Introduction
Spirits of Life Wrap CAL was inspired by Native American fiber and textile art. It consists of several parts worked in different styles and crochet techniques. The wrap comes in three colorways: Spirit of the Lake, Spirit of the Volcano and Spirit of the Orchid. You can see more pictures of the wrap HERE. Spirits of Life Wrap CAL was kindly sponsored by Scheepjes who produced and nicely packed official kits.
Difficulty Level: Intermediate (see paragraph about techniques)
Size: approx. 63cm x 180cm rectangle
Materials: Fingering/Sport yarn, 3.25mm (D) crochet hook. I used two different Scheepjes yarns – Spirit and Catona – in 8 corresponding shades (see paragraph about Materials) and Amour Clover Hook*.
IMPORTANT: Please, be aware that all my patterns (free or paid) are protected by copyright. You are not allowed to copy, reproduce, redistribute, sell and edit them in part or as a whole. You are welcome to sell your finished items made by my patterns, but you cannot use my pictures to promote them. Please, always credit me as the designer of these patterns. You are not allowed to share pdf-files created from my posts with anyone. If you would like more people to join my CAL – please, share a link to my blog with them. You are not allowed to make video-tutorials using Spirits of Life CAL patterns. Please, check Copyright page for more information.
Resources:
- Tutorials. Each new Part (details written instructions with pictures) will be released weekly here on my blog. Around 10am (Easten European time). The patterns will be forever free with life-time access.
- PDF. Each part will be available as a downloadable pdf file – in several languages. Additionally a new blog post will be published every week (in English), explaining general things about the pattern. You can use a green Print-Friendly button (at the bottom of every post on my blog) to convert blog post into a pdf-file to print it out. If you wish. If you are not sure how to use this button, please, check a very helpful tutorial HERE. ALSO, please feel free to use a TRANSLATE button on my blog to automatically translate texts to your own language.
- Video. Every written tutorial will be accompanied by video on my YouTube channel HERE. All video’s will be also inserted in the blog posts, so no need to search for them separately. But you can subscribe to my channel to be up to date! Please, note that video’s are meant as an additional help to understand written patterns. They partially illustrate the most tricky places.
- Newsletter. If you haven’t done this yet, be sure to subscribe to my Newsletter not to miss a single part of this CAL. I also offer a free pattern of Macaron Pin Cushion exclusively to my subscribers. If you have some problems with subscribing, please feel free to do it on any page of my blog.
- Ravelry. Please, add this CAL to your Ravelry queue. You can also join my official group on Ravelry where the information about each tutorial will be published and where you can also share your finished projects or ask questions.
- Facebook. Don’t forget to join my Facebook club. And be sure to join Official CCC Social Group which will host this CAL and where you will find necessary support and can ask questions.
- Pinterest. I’ve created a new board on Pinterest HERE where all the tutorials of this CAL will be added after being published on my blog.
- Instagram. Please use hashtag #SpiritsOfLifeCAL along with the pictures of your projects on Instagram. So that we all can find them and admire :)
- Languages. This CAL will be translated into Dutch, German, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Norwegian, Afrikaans, Polish, Czech and Hebrew.
Materials: Yarn and Hook
As already mentioned, I used Spirit and Catona yarn by Scheepjes (reviewed HERE and HERE) in 8 corresponding shades. If you want to have all yarn in one place, you can order an official kit (still in stock at the time of posting). Read more about kits HERE.
Spirits of Life Wrap kits are available for purchase in local Scheepjes stores and via international retailers, such as Wool Warehouse HERE and Deramores HERE (both located in UK with international shipping), Lovektnitting HERE (US) and Knotty House HERE (Canada).
If you would like to support me and my blog, please, purchase the kits via links provided above. These links are affiliate, and I might be compensated with a tiny amount from each order. While you will not pay anything extra. Thank you in advance! :)
You can also purchase the skeins separately or use your own stash. Please, check exact yardages in the image below.
3.25mm (D) crochet hook is recommeded, but because your style of crochet might differ, you may need to go one or two sizes up or down. Please, make a swatch and see how it goes. Then you know which exactly hook you need.
Gauge
This part is probably the most important! The gauge for Spirits of Life CAL is:
20 stitches x 16 rows = 10cm x 10cm (4” x 4”) with one row of double crochet and one row of single crochet (US terms). In other words, every 2 rows should measure approx. 1.25cm (1/2”) in height.
The gauge is valid for both Spirit and Catona. But because Spirit is a little bit difficult to frog, maybe you should practice with Catona. But the CAL will begin with Spirit yarn. And first several rows will give your wrap necessary width.
PLEASE (!!!) take your time to practice and obtain as closest gauge as possible. I do understand that everyone has his/her own style of crochet. But Spirits of Life Warp was designed around certain gauge. The entire pattern is worked in different directions: from bottom to top, in squares, with C2C panels which are crocheted diagonally. And gauge is important for all parts to fit perfectly, so that in the end you get and ideal rectangle shape.
If your gauge is off, you will obviously need more yarn, and you will probably need to block every part more “aggressively” to fit given measurements. And if your gauge is totally off – you will need to improvise…:)
Please, don’t be scared, or worried, or concerned too much. It’s not that difficult to correct your gauge. Please watch this video by Esther Dijkstra explaining what “golden loop” is and what impact it has on the height of the stitches.
If your sample is getting too high, while completing the stitches you need to lift every loop a little bit less than you usually do, and that should help your stitches to become shorter. And vise verse for too short stitches.
