In today's CrochetMe More enewsletter, I allow as how I don't have a crocheted scarf to call my own. I'm working on fixing that.

Look:

This scarf began life as a swatch for a project in Interweave Crochet's forthcoming winter issue (Wait 'til you see the whole project!). It's worked in superlight but warm Tahki Dove.

In this week's enewsletter, we talk with Lisa Naskrent about her design inspiration for the Moorish Mosaic Afghan, featured in the fall issue of Interweave Crochet.

Have you seen the Fortune Cookie Bag in the Fall issue of Interweave Crochet? Very clever, I think. And the size is just right for a wallet, phone, keys.

But maybe you want to carry a little more—or less. Here are some options.

Bigger and smaller.

When I was testing the pattern, I used sock yarn to make this:

So here's a curious thing about that purple crochet hook.

The pattern for the project I'm working on recommends an H / 5 mm hook. The yarn I used recommends a knitting needle size of 5-6 or 3.75-4 mm. Frequently yarn balls give only knitting needle sizes (though this is changing among more enlightened yarn producers). To figure crochet hook size from a recommended knitting needle size, bump up the mm by at least 1.

OK, I'm heading back into the air tomorrow. Wish me & my crochet hook luck. I have on hand none of the fine tools you recommended, but I might be able to whip up a crochet chain to wear it.
And, yes, I could just tuck it into my crochet bag—which I did for the remainder of the flight on Sunday—but in coach, that means twisting your head upward like a flamingo whilst reaching down to tuck the crochet hook into the bag (or just whack your head on the seat in front of you). Then reversing the action to retrieve the hook.

I'm brewing up an idea for a nifty solution, though. I'll let you know when it's worked out.

Meanwhile, a peek at what I was doing a couple of weeks ago:

I've been working the Shawlette in Chains by Kristin Omdahl from Crocheted Gifts by Kim Werker. Here are a few more tips:
For the first tip, I drew from a quilting technique called, actually, chain piecing. You use it to sew together a series of shapes. After sewing together two pieces of fabric, you slide the next two under without cutting the thread. When you're done, you simply cut the threads between each set of fabric. Quilted chain piecing looks like this.

This is how this translates to this project:

In this week's enewsletter, I talk about learning how to do the most basic crochet stitch–chaining–all over again in order to make the Shawlette in Chains by Kristin Omdahl in Crocheted Gifts by Kim Werker.

I'm using laceweight for the project, but it's a bit too slender for clear pictures of tensioning. So I'm illustrating with a DK yarn.

Here's how I crochet with close tensioning:

In this week's enewsletter, I'll be writing about finding the right tension for making chains. If you're not signed up for the enewsletter, just click on the brown rectangle over to the right of your screen. Then come back Thursday for more details on this blog.

See you then!

Marcy

update: find the blog post here.

In which I transform a UFO to an FO, with the help of Harmony Guides:

In a recent enewsletter, I fessed up to creating a great swath of purple fabric that thought it wanted to be a sweater before I stashed it in the Denial Drawer. When I recently unearthed, I saw that what it really wanted to be is a blanket (yeah, it's that big). So I found a complementary yarn and sat down with the Harmony Guides Crochet Edgings & Trims.

In our CrochetMe More enewsletter, we have started a series on where to put the hook to create different fabric effects (if you're not signed up for CrochetMe More, head on over to the right side of your screen and click on "Get Our Enewsletter"). We're starting out with back-loop only (blo).

This is what double crochet looks like when worked through both loops:

And this is what it looks like when worked through the back loop only:

It makes a cool-looking ridged fabric that has more stretch than double crochet worked through both loops.

Here's how you do it. This is the top of the stitches:

This is how you make a regular double crochet, worked through both loops:

This is how you make double crochet through the back loop only:

Simple, eh?

To make the Big-Bow Cardigan from the cover of our Winter issue, you work single crochet blo.

Happy looping,

Marcy