Have you ever worked on a crochet project that you considered a “labor of love”?
I’ve been working on one ever since the day after my mom’s memorial service on Feb. 20th, 2016. My mom passed away at 82 years young on Feb. 11 unexpectedly (not from a long illness). Just 23 days before she passed away, she bought some baby yarn at her local Michaels craft store to crochet a baby blanket for my first grandchild that we’re expecting at the beginning of June (in China). My mom had a favorite baby blanket pattern that she enjoyed crocheting and she wanted to make it for her great grandchild, even though her fingers weren’t working as well as they used to due to having arthritis for many years and the crippling effect it can have on a person’s hands/fingers. Here’s a photo of the baby afghan that my mom enjoyed making:
Mom’s Favorite Baby Afghan pattern
This afghan pattern came in a kit with the yarn and pattern way back when (probably in the 70’s or 80’s). My mom kept the pattern and purchased new yarn whenever she wanted to crochet another baby blanket. I think the colors are fabulous, especially since I love pastels!
Well, she told me that she was crocheting this blanket for my coming grandchild shortly after she started it. I was surprised and delighted that she was crocheting again! A few days after she died, I remembered the baby blanket. So when I was at her house after her memorial service, I asked my step-dad about the blanket. He helped me locate it and I brought it home with me to finish for my mom. She had finished a full strip of 19 curved sections and a partial strip with the first 7 curves done. This blanket has 7 strips with 19 curved sections in each strip.
My mom tried to teach me to knit when I was a child, but I wasn’t very good at it. So I stuck with embroidery and counted cross stitch instead until my best friend taught me to crochet in high school. My mom said she did a lot of knitting for our family when we were little. Unfortunately, I don’t have any of her knitting. I suppose it got lost over the years, especially after my parents divorced back in the early 70’s. I do have a green afghan that my mom crocheted for me about 10 years ago, though. I don’t know when my mom learned to crochet. Maybe she learned before me or maybe after me. It’s a mystery to me. But I think I got my creativeness from her. Here’s a picture of my mom from my middle son’s wedding in 2009 (the same son who’s having his first child in June):
My Mom in 2009
For 3 weeks, I worked on this baby blanket for my son, my daughter-in-law and their baby-to-be. I finished it about a week ago. It has been a true “labor of love” to be able to finish this blanket that my mom started before she died. I felt close to her whenever I worked on it and I know my mom would be pleased that I picked up where she left off. I’m so glad that I know how to crochet so I could finish it! Here’s the finished afghan for you to see:
Baby Blanket by Mom and Me
Baby Blanket by Mom and Me
Have you ever worked on a “labor of love” similar to this? Did you feel closer to the person who started the project while you were crocheting it?
I can’t wait to see my grandchild wrapped in this beautiful afghan! It will bring tears (of joy and sadness) to my eyes, I’m sure!
Don’t you just love learning new crochet stitches and techniques? I do! And I love teaching others new stitches and techniques, too. I love to encourage others and help them succeed with crochet techniques that may be too confusing to learn through the internet or books. There’s nothing quite like learning something new “in person” from a “real life” teacher!
Well, the class listings are up on the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) website now and I’m very excited to be teaching 5 classes at the CGOA Conference again this year! This year’s conference will be held from July 13 – 16 at the Embassy Suites in North Charleston, SC. I hope you’ll consider attending the conference this year and learning some new crochet techniques from some fabulous teachers!
The 5 classes I’ll be teaching this year are:
Let’s Get Writing on Thursday, July 14 from 9 AM – 5 PM (with lunch from noon – 2 PM)
Playful Polish Stars on Friday, July 15 from 9 AM – noon
Intermeshing on Friday, July 15 from 2 – 5 PM
Intro to Irish Crochet on Saturday, July 16 from 9 AM – noon
Simplifying Symbol Crochet on Saturday, July 16 from 2 – 5 PM
Let’s Get Writing class
In my 6 hour Let’s Get Writing class, I’ll teach my students how to write their own crochet patterns like a pro! This class is perfect for beginning designers or anyone who would like to learn to write crochet patterns. We’ll go over everything that you’ll need to include in your patterns and you’ll even start writing your first pattern in class! I’ve been writing crochet patterns for close to 20 years now and tech editing patterns for over 11 years. Wow! Where does the time go? I really enjoy teaching others what I’ve learned to help them be successful! It’s a lot of fun to see new designers spread their wings and sell their first crochet design!!! ALL crochet designers were beginning designers at some point in their lives! I wish there had been a class like this when I was a beginning designer!
