Mike y
Feb 7th, 2016
In This Issue
Happy Valentine’s Day Enjoy the Super Bowl with ideas and shares
Coming Soon! Disney World Retreat & Halloween Cruise for 2017
Hawt off the Hook with Mikey Heya Crowders:
Valentines is just around the corner. For some people, it’s a big to do and others it’s just another day. For us here, Daniel and I don’t do much. We have our weekly date night out all year long. Truth is, we need the date night out because we work from home and can go weeks without leaving the house beyond the local coffee shop. I do like the colours of Valentines. It’s in the middle of winter here in Ontario Canada. A bit of pink or red beyond the white snow is refreshing for the eyes. The snow becomes to look dirty with constant snowing and melting. It’s no longer nice on the eyes but more of a sign that you want winter to finish up and start smelling the thaw of the ground and floral fragrance in the air. For one Valentines, when I had a full time job and ran The Crochet Crowd at the same time. I came home from work and Daniel had his mother’s dishes set out. Something scrumptious was cooking in the oven. There were flowers and a beautiful cake was waiting for me. It was so sweet. So I picked up my video camera and filmed the event. It was nice, capture the moment sort of speak. When I asked him what was cooking, he stammered and said “Chicken”. Without thinking much about it, the night went on. For me, I have a simple taste pallet. I’m not fancy. I don’t like to try new foods. I’m simple. Daniel, on the other hand is complex and loves to put anything into his mouth! He thinks I should become more cultured and expand my tastes. I’ve gotten better over the years but not near to Daniel’s level. As always, the meal tastes weird. It’s Valentines, so I have to be nice too and eat what is served. Gawd, the chicken tasted off. It’s probably the sauce he made. Just shut up and eat it I was thinking. After dinner was served… Of course, I casually say… “Gee the chicken tasted weird!” He gives a big diva smile and says… “That wasn’t chicken!” Of course, my eyes blow up like balloons with horror! “What was it?” I inquire without really wanting to know an answer. “It was the love bunny! Hope you liked it. Not everything tastes like chicken!” Valentines… YES… that holiday where you have to put your personal baggage aside and be more open! When I think of Valentines today, I think of rabbits! It’s backwards really because when I think Easter… I think of a Turkey!
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In This Edition
Contents
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Facebook Shares their Love Jeanne answers some of your Qs
19 26
Mikey’s Videos Library Diva Dan, who just never know!
Give a Warm Heart, and the Crowd Goes Wild! With Valentine’s Day coming up and the Super Bowl just passing. We decided to show the love and the cheers that keeps The Crochet Crowd bustling with projects! I think it would be safe to say that we love to do projects that express our love, our team spirit and the caring part of our commitments to charities too. Crochets brings a fun and creative way to express who we are, our personal side and our style. We can cheer for a different team but in the end, it is the fun, the laughters and the sense of community spirit that rides in all of us. Enjoy the Super Bowl, be safe! Don’t forget, even if Love is not in the air for you this Valentine’s Day. Love comes from the heart, that can be express in the simplest ways! Show your heart this coming week! And for fun, Give somebody a crochet heart, just for the love of it. It might cheer their day. :) - Diva Dan
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*NEW* Heart & Square Afghan
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Crochet for the Love of it Pg 11
Super Bowl Spirit shares on Facebook! PG 23.
Happy Hearts Afghan perfect for Valentine’s Day
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6 Give this heart to a friend for Valentine’s Day
Crochet Cruises Updates *NEW* Blogs Knot to be missed
16 Learn to Fillet Crochet with this Shimmery Heart Scarf
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Team Spirit Wristers are sure to be cool!
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Cozy Fringe Cowl is Simple at it’s best!
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Happy Heart Afghan T
his a cute Little Happy Heart Afghan that we did a number of years ago for a crochet challenge.
L
ooking back, it really was a successful project. The ideas, colours combinations and talent was quite amazing!
T
his is your very basic granny square with a heart motif added to it.
Y
ou can have a lot of fun with this afghan including where to put the hearts. Perfect for valentine’s Day coming up!
Get the Pattern, Videos and Blog
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If you get a chance too, check out the Happy Hearts afghan Flickr page of all the awesome Happy Hearts Afghan entries. Honestly there is a lot of different ideas and wonderful combinations of all sorts. 400 photos to be inspired! These incredible afghans were done by the following Lisa Dewyngaert, Ashley Cooper, Patty Collier, Megan Olaveson, Ashley Sullivan, Beverly Early, Lisa Quigg, Patti Parnell, Jennifer Mosquiera, Sherry Schermerhorn, Jennifer Erdosy, Susan Saffery, Amanda DelFemine, Deborah Hammond, Roxan Nickell & Ginny Valery.
