Stop #6 on our tour is Go Crochet, the blog of crochet superstar (and TV star) Ellen Gormley.
You can watch Ellen in new episodes of “Knit & Crochet Now” on PBS Create. Just about any crochet magazine you pick up in the last 3 years will have at least one design by this talented woman.
She also has 2 wonderful books out: “Go Crochet: Afghan design workbook” and more recently “Learn Bruges Lace”. What really amazes me is she gets all this work done while on the go with 2 young children.
You can see more about her designs on her blog and her Ravelry designer page. If you really fall in love with her designs you can join her Ravelry Group: Go Crochet with Ellen Gormley, where you can join in lots of CALs and discuss her patterns with other fans.
Her CAL this March will be for the beautiful Wintergreen Cowl. I’ve always been intrigued by Bruges lace and Ellen makes it all very easy to follow along with.
My 2 favorite Ellen designs are:
1) The Driftwood Cap, first published in Interweave Crochet magazine Fall 2008. This pattern is now available individually as a PDF thru Ellen’s Ravelry Shop or at the Interweave site.
made with Patons Kroy Sock yarn.
I used this pattern to crochet a baby hat for a friend. Just switched to sock-yarn (instead of worsted) and a smaller hook. Worked out to a perfect size for an infant. And because of the inherent stretchiness of the fabric the baby was able to wear it until 6-7 months old.
2) The Sunny Spread Blanket, first published in Crochet Today! magazine January/February 2008 Issue and now available on the Red Heart yarn website.
This design just took my breath away the first time I saw it, and really made me pay attention to Ellen’s name as a designer. I found that many of the designs that appealed to me in magazines had come from her fertile mind and talented fingers.
Ellen is a master of using texture and stretch in her designs and was my inspiration for exploring those techniques in my own work. Explorations that I put to use when thinking about creating stretch for my fingerless mitt designs.
Be sure to stop by Ellen’s blog today for a chance to win your own copy of my “Texting Mitts” booklet.
Mamas2Hands 