Like any devoted catlady, I think my kitty is the cutest creature in the entire world and all I really want out of life is to bask in her cuteness. To that end, I had the idea a little while back to make a crochet version of Miss Fifi. (I know that the crafty catladies out there will totally understand this, right?) I just thought it would be funny, but it turns out that Fifi was not amused by her yarny doppleganger. Apparently this apartment ain’t big enough for two smooshy kitties. Who knew?

And, well, crochet Fifi was not too fond of her flesh-and-fur counterpart, either. Sigh.

Seriously you guys, I made this amigurumi Fifi for I Love Yarn Day back in the fall, and all I was really hoping to do was get a cute picture of real Fifi and crochet Fifi together. But real Fifi took one look at crochet Fifi and she did not like what she saw. She stalked crochet Fifi from behind for quite a while, and then attacked her over and over, with particular attention to her tail. It was the funniest thing ever. I knew Fifi liked being an only cat, but this was a more violent reaction than I anticipated!

Point taken, Fifi! We will not be getting another kitty anytime soon, I promise.

But! If you want to make your own crochet Fifi, I have a free pattern for you: Click here to download the free pattern to crochet your own Amigurumi Fifi!

(And PS, if you’re looking for safety eyes like the ones I used, a great place to buy them is Etsy shop 6060.)

Enjoy! xoxo, Brett & Fifi

My yarny friend and Knit and Crochet Now comrade Robyn Chachula has a new book out! It is just as fabulous and inspiring as her other books, and I’m super happy to be a stop on her blog tour today.

Robyn is truly a crochet genius, and her latest book, Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia, just proves that once again. This book features 300 crochet stitch patterns, with both written instructions and a stitch diagram for each and every one (love that!). She covers just about every type of stitch in the known crochet world (and at least a few new ones that she invented, I’m sure) – from basics to textured stitches, to lace, colorwork, grannies, motifs, edgings — AND even a whole chapter on Tunisian stitch patterns. Which I’m sure lots of people will appreciate, since there are still not a lot of resources out there for Tunisian crochet.

You can use this book in a million ways, whether you want to design your own simple scarf, pillow or sampler afghan, or go all the way and design your own garments. After leafing through Robyn’s book I’m inspired to make a motif afghan, something I’ve been wanting to do for years. Maybe this will be the winter I actually do it. May. Be.

Whether you’re a casual crocheter who’d like to learn a little bit more about stitch patterns in general, a total newbie who wants a good resource to have on hand for practicing and learning, or a crochet geek who likes to soak in every possible bit of new information – this book is one that’s really worth keeping on your shelf. You can grab a copy here.

Aren’t you just dying to get your hot little hands on this book? You know you are! Well, it just so happens I have one copy of Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia to give away! Hooray! To enter, leave a comment on this post and tell me what you would use this book to make.

Congratulations on a wonderful book, Robyn! xoxo

EDITED TO ADD: Contest will close at 5pm EST on Monday, November 7. Winner will be chosen my random number generator.

 The winner of this contest is Jenny. CONGRATS!

This week my bud Drew Emborsky (aka The Crochet Dude) hosted an event at Etsy where he was teaching folks to crochet with strips of fabric using the Simplicity Rotary Cutting Machine. (It’s a machine that cuts perfect strips of fabric to any width, and also embosses. Very cool.) I got to jump in and do a little impromptu webcast with Drew, live from Etsy headquarters. It was fun!

Click the above video to watch the demo. My favorite part is Drew’s story about how his whole family pitched in to crochet giant rugs when he was a kid. How cute is that??

Today I’m welcoming Vickie Howell and her new yarn, Sheep(ish) to Manhattan Craft Room for a stop on their blog tour!

I first met Vickie a million years ago, back in 2005, when I was a guest on Knitty Gritty. Where, apparently, we took the opportunity to immerse ourselves in piles and piles of metallic gold eyelash yarn. What was going on there? I have no idea. I’m just glad it’s not 2005 anymore.

Because there are much better things happening in 2011, like Sheep(ish), Vickie’s brand new yarn! Which is decidedly not metallic eyelash yarn (thank goodness).

This yummy, yummy acrylic/wool blend has just hit stores and is available now at Caron and at JoAnn stores nationwide. (Vickie even has a find-a-store app on her website, to aid you in finding the nearest Sheep(ish)-selling store!

Don’t you just love the colors?! I’d like to get my hands on one skein of each and make a technicolor crocheted chevron afghan – how great would that be?

