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!
Disclaimer: This blog post is longer than usual (but there are NO affiliate links in it)!!!
I can’t believe a month has gone by since my last blog post! Where does the time go? I thought I was supposed to have more time now that my kids are grown and out of the house!!!
It’s been a very busy 12 months since National Crochet Month last year. I went to China to visit my son, daughter-in-law and new granddaughter twice last year! Now I don’t have to go to China to see them. Yeah! They moved back to Arizona in January and I’m thrilled to have them back!!! Here’s a recent photo of Ruru (Rubekah) for you to see:
I’m in LOVE with her!!! And the crochet dress that I made her actually fit!!! This pattern was from a booklet called “Frilly Frocks” by Lucille LaFlamme. All of the dresses in that booklet are really cute! It was too cold the day we tried the dress on Ruru, so she’s got warmer clothes on underneath!
I also did something I’ve never done before in the past 12 months. I was the executor and trustee for my mom’s estate. My mom passed away in Feb. 2016 and left me to take care of her estate. I didn’t have a clue about what to do, but I learned a lot along the way. I think I’m all done with her estate because I got her trust tax return done and the K-1’s are in the mail to all of her beneficiaries. Whew! That’s a huge relief to have that behind me! I miss my mom very often, but I’m so glad to have the faith that she’s in heaven with my brother and daughter. I love you, mom! Thank you for all of your love and encouragement throughout my lifetime!
Okay, now on to National Crochet Month. In the past, I’ve taken part in the Crochetville National Crochet Month blog tour. But I decided to take a break from that this year for various reasons. You can follow the Crochetville National Crochet Month blog tour, read about the participating designers, receive some free crochet patterns and maybe win a prize by checking it out here.
Since I’m not taking part in the NatCroMo blog tour this year, I thought I’d talk about crochet and my designing career instead. I first learned to crochet as a teenager. My best friend taught me to crochet (thank you SOOOO much, Cheryl!). That was over 40 years ago and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning new crochet techniques and sharing what I’ve learned with others. In fact, I’ll be teaching 5 crochet classes at the CGOA Conference this July in Chicago (well, it’s actually in Itasca, just outside of Chicago)! Yeah! I LOVE teaching crochet classes at the conference!!! I meet so many fun, friendly crocheters there! You can read about all the classes that are being taught at the conference this year here. Registration will go live in 2 days (on March 8th), so you still have a little time to pick out your favorite classes and get your registration done right away so your favorite classes don’t sell out! The 5 classes that I’m teaching this year are Beginning Bruges Lace, Intermediate Bruges Lace, Beginning Filet Crochet, Intermediate Filet Crochet and Invisible Repairs (this is a brand new class on how to invisibly repair crochet projects and how to crochet an invisible seam in a crochet project).
Anyway, back to my story about crochet. I can’t remember the first thing I crocheted, but I know that soon after learning to crochet, I started crocheting doilies and anything with crochet thread. As I remember it, I think there were several reasons for this. One reason was that doilies usually change instructions in each round or two, which helps to keep my interest in the pattern (plus I think doilies are beautiful!). Another reason is that I’m somewhat of a “frugal” person and crochet thread isn’t that expensive! I could crochet several doilies for just a few dollars and that beat the price of many skeins of yarn to crochet an afghan! Don’t get me wrong, though. I also love to crochet afghans because they’re so useful and make excellent gifts! Speaking of gifts, I just finished crocheting 3 pairs of baby booties to be given as gifts for 2 people’s babies this month. Here they are:
As you can tell by the colors, these booties are for baby boys! I really enjoy crocheting baby booties because they don’t take long to make and not everyone can crochet them, so they’re more unique gifts at a baby shower (instead of the baby receiving dozens of baby blankets)!
I’ve spent hundreds of hours practicing my crochet skills and improving over the past 40 years. When my children were born, I wasn’t able to crochet as much. But after they got a little older and could do more for themselves, I soon got back into crocheting almost every day. When I was in my 30’s, I started designing a little, but never seriously. Then when we moved from Southern California to Arizona in 1995, I met 2 crochet designers in our small town who shared their designing knowledge with me and helped me get my designing career going! I am so thankful to Nanette Seale and Lucille LaFlamme for encouraging me and being so supportive! Thank you so much! You ladies rock!!!
