Enhance Your Crochet Skills

Hello, everyone, welcome to the Creative Crochet Corner Live Q and A. If you are new to the brand, Creative Crochet Corner is your online resource for all things crochet, where you can find everything that you need from basic instruction to advanced techniques. My name is Leah. I am your moderator. And Creative Crochet Corner will be streaming live once a month for an hour to answer all of your crochet questions.

If you are viewing on our website, make sure to submit your questions and comments into the chat box below the video player. You can also participate by submitting your questions into the chat on Facebook or YouTube. Now, before we get to those questions, a little details from me, something to keep an eye out for, if you want to learn how to crochet but don't know where to start, we have got you set with a 14-day Learn to Crochet Series. It's perfect for anybody that's in search of a fun new hobby, and we've broken it down for you, made it very easy for you to learn crochet with some helpful videos, quick projects, and step-by-step instructions. You can sign up for free today.

The link has been dropped into the chat box, and you can find it there. Now to get to your questions, that means we've gotta have somebody to answer them, and today we've got our crochet instructor and the managing editor of the Creative Crochet Corner, Brenda K. B. Anderson. She's here to answer all of the questions that you've got live during this Q and A session.

Time to welcome her aboard. Brenda, welcome, we're so excited to have you join us today. I'd love you to start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and kind of what got you here. Okay, hi, everybody. I'm excited to be here and talk crochet with you guys.

So I first learned how to crochet when I was probably about five or six years old. My mom taught my sister and I, probably to keep us outta trouble. Here, make this super long crochet chain that goes on forever. And I quickly started making things for my dolls, and I really loved to crochet, and then I started sewing, and then I kind of forgot about crochet for a little while and then came around back to it in my 20s, and then I started designing patterns. I've designed for magazines, for yarn companies, and I made a Crochet Mittens and Fingerless Gloves class for Craftsy.

That was super fun. And yeah, basically, that's my main job now is crocheting and knitting too, and a little bit of sewing on the side 'cause I don't wanna leave that one out too. All right, just a few things for me before we get to everybody's questions. Now, first of all, we do have Brenda for not just the hour of Q and A today. She's going to be going live at 11:00 AM Central today with a live tutorial on how to make the Irish Lace Cowl Pattern.

I'm gonna have her tell us just a little bit about that, but first, I wanna point your attention. You can download that free pattern for yourself by clicking the link in the description to download. Once you've got that link, you'll be set with all of the instructions that Brenda is going to be taking us through at 11 o'clock AM Central time live, so right after this Q and A with just a little bit of time in between. And then while you're thinking about the questions that you would like to put into the chat box for Brenda this hour, we would like to know some things about you. So if you would like to share with us, what is your experience level, how long have you been crocheting, what types of patterns you've been working on, what types of patterns you'd like to see demonstrated live in some of these future live sessions, and any kinda specialty stitches that you're curious about as well.

The more we know about you, the more we can bring you some really fun patterns and live tutorials that you're going to benefit from in your crochet journey. So you can start dropping those into the chat box now along with your questions. I'm going to start off by asking, Brenda, can you tell us a little bit about that 11:00 AM live? Some details, some little sneak peeks. What are we getting into a little later today?

Sure, well, this is what I'm gonna be teaching you guys how to make. It's a lacy mesh cowl, and then it has these beautiful little floral and leaf motifs attached to it, and it is kind of a nod to Irish crochet, which I won't get into now. We'll talk a little bit more about that at 11. It's inspired by Irish crochet. It's not made exactly how Irish crochet is made, but it does have some components of it, so you'll learn a little bit about that and work up a really cute cowl with me.

All right, I'm really looking forward to seeing that. It looks beautiful. We've got a couple hellos dropping into the chat. So we have Eric with us. Eric is doing this crochet course, the chain stitch crochet.

Do you wanna talk a little bit about the chain stitch, especially for anybody that's just starting out out there? I'm assuming he's just talking about beginning, like, making a crochet chain, but I'm not quite sure, so correct me if I'm wrong, Eric. That's basically the fundamental. The first thing you really ever learn is when you are, you know, learning how to crochet, you have to start with something. Usually, it's a crochet chain.

So you just, actually, I can just demonstrate it. But the crochet chain, this is when you're very first starting out. You make yourself a slipknot, and then you can put that on your hook. And then the very first thing you do is you make this sort of foundation of stitches, so you wrap the yarn around your hook, and then you pull it through the loop, wrap it around, pull it through. This is, like, one of the first things you ever learn.

And you can do lots of different things with just crochet chains. You know, you can make bracelets, really cool scarves where you go around and around and around with chains and then join them together, so it looks like a whole bunch of kind of strands or ropes strung together. But usually, you know, when you're learning how to crochet, you make this chain, and then you begin by working back and forth into the chain to create a piece, whatever it is that you're making. Right, I very fondly remember starting with those and doing exactly what you said. My friends and I would make crochet chain bracelets at recess when it was too cold to go outside.

