Hook or by Crook?

Thanks for all the comments, either via e-mail or by blog on how you like the articles. In viewing my e-mails, suggestions were made that I shouldn't forget the crocheters. Fellow crocheters, I wouldn't dare think of forgetting you. Do you know that in certain stores, so I have been told, they don't carry crochet, but they do carry knitting. I'm sure you all know that we carry both. Because in my book, you can't have one WITHOUT the other!! One BIG reason is: if you KNIT, you MUST know how to crochet...and I 'll tell you why. There are times when a knit project may call for you to single crochet around the neckband, sleeve band, and down the front of a sweater. Ya gotta learn how to do it!!! Let's say you knitted a baby afghan, but you knitted it in stockinette only. Well we all know that stockinette curls up like a baby, so how do you get it to uncurl? Crochet a simple shell stitch around it. The afghan now looks like a million dollars. Don't know how to do it? Check our class schedule on our website OR look at our last newsletter we sent you--the class schedule is there.

So here's my hint for our crocheters, but I first have to tell you a little story. Many years ago, before I bought my shop, I wanted to crochet a Christmas ornament I found in a magazine. I hadn't crocheted in a lonnng time, so I went to mother-in-law. Her advice to me was: "Ginny, the way you read crochet patterns is from comma to comma. You don't read it like a book."
So, my advice on reading crochet patterns is what Mom taught me. Once you read it the way I was advised, you will read AND crochet like a pro. You can't take a cake recipe, throw all the ingredients into the bowl and expect the cake to come out right-----right? You read a recipe from comma to comma---cream the butter, then add the eggs, add flour and salt, etc.....
See--crochet is a recipe to read. You have your hook (by crook) and you add your heart, your soul, and lots of love.....but from comma to comma!!!

Happy Stitching, fellow crocheters!!!

To Gauge or Not to Gauge...that is the Question!

GAUGE.....most knitters or crocheters DON'T GAUGE. Why? I don't know. We have customers come into the shop and say 'my sweater didn't fit' OR 'why is this baby sweater so small?' Well, the answer is they didn't gauge their work. Steve took a crochet class last year and the question was posed to the teacher: "Is gauge important?" Her answer was: "If you want it to fit!!" Sometimes it's easier just to take the 2 sticks or the hook and stitch. But..will it fit? Get out your crystal ball and ask it because no one is going to know if it will until it's done. And...you may be sorry that you didn't take the time to gauge it! So...what is gauge? For those who don't know...read on! For those who do know...READ ON too!! Your project may read: 20 stitches and 24 rows = 4 inches or
20 single crochets and 24 rows = 4 inches. Take the time to gauge it. The proper way to achieving gauge is to hang your swatch on a clothesline or onto something similar. Why? Because you don't wear your sweater lying down, so you don't check a gauge that has been sitting on a table. Others say that it should be washed AND dried so that you can see what happens to the yarn AFTER it has been laundered. Both make sense. Well, the choice is yours...to Gauge or Not to Gauge...will it FIT????