Playful Polish Stars class
In my Playful Polish Stars class, I’ll teach my students several ways to crochet their Polish Stars: the “traditional” way and my “new, improved” way. Then we’ll weave the chain loops “correctly” to see the stars take shape before our eyes! Polish Stars may look complicated, but once you know how to make them, they’re a lot of fun!
Intermeshing class (front and back)
In my Intermeshing class, I’ll teach my students how to crochet 2 layers of intertwined fabric with 2 contrasting colors of yarn. The intermeshing technique is wonderful because you get 2 different designs: one on each side of the fabric. I LOVE this technique and I enjoy teaching others to do intermeshing, as well. As you can see by the photo above, the right side and wrong side are completely different! If you’ve always wanted to learn intermeshing, now is the time! This is the same technique that’s in Tanis Galik’s book, “Interlocking Crochet”. I just have a little difference at the beginning of my pieces than Tanis has, which I like better!
Intro to Irish Crochet class
In my Intro to Irish Crochet class, I’ll teach the basics of Irish Crochet, from crocheting the Irish Rose and Leaves to adding the mesh background and the edging to your Irish Crochet piece. We’ll be making the Irish Crochet piece above that I designed last year when I taught this class at the Annie’s Craft Festival. I really enjoyed teaching that class and my students were so eager to learn this crochet technique. I even learned some things from them (which isn’t that uncommon)! It’s great to learn things together!
Simplifying Symbol Crochet class
In my Simplifying Symbol Crochet class, I’ll teach my students how to read and follow symbol crochet charts, which are much easier than following a written crochet pattern. We’ll read and follow charts for projects in rows and in rounds in this class. Once you can read and follow a symbol crochet chart, you’ll be able to make anything you want, even Japanese, Russian, Ukrainian or Spanish crochet patterns, without having any knowledge of the language! Above are some of the many crochet symbols that you’ll learn in the class.
To read about all of the crochet classes at this year’s conference, check out this page on the CGOA website.
If you’ve never been to a CGOA Conference (aka: Chain Link Conference or Knit & Crochet Show) before, you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s a fabulous time to meet other crochet enthusiasts. You’ll learn more crochet techniques and stitches to further your crochet skills and knowledge at the conference and come away with many new friendships to last a lifetime! If you’re not a CGOA member, there’s no time like the present to join! Just go to the CGOA website and check out everything that CGOA has to offer! It’s wonderful to belong to an organization that is dedicated to furthering the art of crochet!
If you’re already a CGOA member and you’ve attended the conference before, what did you like most about it?
Welcome to The Crochet Architect website. Isn’t National Crochet Month wonderful? It’s great to celebrate a month each year full of crochet goodness!!!
As you can see from my ticket above, today is my day to blog during the Crochetville National Crochet Month Blog Tour.
If we haven’t met, yet, my name is Susan Lowman. I’ve been crocheting since I was a teenager, back in the 70’s! I love to create anything with my hands, as I’m sure you do, too. I’ve done lots of crafts throughout my life (many since I was a child), including counted cross stitch, tatting, paper crafts and wood crafts, but I always come back to crochet! I’ve been designing crochet patterns since 1999 and I’ve been a member of CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) since 2002. I was on the CGOA Board of Directors for 3 1/2 years and I served as co-chair of the CGOA Masters program, as well as a CGOA Masters Senior Portfolio Reviewer for 3-4 years. For more information about CGOA and the CGOA Masters program, check out their website here.
