SPOTTED

...while picking my children up from their first day of school this Monday in Tampere, Finland!

A beautifully crocheted bike basket/bag.

In cities where people commute to work and school on bikes, this is an excellent idea!

What cool things have YOU spotted recently?

Tapestry Crochet

contributed by Barb

There seems to be an explosion of crochet projects lately.  Our learn to crochet class is coming up on the 24th, and sold out just like our last one. 

Because so many more people are becoming interested in crochet, I thought I would make several items for show and tell.  I  recently purchased several patterns from Interweave Press. they've got some great patterns! One was the Spring Market Bag.

I began the bag with similar colors, but have chosen very different colors to finish off the top.

I realized that my spiral is going in the opposite direction. Oops! Clearly, it's been a while since I did tapestry crochet. I know what I did wrong but it is only a bag so I am not going to rip it out!

Sign up for Our Upcoming Tunisian Tour!

Ok, we aren't scheduling an actual sight-seeing tour of Tunisia. But we ARE offering a chance to explore the basics of Tunisian Crochet techniques all from the cozy comfort of our shop classroom.

You may remember this amazing bag that Barb whipped up for us a couple of weeks ago.We've had lots of interest in this bag, so Barb's going to share the skills. So step right up and join us for this excellent Tunisian crochet adventure!

Tunisian Crochet, and Video How To's!

A couple of weeks ago, we had to close the shop on a Monday because of the big 3 foot snowstorm. Barb wasn't scheduled to work that day, and as she was completely snowed in, she decided to start a new project.

She'd been itching to test out the new Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hook Set, so she went to their website and found a free pattern for a little bag. She had a skein of Lamb's Pride Worsted at home in one of the variegated colors (Elderberry Wine) so she thought she'd play around with it.

The Denise website is FULL of instructional videos for Tunisian crochet. So in a matter of minutes, Barb was already a pro.

It was so much fun, that before she knew it, she'd completed this adorable bag! She's already thinking about ways to make a similar, yet slightly larger, one.

How great would this be done in spring colors and used as a little Easter basket? Or done in cotton or hemp and used as a market bag?

Happy Spring!

I woke up this morning to see that the ice was gone in Burlington Bay on Lake Champlain. And spring officially arrived as I was on my way in to work at the shop.

So it's time to pick up some of my warm weather projects again. Last summer I taught myself how to crochet and picked out five colors in the Tahki Cotton Classic to make up a new tote bag. I took it with me to coffee shops in Burlington, and the single crochet went quickly. I really enjoyed the project and had some yarn left over.

Since I've been admiring the crocheted Salem projectin Berroco Book #273 Naturlin I thought I would use my leftovers to try out the hexagon shapes to see how they went. I was so pleased by the first one I just kept right on going. I haven't finished yet, because I need some more yarn to finish up. It should make a stunning new warm weather spread.

I've noticed customers coming in recently to purchase Cotton Classic for the Blooming Cotton Scarf in the new Interweave Knits Spring 2009. This scarf is so cool! It's slip stitch, and knit in the round. At the end, you cut your work!!! And unravel back a ways, and tie fringe to secure the knitting. What a neat project. So many color options too, because Cotton Classic comes in so many great colors:

By the way, we just put Cotton Classic on sale yesterday. It's 20% off through Monday, 3/23/09. Happy spring!

New spring projects

Spring fever - what does it mean for you? For me, it means I'm eager to start lots of new projects. The trouble is finding time to finish all of them.

I did finish my Granny Square Hat for the class I taught last Saturday. We had a great time. All the fibers that people chose looked wonderful! I used Rowan Silk Wool DK and the others used either Frog Tree Alpaca, Cotton Rich DK or Alpaca Silk Georgette. The hats are all going to look great! I can't wait to see the progression when they come back for the next class.

A while ago I received an email from Interweave Knits about how “HOT” crochet is right now. I have been mostly knitting and weaving recently, and hadn't really done any crochet in quite a while, so I started looking at our crochet books and magazines. I found the Boteh Scarf in Interweave Crochet Spring 2007 and it looked so neat! I thought I'd use a yarn I've never used before, so I selected a spring pastel of Anne by Schaefer. This was very interesting to crochet (not difficult). I am almost done - only about an hour of single crochet remains around the scarf. It will look amazing once it's blocked. I also started a crocheted felted bag from the Crocheted Pursenalities book. I cruised through about half of it, but got sidetracked by another crochet project...

We've been discussing recycling and the environment, both here at the shop, and at home. I have been using fabric bags at the grocery store since 1985, but thought I could use something more up to date. I decided to create a pattern for a crocheted re-useable bag that I could teach a beginner's crochet class on. I'm using Tahki Cotton Classic in some fun colors. I started with a ring of chains and single crochet for the bottom and I'm now working on the sides. I am thinking about some easy beginner crochet stitches to do (in the round) other than single, half-double and double crochet. I want the bag to not be more solid and less “mesh” as I do not want anything to fall out. And then some new patterns arrived from Cabin Fever and the Felted Fairisle Tote Bag (knit) caught my eye. So of course, I started that. It's a quick knit and it will be a great bag. You could certainly use more than the 2 colors it calls for as there are several distinct bands of pattern. I am eager to see the finished product – less than 50 rows to go! This is such a fun knit, and a great introduction to color knitting, that we are doing a class on it.

Catching the crochet bug

Yesterday I got an email from Shawn. She's one of our "weekend warriors", who works for us on Saturdays, and works at the Green Mountain Club during the week. This is what she had to say:

"Just wanted to share that I taught myself to crochet last Sunday – couldn’t resist making my own shopping bag since I’ll be working for the class Barb is teaching. Trying to answer questions in the shop last weekend got me motivated too. I checked out a book from the library and have a nice cotton mesh bag now!"

She would have taken Barb's class, but she is scheduled to be working in the shop that day, so it wasn't possible. How cool that she was so motivated that she taught herself, and completed her own bag in just a day or so?!

So many knitters think crocheting is hard. It's not. Different, yes. Addictive? Yes. As fast as knitting? The jury's out on that one. For me, it's not faster. For others, it could be. but really, who cares? We have found that our "knitting only" customers who have recently learned to crochet, have really enjoyed adding this new skill. There are some items that are better suited to crocheting, than to knitting. And by knowing how to crochet, you are really just increasing your overall talent - and what's wrong with that?

Need some great ideas for crochet? Well besides the obvious reusable shopping bags, and granny square scarves, blankets, and hats...and what about a super easy potholder? That was my first project, and it was easy and small and totally do-able. These potholders are nice and beefy, and as you can see, get a lot of use when we are dying our rug hooking wools here.How about a sampler scarf, to practice different stitches and use up some of your stash?Or a little belt for summer - just grab some fun colored cotton, and some rings from the hardware store and make yourself a one-of-a-kind belt. How about some hanger covers? This is a very easy project - and it makes a great gift. What better way to cover your satin hangers so your clothes don't slip off? Try a simple one like this:And then get more daring and try some scallop stitches like this:Once you learn a few easy crochet stitches, you really open up the door in terms of finishing options. Believe me! You can do some amazing crochet edges on knitted sweaters.