In addition to afghans, Sheep(ish) is amazing for everything from garments to accessories and more. There’s a great batch of free patterns over on the Caron website, so hop over there to check out the goods and get your Sheep(ish) on! And while you’re at it, swing by Vickie’s blog for lots more inspiration.

PS: And if you want to check out some other great crafty blogs, visit some of the other stops on Vickie’s tour:

May 25th: BlogHer.com (Kathy Cano-Murillo)

I’m very pleased today to welcome crochet author/designer (and my friend) Linda Permann to Manhattan Craft Room for a stop on her worldwide blog tour promoting her new book, Little Crochet. Hello Linda!!!

Linda and I go way back. Well, a little bit back. We first met about five years ago when we worked together at a craft publisher. I was the editor of Crochet Today and Linda worked on an adorable (sadly, now defunct) magazine called Adorn, and we often had lunch with a couple other crafty co-workers at a yummy Mexican place called Lupe’s. (Ah, memories!)

We’ve since both moved on from those jobs, and Linda has moved far away to Texas. But we keep in touch online, and of course through the crochet world. I was a big fan of Linda’s first book, Crochet Adorned – and I’m super excited about her new book, Little Crochet.

Little Crochet is chock-full of contemporary baby and toddler crochet projects – you won’t see a single pastel or fuzzy duckling in the mix. Linda really did a great job of designing projects that appeal to a more modern sensibility, in great yarns that grown-ups will love as much as the little ones will.

So without further ado, let’s get to it!

BB: I love how fresh and non-traditional-baby your designs are. What’s your philosophy for baby & kids crochet designs?

LP: My philosophy is pretty much the same when it comes to anything I design: let the yarn and color choices speak, don’t over-complicate the pattern, and try to give the stitcher “breathing room”—ie parts of the pattern that are mindless, so they can alternate between focusing and relaxing. Just by picking some amazing yarns and color ways and making sure that you finish the pieces properly (blocking, seaming, etc), even the simplest patterns become show stoppers.

BB: You don’t use many “baby” yarns in your patterns. What’s your advice on choosing yarn that’s baby-friendly, yet not labeled “baby”? Any do’s and don’ts?

LP: I like to use sock yarn for babies, because it’s designed to be durable. Wool is great for soakers, nylon blends and cotton are perfect every day wear. I think it’s okay to splurge a bit on fiber if you want to and you know the family will take care of it—when I crochet, I want to enjoy the process of working on the item as much as the finished piece.

The main thing, of course, is to consider the recipient. And by that, I mean the parents. Will they hand wash or not? Many won’t because they have bigger things on their minds—so look for superwash wools, washable cottons, and acrylic blends. If you take the time to swatch—which you totally should—go ahead and put your swatch through the washer and dryer before you start your project. This will give you a good idea of how it will hold up. A lot of yarns say they are “dry clean only” as a precaution—you can definitely get away with at least washing them. But, always test it out on a swatch before you put the effort into a project.

LP: There are a few beginner-friendly projects in the book. I like the Felted Play Rug—which is only labeled “Easy” (not beginner) because of the color changes. It’s a repetitive pattern using super bulky yarn, and the felting will erase any boo-boos.

The No Fuss Party Bibs are pretty simple, too. There is plenty of information on how to make basic stitches in the appendix, so if someone has a little crochet experience, they should be able to tackle the projects in this book.

It’s so hard to pick a favorite! I have a special fondness for the Mix and Match Motif blanket, because I kind of felt like I was making a painting while I crocheted it.

BB: My favorite is the adorable little cape – it just looks so magical and fun to wear!

BB: Congrats on a beautiful book, Linda! I can’t wait to try out some of these patterns myself.

**

All photos by Heather Weston.

Click here to order your copy of Crochet Adorned.

Click here to visit Linda’s web site and wonderful blog. Oh and be sure to take a peek at the cute book trailer Linda made about her book.

Want to check out more stops on Linda’s blog tour? Yesterday she visited Futuregirl, and tomorrow she’ll be chatting with the legendary Kristin Nicholas of Getting Stitched on the Farm.

This past fall I had the chance to do a live demo at Maker Faire in NYC – have you heard about Maker Faire? It’s a really cool sort of tech-geek-crafting mashup, where folks who like to make things get together at a fairground and crazy things happen, like people build huge handmade robotic machines while others hang out and knit. OK, that’s probably not the best explanation – you should just go to their website to check it out.

Anyway, in thinking about what I would demonstrate, I decided to combine my love of crochet with a nod to the robottery of Maker Faire, and make a crochet robot. You know, a crobot!

Now, I didn’t invent these. There are lots of clever crafters around the internets making crochet robot creations. This is just my little contribution to the trend.

So now, without further ado, I present….

