Land and Sea: Still Near the Beginning
Last week, for the first time in years, I lost an Addi crochet hook. It’s not the cost of these hooks that makes them so dear to me, it’s that I love them so much I can barely entertain the possibility of using another brand1. The lost hook was, of course, the hook I was using on my Land and Sea blanket. I was bereft. It was such a busy week that it was two and a half days before I could replace it. Which is all to say that I haven’t made as much progress on this blanket as I’d hoped to by now. But I’m still almost desperately in love with it. And I just...
Read MoreLand and Sea: The Beginning
A good friend of mine is pregnant, and I spent most of February thinking about what I want to make for the baby. Not a sweater, though I’m not sure why. A blanket. For sure a blanket. A crocheted blanket, not a knitted one. No motifs. Non-gendered colours. Maybe something inspired by our city, or the one she lives in now, a couple of hours away. Well, there’s nothing more local than the intersection of the ocean and the mountains, and so I knew the blanket simply must be a ripple. But not just any old ripple. A special one. One, it turns out, it took me an entire day to figure...
Read MoreSlippers for a Border Guard
When I cross the border for work and tell the border guard the kind of work I do – over the years this has included online magazine editor, book author, print magazine editor, freelance writer and editor – and in what industry – yarn crafts – I’ve been asked some pretty memorable follow-up questions. Perhaps the most memorable was from the moustachioed border guard several years ago who absolutely lit up when I told him I worked in crochet. I mean, he went from all-serious-McSeriouspants to, like, delighted fan boy in under a second. He said to me, “Maybe you can help...
Read MoreIntroducing the Celia Circle Scarf
I’ve wanted a chunky circle scarf for a year, and when I finally decided to sit down and make myself one I discovered I don’t actually have any chunky yarn in my stash. And I needed to use stash yarn. But I did have 400 yards of a delicious alpaca/wool yarn I bought in Colorado a few years ago when I did a book-tour stop at Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins in Boulder (that was the night I met Jill Wright and Marly Bird, which was a blast). With a 6mm hook, it was immediately apparent this scarf was meant to be. I’ve worn it pretty much every day since it dried after blocking,...
Read MoreVirtual Planetoid Hat: A New Pattern!
I don’t much like designing craft patterns. My passion for craft manifests more as a desire to curate, to pontificate, to advocate. I usually either follow other people’s patterns or just wing it. I decide a couple of weeks ago to do an experiment, though. The weather was getting colder, and I realized Owen’s going to need a bunch of hats. A few hours later, I’d made him one, and the experiment is that I decided to size it and write up the pattern – would it take me an unreasonable amount of time? Would I recoup the cost of my time? We’ll see. I’ll keep...
Read MoreAttack of the Baby Dinosaur!
When I sewed the last felt spot onto Owen’s hat on Monday, I kinda sorta burst into tears. I’d made my kid’s first Halloween costume, dude. I felt like a god. Granted, I had a lot of help. Help #1: The pattern for the hat, by Michele Wilcox for Coats & Clark. (It’s intended to be a dragon, but I left off the tail and anyway, he’s a dinosaur, okay?) The pattern is written in one size, for a toddler. My kid has a very, very big head. More crochet details on Ravelry. Help #2: My friend Samantha who was as excited for Owen’s first Halloween as I was. She...
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