Toil and Trouble – a free knit pattern

I’ve been on a bit of a double sided knitting kick lately and I’m sharing two free patterns for making pot scrubbers.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble

W. Shakespeare in Macbeth

Penny Bracelet – a Free Crochet Pattern

I love old, tarnished pennies. If they are all battered and scratched up, stained with time then I want them. I like finding all the details and imperfections in them. I like them enough to break out the thread crochet and turn them into something wearable.

I know I’ve warned that thread crochet can be dangerous. It can make you go blind and drive you crazy. I still believe that with all my heart. But these are so quick and so easy that I only went a little bit crazy making them. I don’t think anyone noticed.

Weekly Rec – Patterns That Teach

Today I’ve got three patterns I’d like to show you. I like them because each author takes the time to explain or demonstrate exactly how the item was made. They take the time to teach the technique(s) a crafter needs to make it. Too many patterns (and their writers) make assumptions about our skills. But these don’t. And these patterns are free!

A New Way to Make a Butterfly – a free crochet pattern

My students sometimes give me homework. I know that it should be the other way around. I should be the one giving out assignments. I’ll need to work on that.

One of my assignments this week (yes I had more than one, lol) was to figure out how recreate this:

The Weekly Rec – Three Designers That Give it All Away

Happy Thursday! I’ve had a great week watching my blog blow up with visitors thanks to Lionbrand and their FaceBook post on my little yarn-cake-cozy pattern. It was my 22nd pattern. Does that sound like a lot? It’s not! Let me introduce you to three talented designers that between them have published 631 patterns (as of this writing) to raverly. And they are all free.

Today I’m recommending MMario, Tamara Kelly, and Frankie Brown. Ravelry just wouldn’t be the same without them.

Carry Your Cakes – a free knit pattern

I love cake cozies and I LOVE mosaic color work. So when lighting hit and I felt the urgent need to make a two-color mosaic cake cozie I did not even try to resist. Now I have two matching cozies made from leftover yarn from the stash.

Two might not be enough for me. We’ll have to see.

Ripplet!- A free knit pattern

Back 17 years a few months ago, I started spinning up a bag of fiber called Karaoke Rainbow. Its was mighty colorful stuff and its was colorful in the way that made your eyes hurt a little. But that’s okay. If you have the right pattern even color-riot-yarn can be fetching.

New Use for an Old Stitch – a free pattern

A few weeks ago I found a little blurb in  The Encyclopedia of Needlework  by Ms. Thérèse de Dillmont, published in 1884, about the “knotted stitch”. It’s a variation of the half double crochet (that’s half treble for my Uk’ers). It seems it was never much in use, not even in Ms. Dillmont’s day. Its sat around in the shadows, occasionally being rediscovered by a plucky and independent sort of hookers over the years.

Now I’ve re-discovered it too! And I like it. And I made up a pattern that I think is just perfect for this little nubbly stitch.

Get Your BILLOW! A new knit design

A KNIT Pattern That’s Free for the Next Three Days

One of my (many) WIP’s got finished. Its version # 3 of Billow, a knit cowl. I got the design loaded up and published to ravelry today. Its normally $1.99 but for my Roving Crafters, its free! At least, its free for the next three days.

Places to Go for Vintage Inspiration

So you are all in a vintage frame of mind this morning? Me too! It’s been just awesome to see the response to our Revive A Vintage Contest. To be honest I was a little worried that it would flop and no one would enter.* But now that I don’t have to stress over that, let’s  start a list of places that you can find some vintage to inspire your project.

Ladies’ Visiting Toilette (1895)