Unhappy Robot Family!

The baby is ornery, the dad is bewildered, and the mom is just trying to make it through the day. What can I say, life is tough in robotland.

The good news is, these guys are super easy to make and personalize. I didn’t even write a real pattern for robot-making because it’s so easy to do – if you know crochet basics, you can follow along with the steps below, making your pieces any size you wish for customized ‘bots. Here we go!

What You’ll Need

• worsted-weight yarn
• crochet hook in a size to give you a tight gauge
• craft felt
• miscellaneous hardware, including screws, hex nuts, little gear thingies, and little loop thingies on screws (just browse the hardware store and find stuff that looks interesting)
• sewing needle and thread
• fiber-fill stuffing
• yarn needle
• glue

1. Make the bodies
To begin, make 2 single crochet rectangles – these will become the front and back of the robot bodies. Mine are probably about 1.5″ wide and about 4″ tall. On the first rectangle you make, fasten off the yarn and leave a long tail. On the second rectangle you make, do not fasten off.

On the second rectangle (the one with the working yarn still attached), single crochet around all four sides of the piece, then continue working in rounds. This will begin to form the sides of the robot body. Just continue working in rounds (in a continuous spiral) until your sides are as deep as you’d like – mine are probably about 1″ deep.

2. Make the face and belly
Cut two pieces of colored felt in square or rectangle shapes with rounded corners. Stitch little gear hardware onto the belly piece, using sewing thread and a sewing needle. For the face, pierce the felt with small scissors or a seam ripper, then insert two screws for eyes. With black embroidery floss, embroider simple straight-line features like a mouth and eyelashes or eyebrows. Remove the screw-eyes for now and set them aside.

3. Make the arms and legs
Next, cut 4 strips of felt about 1/2″ wide and 4-5″ long each. These are the arms and legs. (I cut my leg pieces a bit longer than my arm pieces.) You’ll also need 4 hex nuts.

Thread one piece of felt through each nut, folding the felt in half so it’s doubled. With matching thread and a sewing needle, sew the two layers of felt together from the nut to the end of the felt. Leave the thread and needle attached.

4. Attach the parts
Sew the face and belly to the front of the robot body, then sew each arm and leg to the body using the same thread you used to sew up the felt arms/legs.

5. Finishing
Finally, sew the back of the body to the front/sides using the long tail and a yarn needle. Stuff the body firmly with fiberfill before completing the seam, then fasten off and weave in the yarn tail.

Insert the screw eyes into the face and a loop-screw thing into the top of each head, placing a dab of glue onto the screw part of each item before inserting it into the fabric/yarn.

That’s all it takes! Switch up the color of the felt and the face features to change the personality of your crobots. Have fun… and domo arigato!

NOTE I know you already know this, but: the small metal pieces on these crobots mean these are not safe for little kids, as they could be a choking hazard. Crobots are toys for grown-ups!

My friend Robyn Chachula has a new book out, Baby Blueprint Crochet – if you’re a crocheter who likes to make things for little ones, you will definitely want to pick up a copy of this book!

Robyn and I go way back. As she mentioned on her blog today, we met at a conference and then discovered that we have tons of stuff in common. Robyn quickly became one of my go-to designers when I was editor at Crochet Today, because I could always count on her to crank out great designs. She’s a pro at construction and fit (after all, she’s also a structural engineer, so her brain just works that way). Robyn really puts a lot of thought into how to engineer a design, how to select a yarn that will really make your work pay off, and how to make crochet look modern and stylish – so you know you will never be disappointed when making one of her patterns.


Also, Robyn is one of the regular experts on Knit and Crochet Now, so we’ve spent many hours together on-set, too! Here we are goofing around together in our TV outfits, TV hair, and TV makeup.

Baby Blueprint Crochet is chock full of so much cute stuff – I really love this mod little jumper. HOW GREAT is that collar?!

And this little classic intarsia sweater! It isn’t easy to design crochet intarsia, but Robyn totally makes it work in this piece.

Love these little boots. Hello, quick holiday gift!

Congrats on a beautiful book, Robyn!

I’m so happy to be helping Land’s End get the word out about their fantastic FeelGood Campaign. This fall, Land’s End will donate 5,000 pounds of yarn to be knitted and crocheted into warm blankets to be donated to those in need — so we have a lot of work to do, and I really hope you will join us in the cause!

Today I’m happy to share the videos I made with Rarebit Productions and filmed at the glorious Purl Soho. (Seriously, huge thanks to the staff there, who couldn’t have been more gracious about letting us take over the shop for our shoot.)

