Designer focus - Brigitte Read

After reading the lovely comments on the previous 'designer focus' post I did (about the talented KristieMN) I thought I would try to make it a regular feature of my blog, Doing this will also give me a chance to show off again some of my favourite crochet toys as well as perhaps having a go at making up some new ones as well.

Thankfully there are a good number of very talented crochet designers around and with a lot of them also offering free patterns finding people to do a focus on shouldn't be too hard. If you think of anyone that you would like to see in this focus slot then please let me know - I love finding new crochet designers!

So let's move on to today's focus which is about some of the patterns by Brigitte Read who has the following two fantastic crochet blogs:

Roman Sock - cute crochet inspired by the natural world

Curiosity cute - a newer blog with a slightly more sinister feel to it than Roman Sock.

This very talented crocheter has also authored the recently published "Super, super cute crochet" which I am very much hoping will be among my Birthday presents next month.

When I first came across the Roman Sock blog it took my breath away - I couldn't believe just how beautiful some of the work that Brigitte did. Back then Brigitte had all her crochet patterns available for free and even though she has started charging for some of her new patterns she has left those free patterns up for everyone to make use of. These patterns are available as PDF downloads and have all been written to a high standard with clear instructions and lots of quality photographs to help lead you thorough the pattern.

Brigitte is also well known for coming up with the 'brushed crochet' technique with which you can transform a normal crocheted toy into something which has very realistic looking fur - without having to try and crochet with the very tricky fuzzy yarns that are usually used to get a similar effect. Unfortunately I've yet to make up anything to test out this technique though I really do want to have a go at the lovely pattern for the meerkat as these look just fabulous.

Even though I haven't tried any brushed crochet I have made up a number of Brigitte's patterns and I've been very pleased with how all of them have turned out. At the top of this post you can see a couple of little owlets that I whipped together in a couple of hours recently from Brigitte's Instant Crochetfication pattern selection. These little patterns are very quick makes and are all very cute, just what you want when you need a quick crochet fix. 


The little elephant that I made up for one of my giveaways last year is also from the Instant Crochetification range, and though I really love how the finished elephant turns out he is quite a fiddly little critter to make and takes me about 3 hours to complete, even after having now made three of these little guys now. 

Recently I also made up the Toad pattern (see left) from the Instant Crochetification range and while I'm happy with him as a finished item he didn't turn out quite as nicely as I wanted. For some reason I had real problems placing his back legs so that they would look right and enable him to sit up right. He looks a little pensive for some reason - I wonder what he is thinking about?

My favourite pattern that I've made so far has to be the beautiful Greek Tortoise that you can see in the top right of this post. The design was well thought out and surprisingly simple to make up and came out far better than I could have hoped for. Out of all of the things I've crocheted over the years this little tortoise has been one of the hardest to part with so perhaps I'll have to treat myself by making another one day.

Coming a very close second favourite would be the Tree Frog pattern (second photo down on the left) which I also fully intend to make up another for myself. My frog ended up being less froggy than the original pattern as I didn't have the requisite amber cats eyes so I stuck with the pair of green ones I had and kept my frog all green. Though there were a large number of different parts which all had to be sewn together at the end leaving a ton of loose ends to work in he was well worth all the effort.

The last creature that I have to show you is from the Pass the Piggies pattern which for some reason isn't clearly available on the blog sidebar like the other patterns but you should be able to find it here. I'm always on the look out for new pig patterns as my mother is a big pig fan so this little guy got made up last year as a Mothers day present. He was another quick pattern to make and both my mum and my little boy really loved him.

So to sum up - Brigitte Read is a crochet genius and you should go and take a look at her blogs right now. Oh, and if I do get my wish and get given her new book then I'll be sure to post a review here soon :-)

Designer focus - KristieMN

For the last couple of weeks I've been making more of a concerted effort to try and fill my Christmas box and to help me I've been using a number of free patterns by the fantastic crochet designer KristieMN.

Kristie has designed a large number of patterns which she has either very kindly made freely available on her website or sells from her Etsy shop (www.kristieskids.etsy.com). She has a great selection of patterns and if you are an amigurumi addict like me then you'll love her clear and simple patterns.

My family and friends all remember the little crocheted ladybirds that I made a ton of to use as decorations at my wedding reception. They were attached to the flower arrangements as well as being hidden in a number of places around the venue. All of them were found and taken to new homes apart from the two that I managed to keep hold of for myself! After seeing just how popular those cute little ladybirds turned out to be I bookmarked a number of the other free patterns that I liked and making them up was such fun :-)

My favourite out of the free patterns is probably the little mouse just above. A very quick project to make and so cute! I love how tiny this little one is, I love it's cute round ears and little tail. The bumble bee above is also a very quick project, and with the round black head and little pipe cleaner antenna it seems to go well with the ladybird.  

Next up I made the little horse, but this took me much longer than the other creatures and I found that putting all the separate parts together pretty fiddly so I'm not likely to make this one again any time soon. He turned out okay though and I'm quite happy with how he looks even if he isn't quite as cute as I had hoped for.

Lastly I made up this very cute sheep that I enjoyed making a great deal. The pattern for the body seemed a little odd as you had to turn the work after every row which is unusual when working in the round. However after a few rows of doing this you saw that it started to create a slightly bobbly texture that made the sheep look fluffy.

There are a load more free patterns available on Kristie's web page which are well worth having a look through, and then if you are still keen to have a go at some more patterns be sure to visit her Etsy page. I can also highly recommend her Lazy days (and Lazy days 2) patterns that I've made a few items from over the years.