Crocheting ← Knits 'n' Pieces

Indie Design Gift-A-Long 2016 2

Nov

2016

A year has passed and Indie Design Gift-A-Long is here again. The sale period will end tonight, but KAL/CALs with lots of games and competitions and lots of prizes to win (patterns from GAL designers, yarn, kits, stitch markers, books etc) will run until December 31 midnight US EST. So if you haven’t yet, come and join Indie Design Gift- A-Long group on Ravelry now, there is still plenty of time to knit or crochet some wonderful Christmas gifts for your friends and family.

Again, there are a lot of talented designers participating and a lot of beautiful patterns to knit or crochet. There are some patterns that really caught my eye and which I’m hoping to knit for this Christmas.

My first project during this GAL will be Wheatsheaf Cowl by Loraine Birchall (last year I knitted her Evergreen Hat for my daughter and she still loves it). I love the cables on this cowl. I had a perfect purple yarn at home, so I actually already finished knitting it. I just have to take pretty pictures of my cowl.

Wheatsheaf Cowl

Next I want to knit some socks. I’m not yet sure which ones to make first, but there are two on my list: Sela’s Socks by CraftArella and A River Life by Tisserin Coquet. I need to find some solid yarn for these.

Sela’s Socks

A River Life

I also found a beautiful tam – Snow over Leiden by Kirsten McTeer – that would look perfect with my own First Snow mittens.

Snow over Leiden

And I want to knit a shawl. I think Laetare by Ranée Mueller is just the one I need. It is simple, but elegant and I think I have the yarn for this.

Laetare

I also want to knit a Christmas stocking, because I never had one and I think Selbu Roses Christmas Stocking by Denise Balvanz looks just right.

Selbu Roses Christmas Stocking

See you in KAL/CALs!

Overwhelming GAL – so many beautiful patterns 1

Nov

2015

The sale period of the Gift-A-Long will soon be over (it ends Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST) and I’m gonna show you what you are missing if you haven’t joined this event yet.

Gift-A-Long 2015 Sale Patterns – just look at this huge bundle of patterns, there are so many beautiful ones that it makes your head spin (well, at least that’s how I feel :) )!!! Or look at all these wonderful pictures on Pinterest!!!

I have found so many new talented and inspirational designers and fantastic designs and I would like to share some of these pearls.

Kate Bostwick is a designer from England. She designs everything from hats and cowls to sweaters and pillows. All her designs are so bright and colorful. I absolutely love her mittens – Mount Rundle Mittens and Kicking Horse Mittens (photo copyright Kate Bostwick). She blogs here.

Mount Rundle Mittens

Kicking Horse Mittens

Loraine Birchall is also from UK. She designs everything from hats to cardigans, she also has some knitted bangles in her collection. She loves colors and texture. I fell in love with her beautiful cabled hats Evergreen Hat and Wheatsheaf Hat (photo copyright Loraine Birchall). Her website is here.

Evergreen Hat

Wheatsheaf Hat

Marcela Chang is from Chile. She mostly designs shawls and hats, but also mitts and cardigans. Her designs have lovely lace patterns and beautiful colorwork. I totally adore her cardigan Fall in Love (photo copyright marcelachangdesigns) and her Southern Star hat is so pretty (photo copyright Marcela Chang). She blogs here.

Fall in Love

Southern Star

Meiju K-P is a designer from my neighbour country Finland. She mostly designs shawls and sweaters, but she also has some hats and mitts and knits for kids in her collection. Most of her designs have subtle patterns and colors, but they all look so pretty and interesting. It’s really difficult to choose my favourites, but the first ones that caught my eye were her Pier View shawl (photo copyright Tanu Kallio) with its shape and colors and Tavie cardigan with its gorgeous cables (photo copyright Meiju K-P/Tanu Kallio). Her blog is here.

Pier View

Tavie

Solène Le Roux is a young designer from France. Her collection of hats, cowls and socks is still quite small. Her designs have a lot of texture and they are youthful and hip. I really like her Treboul shawl and Padova Hat (photo copyright Solène Le Roux). Her blog is here.

