A Poll Of Sorts For My Readers

So, a variety of mildly-stress-inducing circumstances have taken place over the past couple of weeks. One result is that I may start offering some of my knitting and crochet patterns. Not sure if I want to sell them, or just offer them for my dear regular readers (or anyone else who stumbles across them) as a free download.

Now, perhaps this is a tough thing for you to answer, because I've posted little of my work on this blog. Some of you have seen pictures of my work elsewhere (both designs and my crafting based on the designs of others). I'm more or less asking for blind input.

So, what say you all? I know there are about a dozen of you who look in fairly regularly. Come on, tell me. Does the Web need one more spot to find patterns?

Inquiring minds want to know....

Knitting, Crocheting, WIPs, UFOs, and On The List

So, it's no secret I'm a crafty eccentric. I knit. I crochet. I sew (by hand only, mostly because I don't have a machine but also because I can and I somehow think it's an art that's primarily been lost and should be preserved). I embroider and cross stitch and do needlepoint. I've even been known to make hooked rugs. I also cook and paint and garden and create in a variety of ways that most of my friends and acquaintances are only peripherally aware of.

Like nearly everyone else I know, I've got a ton of things going on. I have stash (yarn, fabric, thread, canvas). I have tools. I have books and magazines and free .pdf's printed out from various Web sites. I've even got various Web sites bookmarked. These are for the lists of, "Oh, I'd LOVE to make that!" items that everyone has.

I'm preparing this weekend for my annual culling of the stash, where I fish through and find things that are either "What was I thinking?" level or "I'll never get to that" level. They get priced, packaged, and sent to my LYS, where they're sold, and I get store credit. This year I'm going through the WIPs and UFOs too, to see what needs to be frogged and reassigned, or frogged and sent to the LYS. I'm sure there's a thing or two. And a couple I should finish.

In fact, there are many things I should finish. So here are my questions on this one for my crafty readers (the rest of y'all just won't get it):

1. Are you one of those people who only has one project going at a time, and finishes that before starting something new?
2. Do you have a time limit on WIPs before they get shifted in your mind to UFOs?
3. Do you have a list of things you want to start? How do you prioritize that list? (Thank you to my favorite on-line yarn shop for the idea for that question.)
4. Do you get the yarn/supplies (buttons, needles, hooks, beads, etc.) for those On The List items when they hit the list, or do you wait until you're ready to start work?
   

Perhaps my next post will look at some of my WIPs. Or my FOs. Then maybe some of my On The List items.

The Thing About Etsy

My BFF showed it to me a few years ago. I was skeptical (as I am about most such thing).

Now I love it. Or at least a few people on it.

The thing about Etsy, which enables craftspeople to peddle their wares to those who truly appreciate them, is that there is always something there worth buying. If you are in a depression and need some retail therapy to cheer yourself up but have extremely limited funds, you're guaranteed to find something on Etsy. Like handmade buttons for $3.00. Or some wonderful artisan small batch candy samples.

I've gotten hand-dyed yarn, patterns, stitch markers, accessories for my car, and a tabletop swift from Etsy. I've sent presents to friends, and gotten a few mood lifters for myself. I've supplied needs, and assuaged wants. And out there, somewhere, is an artisan whom I hope knows how much I appreciated them.

No yarn links, you notice? That's because I've bought yarn from too many people to count, and have more favorites than I should. I've gotten a couple of custom batches, and had wonderful service from everyone I've dealt with.

Internet? I'd like to introduce you to the Village Market Square.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

I just had a fantastic weekend. Spent it at The Loopy Ewe's Spring Fling with my BFF and about 123 other fiber loving women and one man. It's what everyone needs: time to relax, recoup, and do next to nothing except your favorite hobby for a couple of days with good food and friends and like-minded individuals. Let's face it, the world is a tough place to navigate. Even if you have relaxing hobbies, such as knitting or crocheting, the few minutes a day most of us get to participate in those is never quite enough to truly alleviate the stresses which build up over time. A few concentrated days are key to really making it work, and trust me, you come home feeling MUCH better!

So, as ever, kudos and applause to Sheri and the Elves for all the hard work they put into this! And thanks!!

Requiem for a Crochet Pattern Web site

As you know, I both knit and crochet. I do a lot of other things too, but these are my primary year-round hobbies. I am not fond of Ravelry for reasons I will not get into here, but I do have a list of other great Websites bookmarked, where I can look for inspiration and, often, free patterns.

In the course of trying to help a friend find a pattern for a pineapple motif for a bedspread or table cloth yesterday, I looked to one of my favorites, and found that the site was gone. Celt's Vintage Crochet was no more, and Celty left a scathing note behind. I personally was appalled at the reason for her taking down her site: that others were pirating the patterns she'd worked so hard to preserve and that she offered for free, and selling them. Yes, the Almighty Dollar has reared its ugly head again, and there is another casualty.

I don't blame her for being disgusted and frustrated. I don't blame her for taking down her site in the wake of this. I do wish that I'd managed to save out some of the patterns that she so lovingly provided, and this for purely selfish reasons as now I'll have to hunt for them in other places, and I don't consider that my odds are too high of locating many of them.

