Christmas in July

Yes, yes, I know. You all hate when stores push Christmas but just hear me out....

If you are going to needlepoint a personalized stocking you can't start in December, you have to start NOW!! :)

So, in order to help you kick start your gifts, for the entire month of July All Christmas themed Needlepoint, Cross Stitch, Embroidery Kits, patterns and books are 25% off for both in stock items and custom orders. Sale included 2014 Felt Calendars.

Follow this link to download our Christmas in July Sale Catalog 

We accept all major credit cards and cash, no checks at this time.

FREE shipping when shipped to the shop for pickup but shipping charged do apply when shipping out of state. Please email me what you need and where it is going and I will quote you the shipping cost before you pay for your order.

Guess what we have in store for you

Queens is a melting pot of nationalities. Every day someone comes that English is not their first language. Regular translation dictionaries are not really helpful when it comes to crafts. It can tell you how to ask where the bathroom is but when it comes to explaining a single crochet or a purl stitch, they are useless. I was able to get from my distributors 2 knitting books completely in Spanish.

The first is, Colchas de Bebe de Rápidos Tejido, and the second is 60 Puntos de Patrón Fáciles de Tejer.

Both books are great for the Spanish Knitter, but what about Crochet? Well, unfortunately I can't seem to find any. If you know of an american distributor of foreign language craft books, please let me know.

But since I couldn't find any books, I found some great resources to translate the English books I have into your native language.

Nine Rubies has FREE downloads to translate Knitting or Crochet into Spanish or Hindi. http://www.ninerubies.com/free-patterns.html

Crochet University has Crochet terms in English, UK, French, Spanish, German & Italian. http://thecrochetnetwork1.tripod.com/crochetuniversity/foreigncrochet.html

Yarn Over has a huge resources of translations from language to language including charting translations.
http://yarnover.net/web/help/translate.html

And Last but not least, Knitting Fool has a translation tool for converting English Knitting terms to British, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish. http://www.knittingfool.com/Reference/Translations.aspx

Star Crochet Blanket

A friend, neighbor and customer asked for a crocheted baby blanket for a boy. This is one of my favorite crochet patterns and I think it looks great in Blue and Yellow. Very cuddly and reminds me of sleeping.

Hope the baby loves it.

Pattern is available free from Bernat, a free account with them is required to download.

Family

Family
Originally uploaded by Cooks Crafts

When a G is not a G

Seasoned Crocheters are usually aware that different companies have different millimeter sized hooks even if the letter naming convention may be the same as other companies. But for the beginner, it can be a little frustrating.

When I teach my beginners I tell them to strive for consistency and worry about matching a gauge later. Once you are able to crochet evenly then start measuring your swatches for their stitch count and change your needle accordingly to match what the pattern is asking for. You may not think that a 1/2 millimeter makes that much of a difference but multiply that by a few 100 and it could mean a lot.

Here is a chart with some of the popular brands and which sizes they sell.

Bottom line: Go by the mm size and not the letter for best results when matching what a pattern asks for and always make a new gauge swatch each time you make a project.

Turn Jigsaw Puzzles into flowers in your garden

Yep, you read right. When you're done with the puzzle you just soak the pieces in water and then plant them in soil. 16 different wildflowers will bloom recycling your puzzle back to nature. 

3 styles to choose from at only $14.99. Each puzzle is 500 pieces with a finished size of 13"x19" incase you want to frame it instead. The pictures are actually made up of more than 2000 mini images making the finished product a true work of art.

What a better thing to do for earth week than to put together a puzzle and then beautify your garden?

Knit or Knot that is the question

A new yarn from Bernat asks an age old question in a new way to Knit or Knot it. This textured yarn has a variety of glittered strands that look beautiful knitted alone, with another favorite yarn or just knotted.

Warming up America

OK Customers and Friends, Its on! Some of the members of Glendale Knits & Crochets meetup group have joined a neighboring meetup group called Knit to Give Back. At the last meeting it was decided we would all try and make 4-5 pieces for a blanket to give to Warm Up America. Pieces need to be made with acrylic worsted weight yarn and need to be 7" x 9". They can be knitted or crocheted. We will be meeting on April 16th to put them all together. If you can't come but still want to participate you can bring the pieces into the shop anytime before April 16th.
FREE Patterns are available on the Knit to Give Back meetup page, you just need to be a member. But you don't have to use these patterns, you can do any pattern you like as long as the piece is 7 inches by 9 inches.
Thank you.

Knitting to reduce stress

I have an rss feed that I go through every so often that picks up words like Knitting, Crochet, Crafts etc so I can see news articles about it. Today I saw one and thought it should have been in my computer news feed but then, 13 paragraphs into it, there it was, the word knitting. It seems foxconn is offering knitting classes to its employees to reduce stress. Ya never know, maybe that next iphone you buy, might have a stray piece of yarn in it. :)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/business/signs-of-changes-taking-hold-in-electronics-factories-in-china.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Beaded Bunny Instructions

My favorite craft for kids is this beaded bunny. It can be made into a pin or magnet. The instructions are here but if you have any questions, please come in to the shop and I can show you how quick and easy this are to make.

Knitting without Needles

When I was a kid, my Grandmother taught me how to finger knit, but then a friend sent me a link to Arm Knitting. Its really neat how you can make a quick cowl with just your arms and some yarn. I will definitely be doing one of these soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eClB0RpGBlo&feature=youtu.be