Versatile Crochet: Mixing Techniques and Managing Gauge

Hello and welcome to the Creative Crochet Corner Live Q&A. If you are new to the brand, Creative Crochet Corner is your online resource for all things crochet, where you can find everything it is that you need from basic instruction to advanced techniques. My name is Leah. I am your moderator today. And Creative Crochet Corner streams live about once a month for an hour to answer all of your crochet questions. If you are viewing on our website, make sure to submit your questions and comments into the chat box that is below the video player. You can also participate by submitting your questions into the chat on Facebook or YouTube. Now, we have today with us crochet instructor and managing editor of the Creative Crochet Corner, Brenda K.B. Anderson, and she's joining us from the studio to answer all of your questions live during our Q&A session. Welcome, Brenda, we are, as always, so excited to have you join us. I'd love for you to say hi. Tell us a little bit about yourself before we get started with the questions today. So welcome. Okay, sure. Thanks, Leah. Hi, everybody. So I learned how to crochet when I was little, from my mom, and she also taught me how to knit and how to sew. And so I just love all crafty things. I love art. I have interest in that, too. So yeah, I just really love to make things with my hands and my brain. So I'm excited to be able to talk to you guys about that today 'cause I do love talking about crochet, so please send me your questions. All right, before we get to our questions, if you missed it earlier, Brenda, I understand you were live this morning providing a tutorial on making a macrame-inspired plant hanger. It's the perfect time of the year for this, especially in the northern hemisphere here as we're getting into summer. So if you missed it this morning, you can catch the replay at any time and download the free pattern right now. You'll find that link available in the description of today's video. As our first questions are coming into the chat, Brenda, I would love for you to talk a little bit about this pattern, your inspiration for it, and anything you would like for our viewers to know about what you were up to just this morning. Okay, sure. So this I really wanted to make. I've been seeing lots of macrame plant hangers, and I just think they look really cute. And I was thinking maybe the reason I kill so many plants is 'cause they're not getting enough sunlight in my house. So then I noticed there were certain areas on the walls that were getting sun, and I thought, okay, if I could put a plant there in that weird spot, then I was like, okay, maybe I need to make myself one of these plant hanger things. So I was thinking about the macrame ones, and I knew I wanted to make it out of crochet. I don't actually know... I mean, I've met done a little macrame a long, long time ago, but I don't actually know what I'm doing. And crocheting comes naturally to me. So I just got out some cotton yarn and figured out actually that if I make a long parallelogram-shaped tube that I could fold it. Maybe I can show you here. So this is like the beginning of the parallelogram, and then there's the end of it is stitched right here. So it's like the parallelogram was like this, and then you folded it up and stitched it. So it has one super-easy seam and just a two-row repeat. It's just deceptively easy to make. It was very addictive, so that's why I have so many here. But it was fun, and now hopefully I can put some plants on my walls, keep 'em alive. Oh, the keeping them alive is always the tough part. All right, we've got some questions that are already dropping in. As you're thinking about questions you want to ask Brenda, we also like to use the chat box for a little bit of crowdsourcing and also just to find out what it is that you are working on in your crochet world. So you can always just drop a hello, let us know where it is that you're viewing from, and maybe let us know about any of the crochet projects that you have going on. If we have time, I like to say some hellos and shout-outs and, of course, always crowdsource as well. So use that chat box as much as you would like today. Now we're gonna start, we've got a couple questions here from a viewer named Penny, and I'm gonna kind of work my way through. She's got a few questions, so we're gonna piecemeal our way through, Brenda. And first, Penny wants to know if you can please give some tips on using cotton yarn. She tried but, since it has no stretch, could not control the gauge and gave up, and had also tried substituting an acrylic wool blend in the same size 3, but although the gauge swatch was correct in length, it was woefully short in height. So can you talk a little bit about the yarn usage? And then we'll move on to her last question after that. Okay, so when you're working with cotton yarns, yeah, there's practically no stretch in most cotton yarns. So if you're making something like this, we're relying on the no-stretch part of the yarn to keep this plant hanger from just stretching out uncontrollably, right? So you're gonna put something heavy in there, you need it to not stretch. But it is a little hard on your hands, and it is hard to control the gauge, because it doesn't spring back and kind of fill in the shapes. It just, once you pull it up on your hook, it's that long, and it doesn't... I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain, but if you've crocheted with cotton yarn, you probably know. My tips besides just practicing a bunch is, try different hook shapes. That might make a difference. It depends on how you crochet. You know, when you put your hook into your stitches, you may end up finding that you're either having to work a certain way or hold your hook a certain way, or, you know, if you're crocheting with a cotton yarn, and you're trying to make the gauge a little tighter, maybe it's just getting stuck in there, and it's making you pull differently on your yarn. It's just one of those things you might wanna try out. Just try different hook shapes, so different brands of hooks. Or if you take a look at what the hook looks like, some hooks might work better for you, for your style of stitching than others. And things like that will definitely show up when you're using a yarn that is hard to manage. Like, you know, a cotton yarn takes some getting used to 'cause there's just no stretch. I'm trying to think if there's another thing that you can try. Maybe if you try just a different stitch pattern for a little bit. I mean, I don't know if you are trying to make this that I had demoed earlier, if you're speaking specifically about this, or if just in general cotton yarn is just hard for you to work with. But maybe just try working a stitch