The reason I ask is that I’m working to market the Yarnography club as being friendly to both and, in fact, one of the extras for the March box that’s on its way out the door this A.M., is more for crocheters, but can be used by knitters as well. Knowing that, I had to wonder if any of the club members are knitters or multi-craftual? And if none of them are crocheters, then how come there weren’t any crocheters who signed up?

The yarn that’s accompanying each box is a fingering weight yarn. I know some people prefer to use at least a DK when crocheting, but why? There are a vast number of projects that are incorporating lighter weight yarns, and those lighter weight yarns really lend themselves well to everything from accessories to garments. With 460yards per skein, you could crochet a couple of scarves, a few hats, socks, a cowl, a shawl (see my last post), a baby cardigan, and, gosh, I don’t know–so much more!

So, Where are my crocheters? Maybe it’s my fault for keeping the two sides (The Crochet Side & The Yarn Side) separate? Maybe I should be cross-posting more often so that we’re all up to date and together.

I’ll start sharing more now…

Yarnography is a yarn and photo club; a collaboration between myself and Caryn Drexl Photography. On a bi-monthly basis there is an installment that goes out with at least the following:

• 1 5″x7″ professional quality print of that month’s photograph
• 1 skein of Walker Basic (75% Superwash Merino, 25% Nylon), 460 yards, in a colorway that is inspired by the photograph.

Beyond that there are extras/goodies.

Here is a photo of January’s installment (excuse any wonkiness in case the image is too contrasted on your monitor):

The photograph for January was “Mapped”, the skein was inspired by the photograph, and the extras were a calendar, a compass, and a small notebook.

March’s installment is going out today, so I won’t be posting a photo for another couple of weeks. Don’t want to inadvertently spoil the club members.

If you want to know what May’s inspiration is, or are interested in possibly registering for it (registrations closes May 6th), please visit The Yarn Side.

She Sells Yarn is a great little shop that was opened late last year by a friend of mine, so I’ve been trying to support it by selling my yarn there, as well as teaching some crochet classes. So far I’ve taught a hat/scarf pattern class, a Tunisian 101 class, and a granny-square/motif class that also went into how to read a pattern. It’s been exciting! Outside of those classes, however, I haven’t done much crocheting.

That was all history as soon as I received a skein of yarn in the mail. The skein was from BigMouth Yarns, in a Merino/Cashmere/Nylon blend. It was from a yarn club, which also featured chocolate (yum!), and to be completely honest, I wanted to just wrap myself up in yarn strands. Instead, the next best idea was to crochet a shawl.

After some Ravelry research, I decided on the Seraphina Shawl by Doni, of Doni’s Stuff. It’s a fairly easy pattern, though I’m currently only in the middle of the 11th row, but it’s beautiful so far.

Isn’t it fantastic? The subtle variegation of the yarn is coming out so beautiful. The photo was taken after row 7 I believe, so I’ve had more progress since then, but I’ll share it in the next week.

I just want to thank Erica, of BigMouth Yarns, and Doni, of Doni’s Stuff, for helping me out of my crochet slump. Between lusty yarn and a gorgeous shawl, I’m anticipating wrapping this around me all year long.

HOLY COW YOU GUYS, MY DESIGN IS IN A MAGAZINE! THAT IS MY NAME ON THAT PAGE!

My apologies. Let me collect myself. While I do that, here are some images from the magazine showing off the design:

Here are some photos to show off a recent shop update…

It occurred to me that this hat was made with a worsted weight, and that hats are often made in a worsted, chunky or bulky yarn in crochet. My mind has been obsessed with finer yarns–DK, fingering, lace. The weights, in particular, are on my mind since these are the weights that I often dye for The Yarn Side.

Why not, I thought, reinvent the Quarter-Ridge in a fingering weight or DK? I don’t remember where the notes are for the hat, since it’s been a few years now, but I remember the construction–mostly. I’ve decided to swatch a bit, in both the Andromeda (DK) and, probably, the Walker Merino (fingering) bases that I have. Could maybe do a lovely semi-solid instead of a flat solid.

