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Friday, April 18, 2014

Craftastic Crochet!

Photo Credit - K. Whiteford


Yes! I know there has to be people out there who get just as excited as I do when it comes to crafting. For me, the bug hits hardest when the craft is crochet. Don’t get me wrong, I love to sew and I get bitten by that bug almost as hard. But, I think my heart lies truly with crochet. It’s a very forgiving craft and I love that about it. If something isn’t turning out the way you planned you unravel it and start over, or ditch the project completely and use the yarn for something else. You can’t necessarily do that with sewing. I mean, if you make a mistake cutting the fabric, ouch! It’s all over but the crying, you know? Sure, you can repurpose items but it just doesn’t feel the same to me. I learned how to crochet when I was a young teen and I didn’t sew until I was in my early thirties, maybe that has something to do with it as well.

Anyway...I digress...Crochet is awesome because you are virtually unlimited as to the types of projects you can do and even the mediums that you can use. I’ve seen projects done with everything from trash bags to rubber bands. Each new project idea I see amazes me. Some people who crochet are truly talented and create masterful pieces of art equal to none. If you’ve never taken the time out to look at some of these gorgeous works then you are missing out. In fact, I think I’ll include some links at the end of today’s blog that will demonstrate exactly what I mean. Personally, even though I have crocheted for many, many years, I think some people’s work makes me look like an amateur.

For my latest project I’m using jewelry wire, yes you read that correctly. It’s flexible and twists easily. I’m using a 3.25 mm metal hook and I’m creating a beaded bracelet. Beading any medium can be achieved simply by pre-stringing the beads onto the medium you are using for your project. I chose various sized blue and silver round beads with a few square copper ones for highlight. As you work through the project you just slide the bead up to the hook and crochet it right into the stitch. That’s all there is to it. You do need to be sure to include enough beads for the entire project. I’d rather have too many than not enough, when your project is finished just slide any remaining beads right off. Here’s a picture of the bracelet so far. When it’s complete I intend to add some joining rings and a clasp to fit it to a wrist. I’ll include a picture of it completed in a future post.



As for now, one of the reasons I chose to write about this today is because of a contest that I became aware of. It runs only until April 25th, 2014 so I needed to share it now. Selfishly, I get an extra entry for including the link in my post :-)  But, seriously, if you enjoy crafting you’ll want to enter. The prize package includes many items for various uses, not just yarn for crocheting. Any crafter, I think, would be thrilled to get this prize. I know I would be. The number of products in the prize package are way too numerous to list here, but to give you an idea of what you could win here’s the list of companies providing items for the grand prize:

Coats and Clark, Darice, Design Master, Elmer’s, Fiskars, I Love to Create, Krylon, Leisure Arts, Lion Brand, Plaid Enterprises, Polyform, RIT Dye, Shur Tech Bonds, Simplicity, and Sizzix.

For a complete list of items included in the prize package and to enter go here and enter daily:

Now, go and create something beautiful. Get out of the box, let your imagination take over and try something new, even if it sounds a bit nuts. Your results may very well thank you. And as promised, here are some links to some of my most admired crochet work.






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