Happy National Crochet Month 2015!

Wow! I can hardly believe it is this time of year again already! I hope everyone has a lot of fun events and activities planned to celebrate National Crochet Month! I would first like to thank Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka, owners of Crochetville for once again hosting this incredible blog tour! I love to read all of the wonderful entries and this year there will be more free patterns and prizes than ever before! Thank you to Red Heart Yarns for sponsoring the great giveaways! You can find the complete list of participants right here!

One great way to celebrate National Crochet Month is by joining the Crochet Guild of America! There are so many benefits to being a member of CGOA; you can find just a few of the top reasons here. The picture below is from our Summer conference last year in Manchester, New Hampshire! Pictured is Jenny King, Amy Shelton, myself and Marcy Smith. We have so much fun and I have learned so much with incredible volunteer opportunities. I am currently serving my second term as Vice President of this wonderful organization. Find out how you too can become involved.

Another great way to celebrate is to pay it forward and share your gift of crochet by bringing love and comfort to someone in need. We will once again be supporting Halos of Hope which is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization committed to providing volunteer-crafted hats to cancer centers across the country. Founder and executive director, Pam Haschke, is a cancer survivor and you can find all the details of their program on their site. I am offering a free hat pattern in celebration of National Crochet Month and I ask that you make a hat or two (or as many as you are able) and send to Halos of Hope! There are also many knit and crochet patterns offered on their site and they also accept donations to help cover the expenses of shipping the hats!

Whatever you do to celebrate, just be sure you ARE celebrating and sharing the love of crochet! Teach someone to crochet, gift your projects, send some yarn and patterns in a random act of kindness to someone in need, just celebrate!

And be sure to stop by and visit me on my Facebook Hot Lava Crochet page, my Craftsy pattern store, my Ravelry page, and lastly, if you are looking to improve your health, lose weight, increase your energy or even create an additional stream of income, I invite you to visit my Facebook Healthy Begins With You nutritional cleansing page. I have lost 53 pounds and I feel absolutely amazing!!! 

And now on to the free pattern! A very special "thank you" to Bendy Carter with her help 

testing the pattern! 

Enjoy!!!

Celebration 2015 Hat

  

Designed by Tammy Hildebrand.

RED HEART® Super Saver: 100% Acrylic; 7 oz. (198g), 364 yd (333m) skein; 1 skein each: Shocking Pink #718 (A); Jade #3862 (B); Lavender #358 (C).

Crochet Hook: 5.5mm [US I-9]. Yarn needle.

GAUGE:

Finished Size:

Special Stitches Sc2tog (single crochet two stitches together)

Notes Ch 3 at beginning of rounds counts as first double crochet. To change color, yarn over with new color when working final slip st to join round. Drop unused color to back of work until needed again and loosely carry up.

Instructions With A, ch 4, join with sl st to form ring. Rnd 1 (RS): Ch 3, 11 dc in ring, join with sl st in top of beg-ch changing to B. 12 dc. Rnd 2: With B, ch 1, sc in first st, ch 3, skip next st, *sc in next st, ch 3, skip next st; rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to C. 6 sc, 6 ch-3 sps. Rnd 3: With C, working all sts in skipped sts of 2 rnds previous and behind ch sts of previous rnd, sl st in first skipped st, ch 3, 2 dc in same st, ch 1, *3 dc in next skipped st, ch 1; rep from * around, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3 changing to A. 18 dc, 6 ch-1 sps. Rnd 4: With A, ch 1, * sc in first st of 3-dc group, working in ch-3 sp of 2 rnds previous and next st at same time, sc in next st, sc in next st, sc in next ch-1 sp,; rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to B. 24 sc. Rnds 5 – 7: Rep Rnds 2 – 4. 48 sc. Rnd 8: Rep Rnd 2. 24 sc, 24 ch-3 sps. Rnd 9: With C, working all sts in skipped sts of 2 rnds previous and behind ch sts of previous rnd, sl st in first skipped st, ch 3, 2 dc in same st, *3 dc in next skipped st; rep from * around, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3 changing to A. 72 dc. Rnd 10: With A, ch 1, * sc in first st of 3-dc group, working in ch-3 sp of 2 rnds previous and next st at same time, sc in next st, sc in next st, rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to B. 72 sc. Rnd 11: With B, ch 1, sc in first st, sc2tog, *sc in next st, sc2tog; rep from * around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to C. 48 sc. Rnd 12: With C, sc in each st around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to A. Rnd 13: With A, sc in each st around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to B. Rnd 14: With B, sc in each st around, join with sl st in beg sc changing to C. Rnds 15 – 23: Rep Rnds 12 – 14 three times. Rnd 24: Rep Rnd 12. Rnd 25: Working in front loops only, rep rnd 13. Rnd 26 - 28: Rep Rnds 8 – 10 (do not change to B in last rnd). Fasten off after last rnd.

Finishing With yarn needle, weave in ends.

ABBREVIATIONS: ch = chain; dc = double crochet; sc = single crochet; sl st = slip st; sp(s) space(es); st(s) = stitch(es); * = repeat whatever follows the * as indicated.

