Coastal Crochet

Hello! I'm back with another blog post!  Feeling refreshed after our half-term holiday in North Cornwall with my hubby, the kids and the dog. We spent cold but sunny days hiking different parts of the gorgeous coast path, enjoying views of the dramatic cliffs, exploring secluded beaches, rock pools and caves at low tide, cooking on a Rayburn stove in our cosy cottage and visiting a number of dog-friendly pubs. We used to visit this beautiful part of Britain every year in the Fall/Autumn before we moved to Texas. It was so good to be back after seven years! Our kids can certainly walk a lot further now!

Cornwall was a very fitting location, as Socktober's SockCAL2018 came to an end, for reading, reviewing and starting my first project from Coastal Crochet, a collection of crochet patterns inspired by the west coast of the United States, written by my friend and talented crochet designer Karen Whooley. 

I first discovered Karen when I started making crochet socks and have made several of her designs, socks and shawls, since then. I won a copy of her wonderful last book A Garden of Shawls listening to a live interview with Marly Bird. I test-crocheted Moonlight Socks for Karen, she gave me a discount for her patterns when I was teaching a crochet sock class at Houston Fiber Fest and most recently she kindly wrote a post for us for our Crochet Sock Blog Hop. Karen is wonderful. I could go on...

There are 12 gorgeous projects in Coastal Crochet - six shawls/scarfs, three sweaters/cardigans, a cowl and mitt set, a top and a hat. Each project has full written instructions, charts and a helpful schematic outline.  Karen has used beautiful yarn from indie dyers, which I love. And I've met two in person (and bought their lovely yarn) Karen from Round Table Yarns is from Texas and Nimblefingers hosts a trunk show for Sabrina at Anzula.

I would recommend this book for adventurous beginners or intermediates. The designs call for lace and fingering weight yarn so give fantastic drape but are more challenging to work with. And there are plenty of fun stitches and techniques used in the projects to keep things interesting - foundation chains, post stitches, cables and short row shaping. 

When I look at the designs I can tell that they are going to look even better in real life. I don't if you know what I'm what talking about when I say this. I want them to come out of the pages. I have started the first of the designs, Perspective, because I loved the look of the short row shaping and had suitable yarn in my stash - two balls of variegated silk merino lace weight yarn purchased from Nimblefingers just before we left this summer. 

My next two projects from the book, unless I become distracted which happens so easily, would be Tidepool, a cute hat made from post front double crochets with an intriguing hidden seam and Mist, a gorgeous cardigan constructed from three rectangles. Like Karen I love simple designs that look intricate.

Do head over to Karen's website for more information on Coastal Crochet. Karen sent me an electronic version of the book for free for this review (thank you Karen!) but I also bought a hard copy of the book on Amazon.co.uk to support her marvelous work and I need it on my shelf - I'm an avid collector of the best crochet books out there.

Life is about to become very busy again (back to the day job and a side gig as a trainee crochet tech editor (!!)) so I might not be blogging or podcasting for a while but you can find me on all the social media Instagram, Twitter and Facebook and also on Ravelry as Crafty Escapism. Hope you're all enjoying Fall y'all!

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Packing frenzy

I have not been crocheting or knitting much recently partly because our move back to the UK is imminent and there is so much to do but also because I have a shoulder injury. Arrggh. I haven't exactly pinpointed how I injured it. I have been swimming a lot but I suspect it's just overuse and poor posture is a contributor too. I've been visiting a physiotherapist and have read the most incredible book while resting my poor shoulder: Knitting Comfortably The Ergonomics of Hand Knitting by Carson Demers.

Carson is a physical therapist as well as a knitter, spinner, designer and teacher. This book was SUCH a revelation. And although there are a lot of details about best practice knitting techniques I'd say the majority of the book is relevant to crochet too. In fact working on your computer at a desk is very similar to knitting so it's even relevant for non-crafters! Now I've changed the way I'm knitting and have switched to crocheting left-handed (I am soooo slow, it's hilarious to see) and I will also change the way I teach as a result.

