Treasures

Thank you to lovely Yael of Yoola jewellery on Etsy who included me in her Treasury. These lists of carefully chosen collections are very highly sought after by Etsyers and shoppers alike as they are wonderful showcases for the very talented people on Etsy. They can be collated by colour or theme and I love to browse the hundreds (yes, that is really true) of fabulous treasurys on offer. I've always lusted after curating my own but they are incredibly difficult to obtain and you have almost to sit up all day and all night to get one! So congratulations to Yael.

Posting at the moment is a bit of a luxury for me as I'm up to my ears (and everything else, it feels like) in preparing for my jewellery workshop in June. I know it sounds pathetic. It's still 5 weeks away, but the amount of preparation is quite alot. It's better to be away from the computer and go and sit with a crochet hook, beads and wire.

Sorry but I will be back later in the week.

Finally there

At last I've posted my first thoughts at sewing bee. It's really an introduction but will set the tone I hope. I want the new blog to have the same feel as chaincreative but with threads!
Of course I won't be neglecting my lovely crochet blog...it's far too precious. I'll be posting next week about a fantastic fashion designer from Sweden who uses crochet in extraordinary ways.

Plans afoot for Sewing Bee

Planning to start another wee blog. Sewing this time!!! I'll be rummaging round the virtual world searching for all things needle and thread to bring to any of you who are fabric friendly. Let me know of any finds you make and we'll try and feature them. Crochet will always be there too but now it'll have a useful neighbour if a button falls off.

In a few days I'll be more prepared to let you through the door, but the packing cases are in the hall and you'ld only see it's bad points. Give me a few days and the welcome mat will be out.

Staying in touch

I'm now officially a twittering wreck! As if it isn't enough that I babble away endlessly about stuff, I'm now going to tell everyone. You can now catch (if you want!!!) my daily musings on Twitter and check out the vibe at chaincreative, my twittering tag. Let me know if you're listening!

The latest pearl of wisdom is available here on the right or at twitter.com. I'll keep you notifyed of my favourite crochet finds on the web, yarn fave raves, tips and gripes and much, much more, as they say.

Nice touches

It's happened again! I've been purchasing Japanese craft books again!! This time the offending book is a lovely felting book with lots of ideas for my felt workshops in the summer.

Etsy is wonderful for the number of businesses in Japan who supply books, fabric and notions that all have that wonderful delicacy that is so typical of many Japanese products. I find that the delivery is fantastic from Japan to the UK. That's a long way and anything I order seems to arrive super-quick.

This week, however, came with an extra, and really beautiful surprise! Everything I've received so far from different suppliers comes beautifully wrapped with lovely little thoughtful touches. A ribbon here, a special bag there but the book I ordered this week came with a very special present. My own orgami swan. Neatly tucked in a wee envelope with Miss Bee on the front. Fabulous. I was completely charmed. Could we start a trend? Surely it could certainly cheer the world up as much as it did me.

Here's a list of my favourite sellers on Etsy for Japanese products -

The orgami bird and felt book came from Rocobee

Pompadour's Craft Cafe

My Etsy Shop

CottonBlue

Matatabi

A Little Goodness

Saucy Louise

Now you can see why it's a bit of an obsession of mine. Have fun browsing!

Message Monday

Last week on chaincreative was a bit like Grand Central Station with visitors from toutes a nos crochets who brought alot of new friends to my little blog. Hmm, very chaincreative! It's so lovely to have feedback and new input to the whole crochet thing. What is also nice is that the friends return and last week also brought some established friends of chaincreative into the studio.

First off is Guro from Hobbykroken (please check out the adorable little vest she's made for her little boy. Aw, cute!!). Guro has long been a blog friend and being Norwegian she knows all about the fabulous blogs from there. One particular one that she drew my attention to is Pickles and their gorgeous Nordic light pendant. The best bit is that they have provided a free pattern for it. That's the generosity of crocheters, I'd say! I love the very Scandanavian chic of it!

At the same time as all this, I've been scheming over my jewellery workshops that I'm running at my 'home in the country' for all my London crochet students. I really enjoy this cooking process that goes into a workshop. Planning projects is so much fun and I like to draw in any contacts I might have made and call on their expertise.

Two such friends are Maria from kjoo and Yael from yoola. Both are firm friends of chaincreative and you would know them both from Designer Interviews and many mentions in the past. I had contacted both for information and, as often happens, they were more than generous with their advise and direction. I thought I'd pass on some of their words of wisdom to you in order to complete the chain.

This first from Maria:

'Some tips about crochet jewelry: First of all, chose the best cotton thread possible, always mercerized cotton thread, or some organic threads, the pick gorgeous colors. This will make all the difference! Then I like to make the crochet as tight as possible, even it takes the double of the time to accomplish the work. It will make the item looks more three dimensional because the good quality mercerized thread plus the very tight "knots" will give the crochet a very "strong body", will make the item more heavy so will fit better.'

Now from Yael on her lovely blog, Design with a crochet hook, you'll find that we agonize constantly about our craft.

'Some people say that because I use a crochet hook it should be called crocheted, others say that although I use a crochet hook it should be called knitting.I needles say that some were VERY confident about which term should be used. I kept apologizing that I wasn't an English speaker, as if it wasn't clear.... and that maybe they were right. To be honest it wouldn't have been anymore easier in Hebrew, my mother tongue, or maybe it would have been because in Hebrew you use the same verb for both techniques =(SRIGA). But I think that all of this in the past now, yesterday while I was discussing this issue with a very experienced lady both with crochet and with knitting we came to term that actually I was working on an invisible spool.... I immediately fell in love with this term and decided to adopt it, I wonder how it will be accepted. I hope it will be clear that it is NOT real spool knitting (personally I don't really like spools, especially with metal). I would love to hear what you think.'

Attention crochet

I have found a fantastic blog called single crochet and in-keeping with the theme this week, it's French!!! I wanted you all to go there as it's fantastique and will give alot of people inspiration and pleasure I hope. More later I'm sure.

I found single crochet through another adorable blog, sissi et loulou, which lifts the spirits with it's jolly colours and light and just check out that skirt. I adore it!!

A bientot!