My Intermeshing Pendant Necklace (aka: Double Take Pendant Necklace) was just published in the Summer 2012 issue of Crochet! magazine. Here are some photos of the necklace:
Pendant Necklace
Both sides of Pendant Necklace
I designed this necklace pendant in the Intermeshing Crochet Technique where each side is different, as you can see in the second photo. You can learn more about this technique at Tanis Galik’s website here: www.InterlockingCrochet.com. She calls it “Interlocking Crochet”, which is the same as “Intermeshing Crochet”. She has a full book of beautiful Intermeshing/Interlocking Crochet patterns, called “Interlocking Crochet”, which is published by Krause Publications. On her website, you can see photos of some of the projects in her book, along with a link to order the book from Amazon. I have this book and it is very nice!
Anyway, back to my necklace. This is a small project that would be perfect for learning the Intermeshing/Interlocking technique of crochet. There are some step-by-step photos in the pattern, which are very helpful in understanding how the technique is done. Unfortunately, you’ll find a few mistakes in the pattern that were added during the technical editing process (many of the turning chains were moved from the end of the rows to the beginning of the wrong rows!). Here are the corrections for this pattern:
Row 2A: Remove “ch 2” at beginning of row.
Rows 2B, 3B and 4B: Change “ch 4” to “ch 2” at beginning of row.
Rows 3A and 4A: Change “ch 2” to “ch 4” at beginning of row.
Row 5A: Add “ch 4” at beginning of row.
Also, in the “Pattern Notes”, it says “After sewing pieces together”. That should say “After weaving pieces together”. These pieces aren’t “sewn”, they’re “woven”!
If you’d like to learn the “Intermeshing Crochet” technique in person, I’ll be teaching a class on Intermeshing at the CGOA Conference in Reno, NV in September, 2012. For more information about both of the CGOA Conferences, go to www.knitandcrochetshow.com. For specific information about my Intermeshing class, go to http://www.e-offinger.net/knitandcrochet/fall-classes.cfm. The class number is S209C and it’s going to be held on Saturday, September 15 from 2-5PM. I’d love to meet you in my class and teach you the Intermeshing technique!
I think Intermeshing is a fun, fascinating technique and it’s almost limitless in what you can make!
I bought a crochet book last year called “Continuous Crochet Motifs” from a Japanese seller on EBay. I paid $40.00 for this book, which is a lot to spend on a crochet book, but it is very much worth the money! It is a Japanese book with only Japanese writing inside, but it has crochet symbol charts throughout the book, which I can easily read. I quickly digested the book and learned this technique, in which motifs are made continuously, meaning there are less ends to weave in at the end (hooray!!!). You have to follow the symbol charts very carefully, but the book also includes a front section where there are both symbol charts and step-by-step photos of the motif being worked. It’s a great book and if you’re at all intrigued by this crochet technique/method, you might want to buy one of these books someday. Kristin Omdahl has a book with this technique called “Seamless Crochet”. I don’t have her book, yet, but I plan to get it soon. Here is what the Japanese Continuous Crochet Motifs book looks like on the front and back covers:
front cover of bookback cover of book
Keep in mind that when you’re using only one color, there are only 2 ends to weave in “total” because you work the motifs continuously, no matter how many motifs you make, and only fasten off at the end! That’s a huge improvement on weaving in 2 ends for every motif made!
A few weeks ago, I decided to use this technique to design something for the CGOA Design Contest, which will be held at the CGOA Conference next month in Manchester, NH. The deadline to enter something into the contest is June 6. I need to get it done within the next few weeks so there will be time for my entry to travel to the destination where it needs to be by June 6!
Luster Sheen colors
I can’t tell you what I’m designing, but I can tell you that I’m using some Red Heart Luster Sheen yarn to make it. I love this yarn! It is a size 2 (fine weight) yarn and is 100% acrylic. It provides beautiful drape and the colors are really nice. Here’s a photo of the yarn I’m using:
You can see that the bottom skein is different from the rest. That’s because Coats & Clark is repackaging this yarn into 3.5oz/100g skeins (they used to be 4oz/125g). There are 307 yards/281 meters in the new skeins, so it still goes a long way! The bottom color is from my stash and the top 3 colors are new. I’m using their cherry red, black, orange and vanilla colors. Since I’m using so many colors in this design, there will be plenty of ends to weave in. But I will only have 2 ends to weave in of the color that I’m using continuously around the other motifs to join them all together. That will almost CUT IN HALF the number of ends to weave in! Now that’s a big improvement in my book!!!