It’ll be a little adventure and dip into my crochet history. I may find that I can’t remember exactly what I did, and take the design into a new direction, or I’ll remember exactly what I did and it’ll be awesome, prove troublesome, grow legs and move out because it’s all grown up now and doesn’t have to listen to me anymor

I started the day early–too early for my taste, but I made it safe and sound. Thankfully I drove down the day before and bunked at a friend’s house that was only 30 or so minutes away in St Petersburg. I made sure to bring a camera with me, but didn’t think even once about bringing any crochet with me at all. I don’t know where my head was, but as it was my first event, I didn’t know if I’d have time to just sit and crochet anywhere. As it turns out I would have spent a lot of time starting and stopping, particularly when  I finally caught up with a lovely lady I’ll tell you about a bit later on.

The event began with the market setting up. Vendors were arranging their items, attendees were already claiming their spots at the tables in the market and setting up their wheels or pulling out their projects. There was a series of demos throughout the day, and I arrived at the hotel just as the first was supposed to start. Things were running a bit behind, so thankfully I didn’t miss anything.

The first demo was on dyeing sock yarn by Celena of Rocket Yarn. Celena was fabulous, and showed us two of her techniques while chatting and answering questions–one was called plasma dip dyeing, and the other was a lot like finger painting. She uses some interesting methods that I, personally, haven’t tried before, so it was a real treat to see another independent dyer “do their thing”.

If you get a chance to ever purchase any of her yarn, or watch one of her demo’s, take a class, et cetera–do. You definitely will not be sorry. Be careful, though, as I think a few of the ladies who attended may have been bitten by the dyeing bug and went home to start playing around as soon as the weekend was over. There was some serious note-taking in that room. If I had thought to bring paper and pen, I may have been taking notes as well.

I had about 15-30 minutes before the next demo, so I took my time walking around the market some more. I gave in and purchased a skein of 100% Blue-Faced Leicester from Celena in shades of blue that are just too lovely. I was planning on keeping it for myself, but I may end up giving it as a gift to someone. We’ll see, as it wholly depends on how selfish I’m feeling when I think about it next.

Let me just say that, since I didn’t really know anyone at the event, and didn’t have anyone go with me, I did a lot of hiding behind the camera. There, that clearly needed to get off my chest, and serves as fair warning for those who may feel I publish too many photos in this post. I’m actually holding back–ha!

The next demo rolled around, and while I wasn’t really planning on attending it, I did plan on visiting the person who was doing the demonstrating. Here enters Tracie Barrett–miss TracieCrochets herself. She was setting up for her demo, people were already piling in and trying to max out the 52 occupancy limit, and I was steeling my nerves up to go say hello.

Trust me when I say that I am awkward in social situations unless I already know the person. While Tracie and I have chit-chatted online, that does not necessarily make us fast friends and allow me to talk easily with her in person. So, I pulled up my Big Girl Pants and went over and said, “Tracie? Hi, it’s Brianna”. And that, dear readers, was the beginning. The awkwardness I was expecting was over after a minute, and I spent the whole time watching her demo, taking photos and expelling a huge sigh of relief. There was a kinship–here we were, two crocheters in a sea of knitters and spinners, and one of us was going to be showing how to make amigurumi.

And show them she did…

Do you recognize the top Tracie is wearing? It’s a Doris Chan design from Everyday Crochet! It was in a lovely lilac color which looked great on Tracie.

Tracie and I spent the rest of the afternoon together. We went and had Korean with some people she knew, which was my first experience with Korean food. Not bad! Would definitely try it again.

