crochet patterns – Page 3 – The Crochet Architect

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017

Christmas Gift

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)

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”!

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!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

November 21, 2017November 21, 2017

GAL, CAL and KAL Info

Do you know what the terms GAL, CAL and KAL mean? They’re gift-a-long, crochet-a-long and knit-a-long, respectively. So what does that mean? It means that many crocheters and knitters get together either in person or online to crochet or knit the same pattern (or sometimes different patterns). What is so special about these CAL’s, KAL’s and GAL’s? Well, they create a sense of community, encouragement and helping each other out. If someone has a question about the pattern that many people are crocheting or knitting (or a particular yarn they’re using or thinking about using), it’s the perfect place to ask questions!

Starting tonight at 8:00 pm US EST, I’m participating in the 5th Annual Indie Design Gift-A-Long on Ravelry. You may be asking yourself, “What’s so special about this Ravelry group?”. It’s a wonderful place to meet other croheters and knitters, to encourage each other and to ooh and aah at other people’s completed projects! Last year, I participated in the GAL for the first time and I had a blast! I was both a participating designer and knitter. During the GAL, I knit 2 projects from 2 wonderful patterns by 2 different Ravelry knitting designers whose patterns I’d never used before! These were the 2 projects I knit last year:

The top project is a Schaumkronen, designed by SimoneKereit. The bottom project is a No-Brainer One-Skeiner, designed by Susan Ashcroft. Both of these patterns were absolutely fabulous! I thoroughly enjoyed knitting them and learned a few things at the same time.

I have 20 crochet and knit patterns that I’m including this year in the GAL (that’s twice as many as last year). Here is a collage with all 20 patterns in it:

Each of these 20 crochet or knitting patterns will be discounted 25% during the sale period (from 8:00 pm US EST tonight, Nov. 21, to 11:59 pm US EST on Nov. 28). To see my sale patterns closer and to take part in the sale, check out my Ravelry GAL bundle here.

There are over 300 participating knit and crochet designers taking part in the GAL this year. 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 enjoyed it last year (and I’ll be enjoying it again this year)!

Happy crocheting (and knitting),

Susan Lowman

October 26, 2017

Scarves, scarves and more scarves!!!

Just in time for the cooler weather, here is another crochet scarf pattern for your stitching pleasure! Announcing my “Hitch a Ride Scarf”.

This scarf is so much fun to crochet! And it uses just one skein of sport weight or worsted weight yarn (250-300 yards). The finished scarf measures 60″ long x 14″ wide with the one skein. If you desire a longer and/or wider scarf, simply use 2 skeins of yarn instead. The scarf starts out at the narrow end and gets wider as you add more rows. With the construction of this scarf, you can make your scarf as long and wide as you desire (and have enough yarn to make). Simply stop crocheting when you reach the desired size of your scarf.

The stitch pattern is a 2-row repeat, so it’s easy to memorize. The pattern includes written instructions, as well a symbol crochet charts for the scarf and 2 options for the last row, in case you’re running out of yarn!

I love color-changing yarns and this pattern looks fabulous in many types of color-changing yarn! Here are a few more of these scarves that I whipped up in a matter of 1-2 days each:

I just LOVE this scarf and the colors of these yarns (and I think you will, too)!!!

You can find this new crochet scarf pattern for $4.95 on the pattern page here.

Happy crocheting (and I hope you stay warm this winter)!

Susan

October 13, 2017

Is it a Cowl or a Shawl?

I’ve been having a really fun time lately designing more accessories for you! I hope you’ve all been well and are having a good time crocheting some fabulous projects!

At the end of last year, I took part in the Ravelry Indie Design Gift-A-Long (GAL) as both a designer and a crocheting/knitting participant! It was so much fun and I learned a lot!!! One of the things I noticed in the knit/crochet patterns that were part of the GAL, was some designs that are a hybrid between a cowl and a shawl. I LOVE this concept and I knit a beautiful shawlette/cowlette during the GAL last year.

