Did any of my lovely readers receive the Inside Crochet magazine newsletter today? Did you spot the Complete Guide To Crochet Volume 5 bookazine? I did…. because I recognised my Iznik Cushion on the front cover! Yeah baby!
The pattern was initially published in issue 68 (read all about it here), but now it has also been republished as one of the 50 patterns in the bookazine (bigger than a magazine but not quite a book) Complete Guide To Crochet Volume 5. So chuffed!
The Complete Guide to Crochet: Volume 5 is now available for pre-order for £9.99. It is the perfect Christmas gift for crafters and features a wide range of projects, from childrenswear to homewares, fashion garments and smaller accessories. Order by 30 November 2015 with voucher code VOLUME5 and save £1 (plus free P+P for UK residents)!
Other people have goals like climbing Mount Everest, seeing the world or being CEO of a big company. Me? I wanted to have a pattern published in a UK crochet magazine and today I can tell you that I achieved my goal. Consider Everest climbed, the world seen and business cards printed – issue 68 of Inside Crochet magazine holds a pattern which I designed: the Iznik crochet cushion.
It was during a visit in June 2014 to the V&A Museum that I first saw the pottery made in the Turkish town, Iznik, and the geometric & floral designs of the tiles in the Turkish and other Islamic mosques. I fell in love with the dark blue, turquoise, sage green and highlights of red used by the craftsmen more then 500 years ago. Ever since that visit to the V&A Museum I wanted to make something that would at least incorporate the four main colours of Iznik pottery, but ideally also be geometric and/or floral.
Iznik tiles
Tile detail. Turkey 1580. Exhibited at the V&A Museum, London
Mihrab in Rüstem Pasha Mosque. Photo credit: DSC04142 Istanbul – R stem Pasha camii – Foto G. Dall’Orto 26-5-2006.
When I received the Inside Crochet email for pattern submissions and saw that issue 68 was themed around adventure and travel I knew this was the perfect opportunity to crochet that Iznik inspired piece – and achieve my goal of having a pattern published in an UK magazine.
I designed the cushion so that the white joins between the squares could represent the tile grout and by crocheting squares, but dividing them into two coloured triangles, I reference the tile inspiration and create an intricate geometric design all one. In Iznik pottery the main colours are turquoise and dark blue. Sage green was introduced later and red even later still so my colour scheme reflects this.
I imagined that my red beads are like tiny flowers which sparkle when the sun rays catch them. The red glass beads are my favourite part of the cushion. I liked them so much I even used them for the back.
In the pattern I describe how to make the BDC (beaded double crochet) stitch and how to thread your seed beads onto the yarn before you start crocheting. In fact, Nicky Hale also designed a cushion for this issue using beads (it’s the beautifully bright zig zag bolster next to my cushion in the photo above) and the editors thought it a good idea for her pattern to have a reference to my pattern for the instructions on how to thread seed beads onto yarn.
Still not sure how to thread seed beads onto yarn? Fear not. As part of the iBook I wrote, Crochet Pretty, I made a video to show my readers exactly how to thread those seed beads which I will share with you now.
Here is the video that shows you exactly how to thread seed beads onto yarn:
See, it’s very easy. Once you’ve crocheted with beads you’re not going to want to stop. It’s such a fun and effective way of adding a little something special to your work.
Inside Crochet issue 68 will be available in stores from 30 July and as a digital download here.
If you decide to make the Iznik cushion, I would love to hear from you! Inside Crochet has listed the pattern on Ravelry so you can link your project. Just follow this link to the Ravelry project page.
The latest issue of I Like Crochet electronic magazine is out now and it’s all about Summer. It’s difficult to imagine sunshine and warm weather when the temperature for the first official day of Spring in the UK was a mere 12 degrees, with heavy rain predicted for the Bank Holiday on Monday! Come rain, clouds or icy winds, the June issue with the bright colours and Summer themed designs, like the cute tote bag on the cover, is bound to get you in a Summer mood – or at least in the mood to bake a lemon meringue tart. A taste of Summer is just as good as the heat of Summer, right?
I’m also very happy to say that my Peppy Blossom Bunting is in this issue, helping you welcome in Summer.
The bunting is very colourful and not your average bunting – with the bright flower centre it just screams happiness.
Bunting is a great way to decorate any space, and this Peppy Blossom Bunting is the easiest way to add a vivid pop of color to your décor. Perfect for any summer party or gathering, you can easily add more or less flags to create just the size you’re after.
I love the styling of the bunting with the glass containers of colourful sweets.
