I hope everyone is enjoying National Crochet Month, which takes place every year in March. What will you do to celebrate your love of crochet this month? Will you learn a new crochet technique or find a crochet designer who is new to you? Will you start or finish a crochet project? How about trying a new yarn that you’ve never used before?
If you’d like to learn Irish Crochet or Bruges Lace Crochet in person, please consider signing up for one of my classes at the IOLI Convention in Mesa, AZ. This convention takes place the week of July 20-26 at the Hilton Phoenix/Mesa. I’m really looking forward to teaching these classes and meeting new people there! To find out more about this convention, check out the IOLI website. There are lots of other lace classes being taught at the convention, as well!
March is also a month to be grateful, especially for the knowledge and ability to crochet. There is so much for each of us to be grateful for in our lives. I’m grateful for my family, friends, a place to live, good health, and so much more! Crochet is another blessing to me and I’m very grateful for the ability to do what I love! I’ve met so many wonderful people throughout my crochet adventures and made many friends, near and far, because of crochet!
To celebrate National Crochet Month, I’d like to share a small blessing with you this month. You can enjoy a 25% discount off every one of my crochet and knitting patterns right here on my website throughout the whole month of March. To take advantage of this discount, use the code “NatCroMo2020” when you checkout.
I hope you enjoy National Crochet Month by trying some new patterns and/or expanding your crochet skills and knowledge, either face-to-face with someone, through in-person classes or online classes. If you’d like to try a few of my free crochet patterns, check out my “Free Patterns” page!
It’s that time of year again: the time we celebrate all things crochet with National Crochet Month (NatCroMo) during the month of March. Crochet is so good for our emotional health! It’s relaxing, it can be challenging (if we push ourselves and learn something new), it results in some great gifts for family and friends, plus it can bring like-minded people together to encourage each other and learn from each other. I’ve met so many friendly, encouraging people throughout the 40+ years I’ve been crocheting, especially in the past 16 years that I’ve been a Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) member. If you’ve never heard of CGOA, check out their website. You’ll be glad you did!
National Crochet Month seems to grow each year! This year, there will be designer blog tours, crochet-a-longs (CALs) and all kinds of crochet celebrations throughout the month of March. To help celebrate National Crochet Month, I’m offering a 25% discount on all of my patterns here on my website, along with in my Ravelry shop. Just use the code “NatCroMo2019” in either shop to enjoy the discount! The 25% discount is good on all of my crochet patterns and ebooks (plus my knitting patterns in my Ravelry shop). The discount is good from March 1-31, 2019 (Arizona time).
How do you celebrate National Crochet Month? Do you follow designer blog tours? Do you take part in crochet-a-longs? Do you learn a new crochet technique? Do you buy more yarn (who needs an excuse to buy more yarn, though)?
How many crochet projects do you make each year? I made dozens of crochet projects this past year and I learned a few new techniques (maybe not totally new, but new to me). In June of 2018, I learned to do Planned Pooling. If you’ve never heard of it, you can watch some videos by Marly Bird on Youtube. Planned Pooling is a very different technique. Most patterns are written for the moss stitch (sc, ch 1), but I used groups of 3 dc in my project. In planned pooling, it’s not the size/gauge of each stitch that’s important, it’s the number of stitches in each color and their placement that matters. Here’s a photo of the planned pooling afghan that I made in a month from 9 skeins of Caron Simply Soft yarn:
I also learned to do corner to corner crochet (aka: C2C). I tech edited a few C2C patterns years ago, but I never actually did this technique until January of this year! When I saw some photos of an adorable Grinch Scarf on Pinterest, I knew the time was right to learn this technique and make the scarf, since I LOVE the movie “The Grinch”! Here’s a photo of that scarf for you to see:
Last year, my 2nd grandchild was born in September. His name is Ryker. Here he is wearing one of the many hats that I crocheted for him:
Baby Ryker
I crocheted lots of baby booties for him, too! Here are a few of them:
I also crocheted a top from a Chinese crochet pattern from April – June of last year. I love following foreign crochet patterns (I don’t read the language, I just follow the symbol crochet charts). This one has a gorgeous pineapple yoke and hem. Here’s that top for you to see:
These are only some of the projects I crocheted (or knitted) last year. To see all of them and get some ideas for your next crochet project, check out my Ravelry projects page.
I hope you find many enjoyable ways to celebrate National Crochet Month! If you haven’t already downloaded my FREE crochet patterns, you can find them here. If you like what you see in these free patterns, you may choose to use the 25% discount on my other patterns for sale this month!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my crochet and knit friends in the US!
It’s that time of year again for gift making and gift giving! I think every crocheter and knitter enjoys crocheting and/or knitting gifts for their family and friends. I know I do! And it’s even more fun when you’re participating in a GAL (Gift-A-Long) with other crocheters and knitters!
