What about a Celtic Coaster style Placemat?

This does include a universal pattern at the bottom as long as you don’t mind a bit of Maths!

Having had a few people interested in the possibility of a placemat in similar style to my Celtic Coaster, being the person I am, I wasn’t able to stop considering it.

My first thought was that it would be a lot of work and very fiddly. However……….

Imagining a placemat made in a similar way to the coaster as being made of similar width strips. I wondered how many that would need to be and in the end decided that about sixteen would equal a foot. (Not sure I am right here but it was a good place to start.)

Now the number of separate strips needed for a piece of Celtic plaitwork depends on the whether, on counting the number of bumps on each side (including the corners), the two numbers have a common factor.

No common factor: one piece (as in my odd numbered Celtic bookmarks.)

If there is a common factor that determines how many separate strips there are.

four and six have a common factor of two whereas three and five have no common factor except one.

For a square, both sides are the same so you need that number of strips. Hence the style of my coasters.

I tend to think of placemats as being rectangular so having decided on sixteen colours for one foot (30cm). I chose to draw out one that was 16 x 32 bumps.

Now to be similar to my coasters each colour must be different. Sixteen was about the number of colours I used for my spectrum blanket so I coloured each strip in similar colours and produced this. Now one of the things I wanted with my coasters was for no adjacent overlaps to be the same colour.

I think, if you look closely, you will see that this breaks this rule in a vertical strip down the centre.

Of course a square placemat would not. (Each strip of the 16 x 32 placemat would need about 360 chains and there would be sixteen of them to weave together. That is a similar number of chains to those needed for each of my bookmarks.)

Now one person had asked about a matching coaster and obviously this could not match with all those colours so I looked to see what would happen if you repeated the colours of my first (non rainbow) coaster (As represented in my drawing programme) and got this. Even more matching adjacent overlaps.

Even if it was square. Some people might like the patterns it gives rise to but it wasn’t really what I wanted.

So I decided to work out how to make a bigger version of my coaster with the same shape strips but just wider.

As it was just a trial effort, I used some of my acrylic yarn that I had no specific plans for, as the cotton yarn is more expensive and I wasn’t sure I had enough anyway. Acrylic is much stretchier though and so needs more TLC to get it into shape. However I hope it will give you the general idea of what is possible.

For symmetry I decided to just make the strips three times wider and see how large it ended up. This would mean nine trebles (US-dcs) for each cross-over and over one hundred chains for each strip.

The thing that surprised me was to find that when adding further rows it takes two added rows to equal the width of one row on its own. So I ended up with five rows and not three! (And 114 starting chains see formula below.) Since each strip is approximately the same size you should need something less than 25g of each colour. As the whole thing weighed just under 85g. More of course if it was cotton. I used a 4.5mm hook for the starting chain and then a 4mm hook for the stitches. I tend to crochet quite tightly.

Here it is with a plate.

Although I was doing all this primarily for other people it has proved quite useful, as one of my first thoughts was to use plaitwork to make a cushion cover and now I have the tools to plan such a cover – watch this space!

Some Maths!

For a square coaster, placemat etc.

If N is the number of bumps down the side (including the corners), N is also the number of strips and so also the number of colours needed if each strip is a different colour.

As an aside: I think that N is best if it is even, as if it is odd you get a square shape in the middle which I think stands out too much.

This was the one that was too loose but I think you can get the idea

For an even number the first half of the shapes are the same as the second half and they blend together more. However the formula works for all values of N.

In all the following (US readers read ‘double crochet’ where I say ‘treble’)

Then for each strip if only one row wide:

The number of chains to start = 12(N-1) + 6. This includes the two extra chain needed for the first treble equivalent.

For thicker strips:

If m is the number of rows. I think m works best if it is odd from the point of view of symmetry. (If you chose an even numbered m you will have to adjust for any halves you get. I suggest rounding down as crochet is stretchy.)

The number of chains to start = 12[1 +(m-1)/2](N-1) + 6. This includes the two extra chain needed for the first treble equivalent.

Hope you remember your BODMAS!

I have even come up with a formula pattern for any size you might want to make.

For strips only one row wide:

Work the following, using values of ‘t’ from 1 to N.

(Following on from my remark about an even N, when N is even you can just make two each of the first N/2 shapes, which is what I did for the coaster.)