Just like in the April issue when my clutch bags were used as the introductory page for the Springtime Accessories, the Preppy Blossom Bunting is the introductory photo for all the Household Trinkets in the table of contents! What a great compliment!
Do you see all the great patterns in this issue? It’s chock full! Two of my favourite patterns are the Deep Cut Moss Vest and the Vivid Coral Reef Top. The Deep Cut Moss Vest is for the advanced crocheter and uses Tunisian crochet and the Vivid Coral Reef Top is nice and easy, but so striking.
These patterns, and 29 others are available to subscribersonly. A subscription to I Like Crochet include six issues annually, with each issue delivering at least 30 projects and 7 tutorials, for a total of 190 projects and 42 tutorials during the year. Subscription is available for website only, tablet only or for the greatest value and convenience, combine website access to with a tablet magazine subscription.
It’s March, which means Spring for us in the Northern Hemisphere. Yeah! Everywhere I’m seeing daffodils, the sky is blue and the days are noticeably longer. Triple Yeah! The Spring issue of the electronic magazine, I Like Crochet is also available for download today. Don’t you just love the very Spring-y cover of the April 2015 issue? There are more than 30 patterns in this issue. Check out the Table of Contents here. I’m especially excited to tell you about this month’s I Like Crochet e-magazine because my Vintage Granny clutch bags appear in this issue! The bags were also chosen to be the introductory photo for all the Spring Accessories! I’m so happy!!! Two of the other projects in this issue that I really like are the Retro Flower Cushion by Jo Bodley and Easy Homemade Organizers by Pauline Fitzpatrick. The organizers are definitely on my to do list! I especially love the grey one. Jo’s cushion is truly something different. It’s lovely to see a crochet cushion this artsy and unique.
Retro Flower Cushion
Easy Homemade Organizers
These patterns, and 27 more, are available to subscribers only. A subscription to I Like Crochet include six issues annually, with each issue delivering 30 projects and 7 tutorials, for a total of 190 projects and 42 tutorials during the year. Subscription is available for website only, tablet only or for the greatest value and convenience, combine website access to with a tablet magazine subscription.
I’m very grateful to I Like Crochet for publishing my clutch bag patterns. It’s a great electronic magazine with beautiful photography, which I’m proud to be associated with. If you have bought this issue, and especially if you make one of my Vintage Granny clutches, I’d love to hear from you!
I am so happy to see my hard work mentioned on the pages of a magazine. That’s huge! Thank you very much Inside Crochet and Simply Crochet.
Unfortunately, since the new EU VAT changes, my book is no longer available in EU iTunes stores. Crochet fans in the UK, USA and Asia Pacific can still purchase the book here.
If you’ve bought Crochet Pretty, I would love to hear your thoughts on the patterns, and interactiveness of the book.
I have some very exciting news to share with you today. Something that I’ve had to keep under wraps for months and months. It’s been so hard not to shout it from the rooftops, but now I can:
I am a published crochet pattern designer with a pattern in a magazine! Whoo-hoo!!!!
My very first published pattern is the Festive Lace Doily in the December 2014 issue of I Like Crochet magazine.
I Like Crochet is a bi-monthly interactive digital magazine optimized for tablets and feature top-rated projects, gorgeous photography, step-by-step instructions, patterns, charts, video and more. Each issue has 30 projects and 7 tutorials. You can buy individual issues for $6.99 or subscribe to any tablet edition on the website, or use your iPad to subscribe in the Apple App Store. It’s a great magazine – and I’m not just saying this because I design crochet patterns for them!
I’m so grateful to finally see one of my designs in a crochet magazine. I’ve worked hard to get to this point in my crochet career and it feels good!
The Crochet For Kidneys Research UK morning appeared in Friday’s issue of the Surrey Advertiser! Stick with me ladies. I’ll make you famous.
If you click on the picture, it will appear bigger.
Kitty wrote a really lovely article and Jake took the great photos. It was Jake who suggested John and I sit at the table with the Vinni’s Colours cotton yarn, so now you can see how it looks in real life. Speaking of Vinni’s Colours, I have fourteen shades on its way to me from South Africa. I can’t wait to show it to you and to start playing with it. Can you imagine the colour combination possibilities!? Hours of fun I tell you.
