Dottie's Crochet Stuff

New Designs

2012-01-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I posted anything here so thought I would talk a bit about my new designs. 1st - my new sleeve design is much more intricate, stitches are smaller, tighter design, more complex. Some stitches are overlaid and considered the most difficult crochet. Counts must be perfect to keep the correct pattern and all ends must be tucked in a way that you cannot tell where one strand ends and another begins. No Knots! There are also two hallmark stitches in each CCDZS crocheted piece. One is a sideways shell stitch, the other is a "window" effect.

The bodice is about to change as well. I'll leave the description for the pictures that will be posted on my facebook page in about another two weeks. It's going to be gorgeous!

Waiting List

2011-08-16T17:02:00.000-07:00

Finally through my waiting list for custom sweaters so I'm putting together some ready made sweaters for my etsy shop and for three shops in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Sales have come to a crawl which makes me concerned for my economy. But everyone needs sweaters and coats to keep themselves warm in the colder months. So as we head out of this incredibly hot summer, I hope folks will look for unusual sweater coats - they're much more versatile than a regular coat, plus stylish and quite a character statement. I love making these sweaters - putting the different textured yarns and colors together is like painting with fiber. So, here's to Fall coming in, the weather getting cooler and the sale of my unusual, fabulous, technicolor sweater dream coats.

A Fabulous Collaboration!!

2011-04-14T06:20:00.000-07:00

On March 30, 2011, Lisa Correia of Enlightened Platypus on etsy announced our collaboration on her Facebook page. See Enlightened Platypus on Facebook. We started convoing on etsy back in January to Dream up a new elf couture Sweater Dream Coat design. She makes her fabulous coats - I add my colorful bell sleeves. The first one will be listed soon in her shop. She previews all her coats on Facebook the week before her sales, so keep a watch for them. They are unbelievable! I have four more sweaters and pallets I'm working on now. Should be sending these back to her for Lisa to work her magic sometime next week. In the meantime too, I'm working on all the custom orders I recieved in my shop after her announcement. Lisa is awesome and a wonderful artisan to share her success in such a generous way. I am truely indebted to her. So, watch for more wonderful designs from both of us. We are blessed to be able to do something we truely love to do - Take care of our babies (my grandbabies in my case) and use our creativity to bring such joy!

My Husband's Classic Comfort

2011-04-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

20 some odd years ago, when we were dating, I taught this very masculine man how to crochet. And, boy did he ever pick it up. He makes absolutely gorgeous afghans. Now he has his own etsy shop at classiccomfort.etsy.com. So if you ever see a mid 50ish man, with a grey beard, balding head and a good sense of humor sitting on an airplane crocheting, I'll betcha it's him. He takes his crocheting everywhere. Now that's a man who is very secure in his masculinity and quite an artisan to boot. Check it out at http://www.classiccomfort.etsy.com

Preparing for Changes

2010-12-26T19:39:00.000-08:00

More etsy shops on the way - one for Louis's (my husband) afghans, one for my baby items, and one just for sweaters. Getting prepared for leaving my day job - getting ready for a new grand daughter and preparing myself for working part time as a Prevention Specialist for our local Child Abuse Prevention Council. I am so excited - such changes give me great inspiration. I am looking forward to being creative and using my talents without any more restraint than what I choose myself. Wow, what a concept - being my own boss. And then there is traveling some with my husband......

Jane's Curtains

2010-07-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

My neighbor has a gorgeous 11,000 square foot home. She just had her kitchen remodeled with dark brown granite countertops w/chips of rainbow colored mica embedded in the granite. The backsplash between the countertops and the bottom of the naturally finished cherry wood cabinets is all cut natural stone with some diamond shaped bronze medallion accents. She asked me to make her some crocheted cafe curtains and valance for the one window above her sink. We went through several designs and settled on this one from a Magic crochet magazine, published about 30 years ago. I've modified it a bit and they are obviously still in the works. I'll block them when I'm done and post more pics. Check out my Facebook page with more pics of the design: Crochet Creations by Dottie Z. Scher at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=189039&id=233275180094&l=66ab71f544

Finished these in October - they turned out gorgeous! Here's the finished product!

