Free Knitting Pattern Blue Ridge Shawl

Hello, my Friends! I hope you are looking forward to a happy weekend ahead!
Today I want to share one of my paid patterns, Blue Ridge Shawl, free of charge!
As you know, I love to crochet, but I also love to knit. Blue Ridge is a great pattern to make as a gift because it's knit in worsted weight yarn and it was designed to be knit with one skein of Malabrigo Worsted or Manos Del Urugay Maxima.

Be sure that your gauge is correct when you begin this shawl. If you don't, one ball may not be enough to finish it!

Here's the link to the pattern...I hope you enjoy it!
Blue Ridge Shawl

307937570ddabf328a9317152e6d12f9eb48216f6a292c8c68

Free Crochet Pattern Candle Cozy

There's something about candles I just love!  They are a zen experience for me.  The warm glow and flickering of the flame are calming, somehow.  Last year, my son Ian gave me a wonderful gift for Mother's Day...a WoodWick Candle! I adore these because I love the crackling noise they make as they burn along with their rich aroma.  The only thing I don't love about them is their price, between $15 and $30, depending on the size you buy.  So you can understand how excited I was to find these at Dollar Tree!! 

Yup! That's a wood wick candle on the right! SO excited!

But, I think both of these need a little something, don't you?  Maybe a nice crocheted cozy, perhaps? Yes!

Now, that's better! I will share this pattern with you! It only takes a small amount of cotton yarn, 62 cents worth of Peaches and Creme (and you know I did the math), bringing the entire cost of this project to $1.62 + tax. (yarn bought at Wal Mart) Not bad! If you use stash yarn, about $1.07!
Here's the pattern!

Size Approximately 2.5 " high and 8" in circumference, depending on gauge. My gauge for this project was 3.5sts and 4 rows = 1" This cozy will fit most 3 oz glass jar candles.
Materials
Approximately 50 yds of Peaches and Creme yarn or any other worsted weight yarn. I used colors #1006 Ecru(left) and #1725 Blueberry(right) for this project.
Size G (4mm) Crochet Hook
Darning Needle, Scissors
Abbreviations
ch - chain
st - stitch
slst - slip stitch - insert hook in next st, yo and draw up a loop. Pull loop through 1st loop on hook
sc - single crochet - insert hook in next st, yo and draw up a loop. Yo and draw through both loops on hook.
blo - back loop only - work in back loop of stitch.


Pattern
Make a Magic Ring, ch1.
Rnd 1:  6 sc in magic ring, join with a slst. (6 sc)
Rnd 2:  2 sc in each sc around. Do not join. (12 sc)
For the next few rows, work in a spiral. Place a stitch marker in the first stitch of this round and move it up each additional round. I did this to avoid a visible seam. Of course, if you'd rather join every round, by all means, do so.
Rnd 3: 1 Sc in next st, PM, 2 sc in next stitch. *1Sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next stitch; rep. from *, around. (18 sc)
Rnd 4: [ 1sc in each of next 2 sts and 2 sc in next stitch] around. (24 sc)
Rnd 5: [ 1 sc in each of next 3 sts and 2 sc in next stitch] around. (30 sc)
Rnd 6: 1 sc in blo of every stitch around. (30 sc)
Rnd 7-11: 1 sc in each sc around, moving marker up at the beginning of each round (30 sc)
Rnd 12: 1 sc in each sc around, join with a slst to marked stitch.
 Check sizing at this point. Slip your cozy onto the candle to see how you like the fit. If you are happy with it now, work Edging. If you need it to be a little taller, work another row of sc, joining with a slst at the end of the round.

Edging:
Rnd 1: Ch1, sc in same stitch. [Ch2, skip 2 sc, sc in next sc] 10 times. Join with a slst in 1st sc of round. You should have 10 ch2 spaces.
Rnd 2: Make 4 sc in each ch2 space around. [Join with a slst to 1st sc of round and finish off the usual way and weave in ends or do not join with a slip stitch and use my Invisible Finish, below.

Do not join after last stitch

Cut yarn and bring through.

Bring yarn under both loops of beginning stitch

Insert needle into center of last stitch of round

Pull tail gently through to complete join. Weave in ends.

New Pattern: Ogle House Throw

I have a new pattern coming out in the February 2014 issue of Crochet World.  It's called the Ogle House Throw. This issue is available now in digital format, only. But, my pattern is currently featured at Crochet World and is a free download!  Each square is approximately 9.5" across and they are joined with single crochet. This pattern uses Deborah Norville Everyday Soft. You can purchase this yarn at Annie's.

If all goes well, I will be hosting a crochet-a-long planned for January at the Crochet World Group on Ravelry, so get yourself on over to Crochet World and download the pattern!