Treble into 4th chain from hook, 5tr into one chain,

Then one treble into each chain for 6(t-1) chains. (Yes this gives zero for the first ‘t’), 5trs into one chain.

Then one treble into each chain for 6(n-t) chains. 5trs into one chain.

Then one treble into each chain for 6(t-1) chains. 5trs into one chain.

Then one treble into each chain for 6(n-t)-2 chains. (This corrects for the first two trebles made at the beginning which will give a join that is underneath.)

A more general formula that will also work for thicker strips:

If N is the number of strips (colours) and m is the number of rows.

The first rows come from:-

Work the following, using values of ‘t’ from 1 to N-1. Then repeat t=1.

Treble into 4th chain from hook, Then one treble into each chain for [(m-1)/2] chains, 5tr into one chain,

Then one treble into each chain for 6(m+1)(t-1)/2 chains. (Yes this gives zero for the first ‘t’), 5trs into one chain.

Then one treble into each chain for 6(m+1)(n-t)/2 chains. 5trs into one chain.

Then one treble into each chain for 6(m+1)(t-1)/2 chains. 5trs into one chain.

Then one stitch into each chain for (6(m+1)(n-t)-(m+3))/2 chains. (This corrects for the extra trebles made at the beginning which will give a join that is underneath. If when you put the plait together the join is not underneath then you have the strip the wrong way up. I always presume that the right side is the front of the first row.)

For the rows after that work one tr into each tr except for the turns. (Remember to start with 3ch, miss the first stitch, and work the last tr into the top of the 3ch on the previous row.)

For 180deg turns, on the second row I worked into the 10 stitches of the turn as follows – (tr, tr, 2tr, 2tr, 2tr, 2tr, 2tr, 2tr, tr, tr) (16)

On the third row I worked into the central sixteen stitches of the above as follows – (tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, 2tr, tr, 2tr, 2tr, tr, 2tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, tr). (22)

Hopefully you can see a pattern here. I felt it was similar to working a circle, (or see below.)

For 90deg turns I simply worked 5trs into the central treble of the five of the previous row and one treble into all the others.

Pattern for 180deg turns continued

How the stitches increased for the fourth and fifth rows.

Over 22 stitches: (tr, tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, 2tr, 2tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, tr, tr.) (28)

Over 28 stitches: (tr, tr, tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, tr, 2tr, 2tr, tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, tr, 2tr, tr, tr, tr, tr, tr.) (34)

Caveat: Although I have checked and double checked my figures and formulae, I do make mistakes, and if anyone thinks they have found one, I am always grateful to be told so I can investigate.

 

 

 

 

 

A neat Bag!

Neat in both the colloquial and literal meanings of that word.

Not my pattern. You can find that HERE. (I ran out of the dark blue cotton so used the turquoise to finish up.) It weighs about 70g including flower and button so could be made with a 100g ball.

Here is the bag laid out. What is the little touch of yellow? You will see in a moment!

The base is two thicknesses and creates a pocket for the bag.

Here it is emerging from the pocket. Tuck it all in and you get – (I rescued the button from a birthday card!)

And a view from above. Just right to pop in your pocket in case you need a bag!

Mainly bees……….

Not a lot to show you this week. I was going to work on my seahorses but I seem to have mislaid one! I know I saw it somewhere recently but can’t remember where.

So I finished a floor cloth since I thought it would last longer than the shop sort and I believe on getting down on my hands and knees with a cloth to clean the floor.

I also made a couple of crochet orchids. (I devised the pattern about eighteen months ago  ago – https://rainbowjunkiecorner.wordpress.com/2014/06/19/orchid-obsession/) and had so many helpful comments I became lost in indecision. There was also the question of size since some sprays of orchids have flowers of different sizes and also how to create the stems.

However I have now seen sprays of four equal sized flowers in shops so I am making one of them! There were suggestions for making multi-coloured orchids that I would like to try but I decided to just start with white. I am using my original pattern which I think is the best I am going to get.

However as that is not very exciting I thought I would share some photographs of bees that I took in Chichester last Autumn plus one of a different sort of bee I took in my garden. The others are all square. I love the veining on their wings. They are so delicate with frilly edges.And such fluffy bodies!I think these are what are called white tailed bees. And one (I think it is a honey bee) from my garden. Except the first, that is on a buddleia plant, they are all taken while feeding on sedum plants.

