Hat Pincushion

March 4, 2014 by 14 Comments

If you were to check out the latest issue of Simply Crochet magazine (Issue 16), you would see my latest pattern — a springtime pincushion shaped like a little hat!

hat pincushion

As you can probably guess, I am incredibly honored to be in such a wonderful magazine. And guess what? My fellow blogger Rachel from The Little Room of Rachell is also in it with her own lovely brooch pattern. Rachel was the first blogger I ever met face to face. We met over the Christmas holidays in 2012 and it was great fun — hopefully I can go back and see her again one day! Rachel has actually already made her own pincushion hat, and I intend to make her brooch pattern as soon as I can get ahold of this issue (Issue 16); it isn’t available here for another couple of days. There may be even more bloggers in the issue that I know, but I’ll just have to wait and see!
Please forgive any formatting errors in this post — I believe this is my first post from my iPad and I’m not sure exactly if I’ve done it right, haha.
Also, thank you everyone for your kind words after my last post about my uncle — I really appreciate your sympathy and support.
Well, I think that’s all I’ve got for today. Thanks for stopping by!

**Edit: click here to be taken to the Revelry page for this pattern.**

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a pretty pattern and good advice

February 3, 2014 by 4 Comments

While browsing the Internet for lovely crochet patterns, I came across a rug, which appears in Simply Crochet magazine.  I want to buy Issue #13 just for it!  Dunno where in my home it would go, but that’s OK, right?  It’s sooooo pretty!

The good advice is from Slugs on the Refrigerator, and it’s about lifelines in knitting.  What are lifelines, you ask?  They are a way to keep you from having to rip really far back in your knitting if you make a mistake.  Essentially, they save your sanity.  I will be doing this from now on in almost all of my knitting projects!  Click the link above to go to the blog and read the article for yourself and discover the benefits of making lifelines.

Well that’s all for today!  See you again soon!

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surprise appearance in “Inside Crochet”

January 30, 2014 by 30 Comments

A follower of NYAC’s facebook page alerted me today that I am in the 50th issue of “Inside Crochet!”

cal114

I was astonished (not the least because I’d had no idea about it) and immediately bought the issue on my iPad.  Sure enough, there on page 6 was a small blurb about the as-we-go stripey blanket that was the focus of our first crochet along!  I’m sincerely honored.  There’s another CAL going on right now following the pattern (only it’s translated into Dutch), and I believe it’s #crochetalong2014 on Instagram.  The blog for that current Dutch CAL is here.

Of course I’m very excited to be in a magazine, but I do wish the magazine had contacted me first so that I could have given credit to Julie over at Little Woolie — her blanket was the inspiration for mine and they are, after all, pretty similar.  I almost feel like it’s cheating, being in the magazine when she’s not given credit.  Well, she’s getting credit here; her blanket is amazing and she’s a great inspiration (she’s also a really nice person!).

Well, that’s my fun announcement for the day.  I haven’t been crocheting or knitting at all in the past week so there’s nothing else really going on, but hopefully there will be soon.  I’ve actually written up a new little Spring pattern that I will be sharing in the near future!  Hope to see you back soon!

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a look back on 2013 here on NYAC

December 29, 2013 by 7 Comments

Those were most of my completed crocheted and knitted projects from 2013.  Here’s what’s happened in our household this year:

It’s fun to look back and see what happened in the last year, both here on my blog and also on other people’s blogs!  I love these yearly roundups.

That’s all for now, see you soon!

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themed yarn & projects

December 22, 2013 by 8 Comments

A few other lovely bloggers have posted lately about getting color inspiration for their yarn colorways/combos from books and movies.  There have been a few projects of mine that have patterns based on books/movies (check out my Hermione hat from Harry Potter, my Harry Potter scarves, and my Luna Lovegood scarf, also from Harry Potter; can you tell I love Harry Potter?), but I don’t think I’ve ever bought yarn in a book/movie inspired colorway before.  Until now, that is.  Check out these beautiful Hunger Games themed yarns from Etsy:

District 12 2-Ply Sock Yarn from BrazenStitchery

District 12 2-Ply Sock Yarn from BrazenStitchery

Effie Trinket Nymph Sock Yarn from supernaturalyarns

Effie Trinket Nymph Sock Yarn from supernaturalyarns

I bought both of these very different colorways and am planning on making a reversible hat with them (probably with this knitting pattern from Purl Soho).  It will represent two very different characters in the Hunger Games trilogy (Katniss and Effie) that come from opposing worlds but who are both good people in the end.  To me it symbolizes cooperation, peace, and the triumph of good, etc., etc…

If you haven’t read the Hunger Games books, I highly recommend them.  They get a little bit teenage-girl-y occasionally but definitely NOT in a Twilight saga kind of way.  The story in the Hunger Games books is about a young girl who is strong in the face of overwhelming danger and misery, and about the horrors of war and fighting for what’s right.  It’s dark and horrifying and moving and inspiring all at the same time.  I also really like the movies based on the first two books (the third one comes out next year, I believe), although they seem to downplay the horror/violence and over-stress the romance parts a bit, sort of diluting the general message a bit in my opinion; if you really want the full message, go for the books!  These would probably be good books/movies to allow your teenage kids to read and then discuss with them afterwards.  I say teenage kids because the third book is super-extra twisted (as if the first two aren’t twisted enough), and I’m not sure I’d want my young kids to read that one, if I had any kids.

So anyway, what do you think of the yarn combo above?  Have you ever made projects inspired by books/movies or bought/dyed yarn that has been inspired by them?  If so, what?  I think it’s a really cool concept and makes projects just a little more meaningful when they are attached to stories you enjoy.

I also bought these beautiful stitch markers on Etsy from the writer of the blog ruth plus two:

Glass/bead stitch markers

Glass/bead stitch markers

Well, that’s all for now, I guess.  I’m making some fingerless mitts for a coworker but I’ll share them when I’m finished — it shouldn’t be long.  Thank you so much for stopping by, and happy holidays to you all!  If you are traveling, please stay safe!

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