Crochet Link Love: End of June Edition

Of all of the blog posts I’ve read this week, these are the ones I loved the most.

Something Special

Although it’s not crochet-specific, I wanted to share an on-going series of posts I’m loving over @whipup. It’s the creativity guest series where guest bloggers from all walks of creative life chime in with their thoughts about creativity as it relates to business, health, parenting or “process”. The posts never fail to capture my interest.

Best in Crochet

• TNNA Recap. Lots of knitters and crocheters went to TNNA. (Jealous!) My favorite recap was from @freshstitches.
• CGOA 2012 Design Competition Winners. Check out all of the winning designs on Doris Chan’s blog.
• Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket Pattern Review. @CreationsByCris shared her thoughts on this pattern (spoiler: she’d make it again).

Beautiful Things People are Crocheting

@CraftingHealth made this great “granny sphere“

@jennyhats is making this WIP crochet shawl using @StitchDiva’s celebrity shawl pattern and Berroco Flicker yarn (which looks like a yummy yarn!

Yarn Madness made this amazing yellow shawl and she shares tons more photos and info over on her blog

Bigunki (one of my favorite Spanish language crochet blogs) made this cute amigurumi chef bird

Daniela’s Needleart found a 2D crochet chameleon pattern and made this great art from it!

Favorite Video of the Week

This video was shared last weekend over at Men Crochet 2. I adore it!

Crochet HowTos

• How to Crochet a Plaid Pattern. This post from @CrochetKitten is timely since I’ve been thinking a lot about plaid crochet after seeing some great plaid crochet skirt patterns in my research for the post I did this week on maxi vs. mini crochet.
• Learn How to Change Colors in One Easy Stitch. The steps and some tips from @CrochetMe
• Tie a Secure Knot to Join New Yarn. So if you don’t like the option from @CrochetMe (above) maybe you’d prefer this one from Stitch of Love. I don’t mind putting knots in my work; do you?

Best New Crochet Patterns

• Classic Vest for Little Kids. A generous free crochet pattern from @purlbee
• 6 Easy to Make DIY Hair Ties. Convenient and quick to make! Via @lionbrandyarns
• Sail Away Crochet Pattern. A cute free crochet pattern from Bunny Mummy for a sailboat decoration.
• Child’s Vest/ Dress. This cute free crochet pattern is written in Portuguese but the blog (@falandodecroche, which is one of the blogs in my list of 8 Portuguese Crochet Blogs) has a built-in translator and the pattern has tons of photos so it should be workable.
• How to Crochet with Pop Tops. This tutorial from Escama Studio isn’t new. In fact, I think I referenced it in my post about Brazilian Pop Tab Crochet. But it was referenced this week by @cutoutandkeep so I thought I’d mention it again.

Other Stuff

• Olek’s Crochet Kicks. @boweryboogie (the ultimate resource on all things Olek) shared photos of some crochet shoes on a wire that had been Olek’d. This is actually from last week but I was slow on the uptake and still wanted to share. :) More recent news about Olek: She’s one of the 40 under 40 artists featured at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum for the next seven-ish months. @Knithacker has her profile video for that.
• Needleworkers in Action. @LasTejeYManeje always finds the best old photos and film stills of people knitting and crocheting. I know I’ve pinned several of their finds to my Needleworkers in Action Pinterest Board.
• FaveCrafts Giveaway/ Project Linus Blankets. There is a giveaway happening right now that gives you an excuse to crochet for charity. Send a handcrafted blanket in to the FaveCrafts Charity Blanket Drive by July 15 and you’ll be entered to win a variety of prizes.
• Ernesto Neto Crochet Nets Sculpture. @CrochetToday shared some beautiful photos of the huge crochet art installation in Buenos Aires that Ernesto Neto did (and I had mentioned in my writeup about the artist here).

And Some Special Thanks

• To Sue over at SIBOL for mentioning the post I did on the Ravelympics issue (and also the related SIBOL Olympics blanket issue)
• To Filomena Crochet for sharing that I’d included the blog on my list of best Portuguese crochet blogs
• To TracyAnn over at CrochetHappy for sharing the link to my 625 inspiring things for crocheters

Happy reading!