pattern that is super easy for you to work, whatever that is, single crochet or whatever, and just practice going back and forth, and just make like a big square. And just notice if you're having to pull on your hook in a certain way to get it through the stitches. Or if, you know, going up or down a hook size, see if that changes the shapes of your stitches and whether it's getting too loopy or getting too tight. Just see if you can, you know, if you boil it down to just doing, like, the simplest stitch that you can and practicing with that yarn for a while, then when you do a pattern stitch, you know, something with double crochets and where you have to pay a little bit more attention, and, you know, when you're doing taller stitches, sometimes your gauge can be more noticeably off, whereas if you're doing single crochet back and forth it, it just might be... Doing those simpler motions of that stitch might help you just get a better feel for how to hold the yarn. You know, that's another thing is holding the yarn has a lot to do with your tension, too. And I'm not sure how you hold your yarn, but when I first started, I held it in a completely different way. I don't even remember how I held it, 'cause it was a while ago, and I've retrained my brain. And now I hold my yarn so that it goes over, under, over, like this. And doing that allows you to still be using your fingers here to be holding your work, and you can kind of hold these fingers together to let... You know, if you loosen 'em up, the yarn can slip through. If you make them closer, it can tighten. So maybe try something like how you're holding your yarn, because that has a lot to do with your tension, too. So hopefully one of those tips will help. And the second part- All right. Sorry, Leah, was there a question about, the gauge swatch is turning out okay, but it's too short? Yes, we're gonna jump to that next. She specifically would like you to explain what to do if the gauge swatch is at the correct length but not the correct height. Okay, so that can be a really tricky thing to figure out. One thing you can do is, if you take a look at the way that you're crocheting, you know, everybody crochets a little differently. So that's what makes it so tricky to get the gauge, you know, dead on, 'cause you're just trying to match whatever the designer does naturally, right? So the designers kind of have the upper hand, right? 'Cause they're making the pattern, and so they can just be like, well, this is by gauge, you have to match it, right? So it can be a little frustrating if you don't crochet exactly the same way, which nobody does, nobody crochets exactly the same way. So I just joined some yarn here so that I can demonstrate a little bit. When you're working on your stitches, and you're noticing that your stitch, you can use the hook to get the correct width, but you can't get the correct height, so there's a couple things you can do. Sometimes you can just do more rows. Like, if you were working on this pattern, and you can get the width right, and you can't get the heighth right, you can just do a couple more repeats to make it longer, and that should be okay. But for things, you know, other things that matter more, like if you're making a garment, and there's complicated shaping or some lacework, or, you know, for whatever reason, if you can't just do more rows to make up for how yours is ending up a little bit shorter, in order to make your stitches taller, if you look at... When I'm crocheting here, so I'm just gonna do a single crochet, I'm gonna insert my hook, yarn over, pull up a loop. This loop right here is what's gonna tell you how high your stitch is. So if you pull it through, and you just barely pull it through, yarn over and pull through two, I'll do that a couple times, leaving it kind of tight. Like, I just barely pulled it through. Yarn over, pull through two. No, most people don't just barely pull it through. I'm just exaggerating a little bit. And I'm trying to show you... Here, I'll do a couple more, then you can see. That's the loop we're looking at. Like, we just barely pulled it through, and now I'm going to, on purpose, pull that loop up a little higher. Okay, so I'm pulling it up just a little bit. So there's a little space between my hook and the fabric. Yarn over, pull through two. So, you know, one thing that can happen is that loop, just depending on how you're holding your hands, how you're holding your yarn, you know, like there's a million things that add up into what your gauge looks like. But that can really affect it, that first loop. If you let that loop get a little taller, then your stitches will get a little taller. So here are the stitches that I did where I just pulled it through. You can see that they're a little bit shorter right here than these ones. These are a little bit taller right here. So when you're working on your, you know, when you're working on your swatch, and you're having trouble, everything's turning out too short, you know, work on actually pulling that loop up to give you a little bit more height to it. So you might be wondering, well, if you're making that loop bigger, isn't the whole thing just gonna get bigger? But this loop here, if you don't make that loop longer, it's not gonna get wider. So this is what is gonna control how wide your stitches are, over here. And this one is gonna control how tall your stitches are, that loop right there. That's the one to keep your eye on. All right, and then in general, I think to finish off this topic, Penny did say she would love for you to explain the ins and outs of cotton yarn versus wool blends. So maybe talk about, when do you need to just make that cotton work? You mentioned that it specifically works for the project you did this morning. When can you, kind of give and take, what would you use a certain kind of yarn for, something like that? Just those ins and outs, I think, would help a lot. Mm-hmm, so if you're thinking you wanna maybe substitute with a wool-cotton blend for this particular project, you could try it out and see how it works. It probably would work fine. But I would air on the side of making your plant hanger just a little bit more snug, so that way, when it stretches out, it's okay. So you could experiment with that. If it's a totally different project you're thinking about, lots of times you can substitute yarns if they're about the same weight. But what can happen is the properties of your fabric will change a little bit. So with 100% cotton yarns, normally they are not very stretchy, like you had mentioned. And if you're gonna substitute with the wool-cotton blend, they are gonna be a little bit stretchier. So if you're using it for something that you don't want it to stretch, that might be a little bit of an issue. Just