"building crochet designs one stitch at a time"
Thank you to those of you who entered to win a free copy of Brenda Bourg’s new crochet book, Fair Isle Tunisian Crochet. The winner was chosen this morning. Congratulations to Ruth Ticknor! You’re the lucky winner of Brenda’s wonderful new book! I’ll e-mail you shortly and get your contact information for sending your new book.
Happy National Crochet Month everyone! Don’t forget to follow the Crochetville National Crochet Month Blog Tour with daily giveaways!
Happy crocheting,
Susan
It’s been a month since my last blog post and I’ve been really busy! I’m preparing to teach at the Annie’s Craft Festival in 8 days! And I’m working on a “top secret” project, as well (I’ll tell you all about it once I’m all done and it’s ready for announcing!) But until then, I’d like to hold a giveaway! Read on for more information…
Are you attending the Annie’s Craft Festival in Fort Wayne, IN a little over a week from now? The dates are Oct. 30-Nov. 1. I’m going to have a wonderful time there teaching 3 crochet classes:
I love meeting new students and sharing my love of crochet with them! To read about these classes, just check out my previous blog post here or the Annie’s Craft Festival classes page here.
To learn all about the Annie’s Craft Festival and see the listing of classes being offered in each of the 10 crafting categories, check out this website. There are lots of extra events going on at the festival besides the classes, too. There’s a marketplace and 2 evening events (one with Debbie Macomber). So check it out and see what all the excitement is about! I’ll be attending the Crafts & Cocktails Halloween Party on Saturday night, all decked out in my crocheted Star Trek dress and accessories! It’ll be a lot of fun!!! I’m sure I’ll have some photos of that night to share with you after I get back!
If you haven’t registered to attend the Annie’s Craft Festival yet (or didn’t register for all the classes you wanted to take), this could be your lucky day! Annie’s has graciously offered a FREE class for me to give away to someone who is going to the Annie’s Craft Festival. That’s one FREE class to the lucky winner of this giveaway (any class you choose in any craft category)! The class is a $65 value! If you’re the lucky winner, you’ll get the class for FREE!!! I love things that are free, don’t you?
Here are the details of this giveaway:
1 – You must be able to attend or already be attending the Annie’s Craft Festival.
2 – You must LOVE crafting in one or more categories of crafts that will be taught at the Annie’s Craft Festival (crochet, knitting, beading, cake decorating, cross stitch, embroidery, floral arranging, painting, paper crafts, quilting or sewing).
3 – You must have a valid e-mail address and check it during the 24 hours after this giveaway ends for notification, if you’re the LUCKY WINNER!
4 – You must know or have a good idea of the FREE class you’d like to take!
To enter this giveaway, just leave a comment below about what craft category (or categories) you enjoy! You’ll need to have an account on my website to leave a comment, as this cuts down on spam comments being left. If you don’t have an account, it’s simple to do. Just go to the “Login” button at the top of the page and scroll down to “Register”. Then fill in the “user name” and “password” blanks, check for the e-mail that will be automatically sent to you and verify that you’re registered. You only need to register once and I promise I will NOT sell your information to anyone! It’s just used here on my website to leave a comment (which is how I typically pick the winner for each of my giveaways). Once you register, you can leave comments on any of my blog posts. I love to hear from the people who read my blog, so please leave me a comment as often as you like! It’s a lot of fun to meet other crochet enthusiasts, whether in person or through the internet!
Remember that you must be attending (or be able to attend) the Annie’s Craft Festival to enter this giveaway (it’s a waste of time for me to give a FREE class to someone who isn’t attending!).
I’ll pick the lucky winner at random at 7pm (Arizona time) on Sunday evening, October 25th (that’s only 3 days to enter). If you’re the lucky winner, I’ll send you an e-mail right away to let you know you’ve won! And I’ll notify Annie’s on Monday morning so you can pick your FREE class!
Good luck to everyone who enters and I look forward to seeing you at the Annie’s Craft Festival in 8 days!
Happy crocheting,
Susan
The winner has been chosen! Congratulations to Carmen, who is the winner of a copy of the book, “Colorful Crochet Lace” by Mary Jane Hall! I know you’re going to love this book!
Thank you to all who entered this giveaway. Stay tuned for more book reviews, giveaways, hints, tutorials and helpful information about the wonderful world of crochet!
