This weekend I found a 50% off coupon online, so of course I had to make a quick trip to Jo-Ann to buy some yarn. My plan was to buy one skein of yarn for 50% off, silly right? Of course my plan didn’t work. When I got there just about everything was on sale!!! I ended up with 2 huge skeins of yarn and a whole lot of Lion Brand Chenille, which is normally $6.99 and I only paid $1.99 for each skein!

It turns out that I couldn’t use the 50% off coupon on items that were on sale. So I used it on a new N (10.00 mm) hook for bulky yarn, and saved 65 cents, woohoo! I’m so excited to have more yarn to play with. I wonder how quickly I’ll go through it all.

Welp, I hope some of you went to your Jo-Ann this weekend because all the yarn seemed marked down!

I’m no expert, so I figured I’ll do some experimenting of my own to see what’s so great about cotton yarn and what’s not. I started my adventure off with some simple kitchen and bath accessories.

First off, the dishcloth!
Using Lily Sugar n’ Cream cotton yarn (which I’ve witnessed people raving about) I crocheted the simplest dishcloth I could think of (I even wrote a crochet pattern for it). It turns out that I love my dishcloth, other than the part where I haven’t worked up the nerve to use it yet. So much for an experiment huh? I’ll let you know how well it works when I use it!

Second, the super fluffy bath puff!
I always use nylon bath buffs that you can buy at the store for about $1, so I thought I’ll make my very own just for fun. Of course I made a crochet pattern for that too! This time I couldn’t wait to use it. I was so excited, I hopped into the tub, soaked it up and started cleaning. To my dismay, cotton bath puffs don’t lather like nylon!!! I’ll have to use a different type of yarn next time, maybe nylon yarn? Also cotton is super absorbent making the puff so heavy I thought it was going to break, lol. Better luck next time! (Update: A reader informed me that the cotton bath puff lathers much better after using them for a while. After wearing them down, you can rub the sides together to get it to lather. It won’t be as much lather as traditional nylon bath puffs, but the trade off is that the cotton should be softer on the skin.)

Whelp, there isn’t a definite conclusion to draw just yet. I still have more exploring to do. I can tell you that cotton yarn is really soft and fun to use. It might not be the best material to use for cleaning accessories (even though lots of people use cotton to make them), atleast for bath puffs, but I bet I will find something great to make with it. For now, the adventure is to be continued!

Do you use cotton yarn? What do you like to make with it? Do you have any tips?

I always wondered what the big hype about crocheted dishcloths was and now I know! I’ve read many testimonials of people that love their cotton crocheted dishcloths and how they are just addicted to making and using them. Finally, I got around to buying 100% cotton yarn to give dishcloth making a shot. I used the classic single crochets as I love simplicity and of course yellow yarn as it’s my favorite color.

Once I started crocheting I didn’t understand why the infamous dishcloth was so great, but half way through it finally clicked. Not to sound crazy, but I kept sniffing and rubbing the cloth on my face, lol! There’s just something so cute and soft about a crocheted dishcloth that makes it so irresistible. Now I plan to make many more. Here is the simple pattern that I made, which is great for beginners.

Skill Level:

Finished Size: 8” (20 cm) square

Materials: Medium Weight Yarn (approximately 50 yards / 1 oz) Crochet Hook H (5.00 mm)

Crochet Pattern: Dishcloth
Row 1: ch 30, sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across: 29 sc
Row 2 – 34: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across: 29 sc

I woke up Friday morning, rolled out of bed as I normally do, brushed my teeth, then sat at my computer to check my email and of course the wonderful comments that you all leave for me to read. I refreshed the browser to look at Crochet Spot and there was this big ugly server error!

I immediately started freaking out, I mean Crochet Spot is like my baby and it wasn’t breathing. So I called up a friend who assured me that the web hosting techs were already on it. But of course I couldn’t sit still, too much stress for one person to handle. So I spun around in my chair, grabbed a crochet hook and started crochet. Crochet is proven to help reduce stress after all. If a woman can use crochet to survive an earthquake, I was sure that I could use it to survive the down time of Crochet Spot.

I started crocheting a purse using Tunisian simple stitches so that I can sell the pattern in my soon to come store (and hopefully afford a better hosting plan). It’s almost done, but I haven’t decided how I’m going to make a closure for it. I’ll post picks soon!

Hopefully this Crochet Spot down time isn’t as nerve racking for you as it is for me. But I am glad that it motivates me to crochet even more!

