Indy Designer Saturday: Christine of Sweet Potato 3, Custom Crochet Patterns for Everyone.6/24/2017 Today T.k. Wilson and I will do a dual blog on Christine of Sweet Potato 3. Christine designs both clothing accessories and toys. I will be covering the clothing, and accessories from newborn through adults, T.k. will be covering the whimsical clothing and toys.
First I should note that Christine has an Etsy shop, a Craftsy shop and a Ravelry shop along with a Facebook page . No shortage of pages from which to buy Christine's patterns. Her facebook page is where she updates on the latest news from the drawing table. She's also very interested and active on her Facebook page. I enjoy reading her posts and updates. I don't know about your experience but in my world babies seem to come to friends and family in bunches. Finding the perfect gift is hard. I mean I put my heart and soul into finding the perfect gift as many "makers" do. (Makers: time.com/104210/maker-faire-maker-movement/ )Every once in a while, but not often, we take a knock for giving handmade. However, when you see designs like those Christine of Sweet Potato 3's you draw in a sharp breath and exclaim " I HAVE TO MAKE THAT", loud enough for the neighbors to hear :) . So you do :) Picking a few favorites out of the pages of work Sweet Potato 3's Ravelry pages was really a challenge. Mercifully T.k. will be helping to cover more. The baby patterns are too "sweet":
For kids there is a plethora of great accessories that make a great back to school gift or something for holiday gifting. Christine has 3 kids of her own so she gets a lot of practice creating cute pieces. I like her out of the box style.
There are some great accessories for the grown ups too. Christine has designed a piece for many different occasions . She also designs for charity so be sure to check out her designs for the cancer challenge. Some of my favorite patterns include:
I hope you'll read T.k. Wilson's blog for more on the extensive designs of Sweet Potato 3 at laterosedollclothes.weebly.com/ I have very much enjoyed writing about Sweet Potato 3. Her work is inspired and her cancer challenge designs are inspiring. I wish to thank Christine for her hard work and beautiful designs.
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This past week a man who was an iconic piece childhood passed away. Normally I don't do posts honoring a Hollywood star but Adam West started a generation thinking about how a normal human being who hasn't been bitten by spiders or come from another planet could affect their community for good. The 1966 Batman television program might have been a bit silly and over the top but it was While Adam West struggled with life after Batman we never struggled with the idea that Bruce Wayne was a compassionate man using his wits to protect his city. Along with many other "Firsts" Adam West, Burt Ward, and Yvonne Craig opened a door for next generations.
Adam West supported many charities in his lifetime including winning thousands of dollars on Who Wants to be a Millionaire on behalf of an organization helping underprivileged women and children. He also lent his name and considerable influence to Heroes for Hope. This organization helps women and children in Western North Carolina fighting disease and disability. Burt Ward AKA Robin and his wife started a charity for animal rescue (which will be the subject of another blog post) and Yvonne Craig who predeceased Adam West after losing her battle with breast cancer, asked that memorial contributions be sent to The Angeles Clinic Foundation for cancer research. All of these actors made giving back a priority. Heroes on screen, humble heroes in life. So today I thought I'd honor the 1966 Batman legacy with a few patterns that those who donate to charity can use to brighten the day of children and adults who might be struggling in life. T.k. Wilson will be discussing toys and dolls that are Batman themed. Thanks T.k. . Of course the first thing that pops to mind about the original Batman TV show are the spectacular costumes. Batman with his hood, huge cape, mask, gloves with gauntlets, gray suit, yellow batman emblem, and boots. Robin in his bright red costume with mask, yellow cape, green gloves with gauntlets, and shoes that resembled robinhood of old. Then there was Batgirl (my favorite) all dressed in purple from head to toe with her yellow cape and bat emblem. Who doesn't love sparkly purple? ;) As someone who knits and crochets you certainly can't get away from the appeal of having just a little Batgear in your closet:
There are a lot of charities that will collect blankets or blanket squares for donation to charities . Here are a few fun patterns and graphs:
In order not to belabor the point I will turn the blog over to T.k. Wilson for her entries. Well, good afternoon again! If you like making stuffies and toys , you'll love all the lovely things I'm about to sow you!
So my daughter and I were cruising Ravelry checking out some of the patterns we had not seen before and getting our weekend cuteness overload. It was then we spotted the sweetest pattern by Tawnya Myers. Just Crafting Around had such a great variety of patterns including Amigurumi and cartoon themed projects that my daughter T.k. Wilson and I decided to divide the blog. (Warning, my daughter is a much better writer than I) Find T.k.'s portion at laterosedollclothes.weebly.com/
Tawnya Myers is a stay at home mom to 3 girls. She not only shares her clever ideas for home decor she also shares her recipes. Blogging since 2015, Tawnya Myers ideas are fresh and fun. Her designs have dimension and an artistic feel. You know she put time into thinking about how to make them look polished. Impressive! Because it's my job to cover the children's clothes, women's wear , and home decor, I think we'd better get to work. (All of the patterns are crochet) Now I've looked at a lot of patterns for children. I love making things for babies and children. It's a great joy. Tawnya Myers has filled her blog with some adorable patterns for kids. I think the way she finishes the patterns is really key. She does a great job at giving the patterns special touches that are so professional looking. I really appreciate the extra effort! Some of my favorites include :
There are just a couple home decor projects but they are great and very useful. If you have to decorate on a budget sometimes these projects are the best in the world. I like the way Tawnya Myers thinks outside the box. The first is a really pretty, simple, Decorative Crochet Pillow pattern. Nice decorative touch! I would think it would work over an older pillow, with polyfill or with a pillow form. The second project I wanted to share are some great Hanging Baskets. I need these for my kitchen! Tawnya Myers designed some lovely pieces for women to wear. It's nice to see someone with a variety of ideas to share. Because of the climate where I live cowls or scarves are a necessity. Finding cowls that don't take forever to make is also a necessity. That's why I like these designs by Just Crafting Around:
I want to thank Tawnya Myers for such fantastic designs! I really appreciate all the artistic touches she puts into her work. I hope you'll hop over to laterosedollclothes.weebly.com/ for a second look at Tawnya Myers designs ! Its a two feature blog today! :) Okay I LOVE the MyPicot website! One stop shopping for BEAUTIFUL crochet and knit stitch patterns with picture tutorials, appliques, flower patterns, basic patterns AND everything is free on the website. It took me a bit to find out who owned MyPicot but the talented Nicole Galan is the creator/designer for this more than amazing site where charity fiber artists can turn for beautiful items to donate.
I'm sure all of you who read the OUTpost blogs have your favorite charity. Hats, scarves, blankets, isolettes, baby layettes, gifts for the bereaved, prayer shawls, whatever your charity donations there are ways to embellish your work OR patterns that make stunning donations. MyPicot's Nicole Galan is a genius with a hook OR needles. Many of the patterns are charted, if you aren't familiar with reading charts Nicole Galan has instructions or you can check out YouTube for help. There's so much to cover so let's begin! First I just wanted to cover the knitting patterns at MyPicot because there are fewer of these patterns but they are so high quality. If you are looking for openwork/lace patterns or appliques MyPicot has a really lovely selection of patterns from which to choose. I'll be honest, one of my favorite things to create, knit wise, is lace! I'm a bit biased. :) However the patterns at MyPicot will absolutely add beauty to garments such as scarves and shawls. NOTE: If you want to download the diagram pattern for any of the motifs, appliques, stitch patterns simply click the "Please use this link to download the diagram". This will open a new page. You may need to turn off your "Adblocking" software. Now to some of my favorite knitted lace patterns:
MyPicot offers a really amazing selection of flowers and butterflies that can be added as embellishments to hats, blankets, scarves, fingerless gloves ect. (I have never made knitted appliques for full disclosure)
On to crocheted patterns. There is so much to choose from but I thought I would start out with the "Simple and Textured" group of patterns because they are relatively easy. There is such a STUNNING variety of stitch patterns, a charity crocheter could get VERY lost among the designs! Basically these are stitch patterns so you can let your imagination run completely wild.
I found an Indy Designer so amazing that the blog practically writes itself. How about that?! Mary Angel is a mom of three living in Garden Valley, Idaho. According to her Ravelry page she has been crocheting 34 years which is a really long time. Totally has me beat. With a busy family, busy schedule of art shows/market events, it's amazing that she finds time to design! Lucky for us she does :)
I do not consider myself "Very" good at any one thing, just pretty good at a lot of different things but Mary Angel says "I am not the best cook, but I am very good at painting, sewing, working on any type of craft and I really enjoy crocheting… so a lot of my imagination/energy goes into everyone of my designs… " www.ravelry.com/people/AngelsChest . I think her designs speak for themselves so lets get started checking out the pieces! My daughter and I like to make cute kid hats ! We do sell a lot of them to customers in the deep freeze of the Northern Adirondack, New York Winters. Fun hats are one way to get kids (and adults) to wear a hat AND they look so darn adorable! Seriously who can resist? Lets check out a few of my favorite hat patterns designed by Mary Angel.
I don't know about you but when I make a gift for a baby or child (teens too, if they would like) I like to make matching sets. Apparently so does Mary Angel. The largest collection is the owl theme (which of course only feeds my owly obsession :)
There are some very creative designs for teens to adults by Mary Angel. She's got teenagers so staying fresh and contemporary isn't difficult.
I wrote more about Mary Angel's designs than I intended to today. I'm sure you can see why I got a bit carried away. :) Check out her designs on Facebook at Angel's Chest and of course shop at her etsy page. Pick up a pattern or two from her Patterns Discount Pack! |
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