Susan L

December 31, 2014January 3, 2015

New Year’s Resolutions for Fiber Lovers!

Do you make New Year’s resolutions every year? What is your track record on keeping those resolutions? Like many people, mine isn’t so good! In the past, I’ve resolved to read one book per month, but since I’m not much of a reader, that doesn’t last very long at all! I’ve also resolved to exercise every day, but I’m lazy and I start skipping some days, so that one doesn’t last long, either (or gets modified to a more realistic resolution like exercising 3 times per week)! Why do we set such unrealistic expectations at the beginning of the New Year? I guess we want to improve ourselves in one way or another. That’s not a bad thing to do, especially when we realize where we’re lacking in our lives. Improving ourselves is a great goal and I think we should always strive for improvement! If we don’t strive for improvement, we stagnate and start smelling! Just kidding! But I think improvement in our lives is always a positive goal and I’m all for improvement in my life!

For our New Year’s resolutions in 2015, how about setting some more attainable goals, like learning a new craft or learning more stitches and/or techniques in a craft we already know? Now that’s a New Year’s resolution that would be easy for me to keep! How about you? And it would satisfy the goal of self-improvement, too!

So for my New Year’s resolutions for 2015, I resolve to learn more knitting and crochet techniques. I also resolve to finish more projects than I currently finish and to finish some of my UFO’s (for crocheters and knitters, UFO does NOT mean “unidentified flying object”, it means “UnFinished Objects”). If you’ll notice something about my goals, they aren’t terribly “specific” on how many new techniques I’ll learn or how many UFO’s I’ll finish up in 2015. So these goals are attainable (without being unrealistic)! I guess they’re more of a “guideline” than a goal, but that’s okay with me. At least I can strive for them!

I just did a search on Ravelry.com for UFO groups and there are lots of them! There’s even a group for procrastinating knitters (like putting off the seaming or knitting the 2^nd sock)! I’m all in, since I’m a procrastinator, too! In fact, I have 2 books from the library on procrastinating, but I haven’t finished reading them yet! Dare I say that I’m procrastinating on reading them? Unfortunately, nobody has posted in that Ravelry procrastinators group for 2 years! I guess they’re all procrastinating about posting!!!

Don’t get me wrong: I finish lots of crochet and knitting projects every year (projects for publication and personal projects, too). I haven’t kept track, but I estimate I’ve finished 10-25 projects this year, ranging from small to large. Here are photos of a few of the published projects I’ve finished this year:

Nantucket Cowl from Dec 2014 Crochet World magazine

Easy Cell Phone Cosy & Heart-Shaped Key Fob from Red Heart UK website

Mosaic Blanket (knit) from Vogue Knitting magazine Winter 2014/2015 issue

Each year, I start some new projects that I don’t finish (at least I finish more projects than I start, so it’s not ALL bad!). If I keep adding to my UFO’s pile, there will be too many to finish in my lifetime! So it’s time to get them out to decide which ones I should finish in 2015! I think I’ll organize them today or tomorrow and make some decisions on how/when to proceed with each one!

How about you? What resolutions are you making for 2015? Are you going to learn a new craft? Are you going to learn some new crochet or knitting techniques? Are you going to finish some projects before starting a new one? I’m definitely NOT going to say that I’ll finish ALL of my UFO’s before starting something new! I know myself and I’m very easily distracted by other things, like new projects! Plus I don’t like to set goals that I can’t keep, no matter how hard I try!

Whatever your resolutions (or lack of resolutions) for 2015, I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year!

Happy crocheting (and knitting),

Susan

December 17, 2014

Handmade Christmas Ornaments and Decorations

Are you someone who loves decorating for Christmas? Do you love to make your own ornaments? I’ve been making Christmas decorations and ornaments for as long as I can remember. I really love crocheting ornaments for our tree, especially with cotton crochet thread. Christmas ornaments bring back such wonderful memories, especially the ones that my 3 sons made at school and church when they were growing up. My sons have all grown up and moved out now, but I still love the ornaments they made. However, we’ve downsized our Christmas tree and I have an abundance of ornaments that won’t fit on our smaller tree! So what’s a mom and crafter to do? Well, I guess I have to pick my favorite ornaments and/or rotate them each year so I can enjoy them anew each year. Or if I had more time and energy, I could buy several more small Christmas trees and have more than one decorated tree in the house (or buy a bigger tree again)! I learned long ago that I’m allergic to real pine and fir trees, so we only use an artificial tree in our house. It’s not quite as nice as a real tree, but it’s better than the misery of the allergy symptoms I suffer if we have a real tree!

