Crochet Journey

It's seemed as if 2019 has just flown by; here we are at the holiday season and 2020 will soon be upon us! I so appreciate the opportunity this year to again teach crochet classes in the Portland area!  My students are a joy and have taught me so much; their progress has been my progress and it's been very gratifying. So for 2020 we have new classes coming up!  We'll be starting with tapestry crochet, followed by sweater construction, finishing techniques and Tunisian crochet to take us into spring.  The new intermediate class calendar is here ; take a look and pick a class that interests you, and come join us Mondays at 10 a.m.! We will also be continuing with our Square of the Month, and in September assembling our squares into an afghan sampler.  The fourth Monday of the month will continue to be our Crochet Clinic, where you can get help with a project, get your questions answered, and learn some crochet pointers. I am also forming a new beginning croch...

My dog, Stevie, does NOT like to wear clothes.  He will tolerate wearing a sweater under his harness when the weather is really cold because going for a walk is more important than hating his sweater.  There's no such thing as dressing him up for special occasions or even putting a bandana or bow tie on him for fun.  So he has just two sweaters, a lighter one for coldish weather, and a heavy one for when it's really cold.  He won't wear his around-the-house t-shirt or his polar fleece hoodie.  So I've not been very motivated to crochet him a sweater he likely wouldn't wear.  But Portland is a very dog-friendly city, and making dog sweaters seemed very appropriate and something the class would enjoy.  This would be our project for December, and we found a pattern in several sizes to fit a variety of dogs. As I mentioned in the previous post, however, Stevie is somewhat difficult to fit.  His chest is deep, but he is small everywhere else....

It's cold for poor doggies without much hair!  My sweater doesn't fit Stevie all that well, so he needs some sweaters of his own.  Fortunately, dog sweaters, especially for small dogs, are quick and easy to crochet, so your dog can soon have quite the winter wardrobe! The class started on their dog sweaters today.  The purpose of the class, although we are making sweaters, is actually to learn some shaping and fitting techniques, and this is an easy way to start before we begin working on shaping garments for ourselves in the coming months.  Pets are relatively easy to fit, but just as with humans, they are individuals with their own fitting issues.  In Stevie's case, he is a Chihuahua/Italian Greyhound mix, and like a greyhound has a deep chest that makes proper fitting a challenge.  To fit his chest properly, most pet store dog garments are too long for his back length, so I often have to alter them.  However, in this case, I am able to custom ...

It's the first Monday of the month, and that means a new stitch for our Square of the Month! The stitch for December is the Wheatsheaf Stitch, also known as the Mini-Arcade Stitch.  This is a terrific stitch for scarves, blankets and throws.  It's easy to learn, with a pattern based on a multiple of 5 stitches plus 2 for the base chain.  Yarn is KnitPicks Brava Worsted in a cheerful Paprika. Here's our class hard at work on their own squares.  This is our fourth Square of the Month; eight more to go to complete our 12 squares to sew/crochet together next September.  Next week we'll be starting on pet sweaters for our furry family members and friends. We're always working on something new in our Crochet Journey classes!  Come join us Mondays at 10 a.m.; see you then!