crochet

Book: Blog tour: Granny Square Love

by KateG on October 8, 2011

in Home+Decor, knitting+crochet+yarn

Granny Square Love: A New Twist on a Crochet Classic for Your Home by Sarah London. North Light Books (September 2011).

With a riot of gorgeous colour, Sarah London’s book Granny Square Love is for anyone who loves crochet, and loves granny squares in every room of the house.  Welcome to the Whipup.net stop on the Granny Square Love blog tour!

Reviewed by Kate G

Quite often, when someone talks about crochet, they are talking about a granny square.  Granny squares are virtually the foundation of crochet motifs.  In Granny Square Love, Sarah London, a great lover of granny squares, shows how to take the most basic granny square, add fabulous colour combinations, and to add a granny square project to every room of the house.  I know so many people who love the rhythm of making granny squares, and who make them by the dozen.  Most of these squares are destined to be stitched together into afghans, and now crocheters have so many more options for their grannies.

Even if you have never picked up a crochet hook before, Sarah London’s clear instructions will get you started making chains and basic crochet stitches into granny squares in a few minutes.  The stitch illustrations are clear, and the photos of granny square construction are helpful, easy to follow and delightfully retro.

Each project has a clear description, details such as yarn, notions, hook size and measurements of the finished item, row by row written instructions for each round, tips for finishing each project off, and a colour commentary by Sarah London.  So often yarn projects are presented in a dictated colourway, and either the crocheter has to use those colours or figure out another colour scheme without any guidance from the designer.  I really like Sarah’s colour tips, and finding out her motivation for certain colour palettes, and her colour decision making processes.

Another fabulous part of every project is the large scale stitch chart.  For every crocheter that loves to use a stitch diagram, there is another that avoids a pattern with a diagram, with so many people never having had learned to read the symbols that make up a crochet chart.  Here Sarah provides clear diagrams, along with detailed row by row instructions, so that a crocheter of any experience level can follow along with the text and the diagrams at the same time, until reading a granny square crochet chart is second nature.  I personally love using crochet charts, and I’m excited about other crocheters learning to use charts, and doubling the number of patterns available for them to tackle.

The projects in Granny Square Love are divided into projects for each of the rooms in your home.  My favourite projects are the giant floor cushion (loungeroom), stool cover (kitchen), garland (dining room) and curtain (bathroom and laundry).

If anyone ever wanted to move away from the most simple granny squares used in Granny Square Love, to more complicated grannies or to other sizes or crochet motifs, then all of Sarah’s projects would be easy to adapt.  But I bet that anyone who loves granny squares will make these projects, at least once each, and surround themselves in every room with riotous coloured grannies.

About the reviewer: Kate is a busy mother of four with many craft projects on the go, including, but not limited to, crochet, knitting, sewing, dyeing, paper making, spinning, felting and bookbinding. Kate has challenges in the areas of finishing things, saying no and craft supplies storage. She also has a very very patient and tolerant husband.

DISCLOSURE: Sarah London PROVIDED WHIPUP.NET REVIEWER KATE WITH A FREE REVIEW COPY. THE AMAZON LINKS ARE AFFILIATE LINKS.

Join in the rest of the blog tour:

{ 3 comments }

Guest blogger series | Creating amigurumi characters

by contributor on September 26, 2011

in Geek Crafts, Guest blog series2 2011, knitting+crochet+yarn

With a strong streak of nerd and an affinity for crochet Tracey started up Mostly nerdy crochet. She’s happy to be hooking and often finds it an interesting challenge to use what’s on hand for her next project.

It took getting married, being unemployed, and being 1,500 miles from home for me to pick up my hooks and start crocheting. I learned the basics when I was ten, but apparently I had to be lonely and lost before I’d pick it back up.

Of course the first project I started was the dreaded granny square blanket (well, granny hexagon). Two years later I’m still not actually finished with it, but I’ve accomplished a few other things instead.

Mostly nerdy crochet was the product of my own impatience. For some reason I’m great at amigurumi and only ever followed a pattern once. By the second time I was convinced I could improve the pattern (which I did) and after that I just never bothered to follow anything! I wrote my own patterns for a while (some of which can be found at Ravelry) but I hate trying to follow them again to test the designs.

When I decide to turn a character into an amigurumi I start to collect dozens of pictures of them from every angle. Once I’ve managed to compile enough to create a 3D image in my head I start crocheting. It’s really basic; you add stitches to make it wider and decrease to make it thinner and that’s about it. Each character can be broken down into a series of shapes (most often cylinders and ovals) and then attached together. However, the crochet is only half the battle! I’ve found that if you want something to look right it’s all in the details. Faces are especially important and require a lot of attention, which isn’t too hard as long as you’re willing to play around with embroidery and felt.

