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!
Book Signing at Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York
I can hardly wait to go to New York to visit the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, talk with fellow crocheters, and sign copies of Crochet Bouquet and Crochet Garden!
The book signing is at 6:00 p.m., August 6th, 2012, with seating starting at 5:30 p.m. If you would like to attend, please go to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio website to RSVP and for more information.
It will be a kind of homecoming for me. In the early 1990s I designed some afghans and sweaters for Lion Brand. I visited Lion Brand headquarters in New York and showed the Blumenthals some design swatches. They commissioned a couple of designs–I was so excited!
Aside from the lovely crocheted flowers in Crochet Garden, these are my favorite Lion Brand yarn designs. I designed the Kitty Dreams Blanket, made with Lion Brand Jiffy, for the Monsanto Designs for America program in the mid-1990s. The pattern is in a book called Cat Crafts: More than 50 Purrfect Projects, by Dawn Cusick. The book is available from used booksellers online, starting at around $1.00 plus shipping.
My daughter Eva (then about 7 years old) drew a beautiful blue fish. I just had to see if I could interpret it in knitting. Mosaic knitting seemed the best way to capture the detail in her drawing. The result: this Fish Rug made from a double strand of Lion Cotton. What is it with all these fish, anyway?
That reminds me–I’m teaching how to Knit Mosaic Designs and Chart Your Own at Interweave Knitting Lab New England in October. See sidebar for link.
Free Patterns and Instructions
Sometimes there just aren’t enough pages in a book! But luckily for us, the internet is the perfect place to share some of the patterns that we couldn’t squeeze into Crochet Garden: Bunches of Flowers, Leaves, and Other Delights.
Amanda and Shannon, the Needlework Team at Lark Crafts, featured free instructions for the Leaves and Berries Spray on their blog last Friday. The samples show the spray with crocheted berries, like the one above, and with button berries.
I’ve always loved my mom’s blue and white Zwiebelmuster (onion pattern) china. It seemed natural to study and sketch the flowers of this popular design when researching ideas for Crochet Garden.
A small border element (the pink arrow is pointing to it) on this Zwiebelmuster tray led to the Leaves and Berries Spray. You never know what small detail can inspire! Here’s a close-up so you can see it better.
The ideas for the Curlicue Sprays and Leafy Spray in Crochet Garden came from this china, too.
A Scarf Project
The Trillium Scarf, worked in Dale of Norway Yarns, is a colorful example of flower cloth. You’ll need Crochet Garden for the Trillium and Violet Leaf patterns. Instructions and step-by-step photos for putting together the Trillium Scarf at the Lark Crafts blog.
See You at TNNA!
Yarn shop owners, yarn manufacturers, and needlework professionals are getting pretty excited about The National Needlework Association Summer Trade Show, this coming weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
Dale of Norway Yarns is hosting a book-signing for Crochet Garden, at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 23. We’ll have a limited number of books to give away. And you can see this pretty Trillium Flower Cloth Scarf up-close and personal.
Hope to see you there!
See You at TNNA!
Yarn shop owners, yarn manufacturers, and needlework professionals are getting pretty excited about The National Needlework Association Summer Trade Show, this coming weekend in Columbus, Ohio.
Dale of Norway Yarns is hosting a book-signing for Crochet Garden, at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 23. We’ll have a limited number of books to give away. And you can see this pretty Trillium Flower Cloth Scarf up close and personal.
Hope to see you there!
Very First Video!
Wow! Who would have guessed that posting a video on YouTube could be so exciting? Well, it is! And I hope this will be the first of many.
“Suzann Thompson, Crochet Author” tells the story of how a regular kid grows up to be a crafty author. It’s really a movie-ized audio slide show, but it’s a start! I hope you’ll watch.
Here’s a slide from the show. Can you read it? It says “Thank You, Readers.” This means you.