I noticed last week that I made one of the motifs wrong for this project, so I had to rip out a whole row of work! Ugh!!! I had only worked the second round and left out the first round in each of the motifs (that’s what happens when I’m preoccupied and don’t look at the symbol chart I made!). Here’s how the motif looks (the left motif is missing round 1, but the right motif has both rounds worked):
joined and unjoined round 1
I took a few minutes to decide if it was going to make a difference before ripping it out, though. I decided it would look better if I made the motifs the right way (the chain spaces are more pronounced in the correct motif on the right), so the extra time would make a difference in the look of the project. When I ripped it out, I decided to engineer the motif a little differently. Originally, I had designed it with 2 rounds and both rounds were joined at the end. However, I tried it with not joining the first round and only joining the second round. Here is a photo of the difference between the two joinings:
The motif on the left is joined at the end of both rounds. The motif on the right is joined at the end of the second round only. I see less bulk in the joining area, so that’s what I’m going to do for these motifs. The new motif goes straight from the last sc in the first round to the first sc in the second round without the usual “sl st” at the end of the round and “ch 1” before the first sc of the next round. What do you think? Do you like the newer motif better or do you not see any difference between them? I know, it’s very minimal, but if I had to rip them out anyway, I might as well make the change!
Let’s hope I stay on schedule and get this done in time for the contest (if I don’t get distracted with something else along the way)!
Do you every wonder why some people’s crochet projects look better than others? Sometimes it’s because of the difference in skill levels of the crocheters. But other times, the difference is in the little details, like blocking and finishing, which can make a big difference! Here is an example of a project that turned out much better with a little added effort.
Before steaming
I crocheted a scarf the other day and added cut fringe to the short ends. The fringe looked scraggly and not very attractive. Here’s how it looked:
Left half steamed
It looks very messy, doesn’t it! The yarn I used was acrylic, so I decided to steam it to straighten out the kinks in the yarn. Here’s how it looked after steaming the left half of the fringe:
After steaming
You can see that the kinks are gone on the left half now. Here’s how it looked after steaming all of the fringe:
Steamed and trimmed
That’s quite a difference! But look at how uneven the strands of yarn are at the bottom. That doesn’t look very good either! The final thing I did for this fringe was trim the bottom of the strands. Here’s how it looked after trimming the fringe:
Before steamingAfter steaming and trimming
Now doesn’t that look much nicer than the kinky, scraggly, uneven fringe I started with? Take a few minutes for that finishing touch of steaming (or blocking, depending on the fiber content) your fringe to remove the kinks in the yarn and trimming the fringe to an even length. You’ll be glad you did! The difference is like night and day!
Do you love to take crochet classes and learn new crochet techniques? Do you enjoy meeting people who have the same love of crochet as you? Do you live close to Manchester, NH (or Reno, NV) or have the means and ability to travel to one of these cities? Then the CGOA Conference is for you!!! You’ll meet many designers, yarn manufacturer representatives, publishers and crochet enthusiasts at the conference. You will be able to take crochet (and knitting) classes that will push your crochet knowledge and skills to the next level! It’s a little slice of “crochet heaven” here on earth!!!
In addition to the crochet and knitting classes at the conference, there is a CGOA dinner & fashion show, shopping floor (with yarn, patterns, tools etc), design contest, dance party, designer meet & greet (with the editors in attendance), Professional Development Day, CGOA Masters Program, book signings and more!
There will be 2 CGOA Conferences this year: one in Manchester, NH at the end of June and another in Reno, NV in the middle of September.
I will be teaching 6 classes at each of the conferences this year.
These are the classes I’ll be teaching in Manchester:
Simplifying Symbol Crochet, “Faux” Tatting Crochet Necklace, Beginning Bruges Lace, Intermediate Bruges Lace, Tatting the Old-Fashioned Way (sold out!) and Crochet Pattern Writing 101.
These are the classes I’ll be teaching in Reno:
Beginning Filet Crochet, Intermediate Filet Crochet, Playful Polish Star, Simplifying Symbol Crochet, Intermeshing 101 and Reading & Understanding Crochet Patterns.
The other crochet teachers at the NH conference are Vashti Braha, Lily Chin, Joan Davis, Darla Fanton, Margaret Hubert, Karen Klemp, Marty Miller, Carol Ventura and Karen Whooley. They will be teaching some fantastic crochet classes, too! Congratulations to Vashti Braha, whose 4 classes are sold out already!!!!! You must be doing something right, Vashti! That makes me want to take one of your classes soon (when I’m not teaching classes, too).
For more information about both of the CGOA Chain Link Conferences and all the classes being taught by various teachers, click here: http://www.knitandcrochetshow.com/.
The conference is really a blast! If you decide to attend, you won’t regret it! And please introduce yourself to me at the conference. I’d love to meet you in one of my classes or at the conference in general!!!