Treboul

Padova Hat

Vikki Bird is from UK. She mostly designs beautiful blankets, but there are some cowls, hats and baby items in her collection as well. Her designs are really colorful and cheerful. Just look at these adorable blankets – Fluffy White Clouds (photo copyright VikkiBirdDesigns) or The Knitbots baby blanket (photo copyright Vikki Bird)! Her blog is here.

Fluffy White Clouds

The Knitbots baby blanket

Come and join GAL 2015 and support indie designers. See you in KAL/CALs!

Indie Design Gift-A-Long 2015

Nov

2015

So it is time for the Indie Design Gift-A-Long on Ravelry. GAL is a 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by independent designers (335 participating designers this year). This is my first year as a participating designer and I am really thankful to Elitza, who told me about this wonderful event.

From Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST to Friday, November 27, 2015 at 11:59 pm US EST these 335 indie designers will be discounting between 5 – 20 of their patterns 25% for this event (5065 patterns this year). To get the discount use coupon code: giftalong2015.

For more details join Indie Design Gift- A-Long group on Ravelry and take part in KAL/CALs, there are lots of games and competitions and lots of prizes to win (patterns from GAL designers, yarn, kits, stitch markers, books etc). KAL/CALs will run from Thursday, November 19th at 8:00 pm US EST to Thursday, December 31 at midnight US EST.

My bundle of discounted patterns:

My first test crochet

Aug

2014

Couple of weeks ago I came across an opportunity to test crochet for another designer. Her hat immediately caught my eye and I wanted to try it.

At first I didn’t really have any suitably thick yarn at home, so I just used 5ply yarn double. 6mm hook was a bit too big for that and hat came out quite loose, but I still liked it, so I did not rip it up.

Then I had a chance to go to LYS and I bought some proper yarn for the hat – Gründl King Cotton (50g /78m, 55% Acrylic, 45% Cotton), 2 balls.

The pattern was very well written and easy to follow. It was a fun and quick crochet and a very good design, which I think looks good on most people.

Now the pattern for Bold & Subtle Chain Reactions Hats by Elitza Chernaeva is available.

Up-and-down hat

Aug

2009

In the spring of 2008 some of my hat patterns were published in Mütsiraamat and now I’ve decided to translate them into English.

First pattern – Up-and-down hat – is now ready for you.

Up-and-down hat got its name from the fact that its sides are crocheted in an unconventional way – not in rounds, but back and forth.

The hat is crocheted from a fine cotton yarn, originally from Coats Eldorado with hook 2 mm, but the yarn is easily substitutable. Making this hat includes a little bit sewing, but really only a little bit :) English version of this hat includes complete written instructions (UK terms) as well as charts. The hat pattern is for three sizes – to fit head circumference 44/48/52 cm. You can trim the hat with ribbon, rosettes or leave it without trims.

Sunshine tote 10

Jun

2009

Oh boy, it has been quiet here for a long time, hasn’t it? Now I’m back, hopefully :)

First I would like to keep a promise given long time ago – Sunshine tote pattern. As this is my first pattern in English, I wanted it to be perfect. It probably isn’t, but I tried :)

Three years ago we had a bag project – “12 bags” – initialized by Marianne. She suggested that anyone joining this project should make 1 bag every month of the year and each month had a special theme. The theme of July was “Päike ja äike” (Sun and thunder). So, as the first tote I made was yellow like Sun, I named this bag Sunshine tote.

The first Sunshine tote was crocheted/knitted of stash yarn I had at home. It was probably acrylic. For the last version I used Aade Artistic yarn. To make the tote stronger and denser, I’m going to felt it a bit by washing and rubbing it in hot soapy water. Lining the tote is optional. As I find sewing very difficult, I will leave it without a lining.

The pattern is availalble as a free Ravelry download. Hope you like it :) If you find an error or in case of any problems or questions, please contact me.

Download Sunshine tote pattern (.pdf)