Crochet patterns – Page 3 – The Crochet Architect

May 18, 2017May 18, 2017

New Necklace Pattern Available

If you’re like me and enjoy crocheting necklaces to wear or give as gifts, you’re going to love my new crochet necklace pattern, Vine Necklace. This necklace works up in no time with size 3 crochet thread. You can use any colors you’d like, or make a bunch of them with different colors to go with lots of outfits!

The necklace pattern is versatile, in that you can make all 3 strands of vines or only the flower strand for a simpler, even faster necklace!

This pattern was originally published in 2013 as part of the CGOA Across the Board ebook. However, the copyright on this pattern has reverted back to me, so it’s now available for purchase by anyone!

The sample necklace was made with size 3 Aunt Lydia’s Fashion crochet thread in #32 Candy Pink, #606 Goldenrod and #625 Sage. Either a size D/3 3.25 mm aluminum crochet hook or a size 0/3.25 mm steel crochet hook can be used.

The pattern includes written instructions and photos of each section of the necklace.

I hope you enjoy crocheting and wearing this necklace as much as I enjoyed designing it!

The pattern is available for $4.95 on the patterns page here.

Happy crocheting!

Susan

February 1, 2017

Valentine’s Day is Coming!

Do you love to decorate for Valentine’s Day? Then I have some crochet patterns for you! One of them is free and the other 2 are reasonably priced. They all contain the “heart” theme, which is what I think of most in decorating for Valentine’s Day!

This is my Heart Coaster design. This pattern is FREE and can be found here. This coaster is made with worsted weight cotton yarn for a quick project.

This is my Filet Heart Coaster pattern. This pattern is made with size 10 cotton crochet thread and a size 7 (1.65 mm) steel crochet hook. There are 2 layers of crochet to absorb more moisture. This pattern is available for $4.95 and can be found here.

This is my Wiggly Valentine Hot Pad and Coaster Set. It’s made with size 10 cotton crochet thread and a size 7 (1.65 mm) steel crochet hook. The pattern is available for $4.95 and can be found here. It’s also available as part of a set of Wiggly Hot Pads and Coasters to decorate for 6 holidays throughout the year! You can find the pattern for the set of 6 hot pads and coasters here for $11.95.

I hope you’re getting ready for Valentine’s Day and planning to do something fun with your honey!

Happy crocheting and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Susan

September 20, 2016

Book Review: Nature’s Gifts for Baby

I just love to crochet for babies, don’t you? I’m currently still crocheting (and knitting) for my granddaughter, who is already 3 months old! How can she already be 3 months old? How does that happen? It seems like yesterday that she was born!!! I’m almost done with a lacy dress for Rubekah that I’ll be taking with me on my next trip to China. And I finished a knit dress for her on Sunday by sewing on the buttons to finish it off. I’ll share photos of Ruru (that’s one of her nicknames) wearing these dresses as I get them from my son and daughter-in-law. Being a grandma is the best!

Babies are so much fun to crochet for, especially since many of the projects for them are quick projects with almost instant gratification! But even crocheting baby blankets is gratifying and lots of fun, even if they take longer! I haven’t found a crochet baby project that I don’t enjoy!

I’d like to share about a new book by Leisure Arts called “Nature’s Gifts for Baby”. This book has 7 sets of designs for babies, designed by Sara Leighton. Each set includes a baby blanket and a hat. So if you’re in the mood for a quick project, why not crochet the hat? If you have more time and would like to crochet for longer, the blanket is perfect! And if you like coordinating sets, make both the blanket and the hat! Each design reflects “gifts of Nature, such as a starry sky or lush flowers and trees”.

Here are photos of the front cover, and Sara Leighton, the designer:

Nature's Gifts for Baby front cover — Nature’s Gifts for Baby front cover

I haven’t met Sara in person, yet, but she’s as sweet as can be online! I absolutely LOVE the hat she’s wearing in this photo, too (here’s a link to her pattern for the hat on Ravelry)! I think Sara is going to have a long, successful crochet career ahead of her!