I think what disgusts me most is that, within our community of knitters and crocheters, we are not immune to selfishness and the kind of dishonesty that would allow someone to take another's work and claim it as their own.

And so, I raise my glass to Celty and Celt's Vintage Crochet. To Celty, for having the courage to take her site down and tell people why. And for Celt's Vintage Crochet, in memory of a good thing that was spoiled by too many bad apples.

Knitters and Crocheters: Free Patterns without Ravelry

Everyone loves something free. For those of us who knit and crochet, patterns are really great. They can help us start decreasing the amount of stash, or inspire us to make up something on our own. Sometimes, we even find EXACTLY what we've been looking for, right under our noses.

Of course many of the big yarn companies have free patterns available. Lion Brand and Bernat do, and some of the smaller but popular yarns like Dream in Color do as well. Interweave's Knitting Daily Web site also offers free patterns, some as bonuses to what was in various magazines such as Interweave Knits or Piecework, others that were published several years ago and have proven so popular that Interweave is offering them for free. Then there are the on-line magazines, Knitty, Twist Collective, and Crochet Uncut.

What is interesting about most of these sites is that the patterns are primarily or exclusively knitting patterns. Lion Brand and Bernat do have crochet patterns, and Interweave Crochet and Piecework both contribute crochet patterns to the Knitting Daily site, but the majority of what's available on their sites are for knitters. I have not noticed a crochet pattern at either Knitty or Twist Collective. (This is not to say that I haven't seen patterns that involve crochet, as edgings are quite nice on knitted fabrics, but I've not seen one that was exclusively crochet.) Crochet Uncut is exclusively crochet patterns, as well as tips and tricks and the same sorts of articles that might be available to readers of Knitty.

My purpose today is to give you some sites. I'm purposely not reviewing the patterns available here at this time. Of course I have opinions. I have opinions about everything. But this will keep.

Next up: I'll give you some of the index sites that link you to free patterns around the Web. Great resources!!!

Where oh where can they be?

My friend NBBBM and I are doing a mini-KAL. It's mini for two reasons: the project is fairly small (this hat), and it's only the two of us. We have the same yarn (this color, in Galenas Merino Worsted), and the hats, while being in many ways the same, are coming out different from each other.

My problem: I can not find my knitting. I had it last night, while I was sitting up with the dog. I was watching Capote and knitting while the dog gnawed happily on a bone. This morning, it is not where I thought I'd put it. I looked. And I looked where I normally put it, and it wasn't there either. Now, since I had it last night, I know it's in the house somewhere. But where?

This would bother me less but for the fact that I can not find another project bag containing a different hat, this one crocheted. I had it, I went to move it, and now I can not locate it. This is extremely perplexing.

Has anyone seen my project bags?

No?

Maybe the cat took them....

Twenty-Five Reasons I Love Crochet

At the behest of Fearless Leader over on the Crochet Liberation Front blog, I shall post my 25 reasons:

1. It makes pretty things quickly.
2. It makes fun things quickly.
3. There are always new things to be made out of the old. Like taking a pattern for a lace insert or edging and instead of using size 30 cotton, using DK weight yarn and making a beautiful scarf or wrap.
   
4. It can not be replicated by machines and thus is always a hand-made work of art.
5. It always looks complicated, even when it's not.
6. You are not limited in options of what to work with. Anything will work.
7. It is always amazing to those around you, especially if they don't know how to do it.
8. It's easier to change colors mid-row than with knitting.
9. You can work with REALLY FINE thread fairly easily.
10. It helps you focus when you need to take your mind off something.
11. It can turn the mundane into something spectacular.
12. You can embellish the simplest thing quickly and easily.
13. It makes the warmest afghans in the universe.
14. You're truly part of an elite group if you can crochet. (Yes, that is a dare.)
    
15. You can crochet anywhere. Though there are inappropriate times.
16. I can finish something in half the time or less than it would take to knit the same item.
17. Crochet does not look like knitting.
18. Even after 40 years, there are occasionally patterns that I look at and think, "What the heck are they talking about?" Not that I can't do it in the end, but the challenge is still there.
    
19. Crochet is never unhappy, and does not yell at you for stupid things.
    
20. A beautiful finished object makes me REALLY happy. And it doesn't matter if it's my finished object, or someone else's. If it's someone else's, it's inspiration.
21. Crochet is meditative and calming.
22. The cat can "help" with yarn control (though it's better to keep the dog away).
23. There is always something waiting to be made. Or invented. Or designed.
24. It can be colorful and decorative or it can be practical. Whichever.
25. Even those who claim to be un-creative can create something with a hook and something to use it on.

There! 25 reasons!

Did I miss anything?

Crochet book review

OK, let me tell you: I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book.



It has all kinds of pretty things in it, that give you all kinds of happy ideas to dress up all kinds of mundane wares. I find the directions to be well-written, and I'm always happy with the results! (I've even worked one of the experienced patterns in the small hours of the morning while combating insomnia and have had a beautiful result. That in and of itself speaks highly of the directions!)

So, as soon as I finish my current project which involves embellishment from here, I will put up a picture.

And if you're looking to find it, it's widely available. I highly recommend it as a great addition to any crochet reference library.