Thursday, April 30, 2015

Using Variegated Yarn: May 9 meeting preview

Who doesn't love a beautiful variegated yarn like these? They are so lovely and enticing on the ball or hank - and there are so many different types! But sometimes the result you had in mind with them is not the result you end up with.

At this month's meeting, you'll get a chance to learn tips and tricks for using these wonderful yarns plus an opportunity to try your hand at crocheting with a variety of variegates.

The meeting will be Saturday, May 9 at the Textile Center of Minnesota, 3000 University Ave SE, with the following schedule:
  • 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Open Crochet
  • 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM - Announcements and Show n Tell
  • 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM - Crochet Education
To get the most out of this meeting you'll need to bring:
  • One or two small balls (10 - 15 yards) of variegated yarn of any weight from your stash. We'll have some extra yarn for anybody who doesn't have appropriate yarns (or forgets) but the idea is to have lots of different types of variegated yarns to sample.
  • A variety of hook sizes
  • Any examples of crochet projects that use variegated yarn. All examples are welcome - the good, the bad, and the downright ugly!

If you're new to Crochet Twin Cities, you can join us by downloading our membership form and bringing the amount shown on the form to the meeting or you can pay the non-member fee of $5 for attending one meeting.

We hope you can join us!

Thursday, April 23, 2015

What's on your hook? Joy's scarf

Joy brought this lovely scarf to a recent meetup and shared her work-in-progress with us.

That's a beautiful scarf. What kind of yarn are you using?
The yarn is a sock yarn - I don't have the ball-band with me so I can't tell you the brand - but the fiber content is a washable wool and it feels like it has a small amount of nylon in it. I found the yarn at a shop in South Dakota and I loved the color so bought it to make something for myself.



Sock yarn? Isn't that made just for socks?
Absolutely not! Sock yarn is a wonderful weight for crocheted accessories and garments. I had used this pattern before in lace-weight yarn, but wanted something a little heavier so it's working out great.


What is the pattern and where did you find it?
The pattern is from the book Crochet One-Skein Wonders. If you're not familiar with this book, it's a collection of patterns from many designers so each one is unique. All patterns can be made with one skein of yarn and the patterns are grouped by yarn weight. The scarf pattern I'm using is in the lace section and it's called Bristleberry Scarf; the designer is Mike Horwath. The pattern is a six-row repeat that's easy to "read" and remember - so it's the perfect project to bring to a meetup.





Is there anything else you can tell us about this project that would help other crocheters?
Two things. First, when you're making items like scarves or shawls don't be afraid to experiment with hook size. The pattern calls for a size G hook but I like the drape and weight of this yarn with a size F hook so that's what I'm using. Second, when you're working with a lacy pattern, remember that you'll need to block the item when you're finished to get it to look its best. You can approximate the blocked effect by stretching it out as I'm doing in this picture so be sure to check early on in the pattern to see if you'll like the finished look.

Thanks for the tips Joy, can't wait to see the finished scarf!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

4th Saturday Meetup April 25

Wowzers, April has flown and that means that meetup time is just around the corner! This time, we're trying a new spot, the Barnes & Noble Cafe in Eden Prairie Mall (it's at the west end of the mall, lower level). We'll be there at 9 AM when the store opens until noon.

If you're new to the group, meetups are our informal monthly gathering where crochet, chat, and have coffee or a bit to eat. There is no fee for coming to a meetup and you can drop by for the whole time or just a few minutes, whatever your schedule allows.

We hope you can join us!

Friday, April 10, 2015

Roving Crochet Reporter: Volunteering at Textile Center's Garage Sale

In case you haven't heard, Saturday April 11 2015 is the 15th annual Textile Center Garage Sale, the largest event of its kind. The event takes numerous advance hours of preparation and planning by the Textile Center staff as well as an army of additional volunteers in the final days. One of our Crochet Twin Cities members, Maxine, volunteered last year (and caught the Garage Sale volunteer fever) so this year we asked her to bring along her notebook and camera and give us a behind-the-scenes look.

Maxine, the Textile Garage Sale sounds like a big crazy event. What in the world made you volunteer to be part of it?
Last year, I decided to destash my yarn and fabric collections and figured if I took the day off from work that it would force me to get organized, which it did - I donated about ten boxes and volunteered one day last year. This year, I only donated a box or two - but liked the volunteering part so much I signed up for two days.

The volunteer sign-up sheets show a lot of different jobs. What was your job?
I volunteered this year and last year in the book and magazine area. Last year, I mostly worked with books - sorting books by category. All the pricing is done by one or two experienced volunteers. They look up the price of the used book online at a well-know site and then price it even less than what they find. So you can get some great deals.

This year, I mostly worked with magazines. It's absolutely incredible how many magazines are for sale - at the end of Day 2 (Friday) we estimated by the number in a box and the number of boxes and there are over 9,000 for sale. Magazines and pamphlets are priced at 10 for $1.00 and since the Textile Garage Sale overall deals in whole dollars only (no coins), you can actually buy 1 for $1.00 or 10 for $1.00.


We understand you made a very special $1.00 purchase on Thursday during Day 1. Why don't you tell us about it?
Tell you about it, ask anybody in the warehouse they all heard me scream "I found it" when I realized what magazine I had in my hand! One of the reasons I volunteer in books and magazines is that I've been looking off and on for a very specific crochet / knitting magazine from the 70's with an afghan pattern that I started way back then and never completed. Last year I looked through lots of boxes during shopping time at the end of my shift but didn't find it so I wasn't really very hopeful of finding it this year either.