Getting ready for Retirement

2010-01-27T07:39:00.000-08:00

Just after Christmas I found out that I could retire in August 2011. Wow, what a relief and excitement. My daughter and grand-daughter, I think, are the most excited because I'll get to spend more time with them. Figuring out 401k amounts, retirement pensions, etc. has been interesting too. And now, I'm finally setting up "my studio" upstairs in this old house. Going through some old yarns is like finding old friends - hmmmm, I wonder what I had in mind when I bought this one eons ago. Coming up with new projects. I hope to be working on the Darkness to Light Initiative with the Interagency Child Abuse Prevention Council here i n Gaston County, working some kind of part-time job, and of course, crocheting. More grand children I'm sure will fill out my days. But what dreams we have when faced with life changing events and choices. The job I have now was a dream way back when. Now, I'm looking at what might still be ahead at 55. My body may feel old at times, but I don't and there's still a lot of steam left here. So, on to that studio, as I clean out cabinets and shelves and replace the old with the new (or reaquainted) and get everything organized. Maybe I'll even have space to show my precious grand-daughter how to do all these handcrafts too. That will be fun.

Rainy Days and Crocheting

2009-10-08T20:26:00.000-07:00

Just some thoughts about rainy days and having time to sit and just crochet - I get lost in it. I'm always fascinated watching how different types of yarn look when twisted into different stitches. Just lately I've been working on "Mrs. Weasley" Sweaters, styled after a sweater worn by the character, Mrs. Weasley in the second Harry Potter movie, The Chamber of Secrets. The sleeves in the sweater are made from a conglomeration of colors and stitches. Well, suffice it to say, I've sold two already and am making more. Anyone who loves crochet will love these sweaters and they're fun to make. Watching the stitches flow, the colors and textures come together is like painting a picture, or molding a sculpture - it "feels" right. So on these rainy weekends, you'll find me in my room at home, peaceful with a cup of hot tea, crocheting one of these sweaters, happy with just me and my hook and yarns.

Crocheted Blinds for Windows

2009-05-28T18:39:00.001-07:00

Back in 1992, I decided to make a blind for our front door. It had four double sided panes of glass so I designed a blind to fit the door. The house we lived in then was built in 1907, neat little two story house with dormer windows, front porch complete with an oak porch swing, just outside Cincinnati, Ohio. When we moved back to North Carolina a couple years later, I took down the blind and brought it with us. (I left some crocheted curtains in the bathroom I wish now I had brought with us as well). I crocheted a Tree of Life Blind for a front window in the house we live in now and re-formatted the blind from the old house for another window.

These took me months to make and I'm fast. But, I love looking at them and let me tell you, no one else has anything close. When you put your mind to it, you can make almost anything.

Destashing

2009-04-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

Over the many years I've been crocheting, walking into a yarn shop or finding a new, beautiful yarn has been like a tonic to me. I get ideas in my head of how I'm going to use the yarn, the textures, the colors, the feel of the yarn next to my skin - it's intoxicating. Now I have about three rooms upstairs full of yarns, some of which I've had for over twenty years. Well, my daughter has blessed me with a gorgeous grand-daughter and we need room for little ones to play. So - I'm destashing. I never dreamed it would be so hard to let go of some of my yarns, but I'll be posting them in my etsy shop ( http://ccdzs.etsy.com/ ) in the next few days. Just posted two that are just beautiful and I've definitely priced them to sell. So someone else, put on your dreaming caps and think of how you want to use these yarns.

1st December Challenge

2008-12-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

1st December Challenge Finished and Posted

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18681691

It was fun to make and work with such talented artisans such as Feistywomandesigns ( see her blog at http://feistywomandesigns.blogspot.com/ to see how the yarn was made) and WhirlygigYarns. I love working with this yarn. It's light weight and the colors are just gorgeous! Now on to the next two. I'll have them up as soon as they are finished.

Korners Folly

2008-12-06T18:06:00.001-08:00

Just returned home from Kernersville, NC where we went to see Korner's Folly, a three story house with 7 levels inside, 22 rooms, built by Jules Korner in the 1800's. Absolutely fascinating place- great inspiration for victorian styling. See Pictures - Some of the ladies from my unit went with me and my adorable grand-daughter.

