In case you’re curious, here are the blocks I’ve received from my 12 Squared quilting bee so far (here’s the post explaining what I sent and my Bauhaus inspiration).

I am really excited about this one, even though I know it will take me a while to get around to sewing it up. Our group has had its struggles keeping up and staying involved, but I am thrilled with the blocks that have been sewn so far. It has also been a fun opportunity to sew with lots of fabrics and color combinations that I wouldn’t necessarily choose, and those challenges, of course, encouraged me to “think outside the box.” My main hope was that joining the bee would make me sew something every month, in the midst of other deadlines, and it did help me to do that. I can’t wait to get the rest of the blocks!

What’s this you ask? Is it possible that I’ve actually been crocheting something not-work-related-in-absolutely-any-way? Why yes, and I finished it last night during the Oscars while Paul drew my swift. [Secret shame: When I'm feeling really chained to my project, I just work with the yarn right off of my swift instead of winding it in a ball first, which would require leaving the room]. I haven’t even blocked it yet, but I wanted to share. I made the Cote de Azur (main ravelry page) which I turned into as a short sleeved cardigan (my ravelry page). I used Mirasol’s T’ika yarn which I got at Yarnivore–it’s a really soft cotton and I would like to use it again on something, perhaps with larger hook, to take betteradvantage of the softness.

I tried a few different things with the sleeves but ended up settling on something close to what the pattern recommended (I think, via symbols anyway) with a few more decreases as the armholes were quite large. Here I’m wearing it with a crochet hook as pin because I don’t have a shawl pin (and I don’t think buttons would really work). I still have to figure something out as a closure although I kind of like the crochet hook as pin idea.  I can wear it around proudly, it is National Crochet Month, after all!

Overall, I’m not sure the huge motifs suit me and I wish it was a little longer (I could fix this, but probably won’t), but it was fun to make. It seems so rare that I have a chance to hook for myself these days, so I just need to figure out a way to incorporate it back into my schedule. Generally I feel guilty working on my own things when I have work things to be doing, my boss is a real hard-ass. Haha.

And speaking of National Crochet Month, Robyn Chachula has a great post on her blog about how you can Adopt A Designer for the month. I treated myself to Kathy Merrick’s new book, Crochet In Color. She’s the designer of the famous Babette Blanket (here’s the one I made) and does some lovely things with color and lighter weight yarns in this book.

If you crochet, how are you celebrating National Crochet Month? This month is a great time to learn–either to crochet (if you don’t already) or pick up a new skill! San Antonio locals can check out my classes at Yarnivore–I’m offering 2 classes for beginners this month and one is still open, along with classes on creating texture, combining cables and lace, and flowers. If you’re not local,  find your own LYS! If they don’t have crochet classes, let the owner know that you’d like to see them offered there.

Here we are, another week has gone by and I’ve  got nothing to show you. This week was full of getting things in order in my “studio”. The funny thing about my studio is I never crochet in it, because I like to sit on the couch and watch TV (it drowns out all of the other noises and thoughts, such as “I should clean the kitchen.” and “I wonder what Paul is doing”, when I am working). But there was no couch in my studio, only a big bed that I was hanging on to in case we should ever have guests in town. (Said bed was also known as “dumping ground for all of the stuff I am working on or may be working on in the future, or laundry, or mail, or taxes.) I may have mentioned this before, but we’re living in my grandmother’s house right now, with all of her furniture, and it was getting cramped. My mom expressed a desire to put a new mattress in my room so that she could sleep over here when my sister is in town. And then I thought, with the cost of a mattress–we could get a sleeper sofa! About as soon as we agreed on the idea, Paul and I went shopping, and today it is here. I’m not sure that it fills the purpose of having a more comfortable place to sleep, but I do think it’s going to be quite nice for the other 99.5% of the time I am using it! But in the process of moving the bed I decided to also take up the carpet (which was placed over the wood floors a good LONG time ago) and create a huge dust storm and pain in the tokus*. You know, cause we couldn’t actually move all of the furniture out of the room first, that would have made too much sense!

All of which I am telling you in order to say: I don’t think I’ve accomplished much that I can share this week. I’ve swatched and proposed and crocheted some things for publication, but you know how that goes. The swatches are pretty though, no? And that green one on the needles? That was me teaching myself to knit backwards–yay! But enough about that– I want to share a few fun crochet-related  links I visited this week.

