Crochet – Page 9 – Mamas2Hands

Dizzy Corner Afghan Square

October 12, 2017July 12, 2023Creativity, Crochet, Crochet Design, Online, Pattern12 Comments

Tomorrow is my birthday and I am keeping with my tradition of celebrating with a blog pattern for my readers. Once again I wanted to have some fun with my favorite crochet technique: Spirals. I also wanted to play with some textures in this project and incorporated clusters and cross stitches for that aspect.

The result is my “Dizzy Corner Afghan Square”.

Working spirals can be a little tricky, and this spiral is made with 2 arms in 2 colors. I’ve used my favorite method of spiral making using stitch markers to help keep track of the increases and the ends of each round.

You mark each stitch of Round 1, using a different color stitch marker for the last stitch in each color.

In the following 4 rounds you work 1 stitch in each unmarked stitch and 2 stitches in each marked stitch, moving the stitch marker up to the 2nd stitch.

When you work a continuous spiral in crochet you will need a step-up and a step-down to get a perfect round. At the beginning of Round 1 the first stitch is a single crochet followed by 3 half double crochets to create the step-up.

Then Round 5 of the spiral ends with a step down. In the instructions for the pattern I have broken out the step-down instructions at the end of Round 5.

Dizzy Corner Afghan Square

Skill level: Intermediate

Finished Size:

12” square

Materials:

Yarn

Worsted wt (Sample uses Lion Brand Yarns “Vanna’s Choice” 100% Acrylic (5 oz/142g, 251 yd/230 m)

Color A: #159 Lemon (sample used approximately 22 yards/12 grams)

Color B: #112 Raspberry (sample used approximately 20 yards/11 grams)

Color C {primary color}: #171 Fern (sample used approximately 62 yards/35 grams)

Color D: # 098 Fisherman (sample used approximately 30 yards/17 grams)

Hook

J / 6mm

Notions

Yarn/tapestry needle

Stitch markers

Gauge

First 5 rounds of pattern = 4” across square

Abbreviations/Special Stitches

Standing Double Crochet (Standing dc): make slip knot in yarn and place loop snugly on shaft of hook, yo and insert hook into indicated st, yo, pull up a loop, (yo, pull thru 2 loops on hook) twice.

Standing Single Crochet (Standing sc): make slip knot in yarn and place loop snugly on shaft of hook, insert hook into indicated st, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull thru 2 loops on hook.

Loose slip stitch (loose slip st): Insert hook in indicated place, YO, pull up a loop thru place and loop on hook keeping loose like making a chain st.

Joining slip st (slip st): Insert hook in indicated place, YO, pull up a loop thru place and loop on hook, continue to pull up on working loop until original loop is tight.

Extended Double Crochet (Edc): YO, insert hook in indicated st or sp, YO pull up a loop, YO pull thru first loop on hook, (YO, pull thru 2 loops on hook) 2 times.

2 double crochet Cluster (Cl): (YO, insert hook in indicated st or sp, YO pull up a loop, YO pull thru 2 loops) 2 times, YO pull thru remaining loops on hook.

Double Crochet Cross Stitch (X-st): Skip one st, dc in next st, working around previously made dc, dc in skipped st. Each X-st uses 2 sts and creates 2 sts.

Pattern Notes:

Start square with an adjustable slip knot. Beginning tail tightens the loop on the hook.

Stitch counts at the end of each round and row are shown in italicized brackets at end of each round or row.

Square starts with a 2 color hdc spiral circle in one corner, then rounds to square the circle. Next 16 textured mitered rows are worked off 2 sides of that square, ending with 2 rounds of sc encasing entire afghan square.

When instructions specify “sl st loosely”, this means work those slip stitches similar to a chain stitch and do not pull the working loop to tighten them as in a joining slip stitch. You will be working into those loose slip stitches.

Instructions

Rnd 1 (RS): Begin with Color A, ch 2, (sc, 3 hdc) in second ch from hook, pull up long loop of color A and remove hook, insert hook in same ch as previous work, pull up a loop of Color B on shaft of hook, ch 1, (sc, 3 hdc) in same ch st, pull beginning tail of Color A to close center tightly. Place st markers in each st using a different color marker to indicate the last st of each color section. [1 sc, 3 hdc, in each color]

Rnd 2: Begin with Color A, *(2 hdc in marked st, move st marker up to second st worked) 4 times*, pull up loop of Color A, switch to Color B, Repeat from * to *. [8 hdc, in each color]

Rnd 3: Begin with Color A, *(hdc in next st, 2 hdc in marked st, move st marker up to second st worked) 4 times*, pull up loop of Color A, switch to color B, Repeat from * to *. [12 hdc, in each color]

Rnd 4: Begin with Color A, *(hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdc in marked st, move st marker up to second st worked) 4 times*, pull up loop of Color A, switch to Color B, Repeat from * to *. [16 hdc, in each color]

Rnd 5: Begin with Color A, *(hdc in next 3 sts, 2 hdc in marked st, move st marker up to second st worked) 4 times*, pull up loop of Color A, switch to color B, Repeat from * to * once, [Count at this point is 20 hdc in each color]

step down: **hdc next st, sc next st, slip st loosely in back loop and back bar of next st, slip st tightly in back loop and back bar of next st**, fasten off Color B, switch back to Color A, Repeat from ** to ** once, fasten off Color A. [21 hdc, 1 sc, 2 slip st, in each color] 4”diameter.

