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National Crochet Month:
Welcome to Crochetville’s third annual Designer Blog Tour, taking place all throughout March 2015 in celebration of National Crochet Month (NatCroMo). Each day on our blog, you will find 1) in-depth profile posts for two crochet designers, with a link to their blogs so you can see what specials (free patterns, discount coupon codes, tutorials, etc.) they may be offering for NatCroMo, 2) a daily giveaway post with entries open from 8:00 AM CST to 8:00 AM CST the following day, and 3) during the last week of the month, daily posts from a Crochet Guild of America board member. Join us each day for a new surprise!
Today’s Posts: Jocelyn Sass, Cute Crochet | Rebecca Velasquez, RV Designs | Tammy Hildebrand, CGOA Vice President | Daily Giveaway | Halos of Hope Hat Collection | Complete Designer Schedule
Rebecca Velasquez, RV Designs
Crochetville is very proud to have designer Rebecca Velasquez with us today, March March 26th, as one of the featured designers on our 2015 Designer Blog Tour in honor of National Crochet Month (NatCroMo). Rebecca is a member of The Crochet Guild of America (CGOA). She has also been a member of Crochetville since its very beginning in February 2004.
Rebecca’s Designs:
If you’re not familiar with her work already, we’d like to share two of Rebecca’s designs with you.
“A native plant of the Texas panhandle, cenizo, or known around here simply as Texas Sage, is a common site in open fields. The delicate, silvery green leaves, when touched, release an amazingly delicious and intoxicating fragrance. From summer through fall, this aromatic bush produces stunning displays of prolific purple blooms.”
“This long and narrow triangular shawl, is created from bottom to top, with the lace edging crocheted with just a shift of the shawl, leaving only 2 yarn tails to weave in.”
“I love the wearability of long, narrow shawls and am equally in love with interesting, yet simple, stitching. This shawl has a very modern and clean feel while keeping its wooly, relaxed comfort.”
About Rebecca:
Crochet Beginnings
The first project Rebecca remembers being proud of was a mauve-colored potholder she made for her grandmother, who taught her to crochet when she was 12. It was so funny because it was not a very practical potholder: 100% acrylic with googly eyes glued on. Rebecca recalls, “When she passed away, 20+ years later, this sad little potholder was found in a drawer of her craft room with a a note pinned to it, ‘Rebecca Ann, 12yrs old.’ I love that she kept it all those years.”
Designing
Rebecca designs more shawls than anything else. She says they’re so versatile and people love them. She likes classic, wearable style.
Rebecca entered the world of designing “with a bit of confidence boosting from Robyn Chachula,” she says. Finally one day, Rebecca sent in a submission. And she continued on from there.
Rebecca sees herself as a combo designer. She tells us, “I usually have some idea of what I’m going to do, even stitch pattern and some instruction written when starting a project. But if it changes mid-stream (it usually does) I don’t worry about it. I just let it happen.”
Her greatest crochet accomplishment so far is her e-book, Crochet, Book One, published with Quince & Co.
Other Crafts
Rebecca also knits, spins, dyes, and sews.
Author’s Note
I first met Rebecca online back in 2004 when Crochetville was just getting started! We were a handful of people, maybe a dozen or two in the beginning, who would come to Crochetville every day and not want to miss a single post that was made. Those are some great memories!
Advice for New Crocheters:
“Don’t be afraid to new things,” recommends Rebecca. “The internet is a great tool, help is easy to find if you find yourself in a pickle.”
Advice for New Designers:
“It sounds cliché, but really, jump in!” Rebecca says.
Some of Rebecca’s Favorites:
Favorite Hooks: Clover Amour hooks
Favorite Books: “I love any and all stitch dictionaries.”
Favorite Yarn: Fingering and lace weight yarns
Favorite Thing to Crochet: Shawls, with sweaters a close second
Favorite Designers: Rebecca shares with us, “Not just favorite designers, but two of the people I love most in this world: Ellen Gormley and Marly Bird. I also absolutely adore Robyn Chachula, Kristin Omdahl, Doris Chan, Drew Emborsky…. it’s just too hard to answer. Being lucky enough to be ‘in the industry,’ I’ve had the pleasure of meeting all of these amazing designers and so many many more!”
