FREE PATTERN FREE-FOR-ALL

Did you see the latest announcement from LionBrand.com that all their patterns, and there are thousands, are now FREE?

LB free one 0809

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80243AD.html

This is a boon to us – and a GREAT way for a company to sell a lot of yarn. As you all know by now, I’m swimming in yarn. I don’t need to buy any. But, when did need ever have anything to do with YAS (yarn acquisition syndrome)?

Well, my yarn Donnybrook is upon me. I’ll be buying no more yarn for a while. Gotta use up or give away this HUGE stash before I expend more income on yarn that just sits, staring at me, yelling ‘nanny boo boo – you need to crochooo’.

No kidding! Doesn’t your yarn yell at you? Also, I believe that all the colors and textures I don’t LOVE get together in the dark of night or closet or plastic tub and MATE TO CREATE MORE skeins like them. I mean, how much orange yarn does one PINK person need? I didn’t buy all that orange yarn – ummm, or did I? Well, if I actually bought it, it was at a thrift store or a garage sale. Really! Tune out now if you don’t believe me. Non-believers are unwelcome here…..

But, I digress. Back to free patterns. Lest you run out of items to crochet, here are some sites you must visit. Cuidado! Warning! Caution! These sites are ALL addictive. You’ll spend way too much of your crochet time surfing these sites. But, a crocheter’s gotta get inspiration from somewhere, right? So here goes:

If you haven’t spent a month browsing this site, you’re don’t REALLY have PAS (pattern acquisition syndrome):

http://www.myhq.com/public/c/r/crochetpoet/

Same goes for these:

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/

http://home.inreach.com/marthac/links.html

And, here are a few others that I enjoy visiting:

http://momsloveofcrochet.com/doilypatterns.html

http://www.littleprojectscrafts.com/freepatterns.htm

http://jaybird-designs.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14

http://www.cbel.com/crochet_crafts/

Whew! That’s all for now. More soon. Now, go forth and surf!

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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