On the weekends, I’m inviting some of my crochet, knitting, and crafty friends for a takeover of my Instagram account so they can share their talents with you. Since you can’t easily share links on Instagram, on Sunday night, I’ll share a roundup including links to all the patterns and projects featured in the takeover. So, are you ready for this week’s #undergroundcraftertakeover roundup?
This week’s guest is crochet and knitting designer Elaine Phillips from ABC Knitting Patterns. You can also find Elaine online on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Ravelry, and Twitter.
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- Elaine says, “My name is Elaine Phillips and I’ve been in love with the hobby of knitting since I was very little. Like everybody, I used patterns from books and magazines. Pretty soon, I was modifying the patterns to suit the particular projects I was working on, and from there it was just a small step to designing patterns of my own. Then, one day, I decided to make my work available to everybody online. All my patterns are free and you can download them as PDF from my website ABC Knitting Patterns. The knitting and crochet patterns I have created range from the very simple to the complicated, so you should be able to find something to suit your needs whatever your level of experience.”
- Elaine says, “Greek Revival Shawl is a free knitting pattern. This is a triangular shawl that is knitted from the bottom point of the “triangle” upwards. The advantage of this is that you can make the shawl any size you like: just stop adding rows when you feel it’s done. The main part of the shawl features a stylized cable running down the center, with parallel rays going off to the right and left. This look was directly inspired by the so-called Greek Geometric Period in pottery, which is why I named the shawl Greek Revival.”
- Elaine says, “Rainbow Dragon Backpack is a free crochet pattern. I really like crocodile stitch, though I think it is too thick for most garments. However, this becomes an advantage when making a bag or backpack. In my stash, I happened to have self-striping Kauni yarn featuring long color transitions, and it worked really well for this project. Matching self-striping yarn to a project is often a matter of guesswork, so I feel I got lucky with this one. The bottom, flap and straps were knitted using a solid black yarn to complement the colorful body of the bag.
Probably the most challenging part of this pattern is crocheting crocodile stitch in rounds. I prepared a video explaining how to do this with the help of my wonderful assistants, and hopefully you find it helpful. If you have experience with crocodile stitch, this should present no problem at all. If you can figure out the crocodile stitch, the rest is actually pretty straightforward.”
- Elaine says, “Dawn in the Woods Shawl is a free crochet pattern. Dawn in the Woods is a fun, scarf-like shawl featuring an eye-catching pineapple crochet border.
The basic shape of this shawl is a long, flat triangle, which means that the shawl can be wrapped or draped just like a scarf. The shawl is worked sideways, starting at one narrow end of the triangle, getting wider towards the middle and then narrowing again on the other side.
The body of the shawl is made up of V-stitches and is quite straightforward to work, as long as you mind the increases and decreases. This shawl can be made with almost any color or weight of yarn, including lace, sport, DK or even worsted-weight, as long as you use the appropriate hook.”
- Elaine says, “American Girl Doll Southern Belle Dress is a free knitting pattern. This is a true-blue ball dress, wide, sweeping and many-layered that your doll can wear to the most elaborate of social occasions.
The dress is knitted from the top down in rows with a rear seam. You can knit it in rounds as well, but the seam lets you hide the ends of the frills neatly, and so for this particular pattern, the seamed construction is a better choice. The frills are formed of flounce yarn, and they are knitted into the dress as-you-knit. I’ve prepared a video explaining how to do this.
In order to create that ever-fashionable wasp-waist, the middle of the dress is pulled in with ribbing. The dress has a rear opening which is closed with snaps.
I enjoy making clothes for the American Girl dolls and you’ll find a lot of knit and crochet patterns on my website.
- Elaine says, “Lace Ripple Afghan is a free crochet pattern. The ripple afghan is a classic pattern that probably every crocheter is going to try at some point. My version combines the ripple idea with filet crochet. This gives it a lighter, airier texture than the traditional ripple afghan.”
- Elaine says, “Falling Stars Top Down Sweater is a free knitting pattern. This summer sweater is seamless and the circular yoke features two-color pattern.”
- Elaine says, “The Road Less Traveled By Brioche Stole is a free knitting pattern.
The stole combines stripes of 2-color brioche with stripes of 2-color garter stitch. This sets up some interesting color effects. By playing with the color sequence in the garter stitch, the brioche stripes end up being knitted in contrasting colors to the garter stitch bands. The double knitting stripes along the brioche bands add a third dimension to the color effects.The ends of the stole are decorated them with chevron-like edging.”