Cute Crochet World: A Little Dictionary of Crochet Critters, Folks, Food & More
Quirky, eclectic, and just plain fun: with this adorable collection, crocheters can embellish clothing, decor, gifts, and more! Suzann Thompson, author of the popular Crochet Bouquet and Crochet Garden, has fashioned more than 60 irresistible motifs that fall into six categories: Critters, Food, Seasons, Growing Things, Home, and Toys, Tools, & Transportation, plus a few Martians thrown in!
This is the blurb for my newest crochet book, Cute Crochet World: A Little Dictionary of Crochet Critters, Folks, Food & More, which will be published in May 2014. It’s finally listed on Amazon, which means I can write about it!
Like the title says, it is cute as can be. I wish we could have a look at the cover, but for now we have to settle for “no image available.” I guess seeing the cover will be the next big thing to look forward to.
You can pre-order at Amazon.com.
Yarn & Coffee in Santa Fe to Host Author Visit
“Craft. Community. Inspiration.”
These wonderful words describe a shop which carries two of my favorite things: yarn and coffee!
Yarn & Coffee, in Santa Fe, NM, is hosting me for an author visit and book-signing on Saturday, October 19th, from 12 noon to 2 p.m. I will be demonstrating:
- how to make a flower cloth scarf, like the one in Crochet Garden (pictured here),
- and how to assemble a crocheted ribbon rose, like the Shelly Rose in Crochet Bouquet
I’ll be glad to sign your copies of my books, whether you bring your own or purchase one at the shop. We’ll have time to visit, so please bring a project to work on.
Hope to see you on the 19th at
Yarn & Coffee
1836 Cerrillos Road
Sante Fe, NM 87505
For more information, please phone (505) 780 5030.
New Crochet Charm Lace Scarf, Starring Televisions
For crocheters and fans of word play, here is the TelevisionStars Scarf. The motifs are from Cute Crochet World: “Vintage Television” (with regular antenna) and the Simple and Elementary School Stars of “Starry Night.”
The TVs are made with Classic Elite Liberty Wool. My stash of golden color yarns came in handy for the stars. You can use a wide range of weights and fibers of yarn in a Crochet Charm Lace scarf.
After finishing and blocking all the TVs and stars, I arranged them right-side-down on my scarf template (mine is a strip of burlap, but any sturdy fabric will do). Think of trying to fit a lot of oddly shaped pieces into as small an area as possible, and you’ll understand what arranging motifs for Crochet Charm Lace is like. The arrangement was fairly good, but a lot of spaces were too small to fit another star into, but too large to leave open.
I chose Lion Brand Cotton Bamboo “Cherry Blossom” for the filler motifs, because its pretty vintage color looked great with the old-fashioned televisions. Some filler motifs are single crochet sts worked into a ring; the others are half double crochet sts worked into a ring.
Once all the motifs were in place, I safety-pinned each motif onto the fabric template. It was time to sew. Through trial and error, I have learned that yarn makes sturdier seams than sewing thread. I split sewing lengths of one of the gold 4-ply yarns into two 2-ply strands.
After sewing about six inches of motifs together, I couldn’t wait to look at the finished product. Wow! I loved it!
On my way home from New York, one of my flights was cancelled because of storms in the Dallas area. While waiting for the next flight, I sewed stars and TVs. The new flights skirted around storms, adding 45 minute to the flight I sewed TVs and stars.
Back at home, I took out all the safety pins. The next step is my favorite part of Crochet Charm Lace: turn the finished piece right-side-up.
Happy Valentine’s Day with Daughters
Oh. My. Gosh. These last few months have been very busy for me! Our earthen house-building project has become intensely busy, and I think we will be able to move in by summer. And I’m writing another book.
With all this activity, some of my projects are sliding, and unfortunately, one of them is writing for my blogs. I hope to be posting more frequently and regularly by the beginning of June. In the meantime, please have a look at our progress on the house. Update in 2021: I’m still adding old posts to my new blog, so come back and check on the earthen house, every now and then.
My daughter Eva photographed the heart-shaped cow hoof-prints. My daughter Ella made the lovely yarn, button, and pompom Valentine’s Day bag. The flowery heart belongs to my Mom. A young man in her home village of Sorg, Germany, made many of these little sweetnesses as tokens for skiers, and gave her one.
