Tag Archives: Design

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.

Crochet- More Than One Use

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ScannedImageIn my home we have limited birthday parties. My kids have a family party every year, where they get to set the menu for dinner and we share the meal with any extended family that can attend. However, we have an agreement that when they turn 10 they can have a party with friends, at 13 they can have a sleepover party.

So as I am now dealing with my agreement to have a birthday party with friends, I actually undertake some crochet. Over the years my kids have attended many birthday parties, and they often come home with little gift bags full of trinkets and candy and this got me thinking. How often do I just throw out these gift bags full of empty candy wrappers, can I create something a little different, a little more practical…well I think I have.

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Scrap yarn hats as gift bags

I have taken some scrap yarn and created small hats, kid sized, and used them as gift bags. So after the party and all the treats have been eaten the guest have a hat to keep their heads warm or play a little dress up.

It may be a little time consuming, but I think it is worth it. My kids actually really like the idea, and find it fun that everyone can have a different color and a different style. Well at least so far my kids still appreciate my playing with yarn.

I do not have or follow a pattern, I just create a flat circle until it is about 6” to 6 ½“ (15-16.5mm) in diameter, and then stop increasing until it is about 7” (18mm) from the center to edge- the radius. I use a verity of stitches, whatever might tickle my fancy at the moment. Then I fill them with candies and toys to share with my children’s guests.

An Afghan First for Me- Hand Dyed

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ScannedImageThis is actually a first for me. Now I have made what seems like a gazillion afghans, I have designed several, but Transmute Square really is a first for me; It was designed specifically with hand dyed yarns.

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Transmute Square Throw

Why does that make it so different, well for starters most people feel like hand dyed yarns are out of the price range, and thus an afghan is really not affordable. So I managed to create Transmute with only 6 skeins of yarn.

The unique thing about this yarn, Lisa Souza Targhee, is that is 100% Targhee wool. Targhee wool is an American breed, please note America is not known as a very large producer of wool, most of the world’s wool comes from New Zealand and Australia. Yet Targhee is a new heritage breed in the United States, so for me, it is local. Granted being 100% wool it may felt, so it care for it I use the delicate setting on the washing machine and I hang it on the clothes line to dry (or you could use the dryer with an “air only” setting, or little or no heat). This yarn will create a throw that is warmer than its acrylic counterpart, even with open work.

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Transmute Square Throw

So aside from the yarn characteristics, the fact that it is hand dyed creates a different effect in designing, the color repeats of this colorway, Deep Sea, is subtle, but as with most of these yarns the color repeats are not exceptionally long. I broke up these little sections of color with open work, to allow the eye to continually find visual interest.

Created with miter squares, this throw is completely join as you go, so you do not have to sew any squares together. This allows for a carefree kind of project, in a design that can easily be used in a masculine or feminine setting. By varying the square size this throw has a dynamic impact on its surroundings while having a very modern flair.

So consider opening your experiences to some yarns that you may not have thought of, you never know what gem you might find, and check out my Transmute Square pattern to put them to use.

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.