What I'm Wearing Today: Lacy Top Cardigan

I hate to play favorites among my crocheted clothes. But I must admit that this is my go-to bit of lace year round, the Lacy Top Cardigan. The short story is this design is now a free pattern download for a limited time through this link to Ravelry. The long story is... well... long.

The design belongs to Tahki Stacy Charles, and the original was included in the 2nd Edition Tahki Crochet book from 2007, still available through the Tahki Stacy Charles site and at retailers. The original sample as shown in this book was crocheted in Tahki Bali.










Last year, the Lacy Top Cardigan was remade in N.Y. Yarns N.Y. Cotton (distributed by TSC) and issued as a free pattern from the N.Y. Yarns site.

Are you still with me?

N.Y. Yarns products are now being offered exclusively through Patternworks. This happened quite recently. Somehow the Lacy Top Cardigan pattern has temporarily fallen through the cracks. So until Patternworks negotiates to offer this pattern on their site, I have been authorized to share it. If you are not registered at Ravelry, no worries. You don't have to be a member in order to get the free pdf download. The only matter I need to address is to let you know that N.Y. Yarns N.Y. Cotton is now available at Patternworks.

One more thing. If you start this pattern (or any of my patterns) and get stuck at any point, please join me and the friendly, helpful and often obsessive/compulsive posse on Ravelry. Jump onto the group and forum dedicated to my designs, Doris Chan: Everyday Crochet, and post your questions for us.

REVIEW: Etimo Crochet Hooks

This post is all about teaching an old dog new tricks. It is not my imagination. I can tell, with each passing year, that I am losing brain function along with 1) patience, 2) near vision, 3) a waistline. I am extremely crabby now and have become my dad about some petty things ("my way or the highway"), but I hope I can remain open-minded, flexible, adaptable about the important things. Those who cannot adapt are doomed to extinction. However, when it comes to crochet tools, I am stubborn (some would say loyal) about my hooks.

I remember my mother teaching me to crochet, but not the exact hooks she put in my hands. Today I see she uses Boye hooks, so I assume Boye hooks were the ones of my early experience. I also see that Mom holds her hook with a pencil grip and wraps the feeder yarn firmly around her fingers. It dawns on me why I never took to crochet as a young girl. I must have tried it her way, learning by example. No wonder I ran away. It musta been awkward and uncomfortable. There was no way for me to have known that crochet could be done differently.

As an adult, I figured out that I'm a knife-hold crocheter, that I could relax the tension, and that I much prefer Susan Bates hooks. I've used Bates aluminum hooks for twenty years and have had little reason to try any others until recently. With so much crochet work on my plate as a designer, I'm finding the standard aluminum handles are cold and thin, two major contributors to hand fatigue.

I sampled all kinds of hooks in an effort to find a happy alternative, from plastic to bamboo to rosewood to maple and back again. My current favorite is a gorgeous hand crafted and carved hook from Grafton Fibers. It had better be perfect, after I beat up Tom over and over until he got it right! But I do not use my custom hooks for design work. Plastic hooks do not work for me at all. Bamboo hooks are nice, they are warm, but do not have a flattened grip to help me keep the tip from rotating, so they caused even more fatigue. When Susan Bates came out with a bamboo handled aluminum hook a couple of years ago, that became my go-to tool, and I was satisfied.

So understand, when my friend Vashti steered me to an exhibitor at the recent TNNA show in Columbus, Tulip Co., a Japanese manufacturer of handcrafting tools, I was ready to dig in my heels and resist. Kang Hyo Min, manager in Planning and Development, showed us Tulip Co.'s latest hooks, Etimo. Mr. Kang encouraged us to play with hooks and yarn provided, and we dutifully swatched up some stuff. WOWSERS! I could not let go of this hook. At the risk of sounding like a fracking commercial, this is the ultimate crochet tool on the planet.

The hook head is aluminum, but incredibly smooth, more highly polished than any I've seen, shaped somewhere between the bulbous Boye type and the in-line Bates type. In other words, the tip is tapered like the Boye, but with less of a bulb. The throat is not as pinched, is shorter, and returns to proper hook diameter sooner than the Boye. Etimo hooks have a shallower slot than my usual Bates, very similar in that way to the silhouette of Clover hooks. And unlike some other overseas manufacturers, Tulip makes their hooks in millimeter sizes that correspond exactly to American standard sizes, including the hard-to-find G-7 (4.5mm). That alone is enough for me to stand up and cheer! But there's more to love.

