First Crochet Class Project

Finished Crochet Chain Bracelet

Some of my friends and their very young daughters wanted me to start a knitting and crocheting group to help them learn. Thinking like Maria in the Sound of Music  it has to be fun, and the conversation Molly Gunn had with Ray in Uptown Girls, fundamentals are just so important! The first class project in crocheting is learning to chain stitch, but of course what are you going to do with a bunch of long chains made with chain stich! Make jewelry of course! This project uses a chain stich, secured by a bead, and made out of a chain stitch cord. Variations are possible...like making braided bracelets out of three chain stitch cords! Not only fun, but it works with pretty much every bit of scrap fiber and any crochet hook you have around! And it's fun for all ages, and the grannies who have trouble holding the hook...you can just pull the loops through with your fingers and not have to have a hook at all!First step is to crochet a long chain. I used Rowan Cotton Glace and a C/2-2.75 mm hook to make a chain that is about 30 in (75 cm) long. Then crochet it into bracelet lenght. My wrist usually likes 7 in but this is stretchy, so lots smaller, about 5, but you can work it out. Then leave one end the chain and one just a string, or you can do both strings, or both chains depending on your bead. Then just thread the ends through the bead and it can act as a cinch. If you don't have the right bead, a button actually works too, but doesn't look as nice. Then knot the ends so the button won't slip off. Very easy. I'm planning to make the red white and blues this year, I think it will be a big hit with the kids, even boy ones!

Scarlet and Gold

I guess I'm learning that picking one's colors, before picking the yarn, very difficult. I've been surfing for hours trying to find a worsted, that really has a scarlet and a gold, and I think I want a bit of olive, but that's never hard to find. And I always mix yarns and often feel like I shouldn't so it was important to me to try to find this perfect merino for a blanket. But so far I've got a list of possibilities, but that's it!Like Liberty's wool, the gold is so dull. And Swan's Island Worsted, no gold at all, Dream in Color, is so highly variegated, and Crystal palace's merino 5 solid has something called crimson but would that pass for scarlet?

Deaf and Blind Still ‘Coloring’ the World brilliantly

Graphic artist Alvin Lustig went blind years before his premature death, but memorized all the number of the Pantone color system so that he could still work the hues and shades in his mind’s eye.

The Stitch of Many Names: The Aftghan Stitch.

The Afghan stitch has been called hook knitting, railroad knitting, shepard's knitting, tricot crochet, tricot stitch, tricot crochet a la tricoter, tricot ecossaise, Scot's knitting, Scotch knitting, Princess stitch, royal princess stitch, railway knitting, Russian crochet, fool's knitting, idiot's knitting, hook knitting, and Tunisian crochet. It's varied history and use by women everywhere makes it all the more intriguing. Tonight I'm using it to design some Alice bands and bracelets. The key is to get some thread that has a bit of heft and a bit of stretch. Off to my fibers.

Madder the Color of the Paleolithic Age

When it comes to fiber it's hard to be fixated on one color or one color scheme, there are so many fascinating colors. As I chose a harmonizing palette I like to mull over the origins of the pigment. And talk about what is in the stash. I've been reading in Selvedge Magazine about kelsch fabrics of a hundred years ago and how either the natural linen color or woad for blue and Rubia tinctorum, the roots of the madder plan was used for these fabrics. Which sounds quite old., but in fact madder as a dye stuff  is much older. Madder was a color of Paleolithic times...the Stone Age....which began about 250,000 years BC and ended closer to 10,000 years BC with it's first phase...later phases of the Stone Age Came. And our Stone Age artistic fore-bearers used a bit of the red tones to embellish their works . Some of the 'colorful' history of the dyestuffs that made up madder can be found on the web. Some of the madder colors I've been working with now include: Jadite yarn 533 and a few others. In fact I can't help but seize any skein I see, in case the perfect project hits. 

Patterns Make Less Sense When You Are Paying Attention

My newest stash from Purl Soho just came and I grabbed the pattern from Brooklyn Tweed for the Cinder scarf. The patterns are very cute and I'm a bit perturbed that it came crushed in the box to fit, but that's the neat Purl Soho packing for you and it seems to be smoothing out. I'll be lucky if I don't douse it with coffee this morning. But I'm glancing at the pattern, and I'm always watching out for new patterns to teach my newest acolytes and this one seems pretty easy to start someone out on cables with a bit of a twist (pun intended). Anyway, just got started reading on the C16, and it says hold 8 stitches  back and do K2P2 and then repeat 3 more times, isn't 4 x 3 12 stitches instead of 8, or could they mean K1P1 and repeat 3 more times, but the whole pattern is in K2P2. Ok, I may have to pick up the phone, I've read it three times, and now written it down, and I still don't get it. And I'm determined to have holiday gifts knitted by the fall leave turning. Especially since UPS seemed to go astray with my newest layette, but that's a sad story for another night. Suggestions?

Cotton Fibers Creation

Having just finished the Heirloom Crib Quilt from the Erika Knight Natural Nursery Knits, I can't wait to get another one started! I used a taupe colored Soya Cotton for the knitted lace squares, and I'm going to bump up to the Rowan handknit dk cotton in baby blue, yes for a new boy, for the next one. I used Italian lace and some Liberty of London fabric, and fringed with lace from Britex Fabrics. The collecting of the pieces parts has been as fun as actually creating the blanket. I'm thinking of doing one in purples, the fabrics to choose from are so juicy!