Starting tomorrow night (Nov. 23) at 8:00 pm US EST and running for 5 1/2 weeks (ending on Dec. 31 at 11:59 pm US EST), I’m participating in the 6th Annual Indie Design Gift-A-Long on Ravelry. You may be asking yourself, “What’s so special about this Ravelry GAL group?”. It’s a wonderful place to meet other crocheters and knitters, to encourage each other and to see other people’s completed projects!
Last year, I participated in the GAL for the 2nd time and I had a blast! I was both a participating designer and a crocheter/knitter. During the GAL, I knit and crocheted 8 projects from many wonderful Ravelry designers whose patterns I’d never used before! I learned a lot of new things and was pleased with the resulting items. Each of these projects was from a different category of the GAL (there are 8 categories). That meant I finished a Ravelry GAL Opadoo! Here are the 8 projects I made last year for my Opadoo:
My 2017 Opadoo finished projects
Here are the original designers’ patterns that I knit/crocheted for my Opadoo:
2017 GAL patterns I used for my Opadoo
This year, I’m including 20 of my crochet and knit patterns in the GAL. Here’s a collage with all 20 of my sale patterns in it:
2018 GAL Patterns on sale for one week
Each of these 20 crochet or knitting patterns will be discounted 25% during the sale period (from 8:00 pm US EST tomorrow, Nov. 23, to 11:59 pm US EST on Nov. 29). To see my sale patterns closer and to take part in the sale, check out my Ravelry GAL bundle here.
This year, there are over 340 participating knit and crochet designers taking part in the GAL. Each designer has between 10 and 20 of their patterns discounted during the one week sale period, so that’s a lot of SALE patterns!!!
To find out more about the GAL and everything that’s going on in it, check out the official Ravelry GAL group here.
I hope you enjoy taking part in the GAL as much as I’ve enjoyed it the last 2 years (and I’ll be enjoying it again this year)!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all! I hope you’re all enjoying some wonderful time with your families and friends. I’ve been taking part in the Indie Design Gift-a-long on Ravelry and having a great time! I’ve finished 7 projects and I have one remaining project to finish by the end of the year to complete an Opadoo (I should be able to make it in time)! To learn more about the Gift-a-long, check out the Ravelry group here. To find out more about my finished projects (like the yarns I used and links to the designer’s pattern pages), check out my projects page on Ravelry here.
I thought I’d share photos of my 7 finished projects with you now. I also have a few gifts/discounts for you at the end of this blog post.
These are my 7 finished projects:
1. Week Before Christmas hat by Mary Renji
2. Pretty Spiffy Tuxedo Baby Bib by Darleen Hopkins
3. Coffee Cup Cozy by Heddi Craft (knit)
4. Grace and Lace Fingerless Mitts by Lilia Vanini (knit)
5. Lace Labyrinth shawl by 10 Hours or Less
6. Entrechat by Lisa Chemery (knit)
7. Mosaic Slippers by Arella Seaton (knit)
Week Before Christmas Hat
Pretty Spiffy Tuxedo Baby Bib
Coffee Cup Cozy
Grace and Lace Fingerless Mitts
Lace Labyrinth
Entrechat
Mosaic Slippers
This is the project (#8) that I’m currently working on to finish up by the end of the month. It’s the Seeds to Flowers Cowl by Kristina Vilimaite. Isn’t it a gorgeous design? I have a good start on it and if nothing slows me down, I think I’ll get it done in plenty of time to “Tame the Opadoo”!
Seeds to Flowers Cowl
So that’s what I’ve been doing for the past month! What about you? Are you crocheting and/or knitting gifts for Christmas this year? I enjoy crocheting and knitting for others, especially when they appreciate the time and effort that went into the gift!
Here is my holiday gift to you! Use the code “gift2017” (from today through the end of the year) on this website to receive 25% off all crochet patterns that I have available here on The Crochet Architect.
As an added bonus, the designer of the “Lace Labyrinth” shawl/scarf above (10 Hours or Less) has given me a special code to pass along to my followers to receive a 20% discount on all of their regular-priced crochet and knitting patterns. The code is “CrochetArchitect” and can be used in their Ravelry store. I LOVED crocheting my Lace Labyrinth and I LOVE so many of the “10 Hours or Less” patterns!
I’ve learned a lot from knitting and crocheting these 7 projects and I’m learning a few more things by knitting the last project. They’re all fabulous designs and I’m so glad that I’ve participated in the annual GAL!
I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Have you ever taken part in a crochet-a-long (CAL), a knit-a-long (KAL) or a gift-a-long (GAL)? I have a few times and they’re a lot of fun!