After our lunch break, we went and spent some time in the lobby of the hotel, where Tracie received an impromptu drop-spindle lesson via a lovely woman named Diane. Here you can see them finally getting some gorgeous fiber onto their spindles and working on the park and draft method…

This is where we met up with Vashti Braha and her adorable son. Vashti and I greeted each other with a hug, though we’d never met (she’s just that type of person you feel comfortable giving a hug to on your first in-person greeting), then we chatted about the sad demise of The Crochet Side podcast. Pretty soon she and her son were distracted by Diane and Tracie’s spinning and had to get in on the action.

Eventually both Tracie and I were winding down–too much excitement in one day for us, I guess. I really only had the time to spend 1/2 the day there anyway, but it was a really full 1/2 day. We took one last whirl around the market, where we both picked up some spinning fiber, and then we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

I can, with ease and no pretense, state that I had a fantastic time. I will admit that I almost didn’t make the drive to Sarasota, that I almost chickened out. A good friend kicked me in the butt, though, and told me I’d regret it if I didn’t go. She was right. I would have regretted having missed meeting all the people I managed to connect with. I would have regretted not being surrounded by ~100 like-minded people. I would have regretted not grabbing one of these guys…

I let the email sit for 24 hours before opening up  Notepad. I probably sat there for 10 minutes in silence, terrified of the blank screen. It’s the same feeling when I sit down to write short stories, poetry, sketch…frozen in time and stuck. Eventually I snapped out of it and came to the decision to freewrite–let it all flow organically out of me, from the heart, through the fingers, onto the keyboard.

What I had wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible. I edited a bit, removed a sentence, added it back, removed it again, tweaked the beginning and fiddled with wording. Finally, I just had to say the hell with it. If it’s not what they’re looking for they’ll let me know, right?

So, in case it’s tweaked before the issue goes to print, here is what I sent them…

Brianna is the woman behind The Crochet Side (www.thecrochetside.com), a blog about her crochet ups and downs; and behind The Yarn Side (www.theyarnside.com), a small hand-painted/hand-dyed yarn line. She doesn’t claim to be a master of any one thing, but she’s pretty good at a few. Her first love was crochet; her second love was dyeing yarn. Now she tries her hardest to combine the two while staying cool in an all too hot Florida.

Playful, right? Not awful, not great…definitely not a piece of literature, but whose byline really is? That’s not really the job of a byline, I suppose. But telling a quick 3rd-person story, and attracting the reader into wanting to pay attention to that author/designer/et-cetera–that’s what we want. I hope what I’ve written is good enough to do that. Bring readers here; bring readers to The Yarn Side.

I can’t wait for the Winter ’09 Preview to go live. I can’t wait to share that with you all.  I can’t wait to see my name in print. Sounds sort of self-centered of me, doesn’t it? I always imagined myself to be published, but not like this; I wanted to write books, and here I am putting my stamp on crochet patterns? Well. The twisted paths we find ourselves on.

I wish my grandfather was alive to see all of this come to fruitionl, but I–well, let’s not get into a discussion about an afterlife. I know he’d be proud of me. I know he already was. I get to share it with my family that’s still with me, with my friends, with you.

I’m going to try and meet up with Julie, of 1,000 Petals Yarn, since she was a podcast listener and her yarn was the inspiration for the Jules pattern. She will be vending at the event, so maybe I’ll support her and purchase a couple of skeins I’ve had my eyes on for a while. I didn’t learn about the event soon enough so I wasn’t able to throw my hat in to be a vendor, for The Yarn Side, but there’s always next year! It’ll be nice to get to know the people first, and just enjoy the event as an attendee.

Here are some demos that I’m looking forward to:

Celena Crews, of “Rocket Yarn” – Two Sock Yarn Dyeing Methods
Rebecca Bowen, of Sunshine Knit Designs - Spinning with Silk Hankies
Ginger Clark, of Hanks Yarn and Fiber - Color Spinning
Ginger Clark, of Hanks Yarn and Fiber – Let’s take a test Drive

If you’re in the area, it’d be great to meet up! Let me know if you’re going to make it and we can put together some sort of signal or handshake.