My designing career officially got off the ground when I sold my first crochet pattern to Annie’s in 1999. It was my Snowflake Doily and Coasters Set. I’ve designed several hundred crochet patterns since then and I enjoy designing each and every one of them (some a little more than others, though). You can see all of my published crochet (and now knitting) designs on my Ravelry designer page here.
The first conference I ever attended was for the Society of Craft Designers (no longer in existence) in Sept., 2001 in Phoenix, AZ. It was close enough for me to attend without too much cost and I met a lot of crocheters there (I remember Carolyn Christmas and Darla Fanton from that conference). Darla Fanton told me about CGOA (the Crochet Guild of America) and invited me to join. I joined the next year (in 2002) and I haven’t looked back since! Through CGOA I have met so many other crochet professionals, including designers, magazine editors, publishers, etc. It’s a fantastic group of crocheters who are in love with crochet! We support each other, encourage each other, teach each other and have lots of fun at the annual crochet conference! There are local CGOA chapters throughout the US, too. Unfortunately, there is no CGOA chapter near me, but I attend 2 other groups of crochet enthusiasts during the year (monthly and/or weekly) to stay in touch with other crocheters and encourage each other regularly.
In Jan., 2002, I attended the HIA (Hobby Industry of America) trade show in Anaheim, CA. It was there that I met Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss, who owned American School of Needlework at that time. If you haven’t heard of Jean and Rita, just do a Google search and you’ll be in awe of the number of books that they’ve published/produced in their lifetimes! In fact, Jean Leinhauser started Leisure Arts way back when! Two years after meeting Rita and Jean, they were looking for technical editors for their new company, Creative Partners, LLC. I applied for the position and passed their editing test (much to their surprise)! So I was on my way to being a technical crochet editor! Less than 2 years later, I started technical editing for Crochet Today magazine, too. I was kept quite busy editing for both companies and I learned so much about writing a good crochet pattern when I was tech editing a lot. Looking back on those times, I’m not sure how I kept my sanity with so much work to do (I must be getting older)!
Anyway, the next addition to my crochet career came when some of my class proposals were accepted for me to teach at the CGOA Conference in 2009. I remember that like it was yesterday! My middle son got married in June, 2009 and the conference was at the end of July. A few weeks before the conference, my husband and I were taking a nature walk nearby and he was taking photos. I had my camera in my hand and before I knew it, I slipped on loose gravel, fell down and broke my left wrist! I couldn’t believe it! How could this happen before I was scheduled to teach at the conference? Would I still be able to teach my classes? Well, the following week, I had surgery to repair my broken wrist. My husband printed and bound the rest of my class handouts and was a HUGE help! So my classes didn’t have to be cancelled after all! With my left arm in a sling, my bags were all packed and I headed to the airport, where I got lots of help with my luggage! Once inside the terminal, I took one look at the escalator (with my arm in the sling) and turned around to find the elevator instead (I couldn’t hold onto the handrail and my carry-on bag with the same hand!). I taught 4 classes at the 2009 conference in Buffalo, NY with lots of help from some wonderful crocheters in my classes (and from Jean Leinhauser, too)! I even did my best to teach my shuttle tatting class to my students “one-handed”!!! I have many fond memories from that conference. My roommate even helped me with some of the “logistics” of getting dressed with one good hand, including how to put on jewelry one-handed! I even modeled the top and skirt that I crocheted to wear at my son’s wedding in the fashion show at the conference that year! I have a few photos that I’d like to share from that conference.
Jean and Rita
This is Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. Sadly, Jean passed away in 2010, but Rita is still producing knit and crochet books.
Waiting for editors
This is my roommate, Shari White, me, Andee Graves and Joyce Bragg waiting to show our crochet designs to the magazine and book editors who were there to talk with the crochet designers.
Modeling at CGOA Conference in 2009
This was me modeling the outfit that I crocheted for my son’s wedding at the CGOA Conference. If you look closely, you’ll see the wrist brace on my left wrist! I didn’t care! It was tons of fun to model the outfit, even if it didn’t come out exactly how I wanted it! Oh, I was modeling the shawl that my roommate, Shari, crocheted from my pattern in Crochet Today magazine, too!
