Have you ever wondered what the process is from conception to publication of crochet designs?  I hadn’t really thought about it much until 3 years ago when I decided I’d like to try selling some of my designs to magazines.

Photo from DRG Publishing

My most recent published design, Plum’s the Word Shawlette, is available now on the Crochet! website as a web Extra to their Winter 2011 print edition.  You can see more details on page 79 of the magazine, or if you are a digital subscriber go to Crochetmagazine.com/EXTRA.

The beginning of this design was born during my family’s Spring Break road-trip in March 2011.  As always for a road trip I made sure to pack one of my suitcases full of yarn, hooks and stitch dictionaries. One of the yarns I had packed was Premier’s Alpaca Dance. 

As I have freely confessed many times, I have a bit of a thing for unusual yarns (sometimes called “novelty” yarns).  If it is fluffy or sparkly it is very likely to catch my eye.  I am particularly fond of soft fluffy yarns.  Though they can be a bit of a trial when having to frog back stitches (I have a few helpful hints in this post on working with these types of yarns).

When I design with yarns like that I want to use stitch patterns that are less likely to cause grinding of teeth. So I knew I wanted something that allowed the majority of the stitches to be worked into chain spaces instead of actual stitches.  Using a big hook is also helpful. 

I worked my swatches with my Laurel Hill M and L size hooks, deciding in the end that I was happiest with the swatch I had made with the L hook. 

I had been looking at the popularity of ruffled wraps, and started playing with Hyperbolic Planes as I swatched.

Because the fluffy yarn has a lovely halo effect, I knew that a lacy open stitch pattern would look very delicate and still make a warm fabric.  Ideal characteristics for a feminine scarf or shoulder wrap. 

Since this was a fairly small project idea, I decided to work a larger swatch to check my increase calculations and made an actual shawlette. 

This photo was one I included to show the shawlette in my proposal for a “Fluffy Ruffles” Shawlette/Scarf to Crochet! Magazine.  I also used Universal Yarns’ Swiss Mohair to create a swatch of the stitch pattern as another suggested yarn for this pattern.

When the editors reviewed my proposal they thought the lighter weight yarn would be a better match and they wanted to use the design in the “Winter 2011″ issue of the magazine.  I finished the final sample in the chosen yarn and wrote up the pattern, then sent them off to the magazine staff at the end May 2011.

After that my focus was swatching and working on other design ideas.  I was excited when my CGOA copy of the Winter Issue came in the mail as I  remembered I had a design in it.  But when I looked at the design names I didn’t see “Fluffy Ruffles”.  Then I spotted the information and photo on page 79.  My design now had a new name, and was one of the Web Bonuses available to Crochet! readers.

And that my dear readers is my part of the story of  design evolution.

Wow! January is nearly over and that Bang I was talking about in the last post has created a sonic Boom.

I came home yesterday from Phoenix, Arizona where this past weekend I attended my first ever TNNA show.  And that dear readers is why I have been so quiet.

Even though I was only there Friday afternoon thru Tuesday morning, there was a lot happening before I left home.  Simple family life stuff, like making sure the laundry was caught up enough that my husband wouldn’t send the boys to school in garments that can stand on their own.  And not so simple household emergencies; like the water pressure dropping so laundry, showers and baths became challenging to schedule.

Of course, life isn’t complete if amongst the household mayhem we don’t have some wild shifting design and writing deadlines.  Packing for the trip to TNNA also added its own flavor as well.

Fortunately all was not lost, everything was taken care of as needed and I left bright and early Friday morning for the Denver International Airport.  Flight delays and travel adventures aside, I was thrilled to make it to my hotel in Phoenix.  A quick change into warm-weather clothing, a brisk walk to the Convention Center and I was officially at TNNA.

The main reason I was there was to help the talented Mary Beth Temple by setting up her display for her pattern line “Hooked for Life Publishing”  in the Bryson booth, whilst she was occupied teaching classes.  Which is why my badges say “Hooked for Life Publishing” and “Bryson Distributing, LLC”. Of course it was a bit confusing because people kept asking me where Tenafly, New Jersey is.  The first time I was baffled.

Once things were set up I was on my own until Monday afternoon to take things down.  Saturday, Sunday and Monday during the show hours were all about traveling the show floor and exploring the variety of products that vendors were offering to retail outlets to sell.

There was yarn, yaRN, and YARN everywhere I looked.  Colorful, beautiful, touchable yarn. In my opinion this was pretty darn close to heaven.  A vertriable visual feast.  I made a very long list of yarns I will be encouraging my favorite LYSs to get in store so I can swatch like a mad thing.

Every evening after the show floor was closed I spent going out to dinner and hanging out with my designer friends that were there.  It was great fun to talk yarn and design challenges with others who share my obsession.

Clearly sleep was not a priority during this weekend. Once I’ve caught up a bit and recovered the missing brain cells, I will be posting some exciting stuff.  Including reviewing some goodies that I was given at the show.