Shower puffs – Final report

After my last post I was fully intending to go away and try my cotton puffs for a few weeks and see if they went black and mouldy but I soon thought better of it because just because mine didn’t get mouldy (they had shown no sign of it so far) didn’t mean that someone else in a damper environment mightn’t have problems. And even more importantly I had to squeeze them so hard to get them to foam up a bit that it hurt my wrists.  (I have arthritic wrists these days.)

However I did experiment with a few alternatives.

I made this Bobbles one side (for a massage effect if wanted) and plain the other as something that was cotton and actually foamed up as much as the cotton puffs but more easily

Picture here for anyone who didn’t see the earlier post

and dried in only a couple of days unlike the round puffs that took  up to six days to dry fully so would be constantly wet in frequent use. (If I had decided to use such a thing permanently I would make it a bit longer so it covered down to the wrist instead of just over the fingers and palm, with a hole for the thumb of course.)

But then I remembered years ago, how I had been given a small piece of natural sponge as part of a gift set and how pleasant that had felt against my skin so I decided to treat myself. A natural sponge costs a lot more than a nylon puff but will last for much, much longer. It is also soft on the skin in use though it feels rough when dry. It doesn’t foam up as much as a nylon puff but more easily than I found the cotton ones.

However becoming content with a less bubbly wash and now having a shelf in my shower at shoulder height, I decided that a bar of soap does quite a good job as well.

However the cotton puffs are very pretty!but it is up to you which you prefer.

A more symmetrical Granny Ripple

The new chart. I find it very hard to make a chart for a ripple but I think this is better than the chart for the original ripple.

When I devised my original Granny Ripple pattern, I chose between three samples that I made.

At the time I chose the middle one.

This was my favourite at the time for two main reasons I think.

1. I knew that a Granny ripple could never be as symmetrical as this simple ripple but I was looking for something that was as symmetrical as possible and chose to seek this on the increasing and decreasing row.
2. The very slight assymetry of the result made the ripple seem further away from the Granny zig-zag that I didn’t want.

However

Months of looking at my spectrum blanket and musing on fact that the peaks were sharper than the troughs led me eventually to realise that removing the extra three treble group between the decreases could actually lead to a symmetry of the two row pair. (This is the top sample.) Made into a blanket it is rippley enough I now feel!

I wanted to try this out and, having really enjoyed putting together the colours for the sea-and-sand blanket I made for my daughter, decided to try a not too large lap/shoulder blanket using the same colours which I could drape on my bedroom chair where the colours would really go.

There is nothing I  enjoy so much as having a blanket on the go, especially my granny ripple that is so easy to do!

I calculated that this blanket would only need about half a ball of each colour and so I collected together any balls where I had at least 50g left and supplemented this by buying these from a shop and these on-line where the shop didn’t have the necesary colours. I also indulged myself, as you can see, by buying the three sizes of hook I use most often with DK yarn of the Clover Armour hooks that I have come to really love. (Well it did mean I didn’t have to pay postage!)

Here are all the colours ready to start the blanket.

And here is how far I have got. And a comparison of both ripples.

Here is the modified pattern (UK & US versions)

PATTERN (UK version)

I am using a 5mm hook (but some people may get the same result with a 4.5mm hook) and DK yarn. I like using a 5mm hook for granny square type blankets because it produces a soft fluid result.

I also find that introducing a chain between each group of three trebles as happens in granny squares makes granny stripe type blankets too loose so I have omitted them.

My ripples come out about 6” (15 cm) between adjacent troughs (or peaks).

You need to decide how many ripples wide you want to make it.

To start you make a chain [(39 x number of ripples) + 3] long.

[However my tip is to actually make the chain about 5 chains longer than you need and then when you have finished the first row you can actually undo any excess at the start of the chain, link by link, and it all remains quite secure. This way if you make a small miscalculation you don’t have to undo the whole row.]

I don’t think that this pattern is as bad as some as you only have to work into every third chain on the foundation row!

Row 1: work 2tr into the 6th chain from the hook (I don’t count the loop on the hook itself).
Then repeat (miss 2ch 3tr into next chain) until you have [(13 x number of ripples) –1] three treble groups. Then miss 2ch and 1tr into last chain.