To prepare for working round to square, remove every other st marker leaving 4 markers equally spaced around circle.

Rnd 6: With RS facing attach Color C yarn with a standing dc in any marked st, 2 Edc in same st, *skip 2 sts, hdc next st, hdc & sc next st, sc next st, sc & hdc next st, hdc next st, skip 2 sts, (2 Edc, dc, ch 2, dc, 2 Edc) nextmarked st, move marker to ch-2 sp just made*; Repeat from * to * 2 times; skip 2 sts, hdc next st, hdc & sc next st, sc next st, sc & hdc next st, hdc next st, skip 2 sts, (2 Edc, dc) in first worked st, ch 2, slip st to first dc of Rnd. [16 Edc, 8 dc, 16 hdc, 12 sc, 4 ch-2 sp]

Rnd 7: Ch 1, *sc in next 13 sts, (sc, ch 2, sc) in marked ch-2 sp*; Repeat from * to * 3 times, slip st to first st of Rnd, fasten off Color C. [60 sc]

Row 8: With RS facing attach Color D with a standing sc in corner ch-2 sp, sc next 15 sts, (sc, ch 2, sc) in next corner ch-2 sp, sc next 15 sts, sc in next corner ch-2 sp. [34 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 9: Ch 1, turn, sc in first st, *Cl next st, sc next st*; Repeat from * to * until work in st before corner ch-2 sp, (sc, ch 2, sc) in ch-2 sp, sc next st, Repeat from * to * until work in last st of previous row. [16 Cl, 1 ch-2 sp, 18 sc]

Row 10: Ch 1, turn, sc in first st, sc in each st until work in last st before corner ch-2 sp, (sc, ch 2, sc) in corner ch-2 sp, sc in each st until work in last st of previous row. Fasten off Color D. [38 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 11: With RS facing attach Color C with standing dc, dc in each st toward corner until work in last st before ch-2 sp, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in ch-2 sp, dc in each st away from corner until work in last st of previous row, Fasten off Color C. [42 dc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 12: With RS facing attach Color A with standing sc, Repeat Row 10. [42 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 13: Turn, sc in first st, ch 2, *X-st over next 2 sts*, Repeat from * to * 9 times, dc next st, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in ch-2 sp, dc next st, Repeat from * to * 10 times, dc in last st of previous row. [20 X-sts, 8 dc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 14: Repeat Row 10 in Color A, Fasten off Color A. [50 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 15: With RS facing attach Color C with standing dc, Repeat Row 11, Fasten off Color C. [54 dc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 16: With RS facing attach Color B with standing sc, Repeat Row 10. [56 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 17: Ch 1, turn, (sc next st, dc next st) 14 times, (sc, ch 2, sc) in ch-2 corner space, (dc next st, sc next st) 14 times. [28 dc, 30 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 18: Ch 1, turn, Repeat Row 10, Fasten off Color B. [60 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 19: With RS facing attach Color C with standing dc, Repeat Row 11, Fasten off Color C. [64 dc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 20: With RS facing attach Color D with standing sc, Repeat Row 10. [66 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 21: Turn, sc in first st, ch 2, *X-st over next 2 sts*, Repeat from * to * 15 times, (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc) in ch-2 sp, Repeat from * to * 16 times, dc in last st of previous row. [32 X-sts, 6 dc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Row 22: Repeat Row 10, Fasten off Color D. [72 sc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Weave in all tails so far.

Row 23: With RS facing attach Color C with standing dc, Repeat Row 11, DO NOT fasten off Color C. [76 dc, 1 ch-2 sp]

Edging Rounds

Rnd 1: With RS facing turn work counter clockwise to work along edges of Rows, ch 1, 2 sc in side of Row 23, sc in side of Row 22, 2 sc in side of Row 21, sc in side of Row 20, 2 sc in side of Row 19, sc in side of Row 18, sc in side of Row 17, sc in side of Row 16, 2 sc in side of Row 15, sc in side of Row 14, 2 sc in side of Row 13, sc in side of Row 12, 2 sc in side of Row 11, sc in side of Row 10, sc in side of Row 9, sc in side of Row 8, sc in corner ch-2 sp of beginning square, sc in next 15 sts,

