New pattern, Barbie clothes, BizyMoms Contest.

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter
Thursday, January 15, 2009

Hello Everyone,

I have a new slipper pattern, "Crocheted "Knit Look"
Slippers. They have the knit look even though they are
crocheted. It's hard to tell in the photos, but as you complete
a few rows you can easily see how it resembles knit. You
can find that pattern here
http://crochetandknitting.com/croknsl.htm

Over Christmas I kept myself busy working on Barbie
clothes for my grand niece, Keeley. She even loaned me
one of her Barbies so I could do fittings. :) She was
thrilled about the new Barbie clothes I made for her.

I didn't design any of my own patterns because I found
some really nice ones online that I wanted to make. Here
are the links to the patterns I used.

http://barbiebasics.tripod.com/
This one is great, they have a PDF file to download with
many Barbie clothing patterns! I made most of the Barbie
clothing that is in the crochet patterns PDF file.

I found this cute knit Barbie dress and made that also.
Barbie's Lacy Pink Party Dress
If you don't want to do the lacy part on the bottom,
she also has a version called Barbie's Basic Tube Dress
I made the lacy one as I couldn't resist, it's so pretty.
This is made with yarn instead of the thread and I
even had some of the fine sparkly white yarn here!

I had never crocheted Barbie clothes before so I had
trouble at first in finding the right hook. The steel hook
sizes were confusing to me. All my steel hooks are in
"mm's" and all the patterns online called for sizes such
as No. 5, 6, 7, etc.

So I did some searching online and learned that the sizes
of steel hooks vary with each manufacturer and some have
even changed their sizes over the years! No wonder this
can be confusing.

I found this site that has a conversion chart.
http://www.geocities.com/nornsneedlework/crochet/hookchart.htm
I posted on my Crochet and Knitting Forum at
http://crochetandknitting.com/cgi-bin/iB_cgi/ikonboard.cgi
about my endeavor to make Barbie clothes and Shaddy
and Barb helped me out. Barb gave me this link to
another conversion chart.
http://wheatcarr.com/crochet/steel-crochet-hook-cross-reference.php
In the end, I found out that a size 2.00 mm hook and size 10
thread works well for me. According to the conversion
charts, I should of been using a 1.75 mm hook, but the
manufacturer of the hooks I had was not listed so their sizes
must of been different and it would also depend on my tension
and gauge. So I just had to try some different hooks and then
do a fitting on Barbie until I got it right for me.


BizyMoms is having a contest called "Bizymoms Choice
Awards"

It's about websites that you really like. You can even
nominate your own website. Here is the information
they sent me about their awards.

Bizymoms Choice Awards
http://www.bizymoms.com/choiceawards/

Do you have a favorite website? A site that makes your day?
One that is informative, useful and definitely one that should
be appreciated?

Well here's your chance to show some love for a site that
is your choice, your kind of place to visit on the big
world-wide-web!

Nominate your favorite site for the 2008 Bizymoms' Choice
Awards.

Voting will continue through March 31, 2009. The top
winners will be announced on April 6th. You can nominate
as many sites as you'd like, then send everyone you know
to vote on their favorites!

All our nominated sites will all be featured right here:
www.bizymoms.com/choiceawards/
so that everyone can vote on their favorites.

If you have your own website or several of them, nominate
them all! And ask your friends & family to vote!

For more details and to submit your favorite site to become
Bizymoms Choice Award winner visit:
http://www.bizymoms.com/choiceawards/


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

Lots of craft patterns

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter
Monday, December 8, 2008

Hello Everyone,

Here is another site about crafts that you will most likely
enjoy. "All Free Crafts" at http://www.allfreecrafts.com
If you are still looking for ideas for homemade Christmas
gifts and decorations, you should check this site out.

Jane Lake is the editor of that site and she let me know about
the crochet section at
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/crochet/index.shtml
and the knitting section at
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/knitting/index.shtml
There are also many other patterns for sewing, candles,
kids crafts, home decoration and more.