Row 2: 3ch = 1tr then 2tr, 1ch, 3tr, into first space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3tr into next space. Miss a space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. 3tr, 1ch 3tr into next space.

Then repeat for each ripple:-

3tr, 1ch, 3tr, into first space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3tr into next space. Miss a space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. 3tr, 1ch 3tr into next space.

Until the last ripple where the very last treble should be worked into the chain 5 chains from the first worked treble group instead of into the space. This will give a firm edge.

Row 3: 3ch = 1tr then work 3tr into each space between ‘three treble’ groups and finish with 1tr into the 3rd ch at start of the row below.

Row 4: 3ch = 1tr then 2tr, 1ch, 3tr, into first space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3tr into next space. Miss a space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. 3tr, 1ch 3tr into next space.

Then repeat for each ripple:-

3tr, 1ch, 3tr, into first space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3tr into next space. Miss a space. 3tr into each of next 4 spaces. 3tr, 1ch 3tr into next space.

Until the last ripple where the very last treble should be worked into the 3rd of the chains in the row below instead of into the space. This will give a firm edge.

Repeat rows 3 & 4 as many times as you like.

Another plus point about this pattern is that all the odd rows after the first one are just a matter of working 3tr into each gap except at the start and finish.

PATTERN (US version)

I am using a 8/H hook (but some people may get the same result with a 7 hook) and worsted weight yarn. I like using an H hook for granny square type blankets because it produces a soft fluid result.

I also find that introducing a chain between each group of three double crochets as happens in granny squares makes granny stripe type blankets too loose so I have omitted them.

My ripples come out about 7” (18 cm) between adjacent troughs (or peaks).

To start you need to decide how many ripples wide you want to make it.

To start you make a chain [(39 x number of ripples) + 3] long.

[However my tip is to actually make the chain about 5 chains longer than you need and then when you have finished the first row you can actually undo any excess at the start of the chain, link by link, and it all remains quite secure. This way if you make a small miscalculation you don’t have to undo the whole row.]

I think that this pattern is not as bad as some as you only have to work into every third chain on the foundation row!

Row 1: work 2dc into the 6th chain from the hook (I don’t count the loop on the hook itself).
Then repeat (miss 2ch 3dc into next chain) until you have [(13 x number of ripples) -1] three double crochet groups. Then miss 2ch and 1dc into last chain.

Row 2: 3ch = 1dc then 2dc, 1ch, 3dc, into first space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3dc into the next space. Miss a space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. 3dc, 1ch 3dc into next space.

Then repeat for each ripple:-

3dc, 1ch, 3dc, into first space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3dc into next space. Miss a space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. 3dc, 1ch 3dc into next space.

Until the last ripple where the very last double crochet should be worked into the chain 5 chains from the first worked double crochet group instead of into the space. This will give a firm edge.

Row 3: 3ch = 1dc then work 3dc into each space between ‘three double crochet’ groups and finish with 1dc into the 3rd ch at start of the row below.

Row 4: 3ch = 1dc then 2dc, 1ch, 3dc, into first space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3dc into next space. Miss a space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. 3dc, 1ch 3dc into next space.

Then repeat for each ripple:-

3dc, 1ch, 3dc, into first space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. Miss a space. 3dc into next space. Miss a space. 3dc into each of next 4 spaces. 3dc, 1ch 3dc into next space.

Until the last ripple where the very last double crochet should be worked into the 3rd of the chains in the row below instead of into the space. This will give a firm edge.

Repeat rows 3 & 4 as many times as you like.

Another plus point about this pattern is that all the odd rows after the first one are just a matter of working 3dc into each gap except at the start and finish.

Shower Puffs – follow up

I have discovered where I was going wrong using the puffs. I was not getting them wet enough. When I made sure they were full of water then the shower gel would froth up. Not as much as with the netting puffs but with one of my shower gels, that frothed far too much in the past, this was a very good thing!

However the small one in this picture, that I was using, does feel a bit too small in use so I decided to buy some more cotton yarn. (100g balls so I would not need to have a join.) And made one according to the original pattern (except for the start! This time I worked 10dcs (US scs) and then 4 into each instead of 40 trs (US dcs).)

