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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: Marie Segares, Underground Crafter | Leslie Stahlhut, Crochet Bug | Daily Giveaway | Halos of Hope Hat Collection | Complete Designer Schedule
Marie Segares, The Underground Crafter
Crochetville is very proud to have designer Marie Segares, also known as The Underground Crafter, with us today, March 1, as one of the featured designers on our 2015 Designer Blog Tour in honor of National Crochet Month (NatCroMo).
Three Truths and a Lie:
Take a guess as to which of the following statements isn’t true. We’ll let you know which statement is “The Lie” somewhere in this post, so keep reading to learn the truth!
- Marie loves to collect handmade crochet hooks.
- Marie learned to crochet from a YouTube video.
- Marie is the host of the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show, a weekly podcast for yarn industry indies.
- Marie is a right-handed crocheter.
Marie’s Designs:
If you’re not familiar with Marie’s work already, we’d like to share two of her designs with you.
Quadrilateral, FREE pattern/tutorial on Marie’s blog
This design was one of Marie’s early explorations into broomstick lace. While it’s very simple to make, it’s quite stunning to wear. This design is one of Marie’s favorite wardrobe staples. Due to the rectangular shape, she usually uses a shawl pin.
Seven Circular Summertime Scrubbies, available for $5.00 on Ravelry
These circular scrubbies are perfect for removing makeup, sunscreen, or wiping away sweat in the summer. Choose an undyed or low-impact dyed cotton for sensitive skin, or for use with newborns. Make one for each day of the week!
About Marie:
Marie’s maternal grandmother taught her to crochet in 1984. For the first 15+ years of her crochet life, her projects consisted exclusively of scarves made in a single stitch, which was usually hdc. She didn’t learn to read patterns until 2002!
Marie began teaching crochet in 2008. She began designing so that she could provide interesting projects for her crochet students. She sold her first pattern to a magazine in 2010, and she’s been self-publishing and freelance designing ever since. Marie’s primary design focus is on women’s accessories and blankets. Living in New York City, Marie believes you can never have enough blankets to get you through a cold winter in the city.
Like many crocheters, Marie had a fear of knitting, since it is such a different technique from crochet. She’s proud to say she conquered that fear in 2010, but she still thinks knitting is nowhere near as awesome as crochet!
Marie’s Tip for New Designers:
I would encourage any emerging designer to take full advantage of the CGOA mentoring program for associate professionals. I host a weekly podcast, the Creative Yarn Entrepreneur Show, where I share tips I’ve learned through my years in the industry and I also frequently interview other independent crochet business owners about their experiences and suggestions.
Visit Marie’s Blog: Freebie Sneak Peek
Marie is offering a special coupon code to receive one FREE DOWNLOAD from her Ravelry shop! Please visit her blog post, 10 Ways to Spread the Love of Crochet, to get your coupon code.
Find Marie Online:
Crochetville: undergroundcrafter (must be logged in to view profile)
Ravelry: MarieInNYC (must be logged in to view profile)
Main website: http://undergroundcrafter.com
Blog: http://undergroundcrafter.com/blog/
Ravelry Designer Page: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/marie-segares
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/UndergroundCrafter
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ucrafter
Craftsy: http://www.craftsy.com/user/481219/pattern-store
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/undergroundcrafter
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+MarieSegaresundergroundcrafter/
Other: http://creativeyarnentrepreneur.com
The Truth:
Did you catch that Marie didn’t learn to crochet from YouTube videos? She learned from her loving grandmother!
Daily Giveaway Schedule
Daily Designer Schedule
Learn About CGOA
Halos of Hope: Make Hats
Beautiful shawl!
I was right! The lie was learning to crochet from Youtube.
I just bought the Scrubbies pattern. Can’t wait to make those. I have a baby shower this week and those would work up right quick!
Nice broomstick lace shawl by Marie Segares.
I love the scrubbies
How cool to learn crochet from your Grandmother!
I love the broomstick lace, its my favorite. Very interesting article. She learned from her mom, NOT youtube. lol Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing!
I learned how to crochet from my left handed mom (I’m right handed) I didn’t know there was a CGOA mentoring program or weekly podcast! I’ll have to check it out!
I visited Marie’s FB page today. I like what I saw, and left a comment on her blog. I also
“liked” her page.
Beautiful shawl!
Crocheting is in my family too!! It goes back at least four generations with each mom teaching the daughter 🙂
Wow, that is awesome, Jess Ica D! What a great tradition.
Thank you for the freebie. I chose the Purrfect Stitches.
You have a typo in the link to her blog post under the Freebie Sneak Peek–needs an h at the beginning of the URL.
Thank you! We’ve corrected it.
Love the recommendations!
I have always wanted to learn broomstick lace, love the scrubbies.
I’ve been looking for scrubbie designs after meeting an elder friend who made ‘fluffy’ ones. Yours are the prettiest yet.
one of my fave patterns is the frosted snowflake cowl by marie.
Marie’s scrubbies are awesome. I love the texture.
Broomstick lace! I just got a loom, I am working up the nerve to make something with it, maybe I’ll try with this beautiful shawl!
I was taught to crochet at a young age, I did not learn to read a pattern until sometime in my 40’s and I would love to design but I feel it would be plagiarism. I would do a Frankenstein, a little piece of pattern from here and a little piece there. I think designers are amazingly talented.
So exciting to hear that March is National Crochet Month!!! In January, I got back into crocheting after joining a local crochet club. The last time I crocheted was back in my teens and I’m 43 now!!! I’ve made many scarves and one of my future crochet goals is to make baby blankets and Afghanis!! 🙂
I ordered some cotton just today without a plan in the world for it until I seen those lovely scrubbies. 🙂
Beautiful crochet designs! 🙂
I hope to design someday.
Love broomstick lace!
I love your designs!
Love the textures and colors used.
I love your work! I aspire to teach crochet one day as well.
I love seeing all the great designers. Thanks for sharing with us.
What a lovely design you have in the broomstick shawl!
I’ve enjoyed Marie’s podcasts .. informative and entertaining!
You do beautiful work, Marie.
Amazing work 🙂 ♡♡♡ Marie is definitely another designer to admire.
I love that you didn’t read patterns for a while. Give me hope! Haha.
I learned my first chain stitch from my grandmother, too.
Thank you for the excellent blog post about Ways to Spread the Love of Crochet! I even found a local CGOA group! Beautiful designs – thanks for the freebies! 🙂
I really have got to try broomstick lace.
Those items are lovely. Thank you for sharing them with us and providing the info about learning to crochet and knit.
so far, i’m doing pretty good figuring out the untruths 😉 loving the introductions to designers!
Looks interesting!
Thank you for your wonderful site!!
I like the shawl pattern
I love the design/pattern of the shawl! The textures on the scrubbies are great.
Lovely designs!
You have some amazing patterns and very cool designs. Thank you so much for sharing.
I enjoy colloecting handmade crochet hooks as well 🙂