Crochet Poetray
A work of Crochet Poetray by Suzann Thompson, author of Cute Crochet World,
where you can find instructions to make the “turtle of crochet.”
Here are teeny
Turtellini
With a turtle
Of crochet.
Or pray,
Are they two
Tortellini
With a crochet—
*chortle*—tortle?
Crochet Poetray about a Turtle and Pasta
A work of Crochet Poetray by Suzann Thompson, author of Cute Crochet World, where you can find instructions to make the “turtle of crochet.”
The Turtle and the Pasta
Here are teeny
turtellini
with a turtle
of crochet. Or
pray, are they two
tortellini
with a crochet
*chortle* tortle?
Happy National Ice Cream Day
I hope you’re enjoying National Ice Cream Day! Here are some holiday-appropriate treats to crochet from Cute Crochet World. Enjoy!
Thank You, Lion Brand
This is Mama Lion, one of the baker’s dozen of art quilts in my TextileFusion exhibit at the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show in Portland, Oregon, next month.
Mama Lion was made specifically to honor Lion Brand Yarns, the sponsor of the exhibit.
Since the early days of my design career in the 1990s, Lion Brand has purchased crocheted and knitted designs from me and displayed my Passionate Hear art quilt in their Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York. I have also had the privilege of signing books and giving talks at the Studio.
I am pleased and honored that Lion Brand Yarns supports my textile art. Thank you again, Lion Brand!
Hope you can attend the Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show in Portland, OR, next month. It is going to be great fun!
It includes a market and exhibits of textile artworks. My own TextileFusion exhibit–knitted, embellished quilts–will make its national debut there.
I’m also teaching:
Full of Bullion (Stitch, That Is). The double bullion picot petal flower above is one of our samples for this class.
Pretty Picot-rama
What to do with Grandmother’s Doilies
Crochet Charm Lace
Please go to quilts.com for more information and to register.
Shop, See Art, Learn at Quilt! Knit! Stitch!
The Quilt! Knit! Stitch! show in Portland OR next month is going to be great fun! I’m looking forward to taking a folk embroidery workshop and shopping at the market.
In addition to lots of three- and six-hour workshops and the retail market, the event includes exhibits of textile artworks. My own TextileFusion exhibit–knitted, embellished quilts–will make its national debut there. Yay!
I’m the crochet teacher, offering these workshops:
- Full of Bullion (Stitch, That Is). The double bullion picot petal flower above is one of our samples for this class.
- Pretty Picot-rama
- What to do with Grandmother’s Doilies
- Crochet Charm Lace
Please go to www.quilts.com for more information and to register.
Hints for Crocheting “Picot Mexico” Flower
The colorful Picot Mexico flower looks happy and joyful to me, with its vibrant colors. It is on pages 102-103 of Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights. You can also make Picot Mexico in one color of yarn.
First a correction to the book: Rnd 2 of the Small Flower (center column on page 103) refers twice to a “ch-3 sp.” It should read “ch-2 sp.”
And now, some hints for making Picot Mexico successfully. The sample is the Small Flower. but the hints apply to the Large Flower as well.
To begin rnds 3 and 4, the instructions tell you to “join with *(BPdc around next dc…” This is almost the same as joining with a regular dc. Place a slip knot on your hook. Yarn over hook, holding the slip knot in place so the yo won’t twist away. (Photo 1)
For a Back Post dc, still holding the slip knot in place, insert hook from the back to the front of your work, between two dc-sts of the previous rnd. (Photo 2)
Passing hook in front of the next dc, insert hook to back again around that dc. (Photo 3)
Draw up a loop around the post of the previous rnd’s dc. If you’ve successfully held the slip knot in place, you’ll have 3 loops on the hook. Finish as you would finish any dc. (Photo 4) If the yo has twisted away, you may be able to get it back by twisting the slip knot around the hook.
In Rnds 3 and 4, increase by placing two BPdc-sts around one dc-post. Photo 5 shows the wrong side of the work, where the first two “BPdc around next dc and sl st-picot” are complete. The white arrow points to the next BPdc, which is the first of two around the same post.