Last night, my husband helped me put up and decorate our small Christmas tree (it’s only about 4 feet tall at the most). Yes, it’s kind of late in the season (only 9 days before Christmas), but better late than never! Since we don’t have any little ones at home any more, there’s not as much incentive to decorate for Christmas as there was when they were growing up.

Here is our decorated Christmas tree this year:

It’s not the nicest tree and I’m not the best Christmas tree decorator, as you can see! I’m more of a minimalist when it comes to decorating a Christmas tree, I suppose. But I enjoy seeing the Christmas tree in our living room just the same.

Here are some of the handmade ornaments on our Christmas tree this year:

As you can tell, I like snowflakes and snowmen! Can you tell that one of the snowflakes is tatted, not crocheted? I tatted that one many years ago. I like Victorian ornaments, too. I crocheted the 3 Victorian ornaments from the Leisure Arts leaflet, “Victorian Thread Ornaments” by Anne Halliday (she’s one of my favorite crochet designers!). Years ago, I held an ornament exchange with a bunch of friends. I held it for 3-5 years, so I have some really nice handmade ornaments from my friends over the years. It was a ton of fun! We would each make a different style of ornament, making one for each of that year’s participants. Then we’d get together one night before Christmas and exchange them with each other. Most of those ornaments are in the box of handmade ornaments because they won’t fit on our current small tree. If I could, I would decorate a whole tree with just those handmade ornaments that we swapped over the years (but I’d need a larger tree to fit them all!).

I’ve made a bunch of Christmas decorations over the years, too. This is the Christmas manger scene that I made from fabric a very long time ago:

I made this from a pattern in a book/leaflet. I used fabrics, fiberfill, craft hair, cardboard, ribbons and fabric-covered buttons (for movable joints). Here’s a closer look at Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus:

This set includes the 3 wise men, a shepherd, 2 angels, 2 sheep, a donkey, a cow and a camel. It doesn’t look as good as it did when I finished it, but it’s not too bad for a 15-20 year old decoration!

I love stiffened crochet snowflakes. I think they turn out wonderful and look fabulous on the tree, especially since the white of the snowflakes contrasts so nicely against the green of the tree. And there are so many nice crochet snowflake patterns to choose from, too. If you’re interested in giving crocheted snowflakes a try, check out my blog post from last December here. And you can also check out my tutorial on stiffening crocheted snowflakes here. One thing I’d like to stress in this tutorial is to remember to include a large enough hole on one of the points of the snowflake when you’re stiffening it so you can insert the hanging wire or thread! Why do I say this now? Because I realized I didn’t leave a big enough hole in some of the snowflakes I stiffened last year! OOPS! I suppose I could have forced the hanging wire into the snowflake, but I didn’t want to mess up the snowflake, so I set those snowflakes aside for another day/year.

I’m sure many of you have made some Christmas ornaments and decorations over the years. What kinds of Christmas ornaments and decorations have you made? Which are your favorites?

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas this year!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

December 11, 2014December 11, 2014

One-Skein Scarves patterns available

With only 2 weeks left until Christmas, these One-Skein Scarves are perfect for some last minute gifts! The crochet patterns are available separately or as a “special value” set. They’re sure to please many friends and family members on your holiday list!

Each of our “One-Skein Scarves” patterns includes a symbol crochet chart for those of you who are “visual learners”, like me. As always, each pattern includes the finished size, skill level, materials list, gauge, abbreviations used in the pattern, special abbreviations and full written instructions.

The Autumn Romance Scarf was inspired by the beautiful colors of Patons Kroy Socks FX that I saw in my local yarn store. I knew I simply had to design something beautiful with it! It’s a one-skein scarf worked from one end to the other. Then some fringe is added at each end. There is no edging involved in this scarf. It’s a quick project and I absolutely LOVE the colors of this yarn!

