Saturday, April 5, 2014

Hooked On Hand Dyed: My Official Yarn Reviewer

With most of my Hooked On Hand Dyed patterns, I plan to include a little review and description of the yarn I used. I still have much to learn myself about these yarns, so I have called on my friend Monica Lowe of Craftwich Creations to be my official "Yarn Reviewer". Monica is an avid crocheter, spinner, and crochet hook carver. She spent time working in a mill spinning yarn and even owns her own alpaca!

Whenever I have had the pleasure of shopping for yarns with Monica, I see her pick up a hank or ball of yarn, give it a gentle squeeze, and she begins describing the qualities of the fibers, the twist of the spin, and how it might work up. I learn so much just from hanging out with her, so I asked her to help me with reviews of the yarns I am getting to use for the Hooked On Hand Dyed project. She especially loves crocheting shawls, and actually made the shawl sample for the Forget-Me-Knot Shawl.

I first met Monica at the Crochet Liberation Front Retreat 2 1/2 years ago, just as I was beginning my new career as a crochet designer, and she was learning the craft of carving wood into unique crochet hooks (go check out her one of a kind hooks on her Etsy shop!). Since then we have watched and helped each other's new businesses grow. She has come down to visit me for the Rose City Yarn Crawl a of couple years, and I stay with her when I go to Vogue Knitting Live in Seattle. We even went to Camp PluckyFluff (an art yarn spinning retreat) a couple of years ago. We suspect if actually lived in the same town, we'd be in trouble, as we would never stop creating together (which our kids and husbands might not appreciate).

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