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

Stash Busting, Grannies & YouTube

The great thing about writing my blog & recording my podcast monthly rather then weekly is that I have so much content - too much in fact. Here's some of the best bits... The year has started out with me firmly focused on stash busting. This year I'm going to be even better at it than usual because I have Lynne Rowe's Use it or Lose it campaign running for the whole year. I love "-alongs" that go on for the whole year. There is less pressure of a deadline. Some of the rules are a little harsh like removing a pattern from a magazine only if you have stash for it and otherwise giving the magazine away. I just can't do it so I am modifying the rules (I'm a master at modifying to suit) and Lynne says that's OK fortunately. So I am keeping the entire magazine if it contains more than a single pattern and even for the single patterns I'm pulling out I'm kind of optimistically imagining that I have exactly the right stash yarn to suit. Once you get started it's almost addictive. I've got through all my magazines now and I'm putting them into categories in a folder - crochet patterns are sorted into garments/accessories/other and I also have other craft projects and techniques.There are more details on Lynne's blog here on how to take part and chatter in Lynne's Ravelry group. There's also the hashtag #UseItOrLoseIt2018 on Instagram. Lynne sent over a helpful image of how to handle those magazines. Give it a go. Decluttering is very liberating.

Still on the theme of shifting some of my huge yarn collection, the ultimate stash busting project has to be granny squares. And rather conveniently this week the Granny square CAL or crochetalong has kicked off. Yay! It's hosted by Rosina of the Zeens and Roger podcast. I plan to make motifs for a poncho or garment of sorts and also at least one huge granny square blanket to donate. My lovely Yak and Yarn group make products to give to local charities. There are details here on Rosina's blog, chatter in her Ravelry group and a hashtag of course #GrannyCAL18 on Instagram. I found this amazing magazine dating from 1974 while I was decluttering. This one I am keeping unless Rosina really wants it!

The most exciting thing that has happened this year so far ... I've started making instructional videos for YouTube. I am a teacher and I've thought for a long time that this is what I should be doing. I've only got one up there so far so don't get overexcited. My inspiration has been my 11 year old son aka SnakeBoy Dude who recently started his own channel.  I'm recording short clips showing how to crochet different parts of a sock - toe, foot, heel... and so on. I'm using the pattern I wrote last year for my class that I taught at the Houston Fiber Fest: The Leftover Crochet Sock. It's a small toe up sock designed to cover some of the key techniques. I think I'm into double figure subscribers now. Go me!

I hope the start of your year has been fabulous. Are you going to join me in the Use it or Lose it Campaign and/or on the Granny CAL? Do let me know what you thought of my first video too. Have a wonderful month y'all and I'll be back here on the first Friday of March. In the meantime you can find me doing my crochet thing on Instagram, Twitter, Ravelry and Facebook as Craftyescapism. 

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Book Review - Make Money Teaching Crochet

I am a huge fan of Marie Segares. She's a crochet and knitting teacher, designer, blogger at Underground Crafter and podcaster living in New York. Her podcast is the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show and the episodes are packed with useful information about how to run your yarn business.  When I was figuring out how to write and publish my first crochet pattern her mini series was invaluable. I'm a member of the Facebook group that is linked with the Show and when she asked for reviews for her book  "Make Money Teaching Crochet: Launch Your Business, Increase Your Side Income, Reach More Students"  I was only too happy to do so, having bought it when it first came out last summer.

The book is a extremely good hands-on guide to how to develop a part-time business teaching crochet. It would be perfect if you're just starting out and it will definitely be useful if you're already a teacher wanting to expand your business and make more money.

The book is wonderfully comprehensive and covers a wide range of essential topics in five sections: goal setting, business basics, marketing strategies, class preparation and teaching resources. Marie presents the information with all the options and then you work out how your own business is going to operate by filling in worksheets. The book is packed with so many good tips and valuable information. That's what Marie does well!

I found the first section on goal setting extremely useful and working through Marie's guiding questions really helped to clarify my next steps in teaching. I've been teaching just over three years now and this book inspired me to apply to teach at my very first Fiber Fest this Summer. Business basics covering business structure, payment, pricing and tax is aimed at those starting out.  Marketing strategies is a really good section which all teachers would learn from. The quick marketing 101 overview is useful and I really liked the worksheet on how to figure out your competitive advantage. It's a book to return to over time because there is so much information in here. I've only really touched a few things here that I liked but there were many more! I'm very big picture in the way see things and  operate and this book fills in all the details for me, which is really what I need.  