Happy crocheting,
Susan
The winner has been chosen! Congratulations to Pamela, who is the winner of the “Tunisian Crochet for Baby” book giveaway! I know you’re going to love this book!
Thank you to all who entered this giveaway. Stay tuned for more book reviews, giveaways, hints and helpful information about the wonderful world of crochet!
Happy crocheting,
Susan
Are you a big fan of Tunisian crochet? I really enjoy the rhythm of this wonderful crochet technique. I enjoy putting the stitches on the hook and taking them off. In my mind, Tunisian crochet is like marrying the best of crochet and knitting! In fact, many of the stitches in Tunisian crochet look just like knit stitches (at least on the right side of the work). If you’ve never tried Tunisian crochet, what are you waiting for? Why not give it a try today?
I recently came across a new Tunisian crochet book with baby patterns in it. It’s called “Tunisian Crochet for Baby” by Sharon Hernes Silverman. The book is published by Stackpole Books and retails for $21.95. It has 140 pages with 23 patterns, along with instructions and step-by-step photos for working basic crochet stitches, as well as Tunisian crochet stitches. There are projects for every skill level, too. I recommend this book if you’ve done Tunisian crochet before and are looking for some really cute Tunisian crochet baby projects to make. There are blankets, hats, a pullover, pants, a headband, mittens, a hoodie, a skirt, a poncho, a turban, a nursery box, washcloths, a cocoon, as well as a christening gown, bonnet and booties. Here are some of my favorite projects from this book:
This is the Harlequin Blanket. It is worked in the entrelac method of making squares and attaching the new square to the previous square as you go, so there are no seams involved. I’ve seen this technique before, but I’ve never tried it. I intend to do that one of these days because it looks like it would be relaxing to make, but have enough interest to hold my attention!
This is the Sherbet Stripes Blanket and Hat. I LOVE the colors in this set! And I also love how the hat is made with Tunisian knit and purl stitches, which look just like a knitted hat! The blanket is made with Tunisian simple stitch and edged with crocheted shells. I’m looking forward to learning to decrease stitches in Tunisian crochet by making this baby hat someday soon!
This is the Nursery Box filled with the Washcloth Quartet (4 different washcloths). I LOVE quick projects, and these washcloths are just that. They’d make great baby shower gifts for any mother-to-be!
Besides the wonderful projects, another thing I really like about this book is the charts showing which stitches are worked in each row or round. I’ve never seen Tunisian crochet charts before (or never really noticed them). I really like being able to see visually what the written instructions are saying to do!
So if you’re looking for a really nice book with Tunisian crochet projects to make for babies, I hope you’ll consider adding this book to your crochet library! You can check out all the projects in the Look Book that Stackpole Books has on their website here. The book is available in paperback or as an ebook in pdf format through Stackpole Books here or as a printed book through Amazon here.
As a bonus for this blog tour, I’m having a giveaway for a pdf download of this book. The giveaway runs through October 8th. To enter the giveaway and receive a complimentary, instant pdf download of this fabulous book, simply leave a comment on this blog post to be entered. The lucky winner will be randomly drawn and announced on October 9th. Good luck and happy crocheting!
Susan
The winner has been drawn for the free copy of Tammy Hildebrand’s new book, “Crochet for Baby All Year”. Congratulations to Karen H. for winning this book! I know you’re going to love it!
Thank you to everyone who entered this giveaway. Stay tuned for more book reviews, crochet news, new crochet patterns and tutorials coming soon.
I’ll be taking a break from blogging for a few weeks. I’m heading to the CGOA Conference in Manchester, NH next week. The conference is always so much fun! I’ll be teaching 3 classes (2 crochet and 1 shuttle tatting). I’m also going to take 2 knitting classes to learn more about knitting and improve my knitting skills. I had my first 2 knitting designs accepted for publication 2 months ago. You’ll be able to see them sometime next year when they’re published (designs are always kept “secret” until they’re published).
To read all about the CGOA Conference (aka: The Knit and Crochet Show) and to see what goes on there, check out this link.
I hope everyone enjoys the rest of this month.
Happy crocheting!
Susan
Who doesn’t LOVE babies? And if you’re a crocheter, I’m sure you love crocheting for babies as much as I do (or maybe even more)! My 3 sons are all grown up and I’m looking forward to having some grandchildren in the near future (hint, hint!). When my grandchildren start to arrive, you can bet that I’ll be crocheting baby hats, blankets, booties and outfits for them! But for now, I continue to crochet other things and once in a while I sneak in a baby project for a relative’s or friend’s new baby!
