Thursday, April 4, 2013

My brain is fried, so now what?!

Now that the new book, Crochet Dynamite: Argyle Crochet, is launched and all of the hoopla surrounding the One Year Blogeversary is over, I am at a bit of a loss of what to do with my time.  My brain feels fried, and yet, I am longing for a new challenge.  Jake suggested I try something in a new direction, still yarn related, but perhaps crochet adjacent.

I think the one thing I was the most disappointed about when I was experimenting with Argyle Crochet was that I couldn't find any sock yarns that worked with the technique.  I really wanted to make a pair of low stress argyle socks!  I really wanted to make some cool preppy headbands that Mims could wear to school (and, of course, I'd have to make a few for myself too!).  I wanted to make a cool argyle coin purse key chain.  I wanted to make an argyle lipbalm holder!  Worsted weight yarns just won't work for what I had in mind...

So, in the downtime between when I finished the last of the Blogeversary stuff, and when my brain feels like it wants to create something new, I've decided to learn to dye my own variegated sock yarn so I can try to make some of my dream argyle projects.  I don't expect it to be easy, and I expect to make lots of mistakes, because the Argyle Crochet technique needs the dyed segments to be pretty precise, but it sounds like fun.   And fun is just what I need right now.

I've gotten some really great questions about Argyle Crochet, and so if you're one of the nearly 1,000 people who downloaded it last Friday, I'm going to be hosting a Q and A on Twitter on Monday, April 8th from 3pm - 4pm PST.  Ask me questions!  Get an answer right away!  Let's have fun together!  Just make sure to label your questions with #argylecrochet so I can find them!

And, if you haven't gotten your copy of Crochet Dynamite: Argyle Crochet yet, it's available for purchase right now in the Amazon Kindle store -- you don't need a Kindle to read it, Amazon has free software you can download so you can read it on your computer, smartphone, or tablet!  Get it and then join us on Monday for the Q and A!


And because I didn't have any pictures to go with this post, here's a picture of Jake and Mims and the space shuttle Endeavour!  LOL!!!

Hope you have a wonderful day!!  And an extra hug goes out to anyone who is a caretaker for an elderly family member, because it's the hardest job in the world!  

xoxo

6 comments:

  1. I'd sure like to know how people download anything from Amazon cause when I tried to download the book they kept telling me I had to buy a Kindle in order to get it.

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    1. Hi Dragonswing! How frustrating for you. I'm so sorry. I think you have to download the free kindle software first, then you can download the books.
      xo Jaime

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  2. Hi There, so happy to see your book is taking off nicely!!!! Have fun dyeing your yarn!!!!
    Love
    AMarie

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  3. Hi Anna-Marie! Thanks! I'm hoping it'll arrive tomorrow so I can play this weekend...
    xo Jaime

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  4. Good Luck with the yarn dyeing. you should relax and take you time with it. enjoy it!

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  5. Hi Jaime,

    I got your Argyle book on my kindle and I have been loving it. With the right yarn it is magical how the pattern comes out, and those cheap yarns at Michael's are just great.

    You might want to update your argyle book with some extra patterns using a slightly different stitch I have used successfully. Let's see--I am not practiced at writing patterns. Make a chain, and I think it would ideally be an odd number. First row (American) *single crochet into second chain from the hook then chain one* repeat for desired width following argyle directions. Turn with no extra chains, as you have one on the hook now. Second row, and all rows thereafter: *single crochet into the next chain space and chain one* and be sure to include the almost nonexistent chain space at the end of the row. The end chain one before the row turn acts as both the turning chain and a space.

    This makes a smoother, less curly, fabric than straight single crochet--really shows off the plaid. You can't really see the holes, but they are there so it isn't really suitable for potholders :-)

    Thank you so much.
    Edith

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