giveaway!

February 9, 2015 by 40 Comments

***GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED***

It’s February, and what better way is there to share the spirit of Valentine’s Day than having a giveaway?  I couldn’t think of one.  I love you guys!

giveaway on NotYourAverageCrochet.com!

WHAT THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE:

  • 1 pack of 6 Susan Bates aluminum crochet hooks in the following sizes: F-5 (3.75mm), G-6 (4.0mm), H-8 (5.0mm), I-9 (5.5mm), J-10 (6.0mm), and K-10.5 (6.55mm)
  • 1 100g skein of sport weight yarn (100% Merino Wool) in the shade Burnt Terracotta, hand-dyed by the lovely ladies at DyeForYarn

The hooks are my favorite brand of the aluminum variety, hands down.  The yarn retails at $22.67 USD and is VERY soft.  Click here for my previous review of one of DyeForWool’s other yarns.

giveaway prize on notyouraveragecrochet

GIVEAWAY RULES:

The giveaway starts today and runs through the end of March 9, 2015 EST and the winner will be drawn randomly on March 10, 2015.  The winner will receive an email alerting them to their win, and they must respond with their full name and shipping address within 24 hours of the email being sent or else another winner will be drawn.  The giveaway is open to all countries.

To enter, you must do ALL of the following:

  1. Follow this blog (via WordPress, Bloglovin’, or email).
  2. Re-blog this post (or share on another social media platform if you don’t have a blog).  Multiple entries can be earned if you share on multiple platforms.
  3. Leave a comment on this post including the following information: a) how you follow this blog  b) the links to your re-blogged post and any of your shares on other social media platforms.

If all three of these have not been met, you will not be entered.

Please keep in mind that if you are a new commenter I will have to verify your comment before it will appear, but you are entered so please do not comment twice.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

-Hannah

***GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED***

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everything you need to know about crochet hooks

January 29, 2015 by 11 Comments

This is a re-post of a page I published back in June of 2011.  It’s still available in the menu bar but I thought it worth revisiting!

intro to crochet hooks
brands

My favorite metal hooks are Susan Bates, hands down. I find them more ergonomic than Boye hooks due to the shape of the actual hook and its alignment with the handle.

sizes

There’s quite a range! Most yarns say on the label what hook sizes are most appropriate, as do most patterns. However, I personally don’t follow these guides all the time, because I find that they tend to make looser stitches than I like. There are also different methods of sizing: metric sizing and US sizing being the most predominant. It’s good to be familiar with both, so if I see a pattern that calls for a 5.00mm hook I can automatically say “OK, that’s an H-8, I think I have a couple in my collection” or vice versa.  Click here for a comparison chart.

material

Another tip: the material your hooks are made of actually do make a difference in how you crochet. Plastic hooks are more flexible and so tend to make looser stitches than metal hooks do, for instance. Not a huge deal, of course, but a matter of personal preference, and there’s lots to choose from! Bamboo or wood has more of a grip, and therefore is perfect for slippery yarns like silk, whereas aluminum/metal hooks are more slippery and might fare better with wool blends. Bone or horn hooks are usually antiques and can be really fancy/expensive, although the one above was not.

extras

One thing you can do to make your hooks more comfortable to hold is to get little grippies — like those things you put on your pencils in 3rd grade. They sell packs of different sizes at places like Michael’s, so you don’t have to search far, and they’re cheap.

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first FO of 2015: Desert Rose, ta-da!

January 6, 2015 by 7 Comments

I’d have posted earlier because it only took a day to make, but I had to block it first!

Desert Rose - crocheted by Hannah from Not Your Average Crochet

The pattern is by Ana Clerc and is actually called Desert Marigold — I just called it Desert Rose because I used a yarn colorway called Rose City. The pattern is available for $5.50 on Ravelry (click here).

The pattern is very simple — I’m a little mad at myself for paying for it when I could probably have gotten close by looking at the pictures, but I went ahead and paid because I didn’t want to sit around experimenting and guessing (is that paying to be lazy?).  In any case, it turned out beautiful and I’m very happy with it!

Desert Rose - lacy crochet cowl in a fingering weight yarn

The yarn is KnitPicks Hawthorne in Rose City, and I still have a good bit left.  Maybe I could make a baby hat?

It was good to get back to crochet after such a lot of knitting.  It went by so fast but I enjoyed every minute!

Desert Rose - crochet cowl in a lacy patternI’m stuck on fingring/sock weight yarns right now, because they make wearables drape so nicely!  I’ve already started another project that’s also in fingering weight yarn and it’s coming along — I’ll share soon!  So far 2015 has been very productive (I hope it lasts)!  Have you started on anything new yet this year?

Well, that’s all for now, thanks for stopping by!

 

 

 

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2014 in review!

December 31, 2014 by 8 Comments

It’s been a heck of a year, huh?  Definitely not as productive as last year as far as how many items I’ve knitted and crocheted, but very productive considering I was in “Inside Crochet” magazine for my crochet-a-long and also in “Simply Crochet” for my floral hat pincushion.  It was also productive in terms of life in general — I made it through a year of my first “big girl” job, I got engaged, my family reconnected, I made some friends, and more!

There are multiple WIPs that were not included above, but hopefully I’ll finish them and many more projects in 2015!  Maybe I can set some crafty goals for the year… we’ll see.

Hopefully ya’ll have had a great year.  Here’s to another one!

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black friday yarn

November 29, 2014 by 5 Comments

Some yarn buying happened yesterday, but not in a store. In fact, I don’t think there is a LYS at all in my city. KnitPicks, however, was having a sale (and still is), and it was impossible to resist.

I decided to try a new yarn, hoping for some motivation and inspiration, and the Hawthorne line caught my eye. The Hawthorne yarn is a fingering/sock weight yarn and is composed of 80% superwash fine highland wool and 20% nylon, and every colorway is gorgeous! I hope it’s soft, too, because I got 6 skeins.

Here are pictures of the colorways I purchased:

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Aren’t they lovely? I can’t wait to receive them and get to work on some projects!

Have you ever tried this line of KnitPicks yarn? If so, what did you think?

That’s all for today, I think. Thank you for stopping by!

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