Here are photos of all the projects in this adorable book:

As you can see, each set is unique! Each blanket is made with different stitches, mostly in “quick to crochet” rows. Each of the hat patterns come in 2 sizes: 0-6 months and 6-12 months. The exact yarns (and colors) used in each set are listed at the back of the book. One of the newer features of Leisure Arts books is additional videos for stitches and techniques, like how to work a treble crochet, how to change colors, and lots more. Their books also include many diagrams for different stitches and/or techniques. All of this extra information helps crocheters of all skill levels to be successful in their crochet projects!

Each of the sets in this book, except the Fox Set, is made with medium, worsted weight yarn. The Fox Set is made with super bulky weight yarn. If you’re not familiar with yarn weights, check out this page on the Craft Yarn Council’s website here. The Craft Yarn Council has many pages of helpful information about crocheting, knitting, yarn, crochet hook sizes, knitting needle sizes, and more on their website. So if you’ve never gone to their website, you don’t know what you’re missing!

You can see and purchase “Nature’s Gifts for Baby” on the Leisure Arts website here or on Amazon here. This 32-page book retails for $9.99.

If you’re looking for some new crochet patterns to make for a favorite baby in your life, I hope you’ll consider this book with lots of creative designs!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

April 11, 2016

More Skinny Scarves!

Since my last blog post, I’ve used up 2 more single skeins of yarn by designing 2 more “Skinny Scarves”! These are really fun to design and crochet! And they take almost no time at all!

I thought you might like to see my 2 newest skinny scarves, so here they are:

You’ll probably recognize the yarn that I used in the Windows Skinny Scarf. It’s the yarn that I showed you in my last blog post: Plymouth Yarn Stained Glazz. It’s a worsted weight yarn made of 51% wool and 49% acrylic fibers with only 99 yards in this skein, so I had to be careful what stitch pattern I used to make it long enough. This stitch pattern worked perfectly! I really like the colors in this yarn. I think it will coordinate with lots of outfits in my wardrobe.

The yarn that I used in the Bruges Lace Skinny Scarf is Berroco Cirrus. It’s 42% superkid mohair, 40% nylon and 18% merino wool extrafine. There are 114 yards in this skein of yarn. I really enjoyed working with this yarn (I like mohair yarn, but I realize that not everyone does)! It’s very soft!

These skinny scarves are lots of fun to make and I’m going to enjoy wearing them! They’re both about 4″ wide, so they’re the perfect width to wear as more of an accent than a functional scarf to keep you warm! But that was my intention for them: looks over function!

I’ll be shifting my focus for a little while away from designing. I’ll tell you why in my next blog post (in about a week).

Happy crocheting,

Susan

March 2, 2016March 1, 2016

Crocheting on a Budget

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!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

February 5, 2016

Landscapes Cowl – 1 Skein Project

Last year at the CGOA Conference, I received 1 skein of Lion Brand Landscapes yarn in my goodie bag. When I saw the yarn, I instantly fell in love with the beautiful colors! I knew I wanted to design something with it, but what can a crocheter make with only 1 skein of yarn? It’s not enough for a garment or an afghan, so I decided to design an accessory to show off the gorgeous colors in this yarn.

One of my favorite accessories to design, crochet and wear is cowls. Adding a cowl to an outfit can really dress it up with very little effort! And if the cowl is long enough, you can decide if you want to wear the cowl long or doubled up.

So without further ado, here is my newest pattern, the Landscapes Cowl:

Aren’t the colors in this yarn gorgeous? I think so!