In the first video I explain all about the campaign. In the How to Crochet video I give a simple demo designed to help beginners learn to crochet, and in the How to Knit video I do the same for knitting. So please take a peek and join us in our efforts to make 64,000 knit and crochet blanket squares!

ABOUT THE LAND’S END FEELGOOD CAMPAIGN

VIDEO: LEARN TO CROCHET

VIDEO: LEARN TO KNIT

To get the complete scoop on the Land’s End FeelGood campaign, visit their site.

This handsome devil is Drew Emborsky, aka The Crochet Dude, one of my favorite crafty friends. If you’d prefer to look at him in cartoon form, here you go:

Today we’re talking about Drew because he’s on a blog tour to promote his new book, Crochet It. Love It. Wear It! and Manhattan Craft Room is one of his first stops!

If you watch Knit and Crochet Now, you’ll know Drew as one of our regular experts — we have a lot of fun goofing around together on set. He’s also one of my favorite people to hang out with at the hotel bar at industry trade shows.

And also, I really like his new book! Crochet It. Love It. Wear It! is Drew’s latest baby, a collection of 13 gorgeous, fashion-forward crochet garments which all feature post stitches. I find that post stitches are one of those things that crocheters are often afraid of, but they’re really not hard to do once you understand them, and they can add great texture to garments. So if you’re post-stitch curious, this book is for you.

To celebrate the launch of his new book, I invited Mr. Dude for an exclusive MCR interview. Let’s listen in:

BB: Why do you love post stitches enough to feature them in every design in your book?

Quintessential

BB: I noticed that two of the patterns are named after friends of yours: Laurie and Vashti. Uh, where’s mine? Really, “Brett” would have been a perfect name for the little black dress. I wear black all the time you know, because I’m a New Yorker.

BB: I’m going to hold you to that. It’ll be like you’re Marc Jacobs and I’m Sofia Coppola, your quirky muse. Anyway, every day on Twitter, you tweet about what you’re cooking for dinner, and it’s always something really fancy straight out of a Julia Child cookbook. When are you coming to NYC to cook dinner at my place?

BB: Hmm. Well, have I mentioned how amazing the shopping is here, and how tiny my apartment is? And by the way, your two cats, Chandler and Cleocatra, are regulars on your blog. I’m getting a cat soon—any tips for making sure she doesn’t destroy my yarn?

BB: Which one of the garments in your book are you planning to give me for my birthday?

DE: I’ll give you Hesperas if you will wear it out on the town with me sometime. We can pretend we’re going to our senior prom.

BB: It’s a date! Don’t forget my corsage.

Hesperas

For show-stopping crochet fashions, run right out and get your copy of Crochet It. Love It. Wear It! You won’t…. Regret It!

Hi all, I’m super excited to tell you about a new project – I’m happy to announce that this fall I will be the spokesperson for the Land’s End FeelGood campaign! Hooray!

It’s a really wonderful campaign where Land’s End will donate 5,000 pounds (yes, five! thousand! pounds!) of its FeelGood yarn to Warm Up America, a charity that provides hand knit and crochet items to those in need. Warm Up America will distribute the yarn to knitters and crocheters (like you), who will make simple 7″ x 9″ squares. The squares will then be sewn together into big,warm blankets and donated to those in need.

AND, we’ve got something really fun planned to kick off the campaign. On Wednesday, September 29, I’ll be appearing on the CBS Early Show to kick things off… and we’re inviting hundreds of knitters and crocheters to come along for the ride! We’re going to take over the Early Show plaza with our own knit-out, to show viewers just how HUGE knitting and crochet are.

So — please come and join the taping! The more the merrier, and we’d love to have you there. Here are the deets:

WHO: You and all your yarny friends. Bring knit/crochet groups, school groups, anyone at all – as long as they knit or crochet, or are willing to learn at the event.

WHAT: Land’s End FeelGood Kick-Off on the CBS Early Show!

WHERE: The CBS Early Show – the plaza of the General Motors Building at 59th Street and 5th Avenue in NYC

WHEN: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 from 7-9:00am

WHY: To show the Early Show viewers how awesome knitting and crochet are, and make lots of squares for Warm Up America

WHAT ELSE: Free yarn will be provided! After the taping, we’re all invited for a private tour of the Early Show studio, and then we’ll keep on stitching in the plaza to keep the fun going all day!

RSVP: I really hope to see you there! If you can come, please RSVP to knitwithbrett [at] g mail [dot] com so we know how many people to expect.

PS: More details about the FeelGood program, like how you can help and how you can get your hands on some of that free yarn, will be announced on the show on Sept 29, so be sure to tune in!