For more information on how to buy the book visit Marie's Creative Yarn Entrepreneur website.  And Marie has very kindly offered to provide a copy of the ebook version as a giveaway so just message me on your preferred social media channel within the next week (before midnight on August 26th ). You can be anywhere in the world! I'm on Instagram, Twitter, Ravelry and Facebook as Crafty Escapism and I'll pick one person at random to receive this book! Good luck and have a wonderful yarn filled week y'all.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Conversations at Houston Fiber Fest

Oh my goodness where do I start? The best thing about the Houston Fiber Fest for me personally were the face-to-face conversations I had with so many folk who are just as passionate about fiber as I am. I could fill several posts with all the wonderful people I met up with and what we spoke about. I will have to limit myself!!

First up was Beth Bower from Inner Loop Dyeworks who had provided me with yarn support for my sock design. How kind! I left samples of my leftover crochet sock at her booth. And yes I am seeing pattern sales on Ravelry appear in my in-box since I released it last week!

Then I visited Karen at Round Table Yarns. She provides yarn support to Karen Whooley who as you may know is one of my favorite crochet designers. I wore one of her shawls Violaceous both days from her latest book "Garden of Shawls".

I had a fascinating conversation with Stacey and Penny at the Brazen Stitchery booth about sock blanks. I'd just found out about these from my friend Claudia in the latest episode of her Crochet Luna Podcast Sock it to me! and I had to buy one to see how it worked up in crochet.

My friend Diane had saved me a seat at the Crochet Meet up Table and there I met my two fellow crochet teachers at the event: Kristi Millsap who was teaching an Introduction to Tunisian Crochet and Carole Fitzgerald who was teaching Crochet Fingerless Gloves. They were both great and we compared notes on what we were teaching.

Jessica from Houston Fiber Friends had arranged a meetup for us too. We sat at a table inside the foyer and shortly afterwards starting shopping together. Yes I did shop as well!! Listening to one of our group, Mel, talk about the joys of spinning led me to purchase a drop spindle!

At the Foggy Hollow Ranch booth, farmer Lynda sold me fiber for my new spindle from Demetri the highland sheep who is not only sweet natured but has fleece that is easy to spin, so I've been told. Fun times ahead!

And finally I just loved my twelve fantastic students at my Crochet Sock Techniques class - they were all sooo lovely, had great crochet skills and worked extremely hard. 

Anyway I hope you enjoyed my brief round up. I am now off to the UK this week to visit my family so I'll be taking a little blog holiday for a few weeks. I will return at the end of July. Have a wonderful summer everyone!!

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Hoston Fiber Fest is THIS Week!

Houston Fiber Fest starts THIS Friday June 23rd. I am SO excited!! I am going to be there on Saturday primarily visiting vendors and squishing their yarn but also hanging out with people and obviously I'll be there Sunday afternoon for the class I'm teaching.

Lester The Fiber Fest Mascot

Last year I attended just one day but I stayed for seven hours. I felt I had to get around as many vendors as possible so that I could record a really comprehensive audio review for Fay at the Crochet Circle Podcast. It was an amazingly fun day and I just can't wait to do it all over again!

This year I'll be spending some time at Inner Loop Dyeworks Booth #17 with Beth Bower. Beth is a fabulous indie dyer and she very kindly provided me with yarn support for the small crochet sock pattern I designed for my class. She even let me choose my colors and custom dyed them for me! Amazing! Thank you Beth - I'll see you on Saturday with my sock samples!! I'll be launching my sock pattern from her booth. It's called #theleftovercrochetsock because it's baby/toddler size and you can make it with leftover sock yarn once you've made an adult pair.

The meet up tables are back again this year so I will be at the crochet meet up table on Saturday at 12 midday.  It's a really fun way to meet new people who are into the same thing as you. Well obviously we're all massively into yarn but there are meet ups for spinners, weavers, stitch marker swaps and so on. Here is the meet up table schedule. And I'll also be meeting up with a group that I've joined very recently the really fun Houston Fiber Friends. It's going to be the best weekend ever!