depends on what the percentage is. You know, if there's just a little bit of wool in your cotton to make it a little bit softer, it's probably okay to substitute. Another thing is, if you are gonna be using it for, like, if you're using cotton yarn because it's, you know, the pattern says, for, let's say, a dish cloth or something, where you want it to be able to soak up water, you're using it, like, the purpose of the finished object needs to be able to soak up water, wool also does soak up water, so that might be okay. But you probably don't wanna use wool for a washcloth. I don't know. I've never actually done that. But, I mean, I guess you could try it. I mean, what's the worst thing that can happen? A little experimentation, right? We'll all learn something. But yeah, substituting yarns, you just have to think about what the end product is gonna be, what you're going to be using it for, and think about if, you know, the property of the yarn is gonna affect that, you know. And that might affect it a lot more depending on the stitch patterns that you're using, also. So that's another thing to think about. If you're doing something that's really lacy, and like, say it was, like, a big mesh market bag or something like that, and you did that in a wool yarn, it would probably just be like insanely stretchy. But if it was a little bit of of wool and mostly cotton, it would probably be fine. I mean, really, I hate to say this, but the best way to know is to make yourself a little swatch and then just sort of stretch it and imagine what that fabric would be like for a bigger thing. Awesome, that's a great tip right there, just a little bit, just to see what it might feel like going forward. All right, that covered Penny's questions pretty thoroughly here. So, Penny, if you're still watching, and you wanna go back to that topic, drop a little more in the chat box, and we're happy to revisit. But in the meantime, we're gonna move on to Elizabeth. Elizabeth has a more general question for you, Brenda. Elizabeth wants to know, what is the smallest item you have ever crocheted, and also what is the largest? So let's go both ends of the spectrum here. Oh man, let me think about that. So I have made some earrings that were tiny. I crocheted them out of wire. I've also, actually, in one of my blog posts, I made these teeny-tiny little crochet hearts. Those were really small. They were like, I don't know, maybe like an inch. But I have been wanting to make one of those teeny-tiny little amigurumis. I have made some small ones that ended up being like a couple inches. But I would like to make one of those like itty-bitty little, teeny-tiny ones. That's on my radar for future. But I haven't done that yet, so maybe that doesn't count. Those are probably the smallest things is, like, earrings and little softies. Yeah, I think those are probably the... I mean, I've made like lots of baby booties, but that's not very unusual. And the largest thing that I've ever crocheted, okay, let me think. I did make a giant pajama, like a big cat pajama holder. It has, like, a zipper in the back. It's like a big stuffed animal that's about this, like about this big, but I haven't... And I've made sweaters and a couple of blankets, but I've actually never made a full-size quilt blanket, have I? No, but I am, well, I'm working on one right now that somebody else had started, and I'm finishing it up as a gift. Yeah, you know what, I have kind of a... When I design things, I'm always trying to, like, problem-solve something or figure something out. I'm very experimental, so a lot of my projects are not very large, because I wanna move on to the next thing and figure out the next thing. A lot of crocheting the same thing, like repeated stitch patterns and stuff, I just feel like I already kind of wanna move on to the next thing. So I'm not very good about making, like, lots of afghans or anything like that. I'm trying to think if there's anything unusually large that I made, though. Yeah, mostly just, like, big stuffed animals, you know, big huggable-size stuffed animals, those are probably the biggest things I've made, and sweaters. Well, I was going to add in, if you would talk a little bit about what makes small challenging, what makes large challenging. It sounds to me like what makes large challenging for you is the repetition. Yes. Do you wanna talk a little bit about what makes the smaller projects more challenging? What do you run into it obstacle-wise there? Well, with the smaller things, it's mostly just, you know, finding the skinniest little thread you can use. I've used sock yarn for some small little amigurumi projects, but I think I need to go like, little teeny-tiny lace weight is what I need to be doing to do those. And for those, really, for me personally, it's just a vision thing. I mean, I have to be in a well-lit area to be able to see those little stitches. And it is sometimes really hard to hold onto things. You start to feel like a giant when you're making these itty-bitty little things. Like, if you can't even put your finger inside when you're working around, you know, like, say you're making a cup shape, and you can't put your finger inside of it to get your hook into that stitch, it makes it... Honestly, I think that making those itty-bitty tiny things are much harder than making the bigger things. I mean, yes, the bigger things, I do have the mental issue of just going, doing lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of stitching, but it's not actually physically hard. I mean, yeah, if I did it all at once, it would be physically hard 'cause that's a lot of stitching. But doing those little tiny things, it can be really hard to hang onto those. And then making a face on something that's very small is also very hard because you just have, like, if you move the corner of the mouth or where the eye is just the tiniest fraction of an inch, it completely changes the expression. So when you're making little itty-bitty things, you just have to be so patient. And so, I mean, really, they probably take longer than a regular-size thing, those little tiny things. Now, you mentioned a specific project. That was your tiny hearts. And there is a link to that project in our chat box for you. if you are curious about making little tiny hearts, just like Brenda mentioned, the link to how to make a crochet-embellished Valentine's Day card, that's where you can find that. And the link is in the chat box for you. So you could go ahead and try something small yourself if you haven't already. Let's move on to Grace's question next. Now, Grace wants to know, Brenda, if you ever add mixed media or craft items to your crochet, and if so, do you have any fun examples or ideas that you wanna share? Oh boy, that's a really good