The Caron Notebook » Cari

Snow creative…

Cari — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:27:27 +0000

OK, it’s a warm day in early October. We have to shoot projects for the 12 Days of Christmas. We have snow but no way to make it come down as if it were really snowing. Sooo….grab 3 wire bins, a long broom handle, some big clips, Greg (our amazing hair/make-up person) and Rob (studio assistant), pile in the “snow,” raise up the bins and, with just a bit of a shake, it’s snowing!! Just thought you might like to see there’s more than crochet and knit that goes into the creative part of this business!

Here’s the pattern for these hat-scarf duos.

Filed under: Crochet, Uncategorized

Hour and a Half Cowl

Cari — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:55:25 +0000

: Hour and a Half Cowl

: Cowl, U Hook, Simply Soft skein

: Close-up of stitching

At last year’s Knit and Crochet Show, I picked up one of Bagsmith’s size U/25mm crochet hooks and I’d been dying to try it ever since. The inspiration to pick it up came from having just received one of Karen Whooley’s shawl designs, which used a great color combination. I then remembered my hook and put together some of the colors of Karen’s shawl, added a fourth and brought them all home. I am not one of those super-fast crocheters, but I did want to time myself, so, using a super-simple stitch, all 4 strands of yarn held together and my oh-so-smooth hook, I made the above cowl in 90 minutes. No, actually 85 minutes. The pattern is below. Just think how many of these you could make for gift-giving – and each one different by just changing one of the 4 colors. I went in a spiral to be even more of a no-brainer, but you could make a wrap or throw just going back-and-forth. And every color I used (and, of course, more) can be found and ordered at buy.caron.com.

So, enjoy and make merry – no, many!

SKILL LEVEL: Easy

TECHNIQUE USED: Crochet

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Cowl measures approximately 30″/76cm around x 15″/38cm high.

YARN

Caron International’s Simply Soft Party (99% Acrylic/1% Polyester; 3oz/85g, 171yds/156m):

#0004 Teal Sparkle (A): 1 skein

#0006 Purple Sparkle (B): 1 skein

Caron International’s Simply Soft (100% Acrylic; 6oz/170g, 315yds/288m):

#0011 Celestial (C): 1 skein

Caron International’s Simply Soft prints (100% Acrylic; 4oz/113g, 200yds/182m):

#0006 Oceana (D): 1 skein

CROCHET HOOK

One size US U (25mm)

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

Stitch marker (optional)

Yarn needle

GAUGE

Gauge is not critical for this project.

STITCHES USED

Chain (ch), single crochet (sc), slip stitch (sl st)

NOTE

Piece is worked in continuous rounds (spirals). Do not join and do not turn at ends of rounds. If desired, place a marker for beginning of round and move marker up as work progresses.

COWL

With 1 strand each of A, B, C, and D held together, ch 22; join with sl st in first ch to from a ring. Take care not to twist ch.

Round 1: *Ch 1, skip next ch, sc in next ch; repeat from * around; do not join, work in continuous rounds (spiral).

Round 2: *Ch 1, sc in next ch-1 sp; repeat from * around.

Repeat Round 2 until you run out of one of the skeins of yarn. Fasten off.

FINISHING

Using yarn needle, weave in all ends. Block lightly, if desired.

Filed under: Crochet, Yarn

Jan’s the Man – and (such) a doll!

Cari — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:00:55 +0000

Jan and Jan

If you’re a Twitter or Facebook follower, you might have seen Jan’s tweets and posts, but many of you have probably never met Caron’s “fearless leader” for marketing. He’s the guy who OK’s everything that goes on around here, from free projects to new yarns. Here he is with his very own amigurumi self, thanks to crocheter extraordinaire and good buddy KJ Hay. Note how fully equipped also-Jan is, complete with iPhone, Blackberry – and the ever-present Diet Pepsi!

Filed under: Uncategorized

The Knit and Crochet Show in Greensboro

Cari — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:53:17 +0000

Carol Moore and her Simply Soft win

While I know I’m SO late in writing about this (some of the delay thanks to my ongoing issues with WordPress), mostly the delay in putting this up was because there was SO much good stuff going on, I actually didn’t know where to begin. But I’ll be brief: you should – no, you NEED – to come to one of these conferences. Fun, crocheting with friends, learning, more crocheting and knitting with friends, winning prizes, knitting, dancing, crocheting, eating, knitting and crocheting with friends, shopping – and did I mention knitting and crocheting?? And with buds you haven’t seen in way too long, like a year. And meeting with designers to choose, review and commission design work for the upcoming year was also a lot of fun.

What I love so much about these events (yes, there are 2 per year now) is not just hanging out with fellow crochet buds, but learning lots of new techniques: how to make porcelain buttons and jewelry from Maggie Weldon; how to do continuous crochet motifs from Jenny King and learning how to do reversible bead crochet from Darla Fanton.

One of the most inspiring parts of the event was the Design Competition, run virtually single-handedly by designer extraordinaire, Doris Chan. You can see the winning entries here. There’s almost more inspiration in these entries than any one crocheter can handle, me included!

The Party getting started...

