Marcy Smith's Blog : Crochet Gifts

More Snowflakes in a Hurry

Marcy Smith — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:26:00 GMT

	A couple of weeks ago I gave you a recipe for a snowflake in a hurry. Really, you can be done in while you take just a couple sips of latte. These snowflakes can be done pretty darn fast. Probably in a half a latte's time. All of these snowflakes are based on motifs from the Winter 2011 issue of Interweave Crochet. If you're a subscriber, you probably already have this. If you're waiting for it to hit the newsstand, this will have to be a January project (the issue goes to newsstand Dec. 30.) You can order a print copy (they're available in the Interweave store now). Or you can download a digital version right this very minute. Then you can spend January making one of the fabulous projects (I'll be making the Aslan Shrug next week!)
	Snowflake 1 Pattern: Amaryllis Tunic by Robyn Chachula, first four rounds. Thread: Aunt Lydia's Metallic Crochet Thread size 10 in white/pearl
	Snowflake 2 Pattern: Amaryllis Tunic by Robyn Chachula, first four rounds. Thread: Universal Nazli Gelin Garden Metallic size 10 color 702-22
	Snowflake 3 Pattern: Abelia Jacket by Judith L. Swartz, first three rounds, then: * sc in ch-5 sp, ch 2, ch-3 picot, ch 2, rep from * to end, sl st in first sc. Fasten off. Thread: Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Five, size 5, silver/silver
	Snowflake 4 Pattern: Abelia Jacket by Judith L. Swartz, first three rounds, then: (sc in ch-5 sp, ch 2, ch-3 picot, ch 2) two times, ch 5, ch-3 picot, ch 5, rep from three times, sl st in first sc. Fasten off. Thread: Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet size 3, purple

These little snowflakes were very eager to have their pictures taken and didn't want to stop to primp. But I'll give them a little smoothing out with a blast of steam before they get attached to presents. Do you have quick crochet gifts to share? Do tell. Also, if you need to make a bigger present in a hurry, check out our Simple Crochet Patterns. Happy holiday crocheting! Marcy

Top Ten Ways to Celebrate International Crochet Day

Marcy Smith — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 23:45:00 GMT

International Crochet Day is Monday, September 12! That gives you a little time still to plan how you will celebrate and even some great gift ideas.

Here are ten ideas to get you thinking.

10. Teach someone to crochet. Reinforce your teaching by hooking the person up with our eBook: Learn to Crochet: Instruction on How to Crochet and 5 Free Crochet Patterns for Beginners.

9. Yarn bomb a co-worker's cubicle. Or your spouse's car. Or your kid's lunchbox.

8. Vow to bust your stash. We'll help you out with patterns priced at crazy stashbuster prices. Check our Stashbuster Sale.

7. Make a hat. Give it away.

6. Enter a contest to win a crochet hook crafted by award-winning hook-carver Jimbo, who is a big fan of International Crochet Day. See Jimbo's Front Porch for details. Contest ends at noon on Monday.

5. Get started on your holiday gift list. If you can't find just what you're looking for in our 5 Free Patterns for Beautiful Handmade Gifts, check out our other free crochet patterns.

4. Crochet a flower or two or ten. Give them away at random to people you haven't met yet.

3. Leave us a comment here or on Facebook to let us know how you're celebrating International Crochet Day.

2. Crochet in public.

1. Crochet in your favorite spot for as long as you like.

Happy crocheting!

Marcy

Hey, We Won a Flamie!

Marcy Smith — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 02:05:00 GMT

Yes! For the second year in a row, all you crocheters out there voted for Interweave Crochet as the Best Crochet Magazine.

The Flamies are awarded by the Crochet Liberation Front for extraordinary work in crochet—sort of like the Oscars do for work in film. Crochet-lovers vote on their favorite crochet designs, designers and media.

A lot of our favorite designers won recognition for their fabulous work. To listen to them, check out the Getting Loopy podcast, where winners gathered virtually to receive the awards. (It was just like the Oscars, without the expensive gowns, big hair and gaudy baubles.)