On Thursday I found myself working mostly in magazines and more magazines and I was getting pretty sick of magazines and then the runners brought in some boxes that I opened up that were all vintage 70s. I couldn't quite remember the title - lots of general needlework magazines back then - but I was seeing magazines I knew I'd seen before. I mistakenly remembered the afghan being on the cover but then I recognized the picture of the yellow cape-collar blouse on a magazine and saw that the instruction section was printed on light green mat paper and then read the cover bullet "elegant country garden afghan to crochet" and started excitedly thumbing through it and bingo, hit the jackpot! That's when I started screaming, I was so happy.

Wow, that does sound like a special find! You mentioned shopping at the end of your shift. Do all volunteers get to do that?
Yes, that's one of the perks of volunteering. It's nice to to have a first look at everything. I only bought a few other things but I'll walk you through some of the stuff that you might find and some other things that really tempted me!


First thing you might be interested in is yarn. The volunteers who work in yarn need to know how to identify the fiber content so that it can be categorized. They split the yarns into broad categories - crochet cotton, acrylic, wool, cone yarn - as well as a category for specialty yarns (including those frilly fuzzy kinds), another for rug yarn - and maybe a few other categories I can't remember.

Many of our Crochet Twin Cities members are proficient in multiple crafts and spinning is one craft that is really relaxing for a lot of people. There are shelves full of roving available - I don't understand enough about the process to know whether it's all at the same prep stage but it all looked like it would make wonderful yarn.




One of my favorite areas is the UFO section - unfinished objects. I had to really work hard at keeping my shopping bag closed when I walked through this area. Some of the projects are just a little bit unfinished and some are a lot unfinished. Here's a crocheted afghan that looks almost complete except for weaving in the ends.



And here's a crochet bedspread that looks like more work - but will be quite spectacular when completed. It's the bag on the left, cream colored. You can see other UFOs are around it.





I have to admit, though, that the UFO that really caught my eye is this one - a macrame lampshade. I think finding my vintage magazine from 1976 made me nostalgic - because nothing says the 70s quite like macrame.


There are lots of other shopping areas too - fabrics, patterns, even big-ticket items like sewing machines and looms that are offered up as silent auction items. It's a great event and I hope lots of you can check it out!

One last question: Do you plan to volunteer next year?
Absolutely! It's a fun way to support the Textile Center.

Thanks Maxine - and be sure and let us know when you complete that afghan!

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Roving Crochet Reporter: Crochet Coral Reef

The Crochet Coral Reef, international project of the Institute for Figuring, has partnered with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Mississippi Watershed Management Project to create a Minneapolis satellite coral reef. The finished Minneapolis reef will go on display at the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization in September 2015. Until the end of July, community open crochet circles are being held at the MIA and Mississippi Watershed Management Organization to encourage people to explore this intersection of math and art. Two of our Crochet Twin Cities (CTC) members recently attended one of the crochet circle meetings - here is Lisa's recap of the event.

I went to an open crochet circles at the Minneapolis Institute of Art on Saturday, March 28, 2015. There were about 40 people there, of all ages and crochet abilities. CTC member Judith was also there.

The project coordinator was there with several plastic tubs of yarn—mostly synthetic yarns, bright colors and some novelty yarns. She also had a container of crochet hooks, the pattern handout and a handout with information about turning in finished projects. The crocheters sat in a large circle around the area with supplies. Many people had come in small groups and sat and talked while they worked. Others walked around to see what people were making. Everyone was very friendly, and it was easy to strike up a conversation with someone nearby.

The group met in the Target wing first floor atrium where a small, white section of the Institute For Figuring coral reef is displayed in an enclosed case. Photos are not allowed. The crochet on this section is very delicate, including lace sections and what look like folded doilies decorating some of the tubular pieces. The white coral reefs represent the bleached or dead coral, and is often displayed with a more colorful section to emphasize environmental damage. (For a gallery of coral reef pictures, see http://crochetcoralreef.org/coral-reef-gallery.php)

Some people were new to crochet and needed some help following the patterns. The pattern sheet has very general instructions since these creations are the ultimate “free form” crochet. There is really no way to make a “coral” wrong. Each creation is unique. One woman near me had a bag full of sea creatures that she had already made; she was working on a 3-armed coral piece which she had stuffed so it stood upright. There were pods on the ends of the coral arms, and she was deciding how to decorate those. A Minneapolis Institute of Arts staff member stopped by to crochet on her turquoise pseudopod during her lunch break.

Some of the people at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts crochet circle had also been to an open crochet circle at the Mississippi Watershed Management facility. They said it was a beautiful new building, definitely worth visiting.

There is no charge for attending one of the crochet circles and there are several more dates for from now through July - some at the Minneapolis Institute of Art  and some at the Mississippi Watershed Management facility. The CTC fifth Saturday event in May (Saturday May 30) will be at the Minneapolis Institute of Art crochet circle. For a complete list of dates and times for all the crochet circles, see http://new.artsmia.org/discover/community-arts. This page also includes a link to the submission form that you need to enclose with any contributions plus explains where to drop off contributions. We will have the form available at Crochet Twin Cities meetings through July and will help coordinate drop-offs from members.

If you are attending a circle at the MIA, they do ask for an RSVP (so they know approximately how many crocheters are attending) -  call 612-870-6323 (press 0) or visit https://tickets.artsmia.org/. (Tickets are not required, though, so if you don't get a ticket in advance, come anyway!) Be aware that you do need to pay for parking for any events at MIA.

Thanks Lisa, this really does sound like a fun and unique event. And thanks for sharing pictures of the corals you have made!