Episode 19: Vacay & Crochet

We are back from vacation with new unexpected projects, a new love for crochet, and lots of yarn talk.

Episode 19: Vacay and Crochet (36:07)

What I did on my summer vacation
Jenny takes a bite out of Big Apple yarn stores and Nicole learns what she doesn't know about crochet.

Ready, Set, Knit
Webs
Skrilla Knits
Ambercakes Yarn Crawl
String
Koigu cashmere
Sasha Kagan
Crochet Inspiration
Knitting 3-2-1
School Products
Yarn Connection
O-Wool Balance
Molly Ringwald
Jenny's Molly Ringwald!
Purl
Tahki Willow
Lotus Blossom Tank
Giant Pink Baby Sweater
Lorna's Laces Sock Yarn
Shelridge Farms Sock Yarn
On Your Toes
Panda Cotton
Nicole's Fun in the Sun Hat
Slouchy Purse (scroll down)
My yarn cakes fell apart!

Crochet me, crochet you
We talk about some of our new best friends--crochet books and magazines!

IK Crochet
Kim Werker
Crochet Me
Crochet Today
200 Crochet Blocks
Happy Hooker

Contest! What former television, now in the movies actress currently in a rocky romance with a much more famous guy did Nicole see in Belize? If you think you know, email us by 11:59pm July 9, to win some lace weight yarn.

Comments

[Chelsea the Yarngeek]

Woo! The new episode is up! What a great way to start the day! Don't sweat the diagonal crochet seam, it happens; especially if you're crocheting in the round. Welcome to the world of "hookers". We're glad to have you! :)

(P.S. if you need ideas for good crochet books, let me know. I have a stash of books/magazines gathered over the last 12 years.)

[Emily]

Thanks for the new episode -- I'm glad you guys are back!

[Leslie]

Wuh-hoo! Welcome back. I enjoyed the new episode this morning. I can't believe that you two are getting into crochet at precisely the same time that I am -- I took that one-night class at Atelier last week and I am "hooked." I totally love it. At first, I was scared it would be like tennis and raquetball -- i.e., crocheting would screw up my knitting game. But so far I've been able to do both without too much confusion. I'm working on my first baby hat (from The Happy Hooker). If you learn of more good crochet books, I'd love to hear about them. I posted a question about this on Ravelry (in the Patterns section) and some people gave me some good crochet book suggestions, which you can see... Welcome home!

[kimchi]

yeah, the seam is almost always diagonal for me when crocheting in the round. :o)oh well! at least the hat turned out really cute and not a wierd trapezoid thingy like all my crochet blankies turn out! :o)
i got some helpful hints from a crochet class i took a while back at Article Pract:
1. the YO on your hook does not count. so the first crochet stitch you count is the first completed crochet stitch.
2. when you turn at the end of the row when crocheting, you need to add YO's to compensate for the height of the row you just completed. This means that when you are at the end of a single crochet (SC) row, you need to do 1 extra YO. Then you start the next row of SC by inserting your hook into the 2nd crochet stitch. (you skip the first crochet stitch). This way, you don't create a trapezoid when you want a square/rectangle!
3. it helps me to think of crochet stitches as a series of fancy slip knots! (and knitting is a bunch of fancy loops). :o)
welcome back! missed you guys! sorry for such a long comment and hope it's not too confusing. email me if you want. :o)

[kimchi]

p.s. all my blankies DO NOT turn out like trapezoids when I keep track of my stitches and do the things i said in my tips above. i didn't want you guys to think i suck at crocheting and then was trying to come off as an expert crocheter. which i'm not. but i do know how to crochet a square! :o)
phew! thanks!

[Marce]

Great episode! You guys both sound pretty refreshed and revived after your vacations. That's great! And crochet?? Just one more reason for us fiber fans to bond.

[Julia]

Yay that the episode is up, but boo that my itunes seems to have only 6:47 of it! Not sure what is up with that, but if you have itunes, you may want to check independently to see if its working properly.
xox, J

[Marisol]

Wow! I think the Crochet bug must be going around right now. I have been thinking off and on about learning how... Ever since Cecily Kleim tried to teach me at the Maker Faire when we were there. I ended up picking up a copy of teach yourself Crochet Visually and a crochet self help book. I also have the Happy Hooker! I think its time i got started too:)

[Talvi]

Guys, I just started listening to your podcast. I'm at episode two, yay! I'm really enjoying it and I can't wait to catch up.

