Tag Archive | style

Introducing The Not-A-Poncho Top Pattern

Dec4
Not-A-Poncho - Back

Not-A-Poncho – Back

 

The Not-A-Poncho - Side View

The Not-A-Poncho – Side View

 

Here is my newest pattern, available on Craftsy, Etsy, and Ravelry. It looks like a poncho but it’s not! I find ponchos annoying – they are always getting in the way when I wear them and they make me look like a lollipop with fringe on two sticks. The Not-A-Poncho has sleeves and a waist with ties that you can tighten for a more fitted look or loosen for a more poncho look. And it is a great pattern for beginner crocheters, super easy and fast. It can easily be customized to make it shorter or longer, slightly less easier to make it narrower or wider. But since it is already very loose and oversized, it will work for a wide variety of shapes and sizes without making any changes.

Not-A-Poncho FAQS

Skills Needed:  You should already know how to chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet and know which loop is the front and which is the back.

Materials:  Worsted Weight Yarn, approx. 600-900 yards. Hooks H and J or size needed to get close to gauge.

Purchase The Not-A-Poncho Top Pattern At These Fine Online Establishments

Craftsy

Etsy

Ravelry

 

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Now Available – Crochet Shirttail Top Pattern!

Sep3

Pattern Tester, MrsGillis

It’s been a long time in the pipeline, but it’s finally here – my Crochet Shirttail Top. The skill level is intermediate, however, I do have a beginner crocheter testing it and she is challenged but doing fine. She had problems with counting the beginning chain 3′s as double crochet’s. She kept forgeting to skip that first stitch at the begining of the row then dc in the top of the chain 3 at the end of the row.  I remember those days – good times, good times… The pattern calls for sport weight yarn. MrsGillis, on Ravelry (pink top above), tested the pattern using Patons Grace. I used a chinese yarn that I bought on Ebay (see my post here ) for my top (white top above). It was listed as sport weight but worked up more like fingering weight. I was able to get gauge using Knit Picks Shine Sport. Another tester is using Bernat Satin Sport but is having a hard time getting gauge because it is working up more like dk weight. If you purchase a sport weight and your gauge is too big, I recommend making a smaller size top rather than going down a hook size in order to get gauge.

The Crochet Shirttail Top PDF Pattern can be purchased at the following websites:

Craftsy

Etsy

Ravelry

 

The Road to Hell is Paved With Gauge Swatches

Jul21

Am I right, knitters and crocheters!

I always swatch before crocheting or knitting a pattern. I always swatch before designing a pattern. I swatch, swatch, swatch and I come up with 3 different gauges. Especially with crochet. I crochet loosely, so I know I am going to have to use a thinner yarn or a smaller hook than what the pattern states.  Or, I will make a smaller size. I will even recalculate the math to change someone else’s pattern to reflect my gauge. And, even if I get the gauge spot on, the garment will eventually end up bigger than its suppose to.  Melissa Leapman’s, Cool Crochet book, is the worst gauge offender for me. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the book and the designs are beautiful. But my gauge is consistently  and significantly larger than what is recommended in the book.

The gauging demons have really come to haunt me since I have started crochet designing.  Here is what I do to cope:

  1. Crochet a big swatch – 8″ x 8″ – and calculate the number of stitches and rows by inch.
  2. Draw a graph of my design using my gauge measurements.
  3. Crochet a prototype of my design, making any changes along the way to reflect the looser tension I inevitably get.
  4. Measure, measure, measure, periodically.
  5. Measure the final prototype on the carpet, get a different gauge.
  6. Measure the final prototype on the table, get a different gauge.
  7. Do “eeny, meeny, miny, mo” randomly pick one of the above gauges.
  8. Use random gauge in my final pattern.

On my latest, two designs, I had a gauge gremlin throw a monkey wrench into the mix after the gauging demons had their way with me.

F U, Chinese Yarn!

