Be First To See The Progress On My Two Current Projects

Be First To See The Progress On My Two Current Projects

Hello! Since picking up Lachlann (our spaniel puppy) 2 weeks ago, my crochet and knitting time are at an all time low! If you've ever brought up a puppy, you'll know just how time consuming they are! Days are spent playing, feeding, letting him out in the back garden, visiting family & friends (or having them visit us), picking up tiny pieces of chewed up cardboard & paper and then trying to get stuff done in the pockets of time when he sleeps!

But, I am finding some time for yarn! The shawl I'm designing with the advent minis from Skein & The Stitch is coming along beautifully. I'm only 5 minis away from completing it which is exciting. It's a parallelogram shaped shawl with the stripes running along the bias.

If you're new to following me, the theme for the advent calendar was The Hobbit, which was an excellent theme with accompanying read-along! The colours each day were a representation of whatever was happening in that stage of the book. There was even a Discord channel to go along with it, adding to the sense of community which Jess, at Skein & The Stitch has created.

I don't currently have the brain power to write up the pattern (did I mention that my alarm goes off at 2 am for a quick trip outside with Lachlann in either sub zero temperatures/ howling gails or pelting rain?), but when I do it won't take me too long and I'll have it out to testers very quickly.

Sign up to my mailing list to be first to know of the advent shawl release (and receive my biggest discount code). 

I'm restricting myself to 2 WiPs (less chance of wool left dangling around within puppy reach!) and the other WiP is knitting. I'm working on the Mary Rebecca cardigan by Ellen Mason Design and it has just the right level of interest for me right now. The yarn is a vibrant magenta colour which is helping to lift my spirits too. It's a bottom-up design and I've almost reached the split for the sleeves, so progress is happening!

I'll be back next week with more crochet content, until then, happy crocheting,

Marta xx

The Puppy Is Here!

 

Hello! The puppy is here! Yippee, we're over the moon - it's been too long in this house without a dog!

As you can imagine, life is a little chaotic right now, so I haven't had time to write my regular blog post, but I did manage to record a podcast episode, WITH THE PUPPY!

So, to catch up on my latest WiPs and see all the puppy cuteness, you can view the episode now here.

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx

Ready To Write Up Your First Crochet Pattern?

Hello! Have you set yourself any goals for this year? I have a few crochet business related goals which I'll let you know more about as the year unfolds but my main question for you today is "are you ready to write up your first crochet pattern"?

The major goal in my life for 2024 is to declutter my house and create a calm, clean & tidy environment to live and work in. For some, this would be an easy-peasy goal but I'm a naturally messy, chaotic person so for me this is BIG. And I'm working on it. Earlier in the week I had to enlist the help of my dad to take a car full of stuff to the charity shop and the clothes recycling bin. After he left, I felt so much lighter, like I could breathe properly again - such an amazing feeling! 

I'm not stopping here, this was simply the initial push in the right direction. As I'm preparing for the puppy arriving on Friday (today for you!) I'm having a really thorough clean and tidy, moving anything I don't want chewed well out of reach. My YARN! Gosh, I'm going to have to be super careful about where I leave that lying around. For now the sofa will be fine, but it won't be long before he can scale that! Any advice on crocheting with a puppy in the mix gladly received!

Going back to crochet goals, maybe this is the year that you've decided you'll finally write up your first crochet pattern? Have you got some scribbled notes on the back of an envelope that you've been telling yourself you'll write up "one day"? Let me tell you, there's never been a better time to start publishing crochet patterns!

I know what you're thinking - "but Marta, there are already so many patterns out there, surely there's no space for me?". Not true. More people are crocheting now than ever and new platforms for selling patterns are popping up, new crochet magazines are appearing, new classes are starting all over the place. Now is the time to pull up your big girl pants and begin your pattern writing journey.

I have some GOOD NEWS, my How To Write Up A Crochet Pattern Course has all the info you need to take your scribbles of a pattern to the level where you're ready to publish. I've been where you are now, so I've learnt the hard way what to do/ what not to do and in my course I take you through it all, step-by-step, making it as EASY as possible for you.

Do you want more good news? This course is included in my January offer, so there's currently 15% off the usual price. This is the first time I've discounted it since its launch in 2022 and it will be the last time you see it at this price for a long time.

If it's something you're dreaming of doing in 2024, go ahead and check it out TODAY!

Your special discount code is JAN24 to save 15% on my website and on Ravelry!

Would you like more good news? My email subscribers have been given a 25% discount code - you can have this code too when you subscribe to my mailing list!  

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx

Happy New Year!

  

Hello and a Happy New Year to you! Did you have a good Christmas and New Year? I hope so! We had a really enjoyable few days around Christmas time and then we were hit with Covid for the 3rd time! New year plans went out the window, but other than a few family events, it was crochet & knit as usual for me! I'm never one for staying up to hear the bells, give me sleep anytime! Ha!

This enforced time to slow down has given me lots of time to sit and reflect on the year gone by and the year ahead. I have so many plans I'm bursting to tell you about for 2024, but they're going to have to wait for future emails. For now, I'm still rcovering (for those of you who've experienced Covid, the tiredness & brain fog can be a struggle for a while) and letting the ideas formulate.

Cosy up with my fantastic pattern offer! This January, snuggle under a blanket of savings with 15% off all my crochet patterns AND courses! Dive into a new project or discover new techniques – with this stitch-tastic discount, happy hooking!

