We’re after Guest Posters!

For the following subjects:

Ravelry

Etsy

Crochet-related injuries (how’s yer wrist? :P)

If you fancy having a go, please send us a message. We are particularly interested in hearing from anyone with over a year’s experience of Ravelry. We’d like you to write a how-to-use-Ravelry type of post.

As usual, you get all the credit, and can use your post to toot your own trumpet with links and photos as much as you like!

If you need any pointers on how to go about it, check our our AWESOME previous guest posters, superheroines one and all!

 

PS If you have a burning crochet-related post, message us too. We’ll see what we can do!

Would you like to write our next guest post?

We’re currently after someone to write about what to do with all those troublesome yarn ends.

Fancy having a go? Send us a msg via the Contact page!

Product review – Giveaway winner reports!

The winner of our first giveaway was Judit from MonsterYarns. She won a set of circular knitting needles and has sent us her review below :> Her review is all her own opinion and first appeared on her own blog with photos here. Reproduced with permission.

Thank you for taking the time to review for us, Judit!

 

I knit a lot in public and on public transport. By necessity therefore I use circular needles to make sure that I don’t prod anyone sitting near me and attract even more weird looks than I normally do. So when UK Crochet Patterns ran a quick competition to win a circular knitting needle from part of the goodie parcel delivered from Red Heart , I jumped at the chance.

I don’t win competitions that often so I was thrilled to add to my collection of needles – especially gratis!

My first impressions were of a good but basic quality of needle – the type where what you see is what you get. Unwrapping it however there were a couple of very pleasant surprises – nice tip on the needle and the coil is fantastic. Just the right amount of stiffness so that it doesn’t kink but not too hard so your work “floats” uncomfortably in front of you.

The needles have a clever curve a few centimetres from the join.

Clever because the perennial problem with any circular needles is snagging on the join between the tip and the coil. The curve is meant to ensure that the knitting feeds in a straight line on to the coil. And it does. Clever.

What doesn’t quite work with these circulars is the join itself. Hopefully you can see in this photo that the edge of the needle is a lot wider than the coil and a little sharp. It’s aluminium after all.

So the end result is snagging.

This is not unusual in circulars but incredibly frustrating. There are a circular needles which solve this problem, no doubt through exacting engineering, and as a result tend to be on the expensive end of the range.

So my opinion – good basic circular, perhaps for when you’re travelling and you don’t want to carry your prized expensive ones, but watch out for the snagging!

Thank you Red Heart and UK Crochet Patterns.

 

 

Guest post: Eve tells us about Blocking!

The gorgeous and clever Eve has kindly written us a wonderful post about blocking, something we perhaps don’t do enough but could do with using more! Have a good read, tell us what you think and take a peek at her site as thank you for sharing her wisdom and taking the time to write this for us :>>

 

Eden’s Lace specialises in Irish Clones Lace and Crochet lace goods – particularly wedding & bridesmaid favours.

Each piece is designed and handmade in the sunny southeast of Ireland by Eve.

Visit EdensLace.com to shop, see behind-the-scenes pics and crochet tips.

Custom orders are a speciality, with experience in large pieces – i.e. veils, mantillas, christening gowns, wedding dress trains, etc.

How To Block Crochet

You did it! You cracked the pattern, the tension square turned out perfect and you’d just enough yarn to complete your crochet project. But, you’re not done yet. Taking the time to block crochet is a step not to be missed. It can feel tedious, but it is so worth the effort. Don’t let all your hard work go to waste!

You will need:

1) Blocking board

2) Pins

3) Ruler

4) Basin of Water

5) Drop (drop!) of unscented soap

6) Facecloth

Optional:

7) Iron

8) Spray-on starch

…and your finished crochet, of course!

If you don’t have a blocking board, try:

1. Folded beach towel.

2. Microfiber towel wrapped around a pillow.

2. Foam gardening kneeling mat.

3. Yoga mat, folded and secured with duct tape

4. As above, but try a foam camping mat

5. Playground rubber floor tiles

The three granny squares are in Aran/Worsted, Double Knitting/Sport and Lace/2 Ply. There were Worked on 6.50mm, 3.50mm and 0.60mm hooks, respectively.

Fill basin with cold water and add a tiny drop of unscented soap – the drop should be half the size of a pea, seriously, that small! Submerge crochet for a few minutes, but do not rub. Temperature and friction are the path to felting!

Remove from water and blot with facecloth. Crochet should be damp, but not dripping.

