I delve into Tunisian Crochet

I am undecided about Tunisian crochet (also called afghan crochet.) It is easy, satisfying in it's simplicity, and has a squishy, dense texture. It is also FAST. Sounds great, right? My reservation is in the fact that it is repetitive. Forward row, return row - again and again. But it's speed makes up for that. And it's density makes it ideal for bags - and in this case, an iPad case. Mind you, the fact that I used lovely alpaca/wool yarn in this project helps a BUNCH. In the pattern I have included instructions for creating an iPad case, a large Kindle case, and a small clutch purse.

Get your copy of the pattern for $2: (Ravelry PDF download)

Owls Two Ways (free pattern)

I just popped in to post up a duet of free patterns - more owls. I created a pair of universal patterns for simple one-piece owls, one knitted and one crocheted. These 2 patterns are together in one PDF for FREE DOWNLOAD HERE! (Ravelry.com PDF download.)

Yay! More Owls!

New Post!

Whew! It has been a whirlwind of a month! First of all - Happy Day After Valentine's Day! I made these little crochet hearts for my family yesterday as my gift. But we celebrate for a few days, as love is important every day. I hope you are having a break in the cold (or hot) weather wherever you are. It has been crazy here! I live in central Texas, and while it gets a little cold here in the winter, it doesn't normally get below freezing for days and days! I know the weather has been horrid so far this year, but I hope it has given you a chance to snuggle up and craft.



I have been BUSY sample making for both of the yarn shops where I teach. I just found out yesterday (by randomly checking the schedule) that I will be teaching an extra class at the end of the month. So I whipped up an amigurumi cupcake (and a pattern) just for that. I might even be tempted to post it up.

In other news, I have been writing a blog post for a locally-based garment company - Emilime. I hope to write more of those soon, as well as getting a chance to blog here more.

Also, I have jumped into writing knitting patterns with charts using a bit of computer software. I will post soon to review the software I got last week.

Back to sample making - the set I am doing now is for a 5 month series - Countdown to Harry Potter - 8 Harry Potter-themed projects that are a mixture of knitted projects and crocheted projects. (Including 3 designs from me!) Check back soon for a full list of patterns!

Happy crafting!

Granny's Valentine Bag Pattern

I crocheted this bag to demonstrate 4 different granny styles of crochet. It is in 4 colors of Cascade Yarns Luna - lovely, soft cotton yarn that was a dream to crochet. It made me think of my own granny - these were her favorite colors, and she loved hearts (see heart side of the bag below.) The parts of the bag were inspired by Granny Mandala by Crochet with Raymond, the Granny Stripe Blanket by Lucy of Attic24, the Center Heart Square by Ginger Badger. The other side is a basic granny square, for which there are many patterns. I give detailed instructions on crocheting each piece and on the assembly of the bag in my FREE pattern.

Here is the lovely Granny Mandala bottom.

The traditional Granny Square side.

And last, the lovely Center Heart side.

I do give options for creating two regular granny square, or heart square sides. You can see the granny stripe strap in most of the photos.

Download it HERE on Ravelry.



Granny's Valentine Bag by Ana Clerc is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at oceanofstitches.blogspot.com.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://oceanofstitches.blogspot.com/2011/01/grannys-valentine-bag-pattern.html.

Bubo Owl Pattern

I have just finished with ANOTHER crochet pattern (I know!) It is for a Snowy Owl, or any of the owls in the Bubo genus. It is just a nice owl-shaped owl, and I originally made it for my son, Badger. I took notes the whole time I was stitching, and it turned out so well that I want to make the pattern available.


Errata: I found 3 errors in the pattern and these have been corrected. Any new download will have the corrected version, and all those who have bought a copy have been sent a new version.

In the directions to the body of the owl: Line 29: stitch count should read (30). Line 30: count is (24). Line 31: Count is (18). Line 32: Count is (12). Added Line 33: sc2tog to the end of the round (6)

In the directions to the wings: Line 5: repeat bracketed instructions twice. Line 8: sc 6 instead of 7.
You can download it here for $5:

Snow Arches Pattern

I just finished writing up the pattern for his afghan block that I designed for the January installment of the afghan block crochet-along at The Knitting Nest in Austin, TX. I have never done a design for an afghan block, other than a granny square - so I was surprised that it worked so well. Pretty, no?

Download it for $3, HERE:

Happy Owlidays!

I hope everyone is having or has had a lovely holiday! I am calling mine an owliday, as I saw one of these fly over the window and land on the roof of my mom's home as we were opening gifts yesterday. It was absolutely beautiful. My mother has been telling me that she has owls, and from her description of the call and from the one I saw yesterday, I can tell you definitely that it is a Great Horned Owl. My absolute favorite!

Which makes the animals that I made for my kids even more fortuitous!

Here is the Snowy Owl I made for Badger. It has barred feather marking on it's head and back. I will be publishing this pattern on Ravelry next week.

Here is the sweet little Horned Owl I made for Rose. The pattern is Owlets from the Roman Sock Blog. Mine came out a little shorter and fatter than I intended, but it is so sweet and soft.

So happy owlidays, everyone! Hoo!