Crocheting on a beautiful evening at National’s stadium……gotta love a little “stitch and pitch”!

A simple look at my recent yarn purchases and allocations of my free time over the past year paints a clear picture of the importance of playing with yarn in my life. A few days without crocheting (or knitting) leaves me frazzled and a bit lost.

On my way back from the Maryland Sheep and Wool (MDSW) festival, as I thought about the damage that I had just done and all of my new yummy yarn delights, I came to the conclusion that this is not a hobby for me. This is a way of life.

I will gladly give up new clothes and shoes, expensive haircuts, manicures and pedicures….you name it…..in order to buy more yarn. In fact, last year at MDSW, I went solo and purposely did not eat so that I could splurge on more yarn. Yes, I gave up food for yarn!

However, I realized too that it would be a shame if I amassed this huge collection of “good stuff” and I didn’t get to play with most of it while I was still on this earth. So, I have made a commitment – all of this beautiful yarn must be turned into completed projects. My goal is a project per month. Yes, I am going on a serious stash buster’s diet, complete with a plan and some accountability. You, my friends, will keep me accountable; and by December 31^st, I should have 6 more gorgeous projects to display. Anyone else want to jump in with me on the stash buster’s diet? Think how much fun we’ll have making our dream projects and how much better we’ll feel after our next yarn shopping spree, because by then we’ll actually need to buy more yarn!

P.S. – I am still figuring out how to use my new light box…..I am not 100% happy with the results, but practice makes perfect.

Well, I am back from the 2012 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and shamefully I must admit that I blew through my entire yarn budget for the year in one day. It was so much fun, though, and I added some amazing yarn to my ever burgeoning stash. I guess Mother’s Day came early this year….and so did my birthday and Christmas.

Since a picture says a 1000 words, I decided to share some of the highlights from my day in a slideshow. Overall impression – it was less crowded than last year (the economy?) but the vendors had some great new and exciting fibers on display.

Here’s what is on my hook these days….life has been so crazy that a few moments each night is all I can spare for my crochet obession. Between my new job and juggling my family obligations, I am lucky if I get to play with my new yarn from Roman Hills at all. Isn’t it divine, though?!?

It is a part of their Downton Abbey collection. This is The Dowager Countess. Can you guess what is my favorite show and who is my favorite character?

I am using an old 1976 Bernat pattern for this project. I had been saving this lucky online find for the perfect yarn….tadah!!!!

Now, I have shifted gears back to my evolving design, The Gardenia Capelet, which features some fabulous yarn from Miss Babs. I am putting the finishing touches on the garment and then I must write-up the pattern. I will be looking for several pattern testers soon…..so, stay tuned and let me know if you are interested.

This is my mom’s birthday present that I finally finished last night – with 3 days to spare. Can’t wait to see her wear it at CGOA this year.

Happy Stitching Ya’ll – Be it with the hook or the needles!

I just finished my latest project for the Fresh Designs Crochet series by Cooperative Press. It is such a cathartic feeling; it’s like giving birth – there’s a gestation period, there’s the labor and then finally the joy of holding the completed bundle in your hands. Now, I have turned back to an exciting little project that I started a while back – my Glamour Bolero. It’s an adaptation of a Japanese pattern, the Net Stitch Bolero by Pierrot Yarns, and made in Vanna’s Glamour yarn by Lion Brand, which provides the perfect amount of bling. 

Crocheting from the chart has been a nice change of pace. There is a bit of math involved as I customize the fit for myself, but even that has been fun too. In fact, I hated to put my hook down and stop to block the first phase of the project; but, hopefully by tomorrow I’ll be able to start on the gorgeous lace border. I hope this one is ready for my 15th-year wedding anniversary next month. I’d love to wear it out to dinner with my beau!

Ask and ye shall receive.

Crochet  Charts by Stitch Works Software is the creation of Brian Milco, a California native who grew up in New England with a passion for computers.  Brian first became interested in software for fiber artists when he was employed by another company to write knitting software. “When I realized that it was time to move on, I decided that I really wanted to start my own business,” he explained. “I could see there was a market for good cross platform software in the fiber arts community, and people I had talked to expressed a specific need for crochet software. So when I decided to open my own company, I decided to start where there was a clear demand for what I could offer.”

Brian began work on Crochet Charts almost a year ago and launched the first version in October 2011. Reasonably priced at $50, the software program allows designers to create charts with crochet symbols of designs constructed in rows or rounds. Other features of the software program include the ability to export charts and legends to several standard formats (PDF, SVG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, and plain text); customizable stitch libraries and legends; helpful tools to allow charts to be easily read, such as the ability to alternate row colors and add indicator marks; and, the flexibility to create multiple charts in one document.

“The biggest difference between Crochet Charts and other software on the market is that it is designed specifically for crochet,” continued Brian. “It uses a free form canvas, so there’s no grid which you have to shoehorn your stitches into. Another difference is that I built my software so that it runs on Windows (XP/Vista/7), Mac (Intel, 10.5-10.7), and Linux (Ubuntu), and the look and feel is native on all three platforms.”

I had the pleasure of test driving Crochet Charts last week and I must admit that it has a very modern, user-friendly look and feel. In fact, I was able to put together my first chart in a matter of minutes without any crazy hair-pulling. Users, though, will appreciate the fact that Brian is available to answer any questions about the program via email and a special group on Ravelry. He is also readily open to suggestions for improvements and upgrades.

The next version of the software, v1.1, is planned for release this week. “The biggest addition is that I’m increasing the number of stitches to over 100, and generally sanding and polishing the rough edges. I’ve also included a couple of user-requested features – a ‘copy, cut, paste’ right-click context menu, and the ability to select the stitch increase when creating charts in the round.”

More New Features on the Horizon

Several new and exciting additions are in the works for Crochet Charts. For example, in the next 3 to 6 months, Brian plans to add a Tunisian Crochet set to the available stitch symbols and within a year, he plans to create a set of stitches for knitting that can be added to Crochet Charts. This will ultimately allow users to combine knitting and crochet on the same chart without any difficulty….how cool is that!?!

“My issue tracking software is telling me that there are about 90 items on my wish list right now, so I have a lot of ideas and suggestions,” he explained. “A lot of them are smaller items like a ‘Select All’ checkbox in the Stitch Library, but some are bigger like a properties dialog that allows the user fine control over the values (angle, scale, stitch, pivot point, color, etc.) of whatever items are selected.” These are both scheduled for the 1.2 version of the software. In addition, Brian plans to add adjustable guidelines for rows and rounds and to improve the usability of the indicators, allowing them to be individually customized.

“I have a few really big ideas that I don’t want to talk about until I’ve had a chance to do some prototyping to see if they’ll even work,” he added. So, users will simply have to stay tuned and wait as the goodies unfold. Brian hinted that these goodies may include a simple schematics program, which would really send crochet designers over the moon.

“It’ll probably be at least a year before I release any other software titles. For right now, however, I want to focus on making Crochet Charts the best software I can, and help to promote some more comprehensive standards when it comes to crochet symbols,” he concluded. And, crochet designers couldn’t be more thrilled.