Gifting Crocheters: Win Clever Crocheted Accessories

Posted on November 27, 2012 by dorischancrochet

A woman of my word, I am keeping to my policy, actually more of a guideline, of not burying the lead. At the end of this post you will discover how you can enter to win a copy of the new book, Clever Crocheted Accessories: 25 Quick Weekend Projects (Interweave Press, 27 November 2012) edited by Brett Bara. Now back to fluff.

There’s something about Christmas that brings out the best (and occasionally the worst) in people. Crocheters who participate in the yearly hand-made gift crunch can become heroes on Christmas morning. We can also turn into zombies. The two outcomes are not mutually exclusive. I truly enjoy the holidays and over the years, during those few brief lucid moments before the onset of total brain death, I have written about it ( see Crochet Marathoning). I have also offered a cute little Mini Stocking pattern. For civilians (non-crocheters), figuring out what sort of holiday gifts would be appreciated and cherished by crocheters can be a daunting endeavor. In the past I have written some helpful hints (see 2008, 2010) and even shared a recipe for smelly ornaments. This year I have an idea that will cover all this ground.Released today, the new book from my crafty friend Brett Bara makes a brilliant gift for yourself if you are a crocheter… or for a civilian to give to a crocheter who enjoys crocheting gifts to give to you. Too meta? Brett is one of those editors who is real good at herding cats, a skill that served her well in gathering the rock star designers who contributed to this pattern collection. From the first project, Saturday Beret (on the book cover), designed by Ellen Gormley, to the last, my own Chunky Capelet (in super-fast broomstick technique), Clever Crocheted Accessories is a happy guide to making quick work of your gift list. I’m going to have to refer to Ellen as my bookend friend from now on. 🙂

Click here for a look inside the book, or see this slideshow of just some of the designs, please to maintain composure and resist drooling.

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You’ll find Clever Crocheted Accessories at bookstores and yarn shops, or you can order from Amazon and from Interweave Press. Thanks to Brett and Interweave Press you can also enter to win a copy right here right now. Leave a comment to this post below and I’ll choose a winner at noon EST on Friday, 30 November. Please keep your replies brief. Sucking up to me will not help your chances at all. Happy happy joy joy to all and best of luck.

Cat’s Out of the Crochet Bag

Posted on October 2, 2012 by dorischancrochet

Here I go, un-burying the lead. The newly redesigned seamless crochet lace topper I previewed at CGOA Reno is now available. DJC: Cat’s Cradle.v2, my latest self-published pattern, is ready to download from the shop at DesigningVashti.com.

Photo courtesy of Jim Lowman and Offinger Management

Now the story. I produced a highly experimental exhibit at the Knit & Crochet Market show floor during the Crochet Guild of America conference in Reno, NV, September 2012. With the exception of the informational booths for the CGOA and TKGA (The Knitting Guild of America), the market is all about the retail experience, shopping for yarns, tools, books and new crochet/knitting related products. But I had a dream. I wanted there to be a booth where we weren’t selling anything; a showcase where attendees could see and be inspired by the latest in crochet, learn about as well as meet the charming and talented CGOA crochet instructors presenting classes in Reno, and also hang with favorite crochet designers and authors in an open, relaxed setting. With the blessing of the guild, sponsorship from WEBS, America’s Yarn Store, and from Interweave Press, and with a butt load of help from my friends and my co-conspirator Vashti, the Crochet Design Showcase became a reality.

You got a sneak peek of the booth in my previous post about the Star Fleet uniform dress last week. Here’s another look at the exhibit:On display were samples and materials drawn from the classes of instructors Susan Lowman, Margaret Fisher, Karen Whooley, Kathie Earle, Vashti Braha, Lily Chin (promoting her class and DVD workshop, Mosaic Crochet), Darla Fanton, Joan Davis (with her new self-published book, 336 Crochet Tips!) and Suzann Thompson (displaying her books Crochet Garden and Crochet Bouquet) plus current designs from friends including Andee Graves and a preview of Ellen Gormley’s new book, Learn Bruges Lace and a special display from Laurinda Reddig, her CGOA 2012 Design Competition grand prize winning vest. There was also chance to see up close my own current published designs, the Rockin Red Dress from the Fall 2012 issue of Interweave Crochet from my last post, and the Pretty Baby skirt from the 2012 Crochet Traditions issue of Piecework magazine.

