Show and Tell: Queen for A Day!

Amy Shelton, the Co-owner and Online Manager of Crochetville, wrote to share a story about her Queen for a Day pattern and our very own Steven.

I first met Steven when he had a booth at the Knit & Crochet Show in Minneapolis in 2011. Although I had a very busy conference schedule, I managed to carve out time to visit the uber-fabulous StevenBe store in Minneapolis, not to mention spending a lot of time in his booth on the show floor. I love sparkle and glitter just about as much as Steven does, so I thought I'd died and gone to heaven! I was thrilled to learn Steven had a booth at the Knit & Crochet Show in Indianapolis last week.

Because you can never have too much sparkle, I designed some crowns to wear in the booth to grab the attention of show attendees. The crowns make people smile, and many stop to talk with me about them. Since I'm selling Red Heart yarn in my booth, we were wearing the crowns made from their brand of cotton thread (the silver one is also heavily beaded). My good friend, crochet designer Tammy Hildebrand, and I wore the crowns in the booth and when walking around the show floor.

Every time Steven saw us, he mentioned the crowns and how much he needed to have one of his own. Well, I just happened to have a couple extra crowns up in my room: the first one I designed using Filatura di Crosa's New Smoking yarn. What was a sparkle-loving girl to do? Obviously, I had to run up to the room, grab a Queen for the Day crown, and present it to Steven as a gift!

He gave me the biggest hug, put it right on his head, and told me he was going to wear it when he emceed The Knitting Guild Association's Fun Night that evening. Saturday morning, he told me he actually had worn the crown that night.

Steven mentioned starting a Crown Club for all his wonderful Diva customers who deserve a crown of their very own. What a fabulous idea!

The Queen for a Day pattern is available in these locations:

Crochetville:
http://www.crochetville.com/community/files/file/7-queen-for-a-day-crown/

Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/queen-for-a-day-crown

Thanks, Amy! It looks fabulous.

Show and Tell: Cap Sleeve Lattice Top

Jodi (JodiTheGrandma) knit a Cap Sleeve Lattice Top out of 1 skein each of Schoppel-Wolle Leinen Los and madelinetosh tosh merino light.

This is what she had to say about it.

I decided to do mine in the round at a gauge of about 5.5 sts/in. Since I wear a small, I altered it down to 176sts (I knit it in the round), which left me with 88sts for the front and 88sts for the back (which happened to be multiples of 3+1 for the ‘lattice’ portion). I knit to 14” for the body of the piece because it was more flattering for my body at that length. A simple Kitchener stitch hid the seaming on the back pretty well… in fact, I can wear it either way because they look about the same!

It was nice to work on something totally basic since I’ve been doing a lot of car/movie/social-time knitting and need to not always be looking :)

Thanks, Jodi! It looks so nice for summer heat. Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy supplies for something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com

Show and Tell: Crochet with Two Kinds of Rowan Yarns

Tina (TinaSanders on Ravelry) crocheted a Spring Petals Scarf using 1 skein of Rowan Fine Art and 1 skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze.

This is what she had to say about it:
This pattern was perfect to show off the beauty of both yarns and sometimes the most simple designs yields fantastic results. For those who are new to crochet, this is a great beginner project that only requires one skein of yarn. I’ve also come to realize that sock yarn is not only for socks and can be perfect for many projects, both for knit and crochet.

Thanks for sharing, Tina! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

Show and Tell: A Tee from Sock Yarn

Dayana (who is also dayana on Ravelry) made a lovely Rowan Fine Art Tee using less than one skein each of Cascade Yarns Heritage Solids & Quatro Colors and Rowan Fine Art. She blogged about it (and a trip to New Orleans) here.

This is what she had to say about it:
This can be a great stash-buster project for partial skeins or even skein scraps. Choose the first stripe to be the yarn you have less of. You can follow the stripe pattern, as is, until it is gone and then finish with all contrast color. Or, feel free to play with the stripes to really maximize the use of your skein over the whole body length. If you are nerdy like me, I’m sure you could weigh the tee at the midpoint (7/7), and figure out how many stripes you can do!

Thanks for sharing, Dayana! Photo is used with her permission.

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.

For Your Review: Merino/Tussah Silk to Spin

From Ashland Bay's website:

"The 70/30 Merino/Tussah Silk dyed fiber blend is a perfect ratio of wool to silk for a spinner’s first introduction to spinning with silk. The blend is also great for felting. We offer over a dozen bright and vibrant colors of our Merino Silk dyed fiber blend, including seasonally inspired color ways."

All I can say is, AMEN! I decided to treat myself for the Tour de Fleece, and, man, is this a treat.

This top is so beautiful, and spins so well, I almost can't believe it. I tried over-the-fold, at first, because I heard that was a good way to control silk, but it didn't really work. So, just a simple, relaxed, worsted-spun yarn was born. Plied into a two-ply, it is drapey, smooth, and beautiful. 

If you want to spin silk, or even a silk blend, go for it! Just, maybe, get a manicure first. Every snag or rough spot on your hands will catch at the silk, and it's rather annoying.

Are you doing anything special for the Tour de Fleece? I know I'm going to be spinning the rest of this. Come grab some spinning fiber at the shop before I use it all up!

Show and Tell: Another Easy Shrug

Jenn Weidner of J. Rae Fashion made another shrug piece to show off!

This is the same principal as at last shrug I sent you. It's a big rectangle folded in half and seamed.

This one is 107 stitches as a circumference and the brown one was only 50. This piece has more drape!

I love the rider thread of bead and stone pieces. It's an unexpected texture that starts conversations!

Want to buy something you read about here? Call us! 612-259-7525.

Thanks for sharing, Jenn!

Want to share your story? Email me at jessie at stevenbe dot com.