For those of you that have been following my blog a while, you might recognize the yarn in my latest published design. This ruana is made with the Universal Yarn “Mohair Mountain” that I told you about earlier this year in the post “Now That’s a Ball of Yarn”.
The stitch pattern used in my design is super stretchy, so keep that in mind if you are a little shorter and work fewer rows for all the panels. Or if you want a wider ruana increase the Back Panel foundation by 8 stitches (this will add 2 shells/5 inches to the back panel and 1 shell to each front panel), and decrease the number of rows by 2 rows.
You can find this pattern and over 40 others in the Fall Special Issue out from Crochet! Magazine : Warm & Cozy Crochet. It will be on newsstands now. I have an extra copy of this issue, and as a little goodie for my readers I am going to have a drawing for it.
Just leave your name and a comment telling me what your favorite crochet projects to work on in the winter are by 6 p.m. (Colorado time) Friday, October 12th. I’ll announce the winner’s name here Saturday, October 13th.
It’s definitely beginning to feel like Autumn here on my mountain and this weekend was the official beginning of Autumn. So my mind is on Halloween. My boys are beginning to plan what they want to dress-up as for trick-o-treating.
Photo courtesy of Red Heart Yarn
This year I will be dressing up with some crocheted earrings. “Day of the Dead Earrings” to be precise. This is my new design for Red Heart Yarn. You can find the pattern on their website.
I had a lot of fun making these earrings. The skull is crocheted in Size #10 Aunt Lydia’s Classic Cotton thread, and is only 7 rounds. Then the real entertainment begins, Embellishment!
The sky is truly the limit here, this is a great way to use some bits and bobs left from other crafting fun. Maybe put to use those beads from a broken necklace?
I created 4 faces on the pair of earrings you see in the photo. Just to give you some ideas for different ways to embellish I am posting the faces I created so you can get a closer look.
Side One of Black Skull
Side Two of Black Skull
Side One of White Skull
Side Two of White Skull
So let’s see what you come up with. Grab your steel hooks and size #10 thread and crochet up some skulls, then get out some sequins and beads to let your imagination have fun.
Unfortunately, despite my love for their beauty, roses make me sneeze violently. Being the artsy creative gal I am, I decided to seek out some way of creating some non-sneeze inducing blooms.
Being Crochet is my main expressive art form these days I first looked to this beautiful “Irish Rose”. I found this particular stitch pattern in my well-loved copy of “The Harmony Guides, 220 more Crochet Stitches, Volume 7”.
I used some Size 3 cotton thread I had in my stash and my D-3 /3.25mm Etimo hook. I stopped with the 9th round because I liked the way it looked. It reminded me a bit of the wild primroses that grow up here on my mountain. But I wanted a rose more like the densely petaled beauties in my first photo.
This crocheted rose was quite simple to make. I used a very fluffy wool blend yarn from my stash (Paton’s Soy Wool Solids – unfortunately discontinued).
Leaving a long beginning tail, I chained a length then worked a sc, hdc and dc in the 2nd chain from the hook, then 4 dcs in each chain until I’d reached the original beginning of the chain.
Afterward I flattened the spiral then used the beginning tail to sew the chain into the spiral shape. I think one reason this Rose worked well was I crocheted with a larger hook than usual for the size of the yarn.
I’ll keep experimenting with making more crocheted roses. I want a more ruffled look to the spiraled rose, and I’m thinking there has to be a better way to create the base for it. Maybe I’ll create a crocheted rose-bush.
How many of us, over the age of 25, who crochet are a size 0 or size 2 in garments? Not me, that’s for darn sure.
Yet, many of the garment patterns that you see in books and magazines are rarely sized for larger women. Sometimes you will see them sized up to a 2X.
Fortunately there is now a book for crochet patterns that were specifically designed for women built with curves. “Curvy Girl Crochet; 25 Patterns that Fit and Flatter” by Mary Beth Temple is available from Taunton Press. Official publication date is September 1st, but I know a number of folks that had pre-ordered the title from Amazon have received theirs already.
This book is all about creating garments that look good on plus-size figures. Not only are all the patterns written for size Large up to 5x, but there are 2 chapters giving you the inside scoop on how to achieve the most flattering fit for your figure type.
When Mary Beth was in the process of developing this book she decided she wanted to include some designs from guest artists, and I was fortunate to be one of those invited to propose designs. My “Skirt the Issue” wrap skirt was chosen and can be found on page 130 of the book.
I wanted to create a skirt that would be flattering, yet not become too heavy from the amount of yarn used in it. So I looked at Hyperbolic math for some answers.
The sizing comes from the waistband, then steady increases create a fabric that skims over the hips into a lacy fullness that swirls around the knees. The transition into lace work at the bottom third of the skirt keeps the overall weight of the skirt from becoming too heavy.