(sc, ch 2, sc) in next corner ch-2 sp,

sc in next 15 sts, sc in next corner ch-2 sp of beginning square, sc in side of Row 8, sc in side of Row 9, sc in side of Row 10, 2 sc in side of Row 11, sc in side of Row 12, 2 sc in side of Row 13, sc in side of Row 14, 2 sc in side of Row 15, sc in side of Row 16, sc in side of Row 17, sc in side of Row 18, 2 sc in side of Row 19, sc in side of Row 20, 2 sc in side of Row 21, sc in side of Row 22, 2 sc in side of Row 23,

ch 2, turn and sc in top of first st of Row 23, sc in next 37 sts,

(sc, ch 2, sc) in next corner ch-2 sp,

sc in next 38 sts, ch 2, slip st to first sc of Rnd 1. [156 sc, 4 ch-2 sp]

Rnd 2: Ch 1, *sc in each st until work in last st before ch-2 sp, (sc, ch 2, sc) in ch-2 sp*; Repeat from * to * 3 times, slip st to first sc of Rnd 2, fasten off. [164 sc, 4 ch-2 sp]

Finishing

Weave in tails and block.

Chasing Rainbows

October 7, 2017CGOA, Creativity, Crochet, Latest News2 Comments

I’m still working on getting well from the Whooping Cough. I am past the constant coughing stage, but am currently wearing my ribs strapped because I have managed to cough a couple of ribs out of place. Friday afternoon my chiropractor got me fixed up and told me to wear the strapping until I had a full 48 hours pain free. Good thing the weather has cooled off a bit, this rib support is really warm.

Meanwhile, what is a busy crochet designer supposed to do with herself when she is stuck “resting” all the time? Design something of course. The best bit of my recovery is I feel like crocheting again, for a while there I was just too wiped out to do more than move my pillows around. I still need lots of sleep, but when I am awake I can crochet and watch movies.

I had 2 balls of Lion Brand’s “Shawl in a Ball” that I purchased this summer. I picked out the “Restful Rainbow” colorway because it has so many of my favorite colors in it. I started a couple of different shawl ideas in it, but finally decided to go with my simple 2 x 2 pattern with increases for a top down wrap.

It’s perfect for crocheting on while watching movies and if I fall asleep while working on it, it isn’t confusing to figure out where I am in the row. I’ll be publishing this pattern later this fall here on the blog once I have finished my sample.

Meanwhile some other news. For those of you that are CGOA members you may have seen already, but I am one of the nominees for the CGOA Board of Directors. The voting begins November 1st thru December 26th, so be sure that your membership is current and vote for your top 4 picks from the nominees. I hope you will vote for me as I know I have a lot to bring to the board and CGOA.

If you want to join CGOA there is no time like the present. You can find out everything you need to join at the CGOA website: Crochet.org. When you think Crochet, think CGOA!

When a Motif isn’t a Motif

September 8, 2017January 17, 2018"I Like Crochet", Crochet, Crochet Design, Latest News, Needle Felting, OnlineLeave a Comment

This past week has been another whirlwind as I was preparing for the Scottsbluff Fiber Arts Fair. Today was all about Needle Felting, I taught 2 classes on the subject.

The morning class was “Needle Felting in 3D” and my afternoon class was “Sweet Sheep Toy: Needle Felting”. Both classes were well attended and I had such a great time with my students.

The sheep class students really applied themselves to the project, and everyone left with a new appreciation for how to create needle felt toys. Tomorrow I’ll be teaching a Learn to Crochet class for Knitters “The Crocheted Edge”. This was a fun class I originally developed for teaching at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe. I’m looking forward to helping my fellow yarn crafters add crochet to their skills.

Speaking of crochet. I’m so excited to show you my 2 latest designs to be published in the October issue of the online magazine “I Like Crochet”. Both of these designs were inspired by the idea of working fabric that has the appearance of little motifs without all the joining and tail weaving usually involved in that type of fabric. Instead the look of motifs is created by working continuous rows and using spike stitches gather the rows together. The edging and finish for each project is also worked continuously , so when you are finished with the crocheting, all you have left is weaving in a few ends and blocking

The “Sugar & Fig Cowl” is made in Berroco Yarns “Boboli Lace”, this is a colorful yarn with a lovely subtle sheen. The “motifs” are created in a 2 row repeat that is easy to memorize so you’ll have your cowl finished before you know it.

The “Cobbled Path Wrap” is a rectangular stole crocheted in Premier Yarns’ Deborah Norville “Serenity Sock”. The motif look in this design is worked in a 3 row repeat giving the look of ovals. This repeat is a tiny bit more challenging, but with the length of the wrap you will get into the swing of it pretty easily.

Both designs were worked in fingering weight yarns with lots of fluidity for finished projects with lovely drape and wearability.

If you don’t have a subscription to “I Like Crochet” then now is a great time to get one. This issue is filled with a number of lovely projects that can help you celebrate the fall season and that would make great gifts for the holidays.

