November 2020 – The Crochet Architect

Would you like to give a one-of-a-kind handmade gift to someone special this holiday season? Do you love crocheted afghans and/or rugs, but you don’t have the time or expertise to crochet them yourself? Then you’re in luck! I have 3 afghans and 4 rugs for sale in my Etsy shop. Each of these crochet afghans and rugs was expertly crocheted by either me or a talented crochet friend.

UPDATE: Three of these items have sold and are no longer available for purchase. The 3 items that sold are the Filet Bouquet Afghan, the Star Spangled Rug and the Quilt Rug. Thank you to Carol D., who purchased all 3 of these crochet items! The remaining 4 items are still available for sale until Feb 27, 2021. So get them before they’re gone!

Here are the 3 crocheted afghans that are for sale in my Etsy shop:

filet crochet flowers afghan — Filet Bouquet Afghan

Crochet Ripple Afghan — Reversible Popcorn Ripple Afghan

broomstick lace afghan — Broomstick Lace Afghan

Each of these afghans was made in a different crochet technique: filet crochet, regular crochet and broomstick lace crochet.

Here are the 4 crocheted rugs that are for sale in my Etsy shop:

Each of these crocheted rugs was made in the wiggly crochet technique.

I hope you’re inspired to decorate your home with one of these beauties (or snatch up one for a loved one)! Here’s the link to these afghans and rugs in my Etsy shop where you can read all about each of these finished items that are available for purchase, including measurements and materials used to make each one.

Happy crocheting (and decorating)!

Susan Lowman

When I saw Sue Perez’s new crochet book, “Live Loop Cables in Crochet” online a few months ago, I knew this was a crochet technique that I wanted to try! With this brand-new crochet technique, you can make cables that look like knit I-cords on the surface of your crochet project. Who would have thought you could do that in crochet? Certainly not me! But Sue has done it!

Sue is a brilliant designer who came up with a technique for making knit I-cord with a crochet hook several years ago. Sue has a series of blog posts about crocheted I-cord that you can read here. Here’s Sue’s YouTube video for making a crocheted I-cord edging. Sue even has a video for Live Loop Crochet Stitches and Cables here.

Now back to Sue’s new book! When I first starting looking through this book, I noticed that there are 174 pages in the book. Holy moly! That’s a lot of pages for a crochet book! Sue has self-published this book, so it includes everything she wanted to put into it about this new crochet technique. The book was professionally edited, so there is a minimum of errors in it. There are 21 pages of instructions for this technique, including lots of diagrams to illustrate these instructions.

Sue has included a practice swatch to learn the technique before jumping into a project. There are instructions for 25 blocks, each with a different cable (from simple to complex), and 11 projects in the book. I chose 2 projects to make after doing the practice swatch: the Chattermark Bag and the Ropeway Headband.

I have to admit that I wasn’t quite sure how to do this technique until I watched Sue’s YouTube video on “Live Loop Crochet Stitches and Cables” that I linked to above. That video helped a lot, in conjunction with the extensive instructions in the book. I learned this technique while taking a 4-week motorhome trip with my husband last month, so I had a bit of “vacation brain” going on (that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it)! Plus I’m no spring chicken anymore and my brain isn’t as fast as it once was! But I stayed with it, learning this fabulous technique and finishing my 2 projects, as you can see:

I think they turned out quite well, don’t you? I lined the bag with fabric, following the instructions in the book, so it’s very functional. And I added some cute buttons to the headband to give to my granddaughter.

I’m so glad that I persevered and learned this fascinating crochet technique! Way to go, Sue, in bringing this wonderful technique to life in your new book! I look forward to crocheting more projects and/or blocks from this wonderful book!

I hope you’ll give this new crochet technique a try. You can find Sue’s book on Amazon here.

Until next time! Happy crocheting to all of you!

Susan Lowman