Stefanie, The Crochet Dude's Groupie at TNNA 2011

Yup! That's me with The Crochet Dude live and in person at TNNA 2011! And as the T-shirt states "Every Girl need's a BOYE". We had so much fun seeing all sorts of great yarns, knitwear and all the fun people who are a part of the yarn industry!

About Family Crafts
Play along with this week's make-it-over craft challenge by submitting craft projects made using bowls.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a chance to win a 26 pack of Gutermann thread and a copy of 1,000 Clever Sewing Shortcuts and Tips, a free Valentine cherub shooting hearts graphic download, a link to a free "How to Draw" app for the iPad, tips on painting shadows and some apple recipes.

Aileen's Musings
Find out what an Artist Trading Block is and sign up for a Valentine swap with Aileen!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi uses a new punch to create these cute word sentiments.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy's new jewelry making book is totally official now, finally!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Jewelry closeout items at deep discount and a few things from your stash can make wonderful jewelry on the cheap. Check out Eileen's Serenity Bracelet.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Never get burned by a glue gun again! Check out these FABULOUS Hot Glue Gun Helpers from Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza!

Mixed Media Artist
Have you ever wanted to try combining collage with quilting?

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Book Review: The Knitter's Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn

All Washed Up by the Crochet Dude (Drew Emborsky) Hooked up Halloween Style

We here at the Plaidbunny Test Kitchen
took
All Washed Up
by
Drew Emborsky
B. K. A. "The Crochet Dude

for a test drive and let me say I loved making this cute dish cloth (The one on the top right side of the cover in green with white ruffles)

I whipped it up in black with orange ruffles so it would fit in with all the Halloween stuff lurking around the kitchen at the moment.

It was a great pattern that went super smoothly with the great directions Drew wrote!

There are 3 more in this series of booklets just as cute!

I give them the Scissor Seal of approval here in the land of Green Crafting.

(Designer's note bright orange on a black background does pose a photography challenge but I assure you it is very festive in person!)

More about All Washed Up from Leisure Arts:

"We're proud to present this collection of all-original dishcloths in cotton yarn, designed by Drew Emborsky, The Crochet Dude. Make them as gifts. Make them for yourself. But whatever you do, be sure to make them fun! The 9 projects in this book are Tackle It With a Twist!, Extra Elbow Grease!, Grime Buster!, Lots of Suds!, Put Your Heart Into It!, Real Men Do Dishes!, Finished With a Flourish!, Nine Rounds and You're Done!, and One Red-Hot Scrubber."

Crafty Bloggers and more crafty peeps from CHA 2009

WOW! CHA was fun!


CHA was great this year. I got to see lots of old friends and meet new people that I had either read their books or articles about them and their creative pursuits, such as Faythe Levine of Handmade Nation.

Then there were the Crafty Bloggers like Drew Emborsky, the author of The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys that I got to catch up with (and get him to "strike a pose")
Then there was the lovely Vickie Howell who gave me a copy of her new Knit Aid book.


Then back on the new people I got to meet list, Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching! We had a great conversation about indi crafting which was a hot topic at CHA.

Then some silliness occurred. This is a tutu I sewed for the Wrights booth out of black plastic garbage bags. Here Cathi Milligan of Beadbrains.com is striking a pose with me and the tutu.
And just in case you doubt me, here I am posing in it before it was shipped out! I had to test drive it!

Then our friend Maria got in on the act and we did a pose with our "gang sign".

Another Crafty Blogger, Margot Potter has a new book out, Beyond the Bead, oh so pretty!


And Cathi Milligan was also premiering her new book Mod Knots!
This was such a treat, I got to meet Mary Engelbreit! I have been a fan of her since before I was a professional craft designer.
Whew, what a great time. To see more pop on over here for pictures from my make and take and signing and lots more authors events.

The Crochet Dude's New Book Rocks!!

The Crochet Dude's Designs for Guys: 30 Projects Men Will Love

By Drew Emborsky (The Crochet Dude)

Is fabulous!

OK full disclosure, I know Drew, I love Drew. He was one of my guests when I produced Knitty Gritty. He appeared with Annie Modesitt when they came on the show doing a project from another of their great books, Men Who Knit & The Dogs Who Love Them.

He is a wonderful designer and the projects in this book are really nice looking (and it's not just the cute guys who are photographed wearing them, I swear!)
I decided to start with the cover project. But I wanted to test drive it for me first and then the second one I made would be for a guy. And I don't where hats (I have way too much hair to fit under one but I do wear headbands to keep my ears warm. The band on this hat looked perfect for that so I skipped over the first part of the hat pattern to the band part and picked right up with the cool alternating front post double crochet and back post double crochet pattern that was illustrated and explained beautifully in the back of the book.

In addition to the super patterns, the back of the book has great charts of symbols and explanations that made this project go so smoothly it only took me a few hours to whip this headband up!