An Epiphany

You’ve heard me mention my neighbour who is new to crochet, I call her Neighbour Jenny, not Jenny from the Block or Crochet Jenny to which I’m often referred. She loves my designs but she doesn’t love my patterns. But I still like her.

 What she does love is Lyndall’s pattern writing.  My dear friend Lyndall gave her a simple sheet with instructions, no photos, and “neighbour Jenny” has made blanket after blanket using this stitch. She Loves it! I call it the  Lyndall’s stitch.  The stitch may have been around for a while, but not the way Lyndall has written it.  Neighbour Jenny asked me why can’t I write patterns like Lyndall. It got to thinking ………………. This is me thinking.

I had and epiphany this morning when looking at the amazing Wool and the Gang and looked at their instructions.  They are not in a traditional format and I liked it, really, really liked it. Coincidently their yarns have just recently appeared in Murwillumbah, of all places, and this is also where Lyndall lives. Coincidence, there is no such thing as a coincidence I’ve been told. So really this seems to be all about Lyndall, and it is. Lyndall is a teacher, but she was a student first and when she teaches she notices better than me where students may need extra help. So she offers advice about stitch markers and such to ease their pain. When I looked at Wool and the gang’s pattern and was as if Lyndall had been there to make it easier to read.

This makes sense if I tell you that I really dislike writing patterns and I really dislike reading patterns but  I love, love, love to teach. I realised that I don’t say in my patterns what I say when I’m teaching, that is the epiphany part. I have always written my patterns in a traditional way. I have been published internationally and I format my patterns the way that is traditionally recognised for each particular publisher. I did do it my way at the beginning, back in 1998. I had commas everywhere, and Jenny isms but as soon as you are paying for the printing the writing gets smaller and it all gets condensed.

Now I want to go back to the drawing board and I will take a leaf out of both Lyndall’s and Wool and the Gang’s book and try writing my instructions in steps explaining how I would if I was teaching you in class. And we are working on simple videos to help.  We being my new film crew( my husband whose previous work was  seen in “Shawlsational the video”) They won’t be high tech at all but hopefully they will be more like me in class.

I’m all buoyed up after receiving my class evaluations from Crochet Guild of America in July and I’m floating on a cloud, floating because my head is swollen perhaps. Thank you to those students who spoke their minds.

I’m going to see if I can use what I know to share my love of crochet taking everything Neighbour Jenny says on board and rethinking my instructions .Watch this space!!!

JKD yarn has got to go!!!!!!

I’ve always wanted to say STOCKTAKE SALE. I know ,weird huh? Now here is my chance.

What is happening in our house is that yarn has taken over my daughter’s bedroom, Anthea’s room, as it used to be known  is now called the YARN room.

Nothing wrong with that I hear you say.

 

 

 

 

 

My problem is that the longer I keep the yarn the more attached I am getting to it and I had it made especially  to sell it, apparently. 

And I  also promised her that I would have the yarn  gone before she needed it again.

And that hasn’t happened. So the yarn HAS TO GO.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So  how  this will work?

The deal is two for one. So for every ball of  JKD yarn you order from me for this month only, yes before June ends, or until stock runs out, you will get one exactly the same free.

This is for Fantasy, Embellish and Stonewash. You order 1 and I will send you 2 for the same price, if you order 4, I will send you 8. You get the picture.

My mother always said first in best dressed and this time she is right.  I have made lots and lots of lovely wearables in my yarns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have tons of patterns here  online.

If you go to the  search button on the home page and  type in Embellish  all the patterns using Embellish will come up. It is the  same for the other 2 yarns.

Anyway all  these yarns will work with any 8 ply pattern.

The only drawback in all this is for overseas customers. Shipping is the killer so the deal is great but up to 500gms(10 balls) prime yarn will cost $20 shipping. The only good news for this is that it is in Aussie$$$$$

So rip that band aid off quickly please and help me get the yarn GONE.

Katies Baby Blanket

Sometimes the new young Mums don’t like crochet things, or so I thought.

