CAL: Frida's Flower Blanket

Janie Crow/Jane Crowfoot will be running the Frida's Flower Blanket CAL (Crochet-A-Long) in the first few months of 2016.  It's inspired by Mexican crewel embroidery as seen on Frida Kahlo's clothes:

As for the Lily Pond Blanket CAL, Jane has designed an exclusive extra crochet pattern which will be available with yarn kits sold via the Janie Crow web site and not elsewhere.
Jane has designed the project based on Mexican traditional embroidery/crewel work and the costumes worn by artist Frida Kahlo. The colour palette is bright on dark shades and the main theme is flowers - the project will be called Frida's Flower Blanket.



Image source and further information here and in her January update here.

Yarn kits will be available from various retailers using Stylecraft yarns.
Follow her on Facebook etc or sign up on her website for her email updates to find out more, or read her blog here.

Note: links are in UK crochet terminology.

Crazy shell stitch

Would you like to crochet this?


Image source

Then head on over to the photo step by step tutorial here:
http://www.allfreecrochet.com/Tutorials/How-to-Crochet-a-Crazy-Shell-Stitch

Could be a blanket, or a cowl, or a scarf, or whatever you want....

Note: links are in US crochet terminology.

Slouchy crochet beanie in camel stitch

This one cleverly provides the rib and slouch of the many knitted beanies you see, but using crochet stitches (none difficult). It's from Sheepishly Sharing, and is called Camel Stitch Slouchy.

Image source: Ravelry http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/camel-stitch-slouchy

You work the band (instructions are supplied for lots of sizes from littles to large), join it and then work the rounds of slouch to the size you require.

Camel stitch was a new one to me: but in UK terms it's simply a half treble worked into the back loop (US terms: half double crochet worked into the back loop).

It's another example of how exploiting front and back loops - easy to do -  can create interesting textures in crochet.

The pattern on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/camel-stitch-slouchy

The pattern on Sheepishly Sharing:
http://sheepishlysharing.com/2016/01/02/crochet-camel-stitch-slouchy-tutorial/

The pattern on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/1PPc2ldR9Gk

Note: links are in US crochet terminology.