Here we are one week into 2012 and I’m looking at my resolutions and goals once again. Didn’t we just do this?

I know I’m marking myself as gaining in years with this comment, but it does really seem like every year is passing by more quickly than it’s predecessor.  Of course it could be explained mathematically.  Yeah, like you didn’t see that one coming.

It’s all about proportionate relative POV (point of view).  For a child 5 years old, 1 year is equal to only 1/5 of his life experience. So that year seems to pass slowly as he anxiously awaits each of the markers of the passing year: Halloween, Christmas, his 6th Birthday.  Where for me at 48 years, 1 year is equal to 1/48 of my life experience and those same markers seem to come along at warp speed.

This New Year started off with a bang, work and family life were both keeping me on my toes, so getting to the blog has been a bit delayed.  Finally found a moment to think about what my resolutions are for this year.

#1 - Make time every week to play with my children. This has actually been going pretty well as the boys got lots of Legos and some board games for Christmas. I figure I need to make the effort to play with them while they want me to, as they are growing up so fast.

#2 – Do more volunteer work with organizations that matter to me.  I love going to the CGOA conferences each year to learn new techniques, spend time with crocheting and designing buddies and shopping the unique offerings at the marketplace.  I’ll be doing more with the CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) this year than ever before.  Because I’ve agreed to work with Doris Chan and Shari White as part of the CGOA Design Competition committee.

#3 – Purge my household and creative “stuff” to create more space in my home and office. Yes, I seem to have this resolution every year (or some version of it) but it is a never-ending process as more “stuff” seems to come in on a daily basis.

M2H Designs: Tumbling Leaves Scarf

#4 – Publish at least 8 crochet designs in my M2H Designs line.  Just this week I published the first one of the year, Tumbling Leaves Scarf.  If I can manage to do that at least every month I’ll fulfill this goal easily.

#5 – Finish 2 fine art pieces of a good size. Say at least 1 foot by 2 feet. With all the design and writing work I’ve been doing recently, my art studio and art supplies have been getting lonely. I’ve also been wanting to make time to explore using more textile pieces and techniques in my “fine art” work.

#6 – Get back into a regular Yoga practice again, working up to doing an hour of yoga 3 times a week by the end of the year.  I have found my life more sedentary with the work I do now (design and writing), so making myself stick to regular exercise is becoming more important to my overall well-being.

It’s been a chilly windy end to the year up here on my mountain.  I have spent a good part of yesterday and today tidying my work areas in preparation for the busy months ahead.  Sort of my own version of out with the old and in with the new.

Sarah had been helping me, but today had to take a rest since she caught the stomach bug I had nearly a week ago. So we are keeping her curled up on the sofa with warm blankets and a cozy fire in the wood-stove.

I will have some new designs in my M2H Design line to show all of you early in 2012.

In the meantime, I’m wishing all my readers a very warm healthy and  Happy New Year.

It’s like getting an extra Christmas present, my dear friend Sarah is here visiting.  Her flight arrived late last night.  Then we stayed up a little later exchanging gifts.

These are all the goodies in my beautiful package.

We slept in a bit this morning, and are now enjoying a lazy day stitching in front of the fire and watching movies.

Wishing everyone a beautiful holiday week-end and a wonderous New Year in 2012.

Little Snowflake Ornament / Copyright 2011 M2H Designs

In celebration of this time of year I am sharing a fun little snowflake pattern with you.  For now it is just a stitch diagram, so my apologies to those of you who can’t read those yet.  Maybe a good New Year’s resolution is to learn that skill as it does open the whole world of international patterns to you.  If you have trouble reading the chart because of size, click on the photo and it should enlarge it.

Once you’ve stitched up your snowflake and tucked in the ends, pin it out and use your favorite fabric stiffener to make it into an ornament. I prefer to brush the stiffener on once the snowflake is pinned out, instead of dipping the fabric in the solution first.  Once one side is dry I un-pin the flake and if needed will brush more stiffener on the back.

You can also sprinkle a bit of glitter over the flake while the stiffener is wet to create a sparkly snowflake.

Enjoy!

Last night we had a big snow storm and woke up to 2 feet of powdery white stuff.  Timing was perfect as my in-laws had arrived earlier in the day.  Now we have a nice fire going in the wood-stove and we are watching Christmas movies.

I did have to wonder if the snow came because I’ve been crocheting lots of snowflakes out of cotton crochet thread.

I’m not usually a “threadie” when it comes to crochet.  But there is something about snowflakes worked in crochet thread that really makes it feel like Christmas time is here. Plus they are wonderful quick gifts that can be mailed easily or used as a decorative element on greeting cards and packages.

Snowflakes can be very simple or extremely complex. Personally I like to play with different ideas, sort of riffing with the hook and thread. My only guide being that I need to keep the flakes 6-sided.