Flatirons Shawl

September 5, 2017March 9, 2018Celebrating, Crochet, Crochet Design, Indie publication, Inspiration, M2H Designs Ravelry Shop, Paid Pattern Links3 Comments

The Flatirons Shawl is my latest independent published design. This was what I was working on during our Mount Rushmore/Eclipse road trip. It is made with Theodora’s Pearls “Auxanometer” hand-dyed yarn, dyed in Longmont. This is a lovely rayon yarn that has beautiful sheen and drape in the finished project. Each hank contains approximately 400 yards of fingering weight yarn.

It is constructed of 3 triangles crocheted continuously from one triangle to the next, creating an asymmetrical wrap that has only 4 tails to weave in at the finish. There are 2 different lace patterns used to create the triangles and 2 colors of yarn to add textural interest. The triangles inspired the name “Flatirons” because of the dramatic rock formations bordering the Boulder Valley.

Between the yarn and the shape this is an extremely wearable shawl. I tried styling it a number of ways on Collette.

For this wearing option I pinned the two tips of the shawl at the back of the neck and made a doubled circle across the shoulders to create a cowl look.

Then there is always the useful shawl pin option. This style really shows off the drape of the fabric and gives great coverage of the shoulders.

The pattern is an advanced intermediate level, so a definite skill builder. It involves working 4 row repeating lace patterns, decreases, color work, and changing direction of stitches. The pattern contains stitch charts for the lace pattern in each triangle as well as a detailed schematic for the edging directions.

Today is the launch of this project at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe. As part of their 5th year anniversary celebration the shop is doing kits of the above 4 different color combinations for $62 each. The pre-order of the kits starts today, September 5th thru September 17th. If you pre-order the yarn during this time the shop will provide a complimentary copy of the pattern. The yarn will be delivered to customers the week of the 25th.

Then I’ll be hosting the CAL starter party Saturday, September 30th from 2p – 4p at the shop. We will also have a thread in the Longmont Yarn Shoppe Ravelry group. So even if you live far from Longmont, Colorado you will be able to participate in the CAL and the pre-order of the yarn. Just call the shop to order your kit at 303-678-8242.

The color kits will still be available after the 17th, but will not include the complimentary pattern. You will be able to purchase the pattern thru my Ravelry shop at any time.

Chasing the Moon

August 25, 2017August 8, 2021Celebrating, Crochet, Latest NewsLeave a Comment

As I’m sure most of you know, this past Monday was the Solar Eclipse that traveled across the US. Being we are a family of geeks, and we live only 3.5 hours south of where the path of totality was (the pink dot is approximately where we are in Colorado), it was definitely time for one more road trip.

Our kids started back to school the previous week but Monday was only the 3rd full day of school for them. We decided that this was a great educational opportunity and they could miss a day at school. We weren’t the only ones. Many of the Colorado schools had students missing.

I have to give complete credit to my amazing husband for pulling this together. He decided we should go to Rapid City, South Dakota and spend 2 nights there. That way we could visit Mount Rushmore and then drive down into Nebraska on Monday morning into the path of the total eclipse and watch it.

I had always wanted to see Mount Rushmore and hadn’t realized it was so close to us. It was about a 6.5 hour drive, not counting stops for gas and food. He had even ordered an Eclipse watching kit that included 5 pairs of eclipse glasses to look at the sun safely.

We left home about noon on Saturday and drove all the way to Rapid City, South Dakota. The drive was beautiful and I crocheted on a swatch for a new shawl design. We got to our hotel about 7 that evening, had a quick dinner then called it a night.

The next day we spent exploring Mount Rushmore. So gorgeous there, and we all hiked up the stairs that took us to the foot of the sculpture. I took that photo from about half way up, the closer we got to the sculpture the more challenging it was to get a good photo. The trees are pretty grown up around the base and the fact we were looking up the presidents’ noses, not ideal photography conditions. Still beautiful and well worth the hike.

My oldest stayed with me as I hobbled up the 255 stairs, turned out we had picked the wrong direction to go on the path, if we had started to the left side of the sculpture we would have been going down stairs most of the way. Ah Well. If you get a chance to visit there hopefully you will learn from my experience.

When we got back to the hotel later that afternoon I was ready to put my feet up and crochet. I’ve been asked by Longmont Yarn Shoppe to design a crocheted shawl to help celebrate their 5th year anniversary. I had been swatching with the yarn trying to figure out the right stitch combinations. Having some quiet time in the hotel room was great and I finally got the swatch and math to cooperate.

Himself and the kids were playing in the water park that was attached to the hotel. I joined them later to soak in the hot tub and have some dinner at the pizza place. After everyone was water-logged from swimming we went back to our hotel room and packed up in preparation for an early departure the following morning.

By 7:30 a.m. Monday we were on the road and headed South toward the predicted path of totality. There was quite a bit of traffic headed the same direction, though nothing compared to what we were seeing on Google maps for the Interstate coming up from Denver to Wyoming. We had a couple of spots we were considering going to watch from, but we were concerned about cloud cover obscuring the sun.