I wanted to tell you about a Gift-A-Long that’s taking place on Ravelry right now. It’s a group where hundreds of knit and crochet designers from around the world are taking part, discounting between 5 and 20 of their self-published patterns 25% for the GAL that officially starts tonight! The pattern discount runs from 8:00 pm EST tonight through 11:59 pm EST on Nov. 30. That’s over 8 days to purchase some of your favorite crochet and/or knit patterns by some fabulous designers at a sale price! There are thousands of patterns discounted and 335 designers participating this year! There are lots of games, prizes and KALs/CALs going on! You can read more in the Ravelry Indie Design Gift-A-Long group here.
This is the first year that I’m taking part in the GAL, both as a participating designer and a KAL/CAL participant. I’ve picked out 2 knitting patterns that I’m going to knit during the GAL, along with the yarn for each pattern. I’m very excited to take part in the GAL and I’m hopeful to win a prize or two! These are the 2 patterns/projects that I’m going to knit in the GAL:
No-Brainer One-Skeiner by Stitchnerd Designs
Schaumkronen by Owl Cat Designs
You can find the No-Brainer One-Skeiner pattern here and the Schaumkronen pattern here.
These are the 10 patterns that I have discounted for the GAL (the discount is only available on Ravelry during the discount dates/times):
If you’re interested in purchasing any of these 10 scarf and cowl patterns at 25% off, you can go straight to my “bundle” page here.
Here are some stats about the GAL:
As you can see, the KAL/CAL period runs from tonight through the end of the year. That’s plenty of time to knock out some of the crochet and/or knit gifts on your list!
I haven’t gotten totally organized on what I’m crocheting or knitting for who this year. I’m just concentrating on what I need to do for our Thanksgiving meal right now! But Christmas will be here before we know it! I may be ready and I may not be ready! Time will tell!!!
Have you taken part in the Indie Design Gift-A-Long on Ravelry before or are you participating this year? Do you enjoy taking part in CAL or KAL groups? It’s a lot of fun to crochet and/or knit with others, either in person or through the internet! There’s lots of cheering, encouraging, suggesting, etc that takes place and I’ve found that crocheters and knitters are a great group of people!
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!
Did you realize that next month (March) is National Crochet Month? Who doesn’t love a celebration! I certainly do! For the 4th year in a row, I’m taking part in the #natcromoCrochet Express blog tour. I can’t wait to see all of the fun, freebies and discounts that will be happening next month!
Over 90 crochet designers will be featured in this year’s blog tour, along with yarn companies, crochet-friendly yarn stores and daily giveaways. That sounds like so much fun!!!
Luck o’ the Irish Scarf close up
My date in this year’s blog tour is March 7th, so be sure to check out my blog post on that date. To celebrate National Crochet Month, I’ll be giving you 2 fabulous offers next month! Starting on March 7 and running until March 31, I’m offering a FREE pattern, my new “Luck o’ the Irish Scarf” design (no code needed) AND I’m giving a 25% discount on all crochet patterns on my website with a special coupon code that I’ll give you on March 7th.
To learn more about the festivities, freebies and giveaways going on in March 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.
Come ride the Crochet Express with me and celebrate all that is crochet!
Christmas is just 27 days away! Yikes! What crochet projects are you working on for Christmas gifts this year? I still need to start a few myself! Since I’ve waited so long, I’d better choose quick projects instead of lengthy ones! I just finished a crochet hat for my youngest son, but that’s not going to be a Christmas gift (he needs it sooner, since he’s living/working in Flagstaff, AZ this winter and the weather is pretty cold there in the winter). I never made a hat for him in 2011 when I crocheted hats for many of my family members, so he’s due for a hat made with love from Mom!
I think I’ll crochet some scarves and cowls this year for gifts. I love how fast many scarves are to make and how easy they are to crochet (with no increases or decreases in most scarves). And cowls are just as easy as scarves, but they don’t fall off when you wear them! Now I just need to decide how many scarves I’ll make and which ones to make first (the ones that need to be sent in the mail before it’s too late would be best to crochet first)!
But before I crochet those scarves for Christmas, I’d better think about and plan for Thanksgiving first! I really enjoy getting together with family and all the delicious food we have to eat on Thanksgiving! This year, I look forward to spending Thanksgiving with my husband and 2 of our 3 sons. These 2 sons live within driving distance and it’s always great to spend time with them. But our middle son and his wife live in China right now, so unfortunately they won’t be here for Thanksgiving. But they’re only a Skype call away!
I wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving with their family and friends! Try not to get too stuffed!!!
To celebrate Thanksgiving (Turkey Day!) and as a “Thank You” for your patronage over the past 6 years, I’d like to offer all of my return (and new) customers 25% off all patterns on my website and in my Ravelry store. This sale runs from Black Friday, Nov. 27, through Cyber Monday, Nov. 30 (all day Arizona time). Just use the coupon code “Thanks25” when checking out (in either cyber store) to receive the discount.
Happy Thanksgiving from the bottom of my heart!!! I hope you all have many things to be thankful for in your life!