Uh-huh. We had a lot of fun with those. It's a great starting point, and I have enjoyed revisiting that in my memories with some of these live Q and As. All right, we have to say hi to Tammy. Tammy is from Michigan and loves to crochet, has been crocheting on and off since childhood.

Tammy, hopefully, we're hitting you on an on phase of your crocheting, and you'll be tackling some of these projects coming up here soon. I'm gonna go into another question here for Brenda while people are dropping more into the chat box. I'm curious, Brenda, what is your favorite crochet stitch? I suspect it changes as time goes on. What currently are you loving to use?

That's, like, asking who your favorite child is or something. Oh, I don't even know how to answer that. I really enjoy doing post stitches to make cables. I love that. I also really love using lace, which you guys will see at 11 if you come back for this.

But, you know, even like the humble single crochet. I mean, I hate to even call it humble 'cause it's awesome. I use that all the time for making toys. That is like the best stitch you can use for making something really structured and, you know, has a lotta oomph to it. So I love using the single crochet for making toys.

That's one of my favorite things to do. So, I mean, I can't even choose. It just depends on what result I'm trying to get. But another thing that I've been really into lately is color work too, so it's not so much a stitch as like a technique 'cause you can do color work with many different types of stitches, and they give you different visual results, so that's another fun thing too. I don't know, there's just, there's too many.

We actually wouldn't mind hearing from all of our viewers about what stitches you like to work with and also if you have some questions on them. Brenda is here to give you some little tips and tricks if you're struggling with something specific and so you can ask those specific questions as well. We have a little more general question here from Monique, a really good one. So this 14-day course that you can find the link to in the chat box, Monique is curious, Brenda, "If the class would help those who are left-handed learning to crochet?" What do you have to say to our left-handers out there? I think I talk, I actually teach that class, and I think I talk a little bit about left-handed, what you would do if you were left-handed and crocheting.

But my advice to you is to just watch things in a mirror image, so if you're able to flip-flop and do a mirror image on your screen, then you would be looking at me as though I were crocheting left-handed, as though I was a left-hander because we would look the same. Or if you're not able to do that on your screen, then you can use a mirror and just look into the mirror and have the mirror pointed at your screen and then it would look like I'm left-handed crocheter, and you would just follow along exactly like what I'm doing, so. All right, so grab a good mirror, and hopefully that helps a lot for, I know there are quite a few left-handers out there, so best of luck with that getting started. I know, Brenda, you get that question quite often, and I really love the mirror suggestion. Now we're gonna talk a little bit about equipment with our next question.

One of the most important things for crocheters is, of course, the hook. So Jill wants to know if you have some recommendations on the best ergonomic crochet hooks to be found. Well, I like the Clover Amour hooks. I mean, I'm not a spokesperson for them or anything like that. This is what they look like.

They have a little rubbery handle. It's a little bit flat here, and I, in particular, like the shape of the hook. But this depends so much on how you like to crochet, how you like to hold your hook. You know, some people hold their hook like this, some people hold their hook like this. There's lots of different ways to hang onto your hook, so I think this is the kinda thing where you just have to buy some different kinds of hooks, or if you have other friends who crochet, maybe you can borrow some of theirs, or, you know, if you go to the store, hold them in your hand for a little while and just feel where it's pressing against your hand.

I mean, you really just have to practice with it, I guess, to really know what you like. But definitely, I recommend these kinda rubbery handles because it's a little bit sticky almost, so it doesn't slip in your hand, and you don't have to feel like you're, like, hanging on for dear life to keep your hook in your hand. You can have like a lighter touch to it, and it doesn't slide around in your hand. And also, you know, if I'm like stressed out and crocheting, if I'm stress crocheting, which, stress crocheting, that's not really a thing, right? 'Cause it relaxes you.

But when I start out, sometimes if I'm thinking really hard about something or if I'm working on a really tight tension or a tight gauge thing, then sometimes my hook will press into my hand right here, so I always wanna have something that's a little bit softer, you know, like this rubbery grip for me. But, you know, like I said, it depends on how you hold your hook, so the best thing you could do is just try some different hooks and see what you like, yeah. I'm gonna dig in a little bit, Brenda, on that tension that you just mentioned. So, of course, get rid of some stress by crocheting, but you're holding something for a pretty decently long time and also looking down for a long time. Do you find that there's any stretching techniques or hand strengthening techniques that really work for you if you start to feel a little stiff over time for your neck, your hands, maybe your shoulders?