We were watching our location in relationship to the path of totality so we knew, if we had to, we could just stop on the side of the road to watch the eclipse. We were heading toward Agate, Nebraska and passed by a scenic overlook that didn’t have a huge crowd. The sky ahead of us was beginning to look very cloudy and we were trying to decide if we should keep going or head back to the overlook. After about 15 minutes we decided to turn around and go to the overlook.

It was a great decision. There were around 25-30 other groups there, probably 50 people total. People from Minnesota, Iowa and New York (Long Island) as well as closer by. Everyone had eclipse glasses and was ready to watch the sun as the partial eclipse began.

My youngest had science class homework for taking notes on about the eclipse. He had black stickers to overlap yellow sun stickers on the paper, he had to note the time and the percentage of coverage. So we decided on the times he would make his observations then set a series of alarms on my smart phone so he didn’t have to be constantly looking at his watch and missing the eclipse.

It was a great family experience as well as a science experience. The kids got a little impatient waiting for the totality to happen, but we treated it as a great learning opportunity for them. Fact: Sometimes the waiting in scientific observation is boring.

Once the totality got closer everyone got really excited. The wind picked up and, being at one of the highest points in the area, we could see the dimness of the totality coming toward us. Those of us watching the sun as the totality happened suddenly couldn’t see anything thru the eclipse glasses.

When we took the glasses off we saw the beautiful ring of the solar corona. It was stupendous! The kids declared all the waiting had been completely worth it. My youngest pronounced this the best trip of the summer. Both kids are more determined than ever that they want to be scientists when they grow up.

Then we drove to Scotts Bluff to have a picnic lunch and stop by Brown Sheep Wool Company. We weren’t the only eclipse hunters that had decided to stop by Brown Sheep. They were really busy, but I managed to find some yarn and fiber to adopt. Quite a bit of that yarn will be presents for Christmas, including slippers for all my family. I had them pick out the yarn and color they wanted because they are getting a bit picky about what they will wear anymore. Believe it or not the hot pink yarn in the center isn’t for me, my oldest picked it out for slippers.

I also got to introduce my family to 3 members of the Brown Sheep Family; Brittany, Andy and Peggy.

After yarn shopping we drove to the Visitors Center at Scotts Bluff National Monument. Again we were in company with a lot of other folks, but we decided to go ahead and wait in the line to drive to the top of the bluff. We were really glad we did since the views from there were beautiful.

We managed to miss the worse of eclipse traffic returning to Colorado and Denver in particular. With all our stops in Nebraska we thought we would miss it entirely, instead we ended up taking some back roads and avoiding the interstate. We stopped for dinner and ice cream in Ft. Collins and got home at 10:21 p.m. We had 2 very tired kids the next day, especially by the end of their school day, for once I didn’t get any arguments about going to bed.

I spent a lot of our trip crocheting on the anniversary shawl design that I am creating for the Longmont Yarn Shoppe, it’s always good to have a crochet project for the road. The launch date for the shawl is September 2nd. You can see a little sneak peak video on their facebook page. I’ve been working lots of math and writing the pattern as well as crocheting the sample since our return.

I’ll have more to share with you soon about that shawl and some other designs for this Autumn. This weekend I’ll be selling some of my wire wrapped pins and other crafts at our local craft fair. It’s the first one we’ve had since the flood of 2013. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of local friends and spending time in our little park once again.

Summer is Flying By

July 24, 2017August 2, 2017Celebrating, Crochet, Paid Pattern Links, Yarnie Friends3 Comments

This summer is going so fast, I’ve been traveling for both work and family stuff, so the times at home are super packed with household and work tasks.

We got back from our Lake Huron trip the evening of the 11th and I hit the ground running the next day.

It was Casual Crochet meet-up and the end of our Testing Pool CAL. Everyone that could make it was there to get their photo taken wearing their cowls. A number of these ambitious crocheters had made 2 cowls. Can you tell that the Aqua colorway was very popular?

For naming this cowl I took all the names of my testers and put them in a hat. We drew out a name and this cowl is now known as the “Kellie Cowl”. That’s Kellie at the lower left in the photo.

You can purchase the pattern for this cowl in my Ravelry shop. It comes with detailed stitch charts for the foundation, joins and increase point.

I’m headed out to Chicago for the CGOA Chain Link Conference this week, so this may be a one post week again. We will see how busy it all is there and if I will have a decent internet connection. If you are coming to the conference be sure to say hello. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of my yarnie friends and making new ones.

TNNA Goodies

June 24, 2017September 16, 2017Celebrating, Creativity, Crochet, Latest News, Sheep, TNNA, YarnLeave a Comment

I’m back from my little break and I have so much news for you. It’s likely going to take a few blog posts.

This summer has been moving fast and it seems every weekend has been full of excitement. First June weekend was sheep adventures, second was TNNA, and the third was playing with my dear niece and her adorable family.

I’ve shared quite a bit about the sheep adventures, though there will be more to tell on that front. For the moment though let’s roll the clock back to the second weekend and talk about the TNNA Summer Trade Show in Columbus, Ohio. For those of you that are new to my blog, or have never heard of TNNA, it is The National Needlearts Association and is a trade organization for folks that sell all sorts of fiber, yarn, needle crafting tools and supplies. It also includes needlearts teachers, designers and bloggers. You can learn more about TNNA at their website.