There are 24 other lovely sweaters, wraps and wonderful garments in this book as well. It’s a great addition to any crocheter’s library and will be available to purchase just about everywhere. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Local Yarn Shops, Annie’s Attic, Patternworks, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby, Michaels. So you should have no problem getting a copy of your own.
The past couple of months have been a flurry of designing as well as all the Summer Family Fun. I’m finding a bit more time for blogging now that the new school year has started. So I’ll catch you up on some of the designs I was furiously working on last Fall that are now available for your enjoyment.
For those of you that are CGOA members or otherwise have a subscription to Crochet! Magazine you may have seen my 2 latest published designs in the Autumn issue.
Both of these designs were created for Red Heart Yarns using some of their wonderful Boutique line of yarns. If you haven’t had a chance to play with this line of yarns these are both great quick projects to dip your toe in the water with.
Photo courtesy of Crochet! Magazine/Annies
The Triangle Magic Scarf really shows off the gorgeous color changes in RH Boutique Midnight.
Photo courtesy of Crochet! Magazine/Annies
And the RH Boutique Sashay works as an exciting embellishment on the Ruffled Sparks Clutch.
Photo courtesy of Crochet World Magazine/Annies
Earlier this summer another project I designed for Red Heart was in the June Issue of Crochet World. This was a super quick project called “Button Showcase Bracelet”.
I also have 2 articles in the Summer Issue of Interweave Crochet. The first one is “We *Heart* Stitch Markers”, the other is a 2 part series on Crochet Ergonomics called “Sit Up and Get a Grip!”. The second part will be in the Autumn issue coming out this September.
There are a number of other design projects in the works or just finished, but they are still in the “Secret” stage. Hopefully I’ll get to share more about those soon.
I just recently learned that this pattern is available as a digital version from Interweave. You can find it on their website in the E-patterns, along with lots of other wonderful patterns. Most exciting to me is that the pattern includes symbol charts as well as written instructions, so those of us that are more visual learners will find the instructions easy to follow.
Photo courtesy of Interweave Press
So if you missed your opportunity to purchase the “Crochet Accessories” issue that it was included in, or that issue didn’t interest you, here is your opportunity to acquire it.
This is a really fun pattern to stitch up, each triangle works up quickly and the next triangle is worked off the previous one. A bit like working in motifs, but minus the headache of sewing them all together later. You can use a solid color yarn, but I designed this with long gradual color changing yarns in mind.
The lace pattern lends itself nicely to adding buttons, as any of the openings can become button holes. So working fewer triangles can be a great way to make a quick neck cozy for gift giving.
So for 2012 I offer the Simple Sweetheart pattern. This fun little heart takes just a bit of yarn and a few minutes to stitch up.
Simple Sweetheart designed by Andee Graves
Start with an Adjustable Slip Knot (this is a slip knot that is tightened by pulling on the beginning tail instead of the working yarn).
Round 1: Chain 2, 7 sc in 2nd chain from hook, sl st to first sc of round.
Needle Join at end of Round 2
Round 2: Skip 1 st, 5 dc in next st, dc next st, dc next st, ch 1 and sl st in top of previous dc, dc in same st, dc in next st, 5 dc in next st, sk 1 st, sl st in first st (or use a needle join into sl st). Fasten off.
Your little Sweetheart can now be used to decorate a card, or become a pin or magnet. I used the tails of mine to sew pin-backs on them to make brooches.
Have you ever wondered what the process is from conception to publication of crochet designs? I hadn’t really thought about it much until 3 years ago when I decided I’d like to try selling some of my designs to magazines.
Photo from DRG Publishing
My most recent published design, Plum’s the Word Shawlette, is available now on the Crochet! website as a web Extra to their Winter 2011 print edition. You can see more details on page 79 of the magazine, or if you are a digital subscriber go to Crochetmagazine.com/EXTRA.
The beginning of this design was born during my family’s Spring Break road-trip in March 2011. As always for a road trip I made sure to pack one of my suitcases full of yarn, hooks and stitch dictionaries. One of the yarns I had packed was Premier’s Alpaca Dance.
As I have freely confessed many times, I have a bit of a thing for unusual yarns (sometimes called “novelty” yarns). If it is fluffy or sparkly it is very likely to catch my eye. I am particularly fond of soft fluffy yarns. Though they can be a bit of a trial when having to frog back stitches (I have a few helpful hints in this post on working with these types of yarns).
When I design with yarns like that I want to use stitch patterns that are less likely to cause grinding of teeth. So I knew I wanted something that allowed the majority of the stitches to be worked into chain spaces instead of actual stitches. Using a big hook is also helpful.
I worked my swatches with my Laurel Hill M and L size hooks, deciding in the end that I was happiest with the swatch I had made with the L hook.