My Niece Katie is expecting a baby in 6 weeks, so I thought I’d ask if she wanted something crocheted. It’s a random thought as sometimes the new young Mums don’t like crochet things or so I thought. But 2 days before  asked I  her I noticed a young Mum who was camping close by who had a  a crocheted blanket on her 6 month old boy. When I asked her if she liked it she said she loved the fact that crochet is so breathable with its holes she was reassured that it if ended up covering her little boys face during the night he would be able to breathe. That is not something I would have thought of as a positive for a crocheted blanket. I love crochet in all its forms. The slow fashion aspect, the love in every stitch and having something made by my hands would have been on the top of the list though. But never the safety angle.  I don’t have time to make a blanket before Katie’s baby arrives as I’m designing things for the CGOA conference in USA , making samples for classes that I’m teaching,  and I’m emceeing for the opening Mardi Gras night so I have to make something in Purple green and gold to wear, and  I need to finish that thing I promised I’d make for Scheepjes yarns as I’m meeting up with them at the conference too.   So for now I’ll look at ideas that she has sent me, gather the yarn supplies and pick a design that is a TV watching project so that once the conference is over and I’m sitting on the plane back home  I can start. She wants a bright coloured blanket and her favourite colour is yellow, which is great as we don’t know whether she is having a boy or girl. What fun to go searching for ideas and choose the colours. So far she likes the idea of a chevron, otherwise known as a ripple blanket. And a bobble one or a checked one. She has been on Instagram I think so I’ll go and check this out. Apparently crocheted blankets are really trending. Yeah! Doing a happy dance. I’m off to explore more ideas

Churchmouse Yarns

There are so many times when I’ve received an email from Churchmouse Yarn( This is store on Bainbridge Island WA in  USA that one day I hope to visit)  only to see that we have very similar taste. They knit in Yummy yummy yarns  and I Crochet.

https://www.churchmouseyarns.com

Today in my inbox was  their  Modern Wrapper and it reminded me of the Amy cardigan. The Amy cardigan has a band around the outside edge which changes it slightly but the concept is similar. It is meant to be open at the front to show the garment underneath to give that longer line. Or  that taller feeling that I’m always hoping to achieve.

They also have the Two Point Cowl which is similar to my Collared Poncho which is an adaptation from my Collette which was an adaptation of my Diamante poncho back in the day. Supre (a clothing store here in OZ)  had a poncho that shape and I chased a girl down in the shopping centre to find out where she  bought it. I think I still have the original tucked away in a cupboard here.  I can’t bear to throw anything away. The shape was so  Modern and as it turns out so classic and timeless.

You will notice most of my garments are lacy  and open. When the sun is shining here in tropical Queensland  and the humidity is horrendous with temperature in the 90’s  , I wish I was somewhere like Bainbridge Island feeling   cool enough to put on a wrap.

Perhaps I live in the wrong place.???????????

Maybe Churchmouse would like to swap places too when it is in the middle of winter. I’ll have to ask them.

Once you hit on a great design you can keep on  making it in every yarn and in all other stitches . I need to work on my photos but gradually I’m getting better.

I’m better with a hook than a camera  for sure.  So if you knit where it is cold go visit Chruchmouse.

Front and Back Cover

Sometimes I feel like Robinson Crusoe. There is amazing talent here in Australia especially in the crochet world and I’m delighted to say there is so many talents emerging with the aid of the internet. But when I first travelled to USA on my own in 1999 to attend a Crochet Conference some people thought I was brave. As far as I was concerned it was a job that had to be done. If I was serious about Crochet I  just had to go. The internet was still dial up then and most homes didn’t even have computers.

So on one of these necessary adventures I had the pleasure and delight to room with the author of this book, Susan Huxley. Sadly Susan is no longer with us  but her legacy remains. Susan was a book packager as one of her many “hats”. She contacted Martingale Publishers and with the help of the CGOA committee they put together this book. I was the only Australian member of the Guild who was invited  to design for this book. And if that wasn’t a thrill enough,  2 out of the 3 designs were selected to be on the  Cover. This book was published in 2003. That was a day for much cheering from my island paradise.

Since then I have had my designs on many front pages. Here are a few dating from  2003 to Christmas 2017, some more sensational than others.