I know for me personally, if I'm thinking really hard while I'm crocheting, and I'm doing something that's really complicated, I notice that my shoulders kinda go up like this when I'm, like, thinking about something, so I have to, like, every once in a while take a break and, like, pull my shoulders down and just hold them down for a while and then roll them. And another thing, if my hands are starting to ache or my wrists, I will sort of do this, like, it's waves. And when I pull back on my hands, it helps stretch out this area and down here too. That just helps me. I mean, I'm not trained in that at all, like, what kinda stretches to do, but these are the kinds of things that help me.

So I know some people will pull back a little on their hands like this, you know, to kind of stretch that out a little bit. But really, I find if I just flex my hands in the opposite direction and kinda do this, that that kinda loosens them up a little bit. And I think the key is just to notice it before it starts to be much of a problem. Like, as soon as you notice it, just stop. Take a break.

Maybe you can have two different projects going. Like, if you're doing something that's like a tighter tension, maybe you're making a toy or something where you're crocheting a little tighter, or you're working with something that's non-elastic, like a cotton yarn crocheted tightly or something like that, then, you know, have a different project where you're working really loose stitches. You know, maybe you're working with some springy wool or something that's not as hard to pull through, so, you know, then you could alternate between, you know, the two different styles to see if that makes a difference. Fantastic, I know that I read a lot, and I find that I need to change where I'm sitting to help my posture sometimes. And when I think, I do exactly the same thing that you described.

If I have to think hard, my shoulders start to creep up, and I gotta pull 'em down. So hopefully that's helpful for anybody out there that's experiencing any of that kind of tension as you work on your crochet. We've got a question coming in from Samantha that is next. Samantha wants to know, "What is the hardest thing to crochet?" So, Brenda, the most challenging or difficult project that you've encountered so far. Can you tell us about that?

Ooh, that is a good question. Are you, like, asking 'cause you want to avoid it or 'cause you wanna do it? That's what I wanna know. Boy, I think it just depends on what you're... I mean, I guess for me, the hardest thing is if I'm following somebody else's pattern, if it didn't come from my brain, and I can't visualize it.

I'm the kinda person who needs, like, charts and that sorta thing to orient myself while I'm working on a more complicated stitch pattern to see how the stitches line up because, as I'm going back and forth, it's hard for me sometimes when I'm reading the directions, and I see, I can read through it carefully, and I do understand it, but if somebody else wrote it, I might not have a mental picture in my head, and then I get a little confused as to where I'm at, like, if I'm working on a complicated cable thing, to see where the stitches connect to other stitches, or if I'm doing something with really complicated shaping, maybe. You know, certain amigurumi toys might have some interesting shaping that you're not used to, so that might be a little bit hard to anticipate. But I think with crocheting, if you understand, if you're able to read patterns, that definitely helps, and if you're able to look at diagrams, that definitely helps, and putting the two of those things together, you know, as long as you're patient, you can conquer all of it. But, yeah, complicated things, I guess. I think maybe for me, when I first started figuring out the anatomy of a sock and how to make a stretchy sock, that was a little bit tricky for me when I was first learning that kinda thing.

So that might've been, maybe that's the most complicated thing. But I don't wanna scare you away from socks. If you haven't done socks, it's not that complicated. It's just, from my designing perspective, figuring out all the different increases and decreases and different places to put gussets and all that stuff. Well, it's good to hear that there are some things that challenge you as well as our expert here.

It feels good to be reminded that you can hit some challenges too. Oh, yeah. It's all learning. All right, let's go specific with our next question. So Rosie is looking for a little education on the best cord used to make a basket.

Ooh, so I've made some different kinds of baskets, and I don't know if you're thinking about crocheting around a cord. If you wanna make a really heavy-duty structural basket, you can even go to the hardware store and just find some rope or something that has some stiffness to it, and you can crochet around it. And what I mean by that is you would lay, here, let me just see if I can try to demonstrate this. This might be a little tricky, but you can lay your... Here, let me get one.

Let me get one row done, and then I'll show you. But basically, what you can do is you can crochet, like, you lay the cord on top of your work, and then you crochet right over it, so that way, you're adding all this extra strength and durability, but you're not having to put that cord actually into a crochet stitch. So, you know, if you're interested in doing that, here, I'm almost done with this. I might have enough to show you. All right, so imagine you're crocheting around and around, or however you're making your basket.

You could get a heavy rope. Let's use our big-time imaginations and pretend that this little thin piece of yarn is a thick, like, heavy cotton rope or something or nylon. You can just lay it down right on top. Let me get my, there we go. Lay it down on the top edge, like right on top of those Vs, and you can stitch around it.

So you make your stitches like this, right on top of that, and you're just encasing that rope into your stitches like that. So that is one way. And, you know, if that was a thick, heavy rope, you'd get these sort of taller, lots of little vertical pieces to your stitch 'cause your stitch is taller 'cause it's going around that rope, and it looks really cool. So I have made baskets that way. You can do that.