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Shimmery Hearts Scarf H
ave you ever done Filet Crochet? It is really quite easy and creates a unique and subtle look to any project.
T
his Shimmery Hearts Scarf is a great way to pick up a new idea and perfect for Valentine’s Day coming up.
L
earn how to read the charts and before you know it, you can wear new scarf just in time for Valentines Day.
H
ere is great site to create your own design by StitchFiddle.com where you can upload a photo or even start with a simple geometric shape. Create your won style and ideas, it’s tat simple!
Get the Pattern, Videos and Blog 6
This was a one week challenge we did around Valentine’s Day a few years back. We have a lot of fun doing this one week challenge and the response was amazing. Check out more of these simple and easy to do fillet crochet scarves on our Shimmery Hearts Scarves Flickr page. You might get inspired. These Filet Heart Scarves were all done by Bonnie Sequin-Tooker, Cathy Blay, Chris Barnett, Christine Anderson, Christine Hanson, Coralee Bosch, Terrilene Plaunt, Rebecca McCart, Randbec, Sandi Duncan, Jessica Hone, & Fanny
So going to do this one! - Terrie Snawder
I can’t wait to do this. It is going to be MY scarf!!!
- Elizabeth Walker I can make a few for the women in my family. - Irene Foss
I have just the yarn for this.... - Carol Hanselman
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Happy Hearts Coasters T
hese Heart Coasters are a breeze to make. Simple and fun. Make lots and use as pretty decorations for around the house, on Valentine’s Day cards or even for your table.
T
he cool thing about this pattern is the edge. It uses the crab stitch also known as the reverse single crochet. A very unique way to finish a border giving it a tight rope finish to any edge
D
iva Dan used this pattern quite a bit. For one project, he decided to use them as leaves for a tree he was working on. It turned our awesome!
Get the Pattern, Videos and Blog
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Valentine’s Day Ideas from other Bloggers
Scarp Heart Fingerless Gloves from CrochetParfait.
Valentines Day Gift Bag by Little Doolally
Heart Strings by MakeMyDayCreative
Crochet Heart Key Rings by Kerstin Arnold
Heart Decorating Ideas by Jose-Crochet
Crochet Valentine Daisy Heart by BautaWitch
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Heart Blanket W
e just released the video on how to this afghan.
T
he pattern is a bit more challenging since you have to work your way around the heart but once you get it, your heart will go wild!
T
he pattern called for Cotton yarn but we decided we like to use Bernat satin for that softer look.
T
here is a little trick to do this pattern. As Mikey has demonstrated in the video and the blog. Once you found that trick, this pattern is fun to do.
Get the Pattern, Videos and Blog Ginger Badge created this afghan but for a border she decided to do a heart border. What a great idea!
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Crochet for the Love of it Ideas
I Heart My Dress
Heart Sachet
Valentines Tablecloth
Valentine Scarf Duo
I Love You Pillow
Baby Blanket
Red Blanket
Graceful Scarf
Cranberry Mouse Throw
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Sweet Heart Ideas
I love you a latte! These are great by Betty
I’m Cross Stitched for you by Lorleen. Love the middle of these hearts!
My Heart wreath is hanging just for you by Lori DeVeyrac. Very Nice!
Love Hearts on a Couch by Rachel. That is cute!
My Heart is Blooming for You by Mellisa. Fantastic Wreath!
Fill my heart with sweetness by Kristen. A cute pattern for kids! Yarnspirations has a similar one
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What an adorable Picture for Valentines! This hat was made by Arminia
Bee Mine Valentine, says the Bee by Cynthia.
Love is simple by Saundra. Love the simplicity of this wreath!
Sweet Heart Ideas
Elegant Love by Shellyanne. So Beautiful!
Another Heart goes Bloom by Jess. Stunning when it’s all fill with Roses!
You make my Heart Burst by Lisa. This is very well done!
You send frills to my heart by Veronica. This is a super Pattern!
Kathy’s Little Valentine Baby Set is ever so Cute!
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! Hearts with Wings. A beautiful and lovely afghan by Edna.
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Peaches & Creme Cotton... On Sale Now Only....$3.00 per bag of 4 Starting Now ends February 8,2016 at 11:59pm (EST) No Limits / While Supplies Last www.yarnfactoryoutlet.com/e-tent
First order of cotton sold out. One day left for this yarn only
Spinrite’s E-Tent Try out these patterns from Yarnspirations.com with your new order!
