Battle of the Stitches: 2016

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Black Friday / Cyber Monday - All Weekend Sales

Winter is the perfect time for making gifts. With Christmas right around the corner, we've contacted our Battle of the Stitches designers and have put together a list of sales that they are having this weekend. This should help you get a good start (or finish) to some of those holiday gifts!

If you're looking for a specific shop, I've put them in alphabetical order, but I'm going to highly recommend you check out all these designers because they all have some great designs.

Article of a Domestic Goddess

Ambassador Crochet

Blackstone Designs

Briar Rose Boutique

Crafting Friends Designs

Desert Diamond Crochet

Sweet Potato Crochet Creations

Two Brothers Blankets

Yarn Medley's from the Heart

Most of these sales are good through Monday, but just double check the terms to make sure you have your coupon code and the sale is still active.

Happy Shopping!

Kristine

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Round 11 - Sneak Peeks

It's that time! You get to check out sneak peeks of all the designs from this round of Battle of the Stitches!

The Theme:

The Stitch: Stand-out Cable

The Challengers:
Kristine Mullen - Ambassador Crochet
April Bennett - Cuddle Me Beanies
Elizabeth Burk - Daisy Hand Mades
Rebecca Goldsmith - Desert Diamond Crochet
Amber Millard - Divine Debris
Emily Truman - Em's Corner
Kim Harvey-Nash - Kims Colourway
Laura Fanelli - Laura Mae Crochet
Christine Naugle - Sweet Potato 3
Carol Rupprecht - Sweet Potato Crochet Creations
Shelley Moore - The Blue Star Boutique
Dorianna Rivelli - The Lavender Chair

Check out their sneak peeks:

I can't hardly wait to see what they have come up with! Do you have any guesses as to what these finished pieces are? Let us know in the comments!

Round 11 - Meet the Challengers Part Three

Read about the last four challengers for Round 11.

If you missed the other reveals you can read
Part One of Meet the Challengers HERE and
Part Two of Meet the Challengers HERE.

Round 11 - Meet the Challengers Part Two

Let's meet some more challengers!

If you missed Part One of Meet the Challengers, you can read it HERE.

Round 11 - Meet the Challengers Part One

It's that time again. Battle of the Stitches is gearing up for another fantastic round of awesomeness!

This round I thought it would be fun to tell you a little more about the designers. Their favorite design from their shops, our favorite design from their shop, and something neat that you might not know or expect from each of them! Let's get started:

Ripple Lace Crochet Stitch Tutorial

Welcome everyone to the Battle of the Stitches! We're excited to show you the crochet stitch tutorial for our Round 10 challenge. As this challenge was held through the month of July, we wanted a great stitch to go with the "Wearable Waves for Autumn" theme. The Ripple Lace stitch is a beautiful stitch that is perfect for this time of year!
With 4 row repeats, this stitch pattern can take on several different looks depending on where you choose to change colors.

The written stitch instructions are for working the pattern in a solid color of yarn. To make it easier to see the stitch placement in the photos, we used 2 colors and switched them every row. We hope you enjoy the stitch and have fun playing with colors for a variety of design effects!

Stitches:
ch - chain
yo - yarn over
st(s) - stitch(es)
sp(s) - space(s)
sc - single crochet
insert hook into indicated stitch, yo and draw up a loop, yo and draw through both
loops on hook
dc - double crochet
yo, insert hook into indicated stitch, yo and draw up a loop, yo and draw through 2
loops, yo and draw through remaining 2 loops
tr - treble crochet
yo twice, insert hook into indicated stitch, yo and draw up a loop, yo and draw
through 2 loops, yo and draw through next 2 loops, yo and draw through remaining
2 loops
dtr - double treble crochet
yo 3 times, insert hook into indicated stitch, yo and draw up a loop (5 loops on hook)
(yo and draw through 2 loops on hook) 4 times
dtrCL - double treble cluster
Keeping last loop of each dtr on hook, dtr in next dc, sk next sc, dtr in next dc; yo and draw
through all 3 loops on hook

Chain in multiples of 12+2

Row 1 (wrong side)
sc in 2nd ch from hook and in next ch; *ch 1, sk next ch, sc in next ch,* repeat from *to* across to last ch; sc in last ch; ch 1, turn,

Row 1 stitch placement

Row 2 (right side)
sc in first sc, ch 1, skip next sc, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch 1, skip next ch-1 sp, in next ch-1 sp work (tr, ch 1) 4x; *skip next ch-1 sp, (sc in next ch-1 sp, ch 1)3x; skip next ch-1 sp, in next ch-1 sp work (tr, ch 1) 4x,* repeat from *to* across to last 2 ch-1 sps; skip next ch-1 sp, sc in last ch-1 sp, ch 1, sk next sc, sc in last sc; ch 1, turn,

Row 2 stitch placement

Row 2 complete

Row 3
sc in first sc; *dc in next sc, ch 1, dc in next tr, ch 1, in each of the next 2 tr work (dc, ch 1) 2x; dc in next tr, ch 1, dc in next sc, sc in next sc,* repeat from *to* across; ch 4, turn,

Row 3 stitch placement

Row 3 complete

Row 4
skip first sc, dtr in next dc, tr in next dc, ch 1, dc in next dc, ch 1, (sc in next dc, ch 1) 2x; dc in next dc, ch 1, tr in next dc, skip next ch-1 sp; *dtrCL over next 3 sts; tr in next dc ch 1, dc in next dc, ch 1, (sc in next dc, ch 1) 2x; dc in next dc, ch 1, tr in next dc,* repeat from *to* across to last 2 sts; keeping the last loop of each dtr on hook, dtr in next dc and in last sc, yo and draw through all 3 loops on hook; ch 1, turn,

Row 4 stitch placement

Row 4 complete

Row 5
sc in first st and in next tr, (ch 1, skip next ch-1 sp, sc in next st) 5x; *ch 1, skip next st, sc in next st, (ch 1, skip next ch-1 sp, sc in next st) 5x* repeat from *to* across to last 2 sts; skip last dtr, sc in next ch of turning ch-4; ch 1, turn

Row 5 stitch placement

Row 5 complete

Repeat rows 2-5 for pattern

This is the effect you get when you switch colors beginning on Row 4 and work 4 rows of the same color (4, 5, 2, 3)

Round 10 Crochet Design Reveals. Let the Voting Begin!

We are so excited to finally show you what our challengers have been designing the past few weeks!

This round, we gave them the theme of "Wearable Waves for Autumn" and they were all required to use the Ripple Lace crochet stitch. Check out their designs and then head over to www.battleofthestitches.com to vote for your 3 favorite designs.
Be sure to click on the heart in the corner of the 3 designs you want to vote for. Clicking the photo and seeing a check mark is NOT counted as a vote.

We'll reveal our winners on Sunday July 31st and release the ebook on August 1st. This is going to be a "must have" in your crochet pattern collection!