The Glamour Scarf was something I decided to design with a skein of Vanna’s Glamour yarn one day. It’s another quick project with an easy stitch pattern to memorize. It’s worked in 2 halves, from the center to each end of the scarf, making each end symmetrical. The scarf includes a simple edging to finish it off. And the shimmer in this yarn is wonderful!

The Pediwick Scarf is made in a beautiful shade of green, but you can make your Pediwick Scarf in any color you desire, of course! It’s also made in 2 halves, from the center to each end. This scarf doesn’t require an edging, since the edges are so straight already. It has a nice stitch pattern on the ends, finishing it off nicely.

Whether you choose one of these scarves or all 3 of them, I’m sure you’re going to love crocheting them up in a jiffy! Each scarf pattern is available for $3.95, or the set of all 3 One-Skein Scarves patterns is available for the special price of $7.95. That’s like getting the 3^rd pattern for free! To see more about these new scarf patterns, visit our “Pattern” page here.

I hope you’ll enjoy these One-Skein Scarf patterns and will share photos of your scarves with me. I’d love to see what creative scarves you make with these patterns!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

December 8, 2014December 8, 2014

New Tutorial: Decorative Slip Stitch Edging

I love the look of decorative edgings, especially when they’re easy and fast to do! I added a decorative edging to the skirt and collar on my Bear Mitts pattern, as well as the edges of my Button Flower Pin pattern.

I LOVE the effect I get when I work this slip stitch edging and it’s super simple to do, too! To find out how to work this edging, check out my new tutorial here.

Happy crocheting,

Susan

November 20, 2014

Tutorial: Working in the Back Bump of the Foundation Chain

Have you ever seen a crochet pattern that instructs you to work in the back “bump” (or back “bar” or back “hump”) of the foundation chain? Do you know what part of the foundation chain this is? If you’ve never worked in the back bump of the foundation chain, you’re in for a treat! This is the best thing since sliced bread (well, almost)!

So why would someone want to work into a different loop of the foundation chain than they always work into? In this instance, it is because working in the back bump gives you a nice bottom edge of your project that mimics the top edge of the project. This is what I’m talking about:

Can you see the chain edge at the bottom? Doesn’t that look nice? I LOVE working into the back bump of the foundation chain. Not only does it look nice, it gives a stronger bottom edge, as well.

I’ve made a tutorial for you explaining how to work into the back bump of the foundation chain. You can find it on my “tutorials” page here. I hope you’ll check it out and give it a try. You’ll be glad you did!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

November 16, 2014November 16, 2014

New Bear Mitts Crochet Pattern

I’ve been busy working on more crochet patterns for you. Introducing my newest crochet pattern, “Bear Mitts”. Right now, this pattern is only sized for teens through adults (it’s not available in a child’s size yet, but I’ll work on that as time allows). What teenager or young adult (or “young-at-heart” adult, for that matter) wouldn’t love some adorable bear mitts in their stocking this Christmas? Without further delay, here is my bear mitts pattern for your crocheting pleasure:

I’d like to tell you a little about this crochet pattern. I got the inspiration earlier this year when my middle son and his wife were here visiting from China. My daughter-in-law brought some adorable bear mitts with her from China and once I saw them, I fell in love with them! Here’s a photo of the original bear mitts from China:

Aren’t they adorable? I think they’re so cute! Anyway, I decided within a few minutes of seeing them that I’d design some crocheted bear mitts similar to them. And I’m glad I did.

These bear mitts are a lot of fun to make! The head, muzzle and arms are made just like amigurumi pieces and are stuffed to keep their shape. The mitt body piece is made from the top to the bottom with the yellow dress on the front worked at the same time as the brown body. The skirt ruffle and collar are worked separately, then sewn onto the body afterward. The head and ears are separate pieces, too. Because the original Chinese bear mitts had the top of the arms sewn to the side of the face, I decided I’d do this, too, so they don’t flop around while being worn. I didn’t like the way the feet were coming out in crochet, so I decided my crocheted bear mitts didn’t need feet (besides, the fingers sticking out at the bottom can be the bear’s “legs”!). I chose to use safety eyes and noses because I like the look of them, but you could embroider the faces on your bear mitts, if you choose. This is how they look worn:

They’re really fun to wear! If you don’t care for the yellow dress, you can simply make your bear mitts with a different color of dress (it’s absolutely your choice on that part of the pattern)! And if you’d like to embellish your bear mitts with buttons or bows, I think they’d look great with those, as well (I think a bow at the top of the head or off to one side would be adorable!).

