Tag Archives: inspiration

Design Help- Outside Crochet

Posted on by

Not all designing involves crochet, at least not in my world. Since November 2016 I have been a 4H sewing project leader, this entails me arranging meeting times and helping guide the participants in completing project. Fortunately 4H encourages leadership from the kids, so it does not involve much instruction from me, as I am not much of a seamstress and sewing is not my favorite pastime. After all I crochet, and even work join-as-you-go motifs so I do not have to sew.

However in the course of these last several months the participants under took a community service project. So in addition to creating their shirts, and skirts, dresses and jackets, they also created a project to help Veterans. They arranged to teach the basic use of the sewing machine to other 4Hers at a large community event, then I aided then in creating a quilt square pattern that involved simple strips of fabric. They then sought donations of fabric and cut it into long strips to have their “students” sew these long strips together.

Quilt top created by my 4H sewing project

After a full day of instruction they had all the strips sewn together, then it was time to create the squares. I will admit I did help put some squares together, after all I did want to at least see my dining room table. The squares are completed and put together, now this quilt top is being donated to Quilts of Honor to be finished as a quilt and given to a Veteran.

Yes, I am proud of what they have accomplished, and their dedication and generosity is inspiring. It has been a really interesting undertaking for myself, watching the kids grow and understand themselves and what they like. Some of the kids actually created their own patterns and designs, other modified their patterns to create what they like. There are designers everywhere, at least in the sense that we are all creators.

A Perfect Flair for Summer- Dare to Flair Toddlers Dress

Posted on by

I really enjoy when I have a design that looks fashionable and creative, and more difficult than it actually is to construct. The Dare to Flair Toddlers Dress fits this description. It can be found in the June 2017 issue of I Like Crochet Magazine, and dependent upon the size you make, uses no more than 2 skeins of Lisa Souza Dyeworks Hardtwist yarn.

This girls dress worked in Tunisian Simple stitch is comprised of strips, so you make only rectangles and triangles, these are put together with Reverse Single Crochet, to add an almost rope like edging between all the panels and the edging. I love how this dress allows even a relative beginner complete a project that shines like an advanced piece.

Dare to Flair Toddler Dress www.lindadeancrochet.com

Dare to Flair Toddler Dress Photo courtesy Prime Pulishing

The pattern is sized for a 2T through a girl size 8, and can easily be customized. Add length by making the rectangles longer, add width by making rectangles wider. You may need to make some adjustments on the triangles, but this will depend upon where you want the flair to begin, at the waist, at the thigh, maybe at the hip.

I enjoy the versatility that this dress has, and how it really allows variegated yarn to color pool in a way more like knitting. This design would also be fun worked in color blocks, meaning working different panels different colors and joined together.

www.lindadeancrochet.com

Photo courtesy Prime Publishing

Whenever I design clothes for kids, I always try to make it something that they can be successful getting dressed in themselves. So the piece has not really front of back, hence no way to put it on backwards. If it gets turned inside out, the fabric on the inside is just as pretty as the outside. Pair it with legging, or length it for a full dress effect. Ever little girl will want to wear this dress.

A Little Linen for Summer- Milo

Posted on by

The temperature has begun to heat up in my California mountains, so I picked up a yarn that I knew would give a little less warmth then others in my stash. I chose a merino, linen blend yarn. This means that it has a fine, or soft, wool combined with a plant based fiber that has been around for thousands of years.

Linen is created from the stalk of the flax plant. The stalk is essentially long strands that are held together by a “glue” that is created by the plant. The “glue” is dissolved, in years past it was done with a fermentation process, the stalk was placed in a watery solution and allowed to rot. This broke up the “glue” and allowed the long, fine strands to be gathered and spun into a yarn. Once it was turned into a yarn, it was called linen.

Milo by Manos del Uruguay

There are certain characteristics with linen. It actually repels dirt and is stronger when wet. If it gets wet and dries quickly, but it does wrinkle easily. There is a particular luster quality, and is cool to the touch. This definitely fits the description of a summer yarn to me.

