Mikey Magazine: April 28, 2016

Mike y

Apr. 28th, 2016

In This Issue

Spring Cleaning Wait.... What?

Homemade Cleaning Recipes

StiTch Stop aCross CaNada uPdaTe

Hawt off the Hook with Mikey

Heya Crowders:

Over the past few weeks, you might have been noticing that I have been making Dishcloth Tutorials.

1 - I didn’t have many tutorials for dishcloths.

2 - Daniel needed tutorials for this edition.

3 - Recognition that beginners need doable projects.

I haven’t played much with cotton yarns, though cotton is a yarn that widely used. Lily Sugar’n Cream and Bernat Handicrafter Yarn is grown and spun in the USA. It is then brought to Canada where it is dyed into the yarns we find on the shelves today. It is a natural product that has benefits in the kitchen that will be touched on later on in this edition.

A crocheter really annoyed me last week. Giving me grief for producing dishcloth tutorials when she really wants afghan tutorials. It’s hard to please everyone but I felt the comment was extremely selfish because the crocheter is not thinking about beginners and others, such as the 4H Club in Listowel, Ontario who are teaching their youth how to crochet. What were they learning? A dishcloth! Something the kids can learn in the group, do as homework and come back to each class to have more done. To finish this accomplishment is undeniably important.

While my first project as a child was an afghan right off the hook, I loved yarn and crafting as a kid. Our youth of today is difficult to pull them offline and being creative is really a struggle. I encouraged the kids in this class to pick up a hook while watching TV. Something they enjoy doing already but adding a hobby to their hands to put their time to creative use.

For each one of the kids, their gateway project to introduce them to crochet is a dishcloth. The group leaders have spent 2 nights per week for 4 weeks in learning how to crochet. I have to say, I was extremely impressed with the leadership of this group as the girls had mastered how to hold their hooks and understand the terms of crochet. I had the opportunity to work with these girls for a couple hours. It was a lot of fun.

What helped a lot was the enthusiasm of the leaders, especially those who were learning themselves. Who knows how many of these girls will pursue in crochet in the years to come. Having said that, these girls now have a new found skill that they can develop if they have the inclination to learn further.

A true crochet community, which we have developed, accepts all levels of crocheters. We recognize that each day, we can have up to 4,000 new crocheters join us on Facebook in just one day. Many who have interest in learning right from the very beginning. It’s my role, as a global teacher of crochet, to ensure beginners, intermediate and expert levels have something to play with. New patterns are constantly being developed by Yarnspirations, our official sponsor ,where most of the patterns are provided for free.

I’ve been crocheting for nearly 30 years. I’ve not lost interest as there is always something more to learn. There is always new trends that suddenly emerge. There will always be beginners and we can never forget that.

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In This Edition

Contents

22 21

Facebook Shares their Love Jeanne answers some of your Qs

28 34

Mikey’s Videos Library Diva Dan, who just never know!

Spring Cleaning I love the month of April. Here in Ontario, it really is the month that most of us Canadians get a chance to get outside, open those doors and air out the house.

Spring cleaning feels GREAT! The freshness, the cool air and knowing you can finally really can brush the cat outside.

(Providing that she stays still so that we can brush her well!)

We never in our past have focused on dishcloths and with spring cleaning in the air it was a great way to trick Michael to help out with some of the chores. With the idea of creating a dishcloth series for the viewers to enjoy and at the same time getting dirty with some of our own serious cleaning, it was a natural thing to create and build YouTube library.

When we go out to meet our fans, we ask what are some of their favourite things to make? They reply ‘Dishlcoths’! Yes that is very true! They are easy, you can learn new stitches and the best part is that they are fast.

Happy Cleaning and don’t forget to check out our spring cleaning recipes by Cathy Lund!

