Building A Crochet Library

Building a library is a valuable endeavor for anyone with a passion. Teachers collect books with activity suggestions and classroom management tips. Entrepreneurs collect books with advice on building their business and working with others. Bakers collect cookbooks filled with recipes to try. Having a library available to you means you're always prepared for a new project. When you're stuck you can thumb through your library for inspiration. If you have a question or problem you can refer to your library for guidance. You can use your materials to help and educate friends and family who are interested in picking up your hobby as well. Finally, building a library shows that you are serious about your craft and provides a sense of pride.

 
Since my biggest passion is crochet I have invested some time and money into building a crochet library. Keep in mind that a craft library isn't just comprised of books. Your craft library, like mine, might be made of books, ebooks, printed patterns, PDF patterns, magazines, bookmarked blog posts, and more. I really love the feel and experience of a physical book but a digital crochet library is just as real and valuable. Ravelry has some great tools for organizing your digital library. I like to keep my PDFs in a file on my computer. If you're relying on a digital library, don't forget to back up your data to avoid potential heartbreak if something goes wrong.

Today I'd like to tell you about two of the most recent additions to my library. The first is Crochet One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant and Edie Eckman.

This book is so well-organized. It is a collection of patterns by many different designers. It contains both text instructions and charts. It's handy because it takes care of those hang-around skeins. It's a good place to look for a project for that special expensive worsted skein you got because you liked the color but you don't have much of it, but it's also good for those times when you've just finished a large project and have a random skein leftover. There's a large variety of projects so you don't get bored, from accessories to toys to home goods. I would definitely recommend this book. 

Another book I recently acquired is Crochet Noro. The patterns in this book are written by many top notch designers. 

I don't use Noro very often necessarily, but this book is so inspiring that it's nice to have around. I'm definitely going to work up several of the projects in this book. Looking at all of the gorgeous pictures and projects puts me in such a positive and productive mood. It's beautiful. So even though I may only work up a few of the 30 projects, this book is worth it to me for the encouragement it provides. If you're planning to work up more than 3ish patterns from a book you're thinking of purchasing, it's worth it. The amount you would pay for those patterns individually would be equal or more at that point (and that's if those patterns are available individually at all). Plus, who knows how your tastes may change or who in your life might benefit from borrowing the book.

I hope you've enjoyed this small slice of my crochet collection. What do you have in your craft library?

Friday Focus: Olka Novitskaya for AradiyaToys

Holy cow, is it really the end of May already? Good grief. The time has just flown by! It's the last Friday of the month. Do you know what that means? It's time for the Friday Focus! I told you it was here to stay in addition to Remix Friday.

I'm really excited to have our featured designer with us today to share her amazing work. Olka's toys are so very detailed and crisp. They look as if they could come alive at any moment! In light of Stacey Trock's important reminder about copyright, I want to tell you something super cool... the game-themed toy designs depicting Plants vs. Zombies characters that are featured in today's post have totally been ok'ed by the game developers. Sweet! Alright, Olka, take it away!

Who taught you to crochet? How long have you been doing it? 
Internet. Everything I know and everything I do was found on the internet. I watched tons of YouTube videos, how-to pictures and then practiced a lot. I don’t have any heartbreaking story behind this :) But to be true, watching videos and surfing pictures of crocheting is only 5-10% of all you need to do. Other 90-95% is practice. I made many different toys before I found my style and learned how to pay attention to the details, that was the hardest thing. I started crocheting at April 2013 and I liked it very much, because I wanted to make toys, but could not choose the right way of doing it, crocheting is the most comfortable for me.

Why do you crochet?
I tried different kinds of handiwork and liked crocheting the most. Before that I did cross-stitching, made flowers and trees from beads, etc. But as I mentioned before, I always wanted to make toys and once I tried crocheting I just could not stop. The other reason is that I like monsters and other strange creatures. I never liked all those crochet glamour dolls or cute puppies :) Also I like playing weird games such as “The Binding of Isaac”. My taste is a little different than other crochet masters have and I’m trying to express my tastes in my toys, for example PvZ ones :) I feel happy when I crochet, maybe that is the main reason why I do this.

Crochet Favorites
My favorite hook is 1.25 mm, I like it because it is small enough to make tiny details on my toys and it is big enough to replace 2.00 mm hook, for example. But usually I work with 0.75-2.00 mm hooks, they do all I need and even more! Talking about yarn, I really love 100% cotton yarn by Kirov Yarn Mills, I love everything about it. But most of all I like its color scheme. That is the most important thing I care about. I love matching colors, maybe that is one more reason why I love crocheting so much.

What are you working on right now?
Right now I have few parallel projects: a toy for my boyfriend’s game, a few mushrooms for my PvZ collection, and an as yet nameless bear of my original design. I’m always trying to make a few projects at the same time, because I spend so much time making every toy, that’s why sometimes I get bored (when I make ten versions of the same toy, until I get the perfect result) and need to shift attention to another toy. That helps me a lot not to give up big projects.  

A few finished objects...
Chomper by AradiyaToys (Plants vs. Zombies)

Peashooter and Snow Pea by AradiyaToys (Plants vs. Zombies)

Monkey Elnino by AradiyaToys (AradiyaToys Design)

See what I mean? Olka's designs are so crisp and the shapes are spot-on. Amazing! Elnino is such a cute little monkey. It will be great to see what original designs Olka comes up with in the future. If you want to learn more about Aradiya Toys you can visit her Etsy, Ravelry, Craftsy, Facebook, and Instagram. Thank you so very much for joining us today, Olka!

My Colorful Crochet Tools

Aside from hooks and yarn there are several other tools that I use for crocheting and designing. The other day I noticed something fun about them. Here's a picture. Can you guess what I noticed?

I must really like rainbows! The bag is made of plastic. I use it to transport my WIPs to and from my house and coffee shops where I can work in a slightly different environment. It keeps my projects safe from the Seattle rain. The spiral notebook contains my pattern rough drafts. I use the purple pen to write my patterns as I work them up before I digitize them. I've always been the sort of person who hand writes rough drafts. Both the bag and the notebook came from Borders before they closed *single tear*. The small booklet is where I doodle my design ideas using the Staedtler rainbow pen set. The booklet is covered in Lisa Frank stickers. I bought the vintage 90s stickers from Urban Outfitters when they were having a special deal on original Lisa Frank swag.

Despite what these tools may indicate, I really am 27 ;)

Spotting Crochet on a Special Weekend in Portland

Alex and I are spending a special long weekend together for his 27th birthday. As part of the celebration we went to Portland, Oregon to see one of his favorite bands in concert and to have a little fun at all of the traditional Portland locations. We went to college in Salem and lived in Eugene for a few years so we've been to Portland many a time and it's very familiar to us. It's a great city! I found some time for crochet spotting while we were there.

A Portland must-do is Powell's City of Books. I swear I could truly live inside it. No matter how many times I go there its winding layout and massive bookshelves impress and delight me. A picture doesn't do it justice. If you've never been to Powell's, drop in someday and prepare to be amazed.

Alex and I spent a long time in Powell's picking out some treasures. I got three books from the crochet section, all of them stitch dictionaries. I also got a Stephen King book to read when I'm finished with my current novel, The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.

Another Portland must-do is the Saturday Market. There were many crochet related booths present, but my favorite this time was Jim's Woodworking and his wooden crochet hooks. Wooden crochet hooks always remind me of magic wands, which is fitting since we surely do magical things with them!

Look at the gigantic crochet hook in the corner! I love it. We tried to buy it, but it was only for display.

A special dinner was spent at Mother's Bistro. It was so delightful! They had really good food, a good atmosphere, and reasonable prices. We tried to go back for brunch on a different day but they were totally packed! 

While we were at the restaurant I discovered this lovely framed filet crochet doily hanging in the entryway. Crochet is everywhere :)

 The band we went to see, Mogwai, played a great show. I really loved their light effects. The concert was very captivating. If you haven't heard of Mogwai you may have heard their music without realizing it. They did the soundtrack to the French television show Les Revenants (The Returned). It's on Netflix streaming if you want to check it out.

I'm so happy that Alex was able to see Mogwai for his birthday. Mogwai is a special band for us because it was the subject of our first conversation. The first thing I ever said to him as he sat concentrating in a study group with his headphones on was "What are you listening to?". It was Mogwai. 

We intend to enjoy the last of our long weekend together today. What have you been up to?

Remix Friday: Mommy and Me Divine Hats

When it comes to making a project your own, a simple change can make a big difference. Perhaps you'll work up a shell border instead of a ruffle border on a baby blanket. Maybe the amigurumi dinosaur you're making needs wings to make it a dragon. Whatever the change, small alterations can make a project feel totally new and personal. Today we're going to look at how Katrina's simple changes to a much loved hat pattern make it special for two happy recipients.

The Crocheter

When I needed a screen name, my husband dubbed me his PearlofGreatPrice and it seemed to fit my yarn related interests so I go by Pearl when talking knit and crochet.
Crochet was a second language my Mother taught me when I was 8 years old.  She had learned it from a friend's mother when she was a little girl.  No one else around us showed any interest so it was our special bond that we shared and loved for many many years and passed on to my daughter when she wanted to learn.  It was through crochet that I found much needed comfort and closeness to my Mother when she went on to her reward in glory.  Now when I see my Granddaughter wrapped in or wearing something I made for her from what I learned at my Mother's knee, I can feel her love enveloping us both in every stitch and that makes me smile inside and out.

The Original Pattern
Divine Hat by Sarah Arnold

The Story
The Divine Hat was a little miraculous answer to prayer.  Wanting to make a matching Mother+Daughter hat, I asked which was their favorite.  My Dear Daughter-in-law showed me one someone else had made and the baby had already outgrown.  She enthusiastically said she really wanted a larger one but I had no clue where to find the pattern.  One day I happened to be on Ravelry looking up projects made with a yarn from my stash and low and behold there was the Divine Hat Pattern! 

The Remix

I made the first one according to the pattern in the baby size, but realized I wanted to give it more depth so I added some extra rows in the next one.  Both the original hat and the first one I made seemed too snug with the front and back post stitching at the head band so I switched over to single crochet in rounds so it would have a little more give.   Then for the matching set I added several rows to the body of the adult sized hat so it could also be worn back like a slouch hat or pulled down snug.  For extra versatility there's room to fold up a cuff with the 12 rows of single crochet in the round (it's also a smoother finish without slip stitch joins).  For fun, I added my favorite crochet flower, Frothy Layered Flower by Ali Burdon, with a pin on the back so it can be placed in different positions according to the way the hat is being worn.

Note: All pictures belong to PearlofGreatPrice.

 

Crochet is... Creativity, Compassion and Comfort.

You can usually find me at KnittingParadise.com for those who knit and crochet.  One visit and you'll probably be calling it your on line home too.

What a fun twist on a hat pattern I totally love. What small changes have you made to patterns to make them your own? Thank you so much for joining us today, Katrina!

Seaspray Mandala

If you haven't already gotten in on Attic 24's community mandala project for Yarndale 2014, there's still time! As far as I know Lucy will be accepting mandalas until the end of June. I participated in last year's Yarndale project and had a lot of fun.

Although she has several options available for mandala making, I decided to contribute my own free-hand mandala. No pattern this time, just random crochet fun. I can't wait to send it off to the UK in the next few days. Here's my Seaspray Mandala.

I used Martha Stewart Extra Soft Wool Blend in two colors and a 5mm hook for my mandala. I wanted to pretty it up a bit so I also attached some small pearls by running thin wire through the stitches. The pearls were leftovers from my jewelry making days and I was really happy they got some use.

Community crochet projects are so exciting! I love it when people can share their love of crochet with one another. There are two more upcoming community crochet projects that I'll be writing about soon. Stay tuned!

Diamond Strike Banded Scarf

I recently acquired Crochet One-Skein Wonders and finally found the time to work up one of the projects. There are many awesome patterns in this well-organized book, so it was rather difficult selecting the right one to start with. I settled on the Diamond Strike Banded Scarf by Kristen Stoltzfus. It was quite a fun pattern to work up. Several months ago I purchased some DK weight yarn from Huckleberry Knits and that's what I used for this project. It took me a few sittings to memorize the repeat but once I did it went by much more quickly than I expected!

A little light steam blocking did wonders for this project. I'm really pleased with the result. What do you think?