The yarn I picked up was Milo by Manos Del Uruguay, it is 65% merino and 35% linen. Offering a generous 380 yards/350meters, for a 3.5 oz/ 100 gram hank, in a super fine weight yarn. Honestly it does not remind me of a super fine weight, or lace, it seems to have a bit more body then that and I feel comfortable working it up on a 4-5mm crochet hook. It has a nice feel in the hand, and definitely has that “linen luster” quality.

After washing it actually becomes softer, and I feel it will make a great shawl, but it could work into a nice camisole, or wrap. I think the fiber blend is really at a point of mutual benefit. The is just enough merino to allow for strength while being balanced with enough linen to give it a interesting and stand out quality. This one will do well on my hook and I look forward to seeing what it will become.

Crochet Leaves an Impression

Posted on by

The use of doilies has decreased, you do not see them resting on as many table tops or vanities as you may have in the past, but that does not mean that their beauty cannot be enjoyed. I have a couple hanging on my wall, I have seen some worked up as window valances, and even pieces together as a jacket, but there are a few other more impressionable ways they can be used.

Crochet & Clay www.lindadeancrochet.com

A small crochet tablecloth and wet clay

I enjoy how my son has managed to be inspired by crochet and apply it in a different way. He has been playing in pottery and creating bowls and figurines in a local 4H project and one of his vases will leave a lasting crochet impression.

Using a small crochet tablecloth he placed an impression in the soft clay before completing his vase. He only used the center to create an almost flower like pattern. I have seen this done in other ceramic pieces, some artists have used doilies to create various textures in their designs. I have even seen pieces that use the doily as the art by encasing it in glass, like a bowl or glass, to highlight the effect of crochet stitches.

Crochet impression vase www.lindadeancrochet.com

Crochet impression vase

When my son worked the glaze for his vase, he highlight the crochet design a bit more by having the color radiate out from its center. I was surprised he used this approach to his project. He enjoys my crochet, but I never thought that he would incorporate it into any of his crafts.

I hope that he attempts a couple of other crochet stitch patterns, and I will admit I have suggested a few. His use of a table cloth has inspired some ideas within my own mind, of how I might be able to incorporate crochet in my metal working class, for instance. There is a large world of craft and crochet can fit nicely in many different artistic ways.

Cotton Classic- a Little Different than “Traditional”

Posted on by

Some yarns always inspire me, some always tell me what they want to be, others, well maybe not so much. Cotton Classic by Tahki Stacy Charles is one of the former, it can always find a design in my mind.

Cotton Classic is 100& Mercerised Cotton and this sometimes causes people to pause. The term cotton is generally understood, it had a great marketing campaign throughout the 1980’s about how it is a naturally grown product that lets the fabric breath. Cotton also is stronger when wet, has limited stretch, and many think of it shrinking when first washed. This first wash shrinking, is not like felting of wool, this is essentially because cotton, being a short in length fiber, has more “twist” worked into the yarn in order to hold the fibers together (if a strand is long it does not need to be twisted together as much to hold, while something short needs to have more twists to ensure the hold) this puts a lot of tension on the fiber. When the yarn (of cotton shirt) finally gets fully submerged in water it actually allows the fiber to relax, this allows it to release the tension, and this caused the fiber to contract. So cotton will only shrink in the first washing whereas wool will continue to shrink with washings.

Cotton Classic by Tahki www.lindadeancrochet.com

Cotton Classic by Tahki Stacey Charles

The term that confounds many is Mercerised. Mercerised is a process that removes the slight halo effect that can accompany a cotton fiber, this is essentially the tiny ends of the fiber protruding from the yarn. To Mercerise the yarn, or thread is brought over an open flame to burn off the fibers. This creates a yarn that has a nice smooth finish that has great stitch definition. Another side effect of this process is that it does not allow the cotton to absorb water as is normally considered. Thus Mercerised Cotton is not recommended for dish clothes, where regular cotton will work wonderfully.

I find Cotton Classic is wonderful for warm weather projects, dressy scarves, home décor items, a great market bag. I even love it for tank tops and cover ups. This yarn has a wide arrange of colors available, and it shows of lace work stitches and textural stitches fabulously. It comes in small hanks of 1.75oz/50g with 108 yds/100m. It is a light weight and has nice drape on larger hooks.

Consider it for your next summer weather project, and don’t worry about this cotton reminding you of a dish rag.