I’ve been playing around with color work in crochet lately and I thought I’d share abit about changing colors without that slight 1/2 stitch shift that you get with most crochet work.

The samples in the pictures are all worked in single crochet and, additionally through the back loop of the stitch only, but the technique works as well with straight forward sc, hdc, dc and trbs (us)

Because the whole piece is worked in sc you can assume that every stitch I refer to is a sc.

When changing from yarn A to yarn B DO NOT complete the last stitch of A – pull a loop through the stitch in the row below and then bring the tail of yarn A to the front, yarn over and complete the stitch with color B.

·        bringing the tail of yarn A to the front places it to the back – where you want it – when you work the next row. ALWAYS bring the tail of the color you are leaving behind to the front.

·        Remember that the final yarn over of the stitch actually becomes the “top” of the next stitch – you want those colors to match – hence the yo of the new color in the last stitch of the old.

When returning to color A on the next row remember not to complete the last stitch of color B and to bring the tail of B forward.

When Color A continues past the color change in the row below just carry color B along inside the stitches – as if you were hiding an end. REMEMBER to begin carrying color B inside the stitches ONE STITCH BEFORE the last color change.

The first rules apply when the color changes line up:

·        bringing the tail of yarn A to the front places it to the back – where you want it – when you work the next row. ALWAYS brig the tail of the color you are leaving behind to the front.

When changing colors a considerable distance from the last color change bring a long LOOSE loop over to your stitch with color B and then hide that long incoming tail of color inside the stitches as you work your way across, including the stitch just before the last color change – this one may be tight and a bit difficult but the end result is much tidier that if you leave that bit of loop exposed.

Drop me a comment if anything is unclear and please post links if you use this in a project!

Toots

Sara

It feels like I’m spinning all the time, and that’s because I am. In April, I took the plunge and bought myself a spinning wheel. Since I live in a dorm room, I need something light and compact, but it still needed to be beautiful. My wheel - a kromski sonata. The first night I played with me wheel I realized I didn’t know how to spin; I barely even had the hang of spinning with a drop spindle. I immediately got on amazon and ordered the spinning book with the prettiest cover.

Of course, we all should know the saying - don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but that’s what I did. I’m writing this post as a book recommendation for those that are thinking about learning to spin. A few weeks ago, I decided I needed to learn more, so I bought Teach Yourself Visually Handspinning by Judith MacKenzie McCuin. Amazing! This book goes from a history of handspinning, to processing and spinning your own fibers, to making novelty yarns. While the downside of this book is that the pictures aren’t too appealing, the information is incredibly helpful. I know I’m not a book critic, so my word may not be much, but I am someone eager to learn to spin and I reach for this book everytime I sit at the wheel.

Have fun spinning!

Kate

Hello again!

I find myself still swirling in the maelstrom of jewelry ideas so I’ll share a quick project with you.  A bitty pair of crochet earrings. Basic crochet knowledge is a must for this one - my favorite book for the home learner.

You’ll need a pair of wire cutters, copper craft wire of your choice, ear wires, jump rings, 2 focal beads, and a size G/6 or 7/4 or 4.5mm steel or aluminum crochet hook. I recommend a dedicated wire crochet hook. Though the craft wire is very maleable it can put some wear on your hook that could be detrimental to further use with snag-tastic fibers.

I have a great old pile of clip-ons that I’ll mine for beads occasionally. Be careful not to set you heart on all the beads visible on clip-ons, many times a significant number of the beads have been glued in place - especially the beads around the clip, but pendant beads are usually good to go.

Cut yourself about 1.5 yards/1.3 meters of the craft wire for each earring. You’ll need to start your crochet chain with a slip knot and do the number of chain stitches that will reach from one side of the bead to the other - for me this was 4. Now slide the long, working tail of the wire through the bead and wrap the beginning short end tightly around this to hold it in place, 3to 4 wraps should suffice, and cut away any excess of the SHORT wire. Wrap the long end of the wire back across the bead so you can resume your crochet stitches.

Chain 2 and turn the piece. One double crochet in the 3rd chain from the hook, 2 double crochets in each of the next 3 chains. Fasten off the last loop and run the remaining wire back through the bead to hide the end. Attach an ear wire with a jump ring and repeat to make a pair.

They remind me of Medusa or maybe a mid 18th century French lady with a wig, me likey. Drop a comment if you have any questions or if you finish a pair - mine took about 5 minutes

Toots

I am looking for new inspiration for future posts, and am inviting you to enter my “Christmas in July” Give-Away. It’s easy to enter…just comment to this post with a craft project for which you would like to see a tutorial.

It can be any thing! Something you have wanted to learn for a long time, something you just saw yesterday!

All comments which include a future craft post idea or request, and are posted before 11:59pm on July 31st, will be eligible. Winner will be chosen and notified on August 1st. The project suggestion that is chosen will be featured in one of my future posts, and on my personal blog Creative Origins (entries accepted there, also). PLUS! The submitter will receive a “Homemade Holiday” Gift Package filled with handcrafted holiday gifts.

See a sneak peek of gift package you will receive here.

I haven’t been very creative on my own over the past couple of weeks. I have had family visiting, and just haven’t had the time. So, I thought, for this post, I would share some “other people’s” projects that are on my “gonna make that one day” list. The projects that are safely tucked away in my bookmarks folder.

	I’ve got this great page at Lion Brand for Crochet Monsters, along with another page for every Amigurumi you can imagine.
	I really just MUST make this hand-tied baby quilt at Everything Sewing. I absolutely love it! I had a quilt like it as a child, gotta make them for future grandchildren. (I hope I have plenty of time to get them done. ) Instructions for the fabric memo board are at the same site.
	And then, there’s this amazing example of fun and creativity, and I really WILL be making this. It’s circular crocheting with 3 separate colors at the same time. I think it is fascinating, and even while I am writing this, I am wishing I was giving it a try.The instructions are at Interweave Crochet’s Blog.

I’m going to get started, and I’ll update this post when I have a pic of my effort. In the meantime, any of our readers who give this a shot, send me a pic. I’d love to see other folks ideas for this technique.