I had a little shorter visit at TNNA this time than I usually do, but it was still super productive. I flew out of Denver late Saturday morning. Had one of the most relaxing and enjoyable flights ever because of my seat mates. The woman at the window was traveling with her King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and he cuddled with me for most of the flight. Might not have been ideal for folks that don’t love dogs or critters, but it was perfect for me. The woman on the aisle was also a dog lover, so we had a great time.

Saturday evening was the Business & Creative Services dinner. Lots of interesting conversations with colleagues and show vendors. There was a great goodie bag. I made sure to go to each of the vendors during the rest of the show to thank them for their sponsorship.

Sunday morning I had an inspiring class with Zontee Hou called “Become a Video Whiz”. Just Wow! I feel like my brain was so full after that class that I needed to sit somewhere quietly for a couple of hours and think. Unfortunately that wasn’t an option that day, fortunately Zontee always provides detailed slides and hand-outs that let me re-live the class now I am home.

I needed to spend my Sunday after the class on the showroom floor to meet with a number of yarn companies and to talk tools with some of the other companies (like the lively folks at Clover).

It’s always exciting to see what products Clover has, both the old and new. I’ve got a few to experiment with over the next couple of months, so be sure to check back for those reviews.

It was also a blast to see my friend Eloise. She and I have known each other for ages, long before she began working with Clover. We had a good chuckle when she started working with them and I told her they were one of my very favorite crafting tool companies. We were laughing at this show because she lives in Denver, yet the last 2 times we have seen each other have been at shows that we had to fly to. Life just gets too busy and crazy at times.

I also found some other booths I needed to check out. Like the “Knitting Abacus”, “Glowving” from Kreinik and “Brittany Knitting Needles & Crochet Hooks”.

It’s not a real TNNA show without a stop by Daven’s “Love & Leche” booth for beautifully scented lotion bars for keeping my hands from drying out up here on the mountain.

One of the most wonderful things about being at TNNA is the yarn. A rainbow of colors and so many beautiful soft fibers. I can get very lost seeing all the yarn. That joke about being overwhelmed by yarn fumes? It could really happen at TNNA. There are so many new yarns to see.

The pile of yarn above is what I came home with, there will also be some more coming to my house soon. I’ve been sketching and making design notes on each of these in preparation for creating gorgeous new crochet designs. Some of these yarns are brand new to me, so I will also be posting reviews of those yarns as I get to work with them.

Sunday evening I got together with a bunch of my designer friends and we went out to dinner at Bare Burger. I loved this restaurant. Local sourced and organic food, cooks and wait staff that actually know what Gluten Free really means plus fun, quirky décor like the awesome decoupaged bear heads hanging all over the restaurant walls.

One stop that was at the top of my list for TNNA was the Unicorn Wash booth. I met Melanie, the owner, at my first TNNA show. You might recall I mentioned her when talking about my marvelous book about sheep? It was her drawing that I won it from. I wanted to make sure to check in with her and discuss her products because I have another big piece of news. I am now a part owner with my neighbor Margie of a sheep flock.

I bet most of you aren’t that surprised, after all the sheep adventures of the last couple of years. It’s been my dream for a long time and Margie gave me the push I needed to do it. Life is going to be even more interesting and busy now, but I figure it will off-set the gap that is opening in my life as my sons are becoming ever more independent. I know one thing after only one week of working with the sheep regularly, I’m going to be getting in great shape.

Hang onto your hooks and needles my dear readers, it’s going to be a wild time on the mountain.

Visiting a new Mill.

June 2, 2017Creativity, Crochet, Latest News2 Comments

The mutant To-Do list got pushed around a lot this week. I had plans, I had good plans, but then I got distracted by sheep things.

You may recall that my next door neighbor, Margie, has a small herd of CVM sheep. Yesterday morning she called me to let me know her sheep were being sheared. Unfortunately I was sleeping in because I had stayed up late the night before working on a project. As soon as I got her message though I headed on over to help her skirt the fleeces in preparation for sending them to a mill to be processed.

Neither of us had ever really skirted a fleece before, we had both see it done many times and had an idea of what to do, so we jumped right in. All the rejected fleece bits we gathered up for me to take home. I’ll be cleaning and carding them to use for the interiors of some of my needle felting creations. Some of the better bits may be used for color work on my needle felting creations since Margie’s sheep are a wonderful mixture of colors; blacks, browns, beiges, grays and creams,

Margie didn’t have a mill lined up for her fleeces, so she spent the afternoon researching online. Later that evening she called me and told me she had found a new mill in Estes Park that could process her fleeces. She had set up an appointment to take her fleeces there as well as getting a tour of the mill. She asked if I wanted to go along. Of course I said, “Yes!”