Or you can also, if you wanna just make it out of, you know, if you just wanna crochet it, and you don't wanna work around a rope, one thing that I've used, and this will be coming up in a live somewhere, I've made plarn. I don't know if you've ever heard of that. But basically, you're taking, you know, those plastic grocery shopping bags, and you're slicing it up into little pieces, and you chain those pieces together, and then you're making your own yarn outta plastic, and that has an incredible amount of, like, stability in it, and it's light, and it's not that hard to work with really, so that is another option. Otherwise, you can use something like hemp cord. You can use just cotton.

You know, the bigger the basket, the more structure you're going to need, so the thicker the yarn or cord or whatever it is should be. But having said that, I have also made baskets out of numerous strands held together, and that has, like, a little more flexibility, so when you're making your stitches, going in and out, all those strands, you're just holding them together as though they're one rope, but when you make your stitches, they're a little more pliable, and they're a little bit more, it's just a little easier to work with, and you can work really tight stitches with lots of strands held together. That, for me, was easier than using a very thick cord or rope. Another thing, one more thing, another thing that I've seen people do, which I haven't done yet, is using T-shirt yarn, and you can make that out of T-shirts, or you can buy it that way, and it's just like a thicker piece of yarn that's made out of a strip of like a T-shirt fabric basically so that actually has a lotta structure too. All right, good luck starting your baskets, Rosie.

All right, let's do Charmaine's question next. Charmaine is having a problem with a center square going askew and just not remaining totally square. What do you think Charmaine might be doing wrong to have that happen? Can you say it one more time? She has a center square going askew, is what she?

Yes, it's not- Center square. remaining totally square. Like she's making, I wonder, oh, okay. Can you clarify? Jump back in here if you could.

I wonder if you are working in the round, and you're making a square, like something like a granny square, or perhaps it's something with like a lotta single crochet stitches, and you're working from the center out, around and around to create a square and then it starts to kind of become, I don't know, like the corners of it start to veer off to the side. I wonder if that's what you mean. So jump back in if that is not what you mean, please, but I'll talk about that for a second. So as you're working, most crochet stitches, when you work around and around and around, and you don't turn and work the opposite way, every time you make a stitch, your stitch gets inserted. Here, let me show you here.

Every time you make a stitch, here's a stitch that I just made, but when I do the next round, I put the post, oh, here, let me back up. Here's the stitch that you just made, right here, and then if you work another round, the post of your stitch is here instead of over here. So every time you go around and around, your posts end up going over a little and a little and a little and a little. If you're right-handed, your work starts to veer to the right. If you're left-handed, it'll start to veer to the left.

So if the problem is that, you know, you're working around and around and around, and every time you add those squares, the bigger it gets, the more your stitches start kinda skirting off to the side, one thing you can do, and I don't know if you're working from a pattern or not, but if you're just making squares, you can make joined turned rounds. So what that means is, at the end of your round, you make a slip stitch into the first stitch of your round, then you chain however many you need for your turning chain. If it's a single crochet stitch, you would make just one turning chain. Then you flip your work over so you're looking at the wrong side of it, and then you crochet in the opposite direction and make it join. So every time you're crocheting a round, you're kind of correcting what you did on the last round.

You're alternating back and forth and back and forth, and that way, all the crochet is kind of getting a little bit off and a little bit off, that doesn't all build up and turn into this sort of slanted situation, slanted square situation. Who wants that? So you can fix it a little bit with blocking for certain projects, but I mean, I can't see what you're working on, so I don't know if that's gonna help what you're doing. But if you're just making crocheted squares, and you wanna avoid that situation, I would try joining and turning your work so that you can work in the opposite direction and see if you like that better. All right, Charmaine has not dropped back in, so it seems like, at least so far, that was probably what she was looking for.

We'll keep an eye out just in case we have to come back to this. We always can. But, for the meantime, we'll move on to Elizabeth. Elizabeth is asking a question near and dear to my heart as well, "How do you change or join colors when crocheting an Afghan?" So Elizabeth can always see the knot, and it never seems to look right. What are some tips for that?

Well, you could skip the knot altogether. So I guess it depends. If you're changing at the end of the row. Here, let's do that. We're just gonna...

Here's my teeny tiny swatch. All right, so say I'm making an Afghan for a mouse here, and I wanna make it striped. So I've just finished my last stitch, and at the end of the row, normally we're told to do that last yarn over with the new color, which I'll show you what that looks like. You just make your stitch until there's one more yarn over left in your last stitch, and then you just yarn over with the new color, and then you can chain and turn and start working across the opposite way like this. You can do it that way, and then you just...