"All Free Crafts" has also added my Crocheted Moccasins
to their site at:
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/crochet/moccasins.shtml
And my Knitted Moccasins at:
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/knitting/moccasin-slippers.shtml
I love the layout they did for my patterns. It looks great!

The following new articles have been added in my Crafts
Article Directory:
"For Those Who Wish to Learn Knitting"
"What Makes the Perfect Crocheted Pattern?"
"What Every Beginner Wants - Beginners Crochet Patterns"
"Sell Handmade Crafts on Etsy",
"How to Make Stylish Christmas Candles From Scratch Fast and Easy!"
You can read those at
http://crochetandknitting.com/articles

That is all for today. Enjoy the season and happy crafting!

Sincerely,

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

Inspiring Craft Links

CrochetandKnitting Newsletter
Thursday, November 13, 2008

Hello Everyone,

Today I have some links to craft sites and holiday patterns
that you may be interested in.

Start A Craft Business is focused on how to start up and
run a craft business. They have a lot of expert advice and
tips in over 80 articles on this subject.

Crafty Computer Paper has specialist inkjet papers and
fabric sheets for the arts and crafts. See their free
downloadable graphics, project ideas, and on-line courses.

Kaboose is a site for families. Lots of ideas to help parents,
from pregnancy to parenting, birthday parties to scrapbooking
and entertainment to education. They provide all kinds of fun
and exciting games, news, reviews and family projects. Free
Newsletter too!

For Quilters:
Quizzles by Wysistas is Interactive Quilt patterns! Simply
choose your quilt, select your colours and watch as Quizzle(R)
updates your colour choices and provides you with fully
detailed instructions and diagrams that reflect 'your' colour
choices that you can print out or work from your computer
screen. Also a Free quilting E-book available with great
information! Plus, they have a free newsletter called
"Quizzles® e-news".

How To Quilt. Whether you are new to quilting or an
experienced quilter, A Beginner's Guide to Quilting has
tips and tricks to improve your sewing and quiltmaking
skills. A Free weekly newsletter as well, with a lot of
great stuff, such as tips, shortcuts, free block patterns
and more.

As well, Penny Halgren, the owner of that site has written
an article called, "Can Quilting Really Promote Good Health?"
You can read that here
http://crochetandknitting.com/articles

At this time of year a lot of people are looking for some
Christmas ornament patterns to knit or crochet. Here's
some cute ones I found.

Christmas Bell Pin Or Ornament Knitting Pattern (Knit)
It says it takes less than an hour to knit

Jingle Bell (Knit)
This could also be used to decorate a gift.

Snowman Ornament (Knit)
He is cute!

Santa Ornament (Knit)
Of course Santa is cute too!

Gingerbread Man Christmas Ornament (Knit)
And a cute Gingerbread Man.

Little Ornament Style Gift Bags (Knit)
This is cute and different! With many people using gift
bags instead of wrapping boxes, these mini gift bags
make a nice ornament to hang on your tree.

Christmas Lights (Knit)
Another different and great idea for ornaments.

Lace Mesh Ornaments (Knit)
These are beautiful!

Little Angel Ornament (Crochet)
This is a pattern my daughter loves to make.

Ornament Jacket (Crochet)
Ornament Jacket
These are very pretty jackets to dress up old ornaments.

Little Aprons (Crochet)
This is a different and very cute idea for ornaments!

Little Ornament Style Gift Bags (Crochet)
Like the knit gifts bags, but in crochet.

Photo Christmas Ornament (Crochet)
This is a great idea. I made one similar to that with a
photo of my grandson when he was about a year old.
A keepsake for sure!

Reindeer Head Ornament Free Pattern (Crochet)
He is cute!

Ginger Man Ornament (Crochet)
He is really cute too! Looks good enough to eat. :)

tIcicle Ornament (Crochet)
This is different, crochet some icicles for your tree!
and Icicle Snowmen!


That is all for today.

Sincerely,

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