- Tahki Stacy Charles has a gorgeous new pattern book called City Crochet available. As a company, they’ve always been good about including crochet, partially, I think (in my head, based on no researched fact) because they provide nice, lightweight yarns that lend themselves to crochet. Click here to check out the pretty.

-FuoriBorgo has been delving into Crochet Adorned and has some lovely results to share on her blog. First off are the evolving trivets. I love this post, and her project, because she used the book in exactly the way I intended and hoped. She started out making the trivets as written in the book, but when the shape of hers turned more hexagonal, she combined it with a scalloped trim from another project and a flower pattern from the stitch dictionary to make it her own. I love it! She’s also resizing the Floral Motif Yoke Top (ravelry  link)  for her toddler- I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

-Fellow crochet designer Ellen Gormley is starting a crochet along for her shawl pattern — go check it out and join in the fun!

-I’m going to call this one crochet related even though it is really about jello. Check out Brett Bara’s (Editor of Crochet Today and host of Knit and Crochet Now–see the relation?) awesome layered jello dessert. It’s really splendid looking. I don’t think I have the time or patience to ever make it, but I love the way hers came out!

-Not really a link, but a reminder for local folks: I still have a few spots in my Broomstick Lace class on Sunday. If you’re interested, please call ahead to sign up.

And now, if I haven’t lost you yet… I want to open up the comments for  any questions you might have for me. I’m thinking that I get a lot of the same types of questions in my email and it would be fun to put together a FAQ page of sorts, or just to post answers to your questions (Ann Landers style. Oh, I always wanted to be an advice columnist…) over time, especially on weeks where I don’t have a lot to show you. Just remember that I probably won’t answer these in the comments, as that would defeat the purpose–so you’ll have to keep reading. The questions can be about whatever you want, but of course, it’s up to me whether and when I choose to answer them. Please, come up with some fun ones or I’ll have to make them up and pretend I didn’t write them.

*Just so you know about the quality I put into this blog, I had to look that word up. And that is not how I thought it was spelled!

Sometimes I feel like crochet gets the short end of the stick. Or maybe the hooked end of the stick? Heheh. But today I came across a few crochet-related  things that made me quite happy. First off is the announcement of a second Crochet Potholder swap. Hooray! Information is on flickr here and there is a ravelry group here. What I love about this swap is: you don’t sign up. You just show up, and by that I mean, send in your potholders by a deadline. If they are there on time, you’re in. If not, no hassle and no one gets a bad lot because one person didn’t follow through. Awesome. I am quite tempted to join this swap and make the Vintage Kitchen Trivets Diane designed for my book to send along. Quite. Tempted. (Did you see these colorful versions that Things Bright made? So colorful and pretty!)

I also found out that Rowan has put out their first ever Crochet-only booklet. This is exciting! It’s frustrating to buy “knit and crochet” magazines for only one  or two crochet designs (although I would do it, if I was sure I wanted to make it) and it’s so nice that they have put out an entire collection of classic, wearable crochet. You can bet I’ll be poking my LYS owner to order this one– if you crochet, and want to see more of these kinds of things, I encourage you to “vote” with your dollars. Thanks to Rebecca at A Slice of Life for the heads up on this one!

Ooh, and, thanks to the Crochet Today blog, I noticed Secret Pocket is hosting a giveaway of her lovely magnets made from doilies and lace. Very cute- head over and enter to win a set.

And, just by chance a customer mentioned Haruni,  a beautiful (free!) knit shawl pattern that gets a little help from the crochet hook during the cast off to create the looped edge. Gorgeous! One day I will knit that well and casting off with crochet will be a breeze. But if one of you wants to knit the knitted part and then let me do the crochet part, I think that’d be a fair trade (not). I added to my favorites, hopefully to be moved to my queue one day.

In the meantime, I keep crocheting away. As promised, here is a little peek at the crochet cardigan (ravelry link) I am making myself. I am mostly done with the fronts and back, and now need to add the edging and sleeves (if I can decide what I want there), then weave in the remaining ends. It has been fun to work this one. I’m not sure how much wear I will get out of it but I love the color and I hope the end result is flattering. The big motifs are making me wonder, though.

So, what kind of crochet love have you seen around the net lately?