I'm happy to report that two winning designs made their debut in Interweave Crochet: The Moorish Mosaic Afghan by Lisa Naskrent (Interweave Crochet Fall 2009) won Best Design Home Decor and the Luna Sweater by Kim Guzman (Interweave Crochet Winter 2009) won Best Design Adults.

Our own Kim Werker won the award for Best Crochet Pattern Book for her book Crocheted Gifts (Interweave 2009).

We're thrilled to be able to bring you the best crochet designs by the best crochet designers, and we love that you love us.

We look forward to another great year!

Best,

Marcy

btw, Darlisa Riggs designed that fabulous trophy. It's a virtual sculpture of the logo for the Crochet Liberation Front. I made it really big so you can see the detail, not because, like we're giddy over winning it or anything. Honest. (Though, when we get the official version with our name on it, it might get bigger. Just saying.)

Yakety Yak

Marcy Smith — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:05:48 GMT

A few enewsletters ago, I gave tips for finding small bonus projects in the Fall issue of Interweave Crochet. One of the projects was doing the first few rounds of the Leaf Peeper Hats and turning them into coasters.

Well, the time has come to give away these crocheted gifts for friends and I'm in the wrapping process. Here they are:

I tied four coasters together with fancy ribbon yarn and a little tag with a picture of The Coasters, then wrapped them in tissue paper. Contrasting twine and a wee bead ornament finishes it off.

For those of you who missed this enewsletter, first go over and sign up on the right there, so you don't miss any more tips. Then do this: Do the first four rounds of a Leaf Peeper Hat, then work a round of reverse single crochet around the edge. The edging reverses the curve of the hat top to cup slightly, so it hugs the glass a little. I used some Noro from my stash, with Lamb's Pride Bulky around the edge.

Happy crocheting!

Marcy

Chain Stitch Tension Part II

Marcy Smith — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:57:36 GMT

I've been working the Shawlette in Chains by Kristin Omdahl from Crocheted Gifts by Kim Werker. Here are a few more tips:
For the first tip, I drew from a quilting technique called, actually, chain piecing. You use it to sew together a series of shapes. After sewing together two pieces of fabric, you slide the next two under without cutting the thread. When you're done, you simply cut the threads between each set of fabric. Quilted chain piecing looks like this.

This is how this translates to this project:

When making the central triple sections, I leave them linked. So rather than cutting the yarn after each section, I move on to make the next section, leaving yarn for two tails to weave in. This makes it easy to tell top from bottom and keeps all the rascals in the same place (before I settled on this method, the smaller segments kept flying off my workspace onto the floor).

A couple more tips:

> When you cut the segments to chain them together, go ahead and weave in the ends. They will drive you nuts if you try to chain together with the little ends flapping around. Also, do yourself a favor and weave in the ends after you connect each segment. If you leave the many ends until you finish the shawlette, you might be tempted to leave them and just call them fringe.

> Before connecting the segments with chains, be sure to take a look so you know top from bottom: the top fans out; the bottom is pointed. Also take a second to be sure that you connect to the outer loop, rather than one of the inner loops or you will lose the pretty openness of the chain segments (guess how I know this).

Happy crocheting,

Marcy

Chain Stitch Tension: Part I

Marcy Smith — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 14:01:16 GMT

In this week's enewsletter, I talk about learning how to do the most basic crochet stitch–chaining–all over again in order to make the Shawlette in Chains by Kristin Omdahl in Crocheted Gifts by Kim Werker.

I'm using laceweight for the project, but it's a bit too slender for clear pictures of tensioning. So I'm illustrating with a DK yarn.

Here's how I crochet with close tensioning:

Note the left index finger, positioned close to the project. I “throw” the yarn over the hook.

To help even out the chain stitches, I did this:

If I hold the yarn away from the project and “pluck” the yarn with the hook, I can create tighter chains. It took me a whole panel (that's 864 chains) to “get” this. On the final two chain lengths, I felt the “ping” of perfect chaining. This is where my spinning experience comes in. When you spin, you reach a “zen” point where you are working with the fiber rather than against it. There is a feel to the fiber as it moves from fluff to fiber that lets you know you have the right tension.

Tune in later for more tips on working this project, as well as seeing how quilting helped me out.

Meanwhile, please leave your own thoughts on tensioning.

Happy crocheting,

Marcy