I’m hoping to participate in as many of our monthly CAL projects as I can this year and I am very excited to find out which Scarf we will be crocheting as our February Scarf CAL Project! Aren’t you?
Visit Amy (The Stitchin’ Mommy) to find out which project we are making!
For our January Crochet Along we chose to make a Pillow and this was the project:
January’s Pillow CAL Project
Scrapalicious Cushion, Joanita Theron, Creative Crochet Workshop
Visit Joanita’s (Creative Crochet Workshop) for the Scrapalicious Cushion
I finished my pillow and I am quite excited to share it with you!
I tried 2 new techniques in this CAL which I have never tried before! and I used ALL STASH YARN! Yeah me! Guess this means I will reward myself with a little trip to the Yarn Store! 😉
Here’s what I learned from our January CAL
Cross Stitch on Crochet
For me, cross stitching the heart was the HARDEST part of this project! I did my cross stitched heart 3 times and ripped it out 3 times. I really wanted it to be perfect and it did not cooperate. I watched the video Joanita linked (it was helpful):
I tried different methods to make the stitches and finally went with the same method I use when I cross stitch on aida cloth (where I work all the way across one way and then make a return pass to finish the stitches) but I made sure I pulled very snuggly on each stitch – and it worked – kind of…but it worked well enough for me so I can now check off “Cross Stitch On Crochet” from my “Things to Try in 2017 List”.
Flat Zipper Join
I was able to try a new joining technique (Completely Flat Zipper Method) I’ve wanted to try for ages! My friend Dedri (Look At What I Made) wrote an amazing set of posts a few years ago about different methods to join your afghan squares (I’ve included the links below, because I know you will want to save them for later too!).
Joining Crochet Squares Part 1 to 5:
- Part 1: Preparing To Join Crochet Squares
- Part 2: (Sc, ch 1, skip1) Join
- Part 3: Different ways to Join
- Part 4: Joining Squares With Different Stitch Counts
- Part 5: Making Foursquares
It was a little tricky at first but once you get the hang of it – the squares go together beautifully and they are completely flat! Super cool!
I had fun participating in the Pillow CAL and I loved following Joanita’s pattern and learning new things. She was very thorough in her written instructions and included visuals where they were needed. You can check out her other Scrapalicious Patterns (for your stashed yarn!) HERE: Scraps of Yarn Series
I crocheted my pillow with Red Heart Super Saver Yarn and a 4.0 mm (G) hook. You can see my finished project page on Ravelry here:
Scrapalicious Cushion – RhonddaM – Project – January Pillow CAL
By choosing to join with the Flat Zipper Method my sizing for the squares and rectangle were slightly off but this was fixed by simply adding an additional round of single crochet to the pieces before seaming them together. My finished pillow case fits on a 16 inch by 16 inch pillow.
I’d like to thank Joanita for her pattern and her time assisting us with questions in the CAL Group this month (Thanks Joanita!) and I would like to respectfully request you each take a moment to create your own project pages on Ravelry if you haven’t done so yet 🙂
One of our greatest pleasures as Designers is seeing what you crochet from the patterns we create! ♥
Check out all the CWU CALS for 2017 HERE
Learn how to create a project page on Ravelry HERE
Learn more about the January Pillow CAL HERE
#CALOFTHEMONTH2017
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