But the most fun we had in the booth was generated by an on-going event that drew lots of attention and caused a flurry of excitement, the Cat’s Cradle.v2 fitting lab. I lugged 9 crocheted samples of this garment, in every one of the sizes, in alternate yarns and versions, and invited my friends and visitors to the exhibit to try them on for fit.

OK. So, at first, attendees were not lining up to participate. It was intimidating, perhaps a bit embarrassing, to be on display in public this way, trying on clothes. I had to accost, snag and otherwise cajole many of the ladies into helping me judge the real-life fit of my samples. But over the course of the three-and-a-half day market I witnessed such joy and pleasure in dozens of women who discovered the wonderful flattery of this design. I got so wrapped up in the experience that I neglected to photograph many of the victims… uh, volunteers. But here’s a gallery of some of the few fearless ladies I captured:

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If you already have the pattern from the 2007 magazine issue, do you need this? Uh, YEAH! As I wrote in the preface, “The design is revised for better drape and fit, with a new lovely round contoured neckline, stunning lace stitch pattern, deep full fit through the arms, and a swingy trim. This booklet length pattern offers more sizing and length options than the original, with fresh samples in some of my favorite yarns, detailed and revised instructions, awesome stitch diagrams and expanded sizing that brilliantly covers the range from XS through 4XL, perhaps 5XL.” You will make more than one. Promise.

A million thousand thanks to all who let me play Barbie dress up with them at the booth in Reno, and two million thousand thanks for giving me permission to take those shots. I swear I wrote down all the names of the intrepid models I photographed (you guys saw me do it, right?), but doubledogdangit if I left the list in Reno. So much for crochet making you smarter. If you recognize your lovely face and figure in the mix, let me know and I will add your id to the image. Or not, if you are just too shy. 🙂

CGOA Reno: I’m at WHAT convention?

Posted on September 28, 2012 by dorischancrochet

So this is not the Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada???? It’s four hundred miles away in Reno, I’m at a Crochet Guild of America conference, and this is September, not August 2012. But a little space and time shift didn’t bother me any.

Photo courtesy of Vashti Braha

And there’s the perfect argument for Star Fleet having a mandatory retirement age! That’s me, dashing about getting a few things we needed for the CGOA Fashion Show (lint roller in hand!), standing still only momentarily at the Crochet Design Showcase, an experimental booth I launched at the Reno conference. More about the conference in a bit. As for the dress, it is only faintly recognizable as the Rockin Red Dress, my design published in the current Fall 2012 issue of Interweave Crochet. In the magazine it is styled this way:

Photo courtesy of Interweave Crochet

Crochet the dress a couple of inches shorter, wear it with black boots, a T-shirt collar and a spiffy replica of Lt. Uhura’s insignia from the Star Trek 2009 reboot film, and, it reverts back to the original inspiration for the design:

Well, yes. Zoe Saldana’ Uhura is much younger, curvier and hotter than me. And her uniform dress is scandalously short and fitted. But you get the idea. Even we geeky fan girls can play dress up once in a while.

One to beam up!

Of “Crochet Scarves”, Carrots and Sticks

Posted on July 20, 2012 by dorischancrochet

In keeping with my previously established, more disciplined approach to newsy important posting (as opposed to the manner in which I present the more imaginative, inconsequential posts), I am telling you up front that today you have an opportunity to win a copy of my friend Sharon Silverman‘s incredible new book, Crochet Scarves: Fabulous Fashions – Various Techniques (Stackpole Books, 2012). I guess that’s your carrot. 🙂

It occurs to me that the efficacy of the whole carrot (the reward) and stick (the threat) thing completely depends upon your species, your point of view and inclinations. If you’re a pony, then OK. Consider my dog. To him, carrots are not edible (this is the little brat who often behaves as though dog food isn’t edible, either.) Put a carrot in his dish and he’d probably sniff it, scratch all around the dish for a few minutes, push the carrot out of the dish, toss it around the floor for another few minutes before beginning to whine. But present him with a stick… WOWSERS, a stick! He’ll chase that stick until he collapses in panting exhaustion. So to him the carrot is the threat; the stick the reward. Speaking as a person who doesn’t care much for carrots, I’d be much more motivated if you dangled chocolate cake instead. And if the stick can be used to hold crochet stitches, then that’s going to be more intriguing than threatening. It would have to be something totally horrible, like, say pattern sizing, to be a true threat. If offered the chocolate cake or the pattern sizing, you could get me to pull the cart, no question. See what I mean?