Sorry, these colors aren't super contrasty. I hope you can see that okay. But then you would just take your yarn end later and weave it in so that way you don't actually have a knot 'cause the knot can call more attention to the fact that you just can't change colors. If you just weave it in, if you just let your tails hang, hang out until later, then you just can weave 'em in, and then you don't see it as much. Another thing you can do, sometimes this helps, if you are changing at the end of a row, sometimes I will actually even complete that stitch completely, and then make a yarn over with the new stitch and then pull on the original stitch until that loop pretty much goes away and that can kind of hide where you've changed color.

Let me move this over here. And then you would do, you know, your turning chain, whatever that is, and turn and go the opposite way. I like to do my color changes that way a lotta times 'cause it feels a little more secure, and, I don't know, it just seems a little bit tighter right there. And then you just weave in your ends, and you don't have to have a knot there. If it's something where you're changing colors in the middle of your Afghan, like, you know, maybe you're making some kind of color block, or you're changing somewhere along the way, you're just gonna wanna make sure that you come to whatever the last stitch is before you wanna change your color, and you just yarn over with the new color.

Just let it hang there. You don't have to tie anything, and then you just continue on your way like that. You just keep going, and then you have a nice, clean color change in the middle. And then you would just take those yarn strands later, or at whatever point, and just weave them into the color that it matches, just weave 'em in and out. So you don't actually need to have any knots.

You could just leave a little length of yarn and keep going and then later weave it in so nobody knows. Ooh, I really like that. Well, something for me to try, and Elizabeth as well. Thank you for those tips. A little comment here coming in from Gabby.

This is fantastic. So Gabby was taught to crochet as a child by Gabby's mom, who is a Spanish speaker, so all the terminology in stitches Gabby knows in Spanish and has recently started crocheting again and is learning all of the stitches now in English, so really enjoying picking up the craft again. So, Gabby, welcome back to the world of crocheting. That's a great story. Happy to have you.

Definitely share a little bit more about your journey as we keep on doing these Q and As. Kathy's got our next question here. Kathy's from Tennessee. This question is for Brenda but also for everybody that's viewing. You can drop in your own comments on this into the chat box.

Kathy wants to know if there are others who struggle with staying on one project. Usually, has three or four going at one time, then finds herself seeing another great Afghan pattern and buying yarn for that one next. So Kathy wants to know if she's the only one. Brenda, what do you have to say? You are not the only one, for sure.

You know, I used to make myself finish my projects before I could start another project because if I didn't finish that project and I started the next project that caught my eye, then I would just never go back to the first one. I mean, I know myself, and I know that I would be bad at finishing up all those things. Like, once I set it down, I lose the motivation, and then I just moved on to the next thing. But now that this is my profession, so I have to have all these different projects going, they're at, like, different parts of their completion, I should say. Some are completed, some are halfway completed, some are just started, some I've just swatched, some, you know, I have to send out.

You know, here's my idea for this. What do you think of this? You know, to yarn companies and things. So I always have at least five or six projects, if not more, probably more, going on at any one time, and that, like, goes against my rules for myself because I really like to finish things, and it's hard for me. So, yeah, I have to make sure I have lists, and I know where I'm at on each project.

Otherwise, I just would never finish anything, I'm pretty sure. I'm actually going to follow on with this since I'm assuming none of you are alone in this with the multiple projects. Do you have any suggestions for storage, especially for people that have multiple projects going on at one time, to keep their yarn handy but also kind of tucked away. Ideas for things like that? So I have a couple of thoughts.

At my house, I have bins, and then I have, like, big Ziploc bags to keep all my stuff in progress in, so I keep all the things contained, all the parts, and my sketch, if I have a sketch, or, you know, if I was making somebody else's, I would put a pattern printout or at least a note as to where that is just in case you don't get back to it for a while 'cause you might think, oh, I'll remember, you know, what this was, where I got it, and I'll remember the hook I was using. Um, yeah, you might not remember 'cause I have so many times pulled something out, and I remember thinking, oh, of course, I'll remember what hook I was using for this, but then I pull it out, you know, I get to it later than I thought, and then I'm like, ugh, what hook did I use for this? So if you don't have a million hooks, and you can't just put the hook in the bag with whatever you're working on, leave a note, or, you know, if you're lazy like me, sometimes I'll just take a picture as I'm working on the thing with the hook in the picture, so then at least I can go back and scroll through and figure it out if you can't be bothered to write F on a piece of paper and put it in the project, which sometimes I can't be bothered. But, yeah, always make sure, when you put it away, it'd be like you're giving it to someone else who doesn't know. Like, just pretend you in the future doesn't know, so that's my advice.

Yeah, and bins, and I love the Ziploc bags, or you can get really cute project bags, like fabric bags with little cinched tops or, you know, there are so many different ways to store things. But I usually use the Ziploc bags because I used to buy wool yarn at thrift stores and one time I bought some wool yarn and there were moths in it, which I did not realize. I had never had that problem before, and they got into a lot of my yarn. So ever since that, even though I haven't thrifted my yarn in a while, I keep my stuff in Ziploc bags just in case 'cause I never wanna have that problem again. A little bit of extra protection.