- Diva Dan

15 Dishcloths

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Dusting Mitt 20

15 24

Crochet Cruises Updates *NEW* Blogs Knot to be Missed

More Charity Ideas. Pg 7

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Yarn storage Ideas

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26 Homemade Cleaning Recipes

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Stitch Stop across Canada Updates

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Feel Good Challenge

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Support Your Favourite Charity

Help your charity by being part of our challenge.

PLUS Yarnspirations.com will be giving away in total 100 Yarn balls of Caron Simply Soft for being a part of our Feel Good Charity Challenge!

Find out more information that can help YOUR Favourite Charity.

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Floral Dishcloths W

ith spring around the corner, why not make a simple and cute Flower Dishcloths for your spring cleaning adventures!

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e have 3 different floral designs here for you to try. All are easy to do and much nicer than an old rag.

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on’t forget to use cotton. It holds up much better then acrylic, and of course, wool!

Chrysanthemum Dishcloth

Dahlia Dishcloth

Spring Flower Dishcloth

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Basic Dishcloths These might be basic but these Dishcloths have some amazing stitch work that can expand your own personal skill levels.

Never done Corner to Corner? Try a dishcloth first to see if you like the pattern.

Or try the Daisy dishcloth with it’s unique raised treble bumps giving it great texture.

Or if you are a beginner start first with the basic Granny Dishcloth.

Whatever you try, you will learn quickly and easily with these dishcloth.

Corner to Corner

Granny Square

Daisy

Easy 6

More Charity Ideas!

Ideas

Women’s Apron

Hibiscus Tea Cozy

Bouquet Baskets

Flower Power Rug

Citrus Slice Coasters

Lidded Baskets

Oven Mitts

Flower Tea Towels

Lace Napkin Edging

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Over the Rainbow Changing each row with a different colour can make a dishcloth pop. But this dishcloth has one added feature and that is the corner. It has raised front post trebles and carrying it down to the previous rows.

It’s simple! Plus, it allows the colour to pop out even more.

Over the Rainbow

Jeanne took this pattern and made a little personal purse. All she did was made two squares, sewed them together, created a handle and voila! A simple and handy little purse.

She called it the Stay in Touch Crossover for her cell phone!

Stay in Touch Crossover

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Patricia Cowman was inspired to make one of Jeanne ideas.

Nice Job Patricia!

Spring Cleaning is happening everywhere. With Mikey’s whole new series on dishcloths, crocheters are learning new stitches and techniques. A great way to develop a new love for a pattern by making a dishcloth first.

Quick and easy to do and certainly colourfully too!

Dishcloths made by Heidi Gale Aumiller, Jeremy Nancy Gean, Rachel Inglis, Bonnie Ratcliff, Linda Young, Anita Mekus, Joyce Caetano, Lee Clark, Holly Slusser, Beth Ann Richards, Dee Tibbs, Melinda Barbar, Becki Dano, Debra Slaughter, Denise Thomas, & Lauren Graham

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Homemade Recipes Water! Vinegar! Two of my favourite ingredients for chemical free cleaning. I would love to share with you just a few of my tried and true recipes that will save you a lot of money and keep your home chemical free. When I clean my house, I know we are not breathing in a lot of toxic fumes. That is important to me.

The first of my amazing homemade products, and possibly my favourite, is the laundry soap. You would use this the same as you use any laundry soap…if you need to add a bit of bleach to your whites, do so. (I know, but there are times we need to boost a bit.) I have also found that this solution keeps the inside of the machine clean and the soap dispenser does not get gummed up. It has a nice light, fresh scent but nothing overpowering.

Grate the laundry soap bar (I used a cheese grater which I keep just for this purpose) and add it to a medium sauce pot along with 4 cups of water (again, I keep one just for this purpose). Heat over medium high heat while stirring occasionally until the soap has melted completely. While it’s melting, fill your five gallon bucket half full with hot tap water. Once the bar soap has melted, add it to the bucket along with the baking soda and borax. Stir it well until everything has dissolved.

