Guest Post: Donna Wolfe Tells All About Broomstick Lace, and Her New Book, Broomstick Lace Crochet

I’m excited to share a guest post today from Donna Wolfe, the crochet designer and teacher behind the Naztazia YouTube channel. Donna has recently added “author” to her credentials, so I asked her to share a guest post with us today about her new book on broomstick lace. Since Donna is a multimedia gal, she also shared this post in audio format, which you can listen to in the player below, and I’ve also included some of her videos, too.

You can find Donna online on the Naztazia website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.

And, the folks at Stackpole Books have been nice enough to share a copy of the book as a giveaway, so read on for details!

This post contains affiliate links.

Guest Post: Donna Wolfe Tells All About Broomstick Lace, and Her New Book, Broomstick Lace Crochet

Guest post: Donna Wolfe tells all about broomstick lace on Underground Crafter #crochet
Donna Wolfe.

Hi I’m Donna Wolfe from Naztazia. Marie from Underground Crafter has been kind enough to allow me to do a guest blog post for her site.

Listen to Donna’s audio version of this guest post below.

She asked me to tell you a little bit about my new book, Broomstick Lace Crochet: A New Look at a Vintage Stitch with 20 Stylish Designs, published by Stackpole Books. Broomstick lace is a vintage technique that produces a very pretty lacy cluster with a twisted loop effect. And while broomstick lace is accomplished by using both a knitting needle and a crochet hook, it has generally been classified under the crochet umbrella of stitches. In the 1970s, broomstick lace was referred to in a series of books as “Jiffy Lace,” probably because the stitch works up in a jiffy if you use a larger knitting needle. Some books have called it the Peacock or Peruvian stitch as well.

Before you start to learn broomstick lace, it helps to know some of the basics of crochet first, such as the chain and single crochet stitch. If you can accomplish these two basic stitches, learning broomstick lace is pretty easy. To crochet broomstick lace, you would start off with some yarn and crochet a basic chain with your crochet hook. After that you’ll need to grab one large knitting needle. After inserting your hook into the first chain and drawing up a loop, you gently place this loop onto your knitting needle. After completing all of the loops across the chain, you begin the process of taking loops off of your knitting needle in groups of 5 and making single crochet stitches in them. Once all of these loops have stitches in them, you would repeat the process of drawing up loops, followed by taking them off in groups of five.

Craftsy

The process I’ve just explained is traditional broomstick lace. In my book, I show you this process step by step, with plenty of easy-to-understand, full-color photos. And not only is traditional broomstick lace covered, but 9 other variations of broomstick lace as well, including increasing, decreasing, faux broomstick and working in the round. As mentioned before, if you know the basic chain and single crochet stitch, broomstick lace is very easy to understand after a few practice stitches. My book also has 20 patterns that use broomstick lace. Some projects are 100% broomstick lace, such as several scarves, a wrap, blanket, cell case, hoodie and more. And in some of these patterns, I use broomstick lace as a nice decorative edging, such as in the baby sweater, hat and bootie ensemble, as well as the ever popular boot cuffs.

If you are curious to see what all of the finished projects look like in the book, be sure to check out my YouTube video for “Broomstick Lace Crochet” found on the Naztazia YouTube channel.

In the video, craft editor Pam Hoenig from Stackpole Books and I give you plenty of tips and tricks on how to wear or use each broomstick lace item in the book as well as show you a nice 360 view of many of the finished projects.

I’d like to thank Marie again from Underground Crafter for allowing me to do this guest post. And thank you very much for reading more about Broomstick Lace Crochet!

Thanks for stopping by, Donna!

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Broomstick Lace Crochet Giveaway

Broomstick Lace Crochet by Donna Wolfe guest post on Underground CrafterAs my regular readers know, I love broomstick lace! I have a photo tutorial for the classic broomstick lace stitch Donna describes, as well as three free crochet patterns featuring broomstick lace:

Donna also has some great broomstick lace videos on her YouTube channel, including this one for a broomstick lace blanket with a Solomon’s knot edging.

Now that you’ve had a chance to get to know Donna (and broomstick lace), I know you’re ready to check out her new book, Broomstick Lace Crochet! You can preview all 20 patterns included in the book on the Naztazia website here. There are a lot of great designs included, but I think my two favorites are the Broomstick Lace Wrap Skirt and the Broomstick Lace Tote.

The nice folks at Stackpole Books have offered up a copy of the book to one reader in the U.S. Enter through Tuesday, January 19, 2016 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern using the Rafflecopter widget below for your chance to win. Good luck!

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14 thoughts on “Guest Post: Donna Wolfe Tells All About Broomstick Lace, and Her New Book, Broomstick Lace Crochet”

  1. Thank you for the broomstick lace crochet video! It’s clear and concise. I’m appreciative of your work!

    To pick a pattern to do first, seeing as I’ve never done it before, I would pick one of the easier/quicker patterns to get my feet wet. The boot cuffs probably!

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  2. I’d try the pillow or the wrap. Not sure because I love wraps, but my daughter loves pillows, so it depends on who I decide to make it for!

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  3. Oh, My goodness! I never knew Broomstick Lace could be both so pretty and so practical! I’m new at crochet, and am trying to find my niche. Perhaps Broomstick Lace could be it? Lovely book, as far as I can tell, and it looks as though I could do it, with your instructions. Just Wonderful!

    Reply

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