New pattern soon and Scrap Afghans

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter
Sunday, September 28, 2008

Hello Everyone,

I thought I should let you know that I am still around! We
are in the path of Hurricane Kyle, so we are expecting a
very windy and rainy overnight. To everyone in the path
of this hurricane, stay safe!

I've been working on two new patterns, knit socks for men
and knit socks for women. This is a pattern that my mother
taught me when I was very young. I never wrote it down,
it's always just been in my head. I figured since there are
so many knit socks patterns online, there must be one the
same. But after looking over so many patterns, I couldn't
find one exactly the same, so I thought it was time to get
my pattern down on paper.

It's been slow going because about a month ago I was pickling
and freezing vegetables and the tendons in my hands got
inflamed and very painful. They would almost get better and
I would make more pickles and chop up more vegetables for
freezing. On top of that I made a cole slaw by grating the
cabbage and carrots by hand. I think that did the most damage.
I have since ordered a new grater that is easy on the hands.

The vegetables are all taken care of now, so I am working
away a little at a time on my knitted socks. Knitting for long
periods of time can make your hands very painful, especially
if they are already sore, and sore hands are not something
that knitters and crocheters want to have!


Someone had emailed me and asked about Scrap Afghan
patterns to use up all those small leftover balls of yarn.

She was looking for a knit pattern, but I also found some for
crochet.

Here is a pretty one (Crochet):
http://patternsbydot.blogspot.com/2006/01/scrumptious-scraps-afghan.html
You will need lots of black yarn though for a contrast, but it
looks nice around all those scrap yarn pieces!

Here is another pretty Scrap Afghan pattern (Crochet):
http://www.knitting-love.com/scrap-afghan-pattern.html
This one uses white for contrast.

Another method that I heard of and tried was to use a big
hook and two strands of different colors together. The colors
would compliment each other, such as a light blue and dark
blue, a light brown and dark brown, or any color with white
or black, etc. Crochet in whichever stitch you want to use, sc,
hdc or dc. When you run out of the scrap yarn for those colors,
just pick up two more colors and keep going until it is the size
you want. The colors give a nice effect so no fancy stitches
are needed. The afghan will be thick and heavy however.
But it will be very warm!

Here is a very interesting Knit Scrap Afghan. Sounds like
a lot of fun to make too!
http://www.knitlist.com/99gift/scrap-afghan.htm

This one, Stash Afghan, is the same as above but has more
detailed instructions.
http://knitting.about.com/od/afghanpatterns/a/stash-afghan.htm

While looking for these patterns I came across this article.
"Repetitive Strain and Knitting. Don't Hurt Yourself!"
By Sarah E. White, About.com
http://knitting.about.com/od/knittingsafety/a/knittingrsi.htm
Some advice I need to take. lol

That is all for today. Hopefully I will have another newsletter
out in a few days to let you know when my knit socks patterns
are completed and on my website.

Sincerely,

Sue Norrad
CrochetandKnitting.com - Free Patterns, Craft Supplies
and much more.
Craft Discussions and Pattern Search Forum

New pattern, interesting links....

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter
Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Hello Everyone,

My new pattern is ready, Women's Lighter Summer Vest.
This one is made with 2 ply yarn, so it's lighter than the
design I make with 4 ply yarn. You can get it here:
http://crochetandknitting.com/vest2.htm

I found this site the other day. It shows you a different
method of joining squares. Even has photos.
"Flat Braid" Square Joining Method by Priscilla Hewitt
http://hometown.aol.com/lffunt/flatbraid.htm

I really like this method. It looks very nice! A great
alternative to sewing squares together.

Felicity at http://www.wikiHow.com emailed me to ask if
she could use some my articles for the site.

WikiHow is a 2.5 CC licence site, meaning the material
there remains free to access, cannot be used commercially
and they have the aim of becoming the world's biggest free
how-to manual.

