Crochet Journey

At this time of year, yarnists often start moving away from the bright and the pale colors of the warm months and begin projects with the deeper, darker colors of fall and then winter.  These rich, dark colors reflect the shorter, colder days to come, as we begin cocooning indoors, cozy with steaming cups of coffee and tea, crocheting to both provide warmth to others and to keep warm ourselves. But working with these darker colors presents a challenge for the eyes, so special techniques are necessary.  Working with black yarn presents the biggest challenge of all, so I usually don't recommend it to beginning crochet students. First of all, it's good to work over a white tabletop; if you don't have one, try working over white poster board, or even a white towel on your lap.  Then a good light source is needed.  Use your brightest lamp, or try using an Ottlite ; I purchased an Ottlite lamp many years ago to help with sewing, and it wasn't long before I began usin...

I learned to crochet when I was 16.  I saw an article in a sewing magazine, "Accent Your Sewing with Crochet!" and was immediately intrigued.  Christmas was coming and my babysitting money wasn't going to stretch very far toward gifts that year.  I bought a book and practiced every chance I got, and then everyone received either a hat or scarf that Christmas! For many years I saw crochet simply as a means to an end.  If a gift was needed, I had it covered.  Baby layettes, afghans, pillows, shawls, scarves, hats, spa sets, you name it, I could produce it in a hurry and was never again without a gift to give. When I entered the grown-up working world and made a bit more money, I began buying gifts instead of making them, and crochet took a back burner, and sometimes non-existent burner, in my life.  I didn't "need" crochet anymore...or so I thought. Fast forward several years and I had a year when several tragedies struck at once; illness, separatio...

Last week we learned a particular type of join-as-you-go technique, and that turned out well, but a finished piece needs some edge stability.  The most important thing about an edge, unless it's ruffled on purpose, is that it be FLAT and even.  Blocking can help a bit, but the number of stitches and knowing how not to make increases at the joins ensures a nice, flat edge, so that was our task for today.  After adding the initial stabilizing round of double crochet, spaced evenly, we added a round of single crochet for completeness.  Voila!  Nice, flat edge! If you like to crochet, you need this edge in your life!  All the technique and new stitch classes for the next several months are planned to give you the skills you need to take your stitching to the next level.  So make a point of joining us Mondays at 10 am! Next week is our monthly Crochet Clinic; have a project on hold because you're at a stuck point, having trouble understanding a patter...

Argh, don't you just hate weaving in ends?  I know I do!  Many years ago a bag filled with granny squares was hiding in the back on the top shelf of my closet, waiting for me to assemble them, and I never did.  The prospect of so many ends, row after row, section after section, was just not appealing, and the bag was finally discarded.  But if I had only known then what I know now! JAYGO, or Join-As-You-Go, is a terrific way to assemble motifs with as few ends as possible.  There are different methods for accomplishing this, but a while back I ran across a video that showed how to assemble a complete blanket/afghan/throw with only TWO ends to weave in!  I was immediately enthused, and commented on how terrific it was, and that I must teach it to my students as soon as possible!  So today was that day, and we finished assembling our nine motifs in 90 minutes.  Whee! This method produces a nice, flat join on both sides, and, once you get the...

It's the start of my fall season of crochet classes!  We began today by starting our first square of the 12 that will be assembled into a sampler afghan at the end of 12 months.  Our first stitch is the Elizabeth, or "mini-bean," stitch; this is a completely reversible stitch which is great for scarves.  It's a solid stitch and very warm for late fall and winter items.  It can also be done with lighter yarns and a larger hook to produce an open, lacy stitch to create another beautiful look.  Interested in making scarves as gifts for the holidays?  This stitch is the way to go! We are making 15" x 13" squares for our future afghan; here is how the stitch looks thus far: This yarn is Brava acrylic worsted by KnitPicks in Persimmon.  What fun using fall colors and yarns again!  Soon the days will be chilly and crisp (and rainy in Portland!) and we'll be cocooning with cups of tea, wrapped cozily, crocheting away!  Here are the colo...