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By the way– thank you to everyone who has purchased my Cables and Lace Scarf Pattern. There are still a few days for you to get it at the sale price of $2! Just so you know, I love nothing more than to see completed projects from my  patterns, so if you do make it, please add your completed versions to Ravelry or email me a photo. I also wanted to remind you that 50 percent of proceeds from all of the rest of my patterns (or things in my etsy) will be donated to Doctors without Borders through February 15th.  I even (finally!) added a pattern page to my website with more descriptions of each pattern, in case you aren’t on Ravelry.

I’m excited to share a  new pattern: Cables and Lace Scarf (Crocheted).  I designed this pattern as a way to show off some of the gorgeous colors of the soft and drapey Lousia Harding Albero yarn we carry at Yarnivore.  The pattern is really pretty simple once you get started, and employs some basic cable techniques (post stitches) to give the scarf a nice textured effect without being too bulky. And here’s something else exciting: living near my sister Mary means I have a new model for my patterns (evil grin).

This pattern is a great introduction to managing several colors, and includes written instructions on how to carry the colors along the sides of the work for a nice, clean edge. I had three people test the pattern (you can see their projects on the ravelry page) and all were impressed that it looked so clean from the front. Once you get going with the post stitches, this scarf is quite addictive and nearly works itself. I’m serious! I had to force myself to stop and go to sleep! I’ve also included information on blocking the scarf, which really opens it up and gives it a wonderful drape. It’s the perfect accessory for Spring, or for those of us who don’t live in freezing climates. It only takes 3 balls (1/color) of any worsted weight (110 yd/ball) yarn –although a bit of extra yardage would give you extra length–which is good too. Albero is a cotton/tree fiber blend that I’d honestly overlooked- but after working with it–my goodness– it was luxury. The pattern also works beautifully  in cotton, acrylic, bamboo, and wool –whatever your budget allows.

Mary asked if she could keep the scarf- that’s a good sign. (Sorry, Mary!)

For this week only (thru Feb. 15th) I’m offering the pattern at a promotional price of $2 through Ravelry. You don’t even need to be a Ravelry  member to purchase it, you can just follow the button on the sidebar, or hey, right here:

Cables and Lace Crochet Scarf $2

After that, it will go to it’s usual price of $4. I’m just curious about pricing and want to test out this price, so why not?

And in other news: I’ve installed the Disqus commenting system on my blog! Hooray–now when you leave a comment, I can reply to you on the blog (and you’ll get an email, if you select to be notified). I’ve always replied to people’s emails, since I worry that they won’t check back on the blog, but then I wonder if it looks like I never reply to anything. And yes- sometimes I don’t reply to everything as I get an amazing amount of queries about crocheted things. I will try to be better about that, and at least now we’re clear. I think this will be great because many people ask the same questions, and now they can read through the comments first to see if they’ve already been answered. Thanks to Diane for making me aware of it and Lee for making me realize it would take 2 seconds to install. Now, let’s converse!

I’ve been scouring ravelry lately, looking at all sorts of interesting things as I’m in a place where I have a chance to catch my breath and maybe, you know, make something for myself for once. I wanted to make some fingerless mitts because my hands literally feel like they might crack off when it’s cold and I’m typing. Bonus: I think they’d also work well for driving. (I am really enjoying having a car!!! How, oh how, did I ever live without one?)

I finally settled on the Maine Morning Mitts (my ravelry project page) pattern in Clara Parkes’  The Knitter’s Book of Wool. The pattern is actually available as a freebie right here and there are almost 2000 mitts (well, 4000 if you count 2 mitts per project) made with it on Ravelry as it’s an excellent way to show off one skein of pretty yarn. Side note: I don’t (yet) own the book, but I’ve been flipping through it a lot at work, and not only is it full of wonderful tidbits on wool (useful to knitters and crocheters alike), but there are so many classic, wearable patterns inside. It’s definitely work checking out.

Anyway, I decided to use this pattern to show off some of the Mountain Colors‘  Twizzle mill ends I collected when I was working at the Bozeman Yarn Shop. [Note: the pattern calls for a worsted yarn and this one is a DK, but hey, it worked for me and I love the snug fit!]. If you haven’t seen Mountain Colors yarn….well. Their hand-dyed colorways are simply gorgeous. And since we lived only a couple of hours from their headquarters in Montana, Barb (the LYS owner) stopped by occasionally and picked up mill ends for the store. I was there when she had a fresh batch –I’m talking bags full of mill ends–and so I had fun combing through all of the baskets trying to buy enough yardage for an undetermined project. Mill ends are perfect for me, since I often find it way too hard to decide on one color, and also, have a hard time justifying yarn purchases when I don’t know what they are for. Essentially, mill ends are to yarn as fat quarters are to sewing (only it’s harder to find mill ends! Especially ones you can dig through shamelessly).  To make these mitts,  I think I used 4 mini-skeins of Twizzle, max. The mitts are “fraternal twins” because I used two different–but very similar–colorways in one of the mitts.