I’m pleased to review Tammy Hildebrand’s brand new book, “Crochet for Baby All Year” by Stackpole Books. It’s 120 pages long and retails for $21.95 in the US ($25.95 in Canada). You can see all the projects in the book here.
This book is fabulous!!! It’s full of outfits for babies from birth up to 18 months. There are 20 designs in the book with 1-2 different outfits for boys and girls during every month of the year. The photos are adorable, as are the outfits and the babies in them! Tammy even used her granddaughter, Willow, as one of the models! How cool is that?
Here are a few of my favorite outfits and photos in the book:
This is the “Varsity Cheerleader Dress & Headband” that is pictured on the front cover of the book. This is a different photo of that dress and I think it’s just “priceless”!!!
This is the “Scarlet Beetle Tank Top & Hat”. You can see that Tammy designed this set to be worn by a boy or girl. I think it’s adorable!!!
This is the “Stanley the Stegosaurus Costume”. What little baby boy wouldn’t love to wear this for Halloween or any time of the year? There’s a pink dinosaur costume named “Stella” for a baby girl, too.
As you can see, there are some absolutely adorable baby outfits in this book! I hope you’ll take a look at this book at your local craft store or online and consider adding it to your crochet library soon. We can never have too many crochet books, just like yarn, right?
To celebrate Tammy’s new baby book, I’m giving away a free copy to one lucky winner (in the US only, please). Just leave a comment on this blog post to enter the contest. You’ll need to be a registered user on this site in order to leave a comment. To do that, just go to the “Login” tab at the top of the page, then to “Register” in the drop down menu. Fill out the form and submit it. I don’t do anything with your registration. It’s just a layer of protection to help cut down on “spam” comments on my blog. If you’d like to follow my blog and receive an e-mail when a new blog post is published, then please subscribe to my blog.
I’ll pick the winner of Tammy’s baby book on July 17th and will post the winner’s name here.
Good luck everyone!
Happy crocheting,
Susan
Well, the month of June has come to an end. I hope you’ve enjoyed the Round Robin blog tour with Robyn Chachula, Ellen Gormley and Jenny King. I haven’t personally taken any classes from these 3 talented crochet designers and teachers, but I’ve met all of them at CGOA Conferences in the past. They’re all extremely nice and are fun to be around! I hope I get a chance to take a class from each of them in the future!
The giveaway contest has ended and the winner has been chosen at random. Since I’m not as technologically savvy as some other people I know, I do things the old-fashioned way when it comes to picking a winner for my contests. I type the name and e-mail address of each entrant, print it out, cut out the names, fold them, place them in a container (this time it was an old Cool Whip container) and have my husband pick one at random! It works for me and it’s fair for everyone.
So without further ado, the winner is….. Amy (felicitea)! Congratulations, Amy! I’ll be e-mailing you shortly to let you know how to claim the Annie’s class of your choice!
I hope everyone has a wonderful month of July. I’ll be flying to Manchester, NH to teach 3 classes at the CGOA Conference in July. One of the classes is shuttle tatting. The other 2 classes are symbol crochet and my faux tatted necklace. I’m also taking 2 knitting classes to learn more about knitting and to improve my knitting skills and knowledge. I still have a little more to learn about crochet, but not as much as I have to learn about knitting! I sold my first 2 knitting designs to a publisher this month, which I’m very excited about. They’ll come out next spring in a book (that’s all I can tell you about them at this time). I have 2 knitting designs that I’ll be self-publishing soon, too, as well as many new crochet designs that my husband and I photographed over the last 2 days.
Take care everyone and I hope you’re staying cool this summer!
Happy crocheting to you all!
Susan
The last guest blogger I have for you this month is Ellen Gormley. She’s one very talented designer, as are all of my guest bloggers this month! I had the pleasure of teaching Ellen how to do Bruges Lace at a past CGOA Conference and she’s really taken off with it! Go Ellen!!! I’ll let Ellen tell you all about her new Annie’s class! And don’t forget to read all the way to the bottom of this post for another chance to win the Annie’s class of your choice!
Hi, I’m Ellen Gormley, Editor of Crochet! magazine, and I was WRONG. I admit it. I can admit I was wrong, here among friends, right? I was wrong about the difficulty of crochet lace.