[Amethyst]

Welcome back from vacation. :)

It's good to hear so many people taking up crochet now. I personally found that it became easier to read charts in crochet the same way it became easier to read charts in knitting. I don't think everyone is a chart-reader, though.

You probably checked this already, but Panda Cotton is vegan (Bamboo, Cotton and Elastic Nylon). I can't wait to try it out. There is also a Panda Wool that has wool.

[barbe]

How nice to see you both back! and I'm jealous I don't get a summer vacy!!

for crochet-I just got the Loop d'Loop book for crochet and its gorgeous! I have always loved the knit version, but since I'm a terrible knitter there was no point in getting it. So glad she did a crochet version for us knitting impaired girls!

[Ansley]

It's no KnittingHelp.com, but here's a site I found a while back with some videos of different crochet stitches:

http://www.hassdesign.com/StitchLegend/

[Diana d'Or]

Celeb's are so like US.
It's deadly how delicious it is for celebrities to knit but our knitting appreciation as common folk is.. well, not so much.

[Annette]

*You* were excited to be mentioned on the Ready Set Knit podcast, but *I* was excited to no end to hear my hat design mentioned - and worked up! - on one of my very favourite podcasts (and I don't say that "just because" - you're in my top 3 with Cast On and Lime&Violet).

If you need any assistance with your future crochet endeavours, I would be more than happy to answer questions. My response time may be a bit long in the weeks to come - I'm moving next week and don't now when my Internet access will be back to normal.

Re: crochet diagrams/charts (symbol craft): I didn't understand them at all at first, but now I will not look once on the written instructions if there's a chart. It opens up a whole new world, too - Japanese crochet books are entirely chart-based, and gorgeous!

[JD]

It's weird, I'm a crocheter-turned-knitter, and when I was crocheting all the time, it seemed all I could find was knitting stuff. Now all the knitters are talking about crochet! My small word of warning, while you're still learning and can form good habits: watch your wrist and try not to bend it overly while you're hooking along. I switched to knitting because of carpal tunnel-- even doing edging or seaming with crochet gives me renewed pain. :-(

Also, on the chains at the end of rows: Kimchi, above, is correct, except that they're chains instead YOs (because you do actually pull them through the loop). But she's right, you're building height to get to the next row, so you would use one for single crochet, two for double or half double, 3 for triple (or treble in UK), etc., etc. What I found about crochet patterns, too, was that they tend to spell things out more than knitting patterns sometimes do. Instead of saying, "reverse shaping for LF", it'll usually write it all out for you. That's kind of nice, especially when you're learning, though your shaping knowledge from knitting might make it seem redundant...
If you have any interest in baby clothes, Candi Jensen's books have some cute stuff, and there's a book called "Crochet for Kids" by Ann E. Smith that's also quite good. Very cute patterns. Just 'cause you're both aunts, too! :-)

good luck with the crocheting!
Jen

[casey]

I am so happy that you are back.... YEAH. I was having withdrawls...lol

I am glad you had fun.

Casey

[Meaghan]

I *just finished listening to all the episodes I had to catch up on, as well as the latest one. You ladies are so much fun to listen to and I cannot wait for the next podcast!

[jpt]

Welcome back! Your discussion of vacation knitting and how many projects to pack leads to a question: do you pack the same number projects for a business trip as for vacation? I like to have something to help me unwind at the end of the day, but I feel weird taking tons of knitting when I'm supposed to be focused on work, networking, etc.

[alison]

Finally getting around to listening to the podcast, and Nicole, I can't beLIEVE you told me who this person was already, thereby disqualifying me from the contest!

[Christine]

The same woman who does www.knittingpatterncentral.com also has www.crochetpatterncentral.com.

[Meaghan]

Two things! 1) I linked to you from my blog, and 2) do you have a Stash and Burn button? I'd love to add one to my blog!

[CityMinx]

I'm sure you've already seen this, but...

http://mochimochiland.com/weblog/?p=111

And you think YOU guys have stash....whew!

[Andrea (noricum)]

I have a crochet tip I want to share... it's how to make it easier to crochet into the starting chain on those hard-to-see-the-chain yarns (like Lion Brand Homespun and novelty yarns, etc). I've written it up at: http://noricum.blogspot.com/2005/02/early-wow.html

I love your podcast!

[Diane]

The latest podcast was great - I've also taken up crochet after a long vacation - the patterns and resources make a difference. Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet is a good reference

[Diane]

The latest podcast was great - I've also taken up crochet after a long vacation - the patterns and resources make a difference. Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet is a good reference