Crochet Event – Mamas2Hands

Spring Time is Here!

April 12, 2022Classes, Crochet Event, Felting, Fiber, Needle FeltingLeave a Comment

It is feeling like spring here in Colorado and next week is Interweave YarnFest! It has been a long time for all of us waiting to be together safely again. I’m so excited to be teaching my 3 workshops and looking forward to see other fiber enthusiasts in person. Online registration for workshops closes tomorrow, April 13th so make sure to grab your spot.

The morning of April 20th I’ll be teaching “Needle Felt a Curly Sheep Pin” from 9 a.m. to Noon. This workshop is perfect for those that love sheep motifs and fiber. If you have ever wanted to try out needle felting this is the perfect class for you. The workshop kit contains everything you need to make the Curly Sheep Pin, so you only have to bring yourself. I’ll be providing surfaces for folks to work on during the workshop and at the end of 3 hours you will have a cute pin to wear (or magnet for your fridge)

That afternoon I’ll be teaching “Stitch Chart Bootcamp” from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. If you have always been mystified by crochet stitch charts this is the workshop for you. You’ll learn all the things to look for to decipher stitch charts and will be crocheting from stitch charts alone by the end of the workshop. I’ll also be showing you the different symbols from other countries so you can work from those stitch charts even if you don’t understand the accompanying text.

The morning of April 21st I’ll be teaching “Needle Felting in 3D” from 9 a.m. to Noon. This is the workshop to take if you want to take your needle felting to the next level. Wool is a wonderful medium to use for sculpture. Once you know some basic tips and tricks you can make all sorts of fun pieces as toys, jewelry or decorations. The class kit will have all sorts of materials for you to try out the techniques I’ll be teaching. I will be providing felting surfaces for students to use during the workshop.

There are seats available in all my workshops, so if you have been waiting to register for one of them now is a great time to do it. Online registration closes April 13th CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. If you purchase a workshop ticket, you will automatically receive a FREE 3-day marketplace ticket and tote bag {Limit one per customer}. All the booths in the marketplace are filled up and going to be showcasing lots of yarn and fiber goodies for your shopping pleasure.

Make sure to say “Hi” if you are going to be at YarnFest.

Interweave YarnFest for Fiber Fun in Colorado!

January 26, 2022Classes, Crochet, Crochet Event, Needle Felting, Teaching1 Comment

I’m so pleased to share that I am going to be teaching at the Interweave YarnFest this April. YarnFest runs from Wednesday April 20th – Saturday April 23rd. There are lots of exciting workshops and 3 of them will be taught by me.

You can visit the website by clicking here, once you are on the home page the Green “Register” button takes you to the pages to view all the workshops being offered. You can sort thru the offerings using the drop down menus to tailor the view to what interests you most.

You can save $20 on a workshop if you register before midnight (ET) January 31, 2022!

If you don’t live in the Colorado Front Range, this is a great way to treat yourself to a visit to the area and some fun with yarn and fiber as well. YarnFest is held in the Loveland Embassy Suites Hotel, a great place to stay to enjoy the festival and Colorado.

The workshops I will be teaching are…

An image of the pin which is a little round base relief sheep front view with curly white fleece, simple brown face and ears and little round brown front legs on an abstract colorful background. — **Needle Felt a Curly Sheep Pin**
Wednesday April 20th 9a – 12p (Mtn Time)

This workshop is a great introduction to needle-felting, especially if you haven’t ever tried it out before. You will be making a fun little project that will introduce you the basics for making a successful needle felting project. You may end up with a whole little flock of sheep.

The workshop kit includes full color handout, 1 felting needle, all the fiber you’ll need to create the class project and pin backs. I’ll be bringing surfaces for students to work on, so you will only need to bring your excitement to learn.

Foreground is a red violet lacy snowflake, background is a collage of various crochet stitch charts. — **Stitch Chart Bootcamp**
Wednesday April 20th 1:30p – 4:30p (Mtn Time)

This workshop is especially for those that have been mystified by crochet stitch charts, or maybe you can figure them out better when they are part of a written pattern. The first time I ever encountered crochet stitch charts I was thrilled. I had struggled with written patterns for years, but stitch charts helped me bridge the gap and suddenly I was pattern following genius. Over the past 15 years I have collected an extensive library of stitch dictionaries, books and magazines that feature stitch charts. Many of these are in languages I can’t read, but the stitch charts allow me to decipher those patterns too.

Come join me in this workshop you will leave knowing exactly what the stitch charts are telling you. You will be crocheting various small projects in class working from stitch charts only as part of this “bootcamp”.

Don’t worry, I’m a really nice drill sergeant.

Main image is a photograph of a 3 dimensional white bunny sitting on it's back legs. Inside bunny's ear is pink with a pink nose and dark black shiny eye. Bunny is sitting on a multi-colored surface with a gray background. — **Needle Felting in 3D**
Thursday April 21st 9a – 12p (Mtn Time)

I have always loved to do sculpture. I’ve sculpted in clay, wood and stone; but needle felting is one of my very favorites. Sculpting in fiber is full of easy choices and wonderfully therapeutic.

In this workshop I’ll share all the tips and tricks for making 3D sculptures using needle felting. You will learn how to build shapes and join them together, different ways of creating underlying structures to support larger sculptures, refining your sculptures and how to embellish your sculptures with other materials.

The workshop kit includes a full-color handout, 2 different felting needles, all the fiber you’ll need to create the class projects, beads and other embellishment materials.

