Crochet. I love all the new books and magazines out there with great color pictures of wonderful crochet sweaters, doilies, totes, shrugs, etc. I even like it that there are patterns for Barbie and Ken, teddy bears, and skateboarders.
I hate that so many of those ‘new’ patterns we are buying are recycled reprobates rescued from the rubbish by virtue of new yarns and more modern color combinations.
Elizabeth Hiddleson catalog
I mean, you can’t really find better doilies than Elizabeth Hiddleson,
better sweaters than Sylvia Kosh, better afghans than Jessie Abularach.
Lily Chen book
It’s great that Lily Chen,
Melissa Leapman, and others are all over those new yarns. But, where is the originality??
I guess we have to call cellphone
and ipod holders ‘new’ because the aforementioned ‘classic’ crochet designers never saw such things during their heyday. Just like most of us have little need for hot water bottle holders and elbow length gloves. But, what else is new out there in crochet-land?
I suppose there is truly a finite number of items that can be created with stitches that rely solely on chains and single crochets (doubles, trebles, etc. just being extensions of those). So, new yarn fibers, natural or synthetic, and trendy color combinations are what pass for new, exciting, and fresh in our crochet world.
I admit that I do find new yarns and fresh color combinations to be inspirational. They get my hooks moving. But, I find that I wind up making the same patterns again and again, seldom finding a ‘new’ pattern that is actually stimulating. But, I continue to buy the books and magazines – because I must be a sucker for the slick photography!
So, what’s new in your crochet world? Am I missing something??
Fine Print – to find who made what in the pictures above, go to google.com, click on images, and enter the name of the item in the dialog box – for instance, ‘crochet ipod holder’, and you’ll find all of them. Couldn’t find an image of Jessie Abularach for some reason.
PS – So, what book do I crave now??? Even ‘tho I KNOW that I have other books that will contain a lot of the stitches in this book. But, I gotta have it!
THE COMPLETE BOOK OF CROCHET STITCH DESIGNS
by Linda Schapper
I could probably scan you an image of Jessie Abularach as I have a collection of her booklets.
I have a similar, but old book called “The Encyclopedia of Kitting and Crochet Sttich Patterns by Linda Mariano” I will never in this lifetime have enough time to do all these stitches. The book contains over 600 patterns-319 knitting and 352 crochet stitch patterns….Oh what a delema!!!
I am fairly new to crochet, but that has not stopped me from dreaming up useful items to crochet. There are items that I would like to crochet but I have not found patterns for. Perhaps these are original ideas? First of all, I want to crochet a warm, sexy nightgown. I am imagining a bikini top (lots of cleavage) attached to a full back, long sleeves and a full length lacy skirt; all lined with cotton flannel (acrylic yarn makes my skin itch.)It gets cold here and being sensitive to the cold my DH won’t see an inch of skin until late spring unless I get creative. I would also like to crochet some tights (maybe to go with the nightgown?) Finally, I would like to crochet a sideways pullover for my son. The pullovers that I have crochet so far have very little sideways stretch, which seems to be characteristic of crochet, making them very difficult to put on. I am sure there are many new items that can be crocheted if we look into our own lives and figure out what’s missing. However, we must not forget the classics…there is a reason for them being classics: we never get bored with them!
NOT SHOUTING HERE – JUST WANT TO DIFFERENTIATE MY COMMENTS FROM PAMS::
PAM, I THINK YOU CAN FIND SOME OF THE PATTERNS YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ONLINE, AND FOR FREE, ESPECIALLY THE SIDE TO SIDE PULLOVER SWEATER. GOOGLE THOSE TERMS AND SEE WHAT YOU COME UP WITH. ANOTHER IDEA IS TO LOOK AT DEBBIE STOLLER’S THE HAPPY HOOKER, AVAILABLE IN BOOK STORES AND LIBRARIES. IT’S A GREAT BOOK. ANOTHER, OLDER BOOK THAT MIGHT HELP YOU IS THE ADVENTUROUS CROCHETER BY DELIA BROCK. BROCK OFFERS INFORMATION ON CREATING GARMENTS WITH A MODULAR TECHNIQUE AS WELL AS OTHER USEFUL HINTS.
jd
I agree with what you are saying! This is why I have let all of my crochet magazine subscriptions expire. There just hasn’t been anything that I couldn’t look at and say “I could make that without a pattern!”. The exception is the Crochet! Magazine has some new and interesting items, although the new yarns are helping with the newness. But all of the clothes seem to be designed for 16-20 year old SKINNY women to wear, not for 30-40 NOT-SO-SKINNY me.
BTW…I have that Sylvia Cosh sweater book…LOVE it!
Do you think that all of the availabe free patterns are making it harder to get crochet patterns published? What do you think the periodicals are looking for?
love, deBBie
http://www.debbittybears.com
Hi JD – I’ve got you down in my Pay It Forward challenge. Come back and steal the text, image, whatever you like so you can post it on your site, too! Please email me with your contact info when you get a chance.
Shawnee
Ravelry: CrochetCupcake