And I produced this. Maybe I was wrong to concentrate on making something that would dry more quickly.

The small puff I have been using took three days to dry when just hung up in the shower.

The small puff I was using weighed a little under 25g. This one weighs 65g.

I also made a puff in the blue cotton but this time I decided to start with my 40trs (US dcs) equivalent start and then try the alternate chain and trebles instead of all trebles for the other rows.

The resulting puff was a little smaller and squidgier and weigh between 40 and 45g. (This is good in that you could make one out of a 50g ball or two out of 100g). This means they would cost about £2.50 each if you made two. Just a bit more than the netting one.)

This is taken in the shower as I had used the pink puff and it was still damp.

I didn’t find that the blue puff lathered up any better than the pink one and they actually work as well, if not better, with soap than shower gel in my opinion. (I stopped using soap in the shower, as if I dropped the soap it would often break, and went on to shower gel. The cotton puffs might be a way to go back to soap though I don’t know if that would be cheaper!)

As to how long the different ones take to dry. That requires more time. The greeny grey tiny one took three days to dry. I don’t know with the pink or blue ones as at present they are both still damp!

General Conclusion

The original pattern (https://fibersofgreen.com/2016/09/13/crochett-bathshower-puff/)  is as good or better than my alternatives, though may well take longer to get dry, but maybe if it is in constant use that doesn’t matter too much. Cotton shower puffs are soft on the skin but much harder to get to lather up so you know which bits you’ve washed! From my experience with dish cloths they should last a lot longer than the netting ones so although the original cost is greater, it would work out cheaper in the long run.

A Crochet Shower Puff

I expect any of you who use a shower puff find that they pass from being like the one on the left to being like the one on the right all too quickly. And eventually fall apart all together. My attempts at re-folding and tying them only last for a short time.

So I was intrigued when browsing through ‘crochet’ posts in the reader to come across someone who had made a crochet one. She also gave a link to the place where she had found the pattern.

The post was https://addsomestitches.wordpress.com/2010/12/28/tuesday-tutorial-crochet-bath-puff/ and the pattern was at https://fibersofgreen.com/2016/09/13/crochett-bathshower-puff/

So I decided I had to try.

(In respose to my comment, I was told that the puffs do take a while to dry and so -)

A brief digression here regarding my attempts at making dishcloths.

My first attempt at a dishcloth had been with what was sold as ‘dishcloth cotton’ and was ostensibly double knitting weight but which was actually closer to aran. As I thought this was a bit stiff and took a long time to dry, I tried again, this time with something called ‘craft cotton’ that was much more what I would have called double knitting weight. These two dishcloths had been made using one of the textures from the book we used for the CAL, because I thought it’s slightly raised surface would be good for cleaning.

My son-in-law had asked for a similar dishcloth but in making one for him I decided to try a looser structure in the hope that it would dry more quickly. (Again with the craft cotton.) Finally I found some intriguing, though of course more expensive, cotton yarn that was so pretty that I decided to use it for a dishcloth.

I am still using all three of my dishcloths but my favourite is the last one and though it is now white through being soaked in bleach from time to time, it is the quickest to dry and the most comfortable to use.

Because of the above, and because I had quite a bit, I decided to try to make a shower (or bath) puff using what was left of the craft cotton.

In the end I did not follow the pattern exactly.

The first row involved working 40 trs (US dcs) into a 4ch circle. There must be a way of doing this but it was not obvious to me. (It wasn’t a problem of getting stitches into the hole but of having reached the end of the circle after about 20.) So, to save time, I decided to start again and try an alternative method of getting to 40 by working 10dcs (US scs) into the circle, then 2dcs into each stitch on the next two rounds.

Having already strayed from the pattern, I decided (remembering my dishcloths) that instead of continuous lots of 3trs (US dcs) into each stitch, for the next three rows, I would alternate trebles and chains. working (tr,ch,tr,ch) into the first stitch (or gap on the following two rows) and then (tr, ch) into the next.

This gave a very solid ball, so I decided to try again using my pretty cotton.

I worked out that I probably didn’t have enough of this to make a whole one, so I worked one up based on a starting ring of only 30 stitches.