For this cowl design, I used an easy stitch pattern (so the colors of the yarn would grab a person’s attention, not fight with a complex stitch pattern)! This cowl pattern has a 2 row repeat, making it easy to memorize and quick to stitch. I used 1 skein for my small cowl in these photos (5 1/2″ wide x 48″ circumference), but you could use 2 skeins for a wider and longer cowl (the pattern includes instructions for a large size of 8″ wide x 60″ circumference). Either way, it’s an economical project to crochet with only 1 or 2 skeins of yarn! And since I love symbol crochet charts, I made a chart for each size of the cowl (the charts are included in the pattern).

I’m curious! Have you had the pleasure of crocheting with Lion Brand Landscapes yarn? If so, how do you like it? Are you in love with the colors, like me? The color I used was #204 Desert Spring. But there are lots of other really pretty colors in this yarn. You can see all of the colors available in Landscapes yarn on the Lion Brand website here. There are solid colors, as well as self-striping colors, like the one I used in my cowl. This yarn is worsted weight, 100% acrylic and has 147 yards in each skein.

I seem to really be drawn to self-striping yarns these days! They’re so pretty! And the changes in colors help to keep my interest in the project, especially when the stitch pattern is easy! Since the projects made from self-striping yarns have lots of different colors in them, you can wear the items you crochet from them with lots of different outfits!

I hope you’ll give self-striping yarn, like Lion Brand Landscapes, a try soon. You won’t regret it! And if you enjoy easy-to-stitch projects where the yarn does all the work (well, most of the work), check out my Landscapes Cowl pattern here. It’s only $4.95 for the full pattern, including symbol crochet charts. You can crochet as many of these cowls with the pattern as you’d like!

As always, if you have a question about one of my patterns, I’m just an e-mail away! I’m more than happy to help YOU be successful with your crochet projects made from my crochet patterns! And if you’d like to join my group on Ravelry to discuss my crochet patterns, to ask a question about one of them or to join in a CAL (crochet-along), I’d love to have you join us! You can find my Ravelry group here.

Happy crocheting,

Susan

P.S. If you’d like to follow my blog, simply enter your e-mail address in the “subscribe to blog via email” spot near the top, right-hand corner of this page. I plan to bring you more interesting crochet content/patterns this year and for many years to come!

January 15, 2016

Book Review & Designer Interview: Cold Weather Crochet by Marly Bird

If you’re like me, crocheting accessories to keep me warm (and to give as gifts) is really enjoyable (and the projects are very useful, too!). I love crocheting scarves, shawls, cowls and lots more! Scarves and cowls are great, quick projects to make and to give as gifts to almost anyone on your gift giving list!

There’s a new crochet book by Marly Bird called “Cold Weather Crochet: 21 Cozy Garments, Accessories, and Afghans to Keep You Warm”. This book has a great assortment of patterns: 6 hats/caps, 3 cowls, 4 scarves, 2 shawls/wraps, 3 afghans/blankets, 1 mitt, 1 slipper and 1 sock pattern. The projects range from beginner to intermediate, so there’s something for everyone’s skill level. Most of the projects are for women, but there are a few hats for men in the book, as well!

Here’s an excerpt from Marly’s new book:

“Whether you live somewhere cold or with someone who just loves to crank the air-conditioning, my goal is to give you patterns and pieces that you know that you can crochet and enjoy,” muses Marly. “Many of the pieces seem to defy the seasons. Once you finish your piece, you can revel in the fact that YOU made the item that’s keeping you warm.”

Some of my favorite projects in Marly’s new book are:

This is the Lace Motif Wrap. I LOVE the laciness of this wrap! It has a ruffled edging that gives it a little more weight and helps to open up the lace motifs while wearing it.

These are the Thrummed Slippers. The slipper on the front, right is shown inside out so you can see how much added warmth and cushioning the thrumming gives the slippers. The slipper in the back, left shows how the slippers look when worn. Here’s another photo of these slippers:

Aren’t they cute? Knitters have done thrumming for a long time and I think it’s genius that Marly has designed a pair of thrummed crochet slippers! I HAVE to give these a try!

