Crochet Nation

Do you ever get tired of going into product reviews and seeing nothing but 2-3 word reviews?  "This sucks.  This yarn is awesome. This is horrible."  What makes the yarn terrible? Amazing? Awesome? Inquiring minds wanna know! With that in mind, since we're building one Crochet Nation, I'm helping to take some of the guesswork out of products for you and hopefully save you all time, effort, energy and most of all, MONEY! Let's get the legal stuff out of the way... I am in no way being reimbursed or compensated for my product review from Bernat yarns or any of its subsidiaries.  My opinion is my own, so let's get this party started! Bernat Blanket Stripes yarn 10.5 ounce skein - cake style, center pull skeins. Price runs from $9.99-$12.99  depending on the area and store. Recommended hook size is L  First, let me say that I have been a major fan of the Bernat Blanket brand family of yarns from the very beginning.  It takes me generally 5-6...

Why You Should Never Underestimate Your Local Thrift Store... I know, I know, I preach the saying "Yarn and Fabric never get better with age." So what do I do on a runaround day with my sister? We hit up the local thrift stores in her area of Mariposa/Coulterville California and OMG did we score some finds! Every time I enter any thrift or antique store I ALWAYS ask the question, "Do you have any crochet hooks, books, threads etc.?" Sadly, most of the time the answer is no. But then there's that rare find, that diamond in the rough (Oops, sorry I'm quoting Aladdin again). Today I was lucky enough to happen upon some of those fun, old-school, 1960's - 1980's WorkBasket magazines and I walked out with 8, good quality issues from 1960-1964 for a paltry $2.00. SCORE!  And yes, I broke my cardinal rule of never buying yarn or threads at most thrift stores, but there was 2 boxes of vintage Bernat Cashmere yarn from Tibet for only $1.00 each.  I w...

Picture it... Friday night and you get that frantic phone call from a family member or your BFF asking if you can "Whip up a quick baby blanket" for them since they forgot about their boss's baby shower that they got invited to and they REALLY want to make a great impression on the boss and give them something amazing and memorable like one of your fabulous handcrafted blankets. Immediately you start to think about colors, textures, patterns, you know, all the FUN things that go along with a request like this. Then they drop the bombshell. "I need it by Sunday." Jaw drop moment. Needless to say that most people have zero clue as to how much work actually goes into handmade items let alone "Whipping something up." BUT before you tell them no way, no day and they begin crying hysterically... tell them SURE! Because Tracy at Crochet Nation has got you covered. Here is my gift to you. The 5150 (Guaranteed NOT to make you insane) quick and easy 2 hour ba...

This review is based on my own knowledge and experience and I am not being reimbursed, compensated or recognized in any way shape or form from Hobby Lobby or any of its subsidiaries. With that said, let’s get on to the review… Let me say first off how absolutely excited I was to find this yarn. For many years I made small hand towels, body scrubbers and facial scrubbies from plastic canvas yarn. The colors were absolutely hideous; but at least I could get 2-3 from each 2-ounce skein and people LOVED them! Then (like most hobbies and crafts) plastic canvas went out of fashion and those skeins of plastic canvas yarn went the way of the dodo bird, never to be seen again. Since then I have searched far and wide to find an acceptable substitute, but to no avail. Imagine my delight and surprise as I was wandering through my local Hobby Lobby store last week and found Scrub-Ology yarns. The color scheme is minimal, but nice and bright and appealing. I took note of 8 available colors that...

Hey there, Crochet Nation! It’s your girl Tracy and I’m here today to talk about the fine art of frogging in crochet.   No, I don’t mean that fun arcade game from the 80’s, I’m talking about when you make a mistake in crochet and you need to rrriiiippp it out!   (Hence the term frogging). I’ve got some super easy pro-tips and tricks to share with you today when you feel the need to frog it out. 1.        Assess the error. Is there a need to frog?   Is your mistake SO noticeable that it needs to be ripped out?   Is it something you can live with? Did you miss an entire section, a single stitch or even a whole row? If it’s something that is not really noticeable to anyone but yourself, frogging may not be necessary.   Spare yourself the aggravation; keep calm and crochet on! 2.        Pro-tip: Stay calm. If you’re aggravated at yourself and begin to pull and rip out stitches, not only will you...