question. So the way that I like to make things, that is something that I definitely have an interest in, but crochet, as my job, usually doesn't lean too much in that direction just because there isn't as much interest in patterns that involve, like, lots of different techniques other than crochet techniques. So I mostly gravitate towards crochet or knitting, or sometimes I do sewing things, too, and try to keep them separate from each other. But in my own personal life, I do like to mix things together. I like to mix crochet and knitting. I like to mix knitting and sewing. I like to mix paint with stuff, or I also enjoy dying. So there have been things that, like I made these crocheted, like a crocheted doily kind of shape out of worsted weight yarn, so a fairly thick yarn. And I crocheted up these pretty little, kind of floral-looking pieces that were about this big. And then I laid them onto some shirts, some t-shirts, or, like, tank tops that were cotton, and I sprayed them, I misted them with the bleach. And so wherever the doily was, that blocked the bleach from hitting my shirt, and it made, like, this really cool print on my shirt. And so I really enjoy, I love doing stuff like that that mixes, you know, colors, dyes, paints, that kind of stuff. But I don't really, I don't do as much of that as I would like to just because my job to crochet stuff always comes first, and so usually, I'm trying to gear that stuff more towards, you know, people who just wanna focus mostly on the yarn craft, so if that makes sense. But if you guys are all telling me you love doing stuff like that, then let me know because maybe we could do a live with something, you know, some kind of mixed media crochet something, I don't know. That would be fantastic. If you are thinking of something you'd like to see Brenda incorporate, definitely drop that into the chat box. We love ideas of things that you want to see Brenda do in the future. That sounds like a lot of fun. Ooh, Amelia's got our next question. And this is a really common question, which means I'm sure Amelia is not the only viewer out there that has this question today. So heads up, does the turning chain count as a stitch? Brenda, go. Okay, this question has confused so many people. I mean, I was confused about this whole thing for years. It is confusing, especially when you're going through a pattern, and it's like, tells you to do the turning chain, and it doesn't mention. Your pattern should tell you if the turning chain counts or not, but not all patterns actually say that. So let me back up and tell you, what does it mean when it counts, and what does it mean when it doesn't count? Like, doesn't every stitch count? If you make the stitch, doesn't it count? Well, in the crochet language, no. So when you're working back and forth in turn rows... Here, I'm gonna just show you with this. Let's say we're just working in single crochet, all right? So we're gonna work a bunch of single crochet stitches, and then I'm gonna show you what it's like to use the turning chain as a stitch and then to say it doesn't count as a stitch, okay? So I've worked across here in this, like, kind of dusty blue yarn. And now I'm going to chain one and turn. So this is where the stitch is going to count as a stitch, okay? So what that means is here's your turning chain, that chain that we just did before we turned, or you can do it after you turn. If that's how you roll, that's cool. So here's your turning chain. Now, it's attached to this stitch. It came off of this. This is the last stitch we did before the turning chain. What it means when it counts as a stitch is this turning chain is pretending to be a single crochet stitch in this stitch, okay? So this is a stitch, and it comes from this stitch. So you don't work into that stitch because you already have a stitch there. It's right here. So the next single crochet is going to be into this stitch, okay? So here's your single crochet. And then you're gonna work all the way across. Let's be lazy and just turn here. We're gonna chain one. Let's say that one counts as a stitch. So then we are not going to work in this one, because this is the single crochet stitch that's in that stitch, okay? We're gonna work in the next one. And when we get to the end of the row, this is where it gets so confusing for people. Because that stitch, that turning chain counts as a stitch, which, by the way, is right here, you have to work into this turning chain, okay? So that is a stitch. So you have to make a single crochet into that stitch. You can't skip it, even though it looks a little bit less robust than a single crochet stitch. You have to remember not to skip that turning chain. So when you think about a turning chain counting as a stitch, what that means is your turning chain, it's not just the ladder to get up to the next row. It is standing in for a stitch. So not only do you not make another stitch into that place, but after you crochet back, and then you crochet back again, and you get to that turning chain, you have to work into that turning chain because it counts as a stitch. So what does it mean when your turning chain does not count? Okay, so what that means, say we have crocheted across here, and then you chain one and turn, if that doesn't count as a stitch, it's just, it's like you didn't even make that. You're just using that for a ladder to get up to the next row, and you're going to ignore it from now on. And you work your first single crochet into that stitch right there. Okay, and then when you come back... Okay, so we're working across, and here's the turning chain on our last row. That did count, so I'm working into that one. I'm gonna chain one. This is not gonna count as a stitch. So that means we don't work into that turning chain. We work into this stitch, that last single crochet we did, because there isn't a stitch in there, 'cause that turning chain does not count as a stitch. Okay, so we work all the way across, and when we get to that turning chain that we had made, so here's our last single crochet, and there's that turning chain, we don't work into it, 'cause we are ignoring that chain. As soon as we make it, we just pretend it's not there, okay? So we don't work into it ever again. So that's what happens when it doesn't count as a stitch. So basically, just the thing to remember is, if your pattern specifies, if your pattern says, turning chains do not count as a stitch, now you know what that means, or turning chains do count as a stitch, then you know that your turning chain is standing in for a stitch right there. It counts as a stitch, and it's part of your stitch count. Like, at the end of the row, they should have a stitch count to help you keep track of your stitches. So if your pattern doesn't specify, then you