Be My Valentine Dishcloth
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Love Handle Hot Pad
Rose Bouquet
It’s all about Colour and Waves
Join Us
for a fun game of ‘Spin for your next set of instructions!’
Starting February 11th in our Celebrating Colours Edition of the Mikey Magazine.
More Information coming SOON 15
Team Spirit Wristers W
hat would go well with the Fringe Cowl for all your sports teams? How about these wristers? Even after the super Bowl, you can still wear your team colour proudly!
W
e have featured these before but they are always a hit. Simple and quick, it is a great way to create your favourite teams colours waving your arms high in the air doing the wave when your team touches down.
N
othing can go wrong with these wristers. Enjoy making them, they keep your fingers free to text away and snap that winning photo. Also great for finger fooding. Keep you hands warm and still eat at the same time!
Get The Pattern and Video
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We love our wristers and so did the Crochet Crowders a few years back. If you ever go on our Flickr page we had over 1000 entires of this pattern. The styles and Fantastic! These writsters were made by the following, Tori Harrison, Sharon Paynter, Deborah Doane, Caroline Tremblay, Rebecca Callahan, Kate Inness, Rachel Gray, Michelle Wohlgemuth, Kayla Perrotte, Ann G, Joyce McCartney, Kahkashan Shaukat, Michelle Mitchell, Dana Klinkner, Teresa Fredson & Burgundy Bonner.
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Crochet Cruises Update
A Disney World Adventure followed by a Carnival Cruise Your Choice or Both!
Coming Soon! We are so excited with this new idea from our agent Sherry. For those that would love to have a crochet land retreat, The Crochet Crowd is going to be at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida. Information with 3 different packages will be coming soon! If you love to cruise, we are soon to open our Crochet Cruises leaving Port Canaveral on the Carnival Magic for two choices. Eastern and/or Western Caribbean for a Halloween Special! Both Disney and Carnival will be in October 2017. Magical and Fun. This will be a package of crocheting and laughs to be enjoyed! Plan Your Dream Vacation; Crocheting, Disney and a Cruise! WOW!
Sign Up to Receive Our Notice when everything is ready! CLICK HERE 18
Tutorials by Mikey
Do the Twist Hat
Go Team Baby Sweater
Crazy Top Hats for your Favourite team!
Stitch Stop and Roll Afghan
Finger Crochet Blanket
Colour Scarf for your Favourite Team
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 ?s with Jeanne I want to start dying my own yarn but I’m intimidated and not sure how to get started. Also, I’m not a lover of harsh chemicals, is there a line of non toxic or organic dyes with a good variety of colors (preferably made in the USA)? from Amy N.
How can you tell if there is one more stitch at the end of the row....sometimes it’s hard to tell? from Franziska C. I have been working a lot lately with a great group of newer crocheters and this is one of their biggest problems. They have been making some fabulous pieces, with edges that are a bit crooked. They still are quited loved but would like those nice sharp edges. My suggestion is to use a stitch marker in each end of your piece. When you turn your work and make your first stitch, mark it immediately so when you come back, you will know exactly where to place your last stitch. Mikey also did an excellent series of videos on this same subject. CLICK HERE to see how Mikey handles this problem.
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I have never given yarn dying a try yet myself, but Mikey has used Kool-Aid to dye his yarn! Just think of all the yummy, I mean pretty colors you can come up with. Give it a try, it’s an easy and inexpensive way to jump in. CLICK HERE to see his step-bystep photo tutorial.
Jeanne is looking for questions on Facebook to answer. What’s the best way to wind a hank of yarn? I have a crank yarn winder, but the hank turned into a knotted mess as I cranked. from Michelle K. I am going to take a guess and say that you didn’t have your hank on a yarn swift? I have a ball winder, but rarely use it myself. If you are winding from a pull skein, you can lay the skein on the table and wind straight from it with not much problem. But hanks of yarn are a different animal. I use the husband method myself. I have hubby hold the hank looped over his hands, while keeping a bit of tension on the hank, I wind the ball by hand. CLICK HERE to see Mikey’s demo of using a ball winder and swift combo with hanks of yarn.
Cozy Fringed Cowl T
his Cozy Fringe Cowl is perfect to make for the game that you attend. Even for your home and or school sports team. Choose the colours of the team you are routing for.
S
ince this cowl is single crochet through out, you can change the colours every other roll. Imagine the fringe with the team colours dangling down!
J
eanne made this for her friend’s daughter Rachel Cantwell and it look fabulous on her!