Well, that’s the story behind my crochet career. It’s probably more than you wanted to know, but I think it’s fun to find out how some people got their start as professionals in the crochet industry. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning about my beginnings in the crochet industry.
What are you planning to do for National Crochet Month? Have you already gotten a start on learning a new crochet technique, starting a project that you’ve always wanted to crochet or buying some new yarn? Please share how you celebrate National Crochet Month in the comments below.
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’m thrilled to take part in the 3rd Annual Designer Blog Tour that Amy and Donna at Crochetville have put together. If you haven’t been keeping up with the blog tour that’s going on all of this month, you can read all about it and visit the many other designers’ blogs here.
One of the things we do for National Crochet Month is have a special charity that we’re supporting. This year the charity is Halos of Hope, which provides handmade hats to cancer centers across America. You can read all about them and find out how you can join in on their mission here.
Another thing that Amy and Donna at Crochetville are doing during March (National Crochet Month) is daily giveaways. If you haven’t checked those out and entered to win, you can find out all about them here.
All of the designers who are taking part for the whole month of March (National Crochet Month) are members of CGOA (the Crochet Guild of America). I’ve been a CGOA member for around 12 years now! Wow! Time really flies! To find out more about CGOA, check out their website here. I’m honored to have been the secretary on the CGOA Board of Directors since June, 2012, as well as co-chair of the CGOA Masters program. I’ll blog more about the CGOA Masters program on my CGOA Now blog post on March 27, as part of this Designer Blog Tour. So if you’d like some information about the Masters program, check out that blog post on March 27 here. I’m also working with Bobbie Matela from Red Heart/Coats & Clark this year to put together the CGOA Design Competition at the yearly conference in San Diego, CA this July! If you live anywhere near the west coast, this is your opportunity to attend an event that’s dedicated solely to the advancement of crochet!
If you’ve never been to the CGOA Conference (aka: the Knit and Crochet Show), you don’t know what you’re missing! It’s so much fun! You can read all about it here. TKGA (The Knitting Guild Association) is the knitting part of this conference. There will be lots of knit and crochet classes to take, a show floor with lots of knit and crochet vendors (with yarns, hooks, needles, patterns, etc to buy), fun events, a Masters Day for both TKGA and CGOA and new fiber friends to make! I love attending the conference each year where I either teach classes or take them (I’m taking classes this year). I love to learn more crocheting and knitting, don’t you? The K&C Show’s class schedule was posted last week and registration should open within the next week, I think. If you’re attending the conference, make sure you register early to get the classes you want to take. Once they’re full, you’re out of luck and you may have to take an alternate class instead of your first choice!
I hope you’re enjoying National Crochet Month and getting in lots of crochet time each day! I crochet year-round, so there aren’t too many days that go by without a crochet hook (or knitting needles) in my hands! I’ve been celebrating National Crochet Month by posting a photo and link to a FREE crochet pattern every day this month. Please check out my other blog posts to see the FREE patterns that you’ve missed! I hope you enjoy many of them and will keep watching my blog each day during the rest of March to get links to more FREE crochet patterns.
In honor of National Crochet Month, I’m giving a 25% discount on all crochet patterns on my website, from today through March 31. So you have just over 2 weeks to purchase any Crochet Architect patterns that you want with this “special” National Crochet Month discount. The discount is only available on this website, not in my Ravelry, Craftsy or Etsy shops. To purchase your patterns with this discount, just input the discount code of “NatCroMo2015” when you check out. You can see all of my patterns here.
Six Wiggly Hot Pads & Coasters
I love lots of crochet techniques and one of my favorite techniques is Wiggly Crochet. It’s one of those crochet techniques that is so interesting and fun to do! If you’re a fan of Wiggly Crochet, like me, you’ll find many exclusive Wiggly Crochet patterns right here on my website. If you’re curious about Wiggly Crochet, check out my tutorial here and my blog post here with a link to a FREE Wiggly Crochet pattern! You can see all of the Wiggly Crochet patterns available on my website here.
I hope you’ll enjoy the blog posts, tutorials and crochet patterns on my website. If you’d like to follow my blog, simply subscribe to my blog with your e-mail address. Your e-mail address will not be shared or sold. It will remain confidential, I promise!
