Crafting
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Unlock Crochet Skills with this Sampler Afghan Pattern
Yes, I’ve written about this pattern before. What’s new? A price reduction! Because you know what I just found out? You can find a digital download of the Annie’s “Stitch Sampler Afghan” pattern on ravelry for $8.99. Check out my comparison of the digital downloads, and see what you think. read more
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Fantail Project Woes and Shout-Out to Crochet Crew
This post is, in large part, a nod to the facebook group Make and Do Crochet Crew. If I understand correctly, the group is owned by a small family group of crochet designers, and named after their brand. So a lot of the group posts are from people making the things the owners designed. It read more
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Chainless Foundation Friendly Crochet Fantail Variations
HOWTO: Crochet Fantail Over Established Stitches. While designing a sampler (squares) afghan, one of the features I wanted was to make it chainless foundation friendly. (Pattern info here.) I found a ton of videos and tutorials for fantails, but all of them worked directly into a chain. They universally call for skipping 3 chain stitches read more
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Lots of Loops — You can do it!
5 Tips for Crochet Puff Stitches About a month ago, I posted a tip about dealing with an issue specific to Jasmine stitch. I got some feedback that many people have trouble pulling through a lot of loops on hook for any stitch that requires it. As a big fan of puff stitches of all read more
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Do not wash.
So, I’m making a summer hat (Fun!) using some regular (well extra pretty, but other than that regular) ribbon-type raffia. Which of course I verified that it could be washed before buying. The hat is starting to take shape, and I love the ribbon I’ve been working with. But I decided I’d like to do read more
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The Trouble With Jasmine Stitch (and how to fix it)
Jasmine stitch is a beautiful crochet stitch. It’s not for beginners, but for an experienced crocheter, definitely worth having in your repertoire. This is not a tutorial. Just Google “Crochet Jasmine Stitch” and you’ll find all the tutorials you could want. I’ve perused any number of them (my favorite: CROCHET: JASMINE STITCH | Bella Coco Crochet.) read more
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Cotton to the What?
You would think the name “Cotton to the Core” would mean cotton yarn, right? I wanted to make a decorative scarf for one of my girls (who, BTW, are actually women.) So I bought some cotton yarn that looked to be somewhere between your typical DK and worsted weights. At least, I thought it was read more
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So Many Projects
I keep telling myself I’m going to take on fewer projects. Like none until I finish a couple I’ve got going on. Keep things reasonable so I don’t start to feel overwhelmed. But somehow, the list of ongoing projects seems to keep growing. Slowly creeping up, but always creeping up, never really down. There’s the read more
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You’ve got to hand it to Pattern Testers
I’ve been working with testers for the sampler pattern I’ll be publishing soon, and what a learning experience it’s been (is being? Not done yet.) I walked into this project pretty green at actually writing patterns for other people. And I did it with a large pattern and lofty goals. How did I even get read more
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Retirement Is So Great!
Last August I got laid off. I looked really really hard for a job. So many interviews. No offers. Then my son-in-law (who’s an accountant) told me I didn’t have to wait until 59 1/2 to draw from my IRA. Wait, what? It’s true. There are a couple of ways to do it, and you read more
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