Back in my first days of crochet, way before I made it my career, I would not have ventured into Broomstick Lace or Hairpin Lace. Why expand into more lace and tools when there is so much to be done without?
The truth is, I think as a new crocheter, I was intimidated by Crochet lace. All that loose yarn, and the big loops that could so easily become jumbled and unruly. Simply keeping count of traditional stitches and learning shaping seemed like a big enough task. I was wrong, it’s not that hard. The learning curve is SHORT. I’m talking like 20 minutes. In 20 minutes of practice with each skill, Hairpin, Broomstick, and Bruges Lace, you can gain tremendous comfort with the techniques.
Why should the knitters have all the fun getting to use more than one tool at a time? And Bruges Lace, you don’t even need anything special, just ONE crochet hook. So if you aren’t ready add more tools to your tool bag, start with the satisfaction of Bruges Lace first.
Once a crocheter has learned the basics of crochet (Check out my Learn to Crochet online class!) and maybe learned how to crochet with beads, (Check out my Crocheting with Beads online class!) it might be fun to branch out into Crochet Lace!
In my BRAND NEW Annie’s online class I demystify the tricky juggling of a hairpin loom and the broomstick along with the winding path of Bruges lace all in one class! There are 2 projects for each technique and many lessons for you to see exactly how to get a handle on the tools and methods.
As a designer, I learned these techniques because there weren’t many patterns for them, so I figured I could be more marketable with Bruges, Hairpin and Broomstick patterns. As a crocheter, the three techniques are just so much fun and rhythmic that I see a whole new world of possibilities.
Ellen Gormley
I’m thrilled that Ellen has done a class on Bruges Lace, Broomstick Lace and Hairpin Lace. These are all fabulous crochet techniques and I hope you’ll enjoy learning them.
Here is your last chance to enter to win the Annie’s online class of your choice. Just leave a comment on this blog post to enter to win. I’ll pick one lucky winner at the end of the month. Good luck everyone and happy crocheting!
Susan
I have a guest blogger again this week. It’s Jenny King, who I met at a CGOA Conference sometime in the past 12 years (I can’t remember exactly which year it was)! Jenny has a fantastic crochet class on Annie’s and I’ll let her tell you all about it! Be sure to read all the way to the bottom to enter to win a free Annie’s class!
G’day my name is Jenny King and I am an Australian crochet addict!
Let me come visit and sit down with you and show you just how to do Bavarian crochet. Yes, at your place. In this Annies online class you will feel like I am there. I will do what the Mother and daughter from Bavaria had endeavoured to do in Australia and that is how to create the beauty of Bavarian crochet without need for translation. You will love it and you will become addicted.
I walk you through the process slowly and repeat myself so much that you may nearly get sick of hearing my Aussie accent telling you to pull through 2 and pull through 2. I am grinning ear to ear as I say this to you.
We start with a headband working in a simple strip to demystify the stitch and its 2 row repeat. Although this class is taught in USA crochet terms I couldn’t help but tell you how to do it in the terms used by the rest of the English speaking world so no-one gets left out. So if you live in the United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand or Australia you will be able work along with me as well.
I originally wanted to call it this the Mystery history stitch as the origins of this amazing stitch eluded me for over 15 years of thorough searching. I even took samples to USA to consult with the experts. Funnily enough all searches led me back to my own state of Queensland, Australia. You can hear all the history as I explain the stitches.
I have simplified this original Mother and Daughter design and instead of only working it in a square I have experimented to make all manner of shapes . Let me show you how to do this stitch in a long strip as a scarf, as a decorative edging on slippers, and finally extend your skills to create a top-down seamless baby jacket, and nearly everything else in between.
I should warn you though that Bavarian crochet is just delightful and you may become addicted. It can be worked in any color combination of your choice or you can experiment with the wonderful textured stitch if it is done in just one color as in the wrap vest in charcoal. That is just Yummy.
See you soon at your place. I can’t wait.
Jenny
So now you know something about Jenny’s Bavarian Crochet class. To learn more about Jenny’s class, just visit the Annie’s website here. To learn more about Jenny King, visit her website here.
Now, as promised, here is the information about my giveaway of a free class from Annie’s! To enter, just leave a comment on this blog post. I’ll pick the winner at random at the end of this month and will announce it right here (and I’ll send the winner an e-mail, too). There are so many great classes at Annie’s! To see all of the classes offered, check them out on the Annie’s website.
Good luck everyone and happy crocheting!
Susan