I had a number of things on my list to do this morning, but who can pass up a tour of a new fiber mill? I made sure to wind a hank of yarn into a ball to take with me to crochet on during the drive.

Margie picked me up at 8 a.m. and we had a fun time talking about sheep, fiber and yarn on the 45 minute drive to the mill.

It is a gorgeous drive to Estes Park from our neighborhood. Margie stopped for me to get a photo of the clouds on the mountain tops over Peaceful Valley.

We saw some Elk with velvet on their antlers only a few miles before the turn off to the mill. I took this photo thru the truck window and the sunlight was working against me a bit.

Finally we were at the Willow Creek Fiber Mill and were greeted by Daniel and Kat. Daniel helped us unload the bags of fleece and brought them into the mill building.

This is the area where it all begins. You can see there were already a number of fleeces on the drying shelves. In the far left corner is the big washing machine that the fleeces are cleaned in. The hook hanging in front of the window is where the fleeces were weighted. Margie’s fleeces had a total weight of 35 pounds. A lot of that will be lost once all the processing is finished. A big part of the weight is the “grease” in the wool.

Daniel pulled out one of Margie’s fleeces to see how we had done on our skirting work and to give us some pointers for next year. He told us we had actually done a pretty good job and showed us some of the stuff to watch out for next time. Margie and I had been talking about next year that we should skirt the fleeces as the shearers finished them. That way the messy stuff doesn’t get bundled into the good part of the fleece.

We talked about putting covers on Margie’s herd this coming year to keep the fleeces cleaner. Daniel said they had used covers on their herd in the past, but were considering leaving them off this year. We were all laughing that after processing Margie’s fleeces that they might be running to put covers on their herd.

I was curious about the other machines for processing the fiber. Behind Margie is the room where the cleaned fleeces are picked, carded, drafted and spun. On the Willow Creek website they had photos of each of the machines. I understood what “picking” and “carding” were about, but didn’t recognize the term “pin drafting”. Daniel showed me some fiber that had been thru the pin-drafter and the combs in the machine that get all the fibers lined up in preparation for being spun. I was so fascinated that I forgot to take any photos of this part of our tour.

They asked us if we would like to meet their herd. There were 9 sheep total, 3 were lambs. They had sold their other lambs. I was having lots of fun with petting the lambs and some of the older sheep thru the fence. Their sheep were very friendly. They have 5 children so the sheep get lots of time interacting with humans. I told Margie I’d be happy to come over and help socialize her herd.

This little lady was just too adorable. I got some nibbles on my fingers from her.

Then it was time to head back home and get back to my mutant To-Do List. Margie wanted to make one more stop at the stables in our neighborhood so I could meet her newest horse. I was having a bit of operator error with my camera, so this was the best photo I got of him. His name is Woody and he is a Gypsy Vanner. Such a handsome and sweet fellow. He was enjoying noshing on some fresh grass from Margie’s hand.

Is Summer Coming?

May 24, 2017Crochet, Latest NewsLeave a Comment

This week has been the last week of school for both my sons. It’s been a wild one, not only is it the last week of school, it is the last week for each of them in their current schools. My youngest is making the transition from Elementary school to Middle school, and my oldest is graduating from Middle school to High school.

I’m a bit in shock that we are basically parenting 2 teenagers for all intents and purposes. Yikes!

Here in Colorado on my mountain it hasn’t felt much like summer is so near. Especially with the freakish snow storm we had this past weekend. We ended up with 4.5 feet of snow in our backyard. For those of you on the metric system that is approximately 1.37 meters.

This was the view off my deck on Tuesday, May 16th.

This was the same view 2 days later on Thursday, May 18th.

My poor pooch couldn’t even jump thru the snow like she usually does because it got so high. Instead Himself was very kind and shoveled out a path for her thru the deepest snow right in front of our backdoor.

She appreciated it, though the cold temperatures meant she wasn’t in a hurry to stay out there.

Snow up here on the mountain in the springtime is pretty typical for us. But freezing temperatures and that much accumulation, especially this late in May, is very unusual. Having said that, we seem to be having more springtime weather like this every year, so maybe this is our new normal.

This snow storm brought with it lots of power outages. We were without power for 24 hours combined, though fortunately not all in one stretch. It did make me revise what I could work on those days. It also meant a great deal of time was used up cooking on the wood-stove, hauling fire-wood and keeping the wood-stove burning so that our house didn’t get too cold.

I don’t mind “roughing it” when we go camping, but I’m definitely not cut out for living in the 1800s.

I did finish a sample for my new design, “Nimbus Poncho”. I’m hoping to have the pattern published and available to purchase thru my Ravelry shop before June 10th. It was lovely to work on. The yarn is Berroco’s “North Star” an incredible soft, fluffy, elastic, superfine alpaca blend.

I also worked a few more rounds on my caution tape plarn “Dart Bucket”. I don’t know how people spend hours crocheting with plarn. I really had to take frequent breaks. My progress on this project may have to be more of the tortoise than the hare. Slow and Steady.