Click here to visit the Interweave YarnFest website and register to attend. Remember Register before midnight (Eastern) January 31, 2022 for $20 off one of your workshops. Further details are on the website.

2021 National Crochet Month CAL

March 2, 2021Crochet, Crochet Event, NatCroMoLeave a Comment

Another National Crochet Month is here and I am helping the Longmont Yarn Shoppe celebrate by doing a Virtual Crochet Along project. I’ll be helping folks crochet my “Cool Snowflake Motif” via FaceBook Lives on the Longmont Yarn Shoppe page. The first session will be this Wednesday, March 3 starting at 1:45 p.m.

3 hexagonal crocheted motifs, 1 in single color of light blue, 1 in 2 colors of light blue in center with violet outside, 1 with yellow center surrounded by peach colored petals finished with bright green as leaves.

The pattern is available for free here on the blog or you can purchase an Ad-Free version in my Ravelry Shop that also includes some extras for planning your motif projects.

I made a fun spring time wrap using all the colors in the above photo. I’ll be unveiling it during the FB Live and later here on the blog.

2 motifs side by side. Darker blue one on left larger than light blue one on right.

I used Ella Rae “Cozy Worsted” yarn for this project, my motifs were a little smaller than the ones I worked in Red Heart “With Love” yarn. The Cozy Worsted is 75% Acrylic and 25% Wool, so the fibers are a little easier to block. I used my steamer to block the finished motifs and wrap. For the individual motifs I pinned them out then steamed. For the wrap I used wires to pin out the edges and steamed.

2 motifs worked in blue colors stacked on top of each other. Light blue one is smaller.

I’ll be sharing more tips and tricks thru-out the month here on the blog, including a photo tutorial on the Join-as-you-Go method I use in this pattern. Be sure to check back. Meanwhile I hope your NatCroMo is full of lots of crochet fun.

Don’t Miss Out on Early Bird Pricing

September 2, 2019September 13, 2019Classes, Crochet, Crochet Design, Crochet Event, Teaching1 Comment

UPDATE September 13, 2019 – If you missed the Early Bird Price and are sad because $80 seems like more than your budget will bear don’t despair. I have a coupon code for $20 off the ticket price for Stitch Makers Live. The code is: 2019SML20off. The code is only good until Monday August 16th at 11:45 p.m. Eastern time. Click here to buy your ticket now and join me and all the other teachers for an awesome online conference.

My latest finished design is the Whirling Ends Scarf and the pattern will only be available for the next year to attendees of the Stitch Markers Live 2019 online conference. The pattern contains my usual detailed photos, stitch charts and written instructions to help you successfully complete this project.

With your ticket to the conference you be able to take an online lesson with me where I demo my tricks for making spirals, including some secrets I’ve never shared before. As well as being able to ask questions and get help from me the whole 3 days of the conference.

But that is not all! You get all 15 patterns from the 11 designer/teachers and the opportunity to attend 15 different live lessons. Plus the same live access to all the teachers. You don’t have to worry about the agony of deciding between one lesson over another, because each class will be offered one at a time. You can attend each live lesson if you want, all for the single ticket price, no paying a separate fee for each lesson.

Even better, you will have 1 year access to all the lessons from the conference. Which means if you don’t get to one of the projects right away, you can have a refresher by reviewing the lessons.

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation (at no added cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links.

I’m reminding you that today is the last day of Early Bird pricing for Stitch Makers Live 2019. Early Bird Tickets are $55. After midnight eastern tonight (Monday, Sept 2nd) tickets will go up $25 and will be $80. That comes down to less than $1.85 per pattern or lesson.

Don’t miss out on your chance to take classes with these marvelous teachers for such a great price!

Click here to get your ticket NOW!

Something New in Crochet is Coming…

August 29, 2019September 2, 2019Celebrating, Crochet, Crochet Event, TeachingLeave a Comment

Stitch Makers Live 2019 is coming soon and I’m so excited to be a part of it!

What is Stitch Makers Live?

Stitch Makers Live is a 3-day virtual event during which over 10 crochet designers and teachers (including me) are going to spend time with you – right on Facebook. 16 crochet sessions LIVE with industry experts!

Each class comes with a BONUS crochet pattern – to help you master those skills.

This post contains affiliate links. I may receive compensation (at no added cost to you) if you make a purchase using these links.

From September 19th thru September 21st , you can participate in every one of these classes. But that’s not all!

There’s even a virtual party in the evening after the last day is over!

PLUS, you’ll get full access to the recordings in the group for ONE FULL YEAR!

And YOU are invited! Click here to register to join the fun..

These are the industry professionals that will be joining me…

· Edie Eckman

· Tamara Kelly of Moogly

· Mary Beth Temple of Hooked For Life Publishing

· Alexis Middleton of Persia Lou

· Marie Segares of Underground Crafter

· Jessie Rayot of Jessie At Home

· Pia Thadani of Stitches ‘N’ Scraps

· Linda Dean of Linda Dean Crochet

· Julie Desjardins of ACCROchet

· Courtney Whitehead of Creations by Courtney

These experts are passionate about crochet, and excited to share their knowledge with you. Whether your goal is to improve your skills in hat making, gather the bravery to begin your first sweater, or dive into short rows, our goal is to help you. The teachers and designers were handpicked to bring you the best instructors on a variety of crochet topics.

This is the first CROCHET ONLY online summit we know about – and we’re excited to launch it with you on board!

Take advantage of Early Bird pricing and purchase your tickets before midnight eastern on Monday, September 2^nd. After that tickets will go up to full price!

So go ahead, register for Stitch Makers Live today!

I can’t wait to see you there!