W
e can’t wait to see this pattern with all it new ideas and colours thoughts.
Get the Pattern
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What Team R U routing for!
Ashley is another Fan for the Broncos
So is Desiree. She is a Broncos Fan!
Amy is going for the Broncos with the Crystal Hat
Lisa’s Cowl is riding with Broncos style!
Great team Bronco scarf by Joanne!
Wow, What a great Broncos bed spread by Lorna!
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Great outfit! Love the Broncos hat Lannetta!
Check out this amazing Bavarian Stitch Bronco Afghan by Shea
Love the wave stitch in the Panthers hat by Amanda
Hooked over the Holidays
Cammie slouchy cheers for her Panthers team!
The Hounds-tooth hat for the Panthers by Angela. Nicely done!
These are so cute! Panther hats by Erika
Love the puff stitch on this GO Panthers hat by Jessica
Hey, what a great idea to hold your pop/soda Kathy!
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! Linda did a super job on her Panthers afghan!
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Come See Us Across Canada More Info 24
Coming Soon
Facebook Picture of the Week
Carrie Sparsynski-Belk spent 2 months working on this amazing and extremely colourful afghan. It is like a spinning kaleidescope. She did say that the cat helped her a lot. We too can agree that cats do help, in their cute and sociable way for attention.
This Pattern is by Frank O’Randle called Spirals of Change. He has a collection of many pattern with the concept of change as a theme and they are big projects! Well Done Carrie! You Moods of Change looks awesome!
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Diva Dan! ‘Work is hard, distractions are plentiful and time is short!’ Adam Hochschild I couldn’t have said it better this past week. Both Michael, the team and myself have been off course with our plans for to achieve our crocheting goals. With a brand new logo finally designed, we were busy recreating our imagine and cleaning up website look. We we first started The Crochet Crowd. com, we took the course direction to focus on the talent of our community. This is where the name ‘The Crochet Crowd’ came from. Since then, we have become a massive crocheting community sharing our beginning treasures to our most accomplished achievements. That decision we still hold very strong today. Even though Mikey is a familiar face when it comes to teaching, we have always stressed positive community engagement and sharing as much as we can to praise our fans’ crochet passion. We love our community! With a world of cyber bullying, it puts our most amazing team to the test of endurance each day. Lately, our late night binge TV has been ‘Survivor’. If you love the TV show ‘Survivor’, trust me, we have a real one ourselves. This cyber world is our Survivor Game. It is tough for anybody! Thank goodness for fans and our team who believe strongly in a positive environment. This help from everybody is the most amazing part, we appreciated the community that we share with; the commonality and place we can be free to contribute and to be loved! Back to distractions, so our logo has gone through it’s 5th change. Looking back, we were all learners in a whole new world. In the end, the prize is never about winning on top but the friends and strengths you have developed to be able to give that hand to achieve those obstacles. We send our Valentine’s Day love to everyone, enjoy the Super Bowl with cheer of laughter & fun and always add a bit of crochet to the world around you. -Diva Dan
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Blogs ‘Knot To Be Missed Tips
Ideas
Thoughts
How to Crochet a Moss Stitch Scarf
A little inspiration, a reason and the next thing you know you have a new project. Jeanne shares with us her new Crochet Magic Baby Blanket
How to Crochet a Star Cluster Scarf
How to Crochet a Rib Stitch Scarf
Finger a Blanket! Yes, you can finger crochet a blanket and Mikey shows you how
Need more ideas for Valentine’s Day, Mikey’s list is great!
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Last edition, crocheters are heading to the top with their hats! Keeping themselves, family and friends warm during these cold Wintry days. Not only that, seeing the styles and how thrilled crocheters are with their project hats is certain on top on the WIP list! These Fabulous hats are all done by Adelle Venter, Marilyn Guchereau, Katie Poosters, Desiree Owen-Woodward, Jadranka Capan Matas, Cassondria Sergent, Jess Flanagan, Kristine Summers, Marilyn Mearon, Jules Darby, Blanca Diosdado Machuca, Dawn Brocket, Amber Margaret, Colleen Shay Touchet, Lily Todorava & Bridgette Hossing
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Next Edition Give a Warm Heart and the Crowd Goes Wild!
Past Issues
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You can download our newsletters from our website anytime you wish. If you decide to print, the links will be not active. In any case, most of all the patterns can be found again through our website. 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. Our team is also propelled by Laura Jean Bartholomew - Community Info Seeker and Jeanne Steinhilber - Community Chaperon.
Š 2016 TheCrochetCrowd.com
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