Getting going..

OK, so I started on my entralac, (still have another peice I need to finish before I dedicate all my time to this), but Im running into an issue.

If you look at the kind 3 rows it represents (3 squares top, 2 middle, 3 bottom) as I had expected so far, the top row and the bottom row go in the same direction.. where as the middle row go the other.. eg its like top row \\\ middle row // and bottom row \\\

Problem comes now in the next round which would make a new first row, and a 4th row, many areas, I can see how to add to continue in the / direction, but what would be say the second square on the new first row Im looking at making a new diamond with a border on the bottom and right, if I were to work anti clockwise, and left and top if I went clockwise, and I dont see how that works..

If thats not the case the entralac doesnt end up with the look other entralacs have of the alternating directions, which seems wrong..

I noticed the previous post the directions of the squares form triangles of direction eg if you took a square and drew lines between the corners forming 4 triangles making a square, each of those triangles went in a different direction.. which isnt how I normally see entralacs..

Can anyone help?

Beginning of the Thread Baby Afghan

Here's the beginning of my baby afghan done in #10 thread. I have completed 10 rounds and the base of 2 diamonds and it measures about 12 inches wide at this point.
I want to get it to the point where it's as wide as the ottoman it's sitting on in these images. (30 inches wide)


The texture is very nice and it drapes nice at this point. I am getting a little bored with the one solid color , but, I want to get this to about 15-20 inches in width before I add the green and then I will do about 5 inches around in green (I figured 3-4 rounds) and then 5 more inches in the ecru to finish.

Nan's intro

I am a stay-at-home mom with 2 girls: 10 and 2. I cross-stitch, knit, crochet and some tunisian. If it weren't for me crafts, I would balloon out more than I am. lol I spend most of my time online or sewing.... it annoys my DH to no end. I guess I am going to have to buy more yarn now too... another annoyance for DH. Too bad for him!

LaShawn's Intro

I am a 30-something SAHM (stay at home mom) which can be a very hard lonely job. I have a BS in Biology and Environmental Science but have not worked since my first son was born. If I didnt craft I would lose my mind. I have two boys (2 and 5) and they keep me very busy. We live in rural Virginia (in the boondocks). I sew, knit, crochet and now do tunisian. I have been sewing since I was about 3, crocheting for about 10 years, knitting for about 2 years, and Tunisianing (is that a word?) for about 2 months. I like to crochet (incl. tunisian) the best, mostly because I can pick it up and put it down without worrying to much about where I left off. I make purses and other accessories and take them t craft shows to sell. I tried eBay but craft shows are so much better. I also do a lot of made to order. A lot of times I will make something to sell and decide it perfect for someone and just give it away. I mostly sell things for 3 reasons; 1. People ask me to make something for them and pay me for it, 2. I make money to buy more supplies, 3. If I didnt sell it, it would just pile up around the house. I especially like to recycle things. Two of my best selling purses are one made for drink cans (crocheted) and one made from old magazine pages. I am a Christian and would like to start a crochet and knit group through my church. I just dont really know how to get started.

I havent decided what size or color afghan to make. Its hard to make stuff for boys so. I thought about doing camo colors but I would have to buy the materials. I already have a pound of pink, a pound of purple, and a pound of white. But dont know who I would give it too. There are always women in the church having babies or I could donate it to the rescue squad fund drive. Or maybe I will have a girl next time. Any suggestions.

Liz's intro

Hi, heres a little about me, Im Liz, during my working days I work doing technical stuff with computers for a company that I cant really name (sigh), however, I do vmware, backups and unix as the 3 core things of my job as it stands.. When I get home, I crochet or do karate. My nickname is "Woof" because I have a great love for dogs, I also have a habbit when conversing online with "WOOF" - which boils down to something along the lines of "Hi, its me, how are you, tell me what you're up to, talk to me coz Im bored" :) WOOF is so much quicker :)

Im still finishing my last project (got about 5" to go), and then work begins on this, my entralac is going to be a mainly white baby blanket with a a layer of colour at the edge, hook size, well I dunno I used 4.25 for the one Im on and it should have been bigger.. so, bigger its gonna be, but I will need to do a test bit to decide which size will be about right.. A tunisian entralac sounds far more plausable than any other crochet style, so Im looking forward to this, and hope, with any luck to be starting either this weekend or very beginning of July.

Start with Introductions?

Maybe to get started here we could each post an introduction so we know everyone can post and share and get to know one another.
I'm Stephanie in Upstate NY. I live here with my husband and three kids ages 17. 12 and 10. Everyone here has one of these afghans in twin bed size with an addition of a pocket on the back so the afghan folds up into them like a pillow to store, or to put your feet in on cold nights.
I am going to make 2 more of these. One I am doing in #10 thread holding 2 strands together through out. I have practiced a bit with it and decided I have enough in materials to make a baby afghan for a crib.
Materials
4.5 mm hook (about a size G)
4 skiens of 400 yds a piece Americas Best crochet Thread in Ecru (I don't think Ill use all this)
1 Ball Aunt Lydias Double Crochet thread (300 yds) in frosty green oasis

I want the crib blanket to be mainly ecru so am planning on making it with a starting foundation of 2 diamonds (21 chain to start)
Then I will keep going with the ecru until the blanket measures about 15 inches wide before starting with the green. I will then add 3 rounds green, 3 rounds ecru and 3 rounds in green. This is the plan so far but we'll see how that goes. I want it to come out sort of antique looking with not much green.