The handle is made from a special kind of rubber, elastomer (as opposed to the hard ABS plastic grip of the Clover Soft Touch), that is bouncy, with a suede-like texture. The grip is hand shaped (as opposed to the cylindrical grips of the Addi and Bates Bamboo handle hooks) and the "fit" for me is perfect. One real problem I have with the Bates Bamboo handles is that the finish gets sticky, especially if you slather hand cream as frequently as I do, and it is a stickiness that never goes away. The Etimo elastomer handles never get sticky or tacky, no matter what. The surface actually seems to thrive on rich hand cream.

Mr. Kang sent me a set of Etimo hooks to try and they have become my tools of choice. I admit, it took a bit of getting used to at first. The shallower slot means that the tip is less hook-y than my usual Bates. In order to keep the yarn from slipping out of the hook, I find myself applying a teeny bit more tension and a touch of rotation. These subtle changes could ulimately affect my gauge, particularly when crocheting tall stitches, but no matter. I am a convert.

Etimo hooks will not be cheap, probably a dollar or two more than the other more widely distributed Japanese rival hooks, Clover Soft Touch, which retail for $6.99 each. But this tool will last a long time, and must be considered a worthwhile investment. As of today I am aware of no USA distributor or retailer of Tulip Etimo crochet hooks. But that will change.

Killer Brownies

Happy Birthday to me!

Here’s the recipe for the brownies I shared one night at the Big Bar on Two at TNNA Columbus 2009. Incredibly moist and meltingly smooth, these brownies should be kept refrigerated to extend freshness. They also freeze well. But that assumes there will be any left around to store. This pattern... uh, recipe... tells exactly how I make them, with specific ingredients to get the same results. Swap out at your own risk!

Skill Level No-Brainer

Size 8” by 8” square or 9” round, 1" deep; to serve a gang of crocheters, unless you are Ellen Gormley, in which case serves two

Materials
14 tablespoons (7 ounces [200 g]) unsalted butter, cold, in chunks (Land O’ Lakes)
3 ounces (85g) chopped bittersweet or dark chocolate (Ghirardelli semi-sweet dark)
1/2 cup plus 2 teaspoons (1.75 oz [50 g]) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa, lightly spooned into cup (Pernigotti, an Italian cocoa with a touch of Tahitian vanilla bean)
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (8.25 oz [238 g]) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (Penzey’s Double Strength)
3 ounces (85 g) cream cheese, softened (Philadelphia brand original)
1/2 cup (2.5 oz [71 g]) all purpose flour, stir flour in container, dip cup, lightly sweep off excess (King Arthur)
A pinch of salt

Tools
Baking pan, metal, 8” by 8” square (or alternately 9” round), 2” deep
Aluminum foil, 8” by 16” strip or parchment paper
Nonstick baking spray (Pam for baking)
Microwave for melting stuff
Microwaveable 2-cup measure or medium bowl
Stand mixer with paddle attachment, great to have but not critical (KitchenAid), or hand-held mixer plus a large mixing bowl
Thin bladed spatula for spreading batter
Wire cooling rack
Toothpick or cake tester

Gauge not critical

Instructions
Batter
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare 8” square baking pan by lining with aluminum foil, allowing a few inches overhang on sides for lifting brownies later. Alternately, line the bottom of the 9” round pan with a circle of parchment. Either way, spray sides and bottom of pan with baking spray (or grease lightly with a little butter or vegetable shortening).

Row 1 (RS): In a microwaveable 2-cup measure or medium bowl, place butter and chopped chocolate, microwave on high power until melted, approximately 1 1/2 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times.
Row 2: Pour the butter mixture into a large mixing bowl (bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment) and beat in the cocoa -- 15 seconds at medium speed.
Row 3: Beat in the sugar until it is incorporated -- another 15 seconds.
Row 4: Beat in the eggs and vanilla until incorporated -- about 30 seconds more.
Row 5: Beat in the softened cream cheese until you can only see tiny bits -- about 15 seconds more.
Row 6: Sift in the flour and salt and mix only until the flour is fully moistened -- a few seconds at low speed.
Row 7: Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly with spatula.

Baking
Row 1: Place pan in the middle of oven, bake for 30 minutes. Batter should be set around the outside but the top should still look moist and shiny in the center. A toothpick inserted 1 inch from the edge will come out clean.
Note: Avoid overbaking.
Row 2: Place the pan on a wire rack and cool completely. That’s the hard part, cause this requires a couple of hours of smelling chocolate but not being able to eat it.

Finishing
With clean spatula, loosen brownies from sides of pan. Using the foil overhang, lift the brownies out of the pan. Alternately, turn the brownies out of the round pan, peel the parchment off the bottom of the brownie round, then invert so the top is again on top.
Weave in ends. Block brownies into 2” square servings, 16 squares. Or one huge shark-bite for Ellen. Enjoy!

