How-To Tuesdays: Going in Crochet Circles pt. 1

One of the fundamental skills a crocheter should acquire is crocheting circles. This form provides basis for many crochet projects, is effective and, in fact, very simple to create.

Today I will show you the simplest method of starting crochet circle.

1. Crochet 6ch (in case you are using bulkier yarn, less ch may be in order)







2. Join the the last and the first chain loop by slip stitch. This is your foundation circle







3. Put the hook through the whole in the middle of your foundation circle. Pull yarn through so that you have two loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull it through the two loops. Repeat all around the foundation circle. You can make the stitches tighter or less tight depending on how many stitches you need.




4. When you have stitches all around the foundation circle, join loops with slip stitch and start next round. From the second round pull hook through back of first round stitches. You can use single, half-double or double stitches.

DO NOT forget to increase the number of stitches to keep your circle flat.

How-To Tuesdays: Getting the Most Out of Your Twitter Account

Once you follow more than 200 people it becomes difficult to really use Twitter for what it is - minibloging platform. The constant stream of tweets can become overwhelming, making many users discouraged with the tool. Below are my ideas of how to not only manage Twitter information flow but also get most advantage from your account.

1. Take time reading at least some of the tweets on your time line - after all this is what Twitter is all about. I am constantly amazed at what wonderful things I find by following tweets. Obviously it is impossible to read all the tweets, unless you want to do only this all day long. I find it is a good practice to take set aside a given amount of time every day to read a sample of tweets. Treat it like the daily newspaper. This solution has the added benefit of making you more careful about who you want to follow. You can't read all the tweets - so make sure that you only see the ones that count!

2. Read all tweets of a few chosen people. Among those that I follow, there are several fantastic bloggers. Each and every of their tweets carry great value and I don't want to miss them. I keep a their twitter pages bookmarked and at least once a week read all of thier tweets. It is always worth my time.

3. Take time to check who follows you. Every day I check the list of my new followers. I do not blindly follow back. I open every account, read their bio and follow the webpage link they provide. This not only allows me to weed out the spammers and "instant_money_makers", but I get the chance to discover interesting websites and find great craft shops. I only follow people who have the potential to add value to my stream of tweets.

My first crochet tutorial

Someone asked me today to help them with crocheting triangles. And this was exactly the push I needed. I was thinking about writing some tutorials up and when I started to write the directions for a crocheted triangle, I thought to myself: Hang on, you might as well do it right!

So here it is, my first tutorial. By all means do have a look and let me know if anything needs improvement.