Beginning with the corners, pin in place. If your board doesn’t have any lines, just use a ruler for guidance, as I have. Keep stretching and pinning until you’re happy the yarn is held in good tension.

Pin at the apex – the central stitch – of clusters. Once the clusters are secured, this helps the rest of the spaces fall into place.

Once everything is pinned, wet facecloth and blot yarn. Again, damp, but not dripping!

Now’s the time to apply a light spray of starch or steam an iron 1inch/2.5cm above the crochet, if you want a firmer finish to your work.

Leave to block overnight. We had sunshine in Ireland, which is such a rare occurrence that I left mine on the windowsill. Don’t do this if you use coloured yarn!

See the difference blocking makes? The large square turned out far softer after blocking – surprising bonus! Bar an attack by a passing cat, the work stays flat and in great condition 😀

Remember our guest post contest?

Well, the original winner seems to have disappeared. We sincerely hope everything is ok with her and will reserve her guest posting spot.

In the meantime, the lovely Eve from Eden’s Lace has stepped up in grand fashion (the Big Fat Independent Ginger Adjudicator likes her) and written you the most beautiful post, which we’ll be putting up tomorrow, Sunday. You can see a sneak preview of the content here.

Thank you loads, Eve! We are positive everyone will love your post! We really appreciate how hard you’ve worked on it!

 

 

And the winner is …

Christi from KnittiChristi.wordpress.com! Well done! We invite you to be the first guest poster at ukcrochetpatterns!

The Big Fat Fluffy Ginger Independent Adjudicator was practically USELESS. Loud Daughter and I had to chase him around the kitchen to try and make him touch his nose on the list of entrants … which he did … eventually! He wouldn’t miaow when we read the list out (but then became very vocal ten minutes later).

Soooo, Christi, we”ll refer you back to the original contest post and look forward to hearing from you via the Contact page :>

Congrats! Can’t wait to see your pattern! We are SO excited about this and are brewing up the next chance to win a guest posting spot already! We love that you guys love this idea!

The free contest open to all our subscribers and followers – less than 24 hours to go…

Don’t forget to enter to win the first guest posting spot!

We hit 100 followers! Thank you! Now win a chance to Guest Post!

As a big thank you for reaching 100 followers, we would like to offer one of you the chance to be our first Guest Poster at ukcrochetpatterns. We’re all about promoting Crochet and its talented people!

TO ENTER: you are welcome to either leave a comment on this post saying “ME, DUDES!” or “Wazzaaaaap” etc, or send a message via the CONTACT page.

If you would like to be considered, here are the requirements (you don’t have to have these ready until we confirm that you’ve won):

1. We would like your post to contain a link to a free crochet pattern in UK terms. We would prefer you to have written it yourself but it’s okay if you haven’t! It can be any skill level. If it’s someone else’s pattern, please tell us why you’ve chosen it.
2. We would like your post to be up to 200 words long (but we won’t count :>) and talk about crochet – how you got into it or why you love it or impart some crochet-related wisdom (we like this best!) or something like that.
3. We would love to see links to your blog/website or online shops. We would be happy for you to promote yourself and your stuff!
4. We would like you to post on your blog  that you won, and link back to us in the post.

Any questions, please feel free to ask!

Our Big Fat Ginger Independent Adjudicator will pick the winner on Thursday 3rd June at 10pm, most likely by sitting on a piece of paper with your name on it. Or possibly licking it. Or maybe by making a disgusted face at it. Or by ignoring it and walking off.

Don’t worry if you don’t win: there will be another opportunity in July!

16 more followers until our little contest!

We only need 16 more followers/subscribers to reach 100! Thank you so much, everyone!!! We are so glad that so many of you find what we’re about useful. And we love feedback :>

So, very soon we will be announcing the winner of the draw to be the first guest poster on ukcrochetpatterns!

Win the chance to be our first guest poster!

We are motoring towards 100 subscribers/followers very quickly! Thank you so much!

As a token of gratitude, when we reach 100 email subscribers and followers, we will be offering one of you  the chance to guest post on ukcrochetpatterns! You will be able to toot your horn as much as you like, with links or photos or a tutorial or all of the above. As long as your content offers something free to our wonderful readers, you will also be able to link to your Etsy or Folksy shops, etc.

We will ask an independent adjudicator (a big, fat, fluffy, ginger adjudicator) to randomly select the winner! The only criteria for entry is that you are a subscriber to our mailing list.

Subscribe on the left and watch this space!