BACKSTORY: Avalon

You gotta love a yarn company design director who respects crochet. From the first garment I sent to Cari Clement for Caron International in 2006 through the latest, this top for NaturallyCaron.com, our creative relationship has given me so many unique opportunities to explore my craft. This season Cari has spotlighted our latest design, Avalon, with a free pattern download and audio fashion show.


Avalon was inspired by home dec. Really. The motif is my adaptation of a swatch I saw in a vintage book, "Crochet For A Beautiful Home" (Sedgewood Press, 1987), one of among the countless treasures found by my mother over the years as she scoured her local flea markets and thrift shops. I know she paid just a couple of bucks for it, because if the penciled-in price on the inside cover had been any more than 2 dollars, she would have beaten them down to 2 dollars, trust me.

The motif features spiraling arms consisting of solid single crochets over chain spaces. I just so happened to see a coordinating pattern stitch in a Japanese stitch dictionary , "Crochet Patterns Book 300" (publisher and information in Japanese and therefore indecipherable by me!). The motif and stitch worked so well together that this top practically designed itself.

By deconstructing the motif I discovered a cool way to make the spiral arms into a trim for the body and sleeve bottoms.

Avalon has a soft, dense drape and generous, slinky stretch thanks to the yarn, NaturallyCaron.com Spa, a blend of Microfiber and Bamboo. The body and sleeves may easily be lengthened or shortened as you please before finishing with the trim, one of the benefits of top-down construction. Beware, though, as the stitch pattern will relax when blocked and you may end up with more length than you imagined.

What ME... judge?

Doubledogdangit. I was psyching myself up for the 2009 CGOA (Crochet Guild of America) Crochet Design Contest, culminating in the awarding of prizes at a ceremony during the CGOA National Conference in Buffalo, NY, 6-8 August. Yup. Cash prizes. And the best part is you don't have to write a pattern for your submission. Piece of pie!

Stupidly I missed the deadline for last year's contest due to procrastination. So this year I vowed to set aside plenty of time and yarn and get started early. One of the prototypes I considered was this simple seamless dress with a peasant string-tied neckline and tiered, slightly ruffled trim. Not quite the rumba ruffles I wanted. Honestly, it looks scary the way it hangs on the mannequin, but the deep tiers have plenty of movement and swing. Fun to wear and twirl.

But much to my astonishment I got drafted to be a contest judge. CGOA Design Contest Committee Co-Chairpersons Cari Clement and Jean Leinhauser probably thought having a designer on the panel of judges would be a good thing. I accepted the honor, but on one condition; I could consider bribes. I never said I would take any bribes, just consider them. I believe Cari thought I was kidding.

I join a most distinguished group of crochet luminaries: Cari Clement, representing Caron International Yarns, Jean Leinhauser of Creative Partners publishing, Michelle Maks of DRG, and Brett Bara, editor of Crochet Today!. But the true stars of the contest are your entries. So get on it.

Here is a link to the 2009 Design Contest Announcement pdf with rules and information. The first rule is you must be a CGOA member, so if you are not, visit www.crochet.org to join. Briefly, there will be four categories this year: Fashion, Home Decor, Accessiories, and (thanks to the efforts of Vashti Braha on the CGOA Board of Directors) a new and exciting division, Crochet as Art. There is a small entry fee. Deadline for entries is 15 July 2009. Prizes of $100, $200 and $300 will be awarded in each category, with a special Grand Prize of $1000.

Good luck! I hope to see your best stuff there when we hunker down to choose the winners in Buffalo in August. And, FYI, I like chocolate.

The Best Way to Get Answers

OK. Here's the thing. It is nearly impossible in blog format to answer crochet questions person to person in an efficient way. So, if any readers need answers about any of my books, designs, patterns and such, please hold that thought and go over to Ravelry.

Ravelry is the site where we play. All fiber enthusiasts are welcome to sign up and join the fun, whether it's crochet, knitting, spinning, weaving... it's all good. This is a free ride, no fees, no hassles, no junk e-mail, pretty much no downside. Well, actually there is one fairly significant downside. You'll find yourself spending so much time there that you won't get anything else done. Trust me.

The site is the brainchild of Jessica and Casey Forbes, a young, brilliant, adorable couple. Jess is the knitter; Casey is the code monkey. Together they built this central web site where we can share and organize information about the fiber arts. In just a couple of years, Ravelry has grown to include nearly 350,000 members from all over the world.