Susie Morgan of the About Thames Ditton magazine interviewed John and I about yarnbombing and kidneys. It’s a crazy combination of topics I know, but that’s what makes us tick. I approached Susie to ask her to say something on the Facebook page of About Thames Ditton about the Crochet Event of 9 November. She then suggested an interview in stead! I couldn’t believe my luck! About Thames Ditton is delivered to 5,700 homes which is a much bigger reach than their Facebook page. Without this interview there’s no way that I could have reached even half this amount of people. John and I used the opportunity to say a bit about my yarnbombing, promote the event of 9 November and John talked a about his kidney donation experience. Thank you so much Susie for the opportunity!
You can read the interview by clicking on the photo below. It will open as a PDF document. You can also go the About Thames Ditton homepage to read the whole magazine in electronic format.
In less than a month it will be the Crochet for Kidney Research UK day! (In precisely 29 days, 23 hours and 24 minutes. Not that I’m counting or anything.) It’s been busy couple of weeks for me. I’ve been:
doing a lot blogging and tweeting about this event,
trying to get people to attend,
trying to get people to send crocheted squares,
finding sponsors for raffle prizes and quiz prizes (On top of the yarn by The Crochet Chain, books by Cico Books and quiz prizes by Black Sheep Wools, Stylecraft Yarn has donated two packs of yarn!! More info to follow soon.)
thinking of the table decorations*,
wondering if I should ask a local bakery to bake vanilla cupcakes with purple icing,
chatting with Jane about her hour-long demonstration,
distributing flyers in the Thames Ditton area. I put one up at the train station, Jane put one up at Creative Quilting and Jenny of Thames Ditton Crafters have the rest of the flyers with her. She will hand them out during Saturday’s craft sale in the Thames Ditton library. Jenny also has 4 balls of white and 4 of each shade of purple Vinni’s Colours hand painted cotton yarn which she will sell on my behalf at the Craft Sale.** Just like in my Etsy shop, 25p from each ball sold goes to Kidney Research UK. Jenny, if you’re reading this thanks again for all your help!
All of this without knowing how many people will be attending and kinda forgetting that I will need to interact with everyone and “host” the event. For real! It’s not just words on paper or a to do list, it’s really going to happen! 9 November I will wake up and know “this is the day that all the list making has been for”. It’s a bit scary, but my mind is (thankfully) not allowing me to get too caught up in the big picture. Brain is breaking everything down into manageable task which is much kinder on the stress levels. Thank you Brain, you’re ace! That, or you’re just blissfully ignorant about the event.
If anyone from Thames Ditton area is reading this, it would be really great if you could use this form to tell me that you will be there. You don’t need to know how to crochet, or indeed do any crocheting at all. If you bring your “entry fee” of something baked, you can buy a slice of someone else’s something baked, buy tea or coffee, buy raffle tickets, try your luck in the crochet quiz, and listen to John and Pieter talk.
**I can’t attend the Craft Sale in person as John and I will be in sunny Spain! *I’m taking purple and white yarn with me to make table decorations, and pink yarn that Stylecraft Yarn sent me, to make things for Breast Cancer Awareness.
In the latest issue of Simply Crochet magazine, issue 7, there is an article on surface crochet. Guess who’s crochet clock was used as one of the examples for what can be done with surface crochet? Mine!!! Yeeeeeha!
I’m very happy to have a mention in Simply Crochet, the go-to magazine in the UK for all things crochet. I really love Simply Crochet magazine. Not because they noticed my crochet clocks, but for producing a monthly magazine that is informative, stimulating and filled with pages and pages of crochet. The free gifts with every issue is great too. If you haven’t subscribed yet, there is a link on the right of the blog. There’s just something about getting home in the evening after a long day at the dull & dreary office, only to find the postman has delivered a crochet magazine right to your door. I know I can buy the magazine in the shop, but why wait a week and miss out on a suprise in the mail?
By the way, the crochet clock with surface crochet numbers is still for sale. You can find it here.
Ideas Magazine, the South African craft and lifestyle magazine, mentioned me in their June 2013 issue! I had no idea! Pun intended. (Ideas also listed this blog as one of their 14 favourite blogs & websites in March 2012.)
This time my name appears because I helped out Christelle of Haak-en-Stekie to set up the Afrikaans crochet page (now group) Ons Hekel (meaning We Crochet) on Facebook in 2011. You can read the whole story in this four page article. Crochet is HUGE in South Africa, and I think that’s due, in no small part, to the hard work of Christelle and OnsHekel.
Well done Christelle! If I am ever in Gauteng, I would love to meet you and the other Craft Share girls in person. It seems wrong that magazines are doing articles about us and we have never met, but that’s the power of crochet. Yarn and hook will bind us together.