Another giveaway!!

I love my giveaways, and I am giving away another two skeins of my favorite - Darn Good Yarn Banana Fiber Yarn!! Here's the info!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck!!

Vacation time! (pattern link for Fernanda Shawl)

I am on vacation until 6/16.

Yes, I just opened on 4/19.... BUT my kids are graduating. My 5th grader on 6/10, and my 12th grader on 6/11. We're running around preparing for that, cleaning for company... and the in-laws will be in town. Well, maybe I'll go to the store ONE day this week...

Since I'm going to be closed for so long, I wanted to have another giveaway!! This one is for two balls of Adriafil Knitcol yarn! It's such a pretty yarn with great color repeats.

Baabaa in her sweater made from Adriafil Knitcol

Here's what you need to do to enter the contest:
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Good luck!!

Also, I wanted to share my new pattern obsession. No, it's not the c2c (although I'm almost finished my second), it's called the Fernanda Shawl.

The pattern is on Ravelry, the link is here - Fernanda pattern by Ana Luisa Galvan. 

For me, the pattern was a little tricky at first - I actually had to read each step out loud while starting the shawl. But once I figured it out, it worked up so fast! 

I used 3 hanks of Phymouth Yarn Covington 100% mercerized cotton yarn. I didn't make it as big as the photo in the pattern, and I didn't do the shell edge - just the picot. It's a great spring or late summer night shawl. 

In love with the C2C, big event, contest, and discount code!

First - let me tell you about my new website and online store - www.lesliesloops.com. From now until Monday at 5pm, you can go on the site and get 20% off your entire order. Type KNIT20 for the coupon code, and that's it!
Why only until 5pm on Monday? Well, after 5pm, I am having a huge event that no one wants to miss! Check my Facebook page - Leslies Loops - for more info. I also have contest running where if you like my page, you can get two skeins of Plymouth yarn and a $10 Starbucks card! Check it out!!

Have you visited The Crochet Crowd website? I follow them on Facebook, and LOVE the patterns and tutorials they post. 

It's been up on their site for a while (and on Youtube), but I finally created the corner to corner afghan! 

It's an amazingly easy pattern. It works up so quickly, and the color combinations with this are endless! 

I'm working on my second one right now, but here's my first one - 

Here's the youtube tutorial link:

Corner to Corner afghan link

I hope you make one just as nice (or nicer), and check out my contest! 

Until next time!

The store is OPEN!!

Yaaayyy!!

You are all invited to my new store - we're located in Matthews, NC. The address is 167 S. Trade Street, Unit I, Matthews, NC. Store hours are 10am - 7pm, Monday - Saturday and 1pm - 6pm every third Sunday.

At my grand opening on Saturday, one of my customers asked me to make her a large beret out of the yarn she purchased.
The yarn? Darn Good Yarn's thick 3-ply silk yarn. The color she chose was Unicorn Kisses. The color is muted while hanging, however as I was creating the hat, the colors became more vibrant! It's beautiful!

I loosely followed the Beret with a simple cable stitch pattern from Cat's Rockin' Crochet (who has great patterns, by the way). If you decide to make this hat, you'll see where the differences are. 

Let me know if you have any questions, and check out my new website, www.lesliesloops.com! 

I just quit my job (and made a shawl)!

After almost 5 years of working for Habitat Charlotte - a great ministry - I decided I needed to move on and mainly focus on my future as an entrepreneur.

I am SO excited!!!

My store doesn't open until April 19th, so in my spare time, I get to crochet! This shawl is the Zinnia Flower Shawl (click for pattern) from the Fiber Flux Blog. I LOVE how it looks!
I made two small changes - I used worsted weight yarn from Darn Good Yarn, which is starting to be my go-to yarn. Their reclaimed silk cloud yarn and their banana fiber yarn is so great to work with.

Here are the pictures:

(adorable pants! Lol!)

All links are provided above.

I hope you like it! 

I hate edging afghans! *new pattern*

So, my husband came to me on 2/26 and said his cousin is having a baby shower, that he wanted me to make something unisex (they didn't want to know the sex of the baby), and he wanted it done so she can get it for her baby shower on 3/8. They live in Philly. I live in NC. 

Let's just say it didn't happen in his time frame. Especially since I didn't buy my yarn until March 1st...

But I did finish it! 

Now, onto that pesky edging...

I don't mind edging the top and bottom, because there are spaces there available for it. But once you get to the sides, what do you do?? It's so hard for me to find the perfect space on the side of the afghan to crochet into. I did it, be it ever so carefully.

This is my "Sunshine Stripes" afghan. 