Yeah. Okay, well, you mentioned hooks and having quite a few of them, and Bella's question is about hooks. So Bella is wanting to make some doilies and wants to invest in a crochet hook, some crochet hook sets. So what would your suggestion be for that? Bella assumes that hooks with thicker handles work better and are a little more comfortable.

What do you have to say about that? And then, suggestions for projects that can be made with those small hooks? Well, like I was saying earlier, I do like the kinda hooks that have the rubbery handle. And this isn't a super small hook. This wouldn't be what you'd be using for a crochet thread or anything, but this same brand, they do make sets that are the super tiny steel hooks with the nice rubbery handle, so that's what I personally would buy because these just feel really nice in my hand.

But, again, like, this is the kinda thing, it's just everyone crochets differently. You know, we have different bodies, we have different ways of moving, we have different ways of making our stitches, so you're just gonna have to try some out. But I definitely would recommend, like, a rubbery feeling, thicker handle 'cause, you know, when you're working all those tiny little stitches, it's nice to not have to feel like you're gripping to hold onto your hook. You just want your hook to just kinda stick in your hand, become an extension of your hand, you know? Yeah, so I would recommend that.

And then, projects, did you say projects with the... With the small hooks. Oh, okay, like what kinds of projects? You can make so many different things with those. A great thing to make is socks because, you know, boot socks are nice, really thick wooly boot socks, but practically speaking, I love making, you know, socks with thinner yarns, and then you would need a smaller hook, kind of on the verge of those small hooks.

But the super teeny tiny little steel hooks that you might be talking about for really thin thread crochet, I mean, you can make beautiful shawls, you can make beautiful, like, actually, Irish crochet, which we'll briefly be talking about in my next live at 11 o'clock. When making traditional Irish crochet, they would use those hooks to make the very fine mesh background to connect all these motifs together. That's a great use of those hooks. Basically, anything that's very lacy. You could make a lace top.

If you wanted to do something smaller, you could do like a little lace bag or something like that. I mean, just so many possibilities. Brenda, you're reading my mind, by the way. I was about to take a little break from questions just to remind everybody that at 11 o'clock Central time, we are going to have that live tutorial on the lace cowl, and that free pattern is back into the chat box, and you can download that free pattern for yourself so you can join that live tutorial, and you can also find the live event page that you'll click through, again, at 11:00 AM Central time, so it's just shy of an hour from now. I just looked at the clock.

So when you're done here, you can come back at 11:00 AM Central and get a tutorial. I know Brenda has mentioned this a few times, and the project is laying in front of her, so if you've been curious, that's when you can come back for that specific project and get a little more detail about that. Now I wanna ask you a question, Brenda. You design, you've mentioned it briefly. You design some projects.

You make them up. You create them yourself. So I'd love for you to talk a little bit about how you decide, where do you get your inspiration from, and then also, for anybody out there that might be thinking about getting into their own project designs, do you have any tips on how to maybe trial and error, how they could get into that creative space, rather than following a pattern themselves? Sure, so I get my ideas from all over the place. You know, some people are inspired by color, some people are inspired by stitch patterns, like looking through a book full of, like, a stitch dictionary of different crochet stitches, and that, sometimes I will just leaf through and be like, oh, I love this stitch pattern.

I have to make it into something. What does it look like? And I just think what it would be best suited for. Sometimes I'm inspired by just, you know, fashion. Seeing people walking around with something cool and it just starts my brain turning like, ooh, what if I made something kinda like that, but it was crocheted instead of sewn, and, you know, just things pop into my head, like, all the time, and I have to jot them down in my phone so that I don't forget about them.

A lotta times, I will be inspired by, like, a yarn company would have a call for submissions. So what that means is they put together a mood board and some ideas of things that they're looking for, and they basically send it out and say, "Hey, you know, if you have any ideas, send 'em to us," and then if they like your ideas then, you know, you get paid, and they publish your work. So I love looking at other people's mood boards. Excuse me. You know, Pinterest, things like that, just to feel more creative and, like, inspired by what other people are looking at too.

Mm-hmm. And, you know, sometimes, when somebody sends out a call for submissions, I see a whole bunch of images that I hadn't come across before or, like, a different way of looking at things, and it makes my brain start thinking about things I hadn't thought about before. You know, like different ways to use crochet to, you know, make things I never would've thought of before, so I do that. Sometimes I will just look at Pinterest or things like that, but a lotta times, it's just something like personal to me, like, uh, I wish that I had, you know, these super, super warm mittens. Like, I need to design those because I secretly just want them, and then that'll be my work and what I want mixed together.

