Coming Soon: Tusculum Cowl

Coming Soon to the Crochet By Faye Pattern Line



Tusculum Cowl

Lorna's Laces Honor in Mineshaft with a G/7- 4.5mm hook

This yarn was the very last piece of mail we received in Cincinnati. I was so touched that Lorna's Laces thought of me, that I immediately started to wind it and crochet. Since we moved from the south to the north (even though Cincy is in the midwest it is quite southern geographically with a warm climate), I was inspired to start thinking about winter. Mineshaft reminded me of snow on the roads at twilight, and I thought it needed to be a cowl. Also, since we had a long move I knew I would only have room for granny motifs. Between stops, waiting in lines, at the playground; a motif at a time, I completed this cowl. It will make a great gift this holiday season for surprise guests. You know, like when your brother brings home a girlfriend and you want to welcome her or your son tells you the night before that everyone is giving presents to the teachers assistant. Anyone that you want to crochet for but only have a night or two.

I will be releasing it shortly. Till then you can see a bunch of pictures on flickr.

Columbia Scarf

Inspired by our former neighborhood in Cincinnati (Columbia Tusculum), this project takes the vibrant historic neighborhood and translates it into a stitch pattern. The lacy stitch pattern are modified pineapples which are everywhere in the neighborhood welcoming visitors. The bright colors match the wild pink and purple houses along our street. Pairing the fun color and lacy pattern, this is also a very versatile scarf that can be worn wrapped around your neck or shoulders all year long.


Columbia Scarf


Yarn:
Schaefer Yarn Company, Susan (CYCA #2), 100% mercerized pima cotton, 470yds/ 170g: Frida Kahlo, 1 hank (MC) Reynolds Yarn, Cool Cotton (CYCA #2), 90% Cotton, 10% Cool Steel, 114yds/ 50g: #0002 Putty, 2 balls (CC)

Hook:
G/7 (4.5mm) hk or hk needed to obtain gauge

Notions:
Blocking pins and spray bottle

Stitches Used:
ch Chain
sl st Slip Stitch
sc Single Crochet
hdc Half Double Crochet
dc Double Crochet
tr Treble Crochet
dtr Double Treble Crochet
ttr Triple Treble Crochet
pm place marker
yo yarn over
sk skip
t-ch turning chain

Finished size:
72” by 11” scarf

Gauge:
width of scarf (w/o edging) x 16 rows= 7” x 8 ¾”

More Photos at flickr.



4$, PDF Download Only


Fine Print: To use the PDF, you will need appropriate software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. By purchasing this pattern, you are granted a limited license to download the pdf file to a single personal computer and to print out a hard copy of the pattern, solely for personal non-commercial use.

The Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion Giveaway

Congratulations go to:

Lorena and Deb

Hope you both enjoy the books! Please send me an email with your shipping address and I will get you the books out soon.

Columbia Scarf Coming Soon

Coming Soon to Crochet By Faye Pattern Line:

Columbia Scarf

Lacy pineapple motif encircled in loopy chains. Make in one large hank or two contrasting colors.

More information soon once I finish the stitch diagrams. Till then here are a bunch of pictures. Not sure which style is my favorite way to wear it. Think I frightened my new neighbors while I was taking pictures. I guess it would be odd if you did not know me.

The Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion + Giveaway

Next up is not really a new design at all. It is the Lucky Clover Shawl from my pattern line.

The new part is where you can find it. It is now published along with a number of other beautiful shawls in The Crocheted Prayer Shawl Companion. The book is filled with lovely shawls, something for every skill level. I also contributed a little story about dealing with loss and how crochet can not only keep you warm but can fill your hands and your head to help you through difficult times.

There are shawls from very well known designer and some new ones. I like the mix of easy and difficult in the book. I should warn you, it does not have stitch diagrams.

My favorite shawl in the book is Nicky Epstein's Royal Leaf Shawl. You can see it below. I love shawls that button or close in some fashion.

Giveaway: The nice publishers gave me 2 copies to give away! Leave a comment (or send me an email) on your favorite thing to crochet as gifts by Thursday, Aug 26th at midnight. I'll pick 2 winners next Friday. Good Luck!

Inside Crochet: Climbing Vine Vest

This design is one of those that you fall in love with the yarn and know you need to do something with. I blogged a bit about Purelife before this past spring. It is one of those yarns that just surprises you. Most recycled mill end yarns just do not work well in crochet, the fabric become so stiff and it is way too hard to block out. But this yarn does not, mainly because of the silk and viscose in it.

Since I wanted to let the yarn shine, I let the vest be pretty straight forward. It is a simple block with a square neck line. I think the climbing vine stitch pattern is even a one row repeat (meaning you just crochet the same stitch pattern over and over- easy memorization) My favorite part is the collar and bottom edging. I love the wide solid border. It has a bit of texture too that adds those great lines in the fabric.

You can see the pattern over at Inside Crochet Issue 9. This issue has gone under a revamp, so it is worth a look to see the new layout.

Bijou Basin Ranch: Surrey Vest

This vest goes back in the time machine back to last spring. Bijou Basin was looking for an unique crochet design.

The Surrey Vest came from me wanting to do something that combined my love of granny squares and an easy wearing shawl like garment. I love shawls but always have the worst time figuring out how to keep them on while carrying anything (from a purse to a baby). This vest makes it easy to have the look of a shawl and the warmth of a vest. You can wear it as is as shown on the model. You can wear the collar pinned up for a slouchy cowl or wide open and cinched at the waist.

The vest uses Bijou Spun Tibetan Dream (85% yak/ 15% nylon blend). It is lovely to work with in crochet. The results are soft and earthy, very unique.