I used the pattern from Suzie's Stuff blog (link provided) and her slant stitch scarf, but I made a couple of very small changes.

Materials:
2 skeins each Red Heart Super Saver Pale Yellow and White
K hook
Scissors

Abbreviations:
Ch - chain
dc - double crochet
hdc - half double crochet
sk - skip
sp - space
st - stitch
** - repeat the instructions in between the asterisks.

Ch 139
Row 1: (With color A) hdc first ch from hook to end. Ch 3, turn
Row 2: Sk next 2 hdc sp, *dc in next three hdc sp, dc in sk sp, sk next hdc sp*, repeat ** to next to last hdc sp, dc in last sp. With color B, ch 2, turn.
Row 3: hdc in each sp across to end. Ch 3, turn.

Repeat rows 2 and 3, alternating color on each hdc row, until desired length. Fasten off, weave in ends.

Edging:
I completed two rows of sc throughout, but be creative! As you read above, I'm not a fan of edging the sides of afghans, but there are some beautiful edging patterns out there.

Show me what you've done! I have a Facebook page - Leslie's Loops Yarn - and I want you to share photos of your crochet or knit projects.

Can't wait to see what you've done!

New location, New opening date, New skirt pattern!

Hello all!

So, remember that whole "Opening in Gastonia on 2/1/14"? Well, that didn't happen. I'm not even opening in Gastonia....
....BUT I am opening! In Charlotte!! April 19th!! Stay tuned for more info... I'm excited, mostly because right now my dining room is a yarn and furniture storage place...

Anyway, back to my new pattern. I've never made a skirt before, and I wanted some new skirts for Sunday service.

This is the yarn I used. I purchased 10 skeins on eBay some time last year, and I thought it would make a nice skirt. I thought about using some of thousands of skeins of acrylic yarn I have, but I wanted to change it up a little. 

The pattern is rather easy - just like the last one. I started this on Saturday afternoon, and although I had to play chauffer with my children after service, I was still able to finish it today. I LOVE the fit and the color - I will definitely make this in other colors. 

So here's the pattern for the "4122" skirt. 

Now the size is done more by measuring the first chain around your waist, so I can't tell you how many skeins you will need to use. I will tell you that I'm a size 1X, and I used 6 complete skeins of yarn (I have not a scrap left over - and I like it that way). So, if you're smaller, you know you won't need more than 6 skeins. 

It's called "4122" because that's the way you work the rows to get the design you see. It's not an "in your face" type of design, but you can see it, and I think it gives the skirt a little character. 

4122 skirt

For 1X, you need:

6 skeins (620 yards) of Filatura Lanarota Wool Sprinkles yarn (or any worsted weight yarn)

J/10 6mm hook

Yarn needle

Scissors

Abbreviations (US terms):

blo - back loops only

ch - chain

hdc - half double crochet

sk - skip

sc - single crochet

slst - slip stitch

st - stitch

sp - space

trc - triple or treble crochet

Chain as many as will fit around your waist. For 1X, I chained 126. Measure the ch around your waist, increase or decrease ch as needed. 

Row 1: hdc in second chain from hook, hdc in each ch to end. Turn. 

Row 2: ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in BLO in each hdc to end. Turn. 

Row 3-4: Repeat row 2. Turn. 

Row 5: ch 4 (counts as first trc), trc in blo in each st to end. Turn. 

Row 6-7: Repeat row 2. Turn. 

Row 8-9: repeat row 5. Turn. 

Repeat this pattern (rows 1-7) until desired length. My skirt is 32 rows. Skirt should end with four rows of hdc.

Fold skirt on wrong side and sew ends together using yarn needle. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

Ruffle bottom (optional):

Start where the ends were sewn together, ch 4. Three trc in each st to end. Sl st in top of ch 4 space. Fasten off, weave in ends. 

Waistband:

Start on other end where ends are sewn together, ch 2. Sc in each st to end. Slst in top of ch 2 space. 

Rd 2: ch 3, sk st, *hdc in blo of next st, ch1, sk st*, repeat ** to end. Slst in ch 2 sp of ch 3.  

Rd 3: ch 3, hdc in each ch 1 sp to end. Slst in ch 2 sp of ch 3. 

Rd 4: ch 4, trc in next 4 st, *ch 1, sk st, trc in next 5 st*, repeat ** to end. Slst in top of ch 4 sp. Fasten off, weave in ends. 

For the drawstring, ch 40 more than your original chain (the one for your waist). You can sc through the ch if you want, or leave it as is. Weave it through the ch 1 spaces of rd 4 in the waistband. 

You can also use a store bought belt or ribbon - your ch 1 spaces should be wide enough. 

That's it! 

Easy, right?