Add hot tap water to fill the bucket and stir again. Cover tightly with the lid and let sit overnight to thicken. Stir well (it will gel and separate a bit). You just made concentrate.

When you’re ready to use it, stir the detergent well, then fill your empty detergent container half full with the concentrate. Fill the rest of the container with water.

Shake before each use. Use 1/4 cup per load for a front loading machine and 5/8 cup per load for a top loading machine.

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Laundry Soap • 1 five gallon bucket • a long handled spoon • an empty (used) laundry detergent container (or juice or vinegar container, clean) • hot tap water • 1 Sunlight Laundry Soap Bar • 1 cup washing soda (I use Arm and Hammer) • 1 cup borax

This recipe makes 5 gallons of concentrate which equals 10 gallons of ready-to-use laundry detergent. Safe for front loaders as there are virtually no suds, or very little.

The next favourite of my amazing recipes is the cleaning solution.

Fill a jar (I use a mason jar) with citrus peels (orange or lemon). I just keep adding these as we use consume our oranges or lemons. Cover the peels with vinegar. Let it set for about a week or two and take out the peels. You will be left with a liquid that you transfer to a spray bottle. Great for cleaning your sink, counter top, shower…..anything that needs to be cleaned. Smells great and has no harmful toxic fumes.

Lemon is a GREAT Disinfectant

Furniture polish? No problem….just take some of your citrus cleaner that you made and add a few drops of vegetable oil, shake well and spray this on your furniture. A nice light spray that adds shine and picks up dust.

I have found nothing better to clean dirty windows that the microfiber (made for windows) cloth and water. I wet my cloth, wash the window and leave it. Streak-free. If the window is very grimy from the winter weather, you may want to wet the cloth and give it a once over, and then rinse the cloth and wring it out tightly. Go over the window again in one direction and walk away. No streaks, no window cleaner and no mess.

Some might wonder why we have a jug of vinegar in each of our bathrooms, but I find it mighty handy to have one there to splash a bit into the toilet every couple of days and swish and swipe quickly. This stops the calcium or rust buildup and keeps it looking great at all times.

I hope you have gotten a few ideas on how to save money and enjoy a home free of chemicals. Some people say they miss the smell of the cleaners, however, how clean is the smell really? Isn’t clean the absence of smell?

Enjoy your day and keep smiling! - recipes and article written by Cathy Lund Diva Dan here, with my trick for the perfectly clean windows. Using vinegar, spray windows and let sit for a few seconds then wipe with a newspaper or better yet a coffee filter.

Yes a coffee filter! Wipe to dry. Next we spray our windows with a product call RainX a product that can be found in the automotive section inmost stores. Spray on the windows and once again use the coffee filter to wipe dry! I am telling you. WOW WOW What a shine and it repells water so we can be lazy and not clean for a long time.

Also Michael and I also use Vinegar, as per Cathy, with our own recipe we found on the Internet years ago. I will admit, not as pretty smelling as Cathy’s recipes, the matter of fact this stuff STINKS! But it WORKS! Like a charm!

After a light scrub and a good rinse, the smell is gone and the bathroom tub is white as snow! It stuns me how much grungy soap scum comes off the the taps and shower head are mirror perfect!

Spring

Cleaning

Bathroo

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pray • Equa l parts V inegar & Dial Dis tub! h Soap Warm V inegar i n wave, p our into Microspray bo add the ttle D Spray. E ial Dish Soap a , nd asy Plea sy!

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Vintage Blossom T too!

his is a great pattern! It is very visually appealling

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ith a round of cluster stitches and changing the colours, this Dishcloth is great even for a pot holder or pot placemat.

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retty enough to set in front of guest and easy enough to do lots. This is a great decorative dishcloth that can be made and used into many different things.

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gain don’t forget to use cotton yarns. They can withstand the heat and the washing & rinsing much better then any other yarns.

Vintage Blossom

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North Carolina Tent Sale!

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bu Who o t Love es v o and s Ch l !