This year, I set out to design a crochet hybrid, which I’m calling a cowlette. I’ve made 3 of them so far and they work up quite quickly! I designed my cowlette pattern with super fine (sock) weight yarn for lots of drape! The fabulous part about these hybrid cowls/shawls is that they don’t fall off when worn, like shawls can sometimes! So without further ado, here is my newest crochet design, the Cozy Cowlette:

As you can see, this cowlette is made in the traditional triangle shape. It’s worked from the front, center neck edge down to the bottom. It starts in rows, but changes into joined rounds about 2/3 of the way down. There are 2 versions of this pattern: the one-color version and the two-color version. I love them both! Here is a photo of the back of one of them:

For the two-color version, I used a portion of 2 skeins of Loops & Threads Woolike yarn from my local Michaels store. This yarn is 85% acrylic and 15% nylon, has 678 yards and costs just $3 (unless you use a discount coupon and get it for even less)! With this many yards, you can make 2 cowlettes with just 2 skeins total! This yarn has lots of bounce, too! Of course, you can use any yarn of the same weight that you desire for your cowlette!

For the one-color version, I used some generic acrylic yarn that I purchased at the Knit & Crochet Show several years ago. I added some tiny beads that I had in my stash to the bottom edge, which you can see here:

One-color Cozy Cowlette edging with beads

You can purchase the Cozy Cowlette pattern for just $4.95 here.

I hope you’re enjoying the change in weather and are looking forward to crocheting some new accessories for Fall and Winter this year! I love the fun crochet accessories that can be made and worn during the cooler times of the year!!!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

July 18, 2017

Crochet Toys for Babies and Toddlers

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer and enjoying lots of sun, relaxation and a vacation or two! A few weeks ago, my husband, middle son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter and I went up to Idaho to visit my dad and step-mom. We stayed at Zion National Park on the way up and at Yellowstone National Park on the way back. It was lots of fun, we saw some beautiful animals and we made some great memories! One of the memories was more scary than fun, though! The 2 propane tanks came off our travel trailer while driving to Yellowstone! One of the tanks disappeared completely and the other was hanging on, scraping on the road and sparking! We feel very blessed that God had His angels keeping us safe. This could have had disastrous results, since propane can explode!

Now that I’m back from vacation, I’m busy getting ready for the CGOA Conference, where I’ll be teaching 5 (or 6) crochet classes next week! Since one of the teachers can’t make it to the conference, several of the teachers with sold out classes were asked if they could teach another class to fill in for her classes, which were cancelled. I said I’d be happy to teach my sold out Invisible Repairs class a 2nd time, so I’m scheduled to teach it both Friday morning and Friday afternoon at the conference! If you weren’t able to get into the Friday morning class, you are in luck! Now you can sign up at the conference for the Friday afternoon class (a repeat of the morning class) and pay the pre-registration price there! If you’re planning to take my new Friday afternoon class, please check out the homework for the class and get it done before the afternoon class. You can find the homework here. I hope to see you at the conference!!!

I thought I’d take a little break from printing class handouts today and share some fun baby toys to crochet with you! I crocheted 3 baby toys in the past few months for my granddaughter, Rubekah (Ruru for short)! They were all lots of fun to make.

First is the “Into the Jungle” stacking animal rings designed by Cindy Cseh. The pattern was available in the April, June and August 2013 issues of Crochet World magazine. I knew when I saw the pattern that I wanted to make it for a grandchild some day! So earlier this year, I set out to make it. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s a lot of fun to see my granddaughter play with it! You can see more photos of this fun project on my Ravelry project page here.

The 2nd is the Amish Puzzle Ball by Dedri Uys. This pattern is so much fun to make and put together! This is a FREE pattern that you can find here. I LOVE this pattern and I’ll probably make several more, just for fun!

The 3rd project that I crocheted for my granddaughter is also by Dedri Uys. It is the Crochet Dinosaur Puzzle that is in Dedri’s book, Amamani Puzzle Balls, by Annie’s. This project was somewhere between the complexity of the Amish Puzzle Ball and the Into the Jungle stacking animals! The pattern was great and easy to follow! You can see all of the patterns in this book here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing these 3 crochet baby toy projects and are inspired to crochet some toys for your favorite baby very soon!