In my crochet designs, I strive to create classic designs that are pleasing to the eye, well-balanced and color-coordinated. I hope you enjoy them! If you ever have a question about one of my crochet patterns, please send me a message at the bottom of my “About Me” page and I’ll answer your question ASAP!
I’ve been a crochet designer for over 15 years now. It’s been a blast doing what I love to do! I look forward to the next 15 years of designing and teaching crochet!
I’m thrilled to be taking part in Crochetville’s National Crochet Month (NatCroMo) Blog Tour again this year. Thank you very much, Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka, for putting together this year’s blog tour. I hope you’re enjoying each stop along the blog tour, learning more about crochet and getting your creative crochet juices flowing! Please check out the other stops along the blog tour on the Crochetville blog.
All of the designers and participants in this blog tour are members of CGOA (Crochet Guild of America). I’ve been a member of CGOA for over 10 years. It’s a fantastic organization with giving, caring, sharing, encouraging members. I’m also the secretary on the CGOA Board of Directors, as well as Co-Chair on the Masters Committee and a senior portfolio reviewer in the Masters program. For more information about CGOA and all we have to offer, including the Masters program, visit the CGOA website and the CGOA blog.
As you may already know, we’re supporting the charity, Halos of Hope, during the blog tour. If you’re not familiar with Halos of Hope, they’re a non-profit organization that collects and distributes donated hats for cancer patients who have gone through chemo and lost their hair. Please check out their website for more information about them. You can find out where to donate handmade hats on their website, as well. If you don’t knit or crochet, you can also get involved by donating monetarily to help pay for shipping the finished hats to cancer centers across the US.
To celebrate National Crochet Month, I have a free crochet pattern for you: my “Button Flower Pin”:
Button Flower Pins
Click here to get the free PDF pattern download, available for free only until April 15, 2014. After that date, the pattern will be available for purchase for $2.95.
I hope you enjoy making this flower pin with your favorite button in the center! You can use crochet thread or yarn, it’s your choice! So get creative and whip up some quick Button Flower Pins to adorn your wardrobe or to give as gifts! What woman or girl doesn’t love a pretty pin to wear? And what crocheter doesn’t love a quick project? It’s a great way to use up some scraps of yarn or thread, too.
You can even use this pin as a shawl pin to help hold your shawl in place, like I’ve done here with my knit shawl and crocheted shawl pin (You can see a close up photo of this pin in the following photo with multiple pins):
Knit Shawl & Button Flower Pin
The shawl and button flower pin were made with Patons Lace (the free knit shawl pattern is available on the Patons website here). This button flower pin was made with only the bottom layer of petals, since I didn’t have enough yarn to make both layers. I stacked some buttons in the center and added some beads around the buttons. I also used some size 10 crochet thread for working the edging around the petals. So mixing and matching colors, yarns, threads, buttons, beads and fibers is definitely allowed (and encouraged) for these pins!
I really enjoyed making these pins and found it hard to stop! Here are the button flower pins I’ve made so far:
Button Flower Pins
I’m sure you’ll come up with ideas of how you can make some of these pins and customize them to your wardrobe, or give them as gifts throughout the year.
Aren’t buttons wonderful? If you’re like me, you have a stash of buttons that are just waiting to be used. I have some fabulous old buttons and some newer buttons. Some of them are quite interesting and unique! If you’ve bought or inherited some vintage buttons, what better way to use them than by wearing them as a pin on your favorite outfit! Crochet mixes well with many other mediums and buttons are one of those mediums.
One of my favorite things to design and crochet is jewelry, such as these button flower pins. Crocheted jewelry is a wonderful project that doesn’t have to “fit” like garments, so it’s right up my alley! And buttons are great to use in crochet jewelry, too. Check out the free crochet necklace pattern that I designed (with buttons) for Red Heart Yarn on their website here. I used simple, new buttons in that necklace, but the buttons add so much visual interest to my Mod Flower Necklace!
If you’re a button lover and a crochet lover, you may even want to use a bunch of buttons to make a unique “Faux Tatted Crochet Necklace” (the pattern is available here at The Crochet Architect.com). This fun-to-wear necklace is crocheted to look like tatting. Size 10 cotton crochet thread, a size 7 (1.65mm) steel crochet hook and 21 buttons are used to make this necklace. I’ve made many of these necklaces over the years with some vintage buttons from my stash! Here are photos of a few of my necklaces using those buttons:
Faux Tatted Crochet Necklace
Faux Tatted Crochet Necklace
If you look closely, you’ll see a black Navy peacoat button with an anchor on it at the bottom, center of the black necklace! My middle son was in the Navy a few years ago, so that’s a special button to me!