I also love to teach crochet whenever I get the chance. I’ve taught at many CGOA Conferences and at last year’s Annie’s Craft Festival. I’ll be teaching again at this year’s CGOA Conference in Charleston, SC in July! The conference details should be up on the Knit and Crochet Show website sometime this month. You can read about all the classes and events here. TKGA (The Knitting Guild Association) has their conference at the same time, so you can take crochet and/or knitting classes at the conference! It’s so fun to meet other crochet enthusiasts and to share my love of crochet with them at the conference! I’d love to have you in any of my crochet classes and get to know you. If you ever feel like you’re the only crocheter around, the conference is a breath of fresh air where we all speak the “language of crochet”! It’s a great time to meet other crochet enthusiasts and to make new friends!
In the past, I did a lot of technical editing of crochet patterns before they’re published (to find and fix the errors). One of the companies/magazines that I worked for was Crochet Today magazine. I enjoyed working for them for almost 6 years and helping that magazine be successful. Unfortunately, Crochet Today was cancelled 2 or 3 years ago (boohoo!). I haven’t done much technical editing lately because I’m focusing on self-publishing my designs now and not being quite as busy as I was in past years (to reduce the amount of stress in my life and live healthier).
I have plans to start recording some crochet videos this year, too! If there is a particular crochet stitch or technique that you’d like to learn, please let me know and I’ll add it to my list of videos to make. I love watching crochet and knitting videos to learn new techniques, whether they’re paid or free videos. Speaking of paid videos, I have 2 crochet videos with Annie’s. They’re “Learn to Crochet with Thread” and “Beginner’s First Doily”. Thread crochet is very enjoyable for me (and for lots of other crocheters I know). I LOVE to crochet doilies! I think it’s because the stitch pattern changes in just about every round, which helps keep my interest and challenges me! Don’t get me wrong. Plain stitch patterns (aka: mindless crochet projects) have their place, but unless I’m watching TV or attending a local crochet group, I like to have a challenge! And doilies come out so nice after they’re blocked. It’s almost like they transform into something even more beautiful! I’ve probably crocheted over 100 doilies in my life (maybe even more than 200 doilies)!
Anyway, enough about me! This is National Crochet Month (yahoo!). To celebrate, I have 2 special offers for YOU for the rest of this month (March 7 – 31).
Luck o’ the Irish Scarf
First, I have a new FREE crochet pattern for you as a “thank you” for visiting my blog. It’s my Luck o’ the Irish Scarf. It’s free for the rest of this month. After that, it’ll be $3.95.
This scarf is made with one skein of Caron Simply Soft yarn. I’m not sure of the exact shade of green that I used because it came straight from the Caron office/factory years ago when I was designing my Majestic Butterfly Afghan (you can see that afghan on Ravelry here). Some of the skeins of Simply Soft had yarn labels on them and others didn’t, so I had to guess what colors they were! The shade of green that I think I used in this scarf was discontinued since then! Anyway, you can use whatever shade of green (or even another color) to make your scarf.
Luck o’ the Irish Scarf close up
The stitch pattern in this scarf is a 4 row repeat, so it’s easy to memorize (especially since every other row is “sc in each st across”!). The pattern includes written instructions and a symbol crochet chart, as well as step-by-step photos for making the 4-dc cross stitch (many of my self-published patterns include symbol crochet charts and step-by-step photos, too). This scarf has a simple sc edging to give it a finished look. I hope you enjoy this free pattern and will share photos of your finished scarves with me when you’re done. If you have any questions about the pattern, please don’t hesitate to ask! I’m just a message or e-mail away! I want my customers to be successful with their projects and I’m always happy to answer questions about my patterns.
The 2nd special for the rest of this month is 25% off the price of ALL crochet patterns on my website (with code “NatCroMo2016”). Whether you enjoy crocheting accessories, jewelry or home decor items in filet crochet, wiggly crochet, crochet that looks like tatting, or regular crochet, there’s something for almost everyone in my pattern store. If you haven’t heard of wiggly crochet, I have a wiggly crochet tutorial on my tutorial page to help YOU be successful with wiggly crochet. I love to design and crochet items with lots of color, so please take a look around and take advantage of the sale prices while they last!
I hope you’re enjoying National Crochet Month and the Crochetville Blog Tour. There are many talented designers taking part this year. I trust you’ll find something that will inspire YOU to create a WORK OF ART!!!
