Vintage Crochet

Lately, along with the other millions of things I have been doing, and research with regard to my shop, I have also been working on some new crochet designs. For me, that means also researching techniques and scouring old bookstores for "vintage" books, which has uncovered a forgotten and super simple crochet technique: broomstick lace.

Broomstick lace is a crochet techniques that involves yarn, a crochet hook and a large dowel or knitting needle. After a foundation row of single crochet, a large loop is placed on the dowel or knitting needle and continued across. The work is never flipped in broomstick lace, it is worked back and forth as in Tunisian Crochet.

Broomstick lace is great for sweaters, shawls, scarves, hats everything. And once you get the hang of it, you will realize how quick it is. It provides a nice stretchy fabric with excellent drape which a lot of people don't expect with crochet. I prefer to use thin gauge like fingering weight or sock weight yarns for crochet, dk weight at the largest unless I am working on an afghan.

Here is a quick pictorial/tutorial:

Basketweave Wash Cloth

This was a super busy week. Buying a new cargo van and working on the renovations at the shop. I got a chance to relax a little bit, as I have written that in as a requirement, to rest more.

This is a rather simple project that I just decided to do while watching some tv. I needed a new wash cloth and have always loved the basketweave stitch so I decided to make a new wash cloth using some super thick organic cotton. It only took about an hour to make, and it is a larger washcloth measuring 10"x10", and like I said, it is really thick. I used a size K hook, and as you can see, this has not been blocked yet.

I liked it so much I am planning on making more and adding them into inventory at the shop.