Interweave Crochet Magazine Spring 2010

I recently had a chance to sit down and read through the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Crochet Magazine. Honestly, I was suprised to see how many different pages featured my work! Because the timeline differs so greatly from book work, magazine work (design and writing separately) and yarn company (freelance) work, I often times don't know when my designs and work will debut. In the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Crochet, I have several project that all debut at the same time!

The Wisteria Shawl (page 28 - 31) utilizes a motif joining technique I LOVE: you join the motifs as you go WITHOUT CUTTING YARN BETWEEN MOTIFS!!! Theoretically, lets say you choose a skein of Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace (1250 yards per skein), you could make a shawl as large as the yardage would allow and only have the 2 ends to weave in -- with crochet motifs!!! How cool is that? The Wisteria shawl involves this technique and shaping a triangle at the same time. The edging is a little unusual, and the texture created by working 1 post single crochet on either side of a large chain is GORGEOUS.

I wrote an article about crocheting in South Florida (page 6). It was quite lengthy in the beginning, but had to be shaved down for size allotment in the magazine. Seriously, I LOVE knitting and crocheting in South Florida. At first you might think it is too hot down here, but remember the lifestyle is built around heat. For example, most cafes have outdoor seating, but with shade, misters, etc... and the VIEWS! I can't help but be inspired by the beauty that surrounds me. We have gorgeous yarn shops and lovely LYSOs and I am so happy I had the opportunity to talk about them in this article. If you are in the SW FL area, I included a shout out to one of my favorite local cafes, too (Survey Cafe in Bonita Springs, FL.

Last year I designed a few garments for Tahki Stacy Charles' new yarn (Crochet Cotton Lite) which is the same beautiful yarn as Crochet Cotton, but in a lighter weight yarn. It is awesome for crochet work. Tahki Stacy Charles took out a full page ad on page 7 in the magazine with my shawl design! I also have a fun, shortsleeved tunic design in this booklet and there are other gorgeous designs by some amazing designers including the lovely Doris Chan, Mary Lynn Patric, Vladimir Teriokhin and John Brinegar. The book is called City Crochet and you can find it on Tahki's website here: City Crochet Booklet.

On pages 20 - 22, Marlaina Bird (fellow knit and crochet designer and host of YarnThing podcast) wrote an article about ME! It made me laugh (because I know I'm such a math geek), and it made me cry (it was wrote so lovingly from a very good friend of mine). I began my career out of sheer desperation to survive and fell in love with my work along the way. I amgrateful to have the honor of sharing my passion for fiber arts with other people.

On page 26 - 27, check out the new Crochet Me Collaboration project: Chain Reaction Afghan Project. I am really excited about this project. The two first designs Marcy Smith created are really cool! She developed an afghan square for each of the logos: Interweave Press and Crochet Me. I am currently working on a square that I will be contributing to the project with a unique stitch.

On page 57 is a full page ad for Innovative Crochet: Motifs DVD. Have you watched it yet? It teached some of the motif techniques I used in both "Wrapped In Crochet" patterns and "Crochet So Fine" patterns and includes a free pattern, too! When you open your case, there is a secret link to the free pattern: Farrah Shawl, the shawl I designed for "Wrapped In Crochet" in honor of Charlie's Angels (my all-time favorite TV show).

On page 63 is a full page ad for Knitting Daily TV. In the photo of me I am wearing the Sprout Shawlette from Crochet So Fine. This project uses Studio Silk by StitchDiva.com in color Snakeskin. I love the name of this yarn color!

On the inside back cover of the magazine is a full page ad for Crochet So Fine! The ad is so pretty! I am still so blown away by the photography in this book. As I write this, the book is being printed. I am so excited to open the first one (in a couple short months from now!)

There are so many beautiful patterns to choose from in this issue, it would be really hard to decide what to make first. Here are a couple of my favorites: The Looking Class Curtains by Rhonda Davis, The FLower Power Pillow by Linda Permann, Five Peaks Shawl (Tunisian) by Vashti Braha in Fibre Company's Road to China Yarn (gorgeous yarn - I have one skein in my office), Flame Scallop Cardi by Kristen Tendyke (I saw Eunny Jang wear it for one of the episodes we taped for season 500 last month - it looked GORGEOUS on Eunny). I suppose I could list all the patterns - the magazine is gorgeous. If you want to pick your favorites, check out the preview here: Spring 2010 Preview

And order your copy of the magazine here: Click here to buy now!