Caron Cotton Cakes review

     Hi, all! I hope everyone is doing well despite the pandemic. Here in northern New Jersey, our grocery stores are running out of supplies like toilet paper, bananas, laundry detergent, etc. On the bright side, I got a commission via my Etsy shop, Green Owl Crochet, for a granny square lap blanket. The customer wanted an acrylic and cotton yarn. I chose to use Caron Cotton Cakes. I love this yarn so much that I wanted to write a review about it. 
    I bought two skeins of Caron Cotton Cakes for a commission. The customer wanted a soft, acrylic/cotton yarn. I went to Michaels (the craft store) and they had a lot of a yarn called Caron Cotton Cakes. I love Caron Cakes, so I figured I would enjoy using their Cotton Cakes. Sure enough, I love them! This yarn is 60% cotton and 40% acrylic. It comes in 8.8 ounce (530 yard) skeins. It is a worsted weight yarn and Caron recommends that you use a size H/8 (5.0 mm) hook with which to crochet this yarn. The yarn is soft and luxurious-feeling. I usually dislike cotton yarns, but again, Caron Cotton Cakes is soft and lovely to work up. 
    I bought two skeins of Caron Cotton Cakes in the colorway Fruit Tropics. Later on, I bought one skein of the colorway Blue Hawaiian. I am not sure what I will do with the skein of Blue Hawaiian. However, as I previously mentioned, I am using the two skeins of the Caron Cotton Cakes in colorway Fruit Tropics to crochet a granny square lap blanket. I am using a size K/10.5 (6.5 mm) hook to work up the lap blanket. 
     Have you ever worked with Caron Cotton Cakes? If so, how do you like it?

the granny square lap blanket I am working on

Fruit Tropics (left) and Blue Hawaiian (right)

another view of Blue Hawaiian

Big Hook Rag Crochet

      I bought Big Hook Rag Crochet because I love working with large crochet hooks. I crochet a lot of items (cat beds, ear warmers, etc) using large hooks and super-bulky yarns. After crocheting about 25 pet beds for the local animal shelter this year, I’m officially tired of making cat beds! So, I turned to Big Hook Rag Crochet by Dedri Uys for ideas about what other projects I can hook. 
     I love that, in the beginning of the book, there is information about each designer. I always find it interesting to read blurbs about crochet designers before I actually see their their patterns. 
     Almost all of the projects in the book were made with fabric yarn that was created by the designers themselves. I, however, am not patient enough to sit down with scissors and cut my own fabric yarn. I admire that the designers in Big Hook Rag Crochet made their own yarn, but I’ll buy my yarn online. That being said, there is a helpful tutorial on how to make yarn out of fabric in the back of the book. I love that making your own yarn out of recycled materials is eco-friendly.
     The projects themselves are super fun! The projects in Big Hook Rag Crochet range from a garage can to a cat bed to jewelry. Much to my surprise, I love the beautiful, chunky jewelry included in the book, even though I often dislike crocheted jewelry. 
     If you love to crochet larger projects, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of Big Hook Rag Crochet!

Lion Brand London Kaye LKYC yarn and hooks

     Hello! As I've stated before, I've been working with super bulky yarns a lot lately. I've mostly been crocheting cat beds and cat mats for the local animal shelter. So far, I've made eleven beds and six mats for the kitties. I've also made some other fun projects, like another large rainbow and two mason jar cozies. 
     I first heard about Lion Brand's London Kaye LKYC yarn and hooks through the JoAnn website. I visit their website about once or twice a week. In late March, I noticed that JoAnn's website had a special advertisement featuring London Kaye's work. I had heard of London Kaye before, because of her yarn bombing pursuits. I clicked on the advertisement and it brought me to a page with Lion Brand's London Kaye LKYC yarn, yarn packs, and hooks.
     I needed some more large hooks, so I decided to buy the set of her three crochet hooks. The pack is currently 9.99 US dollars on JoAnn's website. However, when I bought them back in March, they were on sale for 7.99 dollars. The set contains all three of London Kaye's crochet hooks: a 9 mm, an 11.5 mm, and a 20 mm. They are lime green, hot pink, and electric blue, respectively. 
     These hooks are great! I love the way the lightweight plastic feels in my hand. The plastic is light, but does not feel cheap. The ergonomic handles do not tire out my hand,wrist, and arm as much as some other kinds of hooks. However, I have to admit that London Kaye's crochet hooks do not allow yarn to glide as smoothly as Clover's Amour hooks. Also, a small complaint I have is that there was a rough plastic nub on the tip of the 9 mm hook. I was able to file the nub down with a nail file, though. All that being said, I'll stick to using Clover's Amour hooks most of the time. I will, however, keep the London Kaye hooks for when I teach crochet, or for when I want a little variety. 
     Now let's talk about the yarn. The yarn is super bulky and 100% acrylic. It comes in twenty three colors. At first, I bought three of London Kaye's yarn packs: London Eye Blue, Roy G Biv, and Spread the Love. I used these packs to crochet the London Eye, two rainbows, and a heart. I got the idea for these projects from Lion Brand's video tutorials, which feature London Kaye herself. The yarn packs come with five skeins each. Plus, each yarn pack comes with an inspiration booklet. The inspiration booklet is interesting eye candy. However, it would be better if there were few patterns, or even just some yarn bombing and/or general crocheting tips, included.
     After quickly using up all the yarn from the packs, I went on to buy twenty one skeins of Lion Brand's London Kaye LKYC yarn in the middle of April. I feel conflicted about the yarn. I appreciate that the price is low, the yarn soft, and the colors vivid. I also love that I am supporting London Kaye, whom I admire. I do not, however, enjoy that the skeins are so small (only twenty yards!). I've also found that almost every skein I've used has one or two knots in it, which is such a pain. 
     All in all, I'd recommend Lion Brand's London Kaye hooks. I'd say that the yarn collection is worth buying, with some reservation. I'd especially recommend Lion Brand's London Kaye yarn if you're looking for an affordable yarn in small amounts, say, for yarn bombing or another project that could benefit from the yarn's attributes. 