get to decide which way you're gonna do it. So it has to be consistent, though, because otherwise you're gonna end up, if you're making a rectangle, you're gonna end up with, like, a trapezoid or some other... Like, that's I think the main culprit when people have issues with, like, the edges of their blankets kind of doing this or doing this or doing this. It has a lot to do with knowing where your last stitch is, what actually counts as a stitch. So for me personally, I almost never count my turning chain as a stitch unless I'm doing a bunch of taller stitches, and it looks better that way, like if I'm doing some sort of lace or something like that. For example, in this pattern, the turning chain on the single crochet rows does not count as a stitch, 'cause it just kind of blends in. And for me, it's easier to keep track of where to put that last stitch if I'm not monkeying around trying to find that turning chain to work into it. It's just easier for me. So I did not count the turning chain on the single crochet rows in this pattern as a stitch. However, I did count the turning chain as a stitch... Here, let me show you my stitch chart. I did count it as a stitch in this pattern, because it looked better that way. So here's our turning chain, and it's standing in for a double crochet stitch. Okay, so here's a double crochet stitch, one there, one there, and one there. And it just looked better to me to have that count as a double crochet instead of having a turning chain right next to a double crochet. It just looked too thick. I didn't like it. So yeah, so for this pattern, you chain one, and then you work single crochets. And you don't count this chain on your single crochet rows as a stitch. You never work into it again. But on this row, on these rows, with the double crochets and the chains, they do count as a stitch. So I tell you to chain four at the beginning of this row. So 1, 2, 3, that counts as a double crochet. The fourth chain counts as a chain one. So that's counting as a chain one stitch. And this is counting as a double crochet. So if your pattern doesn't specify, then you get to decide, and you just need to make sure that you're consistent about whichever way you choose. And, you know, if it's a project that you're gonna work on every once in a while and set it down, you might wanna write yourself like a little note that says turn chains don't count as a stitch. Just write it on your pattern, or write it on a little piece of paper and pin it to your project so that you remember so that doesn't get confusing later. Amazing, that was really great visualization as well. Thank you so much for taking us through that, Brenda. Oh, before we move on to our next comments and questions, you pulled out that stitch pattern, and I wanted to remind people, especially if you weren't with us at the top of this Q&A session, you can go ahead and click the link in the description and get that pattern for yourself. So Brenda did a live demonstration of that just this morning. So that's available for you to just get in on yourself. If you wanna do that macrame hanging garden crochet project, that's available for you. And then you can see that stitch pattern yourself. All right, we've got some comments coming in first from Elaine that I wanted to share. So, first, Elaine did mention that your suggestion for using a different hook when you're struggling a little bit, I think it was when we were talking about that cotton kind of not stretching as much, was spot on, so different hooks. She made bride and groom dish cloths and had to change to a pointy hook in order to make that work for her. So, got a thumbs up- All right, good. For that suggestion. And then, of course, Elaine is grateful for the pattern. She's making a summer shawl and, of course, a blanket. And Elaine says when she finishes one project, she just starts another. So that is one way to do your works in progress, which leads us right into Hannah's question. Hannah wants to know, Brenda, how many works in progress do you typically have at one time, and how do you manage your projects? Hannah's got so many projects going on at once, about three or four, and they just end up piled up on the couch. So she likes to switch up the variety and start something new when she gets bored. So can you speak a little bit about your own personal way through feeling out those works in progress? I don't know if I'm the best example. But, okay, so I used to be very project monogamous. Like, I would start a project and make myself finish the project before I moved on to the next. That is how I like to do it because I know myself, and once I put it away, like put it in a box somewhere, I'm just gonna forget about it or not be motivated to finish it, ugh. But then, you know, since this is my job, I have a lot of things going on all at the same time because they have different due dates, and they need different parts of them to be done at different times, and so yeah, so it's taken a me a lot of time to learn how to organize things. But basically, my system is, I will get as far as I can on the project, and then when I have to put it away for a while, I put it in a bag, a fabric project bag, or even a Ziploc bag works great, and I have bought extra hooks so I can put the hook in there, too. But actually, another thing that I did a little blog post on is stitch markers, because I was having some problems remembering what hook I used for different projects. And I would be like, I'll remember that. I know I was using this H hook. For sure, I'll remember that. Of course, I'll remember that. And then sometimes I would take a picture of it to help me remember which hook I was using for that project. But sometimes I would forget, and then I would get back to that project, and I was like, oh, I remember thinking, oh, I'll remember that, and I really don't remember. Was I using an H or an I, or I don't even know? So then I made these little stitch markers. They're in a blog post. But the inspiration for this was me forgetting what hook I was using. So now I have all these little balls of yarn that have my favorite hook sizes on them here in the middle, and then I can just put that stitch marker onto my project. So when I pull it out again, I'll be like, oh, I was using the F hook. I know because I put the stitch marker on there. So that has helped me somewhat, too, to keep track of that problem. So yeah, mostly, I bag up what I need, all the pieces that go with it. If I'm using buttons, I put them and the whole card and all the information in there, 'cause I have to keep track of all the different pieces. Like, you can't, you know, it's important to be able to tell people what kind of buttons you used on something, the size and the model number and all that stuff. All the information is