I took this picture of Mitt 1 on Wednesday. They’re both done now, save for a few scraggly ends to weave in. I love these quick little knit projects, they take just the right amount of time, I learn a little something with each one, and they’re small enough that I can actually complete them between other projects (and big enough that I can use them as an excuse to avoid all of the housework that needs to be done…). And just in case you think I have forgotten about crochet– I’m working on a cardigan made from motifs right now (from this Portugese pattern). Hopefully I’ll share some progress pics with you next week!

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And a  little reminder in case any San Antonians are reading… My Intermediate Crochet: Creating Texture class begins this Sunday, and there are still spaces available. I have lots of fun swatches and examples from my book to show you along with the techniques. Call Yarnivore to sign up.

It’s been a while since I posted my blocks for the 12 Squared Bee, so here are some I haven’t shared.

First are Chawne’s blocks from January. The task she gave us was seemingly simple- sew two checkerboard blocks from 36 squares each. I found it to be incredibly challenging to get my corners to meet, despite measuring, cutting with a fresh blade, pinning,  lining up my seams, using the seam guide and pressing. The corners…do not meet. I hope she can live with the wonkiness — I like it (prefer it even), but, I feel like I failed at these. It just isn’t in my blood to get things to match up perfectly, especially not 36 times each on 2 blocks. Sigh. I could probably use a course in “proper” quilting.  I sent these out yesterday, not too terribly past the deadline.

Next are November’s  Neighborhood blocks for Megan, which I sent out in December (late). These were fun to do and played to my improvisational quilting sensibilities. She sent us lots of different scraps to choose from, and requested teeny tiny houses (that part was the challenge– to do something interesting within a 3″ ish space). I wish I had had more time to do more blocks, but I was in the midst of a big deadline. At least I got a gnome in there!

And finally, here are October’s Sampler blocks for Melanie, who was kind enough to trade months with me. I didn’t realize October  was originally my month and we had just barely arrived in San Antonio. Actually, I kind of still feel like I’ve just arrived and it is four months later! Melanie said to do whatever we wanted, so I came up with these designs. These colors were a challenge to me, I really wanted to add a little something from my stash at first (the easy solution) but in the end I think these solutions work. I’m curious to see how this quilt comes together since everyone’s blocks are different.

Februrary is my month and shamefully, I nearly forgot again until I realized no one else was posting about it being their month. I’ve had a color scheme in mind for a while now so I gathered up everything from my stash and only went to purchase a few grey solids to fill in the blanks–yay for not going overboard with fabric buying.  I sent the fabric out yesterday along with some Bauhaust textile inspired guidelines–I’m excited to see what comes back!

This is my month to send out fabric for 12 Squared, the online quilting bee I’m participating in. I purchased a wee bit of some of Denyse Schmidt’s Hope Valley and some solid gray fabrics, but other than that, I picked everything else out of my stash.

I have to say, it’s been hard to keep up with sewing the blocks each month. I didn’t realized how hard it would be! But I do love getting to try new kinds of blocks and seeing other people’s color combinations. For my quilt, I picked a lot of grays, greens and yellows,  and posted some bauhaus textiles as inspiration (see my post for more info).

I haven’t sewn anything (other than the quilt blocks for the bee) in so long!! Well, I’ve sewn a few small things here and there, but it seems like a long long time since I sat at the machine. And I have another quilt I need to get to work on as well, so hopefully one of these days I’ll get my sewing mojo back. I have a feeling it may happen after I…unearth the machine from all of the STUFF that inevitably goes on any flat surface in my craft room. It’s funny, this room is much bigger than my last craft room, but it also has an extra bed in it, so it can feel pretty tiny at times. (However, the bed comes in handy for blocking things, and you know, as a flat surface to catch my STUFF). I really need to get organized again!

Well folks, I’ve got nothing. I’ve been hammering away at some worky things and have been feeling incredibly inspired with ideas lately (as is always the case when I don’t have time to work on them–but I’m writing them down!).  But, here is a cute pic of my nephew Tegue a few weeks ago on his 2nd birthday. I can’t believe he is 2 years old!!

