April Edition of I Like Crochet Magazine

This year is just flying by ... March is already here, which means the April edition of I Like Crochet is also available. And what a great line up of patterns. So many cute, spring ideas.

Like Bright and Early Hexagon Pillow by Toni Lipsey and worked in 100% cotton heavy worsted weight yarn. I love these bright colours!

Bright and Early Hexagon Pillow by Toni Lipsey

Maybe you love cardigans ... Brooke Scalloped Cardigan by Quinny Zhang is gorgeous. Crocheted in a cotton/wool blend DK weight yarn. I really want to make this one!.

Brooke Scalloped Cardigan by Quinny Zhang

Brooke Scalloped Cardigan by Quinny Zhang

If you have little ones in your life, why not make Petunia the Pillow Buddy by Debra Arch. She's so adorable and is worked in worsted weight acrylic yarn. 

Petunia the Pillow Buddy by Debra Arch

And finally, a quick project just for you. A light and airy scarf will pair perfectly with your new spring outfit. Abigail Striped Bias Scarf by Cheryl Chow is worked in wool fingering weight yarn. Have fun choosing 3 of your favourite colours!

Abigail Striped Bias Scarf by Cheryl Chow

Abigail Striped Bias Scarf by Cheryl Chow

Find all the patterns on the I Like Crochet website.

Happy Crocheting!

What's New?

I had a wonderful summer ... the weather was so warm and sunny and my family took a vacation to Europe. So much to see in Italy, I can't wait to go back and spend more time in Rome. It's now November and reality is setting in that Thanksgiving (here in the USA) is next week and Christmas will follow quickly on it's heals. 

I've been busy creating new designs for you to knit and crochet over the last few months.

Yorkshire Throw is a crocheted blanket available from I Like Crochet, an online magazine with many wonderful designs available every 2 months. There's a yearly subscription fee, but you get so many patterns and articles for that small price.

Yorkshire Throw from I Like Crochet

 This blanket is worked with Cascade 220 100% wool yarn in colors Yakima Heather (11 balls) and Antiqued Heather (3 balls) using hook size 7 (4.5mm).

Pattypan is part of a collaboration of talented designers and available exclusively on Ravelry through Stranded Magazine. 

©Andi Satterlund -  Pattypan

The asymmetrical pattern of Pattypan is inspired by the spokes of a ferris wheel. The intricate stitch pattern is balanced by stockinette stitch making this sport-weight cardigan the ideal combination of simple and complex knitting.


Finally, just released this week, is Grand Forks Pullover. Available in Interweave Knits Winter 2018 magazine on the Interweave website or through your local yarn store.

©Harper Point Photography - Grand Forks Pullover

This stranded colorwork pullover is worked with 3 colors of Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair and US8 (5.0mm) needles, top down and in the round. 

And one last note .... the 5th annual Indie Design Gift-A-Long starts on November 21st at 8pm EST. I'm participating again this year and I hope you will join all the very talented designers for heaps of friendly chatter, hundreds of prizes, and beautiful projects. Find out more on Ravelry.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

Gift-A-Long 2016

It's starting ... this years gift-a-long on Ravelry and it's something I look forward to at the end of each year. So many indie designers come together for a fun time connecting with our customers through knitting and crochet. And of course there's the SALE and PRIZES that are an incentive for you to join us!

20 of my Patterns on SALE with CODE giftalong2016

What is the Indie Design Gift-A-Long? 

It’s prepping for the holidays as only fiber folks can, with special deals from tons of indie designers!

The Indie Design Gift-A-Long is a 6 week long KAL/CAL of holiday gifts made from patterns designed by hundreds of independent designers. From November 22nd at 8pm (US-EST) through November 30th at 11:59 pm (US-EST) these indie designers will be discounting between 5 - 20 of their patterns 25% for this event.

There are eight KAL/CALs to participate in, prizes of all sorts given out, games, and generally a lot of fun! The Gift-A-Long KAL/CALs will run from November 22nd at 8pm US EST through - December 31, 2016 at 11:59pm US EST. All patterns by the participating designers are eligible for the KAL/CALs and all not-free patterns by the participating designers are eligible to win prizes.

Which Designers are participating? 

There's a list of participating designers with photos here. 
My discounted patterns can be found here.

How do I get the discount?

Just purchase the patterns you want directly from the designers' Ravelry shops between 8pm US EST on Tuesday, November 22nd and 11:59 pm on Friday, November 30th. Put them in your cart and enter the COUPON CODE giftalong2016 at checkout and 25% will be automatically taken off the total price.

Happy Knitting and Crocheting!

Yarn Weight Frustrations

I've had this frustration for a while now, but most recently with my latest cardigan design. Yarn labels that don't correctly label a yarn as the correct weight. What do I mean ....

Gorgeous Hazel Knits Lively DK in Frost

Here's a couple of examples:

Cascade 220 has 220 yards in 100g and is listed as worsted weight

Hazel Knits Lively DK has 275 yards in 130g and is listed as DK weight

Louet Gems Fingering weight has 185 yards in 50g and is listed as fingering weight

Quince & Co. Chickadee has 181 yards in 50g and is listed as sport weight

How do you then successfully substitute yarns in a pattern if the weights are all over the place?

Crafty Yarn Council yarn weight chart

You could look at this yarn weight chart found on the Crafty Yarn Council's website which looks a bit daunting to me or you could just go by the yards (or meters if you like metric) in a 50g ball.

Another example .... I used Hazel Knits DK Lively yarn which mentioned about has 275 yards in 130g. Doing the math this works out to be (275/130*50) 105 yards in 50g.

When substituting I look for something similar like maybe Cascade 220 which has 110 yards in 50g or Madelinetosh Vintage which has 100 yards in 50g or even Jo Sharp's Classic DK Wool with 107 yards in 50g. 

To me, looking at yards to figure out a substitution is much easier than looking at other options like stitches per inch or the yarn companies weight designation.

My latest knitting pattern, Strolling Cardigan can be purchased on Ravelry.

Strolling Cardigan Photo © KLM Photography

Happy Knitting!

Patternfish

PATTERNFISH, like Ravelry, is another website that allows a designer to sell their crafting patterns through them. I've added my collection of knitting designs there and am very excited to see my collection written about in their latest newsletter. 

Gayle Clow writes "Cheryl Chow debuts with Firkant, a classic raglan-sleeved cardigan enlivened with chequerboard lace. Chow writes a beautifully clear pattern that is structured just as carefully as she structures her garment and accessory designs. Her hats and mitts, particularly Carry On, are charming. Check them out in her collection."

Thank you so much Gayle for the kind words!

Happy Crafting!

Buttons

Beautiful Buttons! I'm always on the hunt for pretty buttons to use on my cardigans. Unfortunately, JoAnn's is about the only place fairly close to me (still 40 minutes drive away) to touch and feel buttons around here. 

I noticed in the Cardigan Girls Ravelry group that a few ladies had purchased buttons from Fastenation Studio so I thought I would give it a go. I had my doubts as purchasing buttons online to match an almost finished cardigan can be difficult. Colours do not always show true on different monitors.

Hannah was amazing. I picked out two different style of buttons and the colour and emailed back and forth to get the Acorn Branch buttons coloured the way I was wanting them.

What do you think? I'm leaning towards using the Acorn Branch buttons (light background) though the Geometric buttons are nice too!

I would definitely order from Hannah again. 

Happy Knitting!