Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Broomstick Lace

For my day job, I work at a call center. I don't know how much you know about call centers, but here is an interesting fact: call center workers are constantly waiting for the next person to call in. Sometimes that means they get a call as soon as they hang up from their previous person, but sometimes it means that there is a lot of time between calls. So what to do during the down time? Some people read. Some people play games. I have decided to get creative.

I've taken up knitting and crocheting again, and have finished several projects I started years ago. Ok, let's be honest, DECADES ago. For example, the lap afghan pictured here is one I started in 1991. I finished it about two weeks ago. The baby boy I had originally intended this for is now a grown, legal adult.

Baby Lap Afghan, Broomstick Stitch
This lap afghan was created with the broomstick lace pattern, in which the loops of the first row are placed on a broomstick (or as in this case, a wooden dowel), and on the second row the loops are twisted and single crochets are done through the loops. Whatever number of loops you twist, you do that same number of single crochets ... in this example, 5 loops, and 5 single crochets. This way you end up with the same number of stitches as you started with. Easy peasy!

If you want to make it smaller, you can use a smaller dowel (or a thick knitting needle). Also, make sure that the number of stitches you cast on will divide evenly by the number of loops you intend to twist. Here's what I did:

Chain 175 stitches.

Row 1: Chain 1, and pull the loop large enough to fit onto your broomstick (dowel, knitting needle, etc.)
Slip the next 174 stitches and do the same, so you end up with 175 stitches on your broomstick. (I believe mine was a 3/4 inch diameter dowel.)

Row 2: Slip 5 stitches off the dowel. Twist, so you have a hole facing you. Single crochet 5 stitches into said hole. Repeat to the end of the row. You will end up with 35 individual patterns per row.
(Note: After the first pattern or two has been single crocheted, it is just as easy to slip the rest of the loops of the broomstick and then work across the row. The loops will stay in place.)

Repeat rows 1 and 2 for as many times as you need it to complete your afghan. For the one pictured above, I did:

  • 10 rows baby blue
  • 5 rows white
  • 5 rows variegated baby colors (pink, white, baby blue)
  • 5 rows white
  • 5 rows blue
  • 5 rows white
  • 5 rows variegated baby colors
  • 5 rows white
  • 10 rows blue


1 comment:

  1. I would like to know what you did to end the project. Did you do one row of single crochet and then bind off, or what?

    ReplyDelete