You don’t need to have vintage buttons to make a Faux Tatted Necklace, though. I’ve made some with an assortment of new buttons and they look great, too! The secret to these necklaces is the “assortment” of buttons you use. I try to use different sizes (the largest size should be at the bottom center and the smallest size should be at the top left and right of the necklace), as well as several coordinating colors in my necklaces. Here’s one that I gave away as a prize during National Crochet Month last year for you to see:
2013 giveaway “faux” tatted necklace
And don’t limit yourself to using buttons in these necklaces. You can use beads or charms just as easily instead of buttons. Here’s a Faux Tatted Necklace that I made with some beads from my stash:
Faux Tatting Crochet Necklace with beads
One of the nice things about this necklace is that it’s big enough to fit over your head without needing a clasp. If you’re like me, fastening a necklace clap can sometimes be very difficult! And this necklace is easy to clean, too. When the necklace gets dirty, simply soak it in water in the sink with some liquid laundry detergent added. If needed, use an old, clean toothbrush and dab the laundry detergent directly on the dirty spot to remove stubborn dirt. Then rinse and let dry. Voila! It’ll be clean again and ready to wear in no time! These necklaces take just a few hours to make, so they’re also great to make and give as gifts.
If you’d prefer a whole set of crocheted jewelry, why not make a Faux Tatted Necklace, Bracelet and Earrings (this pattern is available here, too)?
Faux Tatted Jewelry Set
Faux Tatted Jewelry Set
If you’ve never crocheted with crochet thread before and would like to learn, I would love to have you in either of my online classes with Annie’s: “Crocheting With Thread” or “Beginner’s First Doily”. You can find out more about these classes by clicking on the picture of me near the top right-hand corner of the screen. Once you learn to use thread in your crochet projects, you may become a “threadie” and not want to go back to using yarn!!!
If you’re new to my blog, I’d like to say “thank you” for visiting and I hope you’re enjoying this designer blog tour. I regularly post book reviews, crochet news and more. I have a few tutorials with plans to add many more tutorials (and crochet videos) in the coming years. If you’d like to receive updates, including when new patterns are available for purchase, please subscribe to my blog by inputting your e-mail address in the field to the right. As you can see, I don’t blog all the time, so you won’t be inundated with e-mails from me (I respect your privacy and your time)! And if you have a request for a crochet tutorial, I’d be happy to work on that for you (as time allows). I love teaching others more about crochet and learning more myself, too.
Another way I’d like to celebrate National Crochet Month is to give away a free crochet pattern (of your choice) to 2 lucky winners. I’ll pick and notify the winners on March 31st. To enter this contest, you’ll need to do 2 things: 1) leave a comment on this blog post, 2) subscribe to my blog. Because of “spam” comments sometimes being a problem, you’ll need to make an account before commenting, but that’s quick and painless. With an account, you can leave comments on any of my blog posts now and/or in the future! And if you ever want to unsubscribe, you’re free to do that, as well. There are no strings attached!
I wish everyone a very happy National Crochet Month and good luck in the giveaway!
I hope everyone enjoyed the National Crochet Month Blog Tour last month. Wasn’t it great? I enjoyed it immensely!!! In fact, I still have a few websites to visit to see what the other CGOA professionals and associate professionals blogged about and what they might have been offering for NatCroMo. There were so many great crochet hints, behind the scenes photos, free crochet patterns, giveaways of yarn and projects, etc. I am blessed to be part of the fantastic organization that is CGOA! And attending the annual CGOA Conference is always a thrill! I learn so much, even when I’m the teacher! I never want to stop learning more about crochet and improving my crochet skills.
Can we have a drum roll, please? Without any further ado, the winner of the faux tatted necklace giveaway is… Marsha Stockton. Congratulations, Marsha! I’ll be e-mailing you today to get your address to send you the necklace. May you enjoy wearing it often! Thank you to everyone who entered. I really enjoyed your comments about thread crochet.
