Easter Goodies

by Donna

I'm always looking for holiday goodies to crochet. I found some for Easter and I thought I would share. I found this basket and decided to try it. It is very simple. It uses a cool whip bowl for the inside of the basket. After I made this one I started thinking of other uses for this basket. If you left the handle off you could use it to put a plant pot in, you could put potpourri in it, use it in the bathroom to put bath oil beads in or decorative soaps. You can find the pattern here.

The pattern for the blue egg with the cross is here. The other eggs I made without a written pattern. Someday I will write down what I did and post them here on our blog.

Here is a link to a web site that has lots of Easter patterns. I'm sure you can find something you would like to try.

Here is a link to an e-book with Easter crafts.

You still have a few days til Easter. Make something colorful!

I Could Do That - Crochet in Stores

by Kelly

Have you ever come across something in a store and think to yourself, "Well, I could do that." ? Well, Uncommon Goods has embraced crochet items in a big way...

via Kid Crave via Must Have Cute

Panda Rug Only $65.00. But hey, it's handmade.


Also see Black Cat Headphones and  The Isle of St. Marie Tote. 
at Uncommon Goods. Also things that I could make myself...

Crochet Risqué?

by Kelly

Crochet has lately made great strides back into the fashion industry, after languishing unloved in thrift stores since the '70's.  I've seen crochet bags in Eddie Bauer stores, cardigans in the teen store Forever 21, and shorts, swimsuits and full blown dresses in Victoria's Secret.

And while it's great that crochet designers are shattering the granny stereotype, some of the items that I've seen are a little too daring for me to actually wear. Check out this halter top, for sale at Craft Is Art...

or this erm...skirt for sale at Tags.com...

The skirt is available only in size XS, which lets me out anyway, even aside from the price, which is a 'gosh price' if ever I saw one.  Would I wear this even if I had the build of the model in the picture? Ahhh...no.

 But the most risqué item I've seen by far isn't actually for sale in stores...it is however, available as a free pattern at Knitty.com. This is a knit pattern using red liquorice ropes which is quite ingenious, actually and...well, you'll just have to see for yourself here. I'm not sharing the picture, but there's nothing especially offensive about it...it's on Knitty, after all. I just don't want to ruin the surprise.

I'm wondering what future generations will think of crochet, when they have these items to look back on...

Broomstick Lace Shawl

by Kelly

I fell in love with Broomstick Lace a while ago, but I wanted to do something unique, not just a run of the mill afghan or scarf. Unfortunately, there just aren't that many patterns available for Broomstick Lace items, so I put off learning how to do it. But then I saw this Hourglass Jacket over on Stitch Diva Studios, and my fate was sealed.

The pattern is available at her site, but much as I would love to make this, I'm not quite up to fitted garments yet.  So I decided to take the new ideas she brings to this and make something simpler...like a shawl.

One of the things that really struck me about the jacket was how the different sizes of 'peacock eyes' helped to define the areas - smaller eyes for the waist, and larger eyes for the rest. I also loved the shaping. She did this with increases and decreases of the Broomstick Lace, something that's not supposed to be possible. Check out her YouTube videos here and here to find out how easy it really is.

I had two Broomstick lace needles from an Ebay auction that I won ages ago - a size 50 and a size 17. So I took the plunge, and made a sample swatch using both needles. Then I fooled around a little more, did a quick Google search for shawl patterns, bought some yarn (*sigh*) and voila, here's the finished project:

 Here's another pic, out in the sunshine:

I've listed it in our shop here under the name 'Spring Blossom shawl'. It was lots of fun to make, especially the blossom rows. The only part I wasn't fond of was sewing in all those ends. Oh, and I learned how to make the blossoms from the book 'Hawaiian Lei in Crochet' by Roberta Wong.

Since the pattern is my own, all I need now is a few helpers to test knit the pattern. Anyone want to learn how to crochet Broomstick Lace?

