Phew! It’s been a marathon effort, but we have FINALLY organised our Crochet-a-Longs for 2012. Below is a quick summary of what we’re doing. But if you’d like a copy of  our colour brochure, please let us know!

All CALs start on the first Saturday of the month. You’re welcome to come into the shop for a free lesson and to pick up your supplies on this day. If you can’t make it in to the shop, please call us and order your supplies over the phone. Be sure to mention that you’re doing a CAL and we will include the pattern in your parcel. As each project progresses, we will have pics posted online and a quick blog entry. Feel free to follow us here or pages will be set aside for each project on our Ravelry group page. You can also follow our progress on Facebook.

We have some fabulous projects lined up for this year!

1. Starting on the 4th of February, we have a crochet summer tote in Noro ‘Nobori’ yarn. Nobori is a cotton tape yarn in bright colours. We have two colours available:

Colour 11

and Colour 17

I am currently finishing the model and pattern which will be available before the CAL begins.

2. Starting on the 3rd March, we have a choice of two blankets:

(a) a wonderful baby blanket – ‘Solas Caomh’ by Jodi Euchner – a cabled blanket crocheted with the ever-popular Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece.

It requires 6 skeins of the main colour and one skein of a contrast colour for the edging. You can download the pattern from the Interweave Store or through Ravelry.in Super

(b) I've had some requests for an 'adult' blanket, and we haven't done a blanket in Super Saver as yet and we are doing a Log Cabin blanket in the KAL program, so I thought I would offer this one:

Log Cabin Comfort Throw

It uses Red Heart Super Saver - 1 Skein each 256 Carrot A, 334 Buff B, and 944 Cherrycola C; 2 skeins each 792 Sandy Print D, 376 Burgundy E, 360 Café F, and 365 Coffee G.

3. The blankets run through April, so our third CAL begins on 5th May. This is another Interweave project, featured in the Interweave Crochet Winter 2011 issue (just out here in Australia). It’s called the Swain Sweater by Megan Granholm.

It’s a Tunisian Crochet cardigan/jacket and we’ve chosen fab ‘Peace Fleece’ tweed wool yarn to complete our shop sample, but you can use any worsted-weight wool or wool/blend yarn.

This is the Peace Fleece colour we’ve chosen – ‘Siberian Midnight’. We’ll be listing Peace Fleece colours on our website very soon so you can pre-order your supplies!

If all goes well, expect to have a cozy cardi for winter this year!

4. Starting on 7th July, 2012 – Ultimate Crocheted Socks! I’ve always wanted to try crocheting socks, so I made this year – 2012 – the year of doing, rather than wanting to do! LOL!

To make these socks, simply use 400 yards of any sock-weight (4 ply) yarn. Wool/nylon blends work best.

There are also some errata on the Ravelry page for this project.

5. Starting on the 4th August – Crochet Bullion Stitch Bag.

This is another Japanese project – featuring Lamb’s Pride yarn from Brown Sheep Company. More details and a pic of the project will be available once the pattern has been completed.

6. Giant Floor Ball – 1st September, 2012. This is the project I am MOST excited about!

This Vintage pattern is crocheted in Red Heart Super Saver acrylic and consists of 12 hexagonal motifs, each with 20 or so rounds. Sew each motif together, stuff with a pre-cut round foam insert and – Voila! – a giant floor ball! Imagine how cool that would look on your living room floor!

Colours and pattern will be available later in the year.

7. 3rd November 2012 – Christmas gifts. For this one, you have a choice of two projects:

(a) Coco’s Bobble Dress – crocheted in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece:

or (b) Bands of Beads Totebag: crocheted in Lily Sugar ‘n Cream or Bernat Handicrafter cotton

So! We have a super-full year of exciting crochet projects planned. Hope you can join us!

Gabrielle and Beth