And what was fun for everyone, including instructor Karen Ratto-Whooley who broke her foot while at the event – and kept on teaching – and (almost) dancing, was Club Caron. DJ Doris (yes, a former DJ professional – we all have “other” past lives) did the spinning – er, iTuning – and everyone else just had tons of fun!

Filed under: Uncategorized

Knit and Crochet Fashionista!

Cari — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:28:34 +0000

I am SO cool!!

Wonder where all the wonderful knit and crochet projects end up? Well, these ended up on my favorite model, my 5-year old granddaughter, who put them all together by herself – and loves the look – and I do too! Party beret, Simply Soft dress and scarf, Simply Soft Chunky legwarmers. You can find all the patterns for these at caron.com.

If you wonder where many of our shawls, afghans, hats, baby items and baby blankets go, I bring many of them to the Cancer Center at Fletcher Allen Hospital in Burlington, VT. Other items are donated to womens’ shelters and others I barter at a fabulous re-sale shop across the street from our offices. With the credit, I get styling garments for our photo shoots. And other designs are donated to the Three Rivers Crochet Group in Pittsburgh, to be auctioned off at their annual fund-raising party to benefit a local women’s shelter and Rwanda Knits. Nothing, absolutely nothing, goes to waste around here. Hazel will grow out of these fabulous pieces and they will go to some other lucky little girl.

Oh, and her baby brother just loves his new Spa hat! You can find the pattern here.

This is SO soft!

Filed under: Crochet, Knitting

NYC Washington Square Deja Vu

Cari — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:50:55 +0000

Wall-St Protester with her own message: Craft-In!

: Protest in the Park a la 2011

Because the hotel I stay at when in NYC for photo shoots is on the corner of Washington Square Park, on Sat. I had to see what was going on. Lots of news vans, lots of people, lots of by-standers – but one that really caught my eye, the “Craft-In Everywhere” lady, crocheting away. Perhaps this decade’s version of Madame DeFarge…

Filed under: Uncategorized

Jean Leinhauser CGOA Crochet Hall of Fame video

Cari — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 14:35:33 +0000

: Jean Leinhauser, 1933-2011

Jean Leinhauser, who passed away in June, was of the driving forces in our industry and one of crochet’s biggest champions. Because of this, the CGOA Crochet Hall of Fame will forever bear her name, keeping Jean’s achievements as inspiration to others. (Note that the HOF logo is being updated to include her name at the top.)

Susan Sullivan and her team at Leisure Arts put together this video in celebration of Jean’s life so I wanted to share it with you.

I will never forget Jean’s combination of wit, smarts and creative (aka constructive) criticism when judging the entries in the crochet Design Competition at Chain Link, the way she could hone in on the best submission right away. I would love to have been a party to her thought process.

I was lucky enough to talk with Jean just before her passing when I mistakenly called her, thinking I was calling Rita (Weiss), Jean’s long-time friend and business partner. Jean had just had surgery that finally left her pain free and she sure sounded it! She was thrilled to hear of her “win” as the Hall of Fame’s first inductee and was already giving a lot of thought to her acceptance speech. She was upbeat and hard at work on 14 book contracts she and Rita had just committed to. This is when she seemed happiest – promoting crochet, CGOA and anyone and anything crochet – and knit. When describing her time at Chain Link (with both CGOA and TKGA members), she said, “These are my people.” I know just how she felt…..

Filed under: Audio/Video, Crochet, Knitting

AND You Can Win a Knook!

Cari — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:47:08 +0000

: Here’s what you get.

Just visit us on Facebook, leave a comment about the Knook, and a winner will be chosen at random on Friday, August 5th. AND check out the scarf on the photo to the left. It uses Caron Simply Soft Paints in color Spring Brook. Nice!

Filed under: Crochet, Knitting, Yarn

Finding a Knook

Cari — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:45:33 +0000

The other day I got a Knook from my friends at Leisure Arts and, even though I already knit, I did find it pretty innovative especially for crocheters who will never abandon their hook for a knitting needle. For all those crocheters out there who don’t knit but would like to – and there are a lot – the Knook is just the thing.

A few tips:

1. Be sure to do a swatch large enough so you’re comfortable with the technique before you do a swatch for the garment or project you plan to make.

2. Be sure to follow the instructions as they are written or you could get a few twisted stitches as I did (on the third row down from the stitches on the hook):

A few twisted sts on the 3rd row down from the hook.

3. It’s also helpful to have a bit of a nail on your forefinger to encourage the stitches onto the hook:

The forefinger encouragement.

So enjoy Knooking – a real stitching treat!

Filed under: Crochet, Uncategorized, Yarn

Then – and Now

Cari — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:29:01 +0000

Nicky Epstein, Sion Elalouf, Cari Clement in 1986

One thing trade shows are great for is to see old friends. Nicky, Sion and I judged a knitting contest for Family Circle Fashions & Crafts magazine back in 1986. The magazine has gone, but we’re all still here. Is this a great industry or what!?! They just can’t get rid of us…..

In June I just HAD to get another shot of us, as Nicky and I walked through the Knitting Fever booth and reminesced with Sion.

Nicky, Sion, Cari today, June 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized