Where Arts Can Learn from Each Other

ScannedImageThis last week I had the opportunity to spend some tie at a knitting workshop. The Hangtown Fibers Guild, my local non-denominational Fiber Guild that has to be given credit for all the encouragement and support of my entering the Crochet Industry, was hosting Lucy Neatby for a day long workshop on a variety of knitting techniques. I helped arrange the workshop, and in handling the support I was able to glean some information from the beginning of the day.

The technique that made me smile was the knitters Provisional Cast On. Casting on is how a knit project begins, it is how to add loops to the needle, and there are various ways to do this. The traditional Provisional Cast On, begins with a crochet chain, and then loops are pulled through the chains, much like the beginning of Tunisian Crochet. During this workshop a variation of this technique was taught, essentially it is crocheting over the knitting needle.

I had an ever widening grin, as this is a skill the crocheters use in all sorts of ways. This is a technique that has been used to cover clothes hangers, to create bracelets, to make rugs. It is a simple part of a crocheters skills, and here it has another use in the world of knitting.

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Pull the yarn overs around the item you want to crochet over.

The basic of this skill is to simply have a loop on your hook, and with the object you want to crochet over in front of the working yarn, you move your hook to yarn over and pull a loop over the item. At this point you can pull through the loop on your hook (a chain stitch) or yarn over and pull through both loops (a single crochet US, or double crochet UK).

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Crocheting over a canning jar ring, I have created a wreath ornament.

Recently I have used this technique to crochet over mason canning rings with green yarn, to create wreath ornaments for the holiday season.

Every skill we learn is an additional tool we have, to grow in all the arts.

Yarn Play- Baby Alpaca/ Silk Petite 2

ScannedImageOne of the questions I often get asked is about yarn. There are so many different types a yarn out there that it can be difficult understand what makes each special, how each will behave in a project and why one might work better in different circumstances.

I will admit, my learning has been through some trial and error, but I also have been overwhelmed with the knowledge that I have received from my local fiber guild (Hangtown Fibers Guild). It consists of people from every aspect of the world of yarn, everyone from those that grow the sheep, shear them, card the wool, spin it, weave it, dye it, knit it, crochet it, felt it…everything. It is truly a remarkable group of mostly women that inspire me more often than they realize, and it is from this inspiration that I began looking at yarn and its properties differently.

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Playing with Drop Stitch and Lisa Souza Dyeworks Baby Alpaca/ Silk Petite 2 (color phaedra)

So today, I have been working with a 2 ply fine weight yarn, by Lisa Souza Dyeworks. This Baby Alpaca/Silk Petite 2 has a nice halo, not to overmuch, but just enough. (The halo is the fibers that tend to almost “hover” around the yarn, it does not seem to be actually in the strand by surrounding it, almost like a slight fuzz).

The two ply does not allow for strong stitch definition, so textual stitches like cables, popcorns and puffs make be lost, but the overall fabric is very light. Two ply yarns in general tend to be a little “flat” and it makes sense when you think about what kind of “tube” is formed from the twisting of 2 tubes together. If you look yarn from the cut end, different plies result in different looks, twisting only 2 strands together you can see gaping or open spaces when compared to a perfect circle.

Being created with Alpaca and Silk, the yarn is strong and will hold up to some wear, but does not have a long of spring. Once it is blocked it will respect its new form, while remaining very soft, and having a decent amount of drape. The fiber content also lends itself to being warm, while the soft nature is appealing to wear near or directly on the skin.

There is definitely life in this yarn, but it is a relaxed life. I think it probably works up best in shawls and wraps, and maybe even a cardigan if you would like it to have a little more of a “hanging” appearance. If you wanted to use it in items like gloves, or things that need some stretch, then you may want to consider that the stretch is going to primarily come from the chosen stitches.

I am currently working it in a drop stitch technique (learn how to drop stitch crochet here) to highlight the yarn in some open work, I will keep you updated on its progress.

Crochet -Creating Opportunities and Communities

ScannedImageI enjoy March. How can you not, it is a month long celebration of crochet! This is the third year that Crochetville has put this fabulous blog tour together, highlighting a least 2 different crochet designers each day (if you missed any make sure and spend some time catching up with them from the interviews at Crochetville) and Thank you Amy & Donna for once again putting this together.

halosofhopeFor me I always realize something about the world through crochet, and one of the reoccurring themes is community. This blog tour also brings attention to great service organizations, like Halos of Hope, that use crochet items to better society. Crochetville is taking up a collection for Halos of Hope, please consider contributing.

Crochetville_Designer_Blog_Tour_Promo-e1427303900438Community can be large like the Crochet Guild of America, many crocheters from around the world coming together in one organization, or small like your own local guild (mine is the Hangtown Fibers Guild, you can find one near you here), or crochet group, or coffee chat. But community can be quite unique and sometime taken for granted. So I wanted to share the store of how my Empress Wide Scarf (my free pattern as a gift to you for National Crochet Month), came into being. It is an interesting network that was connected and brought together by crochet.

