Knitters Who Crochet

I have noticed quite a bit of crochet projects on knitting blogs lately, and I think that is great! It seems that the old stigma with crochet is finally lifting, and people are starting to give it a try. It's a wonderful skill to acquire as a knitter because it offers you more options with edgings and also with finishing. I have also seen many crochet/knit hybrid patterns that are quite beautiful. The Beachcomber Tunic from the Spring Interweave knits comes to mind. I bought the magazine for that pattern alone.

Heather at Craft Daisies have been kind enough to offer free tutorials (with videos even!) on her blog. If any of you would like to learn how to crochet, just follow the links below. Have fun!

Learn to Crochet: Lesson 1
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 2
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 3
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 4
Learn to Crochet: Lesson 5

Pictures!

Ok this is one of those posts where I'm not really sure what to say but I do have some pictures to show you. This predicament usually creates major blogging procrastination. I decided to just upload the pictures and just start typing. Let's see how that goes.

I was lucky enough to marry a guy that came from a super crafty family. Rob's a great artist, does amazing work with ceramic tile floors, and is a pretty darn good "Builder of Stuff" if you ask me. We are also a very recycle friendly couple, and Rob often builds things from recycled materials. Remember my yarn shelves? After a trip to the pet store, Rob decided that he could "totally build one of those cat thingies". Let me just tell you, when Rob gets something in his head you better watch out. First thing he does is go to carpet stores to get some free scraps and then made a trip to the homedepotlowessomethingorother store to get what we didn't have around the house. He showed me all the materials he had acquired for the project and I basically came up with a design. He called me the Executive Creative Producer hahaha. Anyways, he did most of the work and I did the "here hold this and grab that over there and hey could you please bring me this..." A day and a half and a bunch of sweat later, and our kitties have this...

Is that not the coolest Cat Thingy you have ever seen!? I have seen towers half this size for $164, and the only thing we paid for was the rope, staples, and a cardboard tube. The rest of the materials were all recycled/re purposed. I think the post used to be in our flower bed before Rob replaced it with rock he got out of the river. The cats absolutely love it, especially this guy...






Wow he's getting so big isn't he. I realized that I have never posted a picture of Kayne. This is mostly because she is in a constant state of motion when she is awake. After about 20 blurred pictures, I successfully captured this one.



She is such a pretty cat. She really ought to stand still more often. Of course I could take a picture of her sleeping, but then you would not be able to see those beautiful eyes!

I haven't been doing much knitting lately. I lost my freakin pattern for the shawl I was working on, and I got bored with the 3 sweaters. I will definitely finish them (they are awesome sweaters), but I am taking a bit of a break from them.

I got the urge to crochet, and started on a Carnival Throw. Technically the pattern is for a shawl, but I thought it would be more useful as a throw. Here is a picture of two motifs seamed together using an invisible seam.



After seeing other people's motifs, I realized I made a mistake on mine. Luckily the mistake I made is just on the last row, and crochet is so easy to add to. The yarn I am using is TLC Cotton Plus in Kiwi which is a cotton/acrylic blend.

Well that's enough pictures for one entry. I'll be back with more! I hope everyone has a great weekend! Mine has been awesome so far. I went to a spa on Friday courtesy of the best bosses ever, and got a Swedish massage and a body polish. Can you say, HEAVEN! Today I helped out with my very first horse show! I got to ride (not in the show just for fun) two of the most beautiful horses I have ever seen!! One was a jet black Tennessee Walker stallion, and the other was a black and white Paint. The stallion was hands down the most powerful and amazing horse that I have ever had the pleasure of riding. The most amazing thing is how gentle and well behaved he was, because a horse like that could really be a handful. Tomorrow will probably be quite uneventful, but after those two days I am fine with that!

Friends, partners, and neighbors...

