101 Easy Tunisian

Hey all, I just checked the Tunisian book on Annie's Attic and it's ON SALE Go check it out!

Book Review: 101 Easy Tunisian Stitches

First, Happy Belated Valentine's Day to you, Dear Readers!

I deeply appreciate your reading this goofy blog and take delight in every comment and the steady upward tick of the site meter. Thank you!

Ok, for a book review! This book is published by Annie's Attic

I bought my copy at Hobby Lobby, sticker price was $13.46 but I'm sure that I used a 40% off coupon. It was definitely a bargain! I love the bright color photos of each stitch. It is separated into sections: General information (a primer to Tunisian or afghan technique) and then: Puffs, Pebbles & Popcorns; Shell Stitches (my favorite); Openwork patterns; Cable & Post stitches; and Pattern stitches.

If you want to learn Tunisian crochet, this is an excellent start. It is only stitches though, and no patterns. When you're ready to go to patterns, you'll need to get Nancy Nehring's book on Tunisian Crochet (I'll have to look up the title for you, I have that one too and it is indispensible). My only criticism of this 101 Easy Tunisian stitches book is that it doesn't address Tunisian -in-the round. If you are interested in this, I did a post on it months ago, look under the Tunisian crochet label on the labels list at right.

Still, this book I keep right on my easy access shelf right next to my other stitch dictionaries.

PS, sorry if there are any typos, my spell check hasn't worked in Blogger for days!

Teaching Neighbors

A few neighbors have wanted to learn how to crochet. When my neighbor, two doors down, had foot surgery, and was stuck in the house, it seemed like the perfect time to gather for a little lesson and company! I was thrilled how fast the three newbies picked it up! We also hada fourth neighbor, who already knew how to crochet but came for the fun! I teased the ladies that they could pick any nicknames they wanted for the blog, like I do for Chickee and Chief... but they declined. We're thinking about making this little get-together a monthly thing! Wouldn't that be fun! Oh, I hope it works out.

Here's one of the highlights... the new neighbor who already crochets, I'll call her "K", I met her at this get toghether, and she walks in with... The January issue of Crochet Today....another lady asks, "Ellen, do you have a design in this one?" and I said, "as a matter of fact, I do!" So K says, "which one?" and I show her Sunny Spread, and she says, "That's why I bought this issue!" I was floored! What an honor and a thrill! I don't know if I will ever get used to people liking my stuff! I think I read Robyn of Crochet by Faye saying something similar recently (to paraphrase) "somebody other than my Mom likes my stuff!" LOL!

NO MORE HOOKS

Well, no more hooks after these two.... I have so many hooks! And really, how many can you use at one time? I love my hooks though. I'm not a hook snob either, I like all functional hooks. I'll let the hook collectors collect the collectible hooks. (how many times can you put 'collect' in one sentence?) The collectible hooks don't really appeal to me because I don't feel that I can use them without worrying about them. I don't want to lose them, drop them, break them, lend them, so what's the point in having them? yes, I know they are pretty.

I bought these two hooks because 1. they were on sale 50% off at Hobby Lobby 2. they are aluminum size N and M (more rare than the other hook sizes I have) and 3. They have the Bamboo handles which I LOVE.

I will buy more hooks IF I can find a 14" Tunisian/afghan hook in a size "N" or anything larger than a K.

Hollywood Knits by Suss Cousins

This book was published in 2002, but I just discovered it. It's a hardback, 30 designs by Suss Cousins. It only got 2.5 stars on Amazon, but I really liked it. There are designs that are simple enough and wearable enough to appeal to a new knitter like myself. Many of the designs are based on the simple rectangle shaped pieces. A baby cardigan, a couple of blankets, a couple of hats, a couple of scarves, two cute halter tops, etc. It made me want to make them in knit, and design more stuff in crochet. I bought my copy from Ebay for a very reasonable price.

Using the digital camera in design

I'm sure there are a dozen easier ways to do this, but this is what I do... I make one motif of every color scheme I want to explore. This also helps me refine the written instructions and tweak the design while I re-make each one. Then I lay them all out together and photograph them. I print it out small on plain paper. (I think some people just paste them in PhotoShop, but I don't do that). I'll print out 5-6 or more copies. I cut them out so that each motif is on it's on piece of paper. I think these are about 1.5" each. Then I lay them out in several different configurations, and usually take a digital photo of each new composite. (I can delete the unwanted ones later and I can look at my camera's viewer to be my "guide" where to put the motifs later! Or how to make a diagram for my written instructions). Below is the one I ended up choosing. I ended up omitting one of the five motifs above. The one on the bottom right of the five above is the one I decided not to use. I just was too boring compared to the others. When I make motifs that are different, I try to look at each one individually and make sure it is really, really nice, even if used alone. If it is weak on it's own, then it's too weak to be included.

