Interweave Crochet Fall 2015

I love everything about fall: the vibrant color, the crisp air, the crunch of leaves underfoot. The one thing I don’t love about autumn is that it seems so fleeting; the bare branches of winter are revealed too quickly. The projects in this issue are designed to help you extend the beauty of autumn well into those bare-branch days. Here you will find crispness and color in the Taking Sides story, which explores various crochet projects— from socks to sweaters—with side-to-side construction. In Lace Embrace, the Ananas Shawl captures the peekaboo of sky through fall’s ombré, and the Torchlight Shawl embodies the sparkle of morning dew on a carpet of newly fallen maple leaves. And, although school days are behind some of us, fall brings on that back-to-school feeling, calling for new…

2 Number of white buffalo we saw while shooting at The Barn at Evergreen Memorial Park in Evergreen, Colorado. They were shy. 218 Number of seed beads in the Torchlight Shawl by Jennifer Raymond (page 47). You hoist them on, so there’s no need to pre-string! 2 Number of elevators we used to shoot the Going Up story (page 24). 3 Number of new crochet books at shop.crochetme.com. See page 6. 2 Colorways for the Reversible Color Crochet Sudoku Afghan Kit. Warning: This can lead to a Sudoku addiction. Better stock up on pencils. shop.crochetme.com. 35+ Number of crochet delights created by Dora Ohrenstein available at shop.crochetme.com. See her latest design on page 27 and read about her adventures in Greece on page 66. {2015 fall palette}…

TOTE YOUR STUFF! If you’re looking for a new bag (and really, when aren’t we?), you can feel good about toting one from Ja Ja Ja Purses. The three sisters who founded this company (they call themselves 3 Green Sisters) scout for fabrics in all manner of places: interior decorating shops, attics, storage, vintage clothing shops, even a church in Kentucky, from which they salvaged velvet pew covers. They refashion these upcycled fabrics into sturdy bags with snap closures. The bag shown here, called the Beth bag, has a whole family of sisters, ranging from petite to plus size. All the bags are designed, cut, and sewn in Portland, Oregon, and they are fully guaranteed. Check out the full line of products—including table runners, wine holders, and more—at www.3greensisters.com.…

Edward’s Menagerie: Birds Kerry Lord, David & Charles In this follow-up to Edward’s Menagerie, Kerry Lord has conjured up forty diverse and quirky crochet birds, from Elvis the cockatoo with a karaoke addiction to Dora the narcoleptic wood pigeon. You can crochet a range of sizes by simply changing the gauge of yarn and size of hook. Whether you’re looking to crochet a duck for your sweetest niece, a peacock for your favorite teacher, or a blue-footed booby for a special someone, Edward’s Menagerie: Birds contains the perfect pattern to get you hooked. Once you’ve made one, you’ll want to stitch the whole flock! Paperback, 128 pages, $22.99, ISBN: 9781446306024 Colorful Crochet Lace: 22 Chic Garments and Accessories Mary Jane Hall, Interweave Crochet yourself a wardrobe’s worth of colorful lace designs from the pages of Colorful…

Kayt shared with us “a little insight into the madness,” as she put it: When I got the idea to try creating the ultrasound image of Emily, I was imagining creating a sort of graph-ghan with tiny stitches to produce the image. I started out looking for a huge range of shades in a single line of yarn and just couldn’t find what I wanted. In order to eliminate the “pixelated” effect of graphing the ultrasound, I worked multiple strands of laceweight yarn held together, changing out one or more strands as needed, each stitch, to create my color range. I used five shades (white, light gray, medium gray, dark gray, and black) to create 3,125 distinct shades. I also added a little rose pink for highlights and artistic effect. It was…

CRAFT YARN COUNCIL STRESS LEMONS When life hands you lemons . . . crochet! The Craft Yarn Council started the Stress Lemons project in 2015 during National Stress Awareness Month—that’s April, of course, what with Tax Day kerplunk in the middle of it. The campaign was a rousing success, so the CYC is keeping it going. On April 15, 2016, they’ll be handing out lemon stress balls on Wall Street. But they need help making enough stress balls to give out. This is where you come in. Visit the Craft Yarn Council’s site (www.craftyarncouncil.com) for a pattern and details. Extra bonus: Check out the video where Twinkie Chan, crocheted-food expert, walks you through every step of crocheting the lemon she designed (blog.twinkiechan.com/2015/04/06/free-crochet-pattern-and-video-lemon-stress-ball/). All of this came out of CYC’s campaign to heighten awareness…