Freeform Crochet Tips for Beginners

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Freeform crochet is a wonderful expression of your own creativity achieved through fiber. It is often called “painting with yarn” because of the openness of the design. Freeform crochet can be anything that you want it to be. While there aren’t any “rules” for freeform crochet, there are some great starting points and tips for people who would like to express themselves in this way but who aren’t sure where to begin. This guide will help you get started in the adventure of freeform crochet. Continue reading “Freeform Crochet Tips for Beginners” →

Guide to Crochet Crossed Stitches for Cables and More

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Crossed stitches are created when you skip spaces, crochet a stitch and then crochet a stitch into the skipped stitches; you have crossed one stitch over another by working backwards into the skipped area. Crossed stitches are the foundation of creating crochet cables, and they can also be used as decorative textured stitches in their own right. This guide shows you how to crochet some of the most common crossed stitches.

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Guide to Crochet Shell Stitch Variations with Patterns

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The shell stitch is a stitch pattern in crochet that can be worked in a variety of different ways. In general, it refers to a pattern in which multiple stitches are worked into the same stitch from the row or round below to create the “shell” shape. For example, a very common form of the shell stitch is to work five double crochet stitches into the same stitch. The stitches fan out so that they appear to be different heights at the edges, making that shell shape, even though they are actually all the same size. This crochet guide teaches you different variations of the shell stitch and shares patterns for practicing this fun design.

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Guide to Surface Crochet Embroidery

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Surface crochet is a technique for adding embroidery-style designs to your crochet work. There are a few different ways to work surface crochet, the most common of which is with the slip stitch. In this technique, you create a row of slip stitches on the surface of your crochet fabric by pulling loops through from the back of the fabric to the front in the shape of the pattern that you want to design on the front of the work. This article shares how to work this type of crochet. The Mandala Sampler Throw free crochet pattern is used as a reference. Examples of and links to other patterns using the technique can be found at the bottom of the post.

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Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Tapestry Crochet

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Tapestry crochet is a niche of crochet that intimidates a lot of people because it involves a lot of different yarn color changes (resulting in many ends to weave in). However, once you get the hang of the color changes, you realize that this type of crochet, which is based entirely on basic single crochet stitches, is actually really simple. You work with several different colors across each row to create beautiful graphic designs, producing work that seems to be complex, but in the end it’s not that hard at all.

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Ultimate Guide to Chevron Crochet

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The chevron pattern is a bold graphic pattern that recurs again and again as a popular trend in fashion, home decor and even architecture. It has timeless appeal and yet specific color choices implemented in this pattern can immediately conjure up images of certain eras (such as the orange/yellow/brown chevron of the 1970s or the black/white/gold of the Art Deco years). Chevrons can be found in every type of crochet project including men’s crochet ties, women’s Missoni-inspired dresses, blankets of all sizes and even designs worked in the round. There are as many different ways to crochet chevrons as there are projects they are used on, but they all have a few things in common so once you learn the basics you’ll be able to adapt that knowledge to making all varieties of chevron crochet patterns. This guide will give you that foundation.

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Tips on Working with Scrubby

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Red Heart Scrubby yarn is a textured worsted weight yarn named for the fact that it is well-suited to making knit and crochet dishcloths. Although you can craft dishcloths with other yarn types (most popularly cotton yarn), scrubby is made to actually “scrub” those pots and pans more quickly. It also works as a washcloth with a spa-like exfoliating feel. Scrubby is a polyester yarn so it works a little bit differently than cotton (including drying more quickly). If you have never used it before, you might have some questions about it, so here are our tips for working with Scrubby. Continue reading “Tips on Working with Scrubby” →

Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Bead Crochet

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Many people are intimidated by the idea of incorporating beads into their crochet work. It isn’t just an extra step in the crochet process; it is an entirely new material, which can make it feel foreign. Actually, though, bead crochet is a fairly easy technique to learn. Beads can add great detail to projects, making them pop with color and texture and sparkle with design. Bead crochet is especially great for jewelry and bridal crochet projects but can be used throughout your work. This guide teaches you the basics of bead crochet.

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