The increase is complete in Photo 6. The white arrow shows the first BPdc around the post, and the pink arrow shows the second BPdc around the same post.
A friend on Ravelry (www.ravelry.com) asked for a photo of the back of a flower she was working on. That was such a good idea! So here’s what the small Picot Mexico looks like from the back (Photo 7).
Tips for Making Picot Mexico with One Color
- Don’t fasten off after Rnd 1. Instead, as you begin Rnd 2, ch 3 to replace the first dc of the rnd. At the end of Rnd 2, sl st in the 3rd ch of the ch 3 at the beg of the rnd.
- You’ll still have to fasten off the yarn after Rnds 2 and 3, so you can get a fresh start with the BPdc on the next round.
-
Don’t fasten off after Rnd 5. You have already sl stitched into the first sc of Rnd 5, so that counts as the first sl st of Rnd 6. Ch 3 and tr in the same st as the sl st. Continue Rnd 6 as written.
National Take Your Dox to Work Day
Today is really National Take Your Dog to Work Day, according to the completely fun website Holiday Insights.
But if you don’t have a doggie of your own, or you truly cannot take pets to work, here’s a sweet doxie for you to crochet and tuck into your pocket or handbag. No dogfood necessary. No walking, only blocking (and you only have to block once).
The pattern is on pages 40-41 of Cute Crochet World: A Little Dictionary of Crochet Critters, Folks, Food & More.
Our word for a certain kind of sausage, wiener, comes from Austria. In German, the city Vienna is Wien (pronounced “VEEN”). So in Germany, a sausage from Vienna is a Wiener. I’m telling you this, because I know how to spell wiener. Just read the book, and you’ll know.
Millefiori from Crochet Bouquet Explained
“Millefiori” on pages 25-26 of Crochet Bouquet: Easy Designs for Dozens of Flowers offers small flowers in five different petal shapes. Four of the petal styles are joined with a technique that gives an attractive and neat finish to warm the cockles of your crochet heart.
“Rounded Petals” is shown in the photos. In the book, patterns for “Pointy Petals,” “Rounded Petals,” “Baby Stars,” and “Heart-Shape Petals” should refer you to page 15 for finishing instructions.
Here’s how joining the petals works.
Following the instructions in Crochet Bouquet, crochet four or five petals in the shape of your choice (Photo A). When you’re done with the last sl st, cut the yarn, and pull the yarn straight up out of the last sl st.
The petals are numbered to keep track of them more easily.
Thread the final yarn end into a tapestry needle. Arrange the petals face-up. Beginning with petal 1, skim the needle under the visible loops of the first ch st of the petal and the final sl st of the petal as in Photo B.
When I say visible loops, I mean the ones you see as you look at right side of the petal. They are just one loop of the chain plus one loop of the sl st.
In Photo C, I have skimmed the needle under the first and last loops of petals 1, 2, and 3.
I pulled the yarn through the first three petals, and in Photo D, I’m skimming it under the loops of petals 4 and 5.
Tighten the yarn end to draw the petals together. Once again, skim the needle under the first loop of petal 1 as shown in Photo E.
Take the needle through the base of petal 1, from front (right side) to back (wrong side).
Tighten the yarn end once more, tack to secure the yarn, and weave in the end (Photo G).
If you haven’t already done so, weave in the end at the start of the flower. Take a moment to stretch the petals from side to side before blocking.
These are truly quick and easy flowers.
Antelope Horns: The Final Lap
The last post about the Antelope Horns wall hanging ended with me sewing the patches to a foundation cloth. Here’s how they looked, compared to the photo, once I finally finished the foundation piecing.
Next step: quilting! I used a regular presser foot, because I can control the stitching better.
Now for my favorite part—embellishing. First, I outlined all the petals with a widely-spaced buttonhole stitch.
Using the photo as a pattern, I crocheted the white “horns” and the violet centers for each little flower. For each horn, I started with a crocheted five water-drop shapes. I laid them on the photo, so I could see how long the five stems needed to be, and to see how to attach them to a crocheted white center.