When I made the color schemes for the above swatches, I tried to alternate light/dark/medium values. I didn't want it to be unbalanced, all dark over here and all light over there....

When I do a submission, I will make a color copy of this composite photo below, and include it with my proposal to show the buyer what it is going to look like when it's done... without me having to actually make the whole thing.

It also helps me guess how much yarn I am going to need by figuring out how many squares total I am going to have. I can make an educated guess how big the final project will be. I don't remember if I did this with this particular project, but I could have taken apart the one unwanted motif color scheme and measured the yards used for each row. If row one is 5 yards times the number of motifs plus some for edging.... you can do the math. Then you look at the number of yards per ball of that color and divide to find out how many motifs you can get per ball.... and add a ball for good measure, for edging, and in case there is a flaw in the ball.

Goal Setting for a new design

Inspiration for designs come from all places. Sometimes the editor, Brett Bara, of Crochet Today, asked me to make a throw using these yarns. So she gave me my inspiration on this one! But there were many yarns and I had to figure out what to do with them....quick!

I started with pen and paper to help crystallize some ideas.

Goals- Fields of color (for eye to rest)

Unifying element (center always Spellbound?)

Variation- not always one round, one color. Up to 4-6 different combinations

DONT be like Babette blanket from IC

Visual balance, pink is weighty, Majesty carries weight.

little texture to compensate for strong color weight

choose 1 hook to accommodate all yarns -J?

Don't run out of yarn.

Use digital photos for composition

Not all lacy, not 100% all dense

Here is some further explanation of my notes:

Spellbound is one of the yarns.

The yarn colors reminded me of the Babette blanket. Babette is a gorgeous blanket and I wanted to be careful not to mimic it. It was in Interweave Crochet in 2006 (I think).

I also thought that Spellbound would be good for the centers, because it is a slippery ribbon yarn, so a tighter weave/stitch would help it keep its shape and help the ends stay woven in when finished.

Pink is weighty- what I mean is that it is a dominant color and I knew that it would draw your attention wherever it would be placed. So I wanted to place it strategically so that it didn't overpower the other colors. It carries more visual weight than the other colors. (It gets your attention more).

Majesty carries weight- The Spellbound ribbon color is Majesty. I knew it would also get attention because of it's shiny look and varigated color (compared to the other solid yarns).

Little texture to compensate for strong color weight. I thought that if it was too textured, with all those colors, it would just be too much going on and it could look "messy" easily. One way to avoid this was to not use too much texture (avoid bobbles, avoid clusters, avoid cables, not too many post stitches).

Choose 1 hook. Because I was going to move the yarns around and not put them in the same place in the motif, I thought it would be easier to put bigger yarns into little yarn stitches if I use all the same hook. The Spellbound I think is a Bulky yarn, the Soft Yarn is much smaller. The yarns were not all the same size.

Don't run out of yarn! The yarn was supplied to me, and I didn't want to ask for more and risk getting a new dye lot. As it was, I had plenty of yarn. But in the design, I knew that I couldn't make it 90% one yarn and 10% everything else or I'd run out of the dominant yarn.

Use digital photos for composition practice- I'll talk more about this on another day.

Not all lacy, not 100% all dense. I knew with all those colors that there would be many ends to weave in. It's easier to weave in ends on a denser stitch pattern than a lacy one. Or I could alternate rows of dense and lacy to give the ends somewhere to go. Also, again the Spellbound is slippery and harder to weave in, so I didn't want to make my life more difficult.

After thinking about all this, I started swatching. I probably swatched 3 concepts? A row plan, a ripple plan, a motif plan. The squares appealed to me the most (are you surprised?). I showed all three concepts to Brett along with my recommendation that we choose the squares. She agreed and I was on my way! It probably took about 2 or 2.5 weeks to make, plus an additional 3-5 days of goal setting and swatching.

Sneak peek- woven

Here's a spicy sneak peek! I don't know whate else to say, except this project was very "free-ing". I don't know the publication date of this one, but it has a place secured and I'll let you know when I can!

Tomorrow you can expect a post about my "goal setting" efforts for "Mosaic Throw". I frequently do this goal setting exercise when beginning new designs, so you aspiring designers out there may be interested. The rest of you might find it interesting how 'thoughtful' the process can be.

Hat girl, that's me

I think I'm the only one in my city who wears hats regularly (besides baseball caps anyway). I am a hat girl. Here's a new one, the brim is not really crooked, it just looks that way in the photo. Though it is kind of jaunty! It's made out of Lion Brand Suede.

A new scarf for Captain

Yep, black wool, dense, Tunisian, very little texture....he'll love it.