He’s sporting the cardigan I made him last Christmas (ravelry page –but note, I pretty much abandoned the pattern and just worked to the finished measurements). It’s getting a bit short on him, but is still plenty big around the middle,so the next time I go up to Austin I’ll bring some extra green yarn (you know I have it!) and add some more rows to the bottom. That is one of the cool things about crochet- you can just add things willy nilly. This cardigan was definitely the hit of the party–everyone kept asking if someone had made it for him. You know that made Aunt LaLa (that’s me) smile.

While I’m here, I wanted to share a few links with you, as my inbox overfloweth.

- Check out Diane’s review of the new E-book, “Crunchy Granola Charm” by Yvette Doss. It’s full of cute natural jewelry (I definitely have some necklaces that could use some reconfiguring) so if you are into that, check it out.  I’m with Diane- I’m curious to see where self publishing goes.

- Janome is having a sewing contest with the theme of Pass it On. The basic premise is to pass on your love of sewing to a new sewist, and you could both win new machines.

- Thanks to everyone who has purchased something from my Etsy or Ravelry Shops. So far, including my sales from the the Craft Hope Etsy Shop, I’ve been able to donate almost $125, hooray!  Through generous donors and sellers, Craft Hope has raised over $27,000 with their shop– and that is awesome!

- Have you seen these awesome hand-screened stickers by Patapri? I admit it, I’ve had a thing for stickers since I was a little girl, and I couldn’t help but order some. Perhaps I was inspired by the huge box of letters my mom gave me from middle, high school, and college. They made me want to write letters again. You know, letters are always better when there are stickers involved!

- If you’re seeking crochet inspiration and haven’t yet stumbled upon the wonderful blog of Dottie Angel, you’re missing out. I love her sense of style and the bits and pieces of crochet hanging around her place.

- And, the preview for the latest issue of Crochet Today is up, and it’s adorable. This is the first time (in a long time!) that I don’t have a project in the issue, I was too swamped to submit, but I love what I see! These birdies are chirping my name!

I’ve been a bit behind in mentioning some of my published projects, and here are two I’d like to share with you. First up is the Candy Cloche (Ravelry Link)  in Interweave Crochet’s Winter 2009 Issue. This hat makes  use of a star stitch (or marguerite stitch) on the brim, and a few readers have emailed me who are a bit confused on how to make the stitch. Since there are several variations online, I’d like to point you to this free  Star Stitch Tutorial on about.com, which makes the stitch in the same way that I did for this pattern. And fear not,  in order to keep you (and me) from going nuts, there are only a few rows of star stitches at the brim of the hat and from there you can just spirals on up to the top. This design works really well in one-ply wool (that is, yarn that’s really smooth) as it will show off your handiwork Personally, I’d stay away from variegated yarns (at least for the brim) because they will likely hide your stitches, whereas lighter solid colors will really hilight the star stich. I actually really liked the yarn they sent for this one: Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky (and, it’s very affordable!). I wish I had a reason to wear a hat like this, but I don’t as it’s 66 degrees outside today (and I’m not complaining!!). The rest of the issue is full of some great, gorgeous projects including a special emphasis on Tunisian Crochet. Can you believe I’ve actually never tried Tunisian? It’s something I’ll definitely have to try one day–the garments in this issue are so pretty.

Next is a quick and easy Giant Granny Square Afghan (ravelry link)  in Knit Simple (which hits newsstands tomorrow). If you are someone who dabbles in both knitting and crochet, Knit Simple is a great magazine that provides a little bit of each. Yes, it’s more heavy on knitted patterns, but, the designs in both crafts are truly simple, meaning that you can make them without too many tears. This issue has a few different patterns made using granny squares, just to show the different looks you can get with them, so if you’re interested in a quick blanket, check it out. I crocheted this blanket with 17 skeins of Manos del Uraguay Wool in 5 shades of blue. I worked on this during the heat of the summer, which meant I got some quizzical looks, but I love the results. I also enjoyed dropping off the humongous box at Fedex, because it really didn’t weigh much for its size. What I did not enjoy was sending back the extra yarrn,  Manos dyes their yarn beautifully and I wanted to make my own blankie too (but, that was when we still lived in Montana. See above note re: 66 degrees in January!).