Irish Lace Crochet (Part 2): October 12 Meeting Preview

This month is the second in our two-part series about Irish Crochet, also known as Clones Lace. This photo shows some examples of this lovely technique, which is formed by working individual motifs that are then joined on a mesh background.

Last month everyone got a chance to learn about and practice making motifs; this month's focus will be on joining motifs with mesh, including the mysterious Clones knot.

We invite all interested Twin City crocheters to join us Saturday, October 12 from 1pm to 3pm at the Textile Center of Minnesota for this meeting. To get the most out of this meeting, you will need to bring the following materials:

• Bring two or more completed motifs of your choice. If you attended last month, bring the Wild Irish Rose that you completed plus one additional motif. If you were not able to attend, the Crochet Me site - Interweave Crochet - has a similar motif available as a free download. (If you don't have time to make motifs, you can still come and learn the Clones knot, you just won't be able to practice joining motifs.)
• Bring the same thread (or smaller) for joining motifs as you used for creating the motifs. See last month's preview for a discussion of thread and hook sizes.

And one final announcement: This is our first month at our new meeting location in the Textile Center. We are really excited! One change to our meeting format: we will now have Open Crochet in our meeting room from 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. So if you want to come early please do (and it's OK to bring a bag lunch to Open Crochet).

We hope to see you there!

Charity Projects Update: September 2013 Meetup

We came to Bruegger's, we drank coffee, we crocheted for charity!

And one of us (Carla) connected with an old friend. A friend who remembered a crochet tip that Carla had shared with her over 20 years ago - for straight edges, mark you end stitches with a safety pin!

There were only four of us but we had a great time.

• Carla make a couple of hats (the light blue items behind everything else) for the Harriet Tubman Center.
• Linda worked on a bear for the Mother Bear project - you can see his purple top and blue pants to the right.
• Julie brought several Warm-U America squares (at least six) that she'd already made.
• Julie and Max made spiral scrubbies to donate to the Prospect Park United Methodist Church holiday bazaar.

Crochet Twin Cities Fair Prize Winners (September 2013)

Our State Fair is a great State Fair—and our county fairs are pretty good, too!  Crochet Twin Cities members were active fair entrants this year and they have the ribbons to prove it.

The State Fair has many, many categories for entry; some categories have special criteria that if you knew about beforehand would greatly help your chances to win.  For example, they like thread work in white or ecru but not colors.  Filet crochet is preferred in size 20 thread, not size 10.  There are size restrictions on framed filet pieces, so measure your entry beforehand.  As for afghans, there are separate categories for afghans crocheted in one piece and those crocheted in strips.

That knight’s helmet winter hat featured in last month’s project gallery won Carla a 4^th place ribbon in the winter hat category.  She won second place with a filet crochet picture.

Jean won ribbons for two special stitch afghans; both were cables, but the blue one was done in strips while the ecru one was done in one piece.  Each won a 3rd place ribbon.

Jean also won a 2^nd place for her thread work sled for a starched figure. She also brought this swan, which won first prize in the starched figure category last year.

Linda has only been crocheting for a few months but that hasn’t stopped her from entering her work in the fair.  Her teddy bear won a 4^th place ribbon.











She won 3^rd place for this reversible afghan made from five lively colors of Red Heart Soft plus white for the background. And Ravelry's blog (which lands on the Ravelry home page) included her project in one of their "Eye Candy" articles! 

Jo entered her maroon and turquoise sweaters (featured in past project galleries) in both the Anoka County fair and Minnesota State Fair.  The maroon sweater won 1^st place at the State and was a sweepstakes winner at the county.  The turquoise sweater won 3^rd place at the State.

Peggy entered her items in the Washington County Fair.  She won ribbons for a felted hat, and a top-down sweater (both featured previously in our project gallery)

She also won a ribbon for her texting mitts (of which she has crocheted quite a few). Her large doily won her a 2nd place ribbon.

Project Gallery September 2013

Sometimes you have to make the best of a bad thing—in this case, a beat-up cane that Carol just can’t

get rid of (until after her next hip replacement).  So she did the only thing she could do, she yarn bombed it.  She used a DK weight super-wash turquoise wool to crochet a fitted cover for the handle.  When she reached the forward edge of the handle, she put the covering on the handle and then crocheted in decreases to keep the handle in place.  The cane shank covering was crocheted separately in the round, with a bright red acrylic added for (very sharp) contrast.  When the proper length was achieved, it was threaded onto the cane from the bottom up.  The top edge was stitched to the handle covering.  The bottom tail was used to cinch the cane covering below the adjustment nut.  A pompom, carry cord and fringe were added to gussy it up a little.

