A Little Holiday Gift

I designed this candle cover for the banquet centerpieces when the CGOA Chain Link Conference was in Portland in 2018. I'd like to offer it as my holiday gift to you. Change the yarn and other decorations to make it suitable for any holiday. Too late for Christmas or Hanukkah this year? Whip one up for New Year's Eve!

Shell Candle Cover

Brighten up your holiday table with a pretty lace candle cover.  Fits pillar candle 4” or 6” tall and 9 ⅝” in circumference. Use on battery operated candles only.

Yarn: Red Heart With Love Metallic or similar

Hook: I/9/5.5 mm or hook needed to obtain gauge

Gauge: First 4 rounds of pattern = 2” tall and 4 1/4” wide when laid flat

Note: Exact gauge is not critical since the cozy is stretchy. Try it on your candle as you go to make sure it fits snugly but not so tightly that the stitches are distorted.

Abbreviations

Beg - beginning

ch - chain

dc - double crochet

fsc - foundation single crochet

rep - repeat

rnd - round

sk - skip

sp - space

sl st - slip stitch

st - stitch

Special Stitches

Shell (sh) - (2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc) in indicated st

V-st - (dc, ch 1, dc) in indicated st

Pattern

Rnd 1: Make 32 fsc, join with sl st in first fsc to form a loop. (Alternatively, ch 32 and join with sl st in first ch to form a loop, ch 1, sc in back bump of each ch around. Join with sl st in first st of rnd.) -- 32 sc

Rnd 2: Ch1, sc in each st around, join with sl st in first st of rnd.

Rnd 3: Ch 4 (counts as dc, ch 1 here and throughout), [sk next 3 sts, sh in next st, ch 1, sk 3 sts, dc in next st, ch 1] 3 times; sk 3 sts, sh in next st, ch 1, sk 3 sts, join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch. -- 4 sh, 4 dc

Rnd 4: Ch 4, dc in same ch as join (V-st made); *ch 1, V-st in ch 1 sp of next sh, ch 1, sk last 2 dc of shell, V-st in next dc; rep from * to last sh; ch 1, V-st in ch 1 sp of last sh, ch 1, join with sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch. -- 8 V-sts

Rnd 5: Sl st in next ch sp, ch 4, *sh in ch sp of  next V-st, ch 1, dc in ch sp of next V-st, ch 1; rep from * to last V-st; sh in last V-st, ch 1; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch. -- 4 sh, 4 dc

For 4” candle:

Rnds 6 -7: Rep rnds 4 and 5 once. Skip to rnd 11.

For 6” candle:

Rnds 6-9: Rep rnds 4 and 5 once for 4” candle and skip to Round 11. or twice for 6” candle.

Rnd 10: Rep rnd 4. 

Rnd 11: Ch 1, sc in each st and ch sp around, join with sl st in first sc.

Rnd 12: Ch 1, sc in each sc around; join with sl st in first sc.

Cut yarn and weave in ends. Enjoy! Comments are always welcome.

An Alternative to the Turning Chain

I have never liked the look of a turning chain especially if it's 3 chains or taller. It's too skinny and leaves a gap before the next stitch. I've seen several alternatives to the turning chain. At a Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) conference a couple years ago a representative from Lion Brand demonstrated a nice one. I've modified it slightly to come up with a version that I really like. I call it a beginning dc, but you can make it shorter and use it as an hdc or longer and use it as a treble.

Here's a swatch showing how this stitch looks different from a standard ch 3. 

To begin, pull up a loop to about the height of a double crochet.

Put a twist in the loop by rotating your hook in a complete circle. It doesn't matter which direction you rotate the hook, but take note of which you choose.

Insert your hook in the first stitch of the row below and pull up a loop.

Adjust the size of that loop to about half that of your twisted loop and ch 1.

Rotate your hook in a complete circle in the opposite direction from the way you rotated it above.

Yarn over and pull through all loops on your hook to complete the stitch.

That's all there is too it. Give it a try and let me know how you like it. As always I love to hear from you.

Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival 2019

Adventures in the Wind and Rain

The Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (aka OFFF) was held as usual on the 4th weekend in September. It was a bit blustery, but everyone including the outdoor vendors carried on with good cheer. At least the wind wasn't strong enough to blow over their booths like a few years ago. 