I let my cheapness get the best of me and bought some yarn from a Chinese ebay seller. The listing stated it was a soy/bamboo blend and sport/baby weight. Not only did it take 30 days to receive but the labels were in Chinese. I thought it looked a little thinner than sport weight but I didn’t have any yarn that weight in my stash to compare. Now it is in the pattern testing stage and nobody is getting my gauge. I just recently bought some sport weight yarn so I compare, and, lo’ and behold, my Chinese yarn is thinner than sport weight. So, I am either going to change the gauge on the pattern to reflect what a real, sport weight yarn is or, go find a different yarn that matches my gauge.  I am probably going to change the gauge on the pattern since all that takes is some math. It will be harder for me to find a different yarn since there are no decent yarn stores near me.

Well, I have learned my lesson and am going to use readily available yarn to create my designs. So, I go to my “local” (20 miles away) Joann Fabric & Craft Store and buy some Lion Brand Wool-Ease Worsted Weight for my next shrug design. For some reason one of the skeins I picked had a blank label with some unreadable writing on it, like the label had fallen off and an employee just replaced it with a blank label. That skein was the first one I used. I thought, “I don’t remember Wool Ease being this thick and fluffy! Oh well, I’m just going to keep crocheting, dum, dum, dee-dum…”. I use up the whole skein and then start using the next skein and I notice the next skein is thinner gauge! So, I look at the rest of the skeins and they are all thinner gauge then the blank labeled skein. Apparently, that first skein was Wool-Ease Chunky!

And Jesus wept…

Coming Soon! X-Stitch Shirttail Top

Jul9

This is my newest pattern-in-progress. It is shorter in front, longer in the back with my favorite x-stitch pattern up and down the middle.  There is very little shaping – just at the back on the side panels. It is crocheted with a fine/sport weight yarn and the pattern will be for sizes extra small to extra large.  I was going to have the pattern go up to 3x but that was just too much math for my puny brain!

I wore it all day yesterday and it slowly grew longer on me as the day wore on. I am not sure if it was the yarn I used (it was a bamboo, soy blend yarn that I purchased from an Ebay seller in China, the label was in Chinese so I could not verify it was what they claimed it was), or if it is because I tend to crochet loosely.  Crochet does tend to stretch if it is hanging and this top has 6-8 inches of ease so it hangs.  I once knitted a tank top out of 100% bamboo yarn that grew while I was wearing it.  After repeated washings, it shrunk a little and seemed to get sturdier so it stopped growing.

I am not sure what skill level this pattern is. It is deceptively easy (writing the pattern is NOT easy!), but I have been crocheting for so long that I am out of touch with what it was like to be a beginner!

Angel Sleeve Cover Up as a Dress

Jul8

My one and only pattern tester, MrsGillis, modified my Angel Sleeve Cover Up and made a dress out of it!

Here’s the link to the Ravelry Page.  As you can see, she omitted the increases below the sleeves and the sleeves themselves.  Looks great!

More Bracelet Inspiration

Jul7

Last week, I took my 13-year old son to our local Tilly’s to get his monthly pair of skateboarding shoes because last month’s pair left pieces of its sole all over our neighborhood street. As I was paying at the register I saw these:

 And the angels sang…

And the angels sang…

Pura Vida Bracelets! And they were less than $10 each! Did I buy one? Nope, I said, “I can make that”! But I think I am going to buy one because they are so cute and bohoey (I just made that word up: definition: bohemian), and hippy. I don’t know why I like my bracelets bohoey (I said it again!) and hippy.

I love the intention and story behind the Pure Vida Company, which you should read here. But I just can’t resist the challenge of figuring out a pattern for these bracelets. So, stay tuned…

New Free Pattern! Charmed Wrap Bracelet

Jul6

Charmed Wrap Bracelet

Use No. 10 crochet thread or embroidery thread to create this easy, boho, wrap bracelet. Add your favorite charm, a bead, or crochet a cute little daisy charm! Wrap it around your wrist or your neck

by

Deanna Young

The Yarn Yogi

Click for FREE PDF Pattern: Charmed Wrap Bracelet

Skill Level:   Easy

Actual Measurements:  As long as you like

Gauge:  Gauge is not important.