You never know what to expect when you walk into your knitting class and meet a student for the first time. Will they be friendly? Will they have patience? Will we get along? So far, I have been very lucky to have many wonderful students over the past 4 years. In Florida I had a group of regular students that came to class every Friday without fail. They were a such a wonderful and diverse group of women, and I'm proud to call them my friends today. It broke my heart to leave them, when I moved to Tennessee. My classes have been very sporadic since moving here, and I have yet to recreate the camaraderie I had with my Floridian group. Maybe that will never happen again, they say you can never go home, but I still continue to meet some great people in my classes. One of my more recent students is an incredibly interesting woman who always has the best stories to tell. When we first met she told me about how she taught herself to crochet when she was just 8 years old by watching her aunt. Armed with a steel hook and variegated thread, she would make chains long enough to wrap around the house several times. Once she tired of chains she watched her aunt enough to learn how to single crochet, double crochet, and triple crochet. Now this is the part of her story that really tickled me. She didn't know the names of these stitches, so she just made them up on her own. She called the single crochets friends, the double crochets partners, and the triple crochets neighbors. She could make just about anything you can think of just from looking at it, and she said she showered her family and friends with doilies. I swear, the ingenuity of children absolutely amazes me. I always say that children do not know the meaning of the word can't, and they could probably fly if only we didn't tell them that they couldn't.

R.I.P Tablecloth

Here's a last look at a tablecloth I was working on before I R.I.P it. I could not resist the play on words as dorky as it seems. Alas, the table cloth is too small, and I don't feel like using the brain power it takes to figure out all the pineappley increasing. To me it's easier to rip and go up a few hook sizes. No biggy :)

Sharing...

I am nearly done with the Ab Fab throw! It lookst pretty much like the last picture only longer, so I'll just post a picture of it finished. I wanted to post something for my fellow hookers. I found the cutest crochet pattern on Crochetville!! It is inspired by the movie Bambi. Click here to check it out!

Videos and Slideshows

If you look on my sidebar, I have added links to the videos and slideshows that I have posted in the past. I don't know why I haven't done this before! Duh! And Speaking of videos, here are a couple of my babies. This one is from my visit with Hunter when he was four weeks old. I think this is take number eleventeen million. Let's just say it is a little hard to get a video of a very busy puppy.

This one was taken this evening of Hunter and Z doing what they do best. Believe it or not this was taking it easy. Usually the whole house is shaking. Sorry it's a little dark.




And lest you think I have forgotten this is Faery Crafty and not Faery Doggy (oh boy that was corny), here is a picture of the the tablecloth I am working on. You can find the pattern here, but please write me if you are going to crochet this because I have found a ton of errors. This picture isn't the greatest, but it's kinda late and I get a lot less picky after midnight.

Don't You Hate It When

You are halfway finished with let's say your second lampshade cover, and a couple of dogs, let's say their names are Hunter and Z, decide it would be much prettier if it had soda spilled all over it. I hate to break it to them, but it was not the look I was going for.

While You Were Out (Of Your Mind)

You ever watch that show? Besides the fact that Andrew is so good looking I am quite often distracted, I love the show! I watch it every time I come across it while channel flipping. Rob and I have been starring in our own version of the show, and I think the modified title suits us a little better. I managed to beat off the plague in time for his return home, and in one day we painted the entire living room with it's cathedral ceiling, a huge dresser, book shelf, and mirror. We also hung the art work and tapestries in the newly painted room, and now I can unpack the eleventy million boxes of books stacked in there. Oh I almost forgot, I did a distressed finish on the frame of a Monet print for our bedroom. We have 4 rooms and 3 peices of furniture left to paint, a table to build, cushions to sew, more pictures to hang, and a whole lotta clean up. In my free time (hahahahaha), I have been working on some of the finishing touches for our bedroom. Here is a sneak peak...

Stay tuned for the next episode coming to a blog near you!

Lover's Knot Tutorial

Rember this shawl?


Click Images To Enlarge

As promised here is the tutorial for making the Lover's Knot. It is in three parts so that it is easier to replay each step. If you have any questions you can email me at faerycrafty at gmail dot com.








