Hello, everyone! Lift your hooks to welcome June and be happy as the summer has begun!
It has been a lot of fun getting to know the extended CGOA community through these questions of the month. Last month I wondered what inspires your crochet? There were quite a few responses, so let's dig in!Jane spoke of her journey from grandchildren to CALs right here on the CGOA blog:
What inspires me to crochet? Well, grandchildren started it: baby afghans, baby hats, baby sweaters, baby toys, baby booties, so many cute designs! Once I got started, I moved on to varied projects and here I am doing the Across the Board CAL!Jane was certainly not alone, as Janet also shared her love of crocheting for little ones. " I love to crochet baby blankets." Rylen agreed, "Babies make me want to crochet. Thankfully that's in the WATER, everybody drinks the water.. eventually."
And while babies are certainly a part of the family, it could be anyone in the family who inspires your crochet. Rose enthusiastically shared her inspiration as,
Family! I'll see something and think to myself, "hey they would love this!"
But what if you would love something; or what if you need something? Crochet to the rescue!
Chickie717 is inspired to crochet, "Whenever I need something like a new hat or head band ...It seems to inspire me the most."
Sometimes patterns have us running to the stash or yarn store! Barbara shared, "I love to crochet about anything with free patterns: blankets, ripples, granny squares..."
Of course, yarn, wonderful, luscious yarn will make us feel crochet inspiration. As Joyce emoted,
Yarn lots and lots of yarn...colors so many things to make never enough time...I crochet nine hours a day....
Crocheters bask in creativity and our craft is a wonderful outlet for the inspiration we feel. LiLphanie wrote, "I find the creative process itself inspiring! What can I make, how can I make it, what yarn do I want to use, what colors? I usually have an idea in mind of what I want to make and then play with the stitches, shape, size etc. as I go." Susan wrote she is inspired by, "What i will eventually create (the finished product made by my hands)."
Look around. Anything can inspire crochet. CGOA-ers Theresa, Tammy, and Patricia are inspired by "Life, Everything, and House work I do not want to do." respectively.
I hear you on all accounts! It was wonderful hearing all that makes you want to crochet. Now let's dive into what the crocheting is really like when you use a pattern. For this month, I want to know how often you use the yarn suggested in the pattern.
As we know, published patterns often use a specific brand and color of yarn. However, it is the crocheter's choice to use either the suggested yarn in the suggested color, the suggested yarn in a different color, or a different yarn altogether.
Especially when I first began crocheting, I often substituted yarns out of necessity. The reason being that I didn't really have access to all of the yarns I saw in the pattern books and downloads because I was living out of the country. Now that I am back in the States, I sometimes use the suggested yarn and I can see that there is a certain sense of satisfaction to that. But what do you like to do?
CGOA people spin a great yarn and yak a lot, so let's keep the conversation going. Please leave a comment here on the blog, and let's connect on social media! I can be found on facebook, twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, and YouTube. Join my monthly newsletter about crafts, crochet, and education. I'm on Snapchat every day!
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I mostly use what I have since I have bought quite a few different types of yarn. I pay attention to the weight listed on the label and use the same weight as recommended. If I decide to use a heavier yarn, I will make a swatch to see how it's going to look and act.
ReplyDeleteI almost never use the yarn suggested. I can't always find it at my LYS, or it's a yarn I don't care for. And I've almost always got something in my stash that will work. Since I'm changing yarns, though, I always swatch. I'm sometimes surprised by what works and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI have 6 20 gallon tupperware type boxes filled to the brim with yarn and then some, so I very rarely use the suggested yarn unless I happen to have it handy. I do always try to get the best match to fibre and we I ght though!
ReplyDeleteI have 6 20 gallon tupperware type boxes filled to the brim with yarn and then some, so I very rarely use the suggested yarn unless I happen to have it handy. I do always try to get the best match to fibre and we I ght though!
ReplyDelete