Anyway have a wonderful week y'all and let me know if you're attending any fiber events over the summer. And do tell me if you're going to be at the Houston Fiber Fest so I can look out for you!!!

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Trying out: Lyyke Crochet Hooks

I really do love working in my local yarn store. The Knitting Fever rep was visiting on one of my yarn store days and she had a classy looking case with a set of Lyyke crochet hooks inside They were a prototype and won't be available in the store until next month but I was able to have a little go so I thought I'd let you know what I thought. The rep gave me two sets of knitting needles - one straight, one circular to say thank you in anticipation of my review here. That was sweet! It's nice to get a little freebie.

I had already had a chance to try out the needles. They are available at Nimblefingers and in my Friday workshop I help knitters as well as crocheters. So I was ripping back for a student and I remember thinking ooooohh these look great - they are a light colored grainy gray wood. And they feel good too. They are very smooth like silk. I loved them and I kept asking my students who were using them if they needed a bit of help with something so I could get my hands on them again.

They are called Driftwood and I totally got the wrong end of the stick (ha ha) and thought that they were actually upcycled driftwood, harvested from a beach, and that's why they were so strong and smooth. They are not made from driftwood, they are made from resin-coated birch wood. I must say I am a bit disappointed because I do prefer my romanticized version of their origin.

Trying out the prototype crochet hook, I liked it a lot. The Lykke hook is an in line crochet hook which is the style that I prefer in my crochet hooks. Like the needles, it's very smooth work with and looks great. It's very lightweight too. And the hooks are labelled with both mm and US sizing. Very handy! Even after five years in Texas I still use mms for my hook and needle sizings. There are ten sizes ranging from 3.5mm E-4 to 9mm M-13. So although I do like them a LOT and I will probably buy a few once they arrive, I will not be abandoning my Susan Bates Silvulame (anodized aluminum) because I tend to make projects which call for smaller hook sizes and Susan Bates start at 2 1/4 mm B-1.

I hope you found this helpful and I'd love to know what you look for in a crochet hook. Just let me know in the comments below. Have a wonderful week y'all!!

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Teaching at Houston Fiber Fest this June

I have hit the crochet professional big time! My proposal to teach a class at the fabulous Houston Fiber Fest was accepted. Yay! I have been teaching for around three years now, the last two and half at my local yarn store, so I thought it was time for a little challenge.

 

Last year I attended the Houston Fiber Fest for the first time. In fact, it was my first time ever visiting any fiber fest. Places are spread out in the US and with young children there isn't a lot of gallivanting around for me. Anyway, even though it was my first fiber fest ever I did manage to record an audio review of the event and it features on episode six of the superb Crochet Circle podcast around 40 odd minutes in.

I will be teaching crochet sock techniques. If you read my blog regularly you'll know that I was a little obsessed last year about finding the ultimate crochet sock pattern. Here are my blog articles on the topic if you missed them:

• The hunt for the ultimate crochet sock begins
• The crochet sock pursuit continues
• A serious case of crochet sock startitus
• Self-sabotaged socks (includes my completed socks - hurrah!)

The event takes place June 23-25 at the Berry Centre in Cypress, TX. It is truly yarntastic and well worth attending even if you're not one of the special twelve attendees who gets to hook socks with me! Check out the Fiber Fest website, Ravery group and Facebook group. Shall I meet you there?

I daresay you may see crochet socks popping up on my Instagram and Twitter accounts in the near future. I'm @craftyescapism if you hadn't guessed! Have a fantastic week y'all!

Farewell to 2016 Hello 2017

Happy New Year everybody!!! Reflecting on my year of crochet it's been a really good one with highlights as follows:

 

 

My Yak & Yarn group celebrated it's first birthday in March. My Y&Y ladies have become my great friends and we have, between us, produced close to a hundred crochet items for local charities - blankets, scarfs and hats. We are still going strong with new members joining at a steady rate. 

In June I attended my first ever fiber fest: Houston Fiber Fest (what fun!) and I recorded a review for the British Crochet Circle Podcast. This gave me an insight into the huge time commitment required in producing podcasts!! 

