MIA - Will be back soon :)

I don't know if anyone noticed, but I have been Missing In Action for a while :)

Mother-in-law staying in our home means no time for sewing ;) however I had time to do some crochet and I had great progress in my sampler tapestry crochet blanket that I will call "Mirror Mirror" :)

But before showing you my assessment of tapestry crochet and my blocks, let me remind you that the the voting for the Blogger's Quilt Festival is open!!

These are my quilts (Scrappy and Small)... please go there and give them some love <3 <3<3

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And now a little summary of my new crochet project.

I am obsessed with the technique of tapestry crochet and I want to make myself a "sampler" afghan. But first I have to figure out what I like and how it looks like :) so I designed a little pattern and decided to stitch it with different methods. Then I will evaluate the results and pick the one I like the most for the afghan.

So this is the design. It is pretty simple but it has several key components (curves, sharp points, narrow strips, full shapes).

My tapestry block design... and my helper helping out ;)

First try: all SC, turning the work after each row

(Dimension: 5'' x 5.5'')

Assessment:

• I like the texture: it's tight and full and a little too heavy
• it's simple and works out pretty quick
• since SC is not the same front/back, there are some issues on the edges where color changes
• for the same reasons, sharp points (1 SC) are not so precise. The same issue can be seen for the narrow strips (both vertically and horizontally)

Second try: all Half Double Crochet, turning the work after each row

(Dimension: 6''x 8'' estimated)

Assessment:

• I like the fact that is less heavy but still with a full look
• it's simple and works out pretty quick
• same issues as before on color changing spots and narrow strips
• even if I like the fact that is more loose than the other version, HDC are too tall and the design is completely stretched

Third-forth try:
  * (lower half) HDC right->left and SC left->right (no turning)
  * (top half) SC right->left and SC left->right (no turning)

(Dimension: (lower) 6''x 8'' estimated, (upper) 5.5'' x 5.5'' estimated)

Assessment:

• I like the fact that the texture is good and now I don't have issues where color changes and with narrow strips
• I am very slow working with my left hand. And even if the final look is nice and I may get faster with practice, if I pick this approach I may get frustrated after few blocks and never finish the afghan

Conclusion:

I like the speed of the simple SC turning at each row. I am ok with "imperfect" lines when the color changes as long as I can finish my afghan in a reasonable amount of time.

However I want blocks to be a little bigger than 5''... so the solution is simple: I will use a bigger hook, the biggest I have around (K) :)

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Having resolved the "how" now I wanted to design the "what". My idea is to make sampler blocks with my own designs. Each block will be done in two versions, switching the background/main colors (hence the name "Mirror Mirror" :) ).

These are my first blocks.

I really like how they look! If anyone is interested in the pattern, just comment below with your email address and I can send the graph to you.

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I will be back next week with the usual link party and hopefully some sewing to share ;)