Photo Friday

Last weekend, the kids and I ran in our first 5K. They would have blown me away but I made them stay not too far ahead of me, where I could still see them.  Have a great weekend!

A Step-by-Step Guide to Tunisian Crochet

Learn Tunisian Crochet with Interweave e-book

 More than just 5 great patterns for $6.99, it's a tutorial for all things Tunisian including increasing, decreasing and Tunisian enterlac.
It includes my Tara's Tunisian Scarf

Crochet Me store link Click the link to see the details and purchase.

Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is....

 Kareena K. Assiniboia, SK Canada

Kareena, Congratulations! Please email me at:

Ellen @ GoCrochet dot com 

and I'll pass along your email to the Bijou Spun Publishing person to get your digital copy of Kristin's book to you!

Reveal: Lacy Beret, Bruges Lace Hat

LOOK!  I made the cover of Brett Bara's new book, Clever Crocheted Accessories!  WOO HOO!

It's not scheduled to be published until November.  (And who knows, a cover could change by then), but my hat is on the cover NOW. :)  Here's the Interweave link with the latest information. 

Photo Friday

First, don't forget to check out yesterday's post for a chance to win Kristin Omdahl's new digital book, Complements Collection.

Tomorrow we're planning to run in the Flying Pig (Cincinnati) 5k with the kids and their school "team". (The marathon, the 10k, the relay, etc are all on Sunday, so it won't be nearly as crowded tomorrow for the shorter events). I've been fighting a stomach bug the last few days so I'm praying that I'm at 100% tomorrow.  I usually run with my phone, but I got a new phone and my new phone won't fit in my old armband. So, I whipped up a new one.  This one is made of Vickie Howell's Sheep(ish) yarn.  The blue is for relaxation and breathing, the red is to go fast ;) and the magenta is for having fun.  The button you may recognize from last summer. The kids made the polymer clay buttons so I snagged one for the pouch.  I used sticky back velcro for the straps (so convenient). I'm excited to run in my first "race" but I'm not sure how it will go with the kids. I'm pretty sure Chief will beat me handily. I may have to hang back with Chickee. We'll see.

Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Complements Collection

Bijou Basin Ranch yarn has kicked off it's new 'Bijou Spun' publishing division with the Complements Collection by Kristin Omdahl.  The collection is 7 knit and 6 crochet projects in a 28 page booklet that is available in both hardcopy and digital formats.

Chevrons and shells both knit and crochet are well represented in this collection.  The count includes 2 shawls (one knit, one crochet), 1 unisex hat & mitts set (knit), 1 hat and scarf set (crochet), crochet wristlets, 2 short ascot scarves (1 knit, 1 crochet), 1 knit shawlette, 1 knit cowl, 1 crochet cowl, 1 knit capelet. Did I get it all? It's a bunch!  And considering accessories are among the quickest and most universally wearable projects, you will definitely find something to love in the collection.

Teaming up with Bijou Basin Ranch Yarn must have been a real jackpot! Kristin was given free reign to create with some of the most luscious fibers on the planet. These extravagant fibers may seem out of reach and yet, Kristin designed with 3 balls or fewer of each of the company's exotic blend fibers. The smaller projects and using sock yarns with generous yardage makes the yarns much more accessible.

My favorite crochet project in the bunch is the Protea textured hat and keyhole scarf set. It's just lovely, looks so warm and elegant. It looks like it would have good stretch for comfortable wearing. Though most of the projects in the book have either knit charts or crochet stitch diagrams to accompany them, this particular pattern does not. At less than one page for both the hat and scarf together, perhaps the pattern is easy enough without the extra support of a diagram.

Oh!  I see in the little bio of Kristin on the back cover it lists one of her books as "The Finer Edge"  HMMM? I didn't know about that book!  Is it new, (running over to Amazon real quick to look....) Oh yes!  This is her newest book scheduled to come out in January 2013. Crochet edgings and trims.  Here's the Amazon link to all of her lovely books.

I'm Intrigued by the knit Gladiolus XOXO Hugs & Kisses knit hat and wristlets set.  On the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird, Kristin said that even people new to "in the round" knit might enjoy this pattern because the beginning part of the hat is worked on straight needles before transitioning to circulars!  That in itself made me take another look at this unisex pattern. Get the book or listen to Marly's podcast to hear the funny story of the subliminal? message Kristin stitched right into that hat! 

To see all 13 knit and crochet projects, find them on Ravelry, here's the link.  

To enter for the random drawing for a digital copy of Complements Collection, leave a comment including your first name, last initial, and city on THIS post by Sunday May 6, 2012 11:59 pm EST.  Because this is a digital prize, the giveaway is open to everyone, not just US residents.  You may enter only once and a winner will be chosen at random.  The winner will be announced on Monday, here on the blog. The winner will need to write me with your email address at Ellen @ GoCrochet dot com  (take out the spaces, trade the word "dot" for and actual dot. If the prize is not claimed by emailing me by Tuesday night, 11:59 pm May 8, 2012, another winner will be chosen.