From online tracking, I know the box of yarn leftovers already made it to the Interweave office in Loveland, CO. Now I’m just crossing my fingers that the actual project makes it there safely and that they don’t promptly e-mail to tell me that it arrived a big ol’ mess. Or, worse, that it’s hideous and they would never accept a submission from me again.

There’s a lot of fear in this world of crochet design, let me tell you. No hiding the fact that I’m terrified someone is going to call or e-mail and it will only be someone saying:

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA

The rational part of me realizes this is unwarranted. The irrational part of me is looking for a dark corner.

To keep myself from going down that path, let me tell you two lessons I learned during this imposed absence of mine:

1. Never promise to crochet something 10 times larger than the sample you sent in. (Also note the promised 10 times will probably equal 11 times because of 2 below.)

2. Measure, calculate, math, math, math, 4,013 times before you begin. I screwed up my math twice.

The first time I was halfway through the first half of the first side. The second time I was already done with both sides and beginning to seam the blasted thing together. Due to each section of the sides taking 5-6 hours per, there was no way I was going to be able to re-crochet the whole thing in time. So, I told my lip to stop quivering, pulled up my Big Girl Pants, and wrote down where I screwed up. I then padded the pillow to use up the extra space I had to work with.

Here’s a third thing I learned:

3. I dislike large projects. If I can’t finish it within a day or two, I want nothing to do with it.

That could always change in the future, and this may have more to do with having a bunch of merino on my lap in the middle of a Florida summer, but still, lesson learned for the time being.

Having said that, I’m proud of the work I did do. I really hope it arrives safe and sound, and that they’re able to photograph it, highlighting how lovely the finished product can be.

I realize that I’m crochet-crochet-crochet, but I’ve been taking a break since shipping off The Beast. I’ve picked up some circular knitting needles and am just knitting away. I’m not even knitting anything in particular. The freedom is lovely and rewarding, but I can already feel the itch to play with these bad boys…

This thing is huge.

See that? I’m crocheting something for that giant 36″ monster. That’s a lot of crocheting considering I’m not just crocheting a giant circle. You’ll see what I mean when you purchase my issue of Interweave Crochet after it comes out.

I can’t believe I get to say that. MY ISSUE. The issue in which I am PUBLISHED. Yes! *fist pump*

So there’s this box full of yarn, with colors and bags and I have to use it, keep track of it, make sure dog hair doesn’t make its way into it, and I’m still in shock.

I need to snap out of this, though, because while I have this big project, I also have to work 8-10 hours five days a week, part-time University every day of the week (practically), and The Yarn Side to try and keep up with. I don’t even have time to podcast, really, and there have been thoughts entering my head that I should put that on hiatus. Then I worry about how people would feel about my doing that.

What to do, what to do.

Right now my only decision is to just try and keep moving forward. Try to work a little of everything everday, not allow myself to become so involved with any one thing for too long, or I focus too much on it and become drained.

How do you best handle a large number of To-Do’s and the stress that comes with it?

My absence began with my grandfather becoming ill, which weeks later turned into an absence because my grandfather passed away. My family has been dealing with all the things families deal with when a loved one is no longer around. We’re all slowly readjusting to life without him, which is hard, but harder when I think about how something so exciting that just happened is the first thing I’m not able to share with him.

That exciting news is that I received word that I’ll have a design published in Interweave Crochet, Winter ’09! I sent two swatches, and received an email from the editor that they want one of the two, and that they would like the finished pieced to be much larger than my initial plans. It’s super exciting, and I can’t wait to get started, but we still need to finalize the contract and discuss yarns.

So what have you been up to while I’ve been gone?

It’s only been the last few days where I was able to make it into work, and now I’m trying to slowly catch up with you all. While I do that, have a crappy iPhone photo of a scarf I started…

This scarf is made up of samples from the February Phat Fiber sampler box. A couple of the samples are actually ones that I spun from small batts. I have a couple more fiber samples that I need to finish spinning before I can call this scarf done. I’m letting all the ends hang for the meantime. Not sure if they’re visually appealing enough to leave them dangling or if I should take the time to weave them in.