I hope everyone has a fantastic April and the weather warms up for a lot of you in colder climates.
Welcome to The Crochet Architect website. I’m thrilled to be taking part in the National Crochet Month blog tour through Crochetville today! You can read all about the blog tour and see the list of scheduled bloggers here. There’s a lot of crochet talent and knowledge between all of these bloggers, so why not visit each and every blogger this month. The other blog tour participant today is Michele Maks, a very talented crochet designer and the previous editor of Crochet World magazine. You can read her blog post here. Please consider supporting our charity for this blog tour, Project Night Night, either with a financial donation or by donating crocheted blankets. Project Night Night provides security to homeless children. You can read all about Project Night Night here and on the Crochetville blog tour post.
If you’ve never been to my blog and website before, welcome! I hope you’ll take a few minutes and look around. There are 3 free crochet patterns here: one for baby booties and 2 for coasters (one worked in rows and the other worked in rounds to practice increases and decreases). I also have patterns for sale here on my website. I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Susan Lowman. I am a crochet designer, technical editor and teacher. I am a proud member of CGOA (the Crochet Guild of America). If you haven’t heard of CGOA before, please visit the CGOA website to learn more. I am the secretary on the CGOA Board of Directors, as well as one of the 2 Co-Chairs and a portfolio reviewer on the Masters Committee. As you can see, I’m very involved in CGOA! It’s a fabulous organization dedicated to preserving and advancing the art of crochet. We have a conference or two every year. This year I’ll be teaching 6 classes at the conference in Indianapolis. I’d love to meet you at the conference and/or in one of my classes!
When I was asked to take part in this blog tour, I wondered what I would blog about. But then it came to me a few weeks ago: blog about what you love doing! Of course, in general, I love to crochet. But more specifically, I love to crochet with thread! I’m not sure when I started to crochet with thread. I think it was in the 80’s, but I’m not positive. I love to design and crochet with thread. I’m not particular whether I’m going to design something of my own with thread or crochet a thread project from someone else’s design. It makes no difference to me! As long as it’s made with crochet thread, I’m game!!! I love thread crochet so much, that when Annie’s asked me last year to put together an online class on Crocheting with Thread, I said “yes”! You can read all about that class and all the other online classes at Annie’s by clicking on the banner on the right-hand side of my website.
As part of National Crochet Month, I wanted to include something to give away, so please keep reading for the giveaway information a little further down.
I don’t know how many of you reading this now are threadies, like me! If you’re already a threadie, what is your favorite thing to crochet with thread? Do you love making doilies, jewelry or something else with crochet thread? Do you have a favorite crochet technique with thread (filet crochet, Bruges Lace, Wiggly crochet, etc)? Do you always use white thread for your thread crochet projects or do you like using certain colors of crochet thread in your thread projects? What is your favorite brand of crochet thread?
If you’re not a threadie (a person who loves to crochet with thread), what is holding you back from learning to crochet with thread? Do the small crochet hooks intimidate you? You don’t have to crochet with size 10, 20 or 30 thread for your first thread crochet project. You can start out with size 3 or 5 thread for your first thread crochet project (and use a size D or E crochet hook with these sizes of thread). Yes, I suppose it does take a little time to adjust your tension when using smaller thread and hooks. But it’s so worth it! Here are some of the projects I’ve crocheted with thread in the last few years:
My Crocheted Tablecloth
This is my favorite project (and one that took a lot of time, too!). It is the Pineapple Ovals Tablecloth from the book, Crochet Lace, by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. Here’s a photo of the front cover of that book:
Crochet Lace book
In 2005, I was extremely blessed to be asked to write all of the patterns in this book (except for the green tablecloth). Rita sent me all of the stitched models for the book from Jean’s collection. I had them in my possession for several years while I wrote the patterns for them. I also made some filet charts and stitched small pieces for the book. It was a true “labor of love”, since they’re all made with crochet thread! The tablecloths and bedspreads in this book are works of art!!! In 2010, I spent 11 months crocheting my tablecloth from the pattern in this book. I always use a clear plastic cover over it to protect it from spills! I think it turned out really nice and it’s the perfect size for my table, too. You can see more photos of this tablecloth in progress on my Ravelry projects page. You’ll be able to distinguish the different motifs of the tablecloth in these Ravelry photos. If you’d like to purchase a copy of this book, it’s still available through sellers at Amazon.com and other websites, as well.
