This trendy new magazine is directed at urban crocheters – and, I think, a decidedly young, hip community.  Nonetheless, this middle aged woman (ME!) is looking forward to seeing what the publishers have in store for us.

While I truly love having a magazine or book in my hands to leaf through again and again, it’s clear that our media is changing.  There may always be a place for printed materials (Oh, I SOOO hope there is), the shape and method of artful expression is evolving.  Freeing us of the bonds of air mail and customs, online books and magazines will offer a smorgasbord of global crochet and other arts and disciplines – everything from religion to Risk (the board game) will be available to anyone with a computer and is never closed.  Like it or not, it’s coming our way.

So, here are some sites you might want to check out:

ARNie at chezcrochet has this for you:

http://www.chezcrochet.com/page2.html

There are stitch tutorials for a bunch of things you’ll want to try out and links to sites with free patterns to practice on real projects.

There are free patterns for a scarf and a shawl at this site:

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/na_other/article/0,,DIY_14142_5272557,00.html

Kim Guzman, always one of my favorite resources, has a free tunisian hat pattern and this absolutely lovely afghan that can’t be reproduced in any other form of crochet.  Kim’s patterns are well written and quite inexpensive.

http://www.kimanedesigns.net/products/Nautical_Waves_Afghan.html

And, what about this great sweater from Dora Ohrenstein?  It’s available as a free pattern:

http://www.crochetinsider.com/rainbowjacket.html

Don’t forget one of the best resources online for crocheters – http://crochetpatterncentral.com/search.php

This link will take you to the page containing lots of free tunisian patterns.  Should be something there for everyone!

I am happy to announce that I’ve found a site that has most of our crochet needs – minus the yarn.  This has two advantages:

1. spend less $$ overall with no yarn temptation

2. less time spent looking for crochet supplies with one stop shopping.

So, if you need a ball winder, yarn swift, slipper grippers, snag pullers, sweater shavers, ‘made by’ labels, support gloves, and my top three favorites:

coiless safety pins – for stitch markers

these ‘alligator clips’ they foolishly call ‘knit clips’

and these wonderful blocking wires that come in two sizes – larger and a smaller set for doilies.

Where?

http://www.theleisureboutique.com/

The site is well organized and attractive with its uncluttered appearance.  It ranks up there with http://www.lacis.com/ IMO.  Check it out!

I was researching some online media communications methods when I ran across this:

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/7/a0b/a9a

This crocheter truly thinks of herself as a Crochet Professional with a Capital ‘C’.  There may be a message here for the rest of us – especially those who seek to sell their designs, publish their patterns, and get themselves in the crochet spotlight.

Here’s a sample of Mr. Funky’s work:

While I like this scarf, I do not find it exceptional.  But, this artist is making a living (it appears) with crochet.  What’s the difference between Ogawa and the rest of us who love crochet?  I read often of people asking if and how one can ‘make a living’ with crochet.  Maybe we just need to get the proper connections.

While researching a completely unrelated topic, I ran across this (new to me) book site, Google Book Search.  I am very impressed with the list of crochet books (699) and the previews that are available.  Not all books are previewed and some have more extensive previews available than others.  Since I have recently held Margaret Huber’s “Plus Sized Crochet” in my hands, I chose it to use as the way to judge the usefulness of this site.

Margaret is an inventive and reliable crochet designer.  Her designs are always attractive, she has a wide variety of designs in print, and I know I can count on her to produce a good book.  And, if you trust what you read on the internet, many people are looking for good plus sized crochet designs.  Margaret’s book is a good addition to the crochet garment library.

The Google Book Search site has a great picture of the cover of this book and a tempting look at the inside of the book to get a good sense of what you’ll be buying.  There are good pictures of finished garments, a good sampling of text, complete measurement charts to be sure you’ll fit in her sizes, and even a lengthy excerpt of a pattern to assure you’ll understand the manner in which her patterns are written.  What a useful tool!

This site also has links to sites where the book is available for purchase, book prices, and a link to reviews.

I hope more books will be available for preview on this site.  I have bookmarked the site and plan on using it routinely for more information about crochet books.

http://www.skymagenta.com/

While I’m not a huge sushi fan, this stuff does look good enough to eat!  There’s lots more crocheted food at this site.  Check it out!  No calories involved – except those expended crocheting.

Many of us know the name

Robyn Chachula

as a luminary in the crochet world. What I didn’t know about her is that she’s a structural engineer. In my own long and varied career path (or simply job history), I worked for seven years in the world of forensic engineering (accident investigation). One of our team is a structural engineer. She is also a fantastic seamstress. She told me once that she would have preferred a career in fashion design, but engineering paid better and used the same skills! That was news to me – but it makes a great deal of sense.

What an advantage a crochet designer has when s/he is well versed in the world of shapes, geometry, and structure. As my engineering colleague explained it, structures are all the same when you consider how they are constructed and with what materials. So, Chachula brings her engineering background into the world of crochet, emphasizing things like shape, drape, and structural context to create eye-catching designs. Her latest book is entitled ‘Blueprint Crochet’. Certainly sounds like a combination of engineering and yarn, doesn’t it?

This book is full of designs that will appeal especially to twenty something crocheters, but there is lots of information in the book that will be of use to all crocheters, regardless of age.  If you want a good guide for learning how to read patterns, symbols, and diagrams, this book will be perfect for you.  The explanation for ‘Understanding Granny Square Diagrams’ alone is probably worth the price of the book.  Chachula expands on this diagram reading exercise to show us how to better understand joining squares and stitch pattern diagrams.  The book’s graphics are clear, concise, and easy to follow and accompany every pattern.

As for patterns, the book has a little bit of a lot of things.  Building on the fairly simple (but sometimes confounding granny square), Chachula has designed several accessories like a scarf and cuff that give plenty of practice to perfect the techniques demonstrated in the beginning of the book.  There are a variety of more complex motif designs – sweaters, boleros, belts and the marvelously tempting ‘Isabella Wrap’.  This is a must do for me.  Isabella here I come!!  The ‘Paige Sweetheart Top’ is another design I find particularly attractive.

Other designs, sweaters, a dress, and a jacket, build on stitch patterns rather than motifs.  The ‘Sarah Bee Dress’ shown in a cheery yellow color is worked from the top down in a single piece.  As regular readers know, I cherish those top down designs for their ease of adjustment to fit one’s size as the garment is being made rather than doing a lot of frogging as I have to do when I work from the bottom up.  Many of the patterns in this book are constructed from the top down.  I find this most helpful and informative.

No, Monica Burnett has not hyjacked my blog! It’s just that I love the look of her website and wanted to share!

Monica has a great blog as well. Her crocheted designs just make me smile. Check out some of her goodies. These aren’t inexpensive – but they’re also NOT expensive. Consider the yarns, design time, and crochet time that goes into each piece.

Here’s one I like especially for a child:

I’m not one – but there are a lot of people who could pull off this look:

So, take a few minutes and visit her website and blog. Here’s the link to her website:

http://www.monicaburnetthats.com/

She has beanies, caps, hats, headbands, gloves, and more.

Just for my blog readers, Monica is offering a 15% discount – even on her custom work. To get your special discount, use the coupon code ‘gossip’.

Let me know what you think!