August marked my two year anniversary of teaching the Friday crochet and knitting workshop at my local store Nimblefingers. I love being part of the NF team and Friday afternoons are my absolutely favorite time of the week.

In October I taught my largest group ever (20+ ladies) for the Chicks with Stix Chapter of my local knitting guild: the Knit at Night Guild. I gave a class on Crochet Borders for Knitted Projects which I totally overprepared for but I received great feedback afterwards so it was all worth it!

Over the summer I learnt new techniques taking part in my first ever Crochet Alongs (CALs), three of them in fact, on crochet socks, interlocking crochet and overlay crochet. I also figured out Tunisian entrelac crochet making a blanket for Yak & Yarn.

For 2017 I have the following plans:

I will continue to write my blog, learn new techniques, run my Yak & Yarn group and my Nimblefingers workshop.

I'd like to add another regular weekly teaching class.... we'll see.

I'm also considering applying to teach a crochet class at the Houston Fiber Fest this year. This seems like the obvious next step in my teaching career.

Anyway I'd love to know what your biggest crafting achievements of 2016 were and what your plans are for 2017. Comment here or let me know on Twitter or Instagram I'm @craftyescapim

Mainly hooking crochet borders

Recently I have been hooking crochet borders for a program that I taught earlier this month at my local knitting guild: Houston Knit at Night for the Chicks with Stix chapter. There were 20 odd ladies - the largest number I have taught in one go but as I reminded myself they were all learning the same thing. My regular weekly workshop involves helping up to 12 students with their own specific requirement on the individual crochet (or knitting!) project that they are working on. And I also teach one-to-one lessons.

I did A LOT of preparation for the program. As well as watching Edie Eckman's wonderful Craftsy class on borders (reviewed here on this blog), I made samples, wrote a handout and just had to buy three books on borders: 

Around the Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman

The Finer Edge: Crocheted Trims, Motifs and Borders by Kristin Omdahl

The Complete Book of Crochet Border Designs by Linda P. Schapper
 

My favorite was probably the book by Edie Eckman. I like the way she provides border design charts as both horizontal borders as well as actually going around the corner. Edie doesn't leave you guessing what to do. Kristin Omdahl has a very modern take on borders and edges in her book and unlike the other two has project patterns which include the featured edgings. One of these is the incredible Memphis Bag which I am just going to have to make. It's gorgeous! Linda Schapper's book contains the largest number of borders of the three and I love how Linda categorizes her borders into different types. If I wanted a shell border I could look through dozens of patterns to find the one I like best.

For my samples I picked out single color borders from my new books, trying to show a range of different types of stitches (picot, shell, post stitch, bobble etc.). I also prepared square samples of simple border stitches on knitted squares: single crochet, picot, shell and crab stitch.

I gave the ladies prep work too: to bring a knitted square to add a crochet border to. I was impressed that almost everyone had actually done their homework and arrived with their squares ready to learn.  By the end of session I was admiring many pretty shell borders. Marvellous!

Getting a little better all the time [crochet and knit tutorial links]

I have completed making swatch samples for my Craft Yarn Council knitting 1 certificate. Hurray! Other yarn projects have taken a back seat for a while but that's OK because rotating projects are entirely acceptable for yarn addicted people such as ourselves. I love how learning to teach makes you learn new techniques and improve your existing ones. I've learnt "european" knitting, cable cast on, feather and fan stitch and also discovered what I should improve.

I've realized that my purl stitch is far looser than my knit stitch working on the first two swatches which call for 5" garter stitch squares in knit and purl. My purl swatch is simply sloppy requiring far fewer stitches than my neat knitted candidate. But according to one of my proficient knitting friends (she can knit Fox Paws without assistance) this is not unusual and can be fixed. A quick online search led to a solution. Hurray for Ysolda Teague!

We all love to learn new techniques so I thought I'd share a few online resources for this. My list is a tad biased towards crochet since my return to knitting is very recent:

Knitting designer, Ysolda Teague, has a collection of excellent photo tutorials on her Technique Thursday page. This is where I found out how to make my purl stitches tighter.
 
At knitting designers Tin Can Knits, 2016 is the Year to Learn Something New and they even have a hashtag #TCKnewtricksKAL How fun!