on the package. So I like to keep everything completely together in a bag. And then I have bins of my bags. So yeah, I have a lot of things going on all at once. But I do try really hard to get things finished before I start a new thing, unless I just can't help it. And it's okay, you know, not everybody's gonna... There's no yarn police. Nobody's gonna come after you and count up all your works in progress and give you a stern face or anything like that. It's okay, you know, you can have your fun. But as long as you don't make it more frustrating for yourself later, you know, just leave yourself a little note. Take like two minutes and write down exactly where you're at in the pattern or, you know, what hook you're using, whatever system you have to just jot down whatever you are gonna need to know the next, 'cause just imagine you're not gonna pick it up for like two months. You know, even if you think, oh, I'll work on this tomorrow, just, you know, be nice to your future self, yeah. Those little markers are fantastic. I love those. Thanks for sharing those with us. My organizational self is very pleased looking at those. Lisa's got our next question here. Lisa wants to know if you've ever made a temperature blanket. She just found out about these from Instagram, and it seems like a fun but an adventurous project. Do you wanna talk a a little bit about temperature blankets? Okay, well, I have never actually made one, because as we were talking about earlier, I have some problems finishing giant projects, and that would be a giant project. But I really do actually wanna make one, and I have been thinking, it's been rolling around in my mind a little bit about what my approach would be. And for those of you who have never heard of this temperature blanket thing, there are some different approaches, but the main gist of it is that you have different yarn colors picked out for different temperature ranges. So, you know, like if you live here in Minnesota, you'd choose like some temperature range between 110 degrees and 30 degrees below 0 or whatever. And you divide it up by the different colors you're using in your blanket. And your colors will represent, you know, a smaller temperature range within that range. So every day, or every month, or every week, or however you decide you're gonna make your blanket, you make a square or a row or a section of it to kind of, you know, commemorate, mark that temperature, whatever it is during that day, week, month, whatever you choose. So that way, at the end of the year, you can take a look at it and then see, you kind of have a picture of what happened temperature-wise in the year, which is kind of fun. And it's a really great way to play with color, if you choose colors that look really great together, but you're not really sure, you know, how you wanna combine them, or, you know, if you're not sure, like, how many rows should I do with this and that. If you do a temperature blanket, then the weather decides it for you. So that just takes the decision-making right out. So that's kind of fun, and I think that, you know, well, I know that people have made temperature blankets not just for the current year or for the past year, but people have made temperature blankets for, like, the year their baby was born or things like that. You can actually find a lot of information online about different highs and lows of the days, you know, if you look it up. So yeah, it would be really a fun project to do. And it is definitely on my long list of things that I wanna make. I am excited about making one, but I've never done it. But I do know, also, that people have made temperature scarves or smaller projects, too. You know, so if you're like me, and you're not sure if you wanna bite off a whole giant blanket project, then you could look into a temperature scarf. Oh, that would be great. And, of course, share with us if that's something that you take on. Maybe come back to another Q&A. Let us know how that goes. Those are really fun, lengthy projects with a little bit of research involved as well. Let's go on. First, if you're hanging onto any questions, I'm just looking at my clock. We have about 20 minutes left with Brenda, which means if you're hanging onto any questions, you wanna go ahead and drop those into the chat box. We'll get to as many as we can in the time that we have left, but we're startin' to edge a little closer to the end of today's Q&A. Now we can move on to our next question in the meantime. And this comes from Leanne. So Leanne first wants to know... She's new at crocheting. Could you please tell Leanne, and maybe any of our other beginners out there how to keep stitches uniform, so not too tight or too loose? What are some suggestions? All right, well, welcome to the world of crochet, Leanne. Keeping your stitches uniform, really, the best thing you can do is practice. I know that that just doesn't sound like a very easy fix. But, you know, another thing, like I mentioned earlier, the type of hook that you're using can have a lot to do with how your gauge is turning out and the shape of your stitches and if it's easy or not to make those motions with your hands. You know, that's the main thing is finding a hook that you really like, that you can hold easily in your hand, that when you're, you know, inserting it and pulling it through and yarning over and all that stuff, that it makes it easy for you to make those motions. 'Cause if it's hard, and it's frustrating, then it's not gonna be very even, you know, because you're gonna be fishing around in there and eventually pulling it through. You need to have like, it's almost like, you know, a dance. You know, you make your stitches in a certain rhythm, and when you're doing that, if you can kind of keep your rhythm going, then your stitches will just sort of magically turn out uniform, right? But that is something that definitely comes with practice. I mean, just know, when you're starting, it is completely normal to have just completely wonky projects. Like, that's just, you know, it's part of learning, you know. You just have to have some kind of crazy-looking projects for a while until you figure out the best way to hold your yarn, the best way to hold your project, the best way to hold your hook, what kind of hook you need. Those are all things that will help you get your stitches to be more uniform. Okay, I'm gonna jump in with another suggestion before we get to the next question. Things you might want to see Brenda talk about or demonstrate in a future live demonstration, we would love to get some of those suggestions from you. If you're thinking about something in specific you would like to learn little tips and tricks about, or just see Brenda demonstrate the entire project from beginning to end, drop that