Who wants ho Disc e ag? a B p W ontin Yarn he to Meet t y u ?! b ed Mikey and Diva Dan?!

Who w an a Frida ts to have y Nigh t Stitch Social to Suppo rt War m up Americ a?!

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nt e t e sal e led h l t fi e leav age bag Garo t es k arb a few i l G ?! o e n e g h r b u a W y a h ?! May h t h i t w rn wi d a e y l l h gs fi wit a b Wh bage o

See You Next Week

to lik d Ch ona es ar ity te to ?!

May 2 to May 7, 2016 Washington, North Carolina at the Sprinite Caron Factory!

Get ready to Shop, click here for more information

Please note that sale is for in costumers only. The sales at the North Carolina tent sale will not be an online special. The Tent sale is hosted by the Spinrite Factory therefore the reason why the tent is there and as a result can only be there.

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Scrubbie Dishcloths W

hat a brilliant idea for the homemaker crocheter. You can get these plastic scrubbies at a dollar store and create your own flower dishcloth. They do look like the centre of a flower, even a sunflower!

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e have two versions here for you to enjoy. Check out Mikey’s Video as he has some tips on how to do these Scrubbies.

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hey are very inexpensive to make and practical to use!

Sunshine Scrubby

Posey Scrubby

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Crochet Cruises Update Crochet Cruise 2017

We have a few spots left for an awesome 2 week Hawaii Crochet Cruise beginning February 2nd, 2017 Book Now!

AND Oct. 21-28 Once Upon a Crochet Cruise where a Little Crochet Magic can Happen.

For all the Information

Oct. 28 - Nov. 4, Wicked Step Stitches Crochet Cruise Halloween Monster Mash!

After our recent Caribbean Cruise, we have a lot of people returning, only a few seats left now!

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Choose from Patons: Moxie, Bohemian, Décor, Theo, Classic Wool, Classic Wool DK, and Metallic.

Patons Paradise Sale...

April 25—May 1, 2015

Ends Sunday Night at 11:59 (EST)

ONLY $8.00—$10.00

Spinrite’s E-Tent Try out these patterns from Yarnspirations.com with your new order!

With Patons Bohemian you can make this very simple Pullover

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With Patons Decor, this stunning Country Afghan is a bargin

With Patons wool DK washable, you can make this Garden Lattice Jumpers

Fruity Dishcloths

Apple Dishcloth

Strawberry Dishcloth

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hese Fruit Dishcloths are cute and fun to have around the house. Great seasonal ideas for friends and family. With strawberry season coming up, this Strawberry Dishcloth would be prefect to help do some of those spring cleaning projects to get you in the mood to make some strawberry jam.

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hey look a little challenging but watch Michael’s Video and soon you will be making more then one of these dishcloths. Maybe a whole bushel full!

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Yarn Organization Ideas Written by Laura Jean Bartholomew & Diva Dan

Do you remember this phrase from your childhood? “We’ve done so much with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”

Let’s go on a field trip! Let’s look into some yarn storage. I started off with a skein of yarn and a few hooks years ago,... much like Mikey’s article on the New Crocheter’s Shopping List. Over time, I had gotten more yarn, sales, thrift stores, gifts and there are always seem to be some leftovers.

So let’s make up a shopping list and see what we come up with that might inspire you for a Little Spring Cleaning help put away those yarn balls.

One of the most neatest ideas that Mikey came up with is his trolley. He got his from Ikea and when he saw it he knew right away what he want to do with it. He added his yarn ball winder and a little garbage pail on the side. It allows a cup that sits in nicely for all your pencils, scissors and hooks. Plus it’s on wheels, so you can wheel where ever you want to sit and relax.

Walmart has a similar one as well.

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My baby sister comes along and mentions to me that old saying is now called “re purposing”. Taking another man’s (women’s) junk is another person’s treasure, sort of speak. Jumping into our future, these old ideas are made anew just by changing the concept so it becomes a fabulous new trend once again.

