Author: Rachele Carmona

VVCAL blanket in green palette – A very green post :)

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With my trusty KnitPicks Palette yarn, I’ve started a new Vibrant Vintage CAL blanket. You may remember this CAL from January – August 2016 – the Facebook Group has nearly 4000 members! You can find the 33 free granny square patterns in PDF format at Ravelry or at the post linked above.  In the meantime, check out this spiffy green version! Palette yarn is awesome and as the name suggests, there are a ton of colors – and some are even heathered.  I made one tester square to see what hook I was going to use – Size E! Then I had a serious planning sesh for my chosen squares – the recipient wants mostly three dimensional squares instead of flat ones. And some joining in progress! You can see a bunch of join options on the VVCAL main page linked above, or look through all the joining methods I show on my site. Or to see what some IG crafters have already done by browse the #VVCAL hashtag on Instagram. Looking forward to showing y’all …

Food Scale = Total Game Changer

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Between writing free content, self-publishing paid patterns, and completing design commissions, my business is getting to be more stressful and less fulfilling lately. So I’ve been taking a closer look at the pretty crafter photos on social media, searching for tools and tips to make my crochet life easier. A strong tool that I discovered and added into my pattern designing tool kit is a food scale. This is the one I have: Amazon.com – Weighing the Cozy Flowers blanket free pattern coming soon 😍🔥 Instead of just listing the ways I use this digital scale, I thought I’d spend a week taking a snapshot every time I used it. You can really see it in action during my Hexagon Month with Scheepjes Yarns*! Monday In making motifs for Autumn Blues, I figured out how many of the orange centers I could get from one ball of Catona*. I weighed one motif – 6g. Each ball of Catona is 50g, so I can get about 7-8 motifs per ball. This is the most common way I have used …

Whip St Join for Hexagons

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Hi there! For this YouTube Video tutorial, click here.  (Ravelry link coming soon) Note: This tutorial is part of Hexagon Month – September’s Theme of the Month. Introduction If you absolutely cannot fathom the idea of sewing your motifs together, then this is the sewing join for you. I’m working on a huge blog post with all the joining methods I could find, and there are pros and cons to each one.  When to use: You don’t have a whole lot of yarn to join with You want a “barely there” join that’s easier than for example, mattress st You want to dip your toe in the waters of sewing your motifs together Try it! It’s very easy and doesn’t feel like sewing since you’re using your hook. Materials Normally you would use a tapestry needle for the whip st join, but if you’re anything like me, using something besides your hook makes you cringe. So I just use my hook! You’ll also need some yarn in a similar color as the motifs to blend …

Continuous Flat Braid Join for Hexagons

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Welcome to the Continuous Flat Braid JAYG for Hexagons tutorial. I’ve made a video for this Join, but written instructions are added below. I recommend looking at both the video and the written instructions for the best clarity. (Add this pattern to your favorites on Ravelry!) [Related: Sept 2017 is Hexagon Month!] Video Instruction Part 1 Link to Part 1 on YouTube Part 2 Link to Part 2 on YouTube  Written Instruction Materials A pile of hexagons, with the same stitch count around. It doesn’t matter what the pattern is. For these Hexagons I have 18 sts between my 3-sc corners. I used Scheepjes Cotton 8 yarn and these hexies are from my Autumn Blues Blanket releasing this weekend. If you’ll be filling in the half-hexagons on the sides, set those to the side for now. They’ll be added in once all of the full hexies are joined together. Joining yarn – you’ll want to have full balls of this, as one of the joys of joining continuously is that you eliminate having to weave …

Seaglass Blanket

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The Seaglass Blanket pattern is now available! Intro price of $3.50 will go up to $4 in 24 hours – on Aug 4 at 1pm CST! CRAFTSY / RAVELRY / LOVEKNITTING Seaglass is a unique piece that takes two classic elements of crochet, the granny squares in sea glass colors wrapped in corals, and a nautical chevron ripple, and combines them with breezy ocean colors for a beachy summer look. The combo of different stitches will keep your interest, and you may learn some new techniques along the way! Change up the color palette for a whole new look. I can imagine this in pastels with a grey and white chevron – yum! Pattern is written by Rachele Carmona, and tested by the lovely Kaelyn Guerin. Find her across social media as @iiirdwind and enjoy her fresh style. Kaelyn has graciously provided all of the photos for this pattern and blog post. Aren’t they lovely!! Buy this yarn – HERE* _________________________ This is my first time using my KnitPicks* Brava yarn that I bought eons ago during …

Continuous JAYG for Hexagons – Using PLT with SC

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YouTube Tutorial: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 Introduction Welcome to the CypressTextiles continuous JAYG tutorial for hexagons using PLT and SC. This sounds scary, and it can take a moment for it to “click” but I promise it’s easy. Nearly any JAYG can convert to be worked continuously. So this is a mouthful… Let’s break it down: Continuous: The join will flow from one motif to the next, without breaking the yarn, tracing around the motifs following a special path. Think of making a drawing without picking up your pencil. We’ll start and stop at the same place. (I have a Continuous JAYG  – or CJAYG – masterpost!) JAYG: This means the motifs will be crocheted together as their final round, instead of being seamed with crochet stitches or with a tapestry needle. Since we are joining continuously, the Hexagons will look like they’re joined on the final round as normal, but this is the illusion of the “special path” I talked about. (I have some JAYG tutorials!) PLT: The “Pull Loop …

Painted Hexagons

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If you’ve followed me for any length of time, then you probably know that I have an obsession with a certain six-sided shape. I love creating them, and then coming up with the half-motif to fill the sides, and deciding how I’ll fill in the zig-zag sides to square it all off. The whole process is so much fun to me. And hexies are just tops! Over the years, I’ve designed several hexagon blankets, and then made some joining methods to go along with them. Browse my website with a search for the word “Hexagon” and you’ll see it all! This crochet pattern is now also available for free on my blog! Want the yarn kit to make this blanket? Click here to see it in my storefront! (affiliate link) Painted Hexagons (Rav link) remains one of my favorite hexie patterns. I dug it out of the vault and grabbed the leftover cotton basket that I used for the original. I used RICO Creative Cotton, Patons Grace, and some Annie’s size 3 thread. Basically all the …