Crochet
Crafternoon Treats Crochet Podcast 3: Yarny pleasure
Welcome to the podcast notes for Episode 3 of the Crafternoon Treats crochet podcast. This week I’m talking about all sorts of yarny pleasures, including socks and bags (no surprise there), a new pattern and a GiVaWaY!!! The first in the history of my podcast.
The giveaway is for the Crochet Yeah! book (hard copy) and the Saunders sock pattern by Joanne Scrace (digital pattern). Open worldwide and the winners will be picked from subscribers to the Crafternoon Treats YouTube Channel on April 7th at 12 noon. No tricky competition questions – just subscribe to enter!
Here is the video, I hope you enjoy it…
Episode 3 Podcast notes
Social media links
- The new Crafternoon Treats Ravelry group for crochet chat and natter about the crochet podcast
- Crafternoon Treats on Instagram – wow, I topped 25,000 followers the other week! Fantastic, thanks to all who follow and like my ramblings!
- Crafternoon Treats on Facebook – the two FB groups are Bagalong with Crafternoon Treats and The Crafternooners
- Crafternoon Treats on YouTube – please do go along and subscribe to my channel as there are giveaways this week 🙂
- Crafternoon Treats (@crafterstreats) on Twitter
- @crafternoontreats on Ello
The Victoria Shawl pattern by Sandra Paul of the blog CherryHeart
- Buy the pattern here
- Visit Sandra’s blog here – she has a lovely knitting and crochet podcast and YouTube channel that has inspired me to give this a try.
- For the first shawl I’m using Deramores Studio DK in heather and mist and amethyst – a lovely squishy and affordable acrylic yarn that feels like merino…
Crochet sockalong
I’ve written a post about common crochet sock problems – visit the sock clinic to find out more.
- Download the free pattern by Elin Stoodley (@pandagourgh on instagram) for the #survivalsocks.
- Check out another free pattern for basic crochet socks.
- Look up the paid pattern for the Saunders socks by Joanne Scrace on Ravelry.
- See my previous post about the crochet sockalong.
Giveaway part 1
The first GIVEAWAY to be picked from subscribers to the Crafternoon Treats channel on YouTube is for a free digital copy of the Saunders sock pattern, with very big thanks to Joanne Scrace who wrote and offered this after seeing episode 2 of the podcast.
Sock yarn alternatives if you are allergic to wool
- Any acrylic yarn but your feet might feel a bit sweaty…
- Or try an acrylic/wool blend – if the wool content is quite low you might be able to tolerate the yarn on your feet.
- Other possibilities are the Stylecraft Alpaca Tweed, a blend of alpaca, acrylic and viscose or the Stylecraft Malabar. This is cotton and silk and is available in aran weight or DK weight.
Giveaway part 2
Also from Joanne Scrace, this is the Crochet Yeah! book, written with Kat Goldin, the other partner in The Crochet Project. Its got 6 patterns altogether, including the fab socks on the front cover. You can buy this book and also the Shawl Book 1 and Shawl book 2 from the Etsy shop of The Crochet Project.
- Joanne’s website and blog is Not so granny
- Kat’s blog is Slugs on the refrigerator
- The Crochet Project website is here and they have a stand at the forthcoming Wonderwool in Wales this year – which is 23-24 April 2016. Its held at the Royal Welsh Showground Builth Wells. They’ll be at stand B6, Joanne says 🙂 AND they’ll have a new crochet book out – on cardigans! Woo hoo I want to get into crochet garments and finding good patterns is hard.
Yarny pleasure
- Deramores own brand Studio DK
- Stylecraft yarns are available from many yarny retailers in the UK. The larger ones such as Deramores, Woolwarehouse and Black Sheep Wools deliver worldwide.
- Planet Penny cotton – see the Planet Penny blog
- Lucy is at Attic24 and has free patterns and tutorials on many lovely projects, including several blankets
- Baa baa brew is the new yarn from Baa Baa Brighouse
- The Yan Tan Tethera Yarn club is also run by Baa Baa Brighouse
The Tunisian workshop at Black Sheep Wools, Warrington
This is on Friday 14th April and there are some places left at the time of writing. The project for the class will be Tunisian fingerless mitts.
Crochet bags and boxes
I lived in the desert for about ten years so I tried a lot of the non-wool sock yarns. The ones that use acrylic in a blend don’t seem to be sweaty – maybe it is different than 100% acrylic?? Here a list of some of the fingering weight wool-free sock yarns I’ve tried that are currently available: Plymouth Diversity, Bernat Sox, Premier Wool-Free Sock (comes in variegated, stripes, and brights), Wisdom Naked Sock, Hikoo Cobasi, Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, K1C2 Pediwick, Berroco Comfort Sock, Loops and Threads Woollike, Kraemer Saucon Sock, Mary Maxim Bamboo Mosaic, On Your Toes Bamboo, and Cascade Fixation (not fingering weight). If you go to my Ravelry page at nanetteb under the non wool tab you can see them knit up. Also on my Instagram account I just put a picture of the different sock brands – I’m knittingincolor there.
Hi Nanette – that’s a huge amount of really useful info – I’ll check out your page on Ravelry and I’ll be doing a feature on alternative sock yarns in a future podcast episode so will mention these brands. Thank you so much xxxxxxx
Another great podcast! I really enjoyed all the information about making crochet socks and felt that the entire podcast was stuffed full of brilliant yarny goodness! It is so lovely to have another crochet podcast, especially by a fellow Brit. I do enjoy all the knitting podcasts from all nationalities, but the homegrown podcasts just seem to be a little more relevant to me when it comes to talking about wool festivals, yarn sellers and even seasonal issues (such as why we need such warm socks!!). You are fast becoming a staple of my week, so thanks and long may it continue x
Your podcasts are excellent, very informative, and interesting and presented beautifully and yours is rapidly becoming a big favourite. All your content is spot on and your presentation style is lovely. You are a gifted teacher and naturally authoritative about crochet (in a nice way.) Your advice and information is more than a bit helpful! I am in the middle of knitting socks – I am a knitter as much as a crocheter, but really want to make crochet socks too and know that I will be using your advice to help me.
I love that you are using ‘normal’ yarns. Budget is something that is really important to me through necessity and you are right what you say about other podcasts using expensive yarn. Unicorn yarn has its place but I love the challenge of making pretty things out of yarns like acrylics too and I give it just as much as a chance to shine because it really can. For instance your Victoria shawl is one of the most beautiful examples I have seen and yet the only acrylic version. I love your colours for this shawl. I loved the point you made about crochet being more yarn hungry.
Crocheters seem to be more fun and more interesting than knitters, so I am glad you have started podcasting. It’s funny how I enjoy crochet blogs and now podcasters so much more and yet I love the two crafts equally.
Your production values on the podcast are pretty amazing too, but it is your easy style that makes them so enjoyable. Thanks very much for another lovely episode.