This is the Cross Creek Hat. Obviously, it’s made for a man (at least that’s how it’s shown in the book), but I bet it would look equally as good on a woman! I LOVE the design that’s made at the top of the hat and the texture around the sides of the hat! This one looks like a lot of fun to make and wear!

This is the African Flower Afghan. I LOVE the colors that Marly used in this afghan! And the African Flower motif is a really pretty motif!

This is the Slouchy Hat. I LOVE the laciness of this hat! And the color is gorgeous, too!

I met Marly at a CGOA Conference. She’s a dynamic lady with lots of talent and energy! I’d like for you to get to know her, too. Here’s a little interview I did with Marly:

Susan: How long have you been crocheting? How did you learn to crochet or who taught you to crochet?

Marly: I’ve been crocheting since 1999. I learned from my grandmother.

Susan: What is your favorite type of item to crochet?

Marly: My favorite things to design are sweaters but I enjoy crocheting accessories because they are fast and I get to play around with stitches and color without a lot of commitment.

Susan: Do you have any favorite crochet techniques that you enjoy?

Marly: I love learning new techniques. I just taught myself how to do Interlocking Crochet (I am calling it interwoven as Interlocking is a trademarked term). I love the look of it and it is entirely new to me.

Susan: How do you manage to juggle all of your job titles and family life?

Marly: Ha! First, God Bless you for thinking I am juggling well 🙂 I always feel like that circus performer who is spinning plates on a stick and when one is about to fall I haul butt over to it so it keeps spinning! LOL. Honestly, managing my time is the hardest thing I do but I have a great deal of help from my social media medusa, Tammy Burke; my contract knitters/crocheters, Marly’s Minions; and my family…who pick up the slack when mommy is on a deadline or traveling for work 🙂

I hope you’ve enjoyed this book review of “Cold Weather Crochet” and interview of the book’s author, Marly Bird. This 128 page book is published by Interweave/F&W and retails for $22.99.

For more information and to purchase this book, check it out on the Interweave website here.

The book is also available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle edition here.

Happy crocheting,

Susan Lowman

January 6, 2016

Filet Heart Coaster CAL

Are you familiar with CALs (crochet-a-longs)? CALs are organized groups of crocheters who often crochet the same project at the same time, kind of like a group of people crocheting together in person! However, many CALs are held through cyber-space instead of in person! Some CALs are held for a specified length of time and some are ongoing. But one thing that is common to all CALs is encouraging each other and helping each other with our projects. Questions are very common about what yarn/thread to use, the pattern and more. There’s lots of sharing going on in CALs, too. KALs are much like CALs, except KALs pertain to knit patterns, not crochet patterns.

If you read last week’s blog post, you’ll know that I started a Ravelry group as one of my New Year’s resolutions. In that new group, I’m holding my very first CAL (in time for Valentine’s Day!). Around 10 Ravelry group members will be crocheting my Filet Heart Coaster pattern, starting next week and running until Feb. 14. And I’ll be there to answer any questions that may arise while these participants are crocheting their coaster(s). This coaster is crocheted in the filet crochet technique and has 2 layers for added absorbency. If you would like to learn to do filet crochet, this is your chance! I’m discounting the cost of this pattern by 50% for CAL participants, too. So for less than $2, YOU can learn to do filet crochet!

I’ll be crocheting along with the other group members. I decided to make my coaster larger with some Omega Sinfonia yarn instead of using size 10 crochet thread. It’ll be interesting to see what size it turns out! I think it’ll be potholder/hot pad size, which will be nice!

If you’d like to join my Ravelry group and participate in this CAL, I’d love to have you join us! You can find the group on Ravelry here. Why not take the first step and learn your first crochet technique this year?

Happy crocheting,

Susan

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015

Too Many Cowls?