Before I decide whether or not I’m going to offer yarn, using this new technique, I’ve decided to crochet it up into a simple scarf.

That was the beginning of the scarf, and it’s about 2-3 times longer right now. It’s a single crochet, very basic scarf. The only difference is that I’m using this new speckled-shade dye technique which does all of the interesting work for you.

In the photo you can see how dark the end of the scarf is–a very deep green with a hint of brown. In the ball behind it, the outer part is a very light shade of green, and I mean very light. There are, however, specks of darker shades in those strands too. As the piece is crocheted, the overall tone becomes lighter, but the speckled areas will actually darken.

It works like this…

Darker end = medium and light speckles;
Middle section = light and dark speckles;
Light end = medium and dark speckles

I’ll post some more progress shots, as well as the final product, when I get a chance. It’s sure to be an interesting experience!

I wanted to share this as it’s a great example of letting the yarn do the work for you. In fiber arts–I’m thinking crochet and knitting here–when the fiber is more interesting, or visually stimulating, you end up using simple stitches, or less complicated stitch patterns. Most often this is due to the fact that colorful, visual fiber loses the stitch pattern, making it appear less prominent.

Le’ts face it, when we use a fancy, or complex, stitch pattern, we want to see that stitch pattern, so we use a simple (read: smooth) yarn. The reverse is true of fancy, or interesting, yarn. Simplify the stitch or stitch pattern to let the yarn pop. There are, I’m sure, exceptions to this, but that’s a great general rule to follow.

I’ve been awfully quiet lately, I know. I’m letting a few things slide lately–things I shouldn’t–which has left me feeling pretty poor about not having enough time. I have a sneaking suspicion this is all a part of being an adult. When I was a kid, the days were long and glorious. The only time I got fussy over time was when it became too dark out to play football in the streets with the boys, and my mother (football nut), who loved that I was playing any kind of sport, called me in for the night. Now, at 28, unenthusiastically zipping across time to 29, the days are shorter. There’s never enough time to do it all. Work, school, crochet, design crochet, dye yarn, dye fiber, podcast, edit podcast, spend time with family, take dog outside, try to keep the dog and cat from killing each other, breathe…

That last one lately has been difficult.

Then recently I decided that, with it being National Crochet Month (Happy March!), I should participate with, and send samples to, Phat Fiber. I discussed this a bit on the last episode of the podcast, but here’s a snippet of what Phat Fiber is about (lifted from their site)…

Phat Fiber is a mystery box of awesome samples for the yarn and fiber enthusiast in us all. With a focus on the independant artisan, this box is a super grass-roots treat for the senses. When your box arrives, chock full of samples, expect to be overwhelmed with the sight and feel of artful yarns, bits of roving, small batts, stitch markers, original patterns, valuable discount coupons and much much more. Inside, you could find anything that yarn and fiber enthusiasts would love…even an herbal tea or two! Phat Fiber seeks to bridge the gap between talented online artisans and consumers hungry to support the independent small business.

So, there’s this box that I wanted to be a part of. It’s March, and I wanted to send in samples for both fiber-lovers and crocheters. I felt very rooted to the idea of getting crochet out there, celebrating what I love about it, and reaching as many people as I could. This is what I sent in:

I rushed taking that photo as I was trying to get them into the shipping box and mailed, so the mini skeins are blurry. All very sad. That’s representative of at least 24 of the green/olive (Horned God) mini-skeins, 30-ish of the pink/yellow/orange/white (Apple Blossom) mini-skeins, 10 mini rolls of the pink/yellow/orange/white (Apple Blossom) roving, and I think 60 crochet patterns for a wristlet/cuff pattern. Horned God is a sock-weight yarn; Apple Blossom yarn is a delicious baby alpaca, silk and cashmere blend lace weight; and the Apple Blossom roving is a baby alpaca and merino blend. So. Freaking. Delicious. I really wanted to keep it all for myself.