into the chat box as well, if there's any specialty stitches that you would like to see included in a live demonstration or patterns that you would be most interested in seeing Brenda demonstrate. I wanted to go ahead and shout that out now, if there's something specific that you're looking into, because Leanne's next question is, can you point us to any books or videos that you have or might wanna recommend to learn how to crochet but also how to read patterns. So do you have any shout-outs where we can find you or any other additional sources you'd like to point out, Brenda, for those tips? Well, there is, I do learning how to crochet, the 14-day Learn How to Crochet series. And that's free on the Creative Crochet Corner. And I do talk about the parts of the pattern and learning how to read that. I do go over that a little bit. If you're looking for something more in depth or something specific or, like, learning about charts, there are some Craftsy classes that you might wanna check out. I know that there is at least one, if not more than that, on reading charts and understanding all those symbols and understanding what that all means. But yeah, if you're just looking to... If you just take a look at all the words in a pattern, and you're like, I don't understand what all this stuff is, just so you know, there's like, there should be a place in your pattern that has abbreviations and what they stand for. So that weird language, all the weird little, like, sc, what is that? That stands for single crochet. So all these little things should be listed in your pattern, but if they're not, there are abbreviations listed online that you can check out so that it can kind of translate that for you. But if you just kind of need like the overall, you know, I don't understand, these words don't mean anything to me, it's just confusing, then I would check out the 14-Day Learn How to Crochet series, and just, I'll explain it to you there. Or if you have any specific questions, like if you're reading through a pattern, and you're like, I don't understand what this is, then yeah, just let me know in one of these Q&As, and I'll help you figure out what it means, too. All right, we're gonna stay on stitch patterns for our next question. We've got a user that has a specific example that they would like an answer on. So when a pattern says, example, single crochet in first single crochet, parenthesis, single crochet, chain one, single crochet, closed parenthesis, in chain one sp, does the parentheses mean in that same first chain? Okay, so let me make sure that I have this right. Okay, so it says single crochet in first single crochet, and then in parentheses, it says single crochet, chain one, single crochet, in next single crochet sp? So the parentheses, single crochet, chain one, single crochet, that's all the parentheses, in chain one sp. Okay, in chain one sp. Okay, so whenever you see something that has parentheses around it, like that little part, single crochet, chain one, single crochet, what that means is it's taking a little section of the pattern, and it's saying, hey, this little combination, we're putting this combination in, and then it's whatever is after the parentheses. Or we are repeating this section this many times. If it says like, you know, amount of times after the parentheses. The parentheses are there to, like, group those stitches together in your mind so you know you're using those stitches as a group. So in your pattern, it'll say single crochet in the first single crochet, or next single crochet. I can't remember. So you put a single crochet in the first one, that first single crochet you have. Then you have that single crochet, chain one, single crochet in the chain one space, sp means space. So I'm assuming, in your pattern, there's a single crochet, and then there's that little chain one. So that whole section of the single crochet, chain one, single crochet, what's in the parentheses, all goes into that chain one space. So you're grouping that into the space. I hope clears that up for you. If it doesn't, then jump back in, definitely, and let me know. All right, thank you for covering that. I would like to point out that in the chat box as well is the link to the 14-Day Learn to Crochet series. So you can check that out if you are one of our beginner viewers here, and you want some of Brenda's really beginning crochet level tips that she kind of talked about a little bit with a couple of our questions today. We have a question about the stitch markers that you featured just a few moments ago. I know you mentioned that you had a blog post about them. Where can we get those stitch markers, or how can we make them? What suggestions do you have for people that love those and want to have those in their stash? All right, so I would say definitely check out that blog post, because it's a little blog post on how to make them for yourself. Here, I'll show you. This isn't all of them, but it's most of them. So these are made out of a little clasp, like jewelry-making you'd find at Michael's or JOANN's, this little lobster clasp, lobster claw. And then there's a little jump ring here. And then this plasticy part is that heat shrink paper. We used to call it Shrinky Dinks. I think that was the brand name when I was growing up. We would make these, you draw a little thing that's, you know, if you want it to shrink down to this, it's about, I don't know, three or five times bigger than that. And then you put it in your oven, and it shrinks it, and at the same time, it makes it really thick. So it's just a way to draw. You just sort of draw on these little thin plastic sheets. You can cut out the shape that you want, and then you put it in the oven for three minutes. And then it shrinks up into this little hard plastic thing. And it's fun because you can make all these super-detailed little things. And for some reason, when you make something, and you shrink it to teeny-tiny, it's like automatically 10 times cuter. I don't know how that works, but it's true. So on the blog post, there's the link to download my template. So I have a sheet of paper. It's just like an 8 by 10. You can print it out on your printer, with all these little designs. There's a little sheep and a little granny square and some balls of yarn with a little blank spot in the middle. So you put your own letters in there, whatever. You know, I did F, G, H, I, J, I think. Because those are the hooks that I use the most. But maybe you like to do lace weight, so you'd be putting other, you know, B, or numbers or whatever you wanna put in there to help you remember something. Or you might write wrong side or right side, or whatever you want to be able to remember later. So it's just kind of the outside ball shape and then a little blank in the