If you can’t do anything about the gauge – please make sure it is bigger or smaller proportionally. It means if you sample is higher, it should also be wider. Then there is a better chance all parts will fit together well. But again, you will need more yarn.
In Part 1 I will give you exact amounts of each shade used for every part. PLEASE, carefully take notes about your own yarns to be on track. But I will also come back to this later, when Part 1 is released next week.
Techniques
Three different crochet techniques were used to create Spirits of Life Wrap pattern (exciting, right?): Overlay crochet, Mosaic crochet and Corner-to-corner crochet (C2C). I would highly recommend you to check Important Notes HERE (in different languages) and try making a small sample in every technique. Please, use your stash (not the kit yarn) to practice!
Spirits of Life CAL Timeline
(Links to all the tutorials as they become available)
Part 1 October 18th, 2017
Part 2 October 25th, 2017
Part 3 November 1st, 2017
Part 4 November 8th, 2017
Part 5 November 15th, 2017
Part 6 November 22nd, 2017
Part 7 November 29th, 2017
Part 8 December 6th, 2017
Part 9 December 13th, 2017
Spirit Mandala (bonus pattern) - January 12th, 2018
And that’s it! See you next week!
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Can you recommend some written and pictorial (NOT video) tutorials for the 3 techniques? I have limited computer access for the next 5 weeks, but would like to learn the techniques, so I can practice them.
ReplyDeleteHi! Seems like you are the only one who is asking for NOT a video :) Please, check Important Notes for the CAL (you can download file in your language). It contains links to written instructions. And video's are also available.
DeleteTOTALLY AMAZING ! ! ! ! ! ! !
ReplyDeleteI seem to have a perfect height with 3,5mm hook but my gauge training sample is 1cm narrower, practising like hell :-D and NOT THERE :-D if I use 4.0mm it is too loose :-( looks like I will have to be the improvising one
ReplyDeleteI am the same, using 3.5 mm hook, perfect height but just 0.5 cm narrower, I think it will fix with blocking.
DeleteIt would be very helpful if you'd put the hook size on the pattern. I went to the Rav page, but it gave both a D and an E, so I've been flipping through the internet ever since. It's a beautiful pattern, I'm excited to be working on it, but I've just lost a chunk of time trying to find the hook size so I could start.
ReplyDeleteHaving whined about that, I need to thank you very much for doing this. The pattern is lovely and I really like the kit.
To get the right size for gauge for Spirit I need 3.75 hook and for Catona 3.25. What should I do? Use 2 different hooks or 1 size (and croche more loose or more tight depending the yarn --> though I doubt if I can finish the project croching nog in my usual style).
ReplyDeletePlease advise.
I would definitely not use different hooks for two yarns. I think when you actually strta crocheting, you will get the feeling for both yarns. With Catona you will need to work a bit tighter than with Spirit. But I am sure you will get a hang of it.
DeleteThanks for your response. I will make new gauge to decide on the best hooksize for me.
DeleteI am stuck on Row 23. I cannot get rid of an ugly loop at the top of the legs. I have watched the video over and over but I can't see what I am doing wrong. I'm a beginner. Please help.
ReplyDeleteIf you join the Facebook group, different solutions are given. Probably the Ravelry group, too, but I'm not in that one. Usually, a looser tension, even going up a hook size, helps. Or, just scoop up the loop with your hook as you're making the next stitch and crochet through it. :)
DeleteHermoso!!! Me enamoré!
ReplyDeletestarting this beauty next week... love this pattern!
ReplyDeleteJust started...a bit anxious. Should each section be blocked before moving on to the next?
ReplyDeleteYes, I would recommend blocking after every part.
DeleteJust started...ver anxious. Should each section be blocked before mvoing on to the next?
ReplyDeleteJeg skjønner ikke fargene jeg bestilte ut i fra fargekartet. der det er blå spirit har jeg fått en brun farge av Wool Warehouse. Å Pakkene jeg bestilte. Ordide og Vulkano. Hadde de delt opp å bare sende meg garnet de hadde inne på lager. Å lot være å informerte at pakkene var utsolgt. Dette nekter de for. Å sier at det er jeg som har bestilt enkle nøster. Noe som ikke stemmer. Jeg anbefaller dere ikke bestille av Wool Warehouse. De bare roter med betsillingene. Nå står jeg uten 3 garn typer. Som jeg da ikke får. Er til å gråte av.
ReplyDeleteHello, I don't think I fully understand where the problem is as automatic translation of your message is not very good. Did you receive the wrong yarn for your Spirits Wrap? I don't know if the kits are still available as they were sold 2 years ago. Where did you purchase it? Could you please, email me the picture of the box? Maybe it was not official kit?
DeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteI am about to start this project but realized that at the start after ch115, it’s to do 1tr from 3rd ch and 1tr after to the end. However, your video showed you doing a dc instead of tr. please advise as I can’t wait to start.
Thank you.
Have you maybe downloaded the UK version of the pattern? A tr in UK is a dc in US.
DeleteHi there,
ReplyDeleteYour written instructions calls for a tr from 3rd onwards to end. However, video shows a dc from 3rd to end. Please advise which is the correct one as I can’t wait to start.
Thank you,
I bought a kit with other colours. In that kit Catona E and G and spirit F and H are almost the same. It is ton-sur-ton in a way. Is that a problem? Is it possible that there is too less contrast in this pattern?
ReplyDelete