Fortunately, it has warmed up quite a bit this week so far. My youngest was having fun spotting all the trickles and torrents of water coming down the canyon sides as we were driving home today. We stopped for this one to take photos and video. It was amazing and loud.

The stream running away from it was more the burbling brook sound that I love. Hopefully we are finished with freezing temperatures and snow for the next couple of months. Though I have been enjoying the nice high 50s and low 60s of this week so far.

I’ll be doing some traveling this summer to places that have “real” summer temperatures and high humidity. I’m going to keep the photos of the heavy snow on my phone to hopefully cool me off. Or at least they will remind me I wanted a break from the cold.

Playing Yarn Chicken

May 19, 2017Creativity, Crochet, Humor6 Comments

Have you heard that term before? It’s a game a lot of us dedicated yarnies play, especially when we are working from our stash and may be cutting it close for having enough yarn to finish a project. As a designer I play this game a lot. Partly because I’m always trying to get the most from the yarn I am using for a design. This week though, I was just being silly.

I thought it would be fun to use up some of the orphan balls of yarn in my stash and make another “2 by 2 Cowl”. I especially wanted to try it in one of the long color changing yarns, and with a fiber content that would be more comfortable to wear with the warmer temperatures. Currently I am wondering about those warmer temperatures since we have been experiencing a record breaking late May snow storm with below freezing temperatures.

I had come across a ball of yarn that I had lost the label to, but I loved the colors and it felt like it had quite a bit of cotton in it. I was pretty sure I had purchased the yarn at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe, so I brought it in with me when I went there this Wednesday for Casual Crochet.

Jane, the lovely manager at LYS, was able to tell me the yarn right away. It was Plymouth Yarn Company’s “Kudo” a blend of 55% Cotton/40% Rayon/5% Silk {sadly this yarn is discontinued now}. The original weight of this skein according to Ravelry is 100g and 198 yards. I must have used a little bit of it though, my skein was 95g. That number is going to be very important. Unfortunately I didn’t take a photo of the skein before I started crocheting my new cowl.

I started my cowl while at the Casual Crochet meeting. By the time I was back home where I could weigh it, I had worked 9 rounds off the foundation. According to my scale I had used 50g of my yarn. I decided I had better weigh my remaining yarn too, just to be on the safe side. I had 45g left to work with still.

Now it was time for a little math. 95g of yarn to start with, 47.5g is half the ball. That means I had used more than half the ball of yarn to get to the end of 9 rounds.

95g divided by 50g = 1.9 x 9 rounds = 17.1 rounds. That means I have enough yarn for 8 more rounds.

I want to be extra sure, so I crocheted another round, then weighed my cowl again. 55g this time. That leads me to the conclusion that it takes 5g of yarn for each round. More math.

9 x 5 = 45 so 50 – 45 = 5g, which means my foundation round took only 5g of yarn. Making an assumption, my finishing round will take 5g of yarn.

95 divided by 5 = 19. 19 – 10 = 9 more rounds.

After all that math I decided that I should be able to work 17 total rounds in the stitch pattern for the body of the cowl, then one more round for the finishing edge.

When I got to the end of Round 15 I thought about stopping. I liked the width of the cowl and with the edging it would be a nice size for spring/summer wear. I took some photos comparing it to the first sample I had crocheted.

One of the fun thing about working with a long color changing yarn was the way it was striping in this pattern. It is also good for being able to see that you are working the “join and turn” part of the pattern correctly.

I decided to keep going to see how my game of yarn chicken would turn out. At the end of Round 16 I weighed my remaining yarn. I had 11 grams of yarn left, things were looking good.

Then this happened. I was just short of enough yardage to finish. Sigh I pulled it out to the end of Round 16 and worked my finishing round.

I’m actually very happy with how the cowl came out. I wasn’t too thrilled with the mustardy yellow being the finishing color, so removing 1 round actually solved that issue. I really love the striping effect of the color changing yarn in this design. I thought the changes at the join might be too harsh, but I don’t mind them at all.

The question now is, where did I go wrong with my math? I actually don’t think it was my math, it was my tension as I was crocheting. The blend in this yarn has absolutely no “give” to it at all, so as I was working the last half of my project my gauge got a bit loose. It was just enough that it made me use more yarn in my final rounds.

The looser finishing edge actually works out. I like the slight flaring that the cowl has. When it is worn with the foundation round at the top, the slightly larger edging round gives it a graceful fit across the shoulders. If I was working this cowl for a design sample I might be more concerned and would pull it out to rework the loose rows. Instead, this was just for my own entertainment, and will probably be added to my wardrobe.

In my opinion the most important part of playing yarn chicken is a willingness to re-imagine the final project. By eliminating a few rounds I made a beautiful cowl with the yarn I had picked, even though yardage and weight were quite different from the yarn I originally used in my design.

How about you dear readers, have you ever played “yarn chicken” with a project? Hopefully you were happy with your finished project once the race was over.