4/30/10 Free Pattern Friday: Ribbon Scarf Crochet Pattern

Surprise! You’ve got a guest blogger today. I’m Lisa Gentry. Some of you may already be familiar with my crochet designs (The Crochet Closet), and some of you may know me from my “Leisurely Lisa Forum” here on CrochetSoiree.com. Tamara was nice enough to invite me to share my temporarily free Ribbon Scarf crochet pattern with all of you on this Free Pattern Friday.

This scarf design comes from my book, Teach Yourself Crochet Ribbon Accents, and I’m hoping that once you try my new ribbon crochet technique, you'll be as excited about it as I am. I'm really having a lot of fun making entire projects out of beautiful ribbon yarn and with adding ribbon to my other crochet designs.

This whole technique came about because I had tons of ribbon on hand, and I was just imaging what could be done with all that ribbon when I realized you could crochet it directly onto a project. What a discovery! When I introduced the idea to the women who take my crochet classes, they were so excited about the new projects they were able to finish. It was wonderful to hear them say, “I can do that!” And I bet you can do it, too!

Give ribbon crochet a try on me for free with my Ribbon Scarf pattern! This pattern will only be available for the next two weeks, so download it now! If you like the technique, check out my book—Teach Yourself Crochet Ribbon Accents, for more cool designs like a necklace, hat, pillow, purse, blanket, shawl, bolero, shell, wrap sweater, and a child’s dress.

Wednesday, 4/28/10 Design Contest Piece for Knit and Crochet Show 2010

I am close to being finished with my design contest piece for the July Knit and Crochet Show in Manchester, New Hampshire. I wanted to share with you my method of madness. I had purchased some skeins of Deborah Norville’s sock yarn “Paprika” and was thinking about making another pair of crocheted socks. All of a sudden, I got to thinking about the design contest and the Spring International Quilt Market that my sister Jackie is going to in a few months (without me) and how one of the designs in her new line of fabric looks like my granny square throw that I made for her. I thought about what would it look like if I made a giant granny square with the sock yarn…Then I thought about the halter tops that I made when I was 15 years old and in high school.

It was a halter top made from a man’s big red handkerchief. I turned it on point and tied it in the back and then folded over the top flap and sewed it down and made a little pocket to thread a shoelace through, and I tied the shoelace at the back of my neck. (Yes, believe it or not that was me at 15 years of age.) That was my thought process for my design contest piece, and I hope my sister likes wearing it as much as I liked designing it.

Is anyone else entering something in the Design Contest?

Monday, 4/26/10 Finishing Touches to Steph’s Hex On Shrug

Remember that shrug from the CrochetWear book that I was talking about making for my friend Steph? Well, I got it made, but when it came to picking out buttons for the shrug, I couldn’t find just the right look I was thinking about, so I picked out the size of buttons from my button box and decided to crochet around them.

I settled on these three colors of crochet thread.

I think Steph looks really good in her shrug…

…and it fits like it was made especially for her. Ha! Ha!

Friday, 4/23/2010 Happy Birthday Crochet Soiree!!!

I was looking back at the year, and found that my first Tamara’s Take post was on April 23, 2009. We’re a year old today! I thought this little crocheted cake was appropriate for the celebration, and there are no calories in it. Ha! Ha!

The inspiration for my little cake was this round cake I found in a magazine a couple of years ago. You probably know by now that I have a thing for granny squares. I decided to make my cake in the shape of a square. (If you don’t have a favorite granny square pattern, check out the book 99 Granny Squares for inspiration.) When I had the size of granny square top that I wanted, I stopped increasing on the corners, and the sides started forming. I made it the height that I wanted it and made a chocolate brown fabric cover to cover the piece of foam to stuff it with. Then I made another granny square for the bottom and crocheted the sides and the bottom together as I stuffed the foam square inside the cake.

Of course, no cake would be complete without decorations, and mine had to have some flowers, circles, and rickrack. Where the edges come together at the top, I hand sewed rick rack. Then, I added the flowers on top of the rick rack at the corners and circles in between the flowers. (If you want some cool crocheted flower designs, you need the book—Crochet Flowers For Every Wear!) Then, on the bottom, I poked a hole in rick rack and hand sewed it along the bottom where it looks like a little icing decoration. Then, I added one big flower in the center of the square at the top of the cake. I also placed little yellow pins in the centers of all the flowers and circles. My cake has a purpose too: it’s a pincushion.

How many of you have been members of Crochet Soiree since Day 1? I know there’s one special lady who has, and her name is Barbara Moore. Happy birthday Barbara and everyone else here at Crochet Soiree. Here’s to many more!!!!

Wednesday 4/22/10 Happy Earth Day!

Hope all of you are planning to have a beautiful Earth Day on Thursday! In the spirit of this eco-conscious occasion, I’m trying my hand at crocheting some more green tote bags, and my guide is a book called Enviro-Totes.

This book is really cool. It was first published in 1992, and after a few years, you couldn’t get it anymore, but Leisure Arts has reprinted this old favorite (at the same original 1992 price!) and released it again. The four featured bag designs (all crocheted with cotton yarn) are just as great today as they were back then.

What are you doing to celebrate this wonderful world we live on?

Monday, 4/19/10 CAL Doily Prize

Ok, maybe I went a little overboard when I purchased this Mega Ball of Aunt Lydia’s Classic Crochet Thread, but if you know me, you know that I love doilies, and I love to crochet them, too.

I received a book of doilies and tablecloths as a gift. I’ve been working on making some of them, so the thread will come in handy, and I hope to use the whole ball. When we decided to do the CAL with my Flower Scarf pattern, I decided to make a doily from this book as a prize.

This is the one that I just finished for the doily prize. The doily is about 16" in diameter, and it’s Ecru. I really do love the way it came out, and I hope whoever wins it loves it as much as I loved making it.

This is the next doily that I plan on making from the book, and I think this one might stay with me, but you never know, you know how crocheters are: we are very giving people. Good luck to everyone who joins in on the CAL. And if you haven’t posted your scarf photo yet, click on over to the Flower Scarf CAL to find out how. The CAL ends April 30th!

4/16/10 Free Pattern Friday: Tea Jacket Bouquet

The weather is getting warmer, and my thoughts have turned to cold drinks since along with the warm weather comes the humidity here in Kansas. Because of the humidity, I like to grab a little jacket for my glass to help with the sweating process, so I picked these Tea Jacket Bouquet crochet patterns for this week’s Free Friday.

Since I made the last tea jackets, we have managed to break most of the glasses that I purchased especially for them. Fortunately, I still have my 35-year-old, reliable harvest gold glasses that have held up through the years, and I think my little “Tea Jacket Bouquet” looks pretty cute on one of them, and it fits like it was made especially for it. I used Aunt Lydia’s crochet thread, and I loved making the front post and back post stitches on the base of the jacket, and I hope you have fun making your tea jackets, too.