Generally I start off with an adjustable slip knot, then chain 2, work 6 single crochet in the 2nd chain from hook. Pull on the beginning tail, slip stitch into the first sc of the round and I have a nice little center for my snowflake, from there out any thing can happen.

The best bit of snowflakes is that you can make lots of open spaces, then when you use the stiffening material they suddenly become beautiful crystalline looking miniature works of art.

I like to pin my snowflakes out with blocking pins on top of wax paper with one of my foam blocking pads or a piece of cardboard underneath.

Then I brush the snowflakes with my stiffening solution. I use the product “Stiffy” that I purchased at our local Michaels.  But there are lots of options out there such as Alene’s glue mixed with water or laundry starch.  Sometimes you need to experiment to see what works best for your climate.  I want to saturate the fibers enough that the flake will be strong, but not so much that it gets blobby looking.

Once the flakes have completely dried I remove the pins carefully and may use a tiny bit more solution brushed lightly over the flake and sprinkle with some glitter.

A bit of nylon line to make hanging loops and my flakes are ready to decorate the tree or hang in the window.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday visit with your friends and family too.  Happy Holidays to all my lovely readers.

I love beads.  If I could I would completely cover projects with beads.  Even though I know that 1) the project would be very heavy and 2) it might really not be in good taste.

Beaded Bracelet for Crochet Club

A recent fun project I did with my Crochet Club kids was to make chains with beads.  We used plastic pony beads. They are easy to thread onto worsted weight yarn and come in a variety of colors.

I decided it would be fun to make a “fancier” version for myself.  I purchased some Czech Glass Beads Size 2/0 in rainbow colors and some Patons Silk/Bamboo #3 thread to string them on.

I’m sure there are other ways to string beads on thread or yarn, but the method I like is to use a dental floss threader. You can find them in the toothcare area of most pharmacies.

Making a Beaded Chain Stitch

To make my necklace I strung a bunch of beads on the thread, though I ended up only needing 25.  Using a H-8 (5 mm) hook, I chained 8 then slip stitched into the first chain, after making 10 more chains I slid the first bead up and chained around it (first bead chain made). I alternated bead chains and regular chains until I had used 25 beads up.

My length of beaded chain now measured approximately 15 1/2 inches from the loop at the beginning.  I made 11 more chains and fastened off with a 6 inch length.  Using the ending length I sewed a button to the chain and wove the end in.  Then wove the beginning length around the loop to act as reinforcement for the buttonhole.

Less than 30 minutes after starting this project I have a lovely necklace.  If you are needing a quick gift during this holiday season this is a fun one that can be made with a wide variety of beads and thread or yarn options. Have fun experimenting.

Well the first day of December has begun by dumping a load of snow up here on the mountain (a bit over a foot at the moment).  I guess Mother Nature heard me complaining that I wasn’t feeling very Christmassy (is that a word?).

Pinecones in Snow

It now looks like a classic Christmas card out my window.  A steady flurry of flakes in the air, a foot of fluffy snow on the ground and un-plowed roads have contributed to the overall effect. All I need is a horse-drawn sleigh and I’m set.

Of course it could be Santa’s doing.  I’m guessing he really didn’t want to wreck his nice sled on our dry snowless roofs. The weather dudes are promising at least a week of the wintry temperatures we are currently enjoying.  16F in my backyard at the moment.

Living here on my mountain is beautiful, but definitely makes it difficult to think about designing garments or other crochet items for warmer seasons.

Currently my design brain is thinking about fluffy warm lap afghans and throws that are quick to stitch up. One of the Christmas gifts I want to make is a throw, but I need something that won’t take too long.

I’m thinking Caron’s Dazzleaire will be perfect.  Because the yarn is rated a “bulky” yarn with a recommended hook size of L (8 mm).  With the fluffy “halo” of this yarn I’m thinking that I might be using an even larger hook, say a N or P hook (10 -11 mm).  Worked in a simple open stitch pattern the halo of the yarn will fill in the open spaces and help create a warm breathable throw that can be enjoyed even when the weather isn’t quite this nippy.

One item on my gift list started, hopefully this “snow-spiration” will last long enough for me to make some real head-way on the rest of my planning for the festive season.

This has been a strange Thanksgiving week for my family. No traveling to see extended family and no stuffing our house full of friends and family on Thursday.

Instead this is a quiet and slightly late Sunday celebration this year. And one with many reasons to be grateful.

The month of November has been a bit more exciting than I would wish for. My father was hospitalized with a severe infection in his arm. My sons were evacuated from their school one afternoon due to a near-by house fire.  And my beloved husband has been dealing with health issues that his doctor wanted to hospitalize him for.

Fortunately, all is mostly well again.  My dad is nearly recovered from his infection.  The house-fire did not spread to the school or any neighboring homes and was put out completely less than 4 hours after it started.  My husband seems to be making a recovery despite refusing to go to the hospital.

I hope that all my US readers have had wonderful Thanksgivings themselves with time for family, friends and hopefully a bit of crochet or knitting.