Tag Archives: magazine

International Crochet- Cabled Round Hat

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ScannedImageI have had pattern released in Europe before, mostly in pattern from Red Heart Yarns, but this is the first time I am featured in an actually monthly publication. You can find my Cabled Round Hat in Issue 9 of Crochet Now Magazine, in the United States this publication can be found at some bookstores such as Barns & Noble, or is can be accessed on-line.

Cabled Round Hat by Linda Dean

Cabled Round Hat Crochet Now issue 9 Photo courtesy Practical Publishing

This design is worked vertically, featuring cables that end up encircling the head. It is a one skein project and I was fortunate to check out this English yarn of West Yorkshire Spinners Bluefaced Leicester Aran Prints in color Pheasant. Blueface Leicester is actually a sheep breed that produces a soft warm yarn with a nice spring. To substitute a yarn found in America, any medium weight yarn can work in its place. Just please note this pattern is written in United Kingdom standard terms so the stitch names may seem the same, but are not…so instead of working a double crochet, in the United States we recognize this as a single crochet.

The hat itself has a nice stretch, allowing it to fit a wide range of sizes, while allowing for a very straight forward approach to working it.

I have long worked these vertical style hats, in reality my grandmother use to make a similar style when I was young. It was almost always her go to crochet item, working many vertical hats for charity fundraisers. So for me I thought all crochet hats were made this way, so when I learned how to create a top-down in the round hat, I considered it quite a novelty and fell in love with the approach. Little did I know that what I considered mundane, was really more a novelty then I thought. I have taken this basic approach and added many of my own personal differences, and I hope to share more of these with you…but here is another…. the Cable & Rib Slouchy Hat….

The Cabled Round Hat will be available later this year as a single pattern.

Cartwheeling Filigree Wrap- Great Things Come to Those that Wait

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ScannedImageSome ideas are all about timing. Cartwheeling Filigree fits this description.

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Cartwheeling Filigree Wrap Photo courtesy Annie’s

This triangle motif wrap design was envisioned a few years ago. I loved how the motif had a very floral feel, it felt so feminine. The triangle allowed me to have the “flowers” staggered, and share an openness that gives a very spring like attribute.

When I originally put this design together, the editors loved it, but it wasn’t quite the fit for the magazine issue they were creating. This happened more than once, and waiting was its best thing that could have happened as it allowed Cartwheeling Filigree to grace the pages of the 15th Anniversary Edition of Crochet! Magazine (the Spring 2017 issue). In the world of current publishing 15 years is a long time, and anniversary issues attempt to make a special splash of all the favorites over the years as well as classics, so it is an honor to be included with all the other fabulous designs.

m22166_sc_small2This wrap can have a very different feel if a yarn is used. It is featured in Spud & Chloe Stripey Fine yarn, it is a superfine (fingering) weight yarn that is comprised of superwash wool and silk. The wool gives it a little “springiness” and a bit of body, if it 100% silk it would have a true luxury drape.

If you are looking for something a little larger and heavier, you can increase the yarn size and the hook size to create a piece that can add warmth as well as style. While working this same design with thread can create a very enticing table cloth. Working in a solid color also presents a more classic feel.

This design has a simplicity to it that allows it to be much more than it initially appears. I hope it inspires you see how wonderful simple can be.

Chrysanthemums Keeping It Warm

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ScannedImageIt is beginning to feel like autumn in my little corner of the world. We had our season’s first measureable rain fall, the leaves are beginning to turn to yellows and oranges and reds and purples. The evenings are cooling off, and I even find myself setting a nightly fire. This is just perfect conditions for my latest design found in the October 2016 issue of I Like Crochet magazine, the Chrysanthemum Throw.

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Chrysanthamum Throw Photo courtesy I Like Crochet

The squares of Chrysanthemums definitely make me think of the decorations during Thanksgiving meals. The construction is a little unique for a crochet motif as there is a round that you turn your work and fan the petals. It is like shells folded over on itself to form almost a cone type petal. Also by turning the work, you get a different look of the stitch, as the reverse side of stitches as a little more bumpy appearance then the front side. This causes a little more texture, and really brings the feeling of flowers to the work.