You can get the pattern at their website or at a LYS that sells Bijou Basin yarn. While at their site, check out some of the other patterns. The Fall 2010 line has some stunners in it, both knit and crocheted. Trust me some of the crocheted stuff will blow you away, you will have no idea they are actually crocheted!

Tooting (my own horn that is...)

Well in the midst of the crazy move and traveling this summer, I missed a number of new designs of mine that have been published. So instead of rushing through them all, I am going to post them one at a time in no real order because I think they are all worth a post of their own.

Please bear with me if they are all old news to you. They are still my babies to me.

Renaissance Moms

Have you seen the series of articles Petite Purls is doing on work-from-home moms?

It is called Renaissance Moms. I am hooked!

I love taking notes from other designer moms that work fulltime designing and fulltime caring for their little ones. I am all about it.

The latest one is on Stefanie Japel. I love Stefanie, her work is amazing and she is such an awesome mom.

Check it out if you have a minute.

Wait that's not how that is supposed to go...

One of the perks of living in PA now, is that over the weekend we were able to hop on over to my cousin's daughter's 1st birthday party. Her sweetie and CJ are only 5 weeks apart which is just so cool to be able to raise our girls together.

Well, before we left Rebecca hands me this huge present. I got all confused since we were there for A's bday not CJ's. Turns out she has been working behind the scenes (to me at least) on these incredible gifts. She crocheted babe not one but two amazing blankets.

She started with the smaller pumpkin one. It is super soft, I am guessing an alpaca blend in sportweight. She ran out of yarn too soon in her opinion, and instead of just giving that to use; She decided to crochet it again in worsted weight. So now we have 2 amazing throws! I am so touched. They are incredibly beautiful. I think they have almost every kind of stitch in them too, which will be great for CJ to cuddle with and rub her fingers in. She already carries around the pumpkin one around her room.

I unfortunately do not know what pattern she used. I am guessing a doily pattern then just used sportweight and worsted yarn instead of thread. If you know the pattern, let us know.

Speaking from a mom's point of view, if you need a baby present that will blow the mind of the parent. Converting a doily pattern in to a blanket, will surely do it.

Rabbit Hole

Well, as I am sure you can tell by now. Relocating cities (from Cincy to Pittsburgh), while still working full time and taking care of CJ and Faye, took up all my time. Moving cities definitely feels like we just fell down a rabbit hole and came out the other side. Nothing much has changed in terms of our schedule, just the view. (as demonstrated by babe who was "helping" mommy block a sweater.)

We spent a week in the new house without furniture. Just air mattresses, camp chairs, a bucket of toys, and a bit of yarn. All was great, except in the craze of packing all my hooks and tools went to storage and we brought christmas ornaments instead. Oops! But it gave me the opportunity to check out the local stores. I found that JoAnns, of all places, has my hooks I use (clover soft touch in 4.5mm). And I just treated myself to some new hooks and tools, calling it a welcome present to myself. Speaking of hooks, 4.5mm is my new fav size, but it stinks b/c not all brands of hooks carry it. It is the perfect size, in my opinion of course, for sportweight when you are a tight crocheter like I am.

We are getting settled in. Boxes are our furniture now. They take up every square inch of the floor to babe and Faye's dismay. The new house actually has a room that will be my studio, which is very exciting to have a room to myself. It is in the attic, which is a very cool feature of a lot of homes in Pittsburgh, but until the weather breaks I will be downstairs in front of the fans. It will be fantastic in the long PA winters though, esp with our pretty awesome view of downtown.

In the middle of the moving craze, I was working on a couple of projects. I finally got smart and asked for help on crocheting the majority of the projects. In my delusion, I thought I could crochet 2 adult winter projects in 2 weeks while packing and moving. Well, that was just silly. I asked help from both Diane and Ginny who are amazingly talented to do the heavy lifting for me. They both did awesome jobs, then I got to crochet the finishing touches. (Mainly b/c I wanted to have some fun too!)

Both are for the same magazine (of course I will tell you which when I can). One is a cabled project in merino wool. One of my favorites. The cabling came out great. I had nothing to do with that. It was all Diane. She is the BEST at cables. I want her to teach me her secrets because her cables beat the pants off of mine. The other project is a dreamy cluster stitch pattern project with my classic wide ribbing. I got about half way through the back when I called "uncle" and asked for Ginny's help. In a week, she crocheted everything but a few inches of the ribbing. She is awesome! So hard to keep crocheting in the exact same gauge right where another left off.

Both came out to be quite stunning, and the editors loved them. Which makes me happy, since I stressed so much over them.

Now that they are out the door, I have been working on the next book. Yup, I have another book or two up my sleeve. This one I am pretty jazzed about. I can't tell you the premise, but I can tell you that it will have a few of my designs and a lot of other great designers. I love the new title of project editor, which is technically my position on the book. I got to decide on the concept; pick out the projects and yarn; then I will be drawing the stitch diagrams, and writing all the fun tips and such in the book. I am so excited it is silly. I just have LOVED the collaboration between the designers. It is so awesome to get to talk crochet and design everyday. I will fill you in as I can, but since it is in the early days that is all I can tell you.

But speaking of books, Baby Blueprint is in my hot little hands right now! The galley looks amazing! Interweave really did a great job. I am reading line by line every number and symbol to double check that it is as correct as it can be before they go to press. I really hope that you guys like it. I think the projects are great, and I can't wait to share them with you.

Well, speaking of editing. I better get at it before babe wakes up from her nap and I get no more time. Deadline for the edits are tomorrow, so I better hop!