Snow Blossom Beanie

It's almost time for spring! Boy, am I ready. The winter weather around Washington hasn't been as intense as other parts of the country (my friends in Portland and Boise were drowning in snow!), but it's definitely time for the grey to make way for green. Appropriately, today I released my Snow Blossom Beanie, which is perfect for the last of the chill. It is available on Ravelry and Craftsy. Thanks go out to the lovely Alexis for modeling.

The Snow Blossom Beanie reflects the hopeful transition from winter into early spring. It is delicate and feminine with sweet little flowers. Surface crochet and appliques provide nice texture and stand out in the cold. The pattern includes a chart, written instructions, and a short photo tutorial on surface crochet. The yarn used to make this pattern has unfortunately been discontinued. Alternative yarns are suggested.

Book Review: 75 Birds, Butterflies & Little Beasts and 100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet by Lesley Stanfield

The Good
The patterns in these books are totally gorgeous and adorable. They are easy to follow and the books are organized well. There are so many fun little dodads to choose from as well as suggestions for how to use them in projects. Altogether both books present a lovely arrangement of beautiful and imaginative add-ons for all types of projects. These little tidbits would make great instant gratification projects while you're in the middle of something large and involved.

The Bad
This one's going to be a little obvious... I wish that the knit patterns were crochet patterns so I could make them! However, this is likely a good thing in disguise since I should become bistitchual anyway!

The Verdict
On a scale of yes to no, both of these books are a yes.

The Secret Garden Baby Blanket

Pattern releases are an exercise in delayed gratification. After I come up with an idea it can take between one and three months for the pattern to be written, error checked, and tested. Only then can I release it with confidence. I've been waiting for this pattern to be ready, and today it is! I am pleased to show you The Secret Garden Baby Blanket, based on the beloved children's book by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

The pattern is now available on Ravelry and Craftsy, and the sample blanket is listed on Etsy. As for me, I'm finishing another pattern today to start the process all over again!

Remix Friday: Seaside Theme Blanket to Annabel's Design

Hey, all! It's Remix Friday, the time when we celebrate creative crocheters who go above and beyond the patterns. I've already had such a great time sharing these special projects with you. Some of the stories are just so sweet that they need no introduction, like today's story of Mary, Annabel, and a wonderful crochet blanket. Here's how the Seaside Theme Blanket came to be.

The Crocheter
My name is Mary Walker and I have always liked to craft.  I used to knit when my children were young and then went onto cross stitch.  About 4 years ago I went back to crocheting and joined Ravelry and have been crocheting ever since.   My mum taught me to crochet when I was a young girl.

The Original Pattern
Noah's Ark Blanket by Michele Wilcox 

The Story

I have a long suffering husband of 35 years, 4 children [3 girls, 1 boy], and 5 grandchildren [2 girls 3 boys].   The blanket was made for Annabel who is my oldest grandchild, she is 9 and she designed the blanket after seeing all of the Noah's Ark blankets that I have made for all new family babies. She is a big fan of all things made by her Mummy or Nana.  Her Mum, my eldest daughter Libby also crochets and is on Ravelry.   I have put a photo of Annabel's design/drawing on my Ravelry page, also a photo of Annabel with her blanket.

The Remix

The changes I made are really what Annabel wanted.   To include herself, her brother William and her cousins Eva, Sonny, Oscar and Owen.  I enlarged the fish and turtle patterns, as the blanket was on a larger scale.  Annabel wanted a seahorse, starfish, beach umbrella, sun and clouds, so that is what she got.   She really loves her blanket and she made me a beautiful butterfly wind-chime in art class for me as a thank you. 

Crochet is... I LIVE CROCHET!

[Here is] my Ravelry Project Page where people can see my work.

Do check out her page! She has tons of awesome detail pictures of the blanket. It just tickles me to no end to feature this blanket today. What a beautiful family project. Wishing happiness to you and yours, Mary! Great job.

Paris Baby Set

I'm really excited about my new pattern, the Paris Baby Set. While it did take a lot of hark work, I am happy to have written this pattern in such a way that confident beginners can successfully follow it. I've sometimes seen really fun and interesting color work patterns that lack any color changing instructions and/or only show a chart. If you don't know how to read a chart, you won't be able to complete the pattern! That just wouldn't do for me. I endeavored to write a pattern with clear color change and row by row instructions so it could be accessible to everyone. This meant a lot more work on my part but less work for those who follow my pattern.

Don't you just love the little beret? It took shape exactly as I had hoped. I had a lot of fun writing this pattern, which is good because I am just about to start writing another tapestry pattern! The Paris Set can be found on Craftsy and Ravelry. Je suis très heureuse! 

Nicki Tote

Another pattern has traveled through my neurons, down my arms, out my fingers, off of my hook, and onto the interwebs! The Nicki Tote is named after a very good friend of mine.

This tote would be an excellent pattern for a beginner because it is 90% single crochet. The applique is a little tougher, requiring knowledge of around the post crochet, bobbles, and crochet in the round. There were surprisingly few tree applique options on Ravelry, so I thought I would add a new one to the mix!

I opted to include sewn-on handles rather than integrated handles because I wanted my tote to have a classic appeal. I think it looks pretty good!

The pattern is available on both Ravelry and Craftsy. Let me know what you think!