To learn more about the festivities, freebies and giveaways going on all this month to celebrate National Crochet Month, check out this Crochetville blog post. You can also follow the National Crochet Month blog tour on their Facebook page and on Crochetville.com.
If you’d like to follow me on social media, you can find me on Ravelry here. I also have a group on Ravelry to discuss my patterns, hold CAL’s and all kinds of other fun here. I’m holding a CAL for my Crochet Mosaic Scarf this month and I’d love to have you join us in this CAL (or other CAL’s I hold in my Ravelry group).
I look forward to meeting you and sharing our common love of crochet! It’s great to learn from each other and to encourage each other along our crochet journeys!
Happy crocheting,
Susan Lowman
P.S. If you’d like to follow my blog, simply subscribe to my blog with your e-mail address near the top right-hand side of this page. I don’t write blog posts all the time. I aim to post once a week. Sometimes I miss a week for various reasons, but I promise you won’t get inundated with e-mails from my blog posts!
Do you love to crochet, but don’t have an unlimited supply of money to buy yarn? If so, you’re going to LOVE these new crochet cowl patterns!
For the past few years, I’ve been drooling over the colors in Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn. In Nov, 2014, I published a new cowl pattern called Unforgettable Ripple Cowl. Well, I’ve had so much fun with this yarn since then that I’ve designed 3 more crochet cowls with this fabulous yarn!
Since each cowl takes just one skein of yarn and the yarn costs around $5 per skein, these cowls are economical projects to crochet, which is what I LOVE! I don’t like to spend lots of money on yarn, so I love it when I find a yarn that gives me lots of “bang for my buck”!!! Now YOU can crochet gorgeous cowls for less than $10 each! These cowls make fabulous gifts for family and friends, too.
So without further ado, here are my One-Skein Cowls:
I am absolutely in LOVE with these cowls! Sometimes I wear them long and sometimes I wear them doubled around my neck for extra warmth (or I go back and forth on the cowl length throughout the day, depending on if I’m having a hot flash or not!). These cowl colors coordinate with so many of my clothes and they really help finish off the look of my outfits! The drape that I get from this yarn is fabulous, too!
I had so much fun with the Unforgettable Trefoil Cowl that I made another one a few weeks ago in a different colorway of the yarn! I LOVE this colorway, too!
Unforgettable Trefoil Cowl alternate colors
Each pattern is available separately for $4.95 or you can get all 4 cowl patterns as an economical set for $11.95 (that’s just under $3 each!). You can find them on our Patterns Page.
Note: If you’ve already purchased the Unforgettable Ripple Cowl pattern and you’d like to purchase the other 3 cowl patterns (the full set of 4 cowl patterns), please send me a message and I’ll e-mail a special discount code to you (upon verification of your previous purchase) to get $4.95 off the set of 4 cowl patterns.
Each pattern comes with 2 photos of the cowl (worn long, or doubled around the neck, as these photos show), plus a close up of the stitch pattern. Each pattern is fully written and includes a symbol crochet chart, too (there are 4 charts in the set of 4 cowls: one for each cowl). Each cowl is worked in rows, then seamed together to form the long loop. Each stitch pattern has a 1, 2 or 4 row repeat, making the patterns easy to memorize. Because this yarn is 100% acrylic and washable, you don’t have to worry about your cowls getting dirty or shrinking! Just gently wash them in a sink of warm water, rinse them and lay them flat to dry.
I realize that winter is almost over, but who says you have to crochet cowls in the wintertime! They’re also fun to make in the summertime (to wear in the wintertime) because they are NOT huge, heavy and hot projects!
I hope you’ll give these crochet cowls a try. I think they’ll become some of your favorite accessories to crochet and wear, just as they are mine!
Thank you to those of you who entered to win a free copy of Brenda Bourg’s new crochet book, Fair Isle Tunisian Crochet. The winner was chosen this morning. Congratulations to Ruth Ticknor! You’re the lucky winner of Brenda’s wonderful new book! I’ll e-mail you shortly and get your contact information for sending your new book.
Happy National Crochet Month everyone! Don’t forget to follow the Crochetville National Crochet Month Blog Tour with daily giveaways!
