The NaturallyCaron.com Notebook

Why do we knit? Why do we crochet? Why is there air? Huh?? It’s a very similar question, one that defies answering.

And knitters have different reasons than do crocheters, though it’s all for the love of yarn. But let’s pick just one reason, a very obvious one: a new baby in the family – or soon to be in the family. While it can be very relaxing to knit or crochet a baby blanket or tiny sweater – after all, we’re talking 1 or 2 balls of Country for a sweater and about double that for a blanket. No big deal, right? Well, it’s not if you’re a diligent knitter or crocheter and “stick to your knitting,” so-to-speak, every evening or at least every weekend. But you know you have a few months before the blessed event, so you dawdle in the garden until you’re too tired to even think about lifting a pair of needles or a crochet hook. This scenario repeats itself throughout the summer and, before you know it, you have a month before that bundle-of-joy arrives. A month!

Time to get moving….. And this is where the “knitting and crocheting is so relaxing” starts to fall apart. It’s crunch time and stress all of a sudden raises its ugly head. So best to get to crocheting that Picadilly baby blanket or knitting that Birdwing baby blanket now, while the spring rain is still keep that garden at arms-length.

When that stork finally arrives, there’s nothing that makes the winter months go faster than making baby sweaters! Babies may grow quickly, but there’s nothing like a mother’s exclamations of appreciation when she’s presented with yet another hand knitted or crocheted sweater!

Happy stitching,

Cari

I’m sure many of you have wondered about who creates all the wonderful NaturallyCaron.com projects, the designers without whose creativity we would all be wearing boring fleece.

The richness of the textured stitches that designer Tammy Hildebrand has created in her Copenhagen Jacket speaks for itself.

Here’s Tammy:

I wanted to create a jacket that would look great worn casually with jeans but also could be worn with a dress or skirt for a classier look. I wanted my design to look as good from the back as it did from the front. I have always been intrigued with the interesting detail and texture of cabled knitwear so I decided to experiement with crocheted cables. I used front and back post double crochets to form the vertical lines. The cables were created using front and back post triple crochets. Another great feature of this jacket is that it would flatter all different types of body shapes and sizes.

I really enjoyed making this jacket because it required a little bit of thought to follow the stitch pattern. It wasn’t all that difficult, just not boring. What made it even more enjoyable was working with this wonderful yarn. Country has a lovely, little spring to it that made the stitches come alive with such clear definition. The hook literally glides along with the silky texture of this yarn. It is a joy to work with.

I have been crocheting for over 35 years. I am passionate about it and cannot imagine a d ay without a hook in my hand. Well, actually I can. A few years ago, I broke my arm. I was about to go crazy not being able to crochet so I devised a method of holding the hook with my feet and manipulating the yarn with my left hand. I now resort to this method whenever I have overdone it with a crochet marathon and need to give my hands a rest. You do what ya gotta to keep stitching!

‘Nuf said!

Until next time,

Cari

While I know you’ve all heard of, or attended, trade shows of one kind or another, but a trade show all about crafts is a whole different world.

Early February Caron exhibited at the bi-annual trade show, the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) show. There are two shows per year and the winter show is the biggest. Buyers from various stores shop each booth to see what they want to feature in their stores during the coming year, and one of the most significant products was the NaturallyCaron.com line of yarns.

Here’s a quick glimpse into how we showed these wonderfully colorful, soft and versatile yarns.

Editors from many of your favorite magazines also attend the show to choose what projects they want to feature in their upcoming issues. Here’s another photo of another part of the Caron booth that shows some of the projects that you’ll see in upcoming magazines.

Where do you get your design ideas from? I know there are LOTS of you out there who just don’t knit or crochet exactly what the pattern says. You change the color, change the yarn, change the length, change a stitch… But since all of us are bombarded with design motifs all around us, I thought I’d do a bit of an experiment.

My husband and I stayed at the Washington Square Hotel in NYC the weekend before Christmas – a kind-of mini-vacation that enabled us to spend a pre-Christmas with my daughter and her family in Brooklyn. Around the hotel there are a gazillion design inspirations. All I had to do was stop to look at them with totally different eyes. It actually makes you appreciate very normally boring things like brick walls, tiles, iron gates, etc. It’s actually quite Zen….

So my self-imposed mission was to photograph design inspirations within a 3 block radius of the hotel. Here are just a few observations:

Bricks = Entrelac

Archway = fan stitch.

So have fun and have a fresh, new look at your environment! It’ll change the way you look at your knit and crochet projects forever!

My name is Cari Clement and I am the Fashion and Design Director for Caron International. I’m so excited to be writing about our newest yarn collection, NaturallyCaron.com. It’s a collection of fantastic yarns and a website in one concept to help you have a great knitting and crochet experience.