Kiss your kids tonight

2008-12-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

I decided when I started this blog that I would concentrate on just my crochet work here. But in light of the recent story about the young man who escaped from his abusers in California, I feel compelled to write something here. I have been a Child Protective Services Supervisor with my local DSS since July 1998, that's 11 1/2 years. Before that I was a CPS Investigator since 1989, with a 2 1/2 year stint in Ohio as a Case Supervisor with a children's mental health agency. Especially in this time of the holidays, look around you and notice the children in your life, in the stores as you walk through, in the malls, on the sidewalks, when you drop your kids off at school, in your neighborhoods, and where ever you go. Then just take a moment, just a moment to smile at one of them. Just a kid you don't know but who looks a little down or maybe he/she needs someone to show they care, if only for just that moment. I don't know how many times I went out on a report and just because I took extra time to sit down with a child and really listen, stories unfolded that led to real life changing events for them and for me. Every time I came home late at night from making sure someone else's kids were safe, the first thing I did was walk into my children's rooms and made sure their blankets were pulled up, they were peaceful and warm and safe. I was lucky to have a husband who could do this for me when I was trying to do it for others. Sometimes all a child needs is someone to smile to show that somewhere someone cares.

My heart goes out to that young man. And, I pray every night for the ones we will never know anything about. So kiss your kids tonight and tell them you love them. That's not just words - it should be a way of life.

1000Markets.com

2008-12-02T15:37:00.000-08:00

OK - I did it. I added a 1000 Markets shop last night. Sat up working on it until 2 in the morning. If anyone is following my blog, check it out at 1000markets.com/ccdzs. I'm excited about a new venue and hope that it brings some more biz. Dreamwoven from Etsy has started a new market there called Wearable Art. That looks very interesting and a wonderful way to "market" handmade items. Makes me wish I was more in a situation where I could quit my day job and just work with yarns. But alas, the finances just aren't there yet. Making myself venture out more into this internet marketing is really stretching my internet knowledge. Also, just started uploading my etsy shop on to Google Base. Still having a problem with the automatic upload so I'm doing it manually every morning. OK, let's see how this goes.

EtsyFAST December Challenge

2008-11-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

I'm a member of the EtsyFAST group (Etsy Fiber Artists Street Team). Feistywoman designs wrote up an article about our December Challenge. I'm working on this with another Fiber artist, Kitty Grrlz. Here's the article: http://www.feistywomandesigns.blogspot.com/

When mine are completed, I'll post them here as well as on etsy, facebook and twitter.

The Fiber 8 - Live on Etsy.com

2008-10-09T13:54:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased to be a member of the "Fiber 8" and grateful to Bonnie Samuels for putting this article together. Read and enjoy!

http://www.etsy.com/storque/spotlight/high-end-etsy-fiber-arts-2672/

Custom Made Framed Doilies

2008-10-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year a friend of mine at work went on my etsy shop and fell in love with my framed crocheted doilies. Thus began an endeavor that took me about a month to complete and had very favorable results. She picked out a pattern by Patricia Kristoffersen; I modified the pattern to fit what my customer wanted. Then she brought me a pillow sham that matched the comforter and drapes in her bed room and a picture of her bedroom furniture. We were able to match the colors in her pillow sham exactly (natural light) for the mats. I crocheted the piece, cut the mats, cut moulding that matched her furniture and with help from my friend, the framer, Carolyn's Frameworks in Belmont, NC, put the whole piece together. The results are stunning. Kay, my customer, is already planning to come back for another piece for her den, which will be another custom order. It was fun putting all the aspects together.

History of Victorian and Edwardian Crochet

2008-09-23T16:04:00.000-07:00

Found another article about the history of crochet. The website link is:
http://www.victoriancrochet.com/history.tpl

The History of Victorian Crochet
The exact origin and date of crochet is in great doubt. Some believe it goes back to before the time of Christ, but there is no record of this form of needle art before the 1800's and it was not until the 1840's that written instructions began to be published. Crochet has been handed down from generation to generation through family and friends and from what I understand in the early years, without written patterns. It was very common to work directly from a picture of the finished work or from a sample of crochet. Have you ever tried to crochet a pattern from the 1800 or 1900's and found that most of the directions seem to be missing? Needlework was taught to the young women in school from the early 1800's through the early 1900's. The women of that time knew what the publishers meant because they were all too familiar with crochet instructions from their needlework classes. Thus, publishers didn't think they needed to put all that extraneous stuff in the written instructions. Have you ever wondered why most crocheters hold their hook like a pencil? At that time it was thought that it gave the lines of the hand a more feminine and graceful look. Now they are discovering that if you hold your hook in the palm of the hand it cuts down on carpal tunnel problems.
Did you know that if the piece being crocheted was not worked in the round in other words worked from row to row, that at the end of each row the thread was broken and retied to the beginning of the row? The backs of the stitches were never meant to be seen and were viewed as crude. In some of the old Victorian patterns you might find directions that tell you to work one pattern using loose crochet and another pattern using tight crochet. Now days all patterns come with a specific tension requirement and are largely dependent upon the crochet hook if done properly. Stitches in that time were generally crocheted into the back loop of the stitch. It was a method that was taken for granted during that time period. Now it is the accepted practice to crochet a stitch using the front and the back loop of each stitch.
Crochet began as a cottage industry in Ireland with a lace called Irish crochet or guipure lace. In the mid 1800's it became a large industry because of the need of the people to supplement their income due to the great potato famine of that time. It has been suggested that four Irish nuns who were trained in a French convent introduced crochet to Ireland. It was a common practice in that time for each person to become skilled in making one thing and one thing only, such as a leaf or a flower. Another person would then crochet the different motifs together using a background stitch. If you have ever tried to crochet an Irish crochet pattern you can understand why it becomes such a difficult and tedious a project. The people who crocheted the Irish laces were truly masters of their craft. They didn't have radio, television, or even access to very many books during this time in history. This contributed to their ability and desire to focus on such an intricate and elaborate art and create such finely detailed work.
It is still a cottage industry in some countries such as India, Greece, Italy, and some Asian countries.
For a more detailed history please read "Crochet History & Technique" by Lis Paludan.It is a fabulous book. I recommend it highly.

History of Crochet

2008-09-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

Just recently began to do some research on the history of crochet. So many people have called my crocheted doilies a "dying art". So I found this article about how the art started. Enjoy.

"But let's speak about crocheting. As in 1589 William Lee invented a special knitting machine so nowadays knitted things can be easily made. But crocheting is really unique. One can't invent a special machine to replace hand-made crochet things. So in crocheting you can find originality, singleness of the thing. Laces are very famous. In 16th century laces began to walk over Europe" and in 19th century this art became really jewellery. Crocheted things of that time kept safe in some houses and museums charm with beauty and grace and amaze with mastery. Russian laces are also very popular. For ages Russian people improved this mastery. Every girl should have a dowry. And all women of her family provide a dowry for her. Usually they get together and wave clothes, crochet laces for towels and bed linen. In old times every peasant woman had to do needlework. To provide clothes to her family she had to be able to weave, embroider, knit, and crochet. The most skilled took part in making lord's clothes. For the first time Russian lace was mentioned in the Ipatiev's chronicle. It was called gold lace because it was made of gold and silver thread. This lace was even sold by its weight. "

Close Knit, Gastonia, NC

2008-08-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Sherry Balke, a friend and neighbor of mine, has opened a new shop in Gastonia, on Oakland Avenue, near Piedmont Charter School and Roosevelt Tire. You walk in and Sherry's easy manner welcomes you into a haven (and Heaven) for yarnaholics, like myself. The walls are lined with a delectable selection of soft, colorful, multi-textured fibers of all descriptions. She is quite a connoisseur of yarn. And, her prices are reasonable too. I highly recommend this shop to those who wish to peruse finer yarns.

August EtsyFAST Team Challenge

2008-08-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

All the gold the American athletes brought home from China inspired the creation of this scarf. I used Red Heart Sports weight yarn and some Yarn Bee Yarn I had left over from another project. I love these projects that just speak to me and let's me know how to work them. The American Women's Gymnastic Team uniforms/Leotards inspired the colors used - gold, red, blue. This scarf is light weight with lots of sparkle. Photos don't do this one justice. LONGGGGG for lots of wrapping!

My June EtsyFAST Challenge

2008-07-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

The estyFAST team is asking that all members submit monthly challenges and gives us ideas to spur our creativity. In June the theme was "heroes" - I made a scarf based on the inspiration I get from my new grand-daughter who can make anyone smile.

Here's the inspiration: One day on my way home from work, I was in a very serious, tired mood. While sitting at a stop light, I heard my cell phone ding with the sound of a new email photo from my daughter. I flipped open my phone and found the smiling face of my then three month old grand-daughter. Well.... my mood was changed for days to come and even now I look at that picture and smile. My new heroe is that small being who can make anyone smile no matter how they felt the moment before. I made this scarf with that precious face in mind. It's my EtsyFAST Team June Challenge.