middle so you can write whatever you want in the middle. And you just color 'em in with regular colored pencils, just normal colored pencils. Or you can use sharpies if you have different-colored sharpies. And then you just shrink 'em in the... Oh, paper punch hole, though, remember to punch your holes before you shrink them, or you will not be able to put your jump ring through. But they're super easy to make, and they're really fun. And if you have kids or grandkids or, you know, somehow kids in the mix, they love doing these things. So it's kind of fun to let them make some, too. If you start 'em out about the same size as my stitch markers on my piece of paper, then you can shrink down and make any, you know, your own design. Don't be tied to what I put on that download. That's just, you know, if you really like these in particular, I just wanted you to be able to have a jumping-off point, or if you wanna make a bunch of little sheep or whatever. It's just kind of a cute little project, and they're super helpful. All right, and our link to that is also in the chat box. So you can check out the 14-Day Learn to Crochet series. And then you can also follow up with the link for the Make Your Own Stitch Markers. So check out those links. I am going to issue last call for any questions. If they're not in the chat box already, go ahead and drop them in here while I give Brenda a chance to talk a little bit about something that's coming up. So while those last-minute questions are coming in, Brenda, you're hosting another Creative Crochet Corner live project tutorial. It's coming up on Tuesday, June 7th, and that will be at 11:00 AM Central time. Everybody out there, mark your calendars. You don't wanna miss it. It looks like this particular project is going to be providing an introduction to pineapple lace crochet. So you can let us know if you've tried that pineapple lace stitch before. But, Brenda, do you wanna talk a little bit about what we can expect when that comes up in June? Sure, yeah, this is a fun little, super-quick project, actually. It is a water bottle sling, like it's a little holder for your water bottle with a strap. So, you know, if you go for a hike, and you just wanna bring your water bottle, and you don't wanna hang onto it, you just put the little strap around you. And the sling that goes around the water bottle, it has pineapple lace featured on it, like two repeats of the pineapple lace, which is, if you've never seen pineapple lace before, it's just beautiful. It looks kind of like a pineapple. But, you know, it can be a little bit overwhelming if you're just first learning how to do it, or if you're newer to crochet, just understanding where all the stitches go. So I wanted to design a project that only had two repeats of the lace so you could just learn it and not be stressed out about it. And it's made in a worsted weight yarn, not a lace weight or anything like that. So it's a very, it's an easy introduction to pineapple lace, and it's just a fun little project. You know, it doesn't take, you just need a skein of yarn, or even a little bit less than a skein of yarn, if you have some leftovers, and then like a G, H, I, some kind of hook in that size range, so, it's very approachable if you already kind of know a little bit how to crochet. Maybe you've made some dish cloths and things like that, but you wanna venture into lace, and you're just not sure about it. This would be a good, like, lace introduction. Oh, fantastic. I hope everybody joins us for that. We did have a question pop in while you were talking, so I'm gonna go to Monica's question here. Do you have videos or tips on techniques on how to seam or tuck in your loose ends? There are a couple of videos on the Creative Crochet Corner website. They are not my video... Oh, there's a really good blog post, too, on the Creative Corner website. I'm trying to remember who did it. I think it was Karen Whooley. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing her name right. But I think she did one on how to weave in ends. And basically, it involves, like, splitting your yarns, which is something that I've done, too, and it really makes a huge difference. But I think there are, there's at least one small, like shorter video on that, on the Creative Corner website explaining how to weave them in in a way that's gonna make 'em stay. So I would just definitely check that out. All right, and, of course, visit Creative Crochet Corner for all of your crochet needs. There's a lot of great content on there, and we're always adding more and more as time goes on. I see that Elaine is very excited about the upcoming project tutorial that's coming in June. I'm sure you're not the only one, Elaine. That is it for the questions that have dropped in today. So that brings us to the end of our time with Brenda. I always like to finish off, though, Brenda, please remind us where it is that we can find you. Anything that you want to leave us with final thoughts-wise before we say farewell, the floor is, of course, yours. Well, my main thing now is I love doing these lives. So I'm here like twice a month doing these lives, so not just the Q&As, but also usually about two projects a month. And I love it when you guys join me for the lives, or if you don't have time when they're on, you can always check 'em out later. And I have videos on the Creative Crochet Corner website, including that 14-Day Learn How to Crochet. If you're newer at things, definitely check that out. And I'm on Ravelry as yarnville. I also have my own website, which is craftsplosion.com, which I haven't updated in a little bit. But if you wanna see kind of my background and what other random things that I'm doing, I post things about other crafty adventures as well as yarn things, too. All right, and, of course, check out the chat box for all of the links that Brenda mentioned throughout today's Q&A. There was just a little final drop into the chat box about the weaving in ends. There are a couple links in there for you to check out and, of course, everything else that she shouted out throughout today's Q&A. So make sure to check all of those, but also the link in the description so you can download the free macrame-inspired plant hanger pattern. It was by Brenda. She gave that live tutorial this morning, and it is available for you. And then, of course, make sure to join us on Tuesday, June 7th. Brenda's going to be back starting at 11:00 AM Central time for her next free crochet tutorial. We would love to see you there. Thank you once again to Brenda for joining us. Thank you to everybody out there for viewing, sharing your questions with us so that Brenda could share her expertise. And thank you for joining us today. We will see you the next time. Until then, happy crocheting.