Simple Crochet Patterns For Beginners

by

Jake Saab

Easy crochet patterns are perfect for beginners. Easy crochet patterns can teach a beginner the basic crochet stitches. The only thing needed is a crochet hook and a ball of yarn. Simple crochet patterns can be finished in less than an hour, which is a great way to spend the time productively. A beginner will be able to master any basic crochet stitch with the help of any easy crochet pattern.

Children and adults interested in learning how to crochet can begin with easy crochet patterns. Although it may take some time and a few easy crochet patterns before a beginner can master the basic stitches. It won’t be long before a crochet novice is creating wonderful masterpieces that will become family heirlooms.

Available Easy Crochet Patterns

Crochet patterns for simple projects generally contain step-by-step instructions that are accompanied by colorful photos or sketches illustrating each part of the design. Aside from this, easy crochet patterns also contain valuable tips and additional how-to notes about the project.

These projects also provide helpful suggestions on the most appropriate type of yarn a beginner should use for a project. Different easy crochet patterns are a great way to introduce a beginner to the various types of yarn used for crocheting. There are various types of easy crochet patterns that are available to a novice.

From wearable items such as baby booties, bibs and mittens or decorative pieces like doilies, afghan covers or pillowcases. The simplest crochet pattern a beginner can do is a scarf. There are various crochet patterns for simple scarves that incorporate a single crochet stitch. However, there are crochet patterns for scarves that make use of two or more stitches. This helps a beginner become acquainted with more of the basic crochet stitches.

Dishcloths and doll blankets are another example of easy crochet patterns that are perfect for beginners. One more easy crochet pattern that a beginner should consider trying out is the granny square project. Granny squares can be used to create other crochet projects like vests and blankets wherein the size can be adjusted for kids, adults and even pets.

Beginners can also try out easy crochet patterns like a kitchen mat or even a poncho. Coasters, round or square, also make great projects for beginners as well as miniature purses that can be given away as gifts. Hats are another easy crochet pattern that make ideal gifts also.

Resources for Easy Crochet Patterns

There are numerous resources that can provide easy crochet patterns for beginners and even advanced crochet enthusiasts. Various craft books that are dedicated to crochet offer a variety of crochet patterns that range from the basic to the complex. Although craft books provide a comprehensive guide for beginners and skilled crocheters it often quite too bulky to lug around. At the same time leafing through numerous pages takes too much.

Assorted craft magazines are sold in large quantities at bookstores everywhere. There are craft magazine dedicated to crocheting. Most of the time, these magazines feature easy crochet patterns that are meant for beginners and even accomplished crocheters. Expert crocheters who have been doing crocheting for a long, long time design the patterns often printed in craft magazines.

The Internet is perhaps the fastest and most practical resource for crochet enthusiasts when it comes to crochet patterns. There are countless websites on the Internet that feature crafts like crochet. These sites offer a wide range of services and benefits that every crocheter will surely benefit from.

In most cases, websites that offer free crochet patterns may require membership before downloading any pattern from their site. However visitors that do signup for the website membership become entitled to other parts of the site as well as freebies offered. Online forums and chat rooms are open to members wherein information exchange is done between amateurs and experts.

Other times websites may offer e-books that charge a small fee before downloading. These e-books contain a compilation of crochet patterns that vary in design and degree of difficulty. A simple search on the Internet will immediately generate thousands of website hits for easy crochet patterns.

Go online today to find an easy crochet pattern to help past the time and learn a valuable craft at the same time.

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Simple Crochet Patterns For Beginners

grana cochinilla fina: Brilliant Natural Red Dye in Oaxaca

by

Alvin Starkman

Most tourists have no idea that only a couple of hundred yards off the main highway, a minute or two from the black pottery village, is one the most fascinating destinations that the state of Oaxaca has to offer children and adults alike. And yet the majority of travelers have a least heard or read a snippet about the natural red dye which comes from a tiny insect and is used to color the rugs they buy in Teotitln del Valle, and other products including some of the foods and beverages we eat todaythe grana cochinilla fina, commonly known as simply cochineal.

