Blog Tour for National Crochet Month - March 2015

March 3, 2015

Once again, it's National Crochet Month, and Crochetville is hosting a blog tour to celebrate. (Thank you, Crochetville!) I thought I would tell you all what has happened to me - crochet-wise – this past year. 

The sad news first – the magazine Crochet Today! stopped publication in 2014, and I was sorry to see it go. I had been designing for this magazine for many years. And writing The Crochet Doctor column for the magazine's last year or so. I designed a lot of afghans for the magazine, which I love to do, and a lot of other designs (purses, felted covers for electronics, scarves, kitchen goodies, baby buntings, and other designs that I might not have tackled if it weren't for Crochet Today! asking). I also got to teach crochet techniques and talk about other things important to crochet, and I love to teach and I love to write about crochet. So I miss the magazine and the opportunities it offered.

Here's the good news - in 2014 I got to teach at Stitches South in Atlanta in April, at the CGOA Chain Link conference in July in Manchester, NH, and I was asked to teach a video class for Craftsy in July! So I am now a Craftsy instructor! Did I tell you I love to teach? I do. And this year I realized, when I thought about all that I've done since high school, that whatever I love to study, I eventually teach. I thought about listing all the subjects that I taught throughout those many years since high school, (including math, calligraphy, ballet, group exercise, and kayaking) but it would take up too much time – time that I could be crocheting! Just know that I've taught all my life, (my first student was when I was in 8th grade – I taught my mother to crochet a granny square). So, when I got to teach at these three venues, I was thrilled!

And now it's National Crochet Month – and to celebrate my love of teaching and love of crochet, I'm going to give you a present.

I hope you know about Craftsy – it's a site where you can purchase video classes for all kinds of crafts – crochet, knitting, photography, drawing, cooking, wood-working, sewing, quilting, etc.,- and these classes are yours forever. You can watch the video, and there's a 30 second repeat button so you can see something again. You can speed it up, or slow it down. You can ask questions of the instructor, participate in discussions, and, did I tell you, you'll own the class FOREVER! And now, if you've been reading this far, you can purchase my class, Mastering Foundation Crochet Stitches, for half price. 

Yes, that's 50% off the regular price. My class is not a beginning class. It's a "learn a new technique" class, not to teach you how to crochet, but to teach you how to crochet better. If you don't know what Foundation Stitches are in crochet, let me tell you.  Foundation stitches eliminate the beginning chain that you have to work in to. So instead of chaining 299 or so, and maybe losing count and working too many or too few chains,  and then working your first row stitch by stitch, into that chain (and you know you'll either skip a stitch or add a stitch where you didn't want to), with the basic foundation stitches that you learn in my class, you make one chain, then the stitch that goes in it, then you make another chain, and the stitch that goes in to that chain. Then you continue, making one chain, then one stitch. Until you eventually have all your stitches. So you won't add a stitch or miss a stitch. You won't have too many or too few stitches in the first row. It's a great way to start almost any pattern. And it gives you a more elastic foundation row.

There are also ways to work stitch patterns using Foundation stitches. I teach the method to do this, and some of the stitch pattern Foundations in the video class also. Best of all, as I said, I show you how to figure this method out for yourself, so you can start almost any stitch pattern by using this information.

I have noticed lately that a lot of designers are now using Foundation stitches in their published designs. They give directions for the stitches, but some people learn better when they SEE the directions. So - if you crochet from patterns, and you've been finding directions about Foundation stitches, but are getting confused, this class will help you by SHOWING you how to crochet them. And remember, you can just hit the 30 second repeat button, and you can see the directions over and over and over, until you're sure you know how to crochet these stitches.

You'll also find that these Foundation stitches provide more stretch at the beginning of the piece. So if your long chain tends to be tight (and we've all had that happen), Foundation stitches will help that. 

Remember, this is not a beginning crochet class. You do need to know how to chain, how to make a slip stitch, a single crochet, a half double crochet, a double  crochet, and a triple crochet. In the first lesson, you'll learn how to crochet extended stitches, because they are very similar to Foundation stitches, and they'll make learning Foundation stitches easier. And then you'll go on from there. You'll get three patterns to practice your new technique – a washcloth, a basket, and a tote bag. 

You'll also get some stitch diagrams of stitch patterns that you can practice with. And, remember, my class is now 50% off! Just for you!!!

Here's the link:

www.craftsy.com/ext/MartyMiller_4809_H

If you want to see a preview of the class – here's the link to that:

http://www.craftsy.com/video/course?courseId=4809

Now, if you want to find out who else is going to be blogging for the Crochetville Sponsored Blog Tour for National Crochet Month - check out the Crochetville Blog here:

http://crochetville.com/2015-natcromo-designer-blog-tour-crochet-guild-of-america/

And thank you for reading my blog today!
Check out my project page on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/marty-miller
My Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/martyagm
My other blog: http://notyourgrannyscrochet-marty.blogspot.com