Trying to find her way above the tree tops...

I'm uploading the first part to a two-part interview with Laurie Wheeler, owner of Camanomade Handspun Yarns and founder of the Crochet Liberation Front. Once completely uploaded, both parts, as well as show notes, will be at The Crochet Side.

You can find me here:

My Website
My Podcast
My Ravelry Designer page
My Ravelry Podcast Group page
My Flickr Account
My Etsy Shop

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Someone on Etsy contacted me about whether or not the Buckle Cloche could be converted to knit since they don't crochet. At first all I heard was screaming inside of my head, but then I thought, "wait--I remember...yes!"

There was an episode of Knitty Gritty with Lily Chin where she showed how to knit crochet stitches. It's a matter of yarning over and passing loops. So there should really be no conversion as the pattern can be followed by a knitter if they use the knit method of crocheting.

Excited!

I've been recycling coffee containers for yarn purposes. Cut a small circle in the middle of the plastic lid, drop the yarn into the cleaned-then-dried container, and voila! No more yarn rolling away from me. So far there is sock yarn in one and worsted in another.

The Crochet Side is down, sadly, due to hosting issues. This just means that I am playing with a new layout while waiting for the issue to resolve. Resolve meaning the provider will need to reply to my support e-mails and fix what's wrong. Until then, though, I play.

http://www.thecrochetside.com

That's where "On the Hook" has moved to and has become "The Crochet Side" instead. More fitting.

I am having designer's block. It's irritating. I'm irritated. I work, work, work toward an idea, and then a quarter of the way through side-A of a prototype, I freeze and rip everything out.

I have yarn to unload. It's up for sale at my Etsy. Please buy it from me so I can get it out of my house. *sigh*

Also, I just ripped out 28 inches long, by 5 inches wide, worth of crocheted ribbing. That's a lot of damned ribbing. I also ripped out the 7 rows of sc I made around the circumference edge. I've started over, halfing the width. I wish I could afford a different yarn, but what I have will have to do for right now.

Bellezza Collection Stellina. It suggests a J hook, but it's thin--really more like a dk or light worsted. I ended up using an H hook, and yet my swatch gauge compared to the listed one on the label is...well, it's madness!

For a J hook, their 4"x4" gauge is supposed to be 17sc by 18r.
With an H hook, my 4"x4" gauge was 16sc by 20r.

That's a two-size hook difference. If I were to make more than 16sc wide within 4 inches, I'd be crocheting too tightly or pulling the little stretch the yarn has. Very strange. I'll post a photo of the swatch later.







OH, just to note: shakingthevoid/onthehook (not the liverjournal, but the domain and blog) will be going down for a short while. I'm moving hosting locations and it requires cancelling my current account.

This hat was a custom order. Made just like the red one that I created for the AHA, only, obviously, this one is black and has a different buckle and belt loops. I love how simple and quick this pattern is. I'm very clever, if I do say so myself. ha!

I feel kind of stupid because I realized I wrote the pattern for the super bulky weight version (cream colored one), instead of the red that was a chunky weight. I prefer the chunky, which is what this black one is made of. I've since corrected that error on my part. Lame, lame, lame.

i attempted to make a crochet version of paranee's knitted flying geese swatch. SO LAME, Brianna. I got bored after 7 rows and realized it was never going to work the way I was doing it.

Oh well.

Thanks, greatly, to paranee and dainty_kate for testing Pinwheel Beanie for me. It was a great experience all around.

paranee made a post about her experience here that made me blush (as did the comments on the entry). Very nice things to say, which I heartily return.

I'm keeping these girls for myself. If I could pocket them I would. Since there are moral limitations to shrinking people and making them live on my desk amidst piles o' yarn, I will accept secondary terms of having them test for me in the future.

I think I'm going to go add them to my itshardtosay friends list since I can't seem to remember to read this one.

I believe it was a Knit Bit clip on DIYNetwork's Knitty Gritty where Cecily (too lazy to grab a link right now) mentioned using sheet protectors and a binder to hold her patterns. Then with dry erase markers you could strike through parts of the pattern you're completed with or make notes where you've changed things, et cetera. And when I saw that I thought damn, that's an awesome idea. So tonight, on a whim, while out picking up sandpaper and acrylic sealer, I grabbed what I needed to put together a Pattern Keeper (Trapper Keeper, anyone?).

I don't buy many patterns because, honestly, if I like something enough I tend to try and recreate. It's only if it's outside my skill or if I really want to support an awesome designer that I buy patterns. Just skipped off on a tangent there, so... oh, right--I don't buy many patterns so this binder will likely be where I keep hard copies of my own patterns. A little safe haven, really. It's really a clever idea, and it's especially nice to see my patterns printed out and all in one place. It's like a portfolio for my designs. A constant reminder to every once in a while say "way to go me!"

Hallelujah, the Pinwheel Beanie pattern is complete and ready to be sold!

See: Etsy
See: STV

This is a swatch, and I only state that in case it's not obvious.

It was crocheted with the Tunisian knit stitch, for the majority of it, accompanied with simple stitch blocks of 5x5 sts. It's 25 stitches wide, total, but only 20 rows tall.

The color is ridiculously off because I had to post-camera alter it in PSP due to the fact that I took the photos on the top of my desk with lamp light and the on-camera flash. Dumb of me, but I'm _so impatient_ that I couldn't wait until tomorrow.

Can anyone tell that Tunisian stitches are my favorite? I don't even know why, but there's something about it that makes me want to both scream from frustration since it takes longer to create, but then applaud when I'm done because I love the finished look. It's an obvious one-sided love-hate relationship that I've created here.

Say hello to my little friend. She should be arriving on Thursday!

Biggest pet peeve in the (two) separate crochet-related podcasts I've listened to?

Monotone voices, too much personal talk, and TEETH SUCKING.

Enough said.

Don't forget about the seminar tonight (Wednesday, 03/14/07 at 7:30pm CST) over at art_of_crochet!

This hat starts out just like the tunisian swatch I posted here. The body is worked in BLO, followed by a brim with linked/tunisian stitches.

Worsted weight yarn, H-hook, and some patience. At one point I had to frog and start over because I attempted to decrease where the pinwheel edges hung out. This made it pucker, obviously, and it looked like shit. So I decided to work with it and let it swirl however it wanted.

I really wish I had someone local for Caryn to take photos of this on. Someone who actually looks good in hats, as I don't. Caryn's not fond of being in front of the camera, as a photographer often isn't, so I won't ask her. I'd wait for her sister to come back over, but that's not until the end of this month and I want this pattern written and tested before then. Gah!