The Bible According to Mel

Spring has sprung in Illinois - 5 days of record setting temperatures and no end in sight. And so as is the case every year, my fancy turns to gardening. I'm trying something completely new this year, Square Foot Gardening - a rather revolutionary concept in home gardening - or at least it was when it was first introduced in the 1970s by Mel Bartholomew. He's back with an updated book and we are drinking the Mel kool-aid. The concept is simple - really simple and easy - which appealed to me. You build 4x4 foot boxes, grid them off into 16 squares and plant x number of items per square (depending on how much spacing the plant needs). Last weekend we built 4 boxes and this weekend we filled them and actually planted! I'm crossing my fingers that the weather holds, but we put in the traditional early Spring crops, spinach, shallots, peas, lettuce and strawberries, etc. When they sprout I'll post some pics. It's gonna be a great growing season!

Works in Progress

by Kelly

Here's the afghan I'm making with the Super Simple Hexagon pattern from a previous post. What do you think?

I've discovered there are two problems with this kind of afghan. First of all, there's the seaming. It's kind of a let down after all the fun and easy work of making the hexagons, to be confronted with a lot of boring seaming. Of course, you could connect them as you go, but that limits the spontaneous nature of the hexagons, because now you're chained to a full blown afghan project again.

And aside from the seaming, there are the gaping voids along the edges. Lots of people make half hexagons. They aren't difficult to figure out, if you have a picture on hand. Of course, that still leaves a pointy side edge.

Or maybe I could just put a border around the whole thing, like Adi Keren did:

via Flickr

Check out her Flickr stream here for other goodies, including a sweet baby blanket made out of tiny crochet flowers.

I'm off to see if I can create half-hexagons. Heigh, ho.

Irish Lace Crochet

by Kelly


Today is St. Patrick's Day. For Americans, this is an excuse to go to an Irish bar and drink green beer and talk in a terrible Irish accent. Optional activities include singing traditional folk songs, punching friends, which celebrates the nineteenth century Irish bare-knuckle boxing tradition, and falling down stairs, which celebrates Irish stepdancing (a form of locomotion that requires the practitioner to preform intricate foot movements while staring into the middle distance with a fixed, goofy grin). The ironic part of the whole thing is that the Irish don't celebrate St. Patrick's day, and look oddly at Americans who do.

All this is probably a kind of salute to the fact that the Irish are believed to have invented whiskey.  Now, my husband and I have had both Guinness and whiskey (the Guinness in an English pub (yes, with an English pour) and the whiskey in a very nice Edinburgh restaurant that my husband and I were painfully under-dressed for) and we'd like to specifically not recommend them. They are not tasty.

So, are there other ways, aside from those listed above, to celebrate St. Patrick's day? Well, what else are the Irish known for? Aside from fiery tempers, potatoes, four-leaf clovers, and leprechauns, that is. Why, Irish Lace, of course! (You knew I'd get there eventually, didn't you?)

via Wikipedia

Irish Crochet Lace is made by crocheting tiny motifs like flowers, leaves, hearts, etc, then basting them onto paper or a ground fabric.  Then chains or picots are crocheted between the motifs, binding them all together. After you've done all that, you then cut the basting threads (which are usually in a different color so you can find them) and voila, you have a piece of lace.

For sheer eye candy, The History and Beauty of Irish Lace on HubPages can't be beat. The site is full of amazing pictures. If you're just looking for inspiration, check here first. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be links to sources or information, so the patterns will remain a mystery.

Hub Pages

Here's a  link to another site with hundreds of examples of motifs, also with no patterns.

Ah, but trusty About.com comes through again -  here is a free starter pattern for an Irish Rose. They have a few other patterns too.

And since the patterns themselves are hard to find online, it may be time to look into print books.  Luckily, there are quite a few of these. There's a great one by Thérèse de Dillmont called Masterpieces of Irish Crochet Lace.


So if you decide to try your hand at Irish Lace Crochet, you may have your work cut out for you. Not only does it require thin thread and a teeny crochet hook, but it may be an uphill battle to find a pattern. However, with a little effort and a little luck, you just might make a bit of lace that will be treasured as an heirloom.