In the crochet world, we are faced with daily task of yarn clean up, those nasty yarn tails on the floor, half used balls and a room that is ready to burst with ‘balls to the walls’ as Mikey would say!

Our yarn stashes can be the wall of shame but have no fear, we have some Spring Clean up stash ‘re purposing’ ideas for you enjoy to make you wall of shame, the wall of fame!

So grab up some of those old vintage suitcases and stack them up, Display them nicely and don’t be shy to stuff them with yarn goodness.

• Book shelves are the most popular ideas for storing your yarn. Found anywhere including Walmart, Ikea, any furniture stores and flea markets, this is a simple and decorative addition to your home. You can add a few baskets in the shelves for those very loose yarn balls hiding them from being messy.

This idea allows you to display your colour selections and create your own personal display case of your favourite yarns AND projects!

• Wire Shelves are inexpensive and if you are alway on the move, these are perfect. you can take them down and even design them differently for shape and functionality. We love them!

• One show that we attended use the idea of Canvas Closet Hanger Organizer that folds up really quickly. A lot of crocheters use their closet space to store their yarn. This is great and cheap way to utilize that closet space. Here is a version from Walmart.

• Michaels has this knitting bag that would work great for crocheting too.

These are great for the go to Crocheter always attending meetings, sport games, or on the road for fun.

• Honey Can Do Storage Cart from Walmart is 3 -drawer cart on wheels. Similar to the trolley but it does a much better job hiding those over used yarn balls. Also on wheels, you can drag that cart anywhere you wish to Crochet.

• Ottoman's with storage are stylish and functional. The great part laying your WIP afghan on your ottomans can be a very chic way to display your enjoyments while relaxing and crocheting.

• On a smaller scale a large crocheted stash basket from Yarnspirations will hold your project nice and neat and large wooden bowl, similar to a wok works as a yarn holder. I have a little suitcase that serves as my crochet tool box.

• We have seen bushel baskets attached to a pole look amazing filled with yarn.

It creates that Country style look that some like to have at home.

• To really clean your yarn mess, having a yarn ball winder is a must have tool! Easy to use. Don’t get the electric ones, just get the hand krank for easy winding. You can control the winder better if it’s manual. One full rotation of the handle rotates the winder 10 times! So it goes fast!

I hope that you have enjoyed the field trip into stash/collection storage and some little hacks of our own. We have seen many fans of The Crochet Crowd sharing yarn storage ideas. Often inspired others to do the same. Share some of your ideas on our Facbook Pages. You never know maybe you might inspire some new trend or idea!

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Dusting Mitt

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hen we talked about making this edition for the Mikey Magazine into a Spring Cleaning Edition. Jeanne came up with this Brilliant idea of a Dusting Mitt!

his Pattern is simply a round tube that you can make it as long as you want, and add a little scallop for a little decoration. After all you want to dust in style, right? The real fun of this mitt is adding Fringe.

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real neat idea and perfect to give as a gift to! Nothing like saying, here Honey, you should do some dusting! Have fun with this. It was a crowd pleaser.

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Jeanne’s Dusting Mitt

Q+A with Jeanne Jeanne is looking for questions on Facebook to answer.

Why is a granny square called so? From Champa G. Your question caught my eye because I wondered if I could find the true origin of the term. I researched this question and the best I could come up with is Internet folklore because I was not able to find any facts behind the statement. This is the legend being passed around from blog to blog:

According to a 1946 article attributed to the Oregon Worsted Company, the thrifty women of early America would carefully save scraps of yarn and fiber unraveled from old sweaters and socks. As these scraps accumulated, they were crocheted into small squares; the colors combined on the whim of the craftsman. The squares were then sewn together to make a blanket which was both functional and colorful. Because grandma was no longer up for manual labor, she was often the one to sew the squares together, thus they became granny squares.