Visit Rebecca’s Blog: NatCroMo Sneak Peek
You will definitely want to visit Rebecca’s blog post today! We’re not sure what Rebecca has up her sleeve for NatCroMo, so you’ll have to visit her online to find out!
Find Rebecca Online:
Website: rebeccavelasquez.com
Blog: rebeccavelasquez.com/blog
Ravelry Designer Page: ravelry.com/designers/rebecca-velasquez
Ravelry Profile: ravelry.com/people/RebeccaVelasquez (must be logged in to view profile)
Crochetville Profile: crochetville.com/community/user/40799-rebeccavelasquez (must be logged in to view profile)
Facebook: facebook.com/rebeccavelasquez
Twitter: twitter.com/RebecaVelasquez
Craftsy: craftsy.com/user/17951/pattern-store
Additional Blog Tour Information:
Links to All the Info
Daily Giveaway Schedule
Daily Designer Schedule
Learn About CGOA
Halos of Hope: Make Hats
The Cenizo shawl is beautiful…and I especially like that there are only two tails to weave in at the end! 😉
Beautiful shawls – I’ll have to make those!!
Your patterns are beautiful, Thank you.
i am liking the Haiku Crochet Shawl for sure.
Thank you, Rebecca for the lovely projects you have completed.
I like the scarf a lot; it looks light spring weight but still fancy and lacy.
The lighting in your first photo is fantastic! Good work!
The blog tour has introduced me to some wonderful designers and RV is another one I will continue to follow,
lovely patterns! Is the fb link supposed to go to her personal page?
Anita, thanks for asking! That’s the Facebook link Rebecca gave us, and I can’t find any other page for her on FB.
Thank you for showcasing Rebecca’s beautiful work! I will be visiting her blog today. I love #NatCroMo! I have learned a ton. I entered the giveaway, I have never used Gumdrops from RH. Since I am new to crochet, I have no yarn stash so I would put it to good use! I follow and share. Thanks for sharing with us!
~Crystal
http://krystlewv.blogspot.com
Crochet, A Day In The Life
Love the shawl
The Haiku Shawl is just stunning!
Nice designs! Thanks for sharing with us!
Great Work! Thank you for sharing your talent with us.
Lovely designs. Thanks!
Brand new beginner here. I love the stitch/pattern (which is it?) on the haiku shawl! So pretty!
Love the variety of Rebecca’s shawls and scarves!
Your Cenizo pattern is amazing! Your designs are amazing!
I love these shawl designs because they are soft and drapey. I love the way you can scrunch them around your neck, rather than drape down the back.
WOW! The Haiku shawl is so beautiful! I cannot wait to make that for myself! Thank you for the great designs! You are amazing!!
I love the shawl design by Rebecca Velasquez!
The shawl patterns are beautiful.
Beautiful designs!
Rebecca’s favorite things to crochet..Shawls, with sweaters a close second
Lovely shawl!
I adore your shawls, cannot wait to purchase and make these beauties for myself! !!!
Rebecca’s designs are lovely!
Both of your shawl patterns are beautiful I will be making both.
Lovely work
Love the shawls……
Great designs! <3 the stroll jacket 🙂
love your crochet!
New designer to me, thank you for introducing her to me! 🙂
Beautiful shawls
I think I might have to try the Cenizo. Thanks!
Fun to look at the designs and say, oh, I’ve made that. And now to learn about the person who created it!
Love the designs!!
The Haiku Shawl is uniquely beautiful!
Sound advice for being so young!
I like your shawl designs.
Beautiful shawl patterns!
Beautiful work Rebecca!
Rebecca designs more shawls than anything else. I like shawls.
How sweet that she kept that first potholder!
Love the story about the potholder for her grandma. So sweet!
I have always wanted to design and found it frustrating when something didn’t turn out the way I had envisioned the original project. I love that Rebecca encourages us to try new things and to just jump in! Thanks!
Lovely shawls!
Beatiful patterns
That’s a sweet story about the grandma holding on to her first project for all those year’s:)