Crochet

Patterns, projects and techniques

BLOGTEST #1 – WEEK 4

by

Fourth week of January, 2010.  Want to win a copy of this book?

crobots book 0409If so, please post an answer to this question, following the contest rules posted below:

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CROCHET TEACHER?  (YES, IT CAN BE YOU, YOURSELF!) Kindly post a link to a site if the your favorite crochet teacher has one.


RULES AND DISCLAIMERS:

This is how it will work.  Each Monday, I’ll pose a question on my blog.  Everyone who answers the questions will be entered in the drawing on the last day of that month.  Some ‘answers’ may require you to post a link to a specific pattern or site.  The winner will be announced along with the next first Monday’s question.  The winner will have 48 hours to contact me with mailing information.  If the winner doesn’t contact me, the prize will be offered on another occasion.

Right now, I have prizes for at least a year!  All good stuff.  I’ll post a description of each month’s prize on that first Monday’s blog article (with the question for the week).  I hope this makes sense.  Look at it as four (and sometimes five) opportunities to enter a prize winning answer each month.

I’m the sole determiner of the winner of each month’s contest.  The drawings will be random as each entrant have her/his name written on a piece of paper and entered into an old piece of Tupperware for the drawing.  Your chance(s) to win will be based on the number of entries each month.

Comments

  1. My favorite crochet teacher isn’t a person but a group. It is Crochet Partners because I can always find someone who does teach to help me if I have a question

  2. My favorite crochet teacher was my Grandmother, Grace. During my summer vacations I would visit her in North Carolina and she would keep me busy with arts and crafts. One day she was crocheting and I begged her to teach me. She had to think about it for a while because I’m left handed. I told her my hands didn’t know the difference so just teach me right handed. She did and I still crochet right handed. Gram Grace is no longer with us but everytime I start a project I think of her.

  3. My favorite teacher is time and practice. I have been finding that going back to an impossible pattern a few weeks later, suddenly makes the pattern possible. Is it me- or is it time? I also find that teaching others to crochet-to read a pattern, to take time, to frog-rip it rip it, to laugh at the mistakes I made, to enjoy the time crocheting makes it more fun for everyone. When it stops being fun for the person, I tell them to stop that project and to start something else for awhile. That the whole purpose of creating something is to enjoy the process. So time is my favorite crochet teacher.

  4. My favorite crochet teacher is actually YouTube. Whenever I’m not quite sure how to do something that I’m trying to do – particularly if the simple drawings in a crochet book don’t make sense – then I just do a search through YouTube. I can almost always find a video from someone out there that makes it clear!

  5. My favorite crochet teacher is my husband. As the youngest to 5 sisters, he learned to crochet from them as a teen. So, he taught me to crochet and I still go to him with questions. I love the personalized instruction from the person I love!

  6. My Aunt Barbara…she’s cranky and precise, which can be daunting. But, having learned from her as a child myself, I can’t deny that my tension and attention to detail (learned directly from her, and her making me tear it out, do it again, it’s not right!) has served me well over the many years since.

    I am way more of a relaxed, hippie kind of teacher, but I’ve never successfully taught anyone how to crochet. Aunt Babs has taught hundreds of people…nobody fails under her strict tutelage!

  7. My grandma! She taught me when I was really little. Now that she’s gone, youtube is a close second. I usually search for whatever it is I need to figure out, whether it was something new, or just a quick refresher 🙂

  8. My favourite crochet teacher is my Mother-in-Law who got me started and me, me, me. 😀 Well apart from when I get to see my MIL I am teaching myself via books and Youtube.

  10. My favorite crochet teacher is my Gran. She first taught me the craft when I was 16 – the summer I spent helping take care of her after a dog knocked her over and her hip and ankle were shattered. I enjoyed it, but didn’t really invest time into developing skills until after college when I was faced with evening time without homework! Now I consult my Gran about patterns, yarn choices and final products. No website for her though! 🙂

  11. My Grandma. I remember when I was in middle school my family went to our cabin over the wintertime. It was snowing like crazy outside. She sat down and taught me, my friend, my two step-brothers (one younger and one older)all to crochet that night. Trying to teach a bunch of tweens to crochet?!? I give her mad props on that. I eventually forgot but am in the process of relearning it again thanks to her :o) No website for her crocheting abilities. She is just an all-around great crafter!

  13. My favorite crochet teachers have always been books. I now belong to a couple of Internet sites that have people willing to help and always do.