Sorry, that I cannot validate any of this info, but it sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Is it ok to go through both the front & the back of the stitch instead of just going in the back of the stitch? From Danielle C. For each stitch, there is a front loop and a back loop. The standard unless the pattern specially says is to go thru both loops. But if you are creating something on your own, experiment because each way creates a different look. When you choose to go into the back loop only, it will create a ridged effect on your project. Mikey has a great video that demonstrates hooking into the different the loops. Check it out on here at Back & Front Loops, Back and Front Posts.

The helpdesk received an email from Linda C. She was having trouble with the decrease on Mikey’s C2C Double Crochet Afghan. Sometimes as painful as it is, counting stitches can be your best friend when you are having trouble. On this particular pattern, when you are an increase row, you will be adding 4 stitches to each row and when you are decreasing, you will be subtracting 4 stitches per row. So when in doubt, count.

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Eye Candy for Crocheters

Angie finished the Stitch Stop and Roll afghan. Looks Amazing!

Elspeth has worked on a very awesome texture afghan!

Vintage looking granny square afghan by Mary Lou. Wonderful!

Alison’s Octagon Afghan is stunning with all those colours!

This was a Scrap yarn project for Jane. Fantastic use of little scraps

This is true patience. What a fantastic Table cloth by Padma

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The Larksfoot Afghan is awesome & stunning pattern. Great Job Stacey!

Laura did the Mermaid Tears Purse.

Nicely Done!

Hazel is working on her afghan. Love the random stitches for each row!

Amazing work by Crocheters

I love bags like these, they are so creative. Fabulously made by Janet.

Joanna has been working on the Spectrum afghan.

Amy made the Over the Top pullover for this little one.

Look how cute she is!

Kellianne was on our cruise and finished her Starfish Beach Bag. Video for this will be coming soon.

Nice Job!

Love the Baby Dress Irene! Grey and Pink is a trendy combination!

Tifny’s little fox square using a popcorn stitch is very creativity!

Many of these patterns are ideas and inspiration created by the crowders themselves. Also you can go to our Facebook Page, Click ‘Photos’, them ‘Photos Posted by Others’ and scroll down to find what you are looking for. Don’t forget to say you love their Creativity!

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Blogs ‘Knot To Be Missed Tips

Ideas

Thoughts

You are My Sunshine Blanket

15 Crochet Mandalas that are free online

17 Crochet Mother’s Day Gifts

Garden Tote Bag

Earth Day Ideas from Jeanne 24

What Happens to yarn outdoors?

Tunisian Dishcloths

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he Best Way to learn Tunisian is to do a bunch of Dishcloths. Yes, it may sound boring but you can learn alot by repetitive practise. Trust Diva Dan on that one. He studied music all his life and practise makes perfect he says!

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e have two patterns here; a Knit Stitch that does look like knittting but using a crochet afghan hook and a Simple Stitch. You can add a bit of Cross Stitch to create interest to your Dishcloth.

Knit Stitch

Simple Stitch 25

Come See Us Across Canada Stitch Socials Scenic Route 26

Calling ALL Canadians!

Our Website is Up and Running. Have a Gander.

We love what Diva Dan did.

Stitch Stop Happenings

Our Stores are lined up! Visit our website for more information.

We are thrilled that Michaels Stores are inviting us to drop by and spread the enjoyment of yarn through-out our travels. There will be coupon giveways when you visit us!

We will have gatherings at major landmarks across Canada. Besides our stops at Michaels Stores, we will be announcing other stop plans on our website no later then May 15th 2016.

If you are near the area, please drop by. We will enjoy a stitch social and potluck with you and - We will be visiting local artisans, yarn shops, and fans as part of our 12 part episode series ‘What yarn means to Canadians’!

If you want us to drop by, go to our website and fill out a request form under the menu ‘Stitch Stops’.

Project Maple, Diva Dan latest project will be a HUGE crochet Maple Tree representing the Emblem of Canada- The Maple leaf. So if you come by, Drop off some maple leaves for Diva Dan! All that information is on our new website under Project Maple.