CGOA National Crochet Month

A very warm welcome to Angelarae Knits! I'm Angela and have been crocheting for 16 years now and knitting for about 12.  I love to design and teach the needle arts! I am currently a crochet instructor at the uber-fabulous Downtown Knits in Apex, NC.  If you live in the Raleigh area, you must come by! You won't be sorry:0)

As a member of CGOA, I am thrilled to participate in this years NatCroMo Blog Tour, hosted by Crochetville. You can find all the blog links for this year's tour, here.  In honor of National Crochet Month, please consider donating to our sponsored charity, Project Night Night. This wonderful organization exists to provide bedtime care packages to homeless children across the country. They accept crocheted and knitted blankets as donations, so get stitching!

I would also like to offer a free pattern which I have designed especially for this event.  If you have read my blog before, you know I love to spin on a drop spindle.  Usually, I spin fine to super fine singles with wool or mohair and ply using the Andean method. In honor of CGOA and National Crochet Month, I spun up some soft wool top in a beautiful ocean green for my offering today, Handspun Baby Socks.

Fiber: Merino Top from Unplanned Peacock
Spindle: Top Whorl
Spun: Z
Plied: Andean method - S
WPI: 20 (sport)
Hook: D-3 3.25mm
Gauge: 6 sc and 6 rows = 1 inch
Size: 0-3 Months

*Commercial sport weight or baby yarn should be fine for this pattern.




Please use this link to download your free pdf as my 'Thank You' for stopping by.  I hope you enjoy these!  As with any of my patterns, feel free to contact me with questions or issues (or, just to say 'Hi')  I am available to you in the following ways.
Twitter: @yarnmaniac
Facebook: Angela Whisnant
Ravelry: Angelarae63
Email: arwhisnant@gmail.com

By the way, if you haven't stopped by Andrea's, LeAnna's, or Donna's, head on over. Next up, Andrea and Renee!

First Day, Best Day

So, yesterday was the first day of High School for William.  He is going to my old high school, Cary High School, this year.  He isn't very excited, as none of his friends are going there.  But, it is across the street from the mall, so that's something, and since I got to choose this year, I chose CHS because it's a much better school.  He seemed happy when he returned home, so I won't worry too much. Yeah, right.
I also received these yesterday:

These are the contracts from DRG Publishing for the pattern I wrote and made for their magazine, Crochet World.  This means that they accepted my work and are willing to pay me for the final product.  What a relief! I did not realize how much their acceptance has been holding me back.  I don't think I have worked on anything serious since I sent off my finished object in the mail back on August 1st.  Why? If I knew the answer to that, I could write a self help book and make lots of money, because I have a feeling I am not the only one who has trouble accepting their own work as valid and valuable.  But that's another post.  For now, lets just say, "Yipee!" 

Paycheck

Small, though it is, here's my first paycheck for designing...I'm very excited! I sold one pattern for September and two more in October, so I suppose I'll get my next check in January, as Knit Picks now pays somewhat quarterly vs. monthly. It's nice to be paid for doing something I love so much! Ornamental is a great pattern, too.

Did I mention that I saw my Ornamental Sock Pattern submitted at the NC State Fair? Let me show you.....

I'm not sure what the yarn is here, but she did an excellent job.

And to think I just happened to look at the knitting submissions and anything fiber related I could think of. I can't tell you how much I enjoy seeing other knit or crochet my patterns and enjoy themselves....it's the reason I am doing this. Way to go, Carolyn!

Remember When?

I found the pattern for this here. This particular pattern book is from 1943. The Teacup Potholder was meant to be crocheted in J&P Coats Crochet Cord, but I adapted it to work in Peaches and Cream Ombres with an H-hook. Looking at all the great vintage patterns made me think about simpler times and all the things we have now that we didn't have then and how we all got along just fine. Have you ever thought about it?
Here are a few examples. I'm sure there are more....

~Cell phones (you had to use a payphone or the store phone to make calls when you were out)
~ATM's (if the bank was closed, you were out of luck and banks were *not* open on Saturdays)
~PC's (also known as home computers)
~Cable Television(we got the big 3 channels + TBS-we watched a lot of Braves Baseball)
~Music Videos (We waited to hear our song on the radio and would listen for hours to hear it again)
~Video Games ( if we wanted to play Donkey Kong, we went to the local bowling ally arcade or Pizza Inn!
~Caller I.D. (You never knew if the person on the other line could be your teacher calling to have that 'talk' with your parents.)
~Automatic Drip Coffee Makers (yes, I am old...we had percolators and my Grandfather swore the coffee tasted better if you didn't wash it)
~Debit Cards (we paid cash or wrote checks)
~Weblogs (we had a thing called a diary or journal...we drew pictures in ours)
~Internet (We bought patterns or patterns were passed down. You could also find them in magazines)
~Email (If you wanted to get in touch with someone, your used the post office or Bell South)
~MP3 Players ( We had 8 tracks and cassette tapes or actual vinyl record albums and singles - our music was not portable, except for radios, until the advent of the Boom Box.)
~Digital Cameras (We had to wait at least a week for our film to be developed before we could see the pictures, unless we had a polaroid camera)
~Text messaging (we wrote notes with cute little doodles and hearts to exchange with friends)
~24 hour cartoon channels (we only watched cartoons on Saturday, and we got up early to watch the monster flicks - Godzilla vs. Mothra!
...and the list goes on. Can you think of any?