Lullaby Baby Set

Hello there, yarnies. I'm sorry to report that there won't be a Friday Focus today. I took a little too long to get the ball rolling on a couple of designers I was interested in, so there wasn't adequate time given to expect a response from them by Thursday night. Not to worry! Friday Focus will be back next week and I've got several amazing designers lined up.

The day is not a total loss. In fact, a little greedy part of me is actually a bit happy that I get to post my own work today...perhaps I subconsciously neglected the Friday Focus? In any case, what I have to share with you today is a brand new pattern! I'm really proud and excited to share it with you. May I present the Lullaby Baby Set.

Although the pattern uses basic stitches and could be accomplished by a beginner, the appliques were an intense amount of work to both design and attach. When I was finished I truly felt triumphant. Those who make this set are sure to take pride in their work.

The blanket shows a musically accurate version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in the key of G. When I first began designing crochet patterns I knew I wanted to make a baby blanket based on sheet music. It took me a little while to decide which song to go with. Another strong contender was Ode to Joy (for your little bundle of joy!), but I ultimately went with Mozart over Beethoven and selected this children's classic. Did you know that Mozart formally arranged Twinkle, Twinkle at one point? I didn't before I wrote this set! I stumbled across that little tidbit while I was deciding which key and meter to put it in.

 

A few of my appliques ended up a little tipsy, but I think it gives my blanket character. The pattern is available on Ravelry. Special thanks go out to my incredible pattern tester who whipped up her sample in less than a week! She is super duper speedy, I really don't know how she does it. Keep a look out for her upcoming project page on Ravelry. She said that the colors she chose reminded her of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Cute!

Stayed tuned to Illuminate Crochet, folks. Next week we will resume our usual broadcast schedule!

Yarndale Bunting

Lucy of Attic24 is preparing for an event called Yarndale in the UK. One Yarndale item that she is working on is her bunting project. After seeing a pretty knit bunting at another craft show she decided she wanted to have her own crochet bunting up this September. As you can imagine, creating all of that bunting is a lot of work! Thus she put out a call to arms to enlist the crocheters of the world in helping her make bunting triangles. I was happy to oblige.

The pattern for the bunting is here if you want to get involved and ship some triangles out to the UK. Hurry, because they are due at the end of August. I'll be sending mine out this week.

I whipped up the bow, stars, and moon on the spot, but the pattern for the little rabbit applique is here. I love connecting with other bloggers and crocheters!

Freebee Applique

If you want to add interest to your crochet pieces, you have a few options. You could crochet pictures or patterns directly into the work. This usually entails either carrying another color along your working row of stitches and switching out as needed, or dropping the color but leaving it attached so that you can come back and pick it up later. The former is the more popular method and it is usually called tapestry crochet. I wrote a blog post about an incredible designer who specializes in tapestry crochet if you are interested in learning more. The pictures and color work are a seamless part of the object and the results are usually patterned on both sides.

Another way to add interest is with embellishments, commonly called appliques. In this case you work up a completely separate object and then stitch or sew it to your work. This is my preferred method of livening up my projects. Some people don't like the small amount of stitching that you can see on the back of the work after attaching an applique, but I don't mind it. I like that appliques add texture and dimension to my finished object. They can lie flat or pop out depending on how you sew them on. A yarn needle and yarn in the same color as the applique work well for this, but you could also use a needle and thread if you wanted the stitching to be less visible.

Here is a hat with a skull applique that I worked up for my Redditgifts Hat and Scarf Exchange rematch recipient.

Here is a hat with a strawberry applique from my Strawberries and Cream Baby Set pattern. This was my first original applique and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I am happy to say that I have come up with another applique, my Freebee (Get it, it's free and it's a bee? Ba dum ch). One of the reasons I like appliques so much is that you can take any object idea and fiddle around with yarn until you come up with a shape that you like. For example, I undid the wings on this little bee several times before I was satisfied with their position.

What are your favorite applique patterns? If you haven't found the perfect applique for your project yet, consider inventing your own!

Writing My First Pattern

It can sometimes be difficult to find the right pattern. Even with the abundance of both online and print resources, it is essential to become confident enough in your crochet that you can alter patterns as necessary. I have often changed patterns to suit my needs. Hats can be made bigger or smaller, details can be added or removed, yarns can be substituted, etc. I have also developed a habit of whipping up my own simple scrap yarn projects, like buttoned pouches and flowers. Because I had done these things, I was under the impression that writing my first pattern would be easy.

I was wrong.

I decided to start my design career by writing instructions for a matching baby hat and blanket with strawberry applique. Pattern writing is a completely different experience than simply improvising. If you don't intend to repeat an action it is easy not to justify it. "Oh, I'll just add a few stitches here to fill it out a little", you may think. The finished product is what really matters. Contrast that to pattern writing. Every stitch needs to be accounted for. Your directions need to be clear and uniform. Not many assumptions about the skill level of your audience should be made, meaning that you must explain everything you're doing, no matter how easy it may seem to you. Pattern writing is like the scientific method of crochet. The formula needs to be repeatable by others with the same result if you want your idea to be taken seriously.

I really learned a lot during the process of writing my first pattern, which took about a week. I intend to carry that knowledge forward so that I may write purchase-quality patterns. This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download. If you would like to critique my pattern I would love some feedback! You can always comment here or contact me at illuminatecrochet@gmail.com. I'm happy with the way that it turned out (especially the strawberry) and have been so thrilled by the positive response it's getting on Ravelry. Expect more patterns from me soon!