Lisa crocheted this Doris Chan pattern, Draped In Lace, from the Spring 2013issue of Crochet! Magazine.  The yarn used was Simply Soft Light,  which the pattern called for.  In making this sort of lacy garment, picking the right size can be a problem as the design relies on gravity and a slinky yarn to provide drape, and therefore fit.  After working on this project for awhile, Lisa realized she should have picked a smaller size.  Oh, the things you learn while you work through a pattern!  We think it looks terrific.

Julie brought in some scarf projects that we featured in previous galleries.  The scarves were made from Bernat Mosaic acrylic yarn, which has some really nice color ways.  Julie wanted to soften up the fabric a little, so she soaked them in a solution of water and hair conditioner.  This worked very well.  The conditioner coats the fibers, same as it coats your hair, and makes them more manageable.  If you have a scratchy wool project, you might give conditioner a try.

Maxine brought in a bunch of tawashis, spiral scrubbies crocheted out of Sugar and Cream cotton yarn.  You can get two tawashis out of one skein. The pattern is free on Ravelry; it was originally written in Japenese with a stitch chart but the Ravelry pattern has been translated to English plus includes a link to a youtube video that gives you step-by-step for making them.

Joan finished a shell to go with the silk and linen shawl which was featured in the project gallery a few months ago.  The pattern design, an original by Joan, alternates hdc and sc stitches, with the result being a highly textured but light fabric that is dense enough to be worn without a camisole.  The nice thing about a two-piece project like this is that the two pieces can be worn separately or together, giving you a lot of mileage for your money.  

Meeting Highlights: Irish Lace Crochet (Part 1)

We were very pleased this month to have several guests so made sure we started the meeting with introductions. We always welcome anyone with an interest in crochet whether they are beginners or experts and it was exciting to see so many new faces!

Next we moved on to some general announcements:

• October will be our first meeting in our new location, the Textile Center of Minnesota. Our meeting room rental is for four hours so you can arrive early and work on projects ("open crochet") from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM with the meeting from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM as now. Watch for more details as well as information about parking in the next meeting reminder.
• June is collecting donations for the Prospect Park United Methodist Church bazaar, which will be held Saturday, November 2. Some of the suggested items are novelty hats for adults and kids, tea-towel toppers, and scrubbers. If you have any items to donate, bring them to the next meeting and the officers will make sure that donations are turned over to June.
• There will be a charity meet-up on September 21 at the Bruegger's Southtown.
• Members are reminded that this is the season to organize a Crochet Meetup in your area. Gather a few friends to crochet in a public place. Take a stack of Crochet Twin Cities business cards to hand out to people who stop to admire your work.

Show and Tell included many ribbon winners from county and state fair crochet entries. Congratulations to everyone!

Jo and Maxine gave an orientation to making Irish or Clones Lace. Irish lace began in the 1800’s in
Ireland as a way for woman to earn money. Villages would create cooperative groups who would create lace of a distinctive design. This approach can be considered crochet freeform, and allows for creativity or not following patterns exactly for those who rebel against pattern details.

Jo and Max were both beginners at this when they started to plan the class. Max found Irish lace a mystery since she could not figure out how the put the mesh and motifs together. (It turns out that you make the motifs, then pin them to a paper pattern and create the mesh around them.) Jo showed everyone her tips for making buttonys, a type of "min-motif" used as a component in several of the traditional motifs.

After this short introduction, everyone set to work on creating a Wild Irish Rose motif, which is the motif in the photo above.  This month we will create motifs, then next month we will work on creating the mesh. Bring two or more completed motifs of your choice next month.

There is a great deal of information online about Irish Lace. One of the best resources is from Interweave Crochet, a five-part series on Irish Lace starting in Fall 2011. An electronic version is available on the  Interweave website for around $5. Many You-Tube and other resources are available online.

Charity Projects: September 21 Meetup Announcement

It's time again for our quarterly Charity Project Meetup and we're meeting in the south suburbs, at Bruegger's Southtown on Saturday, September 21 from 9am to noon. This meeting is an opportunity for you to practice crochet techniques and give back to the community at the same time.

You can drop in for any length of time during this slot - all we ask if that you use the time to work a community project. Our three main projects are listed below, but we're always open to suggestions about other service organizations that could use crocheted items.

• Warm Up America - make 7 x 9 blocks used to create blankets and afghans to homeless and needy persons nationwide
• Harriet Tubman - make hats, scarves, or mittens for those who seek refuge in this local shelter
• Mother Bear Project - make toys to comfort children affected by HIV/AIDS in developing countries

If you come, please bring the following items:

• A skein of smooth worsted weight yarn - a machine-washable material such as 100% acrylic is best
• A suitable sized hook (for most people this will be an I9 or J10)
• Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

For more information about Charity Project Meetups, see this post.

We hope to see you there!