Curly Ray Sunflower Hints, CAL, and Give-Away!
Let’s celebrate these last weeks of summer in the Northern Hemisphere by crocheting a Curly Ray Sunflower (pages 54-55 of Crochet Garden). And if you’re anticipating the end of winter in the Southern Hemisphere, this flower will brighten your day!
I’m giving away the three Curly Ray Sunflowers shown on this page. Simply leave a comment on this blog post OR on my Crochet Garden page on Facebook by September 1, 2012 to be entered into the drawing. I’ll draw three names, and send one flower to each person whose name was drawn. Good luck!
The petals of Curly Ray Sunflower are attached to each other as you crochet them. Lori, a Crochet Garden reader, asked for help with the joining instructions. I promised to post step-by-step photos that show how to join Curly Ray’s petals successfully. Here they are:
Photo 1: the first petal of Round 5 is finished. The pink arrow points to the back loop of the final dc of the row, where you will be joining the next petal. The yellow arrow points to the 5th sc of the petal, which you’ll need to find after completing all the petals.
Move on to the next petal with ch 8. In the 2nd ch from hook, (3 sc). In the next ch-stitch, you will make 3 stitches, which will be inside the bold parentheses here: (sc,
fold the ch and the yarn to the front of your work, so your hook is behind them.
Insert your hook into the back loop of the final dc of the previous petal, shown by pink arrow in Photo 1. You have to kind of reach backwards to do this. Now you have two loops on the hook.
Photo 2: Insert hook into the ch and draw up a loop—that will be the loop the yellow arrow points to.
Now you have 3 loops on the hook. The pink arrow points to the original loop on your hook. The blue arrow is the back loop of the final dc of the previous petal.
Yarn over and draw through all 3 loops to complete an sc.
Finally, hdc into the same ch-st.)
Photo 3: Now you have 3 sts in the 3rd ch. Take a moment to sort everything out—find the chain and notice that you have 5 ch sts remaining.
Photo 4: Finish the petal as instructed in the directions. You will be using the htr or half-treble crochet. Find the htr’s history and how-to on page 12 of Crochet Garden.
Crochet 9 more petals around the flower, just as you did the previous petal, joining as you go.
Photo 5: Petal 12 is the same as petal 11 (not petal 17 as printed in the instructions), only you stop after completing the last tr. Cut the yarn and pull the loop until the cut end comes out of the top of the stitch. Thread the yarn into a tapestry needle.
Photo 6: Needle-join by stitching around the very first sl st of the round. In Photo 6, you can see how the thread comes from the top of the tr and goes around the base of the first petal. Thread the needle back down into the top of the tr to complete a needle-join.
Photo 7: Now thread the needle up the back of Petal 12, until you come to the final dc of that petal. The blue arrow shows how the needle is coming out of the back loop of the final dc of petal 12.
Photo 8: Find the 5th sc of petal 1 (go back to Photo 1—it’s the stitch the yellow arrow points to). Stitch into the back of this sc, then stitch into Petal 12 again to join the first petal to the last petal.
Picot-Rama!
“Look Eva,” I said to my daughter. “This is for my Picot class at the Knit & Crochet Show.” I pronounced it “PEEK-oh.”
She said, “Awww!” in that teenage way that I have tried to copy but can’t.
“See all the picots?” I said. “It’s picot…, um, picot…?”
“Picot-MANIA!” Eva said.
It seemed a great name for this trim: Picot-Mania Trim. It looks great around the edge of a lampshade. Hmmm. I see a home décor project in my future.
Where can a person find a pattern for Picot-Mania Trim? For the moment, it’s only available to the wonderful crocheters who signed up for my Picot-Rama class at the Knit and Crochet Show in Reno next month.
There’s still time to sign up! More information here: http://www.knitandcrochetshow.com/.
Sonja Knows What to Do with Buttons!
What in the world can a person do with all those buttons?
My friend Sonja, one-half of the Two Olde Yoyos partnership on Etsy, knows! She made this wreath wall hanging in the penny-rug style, then added hand-made polymer clay buttons (by me!).
