International Diploma in Crochet

A month or so ago I got an email from my friend ♥Piper♥, who some of you know, strongly encouraging me to take a series of classes offered by Pauline Turner.  I hadn't heard of Pauline's International Diploma in Crochet before, but Piper's email really resonated with me because I had been looking for a training program that would help me improve my skills and become a better designer.

It was like a miracle, how easily everything came together in my life in order to make this happen.  It was completely the right decision for me.  And the good part is, you guys all benefit by it too!  Better patterns, and better tips!  Yippee!  So, once a week, I'm going to share a little bit about what I'm doing in 'school' (it's a study-at-home, mail-in-my-swatches-and-projects program) and hopefully I'll have a new and interesting tip or two.

This program is split up into 3 parts.  The first part is designed to help you become a rock-star-awesome crochet teacher.  That's the part that I'm taking right now.  I've got 35 swatches to complete, plus 4 projects, a test, and a report.  I'm setting a goal of completing the program by Thanksgiving.

Some of my swatches, labeled and ready to go!

I got the first 7 of my swatches completed this week.  I blocked them, which I hope was the right thing to do, and I've gotten them labeled and ready to mail off to England today.   Apparently, the judging is pretty tough, so I'm nervous.

Blocking was fun for the whole family!  I wet the swatches, wrapped them in a towel and then had Mims stomp on them to help get the water out without wringing or twisting them.  

Before I began this program, I always felt lucky that I learned to crochet as a child.  I've got years and years of practice with proper gauge and yarn tension.  I've experimented and I've discovered 'my own way' of creating crochet.  I never saw this as a disadvantage before.

But now that I'm sitting down with my hook and yarn, wanting so badly to get 'Excellent' marks on all of my swatches, I am forcing myself to follow Pauline's instructions to the letter, and not slip into my 'lazy crochet' techniques.  I discovered that I've been so wrong about so much of what I do!  Crocheting 'the right way' has resulted in some of the most beautiful work I've ever produced.

For example:  I usually crochet into the back loop of the foundation chain.  I like it because it makes a neat edge that's easy to crochet into if I have to do an edging.  What I don't like about it, though, is that it leaves a small gap in the edge that isn't uniform with the rest of the crochet piece.

Now, because I'm me, I dismissed this as just the way the first row of crochet looked.  Besides, crocheting in the back loop looked much better than when I crocheted into a side loop of the chain...

I didn't know you were supposed to go through BOTH loops in the chain!  Do you know what happens when you crochet into both loops?!  It creates a beautiful, perfectly uniform first row, that matches every other row in the piece.  And you've still got that back loop available if you have to add an edging!  Zoh my goodness!  My life is transformed!

I am sure that all of you Dynamo's who learned to crochet in your 20's or 30's are laughing at my 'discovery'.  I would be too, if I wasn't so excited about it!  Seriously, I am filled with delight every time I think about it.

Waiting to go to the post office!

I wasn't sure what I was going to learn in this first program.  The second and third parts were the parts that I thought I was really going to benefit from, but this discovery (on my second swatch, yo!) is eye-opening.  I am excited to learn more!  I am excited that I have so much still to learn!  And I'm excited that, by learning the right way to crochet, my work is going to continue to get better and better...

xoxo

Sunday School

Mornin' Dynamos!  I'm trying something new today.  I got a suggestion (quite a while back) that it would be nice if I posted links on how to do some of the techniques that I use (Here's a shout out, K!).  I think that's a great idea, because I find cool tips and techniques all the time, but I haven't really had a good way to share them before. Jake suggested that I do 'Sunday School' twice a month, and it just all clicked into place.

Planet June has 2 tutorials that changed my life...
Invisible Decrease (or if you're a LEFTY - woot!  Me too!)
Ultimate Finish for Amigurumi (You don't have to just use this for amigurumi.  It works for closing the end of any sphere/ball/egg shaped object - even if it won't eventually have a face...)

I almost always crochet over my ends instead of weaving them in afterwards.  This is a great tute to show you how...
Crochet Over Your Ends

I also really like this join. One of my friends taught me a similar join with a knot in the center, but I like this better...
Russian Join

And I absolutely adore this post from Fresh Stitches on how to get even stitches...
How To Get An Even Stitch And Gauge

And while I was there I noticed that she had done several posts on working with multiple colors for her Dragon CAL (crochet-a-long).  Even if you're not participating in the CAL, I think that her technique is really clever and worth checking out...
Changing Colors and Stranding Yarn in Crochet Colorwork: part 1
Changing Colors and Stranding Yarn in Crochet Colorwork: part 2

Do you have any cool tricks or helpful tips?  Share them with us in the comments below!

xoxo

P.S. Now that I've seen it, I want to have a CAL...  Anyone else want to?  What should we do?!  Want to make a bag? I've got a really fun one I'm working on... Or should we do something else?  Maybe in October we can do something to show our support for Breast Cancer Awareness month... Hmm... What do you think??  C'mon, Dynamos, what would you like to do?  Add your suggestions in the comments when you add your cool crochet tips!  xo Jaime