Wow, I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since I last posted. Time flies when you’re crafting! 😀
And boy have I been crafting–knitting and crocheting almost every day. Mainly I’ve been working on some new original designs that I hope to release soon in my Craftsy Pattern Store, and this always involves a lot of testing, ripping out, testing again, etc… I’m a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my patterns, so I usually end up making multiple prototypes as I check and recheck, and tweak the pattern I’m writing. Pattern designing is not a quick process.
A New Crochet Pattern
But the good news is that after several months of all that testing, I finally have a new crochet pattern to share with you! It’s available right now in my Craftsy Pattern Store for $2.99, which is a bargain because you’re getting not just one, but TWO patterns in the same document.
Textured Crochet & Tri-Color Placemat Set
This pattern uses the wonderful KnitPicks Dishie™ worsted weight cotton yarn. A delight to work with, and so many gorgeous colors! For the pattern I chose Begonia, Jalapeno, and Swan (a pinkish red, a medium green, and an off-white), but in the instructions I included some alternative color combinations you might like as well.
My initial inspiration for the pattern was simply that I needed some new placemats for my kitchen for the cooler months and I knew I wanted them in cotton yarn for the absorbancy and ease-of-care. Once I had my yarn, I did up a few swatches to test my ideas and went from there. Below are the two “winning” swatches that led to the final patterns.
WIP Update
In addition to creating new designs, I’ve been working on lots of items from patterns in my library, or subscriptions I have to various magazines. Some are gifts are for friends and family. Some are for me! 😀 And sometimes, as you can see from the last picture, a WIP is still waiting to come out of the supplies box!
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A Sneak Peek
I’m currently finalizing another crochet pattern for my Craftsy store. This one will be for seasonal hotpads. The picture below shows one of the prototypes for autumn, to give you an idea of where the pattern is heading, but this is not the final version. Stay tuned for that! I’m hoping to have the pattern ready for release this fall. I’ll announce it in this blog when it’s ready for download, and on my CraftsByCathy Facebook page.
The hotpads pattern will be a paid for pattern (it’s going to be multiple projects in one document), but I’m also working on a new knitted cowl pattern that will be a freebie, and I just starting to test a crocheted version of that cowl as well, so keep an eye out for that.
That’s all for now.
Happy crafting! 😀
Catherine Chant Crochet 