I am the I-Cord

WooHoo, I have mastered the knitted I-cord. Here's a photo of my second try....I won't bore you with my first try, you'll just have to be bored with my second! I love learning something new.

Revealed! Baby Grannies!

Also in Crochet Today, March/April 2008. This is the first time I have ever had two designs in the same issue of a magazine that weren't designed together. It's too bad you can't see the subtle sparkle of this fun yarn. It is made with TLC Sparkle Soft.

Revealed! Mosaic Throw

It's in the March/April issue of Crochet Today! I had originally called it "Tierra Throw" because the colors seemed "Mediterranean" to me, so I went online and looked up Baby names with Spanish origin. I came across "Tierra" which I think is Spanish for "land" or "earth" and I thought that was perfect! Although, to be fair, it is also a great mosaic of color and I do think of Mosaics when I think of that region of the world. More on another day about how I designed the motifs.

Little Boy Blue...

....come blow your horn,

there's a ring in the bathtub,

your mother with mourn,

Why did you choose

to color your feet?

you were bored when mama thought

you were fast asleep...

An ode to the re-birth of the Smurf, in honor of Chief, age 5.

Sneak peek BIG

These sneak peeks are deliberately designed to deceive and leave some mystery. but I know you like surprises though don't you? This is one is very fun to make, and my good friend Jeannine thinks it's fun to receive too!

Tomorrow, Sneak Peek REVEALED!

A Designing Personality

You might think that it takes a 'thick skin' to be a designer. Certainly all designers face rejection and a thick skin would come in handy. I'd rather think that 'resilience' is the better trait. Being thick skinned is to emotionless and doesn't really appeal to me. It's ok to care about your work, it's ok to care about success (however you define it). When disappointment happens, it's better to be resilient, to be able to console yourself and move on. To avoid being disappointed at all is just futile.

So, in summary, it is helpful for a crochet designer if you are:

Resilient

Not afraid to be yourself/original

Organized

Self-motivating

Flexible

Not-so-much a Perfectionist

Baby Mathilda!

A face only a mother could love! I made a baby hat, and I didn't have a baby 'handy' to try it on. I know the measurements that I was 'shooting for', but I just wanted to know that it would fit. so what does a former Girl Scout do? IMPROVISE! I took a balloon, blew it up to the specified measurement. measured it again, and tied it off. I then took my baby hat and placed it on Baby Mathilda here, and viola' it fit! I can't show you the hat (I'm sorry), but if it gets purchased, I'll display the hat on Baby Mathilda! She looks so cute in her hat! Why Mathilda? I have no idea.

A Designing Personality

To some degree, you have to be a self-motivated, self-starter. Especially in the beginning, buyers are not going to ask you to send them submissions, you have to be the one to get yourself excited, get the design worked up, spend some time getting it together, do the research to decide where to send it, get it there. It's up to you. No one else is going to do it for you. When it gets rejected, it's up to you to send it back out to someone else. If you don't do it, no one else will. In this way, you are an island. I am the Commander of my own ship! Nothing happens in my business without me! I knew that nickname should go to someone, it just didn't occur to me that it should be MINE! LOL!

Uh, so, as Commander, I need to take responsibility for my decisions, even when I decided to make a "shag belt"! LOL! Hey, I follow my inspiration, even if it leads me slightly off course!

When I get a rejection, I usually have my items repackaged and sent out again within a week. If they can't see it, they can't buy it. The "Shag Belt" has been retired. Maybe I'll wear it to Manchester NH for the CGOA conference "Chain Link" so everyone will know it's me! lol

Summer Dreams Sneak Peek

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this sneak peek! It is a highlight of my career, right up there with the cover of Crochet Today back in Dec 2006 (and I'm still thrilled about that one!). In a few short months you will get to see the whole thing! I cannot wait!

A Designing Personality

To be a designer, you need to be flexible in your ideas, but really, let's not hurt ourselves. This is Chief doing the "limbo" while on vacation. It was so hysterical! No one explained the rules to him, so he couldn't figure out why all the other kids were doing it the "hard way" when it was so obvious to him that this was so much easier! What a cutie!

But really now, let's not make life extra hard on ourselves. In crochet design, you have to decide how flexible you are able to be without hurting yourself. If you propose a project in blue, and the editor wants it in red, is that ok with you? You have to decide when to stick to your guns and when to be flexible.

If the buyer has now asked you to make the design in red, and you get started, let's say you get 10 hours into the project and you get a call that the plan has changed and it needs to be purple. Can you roll with it? Or would it cause you too much stress/harm/pain/money/time....


When at all possible, I recommend being flexible. Don't be too flexible that you work for less than your design and time are worth.