As for the yarn that I use I’ll take anything. You hear about people being super green and buying recycled yarn or locally spun yarn or yarn made out of dead leaves for all I know. I’m not quite that diligent. I think I’ve bought maybe four skeins of yarn at retail stores in the two years that I’ve been regularly crocheting. I buy yarn at garage sales and thrift stores and I think that definitely qualifies as reusing. It’s about as green as an unemployed thrift store volunteer can get.

Crochet means a lot more to me than just playing with yarn. I started to rely on crochet as a means of comfort after our last move. I have some anxiety issues and use crochet to keep my hands busy and my mind calm. The biggest reason I stopped following patterns was because it required too much concentration! I like to use crochet as a relaxing distraction, so typically I put on a movie and start hooking. Recently I’ve been trying to exercise my patience by using a visual diagram for a non amigurumi project instead of a written version. Something about looking at pretty pictures makes it easier to watch a movie, crochet, and keep track of my stitches.

Someday in the future I really want to own my own sheep, sheer them, and spin my own yarn. Actually, my sister will keep the sheep for me. She wants to have a small family farm and will use them to make cheese and keep the grass down. I’ll use them for the wool. I’ll learn to dye it myself and sell it somewhere neat… or maybe just next to my sister’s cheese. I can dream, can’t I?

Special thanks to whipup.net and all the readers for being constantly supportive of crafters everywhere.

{ 1 comment }

Guest Post | Shell Crochet trim

by contributor on August 4, 2011

in Guest Blogger, knitting+crochet+yarn, Whip Up Tutorials

Guest post by Maya Kuzman from Little Treasures

It is believed that the earliest crocheted projects in the past were finger-crocheted and evolving from traditional practices in Arabia, South America and China. In Europe it gains popularity in the 19th century.

Crochet (meaning “hook” in French) consists of a series of interlocking and pulling loops of thread through other loops and incorporates wrapping the thread (called stitches) around the hook one or more times to create various intricate and highly detailed patterns. Various stitches and patterns can be created. Some of the more common stitches known are: Chain, Slip Stitch, Single Crochet, Half-Double Crochet, Double/Treble Crochet, Popcorn Crochet, Cluster Crochet, etc.


(A detail from a centerpiece crocheted by my grandmother)

In the past crochet was used for decoration of the home and the clothes with which they gained a more luxurious look.

Recently the crocheting of trims and edgings increased in popularity once again. Trims are crocheted to enrich pillowcases, bed sheets and clothes. I like to use them to decorate and beautify simple tees.

Here is a little tutorial of how to crochet the basics for a trim on an actual garment.

What you need:
A simple tee, a crochet thread and a hook.

Step 1: Mark the neckline where you are going to make the foundation. Use a ruler for this and mark it with a washable marker .
Step 2: For the foundation I used the blanket stitch.
Step 3: When you come to the end turn and crochet a single crochet in each stitch of the foundation. I crocheted 2 sc because the foundation gap was big.
Step 4: Choose a trim pattern and crochet on.

On my blog I have a simple trim pattern offered here.

Another much easier method which I highly recommend is that you crochet the trim first and attach it to the garment later. I have shown how to do that here.

As a conclusion I would like to offer some interesting crochet related facts:

Crochet as a hobby or activity has no age limits. It sorts of transcends between ages. Young children are taught and encouraged to crochet in order to increase their fine motor skills, aid in counting and following instruction, then to boost self-confidence and introduce quiet time, to learn a family tradition and so on, while the older generations love crochet for the pleasure it brings them (think of the things your grandmas crocheted for you) and many find financial security in selling their crocheted products, then there is the social element in this – many crocheters gather together to work in groups and clubs and share their love of this craft. Further more doctors recommend crochet for those suffering of arthritis!

So grab a hook and join us!

{ 10 comments }

Knit or crochet a wig

by kath_red on July 7, 2011

in knitting+crochet+yarn

My very good friend and fellow whipuper Kate, made me the hallowig for my birthday – I seriously love it – and am wearing it as I sit and write this. If you too want to knit your friend a wig, especially if they are pulling their hair out trying to organise their 40th birthday bash then here are some fun patterns for you to try.

And while on the hunt for these fun and freaky wigs I stumbled upon some more very cool costume headwear …

Shrek hat :: Spock hat :: fantastic mr fox hat :: pika hat :: devil horns :: fish hat :: viking hat :: r2d2 hat

{ 6 comments }

Simple crochet coaster

by kath_red on February 2, 2011

in knitting+crochet+yarn

These Little Petal Coasters by Amanda Tipton are just adorable – don’t you want a few? Pattern here.

{ 3 comments }

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →