OOOH It's my turn National Crochet Month

Again the National Crochet Month Blog tour has been a wonderful experience. It is always so hard for me to wait my turn.

Amy and Donna at Crochetville have done a lot of work to make this happen. Thank you .

The tour is supporting the  Halos of Hope  Charity this year. So if you are into charity crochet check them out.
I would also like to mention that I love being a member of the
CGOA  

 I am a Professional member, I am also a junior reviewer for the Masters Of Crochet Program. 
 I am so looking forward to this years 20 Year Celebration of the CGOA.
Manchester, NH  July 23rd - 27th
I hope I get to see you there.
 I love talking and sharing crochet with others

Also

I am posting a free Spring flower motif pattern at the end

and I am also introducing a new pattern The Maricopa Shawl.

It is only available on my Etsy site at the moment. 
 

Being late in the month is a challenge as you want to offer something unique and exciting to finish the month off with a bang. 

But Challenges are what makes me tick.

Most of the blog posts are telling you how wonderful crochet is.

I am going to try and make you think about how Wonderful it can be.

We need to keep growing or we stagnate.

In fact that is my theme for this post.

Challenges

The Challenges for designers,

The Challenges for today's crocheters.

The Challenges facing the industry

For me personally there is more to my designing than just creating patterns to sell either to editors or to my fellow crocheters out there. I have goals in mind of what sort of things I want to offer the world of crochet. What sort of stamp I am going to leave on the industry when I can no longer contribute.

I try and design things that are
1. Beautiful
2. Original
3 Inspiring
My  Mantra  is
A Good design should inspire others to grow with their crochet skills. It is by this growth of skills that the world of crochet thrives and moves forward into the future.
And DON”T tell me it’s all been done before. I refuse to believe it.
It’s admitting defeat before you even try when we think like this.
The number of combinations of stitches is endless.
What we do with these combinations is also endless.
So let our design be truly creative and joyful.

 

Now when I say challenges for today's crocheters, I mean something to take you out of your comfort zone.
Maybe a pattern that takes you past the stitches you know on to stitches you haven’t tried before. Maybe a new technique or a new way of looking at how things are constructed. Never done crochet in the rnd, Try it.  
Try Something to help your skills grow. Something to make you feel wonderful when you have accomplished it.
Don’t worry there is someone out there that is more than willing to help you learn a new skill, and new stitch, a new technique.  The Internet is a great resource.
It is so easy to crochet what we know. The stitches the styles, the tried and true.
But we don't grow with our crochet if that is all we do.
When you find yourself finishing something that made you stop, think, and learn you will be so proud of yourself.
What a great feeling.

I am not just talking about crocheters either, but about the whole world of crochet too.
I believe the industry is at a cross roads. With the world at our fingertips via the Internet the standard fare offered needs to look to the future or be left behind. We now see what is offered throughout the world and some of it is truly inspiring. What wonderful tools are now available to make great designs more accessible than ever before. Hopefully the industry will keep pace with this new world of pattern availability and they can help our crocheters of today and of the future step up and  forward in the wonderful world of crochet. When individual crocheters  grow the whole world of crochet grows.  
We can all grow,

Designers,

Crocheters,

The crochet world as we know it.

 And for me that is what makes it all fun.

Spring Flower Motif

Designed By  Kathryn A White

Skill Level   Moderate
Materials  Thread: Size 10
Aunt Lydia’s Wood Violet ( 7 yards ) Aunt Lydia’s  White ( 7 yards )
Aunt Lydia’s Purple ( 10 Yards ) Aunt Lydia’s Forest Green ( 7 Yards )
Hook: Size 7/1.65mm 

Dimensions: Each motif measures 3 inches across

Spring Flower Motif

With green ch 4, sl st to form ring.

Rnd 1  ch 1, 12 sc in ring, ending with a sl st in 1st sc of rnd. End off, weave ends in.

Rnd 2 attach purple  in any sc, ch 1, sc in same sc, sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc, * sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc, * repeat from * to * around, ending with a sl st in 1st sc of rnd, End off, weave ends in.

Rnd 3  attach white in front lp of any sc, ch 1, sc in same sc, working in front lp only around, ch 2, holding the last lp of each st on the hook, 3 dc in next sc, yo, draw through all lps on hook, [ 4 dc cluster made,] ch 3, sl st in top of cluster just made, [ ch 3 picot made, ] ch 3,* sc in next sc, ch 2, 4 dc cluster in next sc, ch 3 p in last cluster made, ch 3, * repeat from * to * around, ending with a sl st into 1st sc of rnd, End off, weave ends in.

Rnd 4 attach green in back lp of a sc on rnd 2 that is between the petals on  rnd 3, ch 1, sc in same sc, working in back lp only around, ch 3, holding the last lp of each st on the hook, 3 tr in same sc, yo, draw through all lps on hook, [ 4 tr cluster made, ch 4, sl st in top of cluster just made, [ ch 4 picot made ]  ch 4, sl st in same sc, * ch 1, sk next sc, sc in next sc, ch 3, 4 tr cluster in same sc, ch 4 p in last cluster made, ch 4, sl st in same sc,  * repeat from * to * around, ending with a  ch 1, sl st into 1st sc of rnd, End off, weave ends in.

Rnd 5 attach wood violet through the 2 lps at top of cluster behind the ch 4 p of any cluster of previous rnd, ch 1, sc in same st, 5 tr in back lp of the sc behind the petal on rnd 3  * sc in 2 lps at top of cluster behind the ch 4 p in next cluster, 5 tr in back lp of the sc behind the petal on rnd 3 * repeat from * to * around, ending with a sl st into 1st sc of rnd, End off, weave ends in.

Rnd 6 attach purple in the 3rd dc of previous rnd, ch 1, sc in same dc, 4 tr in next sc, ch 4 p in last tr made, 3 tr in same sc, sk next 2 dc, * sc in next dc, 4 tr in next sc, ch 4 p in last tr made, 3 tr in same sc, sk next 2 dc, * repeat from * to * around, ending with a sl st into 1st sc of rnd, End off, weave ends in. 

I also am releasing this pattern today:
This is my .

Maricopa shawl

A fast working lacey stitch pattern makes this a fun piece to crochet. With three variations for edgings and stitch counts for size 5 thread and Paton's Lace yarn. The design incorporates the lover’s knot stitch to create this shawl. Light lacey and can be worn in several ways for different looks.

For now it is only available on my Etsy site as I am up grading my Website to new software. Trying to keep up with today's technology. It should be up on my website within 2 weeks. But I couldn't wait to share it with you so put it on Etsy now. 

 

I hope this year will be a year of growth for everyone!

and may your hook fly.