Always in Stitches Display

Once again my Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) chapter Always In Stitches represented the hook with a display of a variety of our works. 

Squiddly even showed up.

Attractive versions of the Free Range Kimono and Rose Trellis Shawlette.

If you're wondering about all the goofy hats on the display cases, here's a closer look.

Every year the famous Sexy Turkey Hat (above right) gets so much attention from passersby that this year we decided to riff on that theme. We made a variety of novelty hats and had a selfie booth. It proved to be quite popular. The turkey hat was again the star, but it's companion the Cooked Turkey Hat (to the left of the Sexy Turkey above) got a lot of attention as well. My friend Nancy, the crocheter of the Sexy Turkey, and I couldn't resist doing our own selfie. I'm wearing the Karpe Diem: Useless Goldfish Monster Hat. It is not at all useless since it may play a part in my Halloween costume this year.

Fiber Arts Competition

The gallery of entries in the fiber arts competition is always a highlight of the festival. Here are some of this year's crochet winners and a few other entries that I really enjoyed seeing. The grand champion in the crochet division was this exceptionally well made afghan. I have it from the judge that the stitches were impeccably even, and she couldn't find one mistake. 

Here in no particular order are some other entries. I think they're all winners whether or not they got a ribbon.

I was more than happy with the results for my own entries. The first one below is Ned's Dye-Pot Shawl by Laurinda Reddig.

Justice by Katherine Durack

The Abundant Earth Shawl by...me. Yes, this is my baby. Lydia of Abundant Earth Fiber kindly gave me 3 skeins of yarn to crochet a sample for their show booth, and this is what I designed for her.  Stay tuned for more photos and a pattern release once it's back from testing. Whether it sells or not, I'm a wee bit proud of it. Can you tell? :-)

Enough of the shameless self-promotion! There are a few more competition entries that I want to share. The hat and headband below are not crochet but naalbinding, a Viking yarn craft done with a flat hook that predates both knitting and crochet. 

These pieces from the felting competition caught my eye. Just love the otter and fox with all their little details.

 I'd hang this lily on my living room wall in a heartbeat.

And finally, here's the entry that one the biggest prize of all - the diamond award. The creator of this little rug, raised the silk worms, processed, spun and dyed the silk, and wove and knotted this little rug. The size is about 4" x 6". It is truly deserving of the top honor.

Crochet Friendly Vendors

As usual, I took a walk or two around the marketplace especially to search for crochet-friendly vendors. Here's what I found this year.

The BJS Fiber Creations booth had the Seagrass Shawl by Jan Power on display.

I love Lilliput Yarn. Lots of crochet in her booth including the Rimsky-Korsekoffee-Cake shawl (brown and pink below) by James Strieby and the Taegan shawl (orange) by Kendrea Beers.

Also Vicki's Hike by Julie Blagojevich.

Purly Shell Fiber Arts had a couple unlabeled crochet pieces mixed in with their gorgeous fiber. I think I need to learn to spin.

I did a double take when I saw this filet piece with the bunny motif in the Sinfully Soft booth. Angora!

The Ficstitches booth is the only one with all crochet and had a number of Laurinda Reddig's (Recrochetions) designs on display. 

Celtic Cross Wrap

Patrick's Balaclava

Robin's Wings

Star Bright

Also for sale at the Ficstitches booth were some of C. Jane Reid's novels featuring crochet. I had to pick up a couple.

Compass Rose Farms (no website) had these rustic looking crocheted shawls made from their Icelandic wool in their booth.

They also sold items made from the fiber itself not yarn. It looks like I'm in dire need of a trip to the hair stylist in the photo below, but that's not all that's going on here. I'm wearing a very warm hat made from Icelandic fiber. A stiff wind is adding some styling to the look.

Hazel Rose Looms sells hardwood pin looms of various sizes and shapes for weaving small pieces of fabric. Here they've used crochet to join triangular woven pieces into a pretty shawl.

Critters

Lastly, I took a wander about the barns to check out the critters. 

This guy was interested in everybody passing by. 

 Icelandic sheep

 Pygora goats

 These two like to snuggle. Looks comfy from this side.

But not so much from this side for the white one.

These ladies kindly posed during the judging.

That's it for this year at OFFF. Questions? Comments? Leave them below after the gratuitous fall foliage photo. Thanks for stopping by!