- Live video feed through-out our trip. You Know Mikey! He will always have something to talk about.

We are so super excited and can’t wait to see all of you. We even heard some Americans that live near the border will drop by too!

This will be a lot of FUN!

and so much more to come!

Be part of the Stitch Social across Canada Check out our Facebook and our Website for all the information!

We are super excited to see you this coming summer!

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Tutorials by Mikey

Bobble-licious Pillow

Yes Yes Shawl

How to do the Broomstick Lace

Trendy Triangle Scarf

Cottage Throw

Baby Sampler Block Afghan

If love the teaching, the patterns and the down to earth nature of Mikey, then take the time to subscribe to the Crochet Crowd’s YouTube Channel. You will get updated with all the latest videos that could spark your next project!

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Facebook Picture of the Week Laura Bornhoft first piece of clothing she has ever made. Using the Houndstooth stitch and a pattern from Yarnspiration.com, she did a great job finishing her project! Strike a pose!

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Cotton Properties • Cotton doesn’t stretch yarn wise. If you are going to do loose stitching, the project may stretch as a result of the stitching but it is not the yarn stretching itself.

• Yarn is so strong that it is nearly impossible to break the yarn with pulling on it without assistance such as scissors or sharp edge to break the yarn strand • It is sturdy and durable. Once a project is stretched, it doesn’t bounce back.

• It’s can be considered eco-friendly as it’s a source of yarn that is naturally grown. There are organic version out in the market.

• Cotton originally feels a bit rough but washing it will have it calm down and soften up.

• It dyes beautifully with bold and bright colours as being an option.

• Cotton works for keeping you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It naturally absorbs moisture which adjusts based on your situation. Moisture is what can cause over heating and feeling cold in the winter.

• Cotton can withstand high temperatures. Due to the temperatures it can take, cotton can be sterilized. Being that it can resist heat, it is a great barrier between a hot surface and surface such as a table or counter where a hot item may burn the surface. It can be used for oven mitts and pot holders. Be aware of the stitch as gaps between the stitches may allow your skin to push through the stitches to touch the hot surface.

• Cotton is hypoallergenic.

• Cotton is less sensitive to sunlight and will resists from colour fading.

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Read Mikey’s complete experiment on Cotton Yarns; What to look for and why cotton is a fanastic to use

Flash Sale Coming

Only 650 Left! Once gone, the kits will no longer be available.

Perfect Mother’s Day gift!

Stay tune on The Crochet Crowd Facebook for the Flash Sale. No date has been decided yet, once gone, these kits will no longer be available. First come first serve.

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Helping our Landfill sites With Earth day just passing, as a kid way back when, recycling was a new age phenomenon that during the 80’s it was a novice idea for us elementary schoolers. I was learning something new, that even my parents weren’t doing. So I felt on top of the world with this new practice. I remember my parents huffing and puffing on the thought of separating their garbage. It was not the thing to do and nor were they willing to be accepting of it.

Jumping 30 years ahead, today we see the world in crisis. Human population is exploding, our oceans and water supplies are becoming infected with pollutants and landfill sites are now mountains. Never before have we reached an age where there are debates both scientific and personal theories try to explain our dramatic world we live in.

When Jeanne wrote her article about recycling her T-shirts into yarn. One crocheter mentioned that they would have been better to donate to a charity. Yes, that is a wonderful idea but according to a number of articles on what happens to your donated clothing, there is quite a lot of public misinformation. People think when they are giving to charities that all of that is going to be resold in their stores. Lets be honest, it’s not! They don’t have enough room for all the donations. This is according to Jackie King of Secondhand Materials and Recycled Textiles association. There’s only a 15- 20% chance that a piece of clothing you’ve donated will be worn again. So what happens when charities receive far too many donations? Well in short, they go to companies like Viltex (a for-profit company) that will buy it by the pound and recycle them into rags or grind then down. The plus side is that the Charity will get money back in return. Which is really want they want anyway.