  15. My favorite teacher was my mother. I learned with thread and steel needles. I had been crocheting several years before I started crocheting with yarn.

  17. My favorite crochet teacher was my Mom. She taught me when I was 8 years old while home with a sprained ankle in a cast. I learned with crochet thread and a tiny metal hook! I always had something to do growing up. I remember as a child, then teenager, having tons of commisioned work to do.

  19. The internet in general… everything I know about crocheting I learned by googling and surfing the web. :3

  20. My favorite teacher would have to be my mother. She taught me just a few years ago – with lots of patience. Now, I’ve done things that she’s never attempted, but she’s the one that inspired me.

  21. My grandma is the best teacher ever. She spent many volunteer hours at the local elementary school teaching kids to crochet. Of course, she taught me too!

  22. My favorite crochet teacher was the one who taught me when I was only 10 or 11 years old. She stayed with our family and was mostly blind. She would hold her hands over mine and gently manuever them to do the stitches. She crocheted from memory and always made the same afghan pattern over and over. She would tell my mom which colors of yarn to buy and then when she was ready to switch colors she would ask us for help. I think of her everytime I am crocheting.

  23. I am a self taught crocheter. My grandmother started me off with the basic chain stitch. But I learn a lot today from books. Jean Leinhauser is one of my favorites.

  24. maggie righetti! I read her book, crocheting in plain english, and it’ll be the only teaching I’ll ever need!

  25. I want to have something I can look at and go back to when I am stumped, so my favorite crochet teacher are books. I love looking at on-line sites, but for actually doing it, I want that book right there beside me.

  26. I taught myself to crochet when my daughter was born in 1990. I saw some really cute crocheted toys in a magazine that I just had to make for her. Through trial and error (heavy on the error) I learned. I credit it much of it to a Reader’s Digest Needlework book that my inlaws gave me. That book and my own determination and desire to have cute, safe toys for my daughter would be my best teacher.

  27. When I was a kid, my mom taught me how to crochet and I picked up easily. Over the years, I had forgotten how to do it but have recently started teaching myself with books and the net. My mom is still my favorite teacher though.

  28. My favorite crochet teacher is my very best friend Sue. She is still teaching me how to crochet as I’m alittle slow at it, but getting there. Sue is very patient with me. If I get stuck on a pattern, I call her & she is always very keen to help me. Bless her.

Have you read?

Shock Wave Free Crochet Lap Blanket Pattern

This Free Shock Wave Crochet Lap Blanket Pattern from Mary Maxim looks like one of those wonderfully satisfying projects that gives big cozy payoff without fiddly detail. Mary Maxim lists it as a free download, designed as a crochet afghan/lap blanket, with a finished size of 45 x 50 inches.

What immediately stands out is the yarn choice. The pattern is made with Bernat Blanket Extra Thick, using 5 skeins, and calls for a U.S. U/50 (25 mm) crochet hook. That is gloriously chunky territory, which usually means fast progress and lots of squishy texture. If you are in the mood for a project that feels substantial in your hands and grows quickly row by row, this one definitely has that appeal.

Mary Maxim describes the blanket as having a beautifully textured, plush, soft finish and suggests it as a project for home décor or gifting. Based on the materials and oversized hook alone, that sounds about right. This feels like the sort of blanket you make for curling up on the couch, draping over a chair, or giving as a practical handmade gift that will actually get used instead of folded away “for best.”

The pattern is marked Easy, and the listed stitch requirements are straightforward: chain, repeat, double crochet, single crochet, and slip stitch. That makes it sound approachable for confident beginners and very appealing for anyone who wants a relaxing crochet project without too much counting drama.

I also think the lap blanket size is a smart one. Not every crochet blanket needs to become a giant commitment that takes over the lounge room and your will to live. A 45 x 50 inch blanket is a useful, manageable size for gifting, for wheelchairs or reading nooks, or just for keeping on hand for chilly evenings. That practicality gives this pattern extra appeal. The usability point is my own take based on the finished dimensions Mary Maxim provides.

At the moment, the pattern page shows no reviews, so there is not much customer feedback to go on yet. Still, if you enjoy easy crochet blanket patterns, super chunky crochet throws, or quick lap blanket projects, this one looks like a solid freebie to save.

My overall take? This looks like a fast, cozy, beginner-friendly crochet blanket pattern with plenty of texture and instant-gratification energy. Very much the sort of project you start because it looks easy, then keep going because the yarn feels ridiculously soft.