The second I am still picking all the materials for. I am going to make my daughters boyfriend one for his graduation from high school next year because every time he comes over he "borrows" someones and curls up in it. He loves these! He likes the Peruvian style hats and gloves and items that resemble fair isle knitting and such.
Right now I have
14oz blue/green variegated 1 pounder by caron
10 oz of hunter green
15 oz burgundy
so I am going to look for a variegated with maybe some burgundy and green to put in with all this and use these for the afghan.


Now for my hand to just heal enough for me to get started.

Finshed afghan pictures

This is on the top bunk of a twin sized bunk bed and fits down over one end and down both sides, so it's pretty large. It's hard to see in the image the colors but the center is teal, then a variegated, purple, merano blue, variegated and then teal again, and I ended with 2 rounds of variegated in the pattern that you don't see in the image.
I used a J hook (6.5 mm)
2-8oz skeins of red heart in teal ( had about 1/2 a skein left over when done and this does have a pocket on the back as well)
1- 1 pounder from caron in merano blue and had a little left
1- 1 pounder from caron in purple and had about 8 oz left when done
1- 1 pounder in the variegated from caron and had about 1/2 the skein left when done.
So this took maybe 45 oz of yarn to create but keep in mind mine all have pockets on the back that took up extra yarn.


This one was more "planned" out working foundation diamonds in green, round 1 in blue, 2 rounds in variegated, 3 rounds in green, 3 rounds in blue, 3 rounds in variegated, 2 green, 2 variegated, 2 blue.
used 6.0 mm hook
I purchased red heart 8 oz skeins in solids, 6 oz skeins in variegated and purchased
3 skeins each blue and green
4 skeins variegated
I didn't have much left so this took about 72 oz of yarn

Here I had some odds and ends of yarn I wanted to use up. I had the following
6.5mm hook
1-3oz skein in purple
2- 3oz skein in mint green
14 oz merano blue by caron (some left over from the blanket above)
16 oz of pink left over from a 1 pounder.
The finished size fits on top of a twin sized bed but does not go over the edges.

So between the 4 listed and other then doing the blanket all in one color every round, or doing every round in a different color, hopefully, this will inspire the design you come up with for yours.

Purpose of a CAL

A CAL is really for motivation and inspiration. You get to try out a technique maybe new to you and a pattern maybe new as well. Then it's like an internet area to come to to chat about that project just like if you were in a real life quilting bee.
But, we can share variations as well and things we learn along the way, help one another out if someone doesn't know where to begin or how to end. In the tutorial I listed I showed what I have done, but, someone already took that and repeated it in thread which is an idea I had never thought of.
So it's fun to see what everyone does. Some people will do these all one color, some will chose to do every round a different color etc. So instead of making 50 afghans from the same pattern you get the chance of seeing this one patter translated by all the people who chose to participate. You may fall in love with one and want to replicate it, you may improve upon the pattern or go in a direction no one else thought of.
When using the blog itself go to www.blogger.com and sign in using the name you set up with your account. Once signed in you should see this blog listed on what blogger calls your dashboard. You can click under where this blog is listed on a link called Post. The post area is like filling out an online form. There is a subject line, the body and you can add a tag to the bottom but that isn't necessary. Along the top of the body portion you will see tools to help you in editing your post. You can change the font, there is an icon that looks like a piece of chain on a green blob...thats how to insert a link into a word (you type the word, highlight it with your mouse and click the link button then type the web address into the box that comes up and it will turn that word to blue and be a link people can click on), you can change the alignment of the font, make lists, spell check, insert pictures using the icon that looks like a picture of a landscape.
Feel free to practice posting as well. They can be edited and deleted after posting if you chose, also you can play in the posting editor and not publish that post at all just to get a feel for it.
I'm working on getting pictures of a few more of the afghans I still have made with this technique and will try to start mine soon, held up by the hand just a little bit.
But feel free to use the blog and have fun, ask questions, post help. Anyone please feel free to post help as well, it's for all of us to share what we need to know and what we already know.

Entrelac CAL

Glad to be part of this group. Are we waiting for a start date or are we working ad lib?

Images and Materials

Here are some pictures of one afghan I made. It will fit the top of a twin sized bed.

The starting row of diamonds I used 7 diamonds so my base chain was 71 chains.
Materials I used
I hook ( 5.5mm) you can use any size you chose this was just my favorite, and you don't need an afghan hook it will most likely get in the way.
32 oz Red worsted weight (4) yarn
38 oz Blue worsted weight (4) yarn
24oz Grey worsted weight (4) yarn
This was used to make the afghan with the attached pocket, so you could get away with a bit less for this sized afghan if you don't wish to add the pocket.

Tutorial

Here is the Entralac Tutorial I have posted to get everyone started with the technique. I will post later some images of ones I have made with the materials I used. You can alter the hook size, yarn (or thread size) and finished size of the blanket. Once you get the hang of the technique it is very easy to alter it to fit your needs.

Sign Up

If you would like to participate in the Entralac in the round 2007 Crochet Along (CAL) please drop me an email to Bugaboo1@stny.rr.com and I will send you an invite. Once you receive the invitation you will need to set up a free blogger account. Click the link in the email that is sent to you and then follow the instructions, it is relatively easy and I can help via email if you get stuck. If you already have a gmail account or blogger account sign up is as easy as accepting the invite.