Happy crocheting,

Susan

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 18, 2016April 18, 2016

Crocheting for My Grandchild!

As you can tell from the title of this blog post, I’m going to be a grandma! Yahoo!!! My husband and I are expecting our first grandchild, who is supposed to be a girl, at the beginning of June, which is quickly approaching! We are thrilled that we’re going to be grandparents! So in preparation for my first grandchild (granddaughter), I’ve been crocheting and knitting lots of things for her (that’s why I’ve taken some time away from designing lately)! Here are some of the things I’ve made:

I really enjoy crocheting baby booties and thread baby booties always look so adorable to me! So for the past few weeks, I’ve made these 4 pairs of baby booties and sandals. The patterns are all from a Leisure Arts book called “Booties by the Dozen”, by Kay Meadors. Here’s a photo of the front of that book:

Last year, after finding out that we’re going to be grandparents, I made a few other pairs of baby booties with yarn. Here’s a photo of those booties:

As you can tell, we didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl at that time! According to the latest ultrasound from a few weeks ago, there is a 90-95% chance that it’s a girl!!! Since my only daughter is in heaven and I have 3 grown sons, a granddaughter is exactly what I was hoping to get (of course, it’s my son and daughter-in-law’s baby, but I’ll be one of her 2 grandmothers)!

Here are 2 baby blankets that I’ve crocheted for her, too:

The top blanket in pastels is the one that I finished for my mom after she passed away in February. It was a “labor of love” to finish it for her. You can read all about this blanket in my previous blog post here.

The bottom blanket is the turquoise blanket that I designed last year before I knew if it was going to be a boy or a girl. I think turquoise can be used for either one and it’s one of my daughter-in-law’s favorite colors! I used almost a full skein of Lion Brand Pound of Love yarn, which has 1,020 yards in it! The contrasting white sections in the edging didn’t take much yarn, though.

Here are a few sweaters that I’ve knit for the baby, too:

Baby's First Sweater — Baby’s First Sweater

The top sweater is knit with half of a skein of Lion Brand Ice Cream in color #206 Tutti Frutti. I really enjoyed knitting this sweater because of the colors of the yarn! And I have enough yarn left over for another sweater or possibly matching booties!

The bottom sweater is knit with half of a skein of Moda Dea Tweedle Dee that I had leftover from years ago (I don’t think this yarn is made any more, though). It’s a bulky yarn and this sweater knits up in just 2-3 hours (from the top down)! It’s a really quick project and I like the final sweater. My youngest son went to China in February and took this sweater, along with a couple of other baby items that I made, to my middle son and daughter-in-law for me. My daughter-in-law said that this sweater reminds her of ewoks from Star Wars! It doesn’t look like what the ewoks wore in the movie, but the colors do kind of look like ewok colors. If you’re a knitter and you’d like to knit one of these quick baby sweaters, you can find the free pattern on Ravelry here. It’s called “Wee Speedy”.

And here’s a bib that I crocheted for her from a pattern than I designed years ago:

This is a Tunisian baby bib. If you’ve never tried Tunisian crochet before, you should check it out! It’s a lot of fun! I find it rhythmic to do and the resulting texture lends itself very well to cross stitching on top of it!

And last, but not least, here is a diaper cover and coordinating hat that I crocheted last year for her:

This diaper cover and baby hat were from the book, “Baby Brights” by Kathleen McCafferty. You can see that book on Amazon here. I have no idea how well this diaper cover will work, but my son and daughter-in-law are planning to use cloth diapers, so I may be making more of these, if they work out well for them.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the things I’ve made (so far) for my granddaughter. Of course, I’ll share photos of her after she arrives (which will be in China because my son and daughter-in-law are living there and attending a Chinese university to learn Chinese/Mandarin). I’m planning to fly over there for the birth of my first grandchild, God willing! So until then, you’ll probably find me knitting and/or crocheting more things for our little “bundle of joy”!!! Yippee!!!!!

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