Blogger, designer and teacher Marie Segares of Underground Crafter has a great archive on her blog Tips Tuesdays the most recent being how to join your first (or next) CAL (crochet along) - always a great way to improve your skills!

Blogger, writer and crocheter Kathryn Vercillo of Crochet Concupiscence provides very clear photo tutorials of crochet stitches and also gives a link to other crochet tutorials if you'd like more!

Craft media company Interweave gives free crochet tips articles on it's online store including making amigurumi, sizing your afghans etc

New York store and online resource for "needlecrafters of every ilk" Purl Soho provides both knit tutorials and crochet tutorials on their beautifully presented site.

I know this is just a tiny selection (and I haven't even delved into the world of video tutorials), so I'd love to hear from you if you have a particular favorite place to learn new techniques online. Just let me know in the comments section below!

Are you bistitchual?

I think the term bistitchual is rather fabulous. It's defined along with a great example in the Urban Dictionary as:

 

The ability to create stitches in two crafts, e.g. knitting and crocheting.

 

Alena is bistitchual; she can both crochet and knit.
Penelope is not bistitchual; she can only knit.

 

I am one of the 49% of crocheters who also knit* and it's time for me to devote a little more time to improving my knitting skills now that the holiday gift-making is a distant memory.

I am embarking on the Craft Yarn Council's first knitting certificate. Hurrah! It's a six month long distance-learning course and my career in the yarn industry really began when I started my first CYC crochet certificate almost two years ago. Back then I didn't plan to actually get a job teaching crochet at that time. Read about it in my earlier post "How my crochet career began".

 

I have run a knitting and crochet workshop at my local yarn store every Friday afternoon for the last 16 months. I certainly knitted more frequently than crocheted in my younger years. The height of my knitting prowess was a sweater with a multicolored intarsia countryside scene (so twee!). In short, I'm not a beginner. Pattern support is the most common requirements at the workshop and I am pretty good at deciphering the symbols. However, having gained so much knowledge undertaking my two crochet certificates I feel that I have a duty to my knitting attendees to up my game to the same level. I want to be able to talk authoritatively about knitting best practice in the same way as I can for crochet and I know that the certificate will do this for me.

I just received details of my assignments today and my master teacher is the knit and crochet guru Edie Eckman. I own two of her books and I am totally in awe of her skills. I am so excited and albeit rather nervous about having her assess my work. Better get stitching!

*The State of Specialty NeedleArts Survey 2013, National Needlearts Association (TNNA)

The joy of crafting with others

There is something wonderful about crafting with others, getting out of your house and enjoying the fellowship of other gentle yarny folk. My first experience of this was back in Bristol in the UK in the winter of 2011. My local pub, the Victoria, a short stroll from my house, hosted a first Sunday of the month "Knit and Natter". The kids, younger then, were in bed and my husband happily watching Top Gear. There were eight of us knitting and I realized at that first meeting that I had been crafting in a silo up until then. We sat in the railway tunnel part of the pub (maybe it actually was a disused railway tunnel) - from a silo to a tunnel - and I enjoyed a pint of cider as you do in the West Country while we chattered about nothing in particular while our fingers were busy. Bliss.

And then shortly after moving to Houston in the spring of 2012 I signed my kids up to swimming lessons and was delighted to discover a fellow knitter doing her stuff in public with children occupied at the same time as mine. And so an impromptu group began of four of us knitting together and it was the BEST part of my week. But after a year or so the children's activities changed and our happy yarny meet ups ended.

Fulfilling the thirty hours of teaching crochet for my two certificates led to more communal crafting. For several months I carried my hooks and yarn everywhere looking for willing guinea pigs among my friends. Pictured above several victims learning while camping at a Texas State Park! Asking the yarn store owner if I could teach on her comfy sofa led to my current job running their Friday knitting and crochet workshop.

My master teacher asked me during my assessment if I was crafting with a group (the workshop doesn't count) and encouraged me to find one. Well now I have Yarn People at my public library each week (following my original knitting swim mom), a fortnightly craft group at church which has just started and my own monthly Yak and Yarn meet up at a local café which I started after attending a day long craft retreat in January this year. That's probably more than sufficient.