In the photo below, three of the flowers already have violet centers attached, but one shows the provisional white center. Though you can’t see it in the finished wall hanging, the white center adds dimension to the piece by lifting the violet centers a little higher than the horns.
By laying out the horns on the photo, I could figure out how to finish the end of each horn, by crocheting taller or shorter stitches in the second round of stitching. Some of the horns are seen from the side, so their final row is different from the horns we see straight-on.
I embroidered the purple stripes along the sides of the horns, which partially appliqued the horns in place. The dark violet center had lots of cream and light green embroidery. I sewed fuzzy five-petal flowerets to the centers before appliqueing them over the provisional white centers.
The button phase of any wall hanging is the best part of my favorite phase of embellishment. I poured the buttons from our big jar and gleefully picked out 14 or 15. I arranged them on the wall hanging and….oh. They didn’t look good. Aw, man!
Every button in the leafy section stood out like a sore thumb. I had been able to match the colors well, even matching light swirls in a dark button with the appliqued netting in the background. But they stood proud and a little too shiny. They distracted from the flowers.
In the flower half of the wall hanging, I managed to place four buttons. Their height matches the height of the applique, so they blend in better. After sewing on the buttons, I was…not quite finished. With a little administrative sewing (attaching the hanging sleeve), the wall hanging was done.
Hurray! On to the next project.
Step-by-Step Rafflesita
The Rafflesia is a great big flower—about 3 feet across. It’s the inspiration for this tiny version, called “Rafflesita.” The “-ita” means little. The pattern for “Rafflesita” is on pages 122-123 of Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights. These photos and notes are meant to supplement the instructions in the book.
The samples in Crochet Garden are each crocheted from one variegated yarn. These photos show a flower made with several colors, so you can see the different parts of the flower better. Besides, it looks pretty good.
Rnds 1 and 2 are straightforward rounds of double crochet. Rnd 3 is worked into the Front Loop (FL) Only of Rnd 2. It forms a support for the final round of the flower. Rnd 4 is worked into the Back Loop (BL) Only of Rnd 2. You will work the petals and the final round of the flower into Rnd 4.
Here’s the first petal done, and the second petal begun. This is the “ch 6” of 5A in the pattern. The chain takes you away from the flower center.
Continuing 5A, you work back toward the flower center, along the ch, and join to the BL of the next st of Rnd 4.
Instruction 5B has you stitching away from the flower again.
And 5C has you coming back toward the center, and joining with a sl st in the BL of the next st of Rnd 4.
Crochet away from the flower in 5D.
Crochet back toward the center for 5E, but pay attention here, because you’re going to skip one st of Rnd 4, before joining with a sl st in the BL of the next st.
Back out one more time with 5F.
Toward the flower center one last time for 5G, and you’re done with the next petal.
When the petals are complete, slip stitch around each petal as described in Rnd 6. If you find that 16 sl sts across the top are too many or too few, please alter the pattern to suit you.
To begin Rnd 7 with a dc, place a slip knot on your hook (as if you were starting a new project), yo hook, and draw up a loop in any FL of Rnd 4. Now you have 3 loops on the hook. Finish the dc as usual.
The FLs of Rnd 4 are pretty easy to see in this photo. They are the line of loops just inside the petal row.
Rnd 7 is worked from the top of the flower. If you’re a right-handed crocheter (meaning you hold the hook in your right hand—doesn’t matter which hand you write with), proceed in the direction of the arrow in this picture.
For me, it was easiest to fold the petals back and hold them with my thumb.
When you’re finished with Rnd 7, cut the yarn and pull the final loop out of the top of the last st (A in photo). Thread the yarn into a needle, and take the needle under the top lps of the 2nd st of the rnd (B in photo).
Take the needle down into the top of the final stitch, where the arrow is pointing in the photo. Tighten the loop to make it the same tension as the other stitches. Weave in the ends.
Rafflesita’s center is like a little bowl, where you can store small things, like these fossils.