted before and it surprised me how well it turned out – it actually looks how I pictured it in my head!

So they’re my favourites, what are yours?

Hannah

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Tangle of the week: Paradox Reversed

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while will know that Paradox is my all-time favourite Tangle.

So when I saw that someone had created a variation on it, I had to give it a try. You can check out the tutorial on the creator’s blog here.

Step 1. Mark out your square.

Step 2. Draw the first four lines as you would in regular Paradox.

Step 3. Reverse direction and draw the next four lines.

Step 4. Repeat step 3 until you reach the centre of the square.

Step 5 (optional). Fill in the centre.

I’ll be honest, this one was a bit of a brain workout! I had to count my lines as I drew them, to make sure I changed direction after every fourth one.

Here’s what it looks like in grid formation.

And in triangles, like Paradox at the top of the post.

I really like it, but regular Paradox is still my favourite.

What do you think of Paradox Reversed? Which do you prefer? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

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Tangle of the week – B’Twined

This is another tangle that I love, love, LOVE, but still haven’t quite perfected yet. My lines always come out a little wobbly, and getting them to meet up is difficult!

Instructions (click on the photo to see it clearly) can be found here.

There are a few different ways I do this tangle. For the card up at the top of this post, I left in the basic grid lines that start it off. I didn’t draw in the diagonal guide lines for that one and I think it shows; most of the ‘arms’ are more curved on one side than the other.

Obviously you can also leave in the diagonal lines if you like

But that looks pretty messy to me, so I never do.

You can also remove all of the guidelines if you draw them in pencil rather than pen.

A more subtle difference, which might be difficult to explain, is the way the arms overlap each other. In the instruction photo you can see that Pegi draws every arm facing one direction first

And then every arm going the other way

Which produces a B’Twined that looks like this:

See how each cross has 2 arms that are on top and 2 that go underneath others.

But an alternative is to draw them in a zig zag pattern

Which produces this:

Now it looks like there is one upper layer of crosses with all arms on top, and one lower layer with all arms running underneath. It’s a subtle difference that probably nobody would notice unless it was pointed out to them, but I love the fact that I can produce more than one thing from a single tangle.

What do you think of B’Twined? Have I inspired anyone to give tangling a go yet? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

xXx

Tangle of the week – Paradox

Of all the tangles I’ve learned so far, this is my absolute favourite. For me, this is exactly what zentangle is all about; you do the simplest thing (draw a straight line) over and over again, get into that meditative zone where the time just flows by, and end up with something stunning.

 

The tutorial can be found here. Although I actually struggled to understand it; I only got it once I tried turning the paper 90 degrees after every line.

 

Paradox can be structured like this:

Or a bit more random, like this one:

I personally prefer the structured one, but that’s just who I am.

I love that optical illusion of arrows pointing in and out, and curves made out of straight lines. Even though I know full well that it’s made of straight lines in 3- or 4-sided shapes, I still can’t help but see the curves. It’s brilliant!

Do any of you tangle? Got a favourite? Let me know in the comments!

Hannah

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