A few simple take outs
(from a mass of superb advice in this book)
 that I've embraced are:
 craft little and often
slow down
take breaks and stand up

I took part in my first twitter chat in April #hgdcmakersmoment takes place from 3pm-4pm CDT/9pm-10pm GMT run by a very cool young British Crocheter, Knitter, Sewer and Maker Heather Griffith. I loved it. I'm going to try to make it every week. Very fun! Heather also has a super vlog which she started eight months ago. I'm really enjoying it. Check it out: HG Designs Crochet on YouTube.

Since I last blogged, I have found a Facebook Group of fellow yarn addicts in the neighborhood I'm moving back to. I'm going to have some local people to craft with. Hurray! And one member is Alexandra, crochet and sewing addict and founder of Crochet Beginners Group on Facebook which has 90K members  - how amazing is that?! I'm going to be living around the corner from a crochet superstar! Her vlog is: Alexandra from Crochet Beginners Group on YouTube. It has weekly crochet tutorials and my particular favorite vlogs are those on local yarn stores: Wool Bath and Alterknits Universe which is in Cleeve. You know where I'm going!

Last month I also went on a day long craft retreat - the fourth time I've attended this retreat and I love it so. And inspired by the format, I've decided to put together a series of quarterly local workshops once I'm back in Bristol. I have lots of ideas on the content and possible themes. They will obviously be crochet-related, possibly knitting too. I need to find a suitable venue or venues. This will involve lots of visiting yarn stores and other crafty places. I need to start saying "wool shop". I just don't think I can though - wool shop just doesn't sound as sexy as "yarn store."

Anyway, I had better get on with the decluttering and downsizing. Our house in Bristol is quite a bit smaller than our place here in Texas. Being realistic. I'm not going to be blogging or podcasting for a few months with the move happening. So in the meantime you can find me on social media - I'm Crafty Escapism everywhere... Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Ravelry. Craft on friends!!

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Book Review of Indispensable Stitch Collection for Crocheters

This summer I was bitten by the crochetalong bug and took part in three CALS, one after the other. CAL #2 was an interlocking crochet scarf designed by Maria Segares for the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) Summer CAL.

Many CALs have prizes, chosen randomly from those who complete the project and post a photo of it. And I was absolutely stunned to find out that I was a winner. There were several prizes for the CGOA CAL and I won Melissa Leapman's Indispensable Stitch Collection for Crocheters 200 Stitch Patterns in Words and Symbols. If you check out my blog post where I wrote about the CGOA CAL Five Reasons to Join a CAL this was the prize that I wanted most.

I firmly believe that everyone who crochets should own a stitch dictionary. It's an essential resource if you're a designer. And even if you're only getting to grips with basic crochet stitches this book would be perfect for expanding your crochet skills.

Each stitch pattern is described in written and charted form and accompanied by an appealing brightly-colored crochet sample. Some of the stitch designs are familiar, many are unique to this book and some just jump out at me from the page saying "make me now!" I know this is going to be a book that I return to again and again.

There is a wide range of stitch designs to appeal to crocheters of all skill levels. The stitches aren't rated by difficulty but you generally figure this out by looking at the written pattern, specifically by looking at how many words there are in each row and the number of rows there are in total. The Stitch Collection is grouped into: Simple Solid Patterns, Shell and Fan Stitch Patterns, Openwork and Lace Patterns, Textured Patterns, Colorwork Patterns and Edgings. Reversible patterns are helpfully highlighted with a special symbol if you're making a project where you'd see both sides. The resources section includes super information on abbreviations, a glossary of symbols, tips on reading crochet charts and diagrams of how to do basic stitches and stitch variations.

Melissa suggests trying out the patterns you like by making six inch squares and in the process creating an assortment of spa washcloths or useful dishcloths: the perfect gifts with holiday time approaching. I'm going to get hooking right now!