If you are following Kristin's blog tour, tomorrow's stop is...Shannon Okey at www.Knitgrrl.com

Here's a photo of me with the fine folks at Bijou Basin Ranch at TNNA 2? years ago?  Starting left front, Designer, Simona Merchant-Dest, Carl, owner of BBR, Marly's Momma is behind Carl, in the white in the back and moving forward is Eileen, owner of BBR, Kristin Omdahl, me, and Marly Bird, Creative Director for BBR.

Gray day

Are you keeping track? The green project is done.  I ran out of supplies for the purple project. I started the gray project. I'm almost out of supplies for the gray project.  Today, I double check that I have the supplies for the raspberry and the Black & white project then make a run to every craft store in town to get what I need.   Come back tomorrow for a GIVEAWAY.

Gone green, going to purple

I finished the green project enough to move on. The purple project is the only yarn that arrived yesterday, so it's next!  I put in a few hours on it before I changed my mind and had to go back and tweak.  I have to see how far I can get on the purple project today before UPS (hopefully) brings the rest of the yarn. The plan is to do the gray project and the raspberry project BOTH on Wednesday.

Let me see if I can find a photo for you...

Line Sprints

If writing a book is a marathon, then this week I'm doing line sprints.  I have 4 small projects and 1 bigger one that all need to be overnighted on Thursday.  The projects are: green, raspberry, purple, gray, and black & white. Oh, and did I mention that I only have supplies for one of the projects?  Keep your fingers crossed that I get a shipment of yarn TODAY. :)  The crochet design business is not for the faint of heart.

I do have the supplies for the green project, so let's see if I can get it done before the shipments arrive?

 These beautiful tigers have nothing to do with my projects this week. Maybe I should play the song, 'Eye of the tiger' to motivate me to conquer the week?  Aren't they gorgeous?

Photo Friday

Tulips at the Cincinnati Zoo, which is also a world class botanical garden.

Stitch Craft Create Blog

Rachel at Stitch Craft Create interviewed me for National Craft Month in March, but the month was so full of crafty goodness that it spilled into April!  Here's the link to my interview, which went live today.  See it here: Stitch Craft Create 

Thank you Rachel and the Stitch Craft Create Team!

Photo Friday (monkeys)

SALE!

My Interweave Patterns are all on SALE for only $3.85 at the Interweave Store... HERE  I don't know how long the sale will last, but there are more than 10 patterns at the sale price!

Swatch Pile

Hopefully these will keep me in business until I have time for another design binge.  :) 

The Eleven

The eleven grandkids on the Gormley side, from 2 to 22.  Chickee and Chief are the 6th and 8th grandchildren counting from the oldest.  (They are sitting in order). This was Easter.  Happy Friday everyone!  Let's see how many designs I can dream up today! (No pressure... maniacal laugh)

Hip Hip Beret!

In the new Caron Connections newsletter is my new Sheep(ish) Beret "Hip Hip Beret!"  It's a free pattern! 

BIG things

BIG things are happening. BIG. HUGE even. Stay tuned.  Hang in there. It's going to be crazy busy for the foreseeable future. I'll do my best to keep you posted. Tonight, live chat on Ravelry, maybe I'll drop a hint. 9 PM EST.  I have a fun photo-Friday planned for Friday.

Off to go start a new binder...

Baby Jospeh Ray is here! 

Baby Joseph

I thought I had already shown you this, but no, I forgot. My sister, Amber, and her husband are having their 4th boy any day now.  She found this adorable baby set on Etsy and asked if I could make her one.  So I did!  (So, don't ask for the pattern, I reverse engineered it and didn't write it down, since it's not my idea). I did make the tail very different. Amber wanted it in time for Easter since she thinks Joseph will arrive any minute.  She's a labor and delivery nurse having her 4th baby, so if anyone would know, it would be her!  I can't wait to see a photo of the baby wearing the hat and diaper cover set.  I hope it fits!  Newborns can vary in size so dramatically!

Half Motifs

This weekend I worked on unraveling the mysteries of "half motifs".  That is, to take a motif, and make only a fraction of it. The smaller fraction pieces are then used to "fill-in" generally around the edges of a project.  For example the irregular shape of a hexagon blanket can be 'squared off' by filling in the edge gaps with half motifs. Also, fraction motifs can be used in garments to help make a neckline into a "V-neck".

Here are two from my book. The one on the left is half of the Rose Octagon. The one on the right is half of the Wrought Iron Hexagon.  Of course this can also be done with squares. Squares can be made in half or cut on the diagonal to make triangles. Have half and partial motifs mystified you? Have you shied away from them?

To clarify,  this book doesn't teach half motifs (would you like to learn?) But I took full motifs from my book and played around with the halves.