Here’s a small part of the tablecloth pattern that I crocheted and turned into a framed piece of art:
Framed Piece of Tablecloth pattern
I made 2 of these and gave them as Christmas gifts in 2010, after I finished my tablecloth. This piece has 4 of the marquise shaped motifs around the edges and 1 fill-in motif in the center of them. These framed pieces were a lot of fun to make, too!
Another one of my favorite thread crochet projects is this Crinoline Lady:
Crinoline Bride framed
Crinoline Ladies leaflet
I crocheted her from a Maggie Weldon leaflet called “Crinoline Ladies”. Here’s a photo of the cover of that leaflet:
The Crinoline Lady that I made is called the Bride Doily. It was designed by Soledad Davis. I framed this Crinoline Lady and have her hanging above my bed. If you’re interested in making this Crinoline Lady, the leaflet is available on Maggie’s website.
Here’s a doily I crocheted last year from one of Kathryn White’s patterns:
project from Kathryn White’s doily pattern
Kathryn is an extremely talented thread crochet designer and a very good friend of mine. We met at the CGOA Conference in Greensboro, NC in 2011. I love her thread crochet designs! They’re fabulous! Don’t you agree? If you’d like to make this doily, the pattern is available on Kathy’s website.
I could go on and on with photos of beautiful thread crochet designs, but this blog post would get way too long! So I won’t.
Okay, as promised, I’m going to give away something to a lucky blog reader in honor of National Crochet Month. I’ve chosen one of my thread crochet necklaces to give away. Here’s a photo of the necklace that you have a chance to win:
Faux Tatted Necklace prize
It’s my Faux Tatted Necklace. No, it’s not tatted, it’s crocheted to look like tatting! The pattern for this necklace is available in 2 ways: as just the necklace itself or as part of a set of jewelry (the necklace, bracelet and earrings). I love making these necklaces and I hope the winner will love her necklace, as well. If you don’t win this necklace and would like to make one of your own, the pattern is available here on my website.
To enter for a chance to win this necklace, simply leave a comment on this blog post with the answer to one (or more) of these questions:
1. What is your favorite project to crochet with thread?
2. What is your favorite brand of crochet thread to use?
3. If you’re not a threadie, what is holding you back from learning to crochet with thread?
I’ll draw the lucky winner at random on April 1st, so you have 6 days to enter. The winner’s name will be posted on my blog on April 1st, as well. Good luck!!! (Note: Because of high shipping costs, this giveaway is limited to US residents only.)
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at thread crochet and are ready to give it a try! Please check back often to read new updates on my blog and to see my new crochet patterns. Or simply subscribe to my blog for automatic updates!
There are still more stops on the National Crochet Month Blog Tour, so keep reading the blog posts through the end of this month. I’m sure you’ll learn more! And there are sure to be more giveaways, free patterns, etc from the other blog participants!
Locomotive Toy (published in Crochet World magazine, Dec. 2009)
Where did February go? It’s almost March already! And that means National Crochet Month will be starting! Yahoo!!! Do you have plans to do anything “special” for National Crochet Month? I do!
Dragon Ship (published as a web bonus online in Crochet World magazine, Feb. 2011)
There will be a blog tour called “A Tour through Crochet Country” starting tomorrow, March 1st, and running every day in March on Crochetville. Each of the 31 days in March, 1 or 2 crochet designers from the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) will be blogging about crochet. Most of the crochet designers live in the US, but there is at least one designer taking part in the blog tour who lives outside the US (in Australia). Go here to see the list of designers and the schedule for the day each one is participating in the blog tour. There will be some really fantastic crochet designers participating; some you may not know yet! I’ll be blogging on March 26th for this blog tour. It should be a blast!!! I can’t wait! I’m sure we’ll all learn something new about crochet or about some of our favorite crochet designers. I hope you enjoy this blog tour and have a wonderful “National Crochet Month”!!!
Stay tuned for the announcement of the winner in my Wiggly Crochet Dishcloths giveaway tomorrow morning! Thanks for reading and commenting on my blog this month! I really enjoy the feedback!