It is so pretty, I bought one for myself. At the moment I write this, there’s one more penny wreath wall hanging at Sonja’s shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/102891206/penny-felt-kaleidoscope-wreath-wall. She also has lots of mini-quilts and more, at very reasonable prices.
“But wait,” you may be saying, “How can I get hold of some hand-made polymer clay buttons?”
You can make some! In fact, there’ still time to sign up for my polymer clay button workshops at The Knit & Crochet Show next month in Reno, Nevada. For more information, please visit: http://www.knitandcrochetshow.com/
Turkish Crafts in Columbus
With the The National Needlework Association (TNNA) show behind us, my daughter Eva and I had a day for shopping in Columbus, Ohio. We went to the famed Short North Arts District, on High Street, where the shopping was quirky and fun.
We traipsed into gift stores, fashion stores, and antique stores. One store window had a pretty plate with Turkish-style motifs. Oh. My. Gosh. It was an entire store of Turkish handcrafts! I love Turkish handcrafts!
Judging from some Turkish ceramic ware I have seen online, I thought I would never be able to afford Turkey’s traditional blue, red, green, and black motifs on white china. But at Karavan Treasures from Turkey, we found hand-painted Turkish bowls for a very reasonable price.
“These are çok güzel!” I said to the owner of the store. That means “very beautiful.”
We got to talking and I told him I was interested in the needlecrafts of Turkey, especially crochet. He knew exactly what I was talking about.
“Most people,” he said, “don’t know what goes into a crocheted piece. They don’t understand the time it takes to make.”
“Well, I understand,” I said.
He showed me this necklace with crocheted flowers. “A school-teacher made it,” he said. It looked great with my denim top that is embroidered with pink roses.
The other necklace, made by a lady in a village (I don’t know which), is needle-lace, made with thread and a needle with an eye. The little knots are tied over and over to create the two- and three-dimensional flowers. The colors and patterns are bright and happy.
Obviously, I need to go to TNNA again next year, not only for the yarny fun, but also so I can eat at the fabulous restaurants in Germantown and shop at Karavan Treasures.
Two Great Magazines!
I always look forward to receiving my copy of Crochet! magazine in the mail, but especially the current issue! In the Fall issue, there’s an article (by me–yay!) about the Russian Spoke stitch, or double bullion stitch, with step-by-step photos.
But we didn’t stop there. Carol Alexander, editor of Crochet! asked me to design a project that included the Double Bullion Stitch. I was glad to do this, using the lovely Ritratto yarn from the S. Charles Collection to make a capelet. The flouncy border is made with Double Bullion Stitches.
Two flowers in Crochet Garden feature the Russian Spoke stitch and its friend, the Russian Spoke Picot.
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Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood is a busy crafter, volunteer, and mom, who also publishes a magazine called CraftSanity. The magazine represents a broad range of articles of interest to fans of home-made and hand-made items, including canning, embroidery, weaving, and of course, crochet! You’ll also find interviews with artists and craftspeople and recipes.
In Issue 7 of CraftSanity, Jennifer published her interview with me–yay again! We had a great phone conversation and then she sent me questions to answer via email. Lark Crafts kindly gave permission to reprint the pattern for the Russian Picot Daisy. There was just enough room left to print the recipe for my favorite cooling dessert using our garden produce: Mint Ice.
More Information
Crochet! is the official magazine of the Crochet Guild of America. Click here for subscription information:
http://crochet.org/cgoamagazine.html
Buy copies of CraftSanity magazine here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/104131686/craftsanity-magazine-issue-7-print
TNNA in Columbus
Sparkling, thick-thin, and furry yarns offered a very optimistic view of the yarn industry at The National Needlework Association Summer Trade Show in Columbus, Ohio, last month.
The look of yarns goes in cycles, like all fashion-related products. We’ve gone to the conservative side in yarn design for the last few years. Time for a change! While manufacturers still offered basic yarns in brilliant new colors, I was happy to see crazy-fun novelty yarns, as well.
TNNA has a “Great Wall of Yarn,” with samples of new yarns from many manufacturers. I had already taped a bunch of samples in my notebook, when I saw the thoughtfully prepared yarn-sample books provided for participants. Next time I’ll know to look for those first!
You can probably tell from my sample choices which yarns I like best—SPARKLY!