So for the sake of a better figure of speech, I should really let you fill in your own choice. Sharon’s new book, Crochet Scarves is [your reward here]. Turns out Sharon Silverman and I are practically neighbors. We finally met face to face last spring over some evil orchids. But that’s another story.

The concept of this book is quite brilliant. In Sharon’s hands, the lowly scarf becomes the canvas for the exploration of various crochet techniques, ranging from mitered squares to lace and colorwork, broomstick crochet and (what I consider to be her specialty) Tunisian crochet. Each of the 21 scarf projects is accompanied by an achingly complete tutorial, including step-by-step images of hands, hook and yarn, stitch symbol diagrams and close-up shots of the fabric. No matter what sort of learner you are, Sharon’s got you covered. Not only do her lessons prepare you to make the scarf designs in the book; this is stuff that will boost your confidence when working on other people’s designs (including mine!).

While Sharon’s scarves are the perfect teaching tools for techniques, they are also majorly wonderful opportunities to experiment with different yarns. Many of the projects require just one skein of fabulous yarn, or one skein of each color. I have two favorite designs. Cactus Lace alternates broomstick with rows of double crochet to great effect.

Electric Lime is an awesome way to make variegated yarn look good in crochet. It is done in Tunisian net (also called Tunisian full stitch) that allows the color changes to overlap, like bargello. Clever.

My blog today is merely the first stop on the tour for Crochet Scarves, a month-long celebration. Check Sharon’s website and Facebook page for the latest links and book giveaways.

Now the exciting part. Please leave a comment below to enter a drawing to win a copy of Crochet Scarves compliments of Sharon Silverman and Stackpole Books. You don’t have to write anything fancy. Sucking up to either me or Sharon won’t improve your chances because a number will be chosen at random. Yeah, right. Deadline for comments is midnight Eastern Time, 21 July, Saturday night. I’ll be back on Monday to announce the winner and award the carrot. Or chocolate cake. Whatever. 🙂

Unexpected Afghans: Exploded Pineapple Crochet

Posted on June 30, 2012 by dorischancrochet

While I don’t often wander into home decor design, when I do go there I thoroughly enjoy the change-up from my usual wearable crochet modus operandi. The beauty part of designing afghans, for example, is that I don’t have to endure the agony of writing sizing for the patterns. That fact alone is reason enough to visit home dec land more often. So when a friend invited me to contribute to her afghan book, I didn’t need to think twice.

This weekend, all of the contributing designers are helping to celebrate the release of Unexpected Afghans, by Robyn Chachula. I believe I speak for the entire group when I say what a pleasure it was to not have to size the patterns… oh, and how much fun it was to work with Robyn.

Robyn’s idea was to get each of us to design an afghan in our own unique style. For me this meant seamless lace, the Exploded Pineapple Afghan:

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I have written previously about my relationship with pineapple crochet here. Very early in my career I realized that I loved creating pineapple designs so much that I was in danger of overdoing it. I began rationing my pineapple use. But you have to ask yourself, how many pineapple projects are allowable in, say, a year of designs? Two per year seemed excessive, and I now limit myself to one a year. So this afghan blows my quota for 2012. 🙂

Here’s the list of contributors to Unexpected Afghans, so you can see what the entire gang has to say about the book this weekend:

Annette Petavy – Annette Petavy Design

Annie Modesitt – Modeknit

Carol Ventura – Tapestry Crochet

Diane Halpern –Three Rivers Crochet

Dora Ohrenstein – Crochet Insider Newsletter

Drew Emborsky – The Crochet Dude

Edie Eckman – Edie Eckman

Ellen Gormley – Go Crochet

Jill Wright – Wool Crafting

Kim Guzman – Wips N Chains

Kristin Omdahl – Styled By Kristin