I had been looking at the popularity of ruffled wraps, and started playing with Hyperbolic Planes as I swatched.
Because the fluffy yarn has a lovely halo effect, I knew that a lacy open stitch pattern would look very delicate and still make a warm fabric. Ideal characteristics for a feminine scarf or shoulder wrap.
Since this was a fairly small project idea, I decided to work a larger swatch to check my increase calculations and made an actual shawlette.
This photo was one I included to show the shawlette in my proposal for a “Fluffy Ruffles” Shawlette/Scarf to Crochet! Magazine. I also used Universal Yarns’ Swiss Mohair to create a swatch of the stitch pattern as another suggested yarn for this pattern.
When the editors reviewed my proposal they thought the lighter weight yarn would be a better match and they wanted to use the design in the “Winter 2011” issue of the magazine. I finished the final sample in the chosen yarn and wrote up the pattern, then sent them off to the magazine staff at the end May 2011.
After that my focus was swatching and working on other design ideas. I was excited when my CGOA copy of the Winter Issue came in the mail as I remembered I had a design in it. But when I looked at the design names I didn’t see “Fluffy Ruffles”. Then I spotted the information and photo on page 79. My design now had a new name, and was one of the Web Bonuses available to Crochet! readers.
And that my dear readers is my part of the story of design evolution.
Here we are one week into 2012 and I’m looking at my resolutions and goals once again. Didn’t we just do this?
I know I’m marking myself as gaining in years with this comment, but it does really seem like every year is passing by more quickly than it’s predecessor. Of course it could be explained mathematically. Yeah, like you didn’t see that one coming.
It’s all about proportionate relative POV (point of view). For a child 5 years old, 1 year is equal to only 1/5 of his life experience. So that year seems to pass slowly as he anxiously awaits each of the markers of the passing year: Halloween, Christmas, his 6th Birthday. Where for me at 48 years, 1 year is equal to 1/48 of my life experience and those same markers seem to come along at warp speed.
This New Year started off with a bang, work and family life were both keeping me on my toes, so getting to the blog has been a bit delayed. Finally found a moment to think about what my resolutions are for this year.
#1 – Make time every week to play with my children. This has actually been going pretty well as the boys got lots of Legos and some board games for Christmas. I figure I need to make the effort to play with them while they want me to, as they are growing up so fast.
#2 – Do more volunteer work with organizations that matter to me. I love going to the CGOA conferences each year to learn new techniques, spend time with crocheting and designing buddies and shopping the unique offerings at the marketplace. I’ll be doing more with the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) this year than ever before. Because I’ve agreed to work with Doris Chan and Shari White as part of the CGOA Design Competition committee.
#3 – Purge my household and creative “stuff” to create more space in my home and office. Yes, I seem to have this resolution every year (or some version of it) but it is a never-ending process as more “stuff” seems to come in on a daily basis.
M2H Designs: Tumbling Leaves Scarf
#4 – Publish at least 8 crochet designs in my M2H Designs line. Just this week I published the first one of the year, Tumbling Leaves Scarf. If I can manage to do that at least every month I’ll fulfill this goal easily.
#5 – Finish 2 fine art pieces of a good size. Say at least 1 foot by 2 feet. With all the design and writing work I’ve been doing recently, my art studio and art supplies have been getting lonely. I’ve also been wanting to make time to explore using more textile pieces and techniques in my “fine art” work.
#6 – Get back into a regular Yoga practice again, working up to doing an hour of yoga 3 times a week by the end of the year. I have found my life more sedentary with the work I do now (design and writing), so making myself stick to regular exercise is becoming more important to my overall well-being.
As part of my celebration of Thanksgiving week I am counting my blessings again. One that I really celebrate is having so many caring friends in my life. Especially uplifting to me is the number of them that share my passion for all things yarnie.
This past Saturday I was down in Denver for my monthly pilgrimage to The Lambshoppe for Pajamma Jam. On the magazine rack there was the new publication from Interweave Press “Interweave Crochet Accessories” that my design, Isosceles Scarf, is in. This is my first design for Interweave and it was quite fun to have it in a magazine that is available at many LYSs.
Photos courtesy of Interweave Press
It is a special favorite with me as well because I got to use a bit of geekery in the design of it as well as in the naming of it. How often to you get to use geometrical terms in crochet pattern names (well, if you are me, as often as possible).
My wonderful stitching friends were all very excited for me. It is such a joy to have people who believe in me and have faith in my ability to keep on reaching for my dreams. I know that my successes in the future will be in part due to the lift they give me with their love.
If you don’t have yarnie friends that you get to spend time with I highly recommend that you join the online site: Ravelry. For many years I had no-one to crochet or knit with, then I found Ravelry and I have found yarn friends far and wide because of it.
Mamas2Hands 