IMG_6799.1My rural life has me in an area that is great for growing wine grapes, I should preface this by informing you that I have very little knowledge of wine; I know there is red & white, but much more than that and I am lost. With that said I believe the majority of the wine varieties in my area are more reminiscent of Italy then France as it is a region with a Tuscany climate, as a result there are many award winning wineries nearby. So my children go to school with, and are friends with, the children of winery owners and workers. One day I was approached by the mother of one of my daughter’s friends, she has admired my crochet work and was hoping I could create something for her daughter’s birthday. She had some rough idea that she might like a scarf or something that she could wrap around her head in a dramatic fashion like a Hepburn. She would love it to have the feel of a particular shawl I wear often (the Five Peaks Shawl by Vashti Braha), created in a fingering weight hand painted bamboo.

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Empress Wide Scarf – Free Pattern (click link below)

Now this mother knows about as much about crochet and yarn as I know about wine. I know that I cannot find a comparable yarn in the local box store; my local yarn store did not even carry such a fiber, so I began playing with various fibers to see if I could get a similar feel and drape. Then I happened to run into a fiber friend, she is an independent dyer that I have done some other crochet designs for in the past. I did not think to use her yarn at first, but after looking over the stock I found something that would fit perfectly. As it happens the dyer, Lisa Souza, loves that wine that the mother creates, Holly’s Hill Vineyards, so trades were able to be arranged so that everyone benefited. As a result I have been able to take this birthday present and share it with you.

My larger take away from this is how small the world can really be. By not hiding my work, I was able to bring others together in a completely different way, and I am reminded that I have a skill that I can share. Crochet can create a community that may not have been created otherwise, as it creates “ice breaker” opportunities; people are brought to fond memories when they see the fiber arts. (I discussed this more in the blog post Thankful Crochet…Not What You Might Expect)

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Empress Scarf- Free Pattern (click link below)

So the Empress Wide Scarf is created using Tunisian Simple Stitch, but what makes this pattern stand out is that it changes color on the Forward & Return Pass. The effects are very nice. So that the colors do not get too muted together in the Tunisian work, it is edged with standard crochet in defining bands of color.

Visit my Ravelry Store and download your pattern for FREE. If you are so inclined, please feel free to use coupon code “natcromo15” to receive a 15% discount on any order of at least two patterns until April 15, 2015.

I hope you make your own communities, as often as possible.

Old Fashion Empowerment

ScannedImageFunny my husband has no complaints about me being “a little old fashion”. He often jokes that if the end of the world comes that he’d be set. Sure I make my own jam from our fruit trees, I make my own bread (which does not help any diet plans), I have a spinning wheel and can spin my own yarn (I just have to dust it off) and I crochet like a crazy. But does that make me “old fashion”?

I like to think it makes me practical. After all I have the fruit trees and should do something with the fruit, besides feed the deer. The bread, well I was given a bread machine several years ago and found that it was cheaper to make my own then to buy it, so that is just me being thrifty ( the fact that the smell of homemade bread from the oven is so delicious is just a perk). I got the spinning wheel after winning spinning lessons from a silent auction…actually this event changed my life…..IMG_5566

Interesting how life changing events turn up when you least expect them, but I can trace back my career in crochet to winning these spinning lessons. I thought that spinning my own yarn would slow me up some; I crochet so much, and so often that I was always in constant need of yarn. So I thought that spinning my own yarn would at least keep me on a project longer, which it did, that isn’t the life changing part. The change came from the people I met. The instructor was an older lady that lived about 30 minutes from me, Jean Franklin. She lived next door to her daughter and was raising little Shetland sheep and was passionate about spinning and weaving. Obviously she was an expert in both, and she kept telling me I needed to join the local fiber guild (as I mentioned in earlier posts, I wasn’t too receptive to “guilds”). Under her instruction I learned more than I ever thought possible about different types of wool, and plying and fiber composition, drafting and basic yarn construction. Finally after about a year I took her up on her invitation to attend a meeting.

At this meeting I learned I wasn’t “old fashion”; I was fashionable. This little group was nearly 100 in membership and all dabbled in various aspects of the fiber industry, some raised the animals with the wool, others processed it for spinning, some dyed it, almost everyone spun it, then there were the weavers, the knitters, the felters, and the crocheters. They all lived in harmony encouraging and promoting each other. Everyone was a teacher (whether they realized it or not), and it is from here that I have gained the confidence to move my craft onward.

There is nothing wrong with being not so tech savvy, and understanding the lifestyle that is a couple generations removed. There was value then, and is value still today in these crafts.  In knowing that with your own two hands you can keep yourself warm and feed is a wonderful feeling.

Old fashion=empowered.