Giveaway at Lark Crafts!
Enter for a chance to win a copy of Cute Crochet World and a motif from the book! To enter, visit the Lark Crafts blog, and leave a comment by Friday, July 11, 2014.
The motifs are the Vintage Television, a Martian Costumed Kid, and Gingerbread People. The patterns for all these motifs are in the book.
Good luck!
Knit Upholstered Stool
We loved the skips of England, low-slung dumpsters parked temporarily in front of houses where people were cleaning out or remodeling. We would stroll by, glancing nonchalantly into the skips, looking for interesting furniture or other treasures that were, for the moment, someone else’s trash.
Charles brought home this oaken stool from a skip one day. It needed refinishing and a new top. He stripped and refinished the wood. I provided the upholstery.
The knitting was left over from a piece I made on my Ultimate Sweater Machine. After fusing interfacing to the underside, I machine stitched a grid at about one-inch intervals across the stabilized fabric. Following instructions from a library book, we reupholstered the stool.
That was in the late 1990s, and we’ve been using it ever since!
How to Needle Join a Round of Crochet
This tutorial is written using U. S. crochet terminology.
Every circle in this photo is made with one round of half-double crochet. Can you tell where the round begins? Can you tell where it ends? If you have an eagle eye for detail, you probably can. But thanks to the needle-join, most casual observers will see a lovely edge, uninterrupted by the unfortunate bump of a slip stitch join.
Needle-joining is simple technique. It’s sometimes called an invisible join, and for good reason. Here’s how to do it:
When you finish a round of crochet, do not join with a slip stitch. Instead, as soon as you are finished with the last stitch of the round, cut the yarn and use your hook to pull the final loop up and out of the last stitch, as in the photo above.
When I say “a round of crochet,” I’m including these little circles, afghan motifs worked in the round, a slip-stitch outline around a motif, a flower motif, or a cowl–any round of crochet you would normally join with a slip stitch.
Thread the cut yarn end into a tapestry needle. In the case of hdc and taller stitches, insert the needle from front to back under the chain top of the second stitch of the round. (The first stitch will be a chain equivalent, so skip over that to the second stitch.)
If the round begins with sc, insert needle under the chain top of the second sc.
If the round begins with sl st, like the brown border of the Kiwi pattern from Cute Crochet World, skim the needle under the first sl st without catching the crochet underneath.
Take the needle back into the top of the final stitch of the round, angling it toward the back of the piece.
Turn the piece to the wrong side.
If the last st was a hdc or htr the two loops just under the top of the stitch. In the photo above, looking at the wrong side of the piece, you can see the needle going under the top loop and the next two loops. Gently pull the thread through.
If the last st was a sc, dc, or tr round, the needle should catch the top loop plus the very next loop on the wrong side. Gently pull the thread through.
Turn the piece back to the right side. Adjust the loop you just made to match the size of the other chain tops of the round.
Weave in the end. I like to weave the thread end continuing in the direction of the crochet round. Finished!
Another Example
Here’s a slightly different situation where needle-join gives a great finish. This is the retro-flower “Circles within Circles” from Crochet Bouquet:
Read the entire “Circles within Circles” tutorial here.
Corrections to Cute Crochet World
Errata for Cute Crochet World
Cheese Sandwich on a Kaiser Roll, page 57
- Third column, second paragraph, 4th and 5th lines down should read “transfer ch-2 lp of Rnd 2” not Rnd 1.
-
Same page and column, end of Rnd 6 should read “join with a sl st to ch2 at beg of rnd and end off OR cut yarn and needle join.” The words “and end off, or” are missing in the printed instructions.
Useful Tip: Take your copy of Cute Crochet Worldto your nearest copy center and have it spiral bound. For a few dollars, your book can lie flat.
If you have questions or comments, please email me at suzannthompson at live dot com or send me a message through Ravelry (my tag is textilefusion). Thanks!
Suzann Thompson
Author of Cute Crochet World
Step-by-Step Baby Carriage
Louanne is going to crochet a Baby Carriage for a baby shower gift. Great idea! She needed help visualizing how the pattern worked, so here are some photos. Find instruction for crocheting the Baby Carriage on pages 106-107 of Cute Crochet World.
Even though you begin the Baby Carriage with a chain loop, work the pattern in rows. At the end of Row 1, the piece looks like this. The shaping is accomplished with stitches of different heights. Once you have finished the stitches of the row, ch 4 and turn.
The first treble stitch of Row 2 goes into the first stitch of the previous row, because we are increasing on this row. So essentially, the first stitch has two stitches in it—the turning ch, which counts as the first tr and another tr. The pink dots show each stitch that you will work into. Some have two sts in them, some only have one.
When you’re finished with Row 2, the piece looks like this. The hood and bed are curved, because you increased in those areas. The bottom of the carriage is flat, because you used short stitches and you didn’t increase.
Once again, after you ch 3 and turn, work the first dc into the first stitch as instructed in the pattern and shown in this photo. Then work around as noted in the pattern.
When Row 3 is done, you have the shape of the baby carriage.