So a lot of times, it's just something out of need, or I wanna make something for one of my kids. I make a lotta toys. And sometimes they'll tell me like, "Mom, I want a purrmaid," or, "Mom, you know, can you make me a unicorn with rainbow hooves?" Or, you know, just things like that, so my kids are sometimes dictating what I design. I'm sure there's lots of requests that people can have from their kids or any children in their extended family and friends. It's a good way to get inspired.

Let's go specific again with our next question. So Rose wants to know, "Brenda, have you ever made anything using the lover's knot or the diamond waffle stitch?" Those are two things that are on my list of projects for some time in the future. The lover's knot, I think that's also called the Solomon's knot, but please jump back in here if I'm incorrect about that. We're gonna crowdsource that one, I think. I have done some swatching just to figure out how it works, but I haven't actually designed anything with it, but I think that that's gonna be, like, a really good project for the summer.

And then, the waffle stitch, I had only just come across. I mean, I've seen a couple of waffle stitches, but it seems like there's a newer waffle stitch that I've been seeing around Pinterest and stuff. And I'm trying to think. I know I've swatched it, but I don't think I've designed anything in the waffle stitch yet, but that is on my list 'cause I really love textured stitches and, yeah, I think it would make a really nice hat or something like that, a wintery thing, so maybe that'll be a little bit when the, or a dishcloth or something like that with that extra texture. Something for a little later in the year maybe.

Oh, Rose did drop in. Yes, also referred to as the Solomon's knot, so you were correct in that assumption. Okay. All right, I'm going to take a brief pause to just let everybody know, if you are hanging onto a question for Brenda, this is the time to drop it into the chat box. We're not quite at the end of our time together, but we're getting close enough that I don't want your question to go unasked if we have time for it, so go ahead and drop it into the chat box now.

We'll get to as many as we can before we have to say goodbye, let Brenda get ready for that 11:00 AM tutorial that's coming up very shortly now. So that's my reminder. We're gonna get back to your questions until we run out of questions or time, and Denise has our next one. And going back to looking at Pinterest for this, so Denise wants to know, "When you're looking at Pinterest, can you find something that you would like to make and then draft up your own pattern based on the idea or the picture that you see?" I think you could do that, but when I do my design work, I wanna come up with something that's different than what's already out there. So, you know, if you were designing something for yourself, you can definitely do that, just look at stuff and get inspired and make, you know, your version of something that you've seen.

But usually, when I'm looking at Pinterest, I mean, sometimes I'm not even looking at yarn things. Sometimes I'm looking at sewn things, or I'm looking at art a lotta times or just pictures of beautiful flowers. I mean, for me, it's I'm just inspired by lots of different kinds of visuals. Sometimes, though, you know, I'll see something, and I'll think, oh my gosh, I never thought about making a plant hanger where, you know, it's this type of shape, and then that starts making me think, oh, what other shapes could I make up that would be easy and put together? You know, like usually it's kind of like a spark that I get, and then I think about all these other things.

Yeah, I've never tried to recreate something that I've already seen because somebody already made that, and I feel like, you know, I don't know, I just wanna have something that I came up with. And yes, everything that I come up with is inspired by the world around me. It's not like I'm coming up with things in a vacuum or anything like that, but I just like to be inspired from lots of different angles and come up with something that feels like me. Okay, let's go. I already am laughing a little bit because, going back to our very first question, where it felt like this was asking about your favorite child, I feel like this is another favorite child question.

So, Brenda, "What is your favorite kind of yarn to work with?" Yeah, this is another question like that. It so depends on what I'm making, but I do gravitate towards using really, like, soft, springy. Like, I really enjoy working with wool. Just how it feels in my hands, and it's something that's really easy to block, and it's like putty in your hands, you guys. Wool will take the shape you want it to so much easier than other things.

Although, I mean, I do work with everything. Like, I do know there are some designers who really don't like acrylics, but I love acrylics for making toys for sure. And lately, since I've realized how much steam blocking your acrylics can change the texture of the yarn, I've enjoyed working with acrylics more because before, I would kind of avoid them because I felt like if I was making a hat, it didn't drape the way that I want it to, things like that. But now that I've learned a little more about it and that steam blocking helps way more than wet blocking for acrylics, now it's kind of fun again. So I really enjoy natural fibers.

I love using cotton for baskets or, like, cotton wool blends. I love that for making tops. It just so depends on what I'm trying to make, you know? I love all the fibers. I love 'em all.

And, you know, when I'm thinking about making something, I think what is gonna have the structure and the drape and the feel to, you know, what am I gonna use to get there, so, yeah. All right, Molly dropped in a specific question about your favorite weight of yarn to design with. I'd love for you to talk a little bit about that, but maybe also include what kind of projects work best with what type of yarn weight so that we can kind of get an idea of those different uses. Okay, sure, I would say, most often, I design with worsted weight yarn, which is, like, the yarn you see behind me. It's one of the most popular weights of yarn.