She is known as Flickety on this site and is a volunteer.
She says, "I simply do this out of love of treasuring
information and compiling it in a site that aims to be
accessible in as many subject areas as possible for current
and future generations. I am also keen on improving our
articles as part of my belief that we need to share this
info around more and make sure everyone has a chance to
learn more. I am also the coordinator for One Laptop Per
Child and UNICEF and our best articles get sent to these
projects to help children in developing countries learn
how to do a wide range of useful things."

She also said that all crocheters and knitters, or any
crafters can add more info of your liking and correct
any mistakes you may find. As well, she said to mention
that if you register, the ads will disappear. It's free
to register. The ads are a necessity to raise funds to
keep the site running, with any leftover monies being
redistributed to charities.


Tasha at "The Lime and Violet Daily Chum"
http://www.limenviolet.com/blog
emailed me to let me know that she was going to do a write
up about my Knitted Moccasin Slippers. The Chum is a blog
dedicated to covering the fiber arts world. Lots of good
info there.

If you are looking for craft ideas for weddings and more,
Walmart has new collections from Martha Stewart
“Celebrate” ( for Weddings) and “Create” (Crafts)

That is all for today. Have a great day everyone!
Sincerely,

Sue Norrad
CrochetandKnitting.com - Free Patterns, Craft Supplies
and much more.
Craft Discussions and Pattern Search Forum

Amigurumi crochet, hemp jewelry and more.

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter - Amigurumi crochet, hemp jewelry and more.

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter
Sunday, June 29, 2008

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying summer. I just had a lovely
visit from my daughter. She lives 3000 miles away from
me, so I only get to see her once a year. We spent a lot
of time crocheting together.

I am still working on the crocheted vest for summer made
with 2 ply yarn, so it will be much lighter than the one I
designed with 4 ply yarn.

I tried to do a different design for it and it didn't work so
I had to rip it out and start all over. That's to be expected
when you are designing a new pattern.... :) As well, we
all have to "rip-it" now and then when working from a
pattern and we misunderstand the instructions.

I received a very nice email and photos from Alicia. She
sent me pictures of her Knitted Moccasin Slippers she made
from my pattern at
http://crochetandknitting.com/mocslipk.htm

Alicia is a new knitter. This is her first project. I was very
happy that she found the pattern to be easy for beginners.

I was doing some searching around for crochet patterns
and I came across Amigurumi crochet. I was thinking
"what the heck is that?" I had never heard such a term
before.

The patterns I found looked like they used only single
crochet and they were all little animals or dolls.

So then I did a search on the term and found that Amigurumi
is the Japanese art of crocheting small animals or toys. The
dolls are done in single crochet in the round. It's kept very
simple. Sometimes you don't even have to join at the end
of a round, simply go in a spiral.

I designed my own snow man and snow woman dolls for
Christmas before and that was a the way I did it. So I
guess I was doing Amigurumi crochet and didn't even
realize there was a name for it.. :)

Amigurumi is using your imagination and going with it. So
if you think you can't design a pattern, you might want to
try this and discover that you can!

Look at these Love Bugs. Aren't they cute!

And this little Amigurumi Chihuahua is so cute!

As well as this Amigurumi Butterfly.

Zach Swinehart sent me his article on "How To Make
Hemp Jewelry". I found it very interesting and sounds like
a lot of fun. Zach says, "This article will teach you everything
you need to know about macramé; (the art of weaving and
knotting cords—in this case, hemp—to make jewelry)."
You can read his article at:
http://crochetandknitting.com/articles/art159.htm

A couple more new articles have been added to the Craft
Articles section as well, "Tips to Learn How to Knit", and
"Reusing Yarn - Getting the Kinks of Out Yarn That Has
Already Been Knit". You can read them at
http://crochetandknitting.com/articles

That is all for today. Happy Crafting!


Sincerely,

Sue Norrad
CrochetandKnitting.com - Free Patterns, Craft Supplies
and much more.
Craft Discussions and Pattern Search Forum