I suspect that from reading their guidebooks or speaking to tour guides and taxi drivers, visitors are not generally made aware of the importance of this little bug on the world stage over centuries; or perhaps they think its enough to buy a tapete and be told its been dyed with cochineal, and see and touch a few dried insectsrather than spend 40 or 50 minutes in amazement. It might be different if they knew that during the conquest era, next to gold and silver cochineal was the most valuable commodity known to mankind, and that in 1758 Oaxaca exported over 1.5 million Spanish pounds of it to Europe, Africa and Asia for a multitude of uses including the dying of fabrics including uniforms worn by British nobility and cavalry. Together known as Tlapanochestli, the quaint research facility, museum, ranch and open-air teaching environment is located at Santa Mara Coyotepec off a dirt road only 15 minutes from downtown Oaxaca. The attraction is designed to hold the interest of travelers of all ages and all backgrounds, from layperson to academic or professional. Upon entering Tlapanochestli youll be greeted by one of the employees who works the ranch, or perhaps one of the two scientists who run the research and teaching programs, Engineers Manual Loera Fernndez and Ignacio del Ro Dueas. Youll learn about the lifecycle of the cochineal, how it attaches itself to and feeds off of a certain variety of nopal cactus, and about its harvesting and preparation for use as a dye. Both kids and grownups will delight and be awe-struck at having either a live or dried bug squished on their palm yielding the scarlet pigment. Youll be taught why not all types of nopal cactus are suitable for production of cochineal, which ones are used to make salads, and about varietals which produce the sweet red edible fruit known as tuna, seasonally sold in marketplaces just as apples and oranges, and just as often encountered as a sorbet flavor or fresh fruit juice. But your tour is not only about the insect and its host, but includes learning about a plethora of other natural products used to dye foods and fabrics, such pecan shells, oyster conch, pomegranate, marigold, moss, onions, and the ail plant which produces our blues and indigos. Combining some of these dyes with the cochineal results in yet a further spectrum of color. Youll also discover how to use cochineal in combination with lime juice or baking soda and with different colored natural wools to produce orange and purple hews. One cannot help but marvel at the diversity of commercial products which utilize the cochineal as a coloring such as lipsticks and makeup for those allergic or sensitive to synthetic red and orange tones, Danone yoghurt, Campari, and even Campbells soup. Often artists have opted to employ cochineal and other natural colors for their work, and accordingly witness walls adorned with examples of fine art created without the use of chemical-based paints. The photos of Prince Charles attendance at Tlapanochestli is a testament to the worlds continued fascination with the historical and contemporary significance of the grana cochinilla fina. In the gift shop theres an opportunity to purchase dried cochineal for your own use, ink in an attractive wax-sealed bottle, paints and pastes, balls of yarn, soaps, clothing, and for the children perhaps a paint set consisting of dried cochineal to crush using the miniature clay pestle and mortar, along with coloring pages with instruction sheet directing how to use the kit and produce your own shades of red, orange and pink. A short video puts the production of cochineal into its proper historical context using facts, anecdotes and mythology, along with colorful imagery, narrated using language easily understood by children. At the same time those with a background or interest in the sciences will have all of their questions answered. The film outlines the pre-hispanic use of the pigment; the development of an internationally regulated industry attracting the attention of worldwide heads of state from The Conquest forward; its importance in the global marketplace as the strongest and most brilliant dye known to humankind; and its decline in the mid 1800s upon the invention of synthetic coloration and the subsequent adverse impact on the Mexican economy. While Oaxacan production and export never did recover from 19th century recessionary factors, the video concludes on a upbeat note documenting the industrys resurgence in recent decades in the face of widespread health concerns regarding the continued reliance on synthetic substances to dye commercial products. After your cinematic journey back into history, and having gained knowledge about how natural dyes are produced and used in a multitude of applications, your perception of not only Oaxaca but also the Western World will have been enhanced foreverwhether youre in Oaxaca shopping for rugs, watching the native vendors in a market or ordering ice cream; or sitting in the comfort of your home and sipping a Campari and soda.

Alvin Starkman together with wife Arlene operates Casa Machaya Oaxaca Bed & Breakfast ( http://www.oaxacadream.com ). Alvin received his masters in social anthropology in 1978, and his law degree in 1984. Thereafter he was a litigator in Toronto until taking early retirement. He and his family were frequent visitors to Oaxaca between 1991 and when they became permanent residents in 2004. A vist to the cochineal farm is included in one of the village tours Alvin offers.

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