PATTERN RELEASE: My Sunshine Rug

by Yuliya Tkacheva
(MsWeaver on Ravelry)

I really wanted to make something cheerful and bright for my home this winter and this is what is now the "centrepiece" of the floor in my living room.



Made of single crochet motifs and featuring a spike stitch, this rug is so easy and so much fun to make. There is something incredibly satisfying about stacking up completed motif pancakes:

Have a look at the following of our tutorials, which will help you with this project:

Spike Single Crochet
Weaving Ends As-You-Go
Joining Motifs As-You-Go

When Skies Are Grey rug pattern on:

Raverly
Etsy
LoveCrochet

HOW TO: Brighten Your Winter with Spike Stitches

by Lena Fedotova (ravliki on Ravelry)

This winter we both, Yuliya and me, caught a Spike Stitch virus! Without sharing our ideas, we both designed bright and cheerful items for this cold and often gloomy time of the year, and they all use spike stitches.

Spike stitches break straight rows of color and can create beautiful patterns, from polka dots to gentle rounded flower petals. Here is a quick tutorial to show you how these stitches are worked, if you have not yet come across them:

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And here are our brand new designs featuring this stitch!

Lena's Pink Pirate, a crochet kerchief worked sideways from the top, and Giraffic Day, a crochet cowl worked in the round:

Yuliya's, When Skies Are Grey, an easy rug made of single crochet motifs:

These tutorials would be handy too:

Two Ways to Join Stitches As-You-Go
Weaving In Ends As-You-Go

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Looking back at the nearly 4 years together, we both wanted to say thank you to you all for having been continuously supporting our tiny indie businesses. Thank you for buying our patterns, liking our designs, posting your projects, and sharing your photos.

As a way to give back, we have set up two new promotional codes which would entitle you to a gift pattern once you have spent £20 in our stores. Please enter LENA20 and YULIYA20 at the checkout to receive your gift pattern from each store respectively. Note that the codes are valid for the entire 2016 and all your previous purchases (made in the same store) count!

HOW TO: Weaving In Ends As-You-Go

by Yuliya Tkacheva
MsWeaver on Ravelry

Here is a quick tutorial on how to weave in ends as-you-go when working with several colours:

HOW TO: Two Ways to Join Stitches As-You-Go

by Lena Fedotova (ravliki on Ravelry)

The join-as-you-go method is one of my most favourite crochet techniques. It allows me to make a gazillion of motifs without worrying about weaving in all the ends.

Once you get the main idea of this method, you will be able to join any type of motifs, no matter what shape they are and whether they are lacy or solid. The idea is this: the joining of a stitch (or several stitches) is part of the crocheting of that stitch. This is what makes this method different from all others requiring you to finish the motifs first and then join them together.

This means that the side of a motif, which is to be joined, should not be completed yet. So you need to work the last round of the motif all the way up to the joining side(s) and then stop.

The actual joining stitches to be worked will depend on the motif in question. It may be a solid stitch round, it may have chain-3 or chain-5 space corners, it may be lacy or have groups of stitches (like 3 doube crochet groups in a classic granny square, bobble stitches, V-stitches, or even picots). No matter what stitches the pattern requires you to make, they all can be joined as-you-go. Your only task is to determine these joining points.

Let's start with the simplest!