I hope everyone has a great July 4th! Don't go blowing your crochetin' hand off with a firecracker! This goes for you too knitters!

The Versatile Lover's Knot Wrap

Cool Needles

I was reading Major Knitter's blog, and she had an entry about knitting needles that have lighted tips for knitting in the dark! I went to her link to the article in the New York Times to check them out, and I think they are just too cool! Here is where you can buy a pair if your own. I could have sworn that I saw something similar on Ebay, so I did a search for lighted knitting needles and found this. They even have crochet hooks people! How cool is that! These things seriously remind me of Light Sabers!! Haha! Can you imagine the comments you would get knitting or crocheting with those. May the force be with you...

Hookers Need Socks Too :)

I just couldn't resist that title!! You now I'm originally a hooker (I only picked up knitting about 5 years ago or so) so I always have to "hook" up my crocheting buddies too! Here are some links (in order that I find them) to some crocheted sock patterns for my fellow Hookers! Enjoy!

Toe Up Socks Crochet Socks by Grafton Fibers
Lion Brand's Wool Ease Joan's Socks
South Bay Crochet Toe Up Socks
Sue's CrochetandKnitting.com Crocheted Socks
Sue's CrochetandKnitting.com Crocheted Socks For Men
Sue's CrochetandKnitting.com Baby Socks
Sue's CrochetandKnitting.com Design Your Own Socks
Lion Brand's Cottage Slipper Socks
Ribbed Socks (has a link to some anklets too)
Granny Garret's Crocheted Baby Socks
Crochet N More's Child's Socks Size 9

 

Russian Crochet Patterns

I saw a link to this site on a couple of yahoo groups I belong to. This site has tons of free crochet patterns in Russian. Someone also kindly gave a link to a page that has the translation of Russian crochet terms. You really ought to go check out these patterns. They are Sexaaaay. Ooooh and there are some beyooooooteeeeful shawls and wraps. I think it would be a great challenge to translate and crochet one of these patterns! There are also knitting patterns available and the translation site has the knitting terms as well.

I'm sure you are wondering where the heck is my One Skein wonder and what the heck happened to my X back. Well, I haven't picked up my needles in two days. Unfortunately life has a tendency to get in the way of crafting. Life being a pile of laundry that is growing exponentially and a house that is in a shambles. How does this house get so dirty?? There's only two of us living here! Is someone coming in here while we're sleeping and slinging stuff all over the place? Well I wish their crazy clean freak cousin would come instead. What the heck did that shoe maker do to get those elves to come and make shoes for him while he was sleeping? I have cookies!

I did pick up the needles for a knitting class today. The group consisted of three ladies I had in previous classes. This was a very productive class, and I feel like they are well on their way to becoming bonafide knitters. One of them expressed an interest in knitting a shrug so I gave her the link so that she could buy the One Skein Wonder pattern. I think it would be a wonderful beginner pattern. When I told her about it, she got so excited. Now she has even more motivation to practice her knitting!

Well I'm off tomorrow and I don't feel like cleaning. Hopefully that means I'll put the edging on One Skein Wonder and make a bunch of progress on XBack. I'm also going to be making a trip to the post office to send some faeries to their new home :) Have a great weekend everyone!

Slacker!!

'Member when I said that I finished the lace on Soleil, and I could start the stockinette. You would have expected me to get some of that done right? Wrong! Here is poor Soleil waiting for her stockinette. Poor Soleil don't worry I'll get to you soon. I'm off tomorrow and I promise you some quality time.

I had a knitting class on Friday night. It was one of those lucky instances where only one person signed, and I was able give her my undevided attention. She is left handed, so I taught her how to knit continental. I have found that my left handed students pick that up the best. One felt most comfortable "throwing" the yarn with her left hand and that was fine by me. I don't care what style they use to knit as long as their stitches are coming out right. Anyways, Staci (we have the same name that is too cool) did very well and is anxious to start the next class. I've nabbed us another one everybody!