Your special discount code is JAN24 to save 15% on my website and on Ravelry! Don't forget to tag me when you start your project so I can see! 

Happy crocheting,

Marta xx

Join Me For Vlogmas - New Video Every Day!

Hello! This year, for the first time ever, I'm joining in with vlogmas!! It's an idea that my dear friend Claudia casually dropped when she said "are you doing vlogmas?" in our recent Instagram live. I replied, "er ...? I haven't thought about it", but the idea was planted and a few days later I was recording my first episode!

For those of you who don't know, vlogmas is a series of (usually daily) video vlogs in the run up to Christmas. Some even continue to the end of December, since it's my first year I think I'll stop at the 24th, but I may combine a few days and upload one more between Christmas and New Year, we'll see. It's always good to have a nosey at how other people celebrate Christmas, right?

So far, my episodes seem to have gone down well. Looking at my YouTube anaylitics the view duration is good and I'm gaining far more subscribers than usual. I can also see that I have a high percentage of returning viewers on these episodes, so I'm really happy about that. I'm a realitively young channel and this past year I feel that I'm beginning to find my voice and I can see an improvement in my videos. I have plans for next year, but I'll keep them up my sleeve for now!

If you haven't been watching, click the link to view here. Episodes are around 10 to 15 minutes long, nice little bite size videos for you to dip into!

If you've been with me since the start of the year, you may rememeber that I started saving up £2 coins to buy a yarn Advent calendar. This was a brilliant idea, I counted up the other day and I have £158 in my little felted pouch! Obviously, the claendar had to be paid back in April, but it just goes to show that these coins soon add up and they're not missed from your wallet. I'm going to keep doing it in future because I LOVE my yarn Advent calendar so far!
 
I chose The Hobbit themed calendar from Skein And The Stitch and so far the colourways have been stunning! Each day follows the story of Bilbo's adventure through the book and the colourway corresponds to what he gets up to. We started with fresh greens of the Shire and today's was a very dark grey to symbolise the goblin cave he's currently stuck in.
 
So, the format of my vlogmas is to film a short clip first thing in the morning with me opening the advent calendar, film a few snippets of my day, then film a concluding bit at the end of the day - usually showing off the shawl I'm crocheting (above) with the latest colourway worked in. 
 
If this sounds like your kind of thing, please check it out here, I'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx

New Pattern Published In The Journal Of Scottish Yarns!

Hello! I'm really pleased to be able to share one of the secret projects I was working on in June this year - I have a new pattern published in The Journal Of Scottish Yarns!

It's called the Sunset Song Top and it's a vest style sweater which can either be worn alone or used as a layering piece. I took my inspiration from the many beautiful sunsets I watch from my window as I crochet and from the novel Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

I'm especially happy with the styling on this one and the way the garment suits both men & women and both young & old; it's very adapdable depending on the look you're going for!

I chose a lightweight yarn from J. C. Rennie, their Supersoft 4ply which is 100% wool, in 3 colours to create the look. The garment is crocheted from the bottom up in 2 pieces which are worked flat and then seamed together using mattress stitch. Instructions have been carefully graded for 9 sizes - a big thank you to the tech editor Samira Hill for her help with this.

In the photo above you can see the beginnings of my design journey. When I started the ribbing worked out exactly as planned and then I swatched to see if the stitch idea I had would work well in the J. C. Rennie yarn - looking particularly at the drape and stretch. I was pleased with this so went ahead with stitch and row calculations for the body of the top.

 
All in all, I'm chuffed with how this design worked out. There's opportunity to go as wild as you like with the colours or to go super simple and crochet it all in one colour! Like I said last week - the choice is yours! 
 
You can buy The Journal of Scottish Yarns, issue 4 on their website and in many local yarn shops in Scotland and beyond.

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx

PS. Be sure to tag me on social media if you make a Sunset Song Top!

How To Add Your Personality To Your Crochet Projects

Hello! As a crochet designer, I love nothing more than to see others following my patterns and creating something from them with a touch of their own personality. We're all unique and the choices we make will lead to us creating something different from everyone else, even if we follow the same pattern. 

Yarn choice is an obvious example. There are all sorts of reasons for not choosing the same yarn the designer did (eg. stash busting/ budget/ availability) and this is probably one of the biggest ways to crochet your project differently.

Then there are decisions such as sleeve length on a jumper, number of rounds on a hat or how big to make a blanket. There are even more subtle options if we start to think about the number of stripes or how many repeats we do.

I haven't even started on colour choices yet - that throws things wide open! 

Can you see how one pattern can be crocheted up in millions of different ways? 

If you're looking for guidance to adding your own personality  I actually list 4 or 5 options at the end of my designs with ideas for getting you started. As an example, here are the ideas to personalise your Perth Beanie (a free pattern here on my blog):

• Use 4ply yarn and add more increases to create a finer version of the hat.
• Use a second colour for the brim.
• Can you design something else entirely using the Alpine Stitch pattern? (I’ve given you the instructions for working in rows in the Tension section too).
• Gillian, one of my testers, suggested making the brim section extra long and then wearing it doubled over.
• Simply add a pompom!

If personalising in this way is something you're keen to start doing, check out my crochet patterns today and take the first step towards being more creative!

Don't want to miss my posts? Subscribe to my mailing list today and have them delivered staright to your inbox. 

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx