1. pill(ow) popper, 2. crochet wrapped wreath w/flowers, 3. crochet bird ornaments, 4. freddie,crochet 013, 5. starry night cardigan, 6. Soft Owl Pillows, 7. beforeafter3, 8. lace slouch hat, 9. my Zipline Shell, 10. my crochet green bean cardigan, 11. Beyond Rectangles, 12. Little Sister Hats, 13. Peanut Butter Cardigan (Crochet), 14. blazing cowl, 15. finished sweater, 16. artichoke hat, 17. fred and knitting, 18. fiesta shawl 2, 19. Ribbed Cardigan from my book, Little Crochet, 20. Mix and Match Motif Blanket from Little Crochet, 21. Hooded Capelet from Little Crochet, 22. freddie, 23. crochet covered measuring tapes, 24. annie dress, 25. Twist Cowl/ Wrap

Notable Yarny Things I did in 2011:

*Worked with the lovely team at Craftsy to produce two online crochet classes, Beyond Rectangles and Crafty Crochet Embellishments
*Published my second book, Little Crochet
*Had designs and articles  published in Crochet Today, Interweave Crochet, Tangled, KnitCircus, Petite Purls and other magazines/web zines
*Had designs published in the following books: Simply Crochet, Knit Local, World of Geekcraft, and Knit Simple Knitting Workshops
* Taught a whole bunch of people to crochet (and a few to knit!)
* Got a rather cute but somewhat distracting dog, who I can shamelessly dress in crochet. Ahem.

My goal for 2012 is to keep on trucking, further explore self publishing, and most importantly, keep  having fun doing what I do, rather than getting stressed out about trying to become a crochet pattern producing factory. Here’s to 2012!

Welcome back to the Simply Crochet Countdown, where we’re counting down the days to the book’s official launch date. If you can’t wait, you can also buy it now as an E-book. Today I wanted to tell you a little bit more about my Diamonds and Lace Hat, another one skein project in the book. In case you missed my Twist Cowl/Wrap, read more about it here.

For this hat, I knew I wanted to use one skein of a fine weight yarn (I actually pitched it in lace weight) and use both cables and lace to create something interesting to stitch and wear. Post stitches and eyelets make up an all-over diamond pattern that’s worked in the round, and the part I love best is how they converge at the crown of the cap.

This hat is worked from the bottom up and takes less than 200 yards of sock yarn (or, one sock’s worth). I really love the yarn, Spud and Chloe Fine. It’s a sturdy, tightly twisted yarn that shows off the textured cables without sacrificing softness.

Here’s a side view on my sister Mary, just to give you another angle. Lucky for you, this pattern–and all patterns in the book–includes a stitch diagram to walk you through the setup rows and overall diamond pattern.

And, lucky for you if you’ve read this far, Interweave has generously donated one Simply Crochet E-book for a  randomly selected Lindamade reader. Answer the question below by midnight on Saturday, Dec 10th and I’ll update this post with the winner on Sunday. Come back Monday for yet another fun book review!

Do you have a special ball of yarn in your stash that you’re saving for the perfect project? Tell me about it. If you don’t, just tell me about one of your favorite yarns.

Simply Crochet has many contributors (myself included) and each project was designed with budget in mind. The projects are grouped into chapters by number of skeins used–one, two to three, and four to  five balls of yarn. Yes, of course some of the yarns chosen have generous yardage–but comparing prices while considering yardage is an important thing for any cost-conscious crocheter to do. When customers balk at the price of certain yarns, I often encourage them to notice the price-per-yard–it’s often less or similar to the “cheap” stuff. Food for thought next time you’re shopping!

My first project in the book, the Twist Cowl/Wrap, uses just one skein of Brown Sheep Legacy Lace (doubled. And you can probably get three cowls out of it!). I originally designed this for a sport weight yarn, but I really think the project would work in any weight from worsted on down, making it a great stash buster. The piece is worked flat and seamed with a twist, and the lacy, stretchy, squishy fabric created by Solomon’s knot is so warm around your neck. It’s a great way to showcase a yarn you love, and I especially like this stitch for variegated yarns that tend to look very patchy when worked in traditional crochet stitches. Of course, Solomon’s Knot also gives you a lot of bang for your buck, as it doesn’t take as much yarn as a solid stitch would.

My favorite part about this looped cowl/wrap is that you can wear it a number of different ways. Above is my sister Mary modelling it before I shipped it off. Cowl, wrap, super chunky necklace or snood–it’s up to you. It’s easy to stuff in a suitcase and use for a number of different temperatures. As you probably know, I’m in Texas, and we don’t always need super warm scarves here. This is a nice, decorative alternative, but it’s surprisingly warm, too!