Row 4 adds the handle. To make lovely edges, you will be slip stitching along the top of the bed and the edge of the hood, as shown in the picture. To finish this piece beautifully, stop your slip stitches at the 2nd st of the turning ch-3 at the beginning of Row 3. Cut the yarn and pull the end of the yarn out of the last sl st.
Skip the 3rd st of the turning ch of Row 3, bring needle under the chain of the next stitch as shown in the photo.
Insert the needle into the top of the last sl st, bringing it out toward the back of the piece. Adjust the stitch you just made to be the same size as the rest of the sl sts.
Weave the yarn end in at the back of the work. Add wheels and you’re done!
Step-by-Step Byzantine Beauty
Thank you to Johanna from Bavaria, who asked for help with the Byzantine Beauty, pages 66-67 of Crochet Garden. I hope these step-by-step photos will help.
The Byzantine Beauty begins with a ring of chain stitches, worked with a waste yarn This piece helps keep the petals in place. You will remove the waste yarn when the flower is almost finished.
When Petal Round 1, Row 1 is complete, it looks like this. It is attached to the ring in three places.
Here, Petal Round 1, Row 2 is finished.
Petal Round 1, Row 3 includes decreases and increases to shape the petals.
This shows the beginning of Petal Round 2, Row 2. You begin the row by single-crocheting in the first 6 sts. To begin a row with sc, start with a slip-knot on your hook, insert hook into first stitch, and draw up a loop. Yarn-over and finish the sc as usual.
When you are finished with Petal Round 1, Petal Round 2, the Inner Ring, and the optional Outer Ring, you are ready to put the flower together.
Weave Petal Round 2 under and over the petals of Petal Round 1. In this photo, I have just started weaving under and over the first petal.
Notice how Petal Round 2 goes under and over the sides of each petal of Petal Round 1. When you finish weaving, sew the ends of Petal Round 2 together.
Adjust the petals so they are evenly spaced.
Do you see where the Petal Rounds cross each other? They cross at the center of the flower. Weave the Inner Ring outside of the crossed strands. Pay attention to how the strands cross.
The Inner Round is finished, and now it’s time to…
Cut away the waste yarn! Make sure you only snip the waste yarn.
That looks better! You can stop here or add another ring.
Weave Outer Ring, so that if the Inner Ring goes under the petal, the Outer Ring will go over the petal.
Sew the ends of the Outer Ring together, adjust the petals, and you’re finished!
Crochet Charm Lace in Noro Knitting Magazine!
Look for this lovely scarf pattern in the Spring/Summer 2014 issue of Noro Knitting Magazine! Crocheting flowers is even more fun as you watch the color change. Whenever you get to a green section, crochet leaves.
Credit: Noro Knitting Magazine Spring/Summer 2014, photo by Paul Amato for LVARepresents.com
Here are the Center Or Not flowers from Crochet Bouquet and leaves drying after blocking, and the flowers and leaves arranged on the scarf template.
Guest Hand Towel Foreshadow Future Books
How can you make something prettier by adding a little crochet or knitting here and there? With little time to knit or crochet a large project, how can you still customize a gift or put your individual stamp on a purchased item?
These applique towels were my answer to that question early in the 2000s. They foreshadowed my crochet books, which are full of motifs for customizing and decorating fashions, home décor, and gifts.
The basket starfish seemed like a great motif to crochet. I eventually published a basket star design in an English magazine: “Star Bright” (crocheted starfish on towels), Popular Crafts, p. 62, July 2002.
Rog and Pam Search for a Place to Settle Down
Cute crochet Martians, Rog and Pam Regnar, want to retire from leading top-secret intergalactic missions. If only they could find the perfect planet to settle down on…
With lots of solar systems to choose from, Rog and Pam are looking for one whose star is not too large. Large stars tend to burn out too fast for life to develop on their planets.
Rog and Pam’s new solar system mustn’t have too small of a star, either. Small stars are too stormy and they often scorch the planets nearby.
The size of Rog and Pam’s new star has to be just right!
Find instructions for all these motifs in Cute Crochet World: A Little Dictionary of Crochet Critters, Folks, Food and More. Follow Rog and Pam on Instagram @cutecrochetworld for more frequent updates.*
* Instagram’s @cutecrochetworld is now @suzannthompson.
The Adventure Continues in New York City
The alarm went off at 3:26 a.m. on Monday the 5th. I was on my way to New York City.
First stop was Lion Brand Yarn Studio, to drop off one of my wall hangings called Passionate Heart. The Yarn Studio will be its home through July 2014. Now I can say that my artwork has been exhibited in New York. Yippeeeeee!
New York is a town for walking, and I did. The Martians of Cute Crochet World hung around with the southern lion at the New York Public Library. He was a little stony faced, but otherwise imposing and friendly toward little crocheted persons.
Another day brought me to Sterling Publishing, new home to Lark Books and their authors. I met with Josh, the publicist for Cute Crochet World, and dropped off three new book proposals. Fingers crossed.
I found a Barnes & Noble Bookseller on East 17th Street. Crochet Garden was among the crochet books on the fourth floor. I turned both copies face-forward on the shelf. It’s what authors do.
