I’ve been wanting to film a video to teach the Thermal Stitch for quite a while and I finally have one for you. But first, a little background on how/where I learned this fabulous stitch.
I first learned the Thermal Stitch from Darla Fanton at the 2008 CGOA Conference in Manchester, NH. Darla is a great teacher and I learned a lot in that class. However, life got in the way and I never pursued doing anything with the Thermal Stitch.
Fast forward to around 2015 when a good crochet friend named Jackie showed me the thick potholder she had made from a free pattern on the internet. She shared the link to the free pattern (by Heather Tucker of Stitchery Project) and taught me the stitch (which I had somehow forgotten from Darla’s class). I was immediately hooked! I’ve been making Thermal Stitch Potholders ever since! They’re so easy to make once you learn where to insert your hook! It’s just simple rows of single crochet, which is pretty mindless (sometimes I need a mindless project!).
Thermal Stitch Potholder
One thing I changed in Heather’s pattern was the placement of the hanging loop. Heather makes her hanging loop at the bottom of the potholder. I decided I wanted to make my hanging loop at the top of the potholder. The reason for this is sometimes I want to make a hot pad without a hanging loop instead of a potholder. So I just don’t work the hanging loop at all. Since I changed Heather’s free pattern, I decided to type up my version of this potholder as a free pattern. You can download my free pattern here.
You can find Heather’s free potholder pattern (named “The Best Crocheted Potholder”) here.
The potholders are economical to make. When I see a sale on worsted weight cotton yarn, I stock up on it. This makes the potholders about $1 each, which I love!
These potholders make great gifts! I’ve given them to friends and family for Christmas and/or birthdays, as “thank you” gifts, and as wedding (or bridal shower) gifts, as well.
To learn the Thermal Stitch, watch my new YouTube video here.
I hope you enjoy crocheting these potholders as much as I do!
If you’re a beginner crocheter (or just like to crochet quick, easy projects), I have a FREE beginner coaster pattern, along with 2 YouTube videos for you. This coaster is an easy, beginner pattern that anyone can successfully make. In the 2 videos, I teach you how to do the center of the coaster in rows of single crochet. I also teach you to add any of the 4 edging options to your coasters: 1 round of sc, 3 rounds of sc, corner beads and tassels or side fringe. Here’s a look at the coasters in the video:
As you can see, you can make your coasters in any colors you like. I’ve chosen different colors for the coasters in this FREE pattern to make each of these 4 different coaster finishes distinct! However, I made a set of coasters for our home in colors that coordinate with our living room.
These coasters make great gifts and are very economical to make. One skein of yarn, that costs around $2 – $3, is all you need to make a set of 4 coasters.
I hope you’ll give these easy, beginner coasters a try. Please let me know if you like this coaster pattern and if you have any questions about the pattern, please don’t hesitate to ask. I’d love to see photos of your finished projects!
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!
Heart Coaster
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.
Filet Heart Coaster
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.
Wiggly Valentine Hot Pad & Coaster Set
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!
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!
I’d like to share a new FREE pattern with you. It’s called “Lacy Granny Scarf”. The pattern is available on the Red Heart UK website here.
Lacy Granny Scarf
I designed this scarf about 4 months ago for Red Heart using their Red Heart “Precious” yarn, available in the UK. This yarn is a #1 weight yarn, made with 80% acrylic and 20% mohair fibers. I really enjoyed using this yarn and the scarf blocked up very nicely! As with any mohair yarn, you need to be careful with your stitches because ripping out can be a “challenge”!
The scarf measures 6″ wide x 60″ long and is made with 10 motifs, each measuring 6″ square. The motifs are joined as you go, so there is no sewing required. There is a simple single crochet edging worked around the joined motifs to give the edges some stability.
Since this pattern is published in the UK, some of the crochet terms are different in the pattern than the crochet terms we use here in the US. Here are the different terms used in this pattern:
UK “dc” = US “sc”
UK “tr” = US “dc”
UK “dtr” = US “tr”
It can sometimes be hard to wrap your head around the different crochet terms used in another country in a crochet pattern! I’ve rewritten patterns from the UK before with the US crochet terms in them to help myself remember which stitch to work when I’m making something from one of these patterns! And sometimes I draw a symbol crochet chart instead of using the written crochet pattern. I do whatever it takes to understand the pattern in order to make the project accurately!
If you love lacy crochet projects, I hope you’ll give this pretty Lacy Granny Scarf a try.
In honor of baseball’s Spring Training, today’s FREE crochet pattern is a baseball cap for babies!
Spring Training Cap
This Spring Training Cap pattern was designed by Linda Permann for the Mar/April 2012 issue of Crochet Today magazine. The pattern is available for FREE here.
Isn’t this baby adorable? Of course, this baseball cap would look great on any baby!
In keeping with the Easter theme, today’s FREE crochet pattern is an adorable duck!
Crochet Duck
This duck pattern includes a removable bonnet! How cute is that? And the facial expression on the duck is priceless!!! Jackie Laing from the website, Amidorable Crochet designed this cute duck. You can find the free pattern on her website here.
If you love bunnies, you’re going to love today’s FREE crochet pattern!
Spring Bunnies
This is the Spring Bunnies pattern by Stephanie Jessica Lau of the All About Ami website. You can find this FREE pattern here. I think this is the 3rd FREE crochet pattern of Jessica’s that I’ve shared this month! I really like Jessica’s designs! She has a great style of designing and her projects are so cute!
I hope you’ll enjoy this FREE crochet pattern and make a spring bunny for someone you love this week!
Since Easter is coming, I’ve got another FREE Easter crochet pattern for you today. These chicks would work up in very little time (at least for one of the chicks, not a dozen of them)!
Baby Chicks in Eggshells
This is the “Baby Chicks in Eggshells” pattern by Lani Herschensohn of the Red Hot Fibers website. You can find this adorable pattern here. This is what Lani wrote about the pattern:
“This pattern is a great way to make a game for young children. Mix up the baby chicks and the shells and the child learns to match their colors. It helps with their fine motor skills as they match up the correct chick with the eggshell.”
The pattern doesn’t say anything about stuffing the chicks, but I think I’d stuff them with some polyester fiberfill to help them keep their shape.