So back to Jeanne. With the T-shirt yarn that she made, she made a cat bed. In my personal opinion, making something has far more value then dumping at the local charity so that you can let some else continue to dump it for you. You can even donate that cat bed to charities that might use them.

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Approx 10.5 millions tons of textiles goes to landfills per year!

It is considered the poorest rates for recycled products

A while back we become good friends with Darn Good Yarns.

If you ever have the chance to check them out, not only do they focus on eco-friendly yarns but she helps communities in third world countries. By doing this she has introduced an eclectic array of interesting yarns.

Many can be used for crocheting but some only for crafting purposing. Her recycled sari silk yarn is a perfect example of reusing clothing to reincarnate it into something useful again.

Ever heard of Paper yarn. Well, here is a video on How to make Paper Yarn by Vickie Howell.

Personal, this stuff is not very good to crochet because it breaks but if you are a crafter, you can really come up with some amazing projects with it.

For every ton of paper being recycled can help save the following: 17 trees 275 pounds of sulfur 350 pounds of limestone 9,000 pounds of steam 7,000 gallons of water 4000 kilowatts or energy 3.3. cubic yards of landfill space

Paper Dog

Did you know nearly 2,000,000,000 trees per year is used for paper production.

I recently found this novo idea of a plasticbottlecutter.com that makes your plastic bottle into threads (ribbons) of plastic yarn. Again would you crochet with it? Likely not! But the uses for such an idea is unique and strong to use. Perfect for tying up and securing items.

We have hit a day where recycling is now a business. It is no longer ideas from an artistic group of individuals or tree huggers trying to save the planet. Evidence is overwhelminly compelling. Something to think about!

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Diva Dan! Alright, why a Mikey Magazine edition about Spring Cleaning? I do confess, I love cleaning, especially spring cleaning. The moment you open the door after a long winter, the freshness, the dust bunnies are back outside, you can see out the windows better. It feels great!

As many know, I am the Domestic Diva in our house. I have a method, a system down packed that saves time and gets the job done quickly. But never always the case with Mikey. Boy, his system or ‘systems’ never seem to amaze me. A week later the house is still upside down! He is like a chicken with his head cut off and cannot stay concentrated in one area of the house before moving on.

it

For the first time, we didn’t have Creative Festival this spring. It was nice not to be stressed with a huge show, creating displays, a huge mess of boxes and boxes and boxes of yarn that we needed to price and to be sold at the show. But where did my April go?

I woke up in the morning and all of a sudden realized that I literally missed my birthday! Honey?

I ask quietly, what did you get for my birthday?’ BIRTHDAY he screams! ‘When was that?’ ‘3 days ago’ I said. ‘I guess I’m getting nothing for my birthday’ as I twitched my head, rolled the eyes, and snapped my fingers. He says he can crochet me a cover for a rock! I know what to do if he gives me a rock for my birthday! Unless it’s a diamond than maybe I can overlook such catastrophies!

All is fine, it’s no biggie. I will just have to remember not to remember Mikey’s Birthday! We laugh about it, had breakfast and went back to spring cleaning. Yup, that’s what I did on my Birthday and afterwards. Spring cleaned the house without even thinking about it! Birthdays are no big deal for either of us, so while I joke about it here... truth is... for us it’s just another day!

Enjoy this wonderful weather coming up. It is always a longing feeling of relief when winter is finally out the door. the spring rain greens the grass and you can finally sit outside , hear the birds chirp and grab a hook, some yarn and freshen your mind with a whole new project. That sound great too me!

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TheCrochetCrowd.com

This newsletter is produced by Michael Sellick and Daniel Zondervan, Creative Directors of The Crochet Crowd. While we try our best to provide a grammatical error free newsletter, a few errors most likely will slip between the stitches. We are a very small company with a creative thirsty crochet following. If we are to produce a newsletter that has no errors, we would never be able to send one out.

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