The 16-page written pattern for these Bear Mitts includes many photos of the individual pieces for ease of identification and construction.

As always, if you have a question about one of my patterns, I provide free pattern support for all of my patterns here at The Crochet Architect. I learn as much from my customers’ questions as they do from my answers (and I always welcome questions). That’s how we all learn, right?

If you’re an intermediate crocheter (or an adventurous beginner), I hope you’ll give these bear mitts a try. They’re great for helping to keep your hands and wrists warm! And they’re very stylish, too! You can find the pattern right here for sale on our pattern page.

Happy crocheting,

Susan

November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

New Ripple Cowl Pattern

We all love scarves for keeping our necks warm during the cold winter months! I know I do! But there’s one thing even better than a scarf because it doesn’t fall off easily or become crooked with wear. That item is a “cowl”! If you’ve never heard of a cowl, it’s basically the same thing as an “infinity scarf”, which is a scarf that is joined together at the ends into one big, long tube. There are no ends to be concerned about being straight or even when wearing it. You just put the cowl over your head and wrap it around your neck once or twice, depending on your preference of length and neck warmth! And presto! You have a beautiful and functional accessory to proudly wear or give as a gift. And it’s one of those gifts that doesn’t have to be a certain size, too!!!

This year, I started designing lots of scarves and cowls, since they’re a lot of fun to crochet and wear (and don’t require sizing!). I recently had my first cowl design published in the Dec. 2014 issue of Crochet World magazine and I have a new cowl pattern for you right here on The Crochet Architect. It’s called the “Unforgettable Ripple Cowl”, named after the Red Heart Boutique “Unforgettable” yarn that I chose for this cowl. This yarn comes in some absolutely “gorgeous” colors! It’s 100% acrylic, so it’s machine washable, which is a big plus for anything you might get dirty (not that I get my cowls dirty, but it could happen and I want to make sure I can get it clean without felting it)! I really enjoy crocheting with this soft, squishy yarn. Anyway, here is my new cowl design:

Aren’t the colors pretty? I chose a ripple stitch pattern for this design because I like the way the changing colors are shown off to their best advantage. It’s also an easy pattern to memorize and crochet, as well as being quick to make! This cowl uses only 1 skein of the Unforgettable yarn, making it an economical project, too. There is only 1 seam to sew to join the bottom and top edges to form the tube-shaped cowl, as well as 2 tails to weave in (that’s not bad considering all the beautiful colors that change on their own!).

Here’s a photo of the cowl worn doubled:

I’m really going to enjoy wearing this cowl during the winter, which isn’t too far off now (we had our first frost on Sunday night, so winter is right around the corner here in the higher elevations of Arizona!).

Have you started any new scarf or cowl patterns lately before winter hits where you live? Do you have someone on your Christmas list who loves scarves and cowls?

To purchase the “Unforgettable Ripple Cowl” pattern, just check out our “patterns” page!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

October 25, 2014March 16, 2015

New Snowflake Scarf Pattern

It’s time to get ready for winter and what better way than by crocheting a new scarf! Here, for your crocheting pleasure, is the newest scarf pattern at The Crochet Architect: our “Stained Glass Snowflake Scarf”!

This scarf may look complicated, but it’s not. It is worked in rows of single crochet, all on the right side with color changes. There are long tails at the beginning and end of each row to turn into the fringe when you’re all done crocheting this beauty! And we all know what that means, right? NO TAILS TO WEAVE IN!!! Do I hear a “hallelujah”?