It's the yarn that you would, you know, normally use for an Afghan or something like that. I would say I use that more often than the other weights of yarn simply because I think that crocheters really love that weight of yarn. Like, I think oftentimes, when I design something, I get lots of questions like, "Oh, I have a lotta worsted weight yarn. Can I substitute with that?" So then I start thinking, okay, maybe I need to design some more things with worsted weight yarn 'cause I think a lotta crocheters kind of collect it and have it on hand and would wanna use it, so that is part of my motivation for using worsted weight yarn. The other part is it is a size that feels really comfortable.

You know, it makes big enough stitches that you can still see it really well, even if you have some vision issues like I sometimes do, and it's usually the size that we learn on when we're first learning how to crochet, so a lotta people are familiar with it, a lotta people are comfortable with it, so I use that a lot. But this is the part where I talk about how don't be afraid of using other kinds of yarn. So once you've been doing that for a while, definitely look into trying other kinds of yarn. There are thinner yarns that, like, you can use for socks. They make great tops, great sweaters.

They're much drapier naturally than a worsted weight would be because it's just thinner. So, you know, you do have to have a little more patience. Things take a little bit more time when you're using a smaller hook and the skinnier yarn, unless you're making a super lacy shawl, and then with lots of holes in it, 'cause then, you know, it doesn't take any time to make the holes, right? They're just there. So, you know, you can use a thinner yarn for all different kinds of things.

You can use it for sweaters, hats, mittens, anything. Worsted weight is great for mittens, hats, scarves, thicker sweaters, cardigans, also like bags and things like that. And then, there's chunky weight yarns and bulky weight yarns, and I love working with super bulky yarn. I don't know if it's just, like, sometimes I just have an attention problem, and I just wanna make something really, really fast and just be done. You know, those, like, instant gratification crochet projects are so fun, and you can, like, you know that your stitches, when you're using this very thick yarn, it makes these chunky, really textural stitches that are so beautiful.

I just love, you know, I don't know, the textural nature of the stitches. The stitches really shine and show up in those big, thick yarns, so those are fun. But, you know, if you're using the very thick, super bulky yarns, you have to be very careful if you're making something that requires drape. So if it's gonna be something like a sweater or a hat or something that you're gonna wear, you need to have a loose enough gauge in order to give it enough drape. And be careful about what stitch patterns you're using because, you know, if you do something and single crochet back and forth, and it can be a really firm structural piece, and you make a hat, and then it just sticks up and looks kinda stiff, like if the wind blew too hard, it would just knock it off your head.

You know, it's not gonna hang nicely. All great things to keep in mind. That was quite a comical image that I got in my head with that one. All right, so we've reached pretty close to the end of our time. I would like to allow a moment or two for any last minute questions to trickle in.

And while I wait, Brenda, I wanna give you the floor to talk about, one, where can we find you, two, what do you have coming up, and three, a little bit more about that teaser for 11:00 AM, the tutorial that you're doing. So I'm gonna give you the floor while we wait for any last minute questions to trickle in. Okay, sure, so I'm on Ravelry. My name is Yarnville on Ravelry. You can find me there.

I usually answer my messages pretty quickly there. I have a blog. It's called Craftsplosion if you wanna check out what I'm doing. There's a little bit of, you know, sewing, crafting, and definitely yarn there. And I have, like I mentioned earlier, I worked on a class for Craftsy called Crochet Mittens and Fingerless Gloves.

I teach that class, and that's exactly what it sounds like. I'll teach you how to crochet some mittens and fingerless gloves. And then, also, I've been teaching on the Creative Crochet Corner a lot, and that's where I'm spending most of my time and doing these lives, so, which has been super fun. All right, well, no last minute questions have trickled in, so I'm going to go ahead and finish off with a few reminders. First, we have to say thank you to Brenda for all of your expertise and for joining us for this Q and A today.

If you tuned in late, weren't with us at the very top of the hour, we do have a 14-day Learn to Crochet Series. It's perfect for anybody that's looking for a fun new hobby, and we've broken it down and made it easy to learn crochet. There are some helpful videos, some quick projects, and step-by-step instructions, so you can sign up for free today. The link has been dropped into the chat box for you, so you can go ahead and get that link and get started with some crochet. Also, make sure to click the link in the description to download the free Irish-ish Lace Cowl Pattern by Brenda and join her.

It's at 11:00 AM Central time, and that is going to be coming up for, that's our next free crochet tutorial. So we have to say thank you again to Brenda for joining us, sharing your expertise, and thank you to all of you in our wonderful audience for watching and sending in your questions. Please come back soon. We will be doing these again about once a month, and we would love to get more questions from you and keep you excited for your crochet journey. Again, thank you.

My name is Leah. Have a wonderful day. Happy crocheting, and we will see you next time.