Saturday I actually got paid to sit and knit in the store to promote my classes. How cool is that! I decide to make a drop stitch scarf much like the one I made for my grandmother. I use Lion Brand microspun and size 13 needles. Almost everyone that came up to see the scarf ended up walking out of the store with some microspun. Boy I wish I worked on comission! LOL! Unfortunately I didn't have anyone sign up for a class. Better luck next time.

Sunday I just worked and didn't do a darn thing crafty. When I got home Rob and I went shopping for dinner and then went on our walk. I am really getting into this walking thing. I even jogged a little bit and was surprised that I didn't get all winded. I'm seriously starting to see the benefits of not smoking now. I love my new lungs! Inspired by my renewed interest in physical fitness, I joined a new Yahoo! group called Knit 'N Fit.


Since our beloved obsession involves a great amount of time sittin' on our booties, I think this is a great idea to inspire and support fellow knitters with physical fitness. Now someone needs to come up with a Crochet N Fit.

Speaking of Crochet, have you ever tried Tunisian Crochet? Do you realize that you can create a knit stitch with this method? I was just looking through my bookmarks, and I came across this. That sure does look like knitting to me! Make sure you check out the other tutorials they have on Tunisian Crochet. This website is a wonderful resource.

Well my eyes are trying to close on me. I'm off tomorrow (or today however you look at it. it's 1am!) so I plan on getting some knitting done. I'm also getting together with my grandmother, so I'm hoping that I'll get some pictures of Angel. See you soon :)

Thread Bears

Andrea wrote:

It sounds like you had a blast. We have wanted to go there for years...now I definately want to go to Epcot! Off the topic... Do you know anywhere I can get a free pattern for crocheting a thread teddybear? I know they sell patterns on E-bay. Or does anyone have a Sept 2003 Crochet! they could share with me. That had a pattern for a thread bear scarf clip. I have been trying to get a back copy to no avail. Thanks



Hi there Andrea,

It isn't off topic to talk about crochet patterns. I crochet, make jewelry, paint, spin, etc. Feel free to talk or ask about any craft you want to here. I did a google search for Thread Teddy Bear Patterns, but I had a hard time finding free patterns. I did find a website where you can join a Bear of the Month Club, sign up for a free Thread Bear pattern, and also buy Thread Bear patterns and kits. I have never bought anything from them, so I can't vouch for them at all. Click Here to check them out.

You can't really "share" magazines (as in making copies) due to copyright laws, but if I run across anyone that has one for sale, donation, trade, etc. I will definitely let ya know :) Pleaaaaaaaaaaase take no offense. I'm not saying that is what you want to do, I just thought I should throw that out there before someone else did. It tends to be a touchy subject.

I hope that this helps you out a little. I'm sorry I didn't find that much. I guess the Google Gods weren't smiling upon me tonight. Haha! As for Epcot, you really ought to go. I truely did have an absolute blast, and I'd go every single week if could.

Take Care and Happy Crafting!
Stacie

 
I haven't posted pictures in a while, so I thought I would show you one of my babies.
If you look close, you can see that she has one blue eye and one yellow eye.

Yikes!!

I have been working a lot the last couple of days, so I haven't been able to do much knitting/crocheting. I really need to get on the ball. Do you think they would mind at work if I asked for a month or so off to make Christmas presents? Naaaaaaaah! Of course they wouldn't mind. I am off tomorrow and I plan to finish Ribby if it kills me. Then I will work on the Fair Isle Bag. Once I have finished the Fair Isle Bag, I will work on Eeyore. I haven't decided what project is coming after that. It will more than likely be my sister's hat and scarf. I don't know how I am going to finish all of this in time for Christmas. Heeeeeeeeeelp!!