I think, all told, I spent about 50 hours putting it all together. It was, with complete honesty, more involved than I thought it would be. I had hoped to get the business/discount cards printed for me, but didn’t have the time. I ended up printing them myself, which was painful. There were rewarding moments, too, though. When I would punch a hole in a card that had a logo I designed on it, I’d smile. When I would squish a little 0.4 oz roll of roving into its bag, I’d pet it for the last time and sigh, knowing that it would end up being loved. When I printed dozens upon dozens of pattern postcards, I knew that it was a great representation of what a crocheter could do with less than 40 yards of lace.

There is pride in what I did, what I sent. I just don’t think I can do it two months in a row like I was hoping. Not enough time, not enough energy. I’ve promised myself I will do the May box. That should give me plenty of time to slowly work up, and work on, the samples. I need to repeat the mantra “I don’t need a box, I don’t need a box, I don’t need a box”. If I don’t need a contributor’s box, then I don’t need to push myself to send 50+ samples. No one is forcing me to contribute, I just want to.

Maybe for May I’ll come up with a new pattern.

Oh, speaking of the pattern. The wristlet/cuff is called “Mrs Dalloway”, named by a good friend of mine who is much better at that sort of thing than I am.

That’s Mrs Dalloway. She’s a flirty, party-throwing kind of girl. She doesn’t mind if you just wear one, or if you want to jazz it up and wear two–one for each wrist. Make sure to click on the photo to see a larger version.

The pattern was free to those who purchased a Phat Fiber box, and for those who signed up to find out more about the secret site. For everyone else, I will be offering it up for sale at a low price. It’s available at Ravelry already, and will soon be available here on The Crochet Side.

And if you’re interested in that kind of thing, you can see some of the new dyed items that I’ve just listed at the Etsy shop for The Yarn Side. You read it here first (well, outside of Twitter, but I don’t think anyone reads those anyway)! I’ve moved all of my fiber stuff out of my Etsy shop for my patterns, and into it’s own store. The Etsy store will eventually make way to a new website. It’s up, but not functional, and doesn’t have any pretties. It’s pretty much a holding place right now, sad to say. One of those things I’m going to have to find time for at some point.

Regardless of my inability to manage my time efficiently, how are you? What have you been spending your time on? Crochet anything lately? Dye something? Spin something? Listen to something fantastic or interesting? Come give me something to read; I’ll put whatever I’m doing on hold for a few seconds to find out what you’re up to. :)

If you have any comments or questions, please let me know in the comments or click on “Contact”.

Well, I did it! In the face of my past rejection goes two designs. One is a lacey winter scarf; the second is a home décor item. The class mentioned only focusing in one design, but I just couldn’t when there was a second that was begging to be swatched as well.

SO, here we are again–waiting impatiently for any response, though preferably a positive one.

While I wait, though, I’ll have crochet to keep me busy (well, and work and uni). I’ve also got tons of yarn and roving to dye, even new colors to play with.

Phyllis asked some great questions, and I look forward to hearing from her readers. :D Make sure to come back and let me know what you think.

Boy, did they ever love it! You can take a listen to episode 79 (yarn porn and thank you’s are at the end) here: http://limenviolet.blogspot.com/.

Also, for those of you who keep track of my yarn adventures, I’ve just purchased some more stock so that I can dye it all up. I’m running low on what I’ve got left, so it’ll be good to get more colorways out of me. ;)

While I’m thinking about it, I’ve been providing stitch guides/patterns videos to the podcast, but I haven’t been posting them here. There’s a reason for that, really. The videos I post to the podcast/vidcast are to show how to do stitches I bring up in a new section I’ve started, “In Stitches”. Since I don’t discuss those here, I haven’t posted any.

If you’re interested in that sort of thing, go visit the Podcast show notes to see the videos.