Happy National Crochet Month 2014

Happy National Crochet Month! What is everyone doing to celebrate? As always, I am honored to be included in the month long celebration blog tour put on by Crochetville. Owners Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka do so much for the fiber community and we appreciate you! Let's have a round of applause for this dynamic duo!

Our focus charity this year is Halos of Hope. Halos is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization founded by Pam Haschke, herself a survivor of inflammatory breast cancer. Their mission is to provide volunteer-crafted hats to cancer centers across the country. Please consider making a hat or two to donate. You can send completed hats to Crochetville's official headquarters (also know as Amy's house). For all the details please visit Hat donation details and be sure to check out the hat pattern I was honored to contribute to the designer invitational program for Halos.

So who is ready for Spring? It has been such a crazy winter all over the country. Two days ago I enjoyed sunshine and 75 degree weather with all the windows open. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the twenties again! So I decided I needed to create a little Spring of my own and I designed the "Passion Rose Motif". I love the look of the little rose buds just waiting to burst open. I am offering the pattern for free until the end of the month. Please be sure to stop by my Facebook page and say "Hello". I also love to see pictures of your projects from my patterns! Enjoy your celebration of National Crochet Month and thanks for visiting!

Passion Rose Motif

Design by Tammy Hildebrand

.

Skill Level                           

Intermediate

Finished Measurements

7 1/2  inches square

Materials

Caron Simply Soft medium (worsted) weight acrylic yarn (6 oz/315 yds/170 g per skein):

1 ounce each: #0012 passion, #0014 pagoda, #9702 off white

Size I/9/5.5mm crochet hook

Tapestry needle

Gauge

Gauge is unimportant for this design

Pattern Notes

Join rounds with slip stitch as indicated.

Chain-3 at beginning of round counts as first double crochet.

Chain-4 at beginning of round counts as first double crochet, chain 1.

Chain-6 at beginning of round counts as first double crochet, ch 3.

Special Stitches

Cluster (cl): Yarn over, insert hook in indicated space and draw up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook (2 loops remain on hook); yarn over, insert hook in same space and draw up a loop, yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook; yarn over and draw through all 3 loops on hook.

Popcorn (pc): Work 3 dc in indicated space, drop loop from hook, insert hook from front to back in first dc of 3-dc group, place dropped loop back on hook and draw through.

With passion, ch 3, join with sl st (see Pattern Notes), to form ring.

Rnd 1 (RS): Ch 3, (see Pattern Notes), 15 dc in ring, join in top of beg ch-3, fasten off. (16 dc)

Rnd 2: With RS facing, join pagoda with sc in any st, sc in each st around, join in beg sc, fasten off. (16 sc)

Rnd 3: With RS facing, join off white with sl st in any st, ch 4, (see Pattern Notes) dc in same st, (dc, ch 1, dc) in next st and in each st around, join in 3^rd ch of beg ch-4, fasten off. (32 dc, 16 ch-1 sps)

Rnd 4: With RS facing, join pagoda with sc in any ch-1 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-1 sp, [cl, (ch 2, cl) 3 times] in next ch-1 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-1 sp, *sc in next ch-1 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-1 sp, [cl, (ch 2, cl) 3 times] in next ch-1 sp, ch 3, skip next ch-1 sp; rep from * around, join in beg sc, fasten off. (4 sc, 16 cl)

Rnd 5: With RS facing, join passion with a sc in any sc, ch 3, sl st in top of next cl, ch 3, [pc in next ch-2 sp, ch 3, sl st in top of next cl, ch 3] 3 times, *sc in next sc, ch 3, sl st in top of next cl, ch 3, [pc in next ch-2 sp, ch 3, sl st in top of next cl, ch 3] 3 times; rep from * around, join in beg-sc, fasten off. (4 sc, 12 pc)

Rnd 6: With RS facing, join off white with sl st in any sc, ch 3, 2 dc in same st, sc in next ch-3 sp, sc in top of next pc, working over ch-3 sp, [3 dc in top of next cl of rnd 4, sc in top of next pc] twice, sc in next ch-3 sp, *3 dc in next sc, sc in next ch-3 sp, sc in top of next pc, working over ch-3 sp, [3 dc in top of next cl of rnd 4, sc in top of next pc] twice, sc in next ch-3 sp; rep from * around, join in top of beg ch-3, fasten off. (36 dc, 8 sc)

Rnd 7: With RS facing, join pagoda with sc in sc of any corner, ch 6, (see Pattern Notes), [dc, (ch 3, dc) twice] in same st, [skip next st, (sc, ch 5, sc) in next st] twice, [skip next 2 sts, (sc, ch 3, sc) in next st] twice, skip next st, (sc, ch 3, sc) in next st, skip next st, *[dc, (ch 3, dc) 3 times] in next st, [skip next st, (sc, ch 3, sc) in next st] twice, [skip next 2 sts, (sc, ch 3, sc) in next st] twice, skip next st, (sc, ch 3, sc) in next st; rep from * around, join in 3^rd ch of beg ch-6, fasten off. (16 dc, 40 sc)