When you click on the link I've provided, you can put yourself on a waiting list. Being asked to wait really sucks, but this has nothing to do with exclusivity. I understand the waiting list is necessary for technical reasons. Hey, you don't want the site to crash, do you? So please don't be put off. In a couple of days you'll receive an invitation to join and all will be worth the delay.

Once you're in and you've looked around, search "Doris Chan" and you'll get to my design pages, where you can find practically everything I've ever done, with images, information and links to available patterns. Please wander over to a Rav group that is dedicated to my designs, Doris Chan: Everyday Crochet. On the group's forum you'll be able to ask all your crochet questions for me and the posse, hundreds of friendly crochet fans who are eager to help.

Thank you for your interest in my stuff. Hope to see you at Ravelry! :-)

A Man's Garden

Last week marked the 12th anniversary of the death of my father. Dad might have approved of my activities on that day. I was spring cleaning and for the first time since moving into this house I was able to see the floor of my crochet workroom/sweatshop. Gee, nondescript beige carpet. Who knew?

For some reason last week's cleaning process extended far beyond the limits of what I normally call "straightening up". In other words, I did not just go through the motions of waving a Swiffer duster and shifting the boxes, bags and stacks of stuff around until I could man-handle the closet doors, cabinets or drawers shut. I actually opened the boxes, bags and waded through the stacks.

At the back of a drawer in a file folder (suddenly I have an overwhelming urge to sing "Among My Souveniers", the 1959 hit recording by Connie Francis) I found a yellowing newspaper section. It was a Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine (a Sunday supplement) dated 13 July 1986 and I could not think why I saved this thing. Eager for any excuse to stop cleaning I began leafing through the pages and stopped when I got to the "Our Town" column. There in black and yellow was the first piece of professional writing I ever did.

The word "professional" is used here in the broadest of terms. I think I got fifty bucks for this essay. Last week, in that moment of deep nostalgia, on that particular day, having nothing to do with inflation or higher fees, these words were priceless.

I had offered this piece with the title "A Man's Garden", but the editor changed it to "Portrait in Green". No reason given. I did not sign a contract at the time, and no written agreement exists as to the rights to reprint it today, but I'm going to do it anyway. If anyone at the newspaper has a really long memory and has problem with this, I will give them back the fifty bucks, OK?

He wishes he could see it from his doorstep, but it's a good 200 yards to his garden, the plot we enclosed with chicken wire hung with pie pans to fend off assaults from the Greek family's goats, rabbits and fowl. Before the bankruptcy of his New Jersey truck farm, my father used to walk me around the 40 acres of his domain, telling me of his visions -- Chinese vegetables just leaping from those muddy red beds and into crates bound for Chinatown. Today I wander alone from his "after" home, a rented cottage on a solvent-somebody-else's farm, in the direction my mother points.

"He always goes out there, " she sighs. "Now there's no more football, he never stays inside Saturday, Sunday, all the time outside."

Through my father's eyes, this garden bursts with the exotic and the sublime: sweet crisp snow pea pods, pungent Chinese parsley, Chinese broccoli, long beans, water spinach. I see only a wretched, badly sloping corner of land nobody else wants and whose sole bounty is of the igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic variety.

I find him bent over a particularly stubborn weed in the back-breaking process of turning the soil by hand. I have only to imagine on his head a coolie straw hat to see him as he was, a sturdy brown peasant boy learning how to coax vegetables from the earth, long ago in Canton province. The dirt-floor shack that sheltered him and eight brothers and sisters also housed the pigs.

"Oh, those pigs, they were like money for us," he once told me. "We took them inside every night. All animals were very valuable."

"You kept pigs as pets?" I asked. We kids had been lobbying for a dog in those days and wondered why we never met with much success.

"Nobody in China had pets!" he would snort. "If the animals don't help you grow food or you can't eat them, they're no use."

"Didn't you have any pets at all?" I hoped, still trying.

"We used to play with the water buffalo," he said, mischief animating his old/young face. "The smaller village boys like me, our job in the paddies was to take care of the water buffalo. They were big but not too stable. If you got on their sides, you could push them right over. Ay-ah, those legs, not too stable sideways."

Today I swing open the chicken-wire gate and wish my father didn't work so hard on this rock pile.

"At least back in China, you had water buffalos to plow the fields. Why don't you rent a Rototiller?"

He straightens, and in his crinkled eyes I see fire. "I went down to that renting place. They want $60 dollars a day for one of those things. For $60, I can buy vegetables all summer. What I need that for?" He shrugs. "I can still work. I do it myself."

And in that moment of perverse pride I can see a rice paddy, a village boy and the smile he has on his face, having just pushed over his first water buffalo.