Saturday, May 10, 2014

Featured HPKCHC Blog

Want to hear about a great crafting blog that's a lot of fun to read?  This week we're featuring a blog written by a fellow HPKCHC member, Ruth, who's known on Ravelry as BraschElegance.  Her blog can be found at: http://braschelegance.indiemade.com/blog and be sure to click on each of the blog posts to see lots of awesome pictures of her finished objects and more!




Ruth was kind enough to let us ask her a bunch of questions about her blog and here are her responses ...

When did you start this blog and what motivated you to start it?  I started blogging about 3 years ago while I was in college because lots of people saw me knitting and asked me the typical questions: what are you making, how do you make it, can you make me one? I wanted to discuss my favorite patterns, have a place to keep a record of the projects I’ve worked on. I also love blogging because it gives me the chance to connect with other people with similar interests. I don’t know too many people who knit and crochet, but blogging has introduced me to tons of crafters!

What types of topics do you usually blog about?  Most of my blogging involves knitting and crocheting, and a little bit about my life and things I may be reading at the time. I like to have consistent subject matter so people know that when they come to my blog they’ll find mostly crafting talk.

What type(s) of crafting do you normally do and how long have you been doing them? Are there any techniques, fibers, or types of crafts you’d like to try but haven’t yet?  Ooh! There is so much I have to say about this! My mom taught me how to do basic knitting stitches when I was a young child- just your standard cast on, knit, and purl. I don’t even think I knew how to cast off! I learned how to do a chain stitch from my grandmother when I was about 12, and made multiple balls of chain stitch because I didn’t know any other crochet stitches! Everything beyond that is self taught- I used to mostly read library books, because sites like Ravelry weren’t around yet. Once blogging and sites like Ravelry came into existence, I started trying every new technique I could find! 

I’d love to try my hand at spinning and dyeing, and will likely be working on that throughout this year. I have a drop spindle and some wool, but my skills are sorely lacking at this point! My goal is to be able to knit from my own handspun yarn at least once by the end of the year. I’d also love to learn to spin on a wheel- I admit, partially because of the sheer coolness of sitting behind a spinning wheel, and partially because using a drop spindle with a baby crawling at your feet does not work well!

Which HPKCHC house(s) are you in and what year are you? How long have you been in that house? Have you ever been part of one of the other houses? If so, when and for how long?  I’m a second year in Hufflepuff (Huzzah Hufflepuff!). Since it’s only my second term, I decided to stay in the house I started in, but I would like to do a couple terms visiting the other houses! I love meeting all the people in HPKCHC, it’s such a fun environment!

Do you normally fit a project into a class after you’ve finished it or do you usually choose a project based on a class prompt?  I’m about 50/50 with this. There’s plenty of times I’ve taken a project I would have made already and just scrolled through class prompts, trying to see which (if any) I could submit it for. My first class, though, I was so excited that I made a project just for it on one of the first days of the term! I do a lot of knitting and crocheting either as gifts for people, or to sell, so I like to find a way to work my planned projects into class prompts.
On the other hand, I have made so many projects already that I would not have attempted if the class prompts hadn’t encouraged me!

What’s your favorite part about being in HPKCHC? I absolutely love the atmosphere in the houses! There’s so many helpful people that love to knit, crochet, spin, weave, dye (I think I got all the crafts!), and they want everyone to love their crafts as much as they do! I think that’s why people are so generous and helpful to the new people like me- everyone just wants to share their love of crafting!

What can you tell our blog readers that they may not already know about you? I’m probably not the most conventional crafting blogger! I haven’t been “seriously” blogging for that long, so I don’t know how I “should” run a blog. I just write and tell you what I’m working on and what I think about it! I have an almost 9 month old son, and I’ve just started being a stay at home mom, which I’m super excited about! You’ll probably end up seeing bunches of pictures and posts about him if you read and/or follow my blog! I love to talk yarn, wool, knitting, crocheting- just about anything! It would make my day (heck, who am I kidding, probably my month) if someone read my blog then messaged me or commented to talk about it- I think I would be dancing for weeks!

Here's one of Ruth's most recent finished objects ... it's a sparrow bag that's lined with feathers!


Check out all of her other great finished objects on her blog!

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