I’ve gotten quite a few request to make crochet video tutorials. I think that crochet videos will be a great addition to Crochet Spot! Even though there are some on the net already there is always room for more. My one problem is that I don’t have a video camera or any money to purchase one at this time. So I decided to raise some funds by selling a few crochet patterns on Etsy or even make a “Store” page right here on Crochet Spot. Don’t worry, I still plan to have great patterns for free too. Right now I’m trying to come up with some ideas for sell-able patterns. I’ll let you all know how it comes along and if you have any suggestions that would be awesome!

I can’t wait to get that video camera (and maybe some yarn) and make something with it! This is going to be very exciting!!! Time to start saving some money.

This weekend I went to Longwood Gardens! If anyone is ever in the PA area I would definitely take a trip out there to see all the beautiful flowers in bloom. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see everything and that the pretty fountains weren’t turned on. But then again I guess it leaves something to look forward to next time. There were so many flowers there that I have never seen before and now I’m inspired to crochet them! Look out here comes my crochet hook! The picture to the right is pretty goofy. It’s of me and a bush trimmed into a dog, lol. There was a whole section of silly bushes like this!

Here are pictures of some of the flowers that I saw!!!

Most of the flowers were in the conservatory (a.k.a. the giant green house). It was laid out very elegantly. I could sit in there all day long and listen to the waterfall! It was so relaxing. Here are pictures of inside the conservatory.

There was even a cool bell tower!!!

I was so excited when I looked in a tree and saw this giant piece of fruit! I’m not exactly sure what it is, maybe a grape fruit? There was also the very photogenic bird that I encountered on one of the trails. It was posing so I thought I have to take a picture of it!

I definitely had a great time! Now I’m ready to start crocheting those flowers! Look out Spring, here comes my crochet hook! Does anyone have a favorite flower?

Let’s talk about yarn! The other day I was staring at my yarn stash wondering where it all went. I have about 10 skeins of assorted colors and 3 small balls of thread. What is a “normal” size for a yarn stash? Every time I’m on the Crochetville forums I read about people with rooms if not tubs and bags filled with yarn in their stash. It feels like I’m behind, where is my room full of yarn? I need to go on a yarn spree.

By the way, what kind of yarn do you like to buy? I normally go for whatever is on sale or is just cheap. I have some Red Heart, Caron 1 pounder, and some Simply Soft stuff. I’ve never bought anything fancy yet, but I do touch and feel when I walk passed them.

Okay! I’m done rambling. Now, it’s your turn! How big is your stash and what’s in it?

Today I learned some Tunisian crochet!!!

I’ve heard great things about how wonderful it is to crochet Tunisian crochet and I got around to trying it for the first time. It was so much easier than I thought it was going to be. It reminds me of knitting since I have to leave loops on the hook when I work back and forth. For those who aren’t big fans of knitting like me, no worries it is definitely better than knitting and still faster, hehe.

I started my first crochet piece in Tunisian crochet, which is a neck warmer. I’ll post it as soon as I’m done. But first I have to run to the store and find a nice pair of buttons to match. I’ll also add a nice tutorial for Tunisian crochet to go along with it for anyone who hasn’t tried it yet. I’m so happy, because now I can make patterns using Tunisian crochet! Woohoo!

Any Tunisian crocheters out there? What do you like to make in Tunisian crochet?

I never thought it would be so hard to come up with a pattern for an egg. I have to admit that this crochet egg pattern is one of the hardest, if not the hardest pattern I have created thus far. Not to scare anyone, the egg pattern is very easy to crochet when you follow the directions. It was just hard to make the directions. I must have frogged it at least 5 time. Each time it turned out looking like a rock or some arbitrary lump of something not egg-ish.

So I stared and stared at the egg I took out from my refrigerator, wondering why I couldn’t get the egg shape right. Finally, I decided to crochet it from the top down, instead of the bottom up. Then tada! An egg was born.

So what came first, the chicken or the egg?
Well obviously the egg, because I haven’t crocheted the chicken yet, LOL!

Thanks for reading my ramblings!

Have you ever had one of those times where you crochet, crochet and crochet then you’re so tired of crocheting you just want to stop but for some reason you just keep doing it. Okay, I don’t know if that really makes sense, but that’s the feeling I got this weekend. Maybe I’m just addicted to crocheting, lol.

Anyway, I decided to make a new category here on Crochet Spot called “Rachel’s Ramblings” and as you can see this is my first post in it. I think that being able to write about crochet or other random stuff would be a fun thing to do besides being a pattern making robot, not that making patterns isn’t fun. This will definitely help me from getting all crocheted out! So I hope you all will enjoy reading some rambling as much as I will enjoy writing some!

This is my solution to solving my “All Crocheted Out” syndrome. What do you do when you are all crocheted out?