Here you can see the two shower puffs compared to a shop one. I decided that although it was smaller, the pretty one felt the most comfortable in my average female (glove size 7) hands and so this would be the one that I would try using, maybe reusing the craft cotton for a floorcloth.

(I have to admit that when new the shop puff was about as firm as the cotton one.)

I also decided to try making one based on a starting point of 30 stitches out of some bamboo yarn I had. This was softer than the craft cotton and less jarring on my wrists as I made the stitches. Like with the chains between the trebles, I felt that a looser structure and so more air would mean quicker drying and maybe even more bubbles.

Unfortunately when I came to use the small pretty one I found that it produced very little bubbles.

I have two sorts of shower gel at present one of which I don’t like because it produces so much foam that the tray is full of it at the end of the shower. Using the cotton puff, the gel I like didn’t foam at all and the with the other one the foam was barely visible. I suppose the puff was no better than a flannel.

I am now not sure whether to try using one of the others or to do a rethink. Would one made exactly like the original pattern be any better I wonder?

I expect many of you know that I can get a bit obsessive about things and like to find the perfect way so there may be more about shower puffs when I have experimented a bit.

I have several others projects to work on but I was pleased to find a new crochet project to play around with.

Cushion cover revealed

First a bit about the side made out of thirty six one-colour squares.

I started by making some squares out of yarn I had left over from my blanket. Lipstick, Pomegranate,Shrimp, Saffron, Citron, Meadow, Sage, Aster, Violet, Plum.

As I mentioned in a previous post the idea was to use these round the outer part and have bi-colour ones in the centre but I couldn’t get that to work so I chose two more colours: Aspen and one colour I had not used in the blanket but had bought as an impulse purchase: one of Stylecraft’s new colours, a dark blue called Lobelia. I thought it was prettier than Royal.

This gave me three each of twelve colours, a total of thirty-six.

I had worked out that a 7×7 square would be too big and a 6×6 square a little too small for a side of the cushion, so I chose to make a 6×6 square with a border.
This time I decided to crochet the squares together using slip stitches on the wrong side. This was much quicker and easier than sewing. Not that I regret sewing the other side of the cushion cover as that would have been tricky to crochet because of the different sizes.

Some information about the other side. There I had used only seven ‘rainbow’ colours: leftovers from the blanket again – Lipstick, Pomegranate, Shrimp, Spice, Saffron, Citron, Meadow, Sage, Aster, Violet, Plum. Again I had added the Lobelia as an ‘indigo’ colour.

And here is the finished cushion. and the other side. It was hard to decide how to close the cushion so I decided to crochet all the way round leaving the ends easy to get at so if I needed to wash the cover at some future time I could pull out the crochet round the last side and re crochet afterwards.

And here a couple of picture of my old and new cushions.andThese are two cushions not four! I can just mix and match which side is showing.

Three choices – my choice

It was interesting to see that your preferences seemed to be evenly spread between the three possible choices.

Number two was actually the first arrangement I tried out. But I had wanted something where the colours flowed into each other and with the bright red diagonal in particular I felt that this was breaking up into triangles.

So I tried again. This I felt gave that sense of flow I wanted and I think that was what Nanacathy saw.

Having realised that there were only three totally different arrangements if I kept the basic pattern and colour order, I laid out the last arrangement which was given as the first of the three. This, to my mind, very much dived the shape into squares. A red-orange square, a yellow-green square, a greeny-blue square and a dark blue-purple square.

This made me certain that I would use the pattern shown as three in my arrangement. The squares, the triangles and my chosen one.

All attractive in their own way.

I have joined the squares and will show you them next week and maybe the finished cushion if I have got that far. It seemed too much to add to this post.

Three choices

I have finished all the squares for the other side of my cushion cover and been arranging them and rearranging them to decide how to join them together.

My first idea had been to do a few in solid colours then a few in two colours and blend them together but after using up a lot of the yarn left over from my blanket making about thirty squares, I couldn’t work out how to fit them together with some bicolour ones so I chose two other colours and made just one-colour ones.

There are just three possible ways to arrange them if I want them in a sort of rainbow order round the centre.

Now I must admit I have decided which I am going to use but I thought it would be interesting to ask you which arrangement you would find most pleasing for a cushion cover as I feel each has a distinct character.

Here are the three choices in a logical order. and and and all together again. So which would be your choice?