Who says it’s possible to have too many cowls? Certainly NOT me! Cowls (or infinity scarves, as they’re also known) are wonderful accessories for any woman or girl (or possibly for men and boys, as well). They look great and help keep your neck warm when the weather gets cold! Since they’re basically a big tube that goes around your neck, they won’t fall off like scarves have a tendency to do. Cowls come in many widths and lengths. You can wear longer cowls as a long tube or double them up for a shorter, more dense cowl to hug your neck.

I love cowls and I’ve got a new crochet cowl pattern for you, just in time for Christmas! It’s my Swanky Cowl, named for the special yarn that I used. If you haven’t seen Red Heart Boutique Swanky yarn yet, it’s made with acrylic and polyester fibers for washability (hand wash only). It has little oval-shaped sequins in it that are dyed the same color as the yarn. The sequins give projects a nice “glitz” that is so pretty! You can read more about this yarn and see all the pretty colors on the Red Heart website here. I love the color I used (Berry Glamorous) because it coordinates with many of the outfits in my wardrobe!

I used only 1 skein/ball of this yarn to crochet my Swanky Cowl. The resulting cowl is 3 1/2″ wide x 40″ circumference. If you’d like a longer and/or wider cowl, simply use a 2nd skein of the yarn.

Of course, you could use any worsted weight or DK weight yarn you’d like to make your Swanky Cowl! I think it would be beautiful in a color-changing yarn, too!

I love the texture of Front Post and Back Post double crochet stitches, so that’s what I used in this cowl. Because these 2 stitches are mirror images of each other, the cowl is reversible!

If you’re a confident beginner all the way up to a seasoned crocheter, this pattern is perfect for you! It includes photo tutorials for working in the back bump of the foundation chain, as well as working the Front Post and Back Post double crochet stitches. I’ve included right-handed and left-handed photos in the tutorials section of the pattern, too. So if you’re a leftie and you’d like to learn to work FPdc and BPdc, give this pattern a try!

To read more about my new Swanky Cowl pattern and to purchase this pattern for only $3.95, check out the pattern page here.

Happy crocheting,

Susan

September 18, 2015September 18, 2015

How Many Scarves Are Enough?

If you’re anything like me, you can never have too many scarves! I LOVE to crochet scarves for many reasons. I can try out different crochet techniques (and not be committed to make an afghan or some project that takes up a lot of time and energy). Obviously, I can crochet a scarf in a short amount of time (like 2-6 hours for most scarves). Scarves make wonderful gifts for the Holidays! A crocheted scarf doesn’t break the bank, either! And some scarf patterns are a great way to use up scraps of yarn, too.

Well, I’ve gone and done it again! I have a new crochet scarf pattern for you. It’s my Crochet Mosaic Scarf and I really love this one! The pattern includes 2 versions of the scarf, so you can choose which one you’d prefer to make. Here’s the scarf, in the 2 versions that I designed:

The turquoise scarf is 4 rows wider than the black/pink/orange/yellow scarf. It’s made with light weight yarn, whereas the black/pink/orange/yellow scarf is made with worsted weight yarn. Both scarves are 4″ wide x 55-56″ long, plus the fringe.

And do you want to know the best thing about this scarf? THERE ARE NO ENDS TO WEAVE IN!!! I LOVE that! The ends are incorporated into the added fringe instead of weaving them in! Can I get an AMEN to that?

If you’ve never tried the mosaic crochet technique, it’s really quite easy and satisfying. The pattern takes shape as you crochet each row. I love this technique! The rows are crocheted in alternating colors (dark, light, dark, light), which creates the horizontal lines of the pattern. Each row is worked on the right side of the piece and a special stitch is used to make the vertical lines of the pattern.

I hope you’ll give this scarf (or any beautiful, fun, interesting, exciting scarf) a try. And put some on your holiday crochet gift list, too. You’ll have them whipped up in no time!

You can read more about this scarf and purchase the pattern for $4.95 on our Pattern Page here.

Happy crocheting,

Susan