I made my version (before the book version) with a single skein of Aslan Trends Class, a drapy cotton/rayon blend in variegated colors. I wanted to design something with just one skein of it, and around the same time Robyn had asked me to submit projects for her book. Here’s me wearing that one, to give you an idea of what it looks like if you want to use a thicker yarn, and skip doubling it. It could also be fun to hold a few yarns together, for a more textured look. If you make it, I’d love to see you post it on Ravelry.

Be sure to follow the other projects in Simply Crochet with Robyn’s Countdown to fun blog tour, and come back on the 7th, when I’ll talk about my other project in the book. Hint: there’s something in it for you.

Sarah London’s new book, Granny Square Love: A New Twist on a Crochet Classic for Your Home, pays homage to this classic crochet building block. Sarah is known for her bright and fun color combinations, and the combination of crochet and printed textiles in this book makes yummy eye candy for the crafty at heart. The book contains about twenty five projects–all for home/decor use. Each one is fully written and diagrammed, which I like, and the book also includes a breakdown of the basic stitches and a really useful photo tutorial on making granny squares.

I should mention that most of these projects use the traditional granny or a slight variation on it (ie. in this case, Granny does not mean square motif, it means Granny Square)–which puts almost all of them in the easy category, making this a perfect beginner book. My one hesitation with this book is that there’s no gauge information listed–not a big deal for certain projects, where you can just stop as the square approaches the desired size, but it would certainly be helpful in others where multiple squares are used, and helpful for planning color changes. However, you’re only a few quick calculations away from determining the gauge yourself (just divide the finished measurements by the # of rounds in a square to get an idea of the rounds per inch).

I’ve scattered some of my favorite projects from Granny Square Love throughout this post. Each one is a delight to look at, and I know most of them would be super quick to make. I love knowing that Sarah shot each of these photos herself! If you read her blog, you’re already familiar with her style and unabashed use of bright colors.  She also gives color notes and inspiration throughout the book, to help those of you who might not be so fearless with the mixing and matching….yet.

If you want to snag your own copy of Granny Square Love, you can get it for $12.99 in the Martha Pullen Online Store by using the promo code GRANNYTOUR (valid only through October 8th, limited to in-stock copies) or using my affiliate Amazon link.

F+W Media has also offered me one copy to give away to a reader (US addresses only, please). To enter to win, answer the following question by Thursday, October 7th at Noon CST.

How do you usually pick colors for your crochet (or craft) projects? Do you have colors in mind, wait for the yarn to inspire you, or have some other crafty technique?

Check out the rest of the blog tour schedule here!

Full Disclosure: F+W Media sent me a free PDF of the book to review for this blog tour.

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Guess which seat is mine?

This week I’m taking care of my mom’s dog Tootsie, and she is a handful! She needs constant attention and likes to chew. In fact the first time I met her, she zoomed right into my studio and brought out a skein of cotton as thought it was a toy. Since then, she’s chewed up nearly every handknit thing I’ve made for my mom (and that my sister has made). She has a nose for alpaca! So far, she’s only destroyed one ball of Cascade 220 Superwash (and a cup, and all of Fred’s toys).Sigh.

It’s not that I haven’t tried to work, but this keeps happening.

So, not a lot of crocheting is going on over here. Nor pattern writing or thinking of any kind. What is happening? Me and the dogs, running around the block and trying not to get all tangled up  with each other. Games of fetch. Treat feeding. Cat chases. Me trying to pretend I might be able to crochet a 2″ motif, and then lots of reprimanding. I look forward to having just Freddie again soon–it confirms that he’s my kind of dog. I think he’s partly bewildered and partly in love with Tootsie. She’s teaching him how to be a big dog.

My sister took Tootsie home for the evening to give me a respite, and it looks like Freddie is going to take over the pattern writing for me. And tweeting. Great! He’s a little ruff at it but he’ll get the hang of it (hah!).

Here ends dog blog. Back to regular programming soon! (I hope!)

I’m hanging out in Austin this week with my nephew, and was going to post a picture of the shawl that I started yesterday just for fun-BUT- I left it in the car. Which is now back in San Antonio….which means I can’t show it to you and I won’t get to work on it. Whine.

In the meantime, I’ll share these pictures of my newly available pattern PDFs. These projects were previously published in Inside Crochet mag, but these PDFs are written in US Crochet Terms.  Here I am modelling them in 100+ degree temps. It has been one HOT summer.

$5,  Pebble Hat Pattern PDF

First up is my Pebble Hat. I really love this hat, and although I usually let my samples live at Yarnivore, I have a feeling this one will stay with me. The crocheting is very simple, using lace weight Malabrigo, but, you use a special technique to crochet over the big chunky Rasta yarn in order to get the woven look. It’s super soft and lightweight but also really warm and textured. I first thought of this design after spinning my first (and at this point, only!) handspun skein. Since crochet takes more yarn, I wasn’t sure I could come up with a one skein project. Plus, I can’t really wear chunky woolens in TX–and this hat solves both problems. It’s sized to measure 18″ and 20″ at the brim, unstretched–to fit 20-21″ and 22-23″ heads.