Materials:

  •  Yarn:  No. 10 Crochet Thread or Embroidery Thread (at least 2 skeins)
  • Hook:  Steel crochet hook 6 and crochet hook C.
  • Stitch Marker
  • Optional – charm, “E” Beads, large bead.
  • Button – ½”
  • Waxed Dental Floss
  • Embroidery needle

Crochet Technique – Reverse Single Crochet

Jul6

I use Reverse Single Crochet, or Crab Stitch, as an edging quite frequently in my patterns. I think it makes a pretty and sturdy edge to cardigans and sweaters. It looks fancy but it’s super easy!  I always include writing instructions for it plus an illustration but some folks may find videos easier to follow.

This one is long but it is very clear! In this case, you do not ch 1 first because it is done in the round.

I really like the idea of using this edging on a coaster, kind of holds the glass in the center.

 

This video is shorter and uses the ch 1 to begin.

Crochet Fashion Pattern Inspiration

Jul3

For years I wanted to design crochet fashion but fear kept me from doing it.  First of all, I have no knowledge of fashion design. Second of all, I always thought of myself as not being original or creative. And then, something changed inside me – whether it was menopause, age and experience, or that extra cup of coffee everyday – I suddenly felt more assertive, more willing to take chances, more willing to fail! Around the same time, I had a minor epiphany: how many people in this world are truely original? All artists derive inspiration from somewhere, and I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. That worry I had about not being original was keeping me from realizing my potential originality! Finally free to be the derivitive artiste I was meant to be, I started looking at fashion not as, “Why didn’t I think of that”, but as, “I can copy/crochet that”!

Now, every knitting pattern I come across is a potential crochet pattern. All my favorite shirts, sweaters, blouses in my closet are potential crochet patterns. That cute, oversized sweater at Kohl’s Department Store? A crochet pattern. Here are some things that are inspiring me right now. Some are closer to becoming a crochet pattern than others:

Knitting Patterns

 

From Pinterest “The Yarn Yogi Inspiration” Board

 

Shrug FAQ’s

Jul2

Elegant Sparkle Shrug Pattern. Model is my daughter who is a little taller and thinner than me.

The number one question I get about my shrugs is, “How do you put it on?”  I remember my first shrug. It was a free vintage pattern for a bedjacket shrug from the ’50′s or ’40;s.  I followed the pattern, completed it and said, “Whaaaat?” It was just a folded rectangle of crochet! How can this be worn?  This is the reply I have been sending to my buyers who have asked:

After the shrug has been completed, hold it so the fold is on top and the open ends are on the bottom. Open the bottom, slide your arms in the armholes and, Ta Daaaa! It magically transforms into a cardigan that looks like a shawl with sleeves!  Once its on, you can adjust it by folding the collar back and moving the shrug across your shoulders so that its even.

Crochet X-Stitch Shrug Pattern $5.00. Model is my daughter.

Shrugs are very customizable.  I always design a pattern to fit me (I’m short with boobage) so here is how you can easily customize any of my shrug patterns to fit your size:

  • Before you seam the sides, pin the sides up to the armholes. I like using those little claw hair clips. Try the shrug on. If it doesn’t seem to hang right, like it does in my photos, crochet some more rows and try it on again.
  • You can also see how it looks folded with the crochet pattern horizontal or vertical.
  • You can easily make the armholes smaller or larger by seaming up the sides higher or lower.
  • You can add as many rows for the sleeves as you want. Or, don’t put any rows of stitches on the armholes at all!

Hot Blue Shrug FREE Pattern. This model is very tiny! Big gals will need to add more rows.

I hope this helps clarify some things.  I love getting questions and feedback on my patterns so keep it coming!