This throw is worked as a join-as-you-go, so there is no sewing. Instead you have a quick working motif, which becomes a quicker throw. The look is structured, simple and clean as a single flower is bordered by a solid band. It is worked up in colors that highlight the fall season, yet just chancing colors to greens, whites and yellows, can make this a dreamy spring feeling throw.

This design came into being in the same manner as the Astral Flowers Throw, as can be recognized with the same color palette. They both grew out of a physical expression of thought and caring for a friend that lost her daughter. One mutual friend organized many to create 6” squares that she volunteered to assemble into an afghan. The outpouring was so great she made 4 afghans. Flowers can always say so much, without even saying a word.

Be a Dinosaur!

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ScannedImageHalloween is right around the corner, and my latest design in the October 2016 issue of the digital magazine, I Like Crochet, has a quick costume to turn your little one into a dinosaur!

The Dizzy Dino consists of a hat and sleeves (or arm warmers) that feature spikes, to highlight this reptile features. Everything really works up pretty fast, and can be created in a variety of colors to have a dinosaur pack on your trick or treating adventure.

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Photo courtesy of I Like Crochet Prime Publishing

One of the reasons I enjoy this design, is that it is soft, so kids with issues of textural feel can be comfortable. It is washable, so that it can have a life after the holiday as part of the dress up box. Finally it has warmth. Halloween in my geographic area is always a toss-up, it could be raining and 50 degrees or it is hot at near 100 degrees. This always makes it a little difficult to plan costumes, but in with this hat and arm set I can pair it with a sweatshirt or T-shirt and still have an effective dinosaur.

I will admit, this design did not begin as Halloween, it actually grew into creation from kids party ideas. One year I actually crocheted hats for all of my guests to my son’s birthday party. I filled these hats with candy and such, essentially turning the hat into a party favor bag, which had life after the party. This might seem a little over board, but I know that when my kids typically attend a party they come home with a simple bag of small toys and candies. These party favors usually leave a trail through my house of wrappers and scraps of paper, and me attempting to secretly throw this out, while my kids treasure them as memories of a good time. So by creating hat party favors I felt like it was actually a memento that could be kept without feeling like my kids were hoarding trash.

At my son’s party the hats seemed to be a hit, they poured out the candy to wear them, and even used them to help distinguish teams for a game a soccer in the back yard, hats vs hair.

Any way you look at it this design as possibilities, and will bring a smile to every kids face.

Stress Free & Seamless… The Best of Crochet

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ScannedImageI had a surprise in the latest special issue of Crochet! Magazine,(Stress Free Seamless Crochet, Fall 2016), I had another design on the cover! What was really surprising is that I was not even expecting this design to be in this issue.

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Autumn Blaze Scarf Photo courtesy Annie’s

132120_small2The Autumn Blaze Scarf that adorns the cover is really an interesting pattern that creates a great texture while creating a fabric that is on the biased, meaning that it has increases and decreases worked every row to give it a much angled direction. This really allows yarn that has some length to the color repeats to shine.

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Dharma Tote Photo courtesy Annie’s

The second design I have in this issue also benefits from long color repeat yarn, the Dharma Tote uses crochet miter squares to bring color to life in angles. Miter squares are worked from two edges worked, a corner, and worked toward the opposite corner. There is essentially a decrease worked in the center of the worked row, and my continuing the row with a decrease every row, it reduces to a point.

One of the really nice features about miter squares is that you can easily work it as join as you go, by beginning an edge directly on a created square. I played around a bit with the square locations, as I really didn’t want everything facing the same direction, yet I didn’t want to create a square that would be difficult to create with too many joins. I added some leather strap handles, and this bag was ready to go. I love the stretch that it has, I can stuff it full of crochet samples for my classes, or items that my kids need for “insert name of event here”.

Both of the designs benefit from long color repeat yarns, there is a couple of reasons for this. First you do not have to think about color combinations. The yarns already have some harmony in the palette of color, thus making sure that your finished product will be pleasing to the eye. Second, the long spans of color allow for the design to be highlighted. Whenever color changes are short, a little of every color works into almost any stitch, and things looked speckled. When to color change is long, you can create a shape in the color, as with Dharma Tote, you can see the directions for the squares. Neither of these designs would shine if they were speckled or in solid colors.