If you’ve seen my “It Takes All Colors Snowflakes” afghan on the Mainly Crochet website and you’re not quite ready to jump into a large afghan project, this scarf is the thing for you. It is worked the same way as my snowflake afghan, but is much faster to make. In case you missed seeing it last month, here is a photo of my snowflake afghan:

As you can see, the afghan and scarf look very much alike, except the afghan has more rows of snowflakes and the scarf has more snowflakes wide (10 snowflakes, to be exact). They’re made the exact same way, which makes it nice. If you like my snowflake afghan and are intimidated by its size, why not try making the snowflake scarf instead. Then when you have the confidence, you can move up to making the snowflake afghan! The snowflake afghan pattern is available on the Mainly Crochet website here. If you haven’t heard of Mainly Crochet, it’s a digital crochet magazine that is available to subscribers. You can get all the information about their service on their website.

So what types of projects are you going to crochet this fall/winter? Are you going to make some afghans or scarves? How about a sweater? It’s a lot of fun to crochet new projects and give them as gifts (for those recipients who appreciate them, of course!).

To purchase the Stained Glass Snowflake Scarf pattern, just check out our “patterns” page!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

October 9, 2014

“Tunisian Crochet for Baby” book winner!

The winner has been chosen! Congratulations to Pamela, who is the winner of the “Tunisian Crochet for Baby” book giveaway! I know you’re going to love this book!

Thank you to all who entered this giveaway. Stay tuned for more book reviews, giveaways, hints and helpful information about the wonderful world of crochet!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

October 1, 2014September 30, 2014

“Tunisian Crochet for Baby” Book Review and Giveaway

Are you a big fan of Tunisian crochet? I really enjoy the rhythm of this wonderful crochet technique. I enjoy putting the stitches on the hook and taking them off. In my mind, Tunisian crochet is like marrying the best of crochet and knitting! In fact, many of the stitches in Tunisian crochet look just like knit stitches (at least on the right side of the work). If you’ve never tried Tunisian crochet, what are you waiting for? Why not give it a try today?

I recently came across a new Tunisian crochet book with baby patterns in it. It’s called “Tunisian Crochet for Baby” by Sharon Hernes Silverman. The book is published by Stackpole Books and retails for $21.95. It has 140 pages with 23 patterns, along with instructions and step-by-step photos for working basic crochet stitches, as well as Tunisian crochet stitches. There are projects for every skill level, too. I recommend this book if you’ve done Tunisian crochet before and are looking for some really cute Tunisian crochet baby projects to make. There are blankets, hats, a pullover, pants, a headband, mittens, a hoodie, a skirt, a poncho, a turban, a nursery box, washcloths, a cocoon, as well as a christening gown, bonnet and booties. Here are some of my favorite projects from this book:

This is the Harlequin Blanket. It is worked in the entrelac method of making squares and attaching the new square to the previous square as you go, so there are no seams involved. I’ve seen this technique before, but I’ve never tried it. I intend to do that one of these days because it looks like it would be relaxing to make, but have enough interest to hold my attention!

This is the Sherbet Stripes Blanket and Hat. I LOVE the colors in this set! And I also love how the hat is made with Tunisian knit and purl stitches, which look just like a knitted hat! The blanket is made with Tunisian simple stitch and edged with crocheted shells. I’m looking forward to learning to decrease stitches in Tunisian crochet by making this baby hat someday soon!

This is the Nursery Box filled with the Washcloth Quartet (4 different washcloths). I LOVE quick projects, and these washcloths are just that. They’d make great baby shower gifts for any mother-to-be!

Besides the wonderful projects, another thing I really like about this book is the charts showing which stitches are worked in each row or round. I’ve never seen Tunisian crochet charts before (or never really noticed them). I really like being able to see visually what the written instructions are saying to do!

So if you’re looking for a really nice book with Tunisian crochet projects to make for babies, I hope you’ll consider adding this book to your crochet library! You can check out all the projects in the Look Book that Stackpole Books has on their website here. The book is available in paperback or as an ebook in pdf format through Stackpole Books here or as a printed book through Amazon here.

As a bonus for this blog tour, I’m having a giveaway for a pdf download of this book. The giveaway runs through October 8^th. To enter the giveaway and receive a complimentary, instant pdf download of this fabulous book, simply leave a comment on this blog post to be entered. The lucky winner will be randomly drawn and announced on October 9^th. Good luck and happy crocheting!

Susan