Hairpin lace, anyone?

Today's the first day of the very first hairpin-lace-along over at the Hairpin Crochet Ravelry group, in honor of which, I post here a photo of one of my very first pieces of hairpin lace. Yes, it's very red.


Hairpin lace in worsted-weight cotton. Hurray.
For the first HPL-along, we're doing the woman's hairpin lace shawl pattern from Coats & Clark.

Feel free to come on over and join us if you want to try your hand at hairpin lace (or maybe you're a seasoned hairpinner already!). The HPL-along basic info thread is here. All you need is yarn (768 yards or less, according to the pattern), a crochet hook, and a hairpin lace loom. You can even make your own hairpin lace loom; there are some ideas on the Ravelry HPL group's resources page.

I think I'm going to end up using a really light yarn and wearing my "shawl" as a head scarf or a belt. I seriously do not need to add another item to the already-overflowing scarf and shawl drawer, especially since, you know. I live in Florida, where there's not a lot of call for scarves and shawls, even lacy ones. If this project works out and doesn't frustrate the crap out of me, I'll probably make an HPL sarong — which I will use. I hope. ;)

Ahh, practicing the yarn arts in a humid, hot climate...

Ravelry is for Designers!

First, the hug monster pattern that I tested a couple of weeks ago is up on Ravelry for purchase — yayyy! Check it out! (It's worth it just to see the pirate version. ;))

Also, momentous news! I. Have. Been. Hooked up as a designer on Ravelry.

Behold, my profile now shows that I Design Patterns:



(The blue arrow points to the hug monster I made with that pattern I just mentioned.)

My official designer page is here, but I haven't done anything special to it yet, so it's just an echo of my personal profile ... with my designs attached at the bottom.

HURRAH.

:D

Help Haiti, get knitting patterns

Recovery efforts in Haiti are all over the news these days, so no rehash. I just want to point out the ever-growing number of Help for Haiti knitting patterns you can buy and download through Ravelry. There are 32 pages of patterns as I type this — whew.

Anyway, I've sorted through all 32 pages and have pulled out some patterns to highlight here. For all the patterns below, 100% of the pattern purchase price (minus fees from Ravelry and Paypal, etc.) will go to charities helping in the Haiti recovery efforts. Get knitting patterns, support indie designers, donate to a charitable cause ... seems like a win all the way around.

• Esopus lace scarf or stole ($3.50) — donating until Feb 14; uses laceweight yarn in a pretty but not overly complicated lace pattern
• Bellona cowl ($4) — donating through January; uses fingering weight yarn knit in the round, in a drop-stitch-inspired cable pattern
• Hooded soft scarf ($2.50) — donating through January; worsted weight yarn in a rustic, textured, cozy-looking cold-weather accessory
• Ariadne wristwarmers ($5) — donating 100% through the end of January and 50% of February sales; sport-weight yarn in swirly cables
• Old Copper Pipes cowl ($5) — donating through January; fingering weight yarn in a seriously interesting woven-looking texture
• Spring Peach Shawl ($3.50) — donating through January; sport weight yarn in a lace and cables pattern
• Coniferous cowl ($1.50) — donating through February; aran weight yarn in a cool spiraly, texturey, close-to-the-neck cowl
• RoRo socks ($5) — donating through January; light fingering weight yarn, cabled and ribbed socks designed for variegated yarn and good for nonskinny calves ;)
• Paul and Virginia socks ($5) — donating through January; fingering weight yarn in a spiral slip-stitch pattern designed to go with hand-dyed yarn

And while I'm on the subject of charity donation, the U.S. Better Business Bureau has a handy charity and business checker that will tell you what a charity does, its contact information, whether it meets all the BBB's standards for charity accountability, etc. Always nice to be able to research someone before you hand over your money.