Thursday, January 31, 2013

New Permissions!!

I recently received permission from Red Heart Yarn and Bernat Yarn companies to use their pictures and links. We are going to be able to post new ideas - many different ideas. Hurray!!

Red Heart Yarn has this cool purse pattern. They say it is easy to knit. I'll have to let you knitters tell me if that's true.
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/color-knit-bag

Color Knit Bag

For us crocheters, here's a Red Heart Yarn afghan great for this cold weather.
http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/ripple-strips-throw

Ripple Strips Throw

We'll look through some Bernat patterns next time. This is going to be fun!

Happy crafting,

Kathi

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Stashbusters - Granny Stripes and Granny Ripples

Now that you have all of your holiday gifts made, you probaby have some extra yarn lying around.  If you're like me, you have a PILE of yarn stuck in the corner just asking to be used up.

I keep an ice cream bucket or large pretzel jar to collect those tiny scraps of yarn that would otherwise drift to the bottom of the stash or unwind to make a huge tangled mess.  These small scraps make an excellent source when you want to put together a traditional granny square afghan or one of its variants like a hexagon granny.

Image of Hexagon Granny Afghan  Image of Eight Color Throw
Photos by Lion Brand Yarn

If your balls of leftover yarn are a little larger, you could use them up by crocheting a granny stripe or a granny ripple afghan.

Granny ripples are easy and look fancy.  You can use any combination of colors in any order.  You might want to organize the colors or just be random.  Both ways work beautifully.

Granny stripes are even easier.  You simply work the double-crochet clusters in a straight line.  You don't even have to count groups between peaks and valleys like you do with a ripple pattern. 

There are several good patterns for both types of afghans (and many others) on www.ravelry.com and www.crochetpatterncentral.com.

Happy stashbusting,

Kathi Linz