$5, Shredded Scarf Pattern PDF

Second is another very simple meditative project, the Shredded Scarf. Again this has a woven like texture, but it is created with a very simple, easy to memorize pattern. I wanted to create something solid but drapey, and that wouldn’t look too patchy in variegated  yarns. I originally swatched this in Noro and Mountain colors (for color-changing fun) but the Artesano Alpaca shown here was lovely to work with as well–it’s nice and lightweight, and sooo soft. So many yarns are designed for knitting with their color repeats, so I stuck to short stitches to make this design work. This pattern is accompanied by a stitch diagram that I made while testing out some crochet charting software (here’s hoping there’s more of that!).

Both are a good way to dive into your stash and prepare for fall. Even though it is so very hot here in South Texas, I am still thinking fall. A girl can dream, can’t she?

One of the things we retrieved from my dad’s house was the family photos. Initially I started sorting through the sets from the 90s (pics of me in my teens- ugh) and thought, nothing to see here. But as I dig deeper there are all sorts of historical photos, as well as written notes and stories. My dad was very good about labeling things (most of the time) and my grandma had the foresight to write down a few words and stories with some of the photos. It has been really interesting to sift through them, and in the process I decided that I need to document them and be a family historian of sorts. I’ve always liked taking photos and looking at these collections, I realized there was no way we could split them  up between five siblings.

My paternal grandfather, with an Indian brand motorcycle, 1920s.

So I started to scan them, only after my friend Flor volunteered to scan some too. (You can see her first post about them here. If you like old photographs,  you might also enjoy this awesome blog, Dear Photograph).  Knowing that she’s doing it just because she’s nice will (hopefully) keep me motivated to keep scanning, too.

My paternal grandmother (standing) with her sister (I assume).

So just in case you were wondering what I’ve been up to, there you go.

-easily memorizeable patterns (once you’ve made a few)
-portable, and you can even break them down round by round so you only need to carry 1 color of yarn at at time (i.e. make all of the motifs through round 1, 2, etc)
-great way to use scraps and play with color combinations
-good “in-between” project for when you don’t feel like thinking too much about what you want to make next.

If you like making motifs, you’ll definitely want to check out Ellen Gormley’s new book, Go Crochet! Afghan Design Workshop. Ellen asked me to participate in her blog tour, and Iwas excited to dive into this–her first book! In it, she presents 50 original motif designs (squares, circles, rectangles, hexagons, octagons and triangles) and shows you how to put them together to create unique blankets.

I was pleased to find a unique chapter on rectangles,  as I can’t even remember when–if ever–I last saw a rectangular motif. All of the shapes have their own chapter, so if you are looking for a particular shape you can specialize. And,  Ellen designed all of the motifs to have the same number of stitches along each edge, so that, for the most part, they are easy to mix and match. Each chapter also opens with a line drawing of possible layouts using just one shape, which is helpful if you plan to summon your inner designer. In the beginning section (which is full of useful refresher type info),  Ellen suggests using your digital camera to help you design your afghan, and I want to add that you could also photocopy (or scan) the motifs you are considering, cut out the shapes and play around before you do a whole lot of stitching. I do this often when I am designing with motifs–usually I’ll make one in every color combination that I want to use and then digitally arrange them to get an idea of how it will all work out.

A clear photo of each motif is accompanied by easy to read stitch diagrams and written instructions. She also lists the yarn (and colors) used for every motif, staying practical with many of the featured yarns being available at craft chains. At the bottom of each page are photos of some of the suggested motifs to mix and match with the hilighted motif, which is a fun touch.

Next, Ellen presents 10 finished blankets. I love that she has included complete projects for several reasons–one, it will help you to estimate the amount of yarn you might need to make a blanket. This is always a question at the LYS and I generally pull the pattern for a similar kind of project to get an idea. I also think it’s important  that she provided diagrammed edging patterns, as well as a general layout for each blanket design, as otherwise it’s up to you to figure out  how you want to join one motif to the next. Since each motif has the same number of stitches, I think you could easily sub in the motifs you wanted for these blankets, assuming you have a wild hair to make yours different–I know I do! You’ll want to note that  most of the motifs must be sewn or crocheted together, although there are a few “join as you go” motifs thrown in for good measure.

If you’re seeking some new stitchy inspiration, look for Go Crochet! Afghan Design Workshop. Read more with Rebeca Velasquez tomorrow, and check out the entire blog tour listing here.

Petite Purls is the brainchild of Allegra Wermuth and Brandy Fortune (who took the photo above), and today they are reviewing the book on their blog. Head over to get their knitterly take on Little Crochet.