Eeyore

Jenn wrote:

OMG! I LOVE Eeyore! Where did you find that book? I have been looking for some patterns of like eeyore afghans or something. If you could let me know where I could find the book, if possible, that would be so totally great and I'd love you forever. LoL, yes I'm a freak over eeyore! Haha, but I cant wait to see how it looks, I know it'll look great! As soon as I saw the picture of the ear, I was like eeyore's ear! haha anyways, I'll stop being stupid now and go :) see ya



Jenn,

Above is a picture of the cover of the pattern book that I am using. If you click on the picture it will take you to Herrschners.com where you can buy it for 11.95. (no affiliation just the first link I saw when I googled) I got my book about two years ago from Michaels, and I'm pretty sure that they still carry it. You can also click here to go the the Leisure Arts web site where I found a list of the different books they carry with Winnie the Pooh characters. There are books for knitting, crocheting, cross stitch, and more. Have fun!

Stacie :)

Latest Crochet Project

What is that?? You mean you don't know?? Haha! It's an ear! No I didn't cut it off of some poor defenseless crocheted creature. I just crocheted it last night, and one day it will belong to Eeyore. He will be 18" tall sitting up. The pattern is from the Leisure Arts book Pooh and Friends, and it will be a Christmas gift for my nephew Devin. Last year I made him Tigger. The picture of this ear does not really do it justice. Even with the flash turned off the color looks really washed out. I will try taking future pictures in sunlight to see if that will help show the true color of the yarn. I am using acrylic for this project because it is durable and easily washed.

Tomorrow I am going to St. Augustine for a Fiber-In. I'm so excited. It isn't going to be a huge event, but it will still be fun! This is the first year, and I hope that it won't be the last. One of the gals from my knitting group is going to be vending and she will also do a demo on Rainbow Dying. I wish my camera battery didn't stink so that I can take a bunch of pictures. I'm going to charge it overnight anyway and hopefully I'll be able to snap a couple. I'm so excited that I can't sleep!


I should be exhausted right about now. I have been suffering with an abscessed tooth all day. Luckily I was able to be seen by a dentist. That is no easy feat on a Friday. He wasn't even open, but said he would see me anyway. He prescribed me some Amoxicillin to clear up the infection. I expected him to charge me an arm and a leg for the impromptu emergency visit (especially since I was a new client), but he only charged me 45. I was shocked. Yes folks there are still nice people out there.

Yep, I crochet

I promised progress pictures today, but I decided not to show a project I am actually working on. Instead I decided to show a project that I have been neglecting for a very, VERY long time. This is a motif for the Summer Sunflowers Afghan that I begun, oh I don't know ummmm, SIX YEARS AGO! Why I lost interest in it I really don't know. I know that part of the reason is that I taught myself how to knit four years ago and fell deaply in love with it. I barely pick up a crochet hook anymore unless it is to teach a class at work or make Christmas presents. I always end up crocheting stuffed animals for the kids and christmas ornaments for the rest of my family. Last year I made Devin a stuffed Tigger and Ben a stuffed cow. His mommy really likes cows, and I wonder who's cow it is now. Haha! Now that I have started my Christmas projects there will be Crocheting content in my blog :) Maybe I will even pick my poor old Sunflower Afghan back up. I know she is terribly lonely.

Saturday

My husband and I went to visit his mother and grandparents last night, and I got quite a bit of work done on Just Peachy on the ride over. The "shortcut" we took went awry so that provided extra car knitting time. I think it is great how patient you can be when you have your knitting.

Lately I have been thinking about starting a Knitting and Crocheting group at my apartment complex. There has to be people living here that either knit or crochet, and I could teach anyone that wanted to learn. I have all of those extra needles that I could provide the new knitters, and we have a wonderful club house that we could meet in. Actually, it was the needles that gave me the idea. I am going to talk to the manager and see if we can advertise in the monthly newsletter.

At work today I was able to help a lady with a crochet project that she was working on. She is making an afghan for someone as a wedding present and was having problems with the pattern. I told her about my next class and got her number so that I could call her when I have the date set. In my last beginner's class I taught the students how to make Granny Squares, and I plan on teaching the basic ripple afghan pattern in the next one. It is a very easy pattern and it is perfect for beginners.