Review of Crochet Concupiscence

I first heard of Kathryn Vercillo through her book, Crochet Saved My Life: the Mental and Physical Health Benefits of Crochet. I’d bought it as an early Yule gift for myself a few years ago, when I was fairly new to crochet. I then found Kathryn’s lovely blog, Crochet Concupiscence. 

Crochet Concupiscence is a thorough blog, covering a diverse array of topics related to crochet. In addition to the “Home” page, there are currently sections for her aforementioned book, crochet patterns, crochet tutorials, and her wonderful Mandalas For Marinke project (for which I crocheted the mandala seen below). There are buttons on her blog’s home page that take you to posts about crochet art, crochet fashion, crochet tutorials, and crochet patterns. One of my favorite features of Kathryn’s blog is that she includes extensive information about vintage crochet. 

Kathryn diligently updates her blog at least a few times each week, but usually more. There is almost always something new to read on Crochet Concupiscence. In addition to keeping up this blog, Kathryn writes for the About.com Crochet page. She must be one busy woman! I appreciate all her efforts and adore Crochet Concupiscence.

Review of "The Artist's Library"

     I found out about the book called The Artist's Library while browsing for books on Amazon. Amazon suggested this book for me because I had viewed a book called Bibliocraft by Jessica Pigza (Pigza is a crafty librarian who also wrote the introduction for The Artist's Library). Based on the title and the synopsis, I immediately knew that I had to check my local library system (the Bergen County Cooperative Library System) to see if they had the book. To my great fortune, they did, and I so I requested it through the Inter-Library Loan. You see, if I were able to finish college and then go to graduate school, I would certainly look into becoming a librarian. However, even though I cannot finish the academic requirements to be a librarian, I still enjoy reading about libraries and librarianship. So, a book that combines libraries and the arts? Yes, please!

     The Artist's Library started off as a blog called The Library as Incubator Project. It's a great blog, but I hadn't heard of it before checking out The Artist's Library. The authors of The Artist's Library, Laura Damon-Moore and Erinn Batykefer, also created the blog (along with Christina Endres). I highly suggest you check out their blog, especially if you're not sure if you should buy The Artist's Library. The Library asIncubator Project shares many stories of artistic folks using their community's libraries in creative ways. This is basically about which the book aims to give suggestions. The Artist's Library, however, is much more straight-forward with their tips and instruction, and also contains fun exercises. The drawback to the book versus the blog is that the book only contains a few of stories shared on the blog.

     I'd recommend The Artist's Library to any artist, and especially artists living in the USA and other countries that have a solid system of free, public libraries. By the way, when the authors say “artist”, they're including a broad range of people, including musicians, actors, painters, poets, and the like. They are not only talking about professional artists, either. I found much of the advice helpful, even though I could be described as a hobbyist.

   The book gives you many suggestions on how to utilize the free resources available in libraries. The authors mostly focus on public libraries, but some of the advice can apply to other types of libraries you have access to, as well. For example, The Artist's Library gives you advice on how you can pitch a program idea to libraries so you can organize programs alongside librarians.

     I found The Artist's Library to be a fun and eye-opening guide. It's chock full of useful advice for artists, whether they be professionals or not. If you've ever wondered what your library has to offer you as an artist, The Artist's Library will provide you with ample tips and examples.

Review of Gutwrench Press's "Keep Writing" postcard subscription

     I first heard of Hope (of Gutwrench Press) and her “Keep Writing” project when I was searching on Etsy for “postcard subscriptions”. I wanted to see what kind of independent artists offered a service where a postcard would be sent to customers on a regular basis, ideally once a month. Hope's listing for “ONE YEAR—Keep Writing Letterpress Postcard Subscription” came up on the first page of search results. And I'm so glad it did!

     The basic concept of Hope's service is that she mails you two postcards each month. Well, it's really one sheet of card stock that can be detached at the fold, but for simplicity's sake, I'll just refer to them as separate postcards. You get to keep one of the postcards and then you creatively respond to the prompt provided on the other one.

     I love to put the postcard (the one I'm supposed to keep) onto the door of my refrigerator. It makes me and my housemates smile to see Hope's work there. The postcard I'm supposed to mail back is even more fun, though. It's fun to give some thought as to how to creatively respond to the prompt. The prompts are not complicated, though. For example, December's prompt was about how you and your family celebrate the holidays. Hope posts all the responses on her Instagram account. It's fun to see your responses and others posted online.

     Gutwrench Press's “Keep Writing” postcard subscription service is a lot of fun. I highly recommend that anyone who enjoys postal delights (both receiving and giving) subscribe to this service. Thank you, Hope, for making the mail a lot more fun!