{"id":3413,"date":"2014-02-05T20:08:18","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T01:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/?p=3413"},"modified":"2014-02-05T20:08:18","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T01:08:18","slug":"tammy-hildebrand-qa-her-new-crochet-wraps-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/tammy-hildebrand-qa-her-new-crochet-wraps-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Tammy Hildebrand Q&A\u2014her new Crochet Wraps book"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was lucky enough to be asked to host a little Q&A with Tammy Hildebrand\u2014Crochet Queen and all-around-awesome-person. Since this blog usually focuses on knitting, I was really excited to be able to cross the line (as it were) and bring Tammy on. I’ve crocheted longer than I’ve knit (I learned both when I was little, but spent my 20s crocheting almost exclusively) and have always been baffled by the needle-vs-hook divide that seems to have befallen our fiber community.<\/p>\n

I don’t like that.<\/p>\n

I resist.<\/p>\n

And one of the best ways I can think of to do that is to show you this GORGEOUS BOOK Tammy wrote and share just how cool she is with you. What better way than by letting you see her responses to my questions. (I tried very hard not to ask her the same questions she’s been asked a thousand times… fingers crossed).<\/p>\n

\u00a0* * * * *<\/p>\n

First, Tammy, your book is GORGEOUS and your patterns are soooo pretty. I can see this as a real crossover book for knitters to finally get hooked (heh) on crochet.<\/span><\/div>\n
This just made my whole day reading this!!! Thank you so much!!!<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Here are my questions for you:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1) The book is built for beginners, intermediates, and advanced crocheters. Lots of books say they are doing this, but you actually did. The progression is perfect. My first question for you, then, is\u2014are you natural teacher or just a genius?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Ok, this comment made my day too! LOL! Since I have never taught, I guess I would have to say I am a genius! Kidding!<\/em><\/strong>
\nIt just seemed to make sense, learn the technique, do an easy project, then step it up as your skills and confidence increase. I also thought more experienced stitchers would still be able to enjoy the book as well with some advanced patterns.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
I absolutely agree. And I sure didn’t feel like an advanced crocheter would pooh-pooh the beginner patterns. They’re gorgeous.
\n<\/span>2) \u00a0Do you have a favorite of the six specific techniques you highlighted in the book and if so, why? (The techniques are traditional crochet, motifs,\u00a0hairpin lace, broomstick lace, Tunisian crochet, double ended crochet.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
My favorite is motifs. I love lacy motifs that are assembled using a join-as-you-go technique.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
I can see why that’s your favorite. The motifs you have are lovely and I’ll be honest, the join-as-you-go with color changes especially, has made me nervous in the past. I think I’m ready to conquer that fear\u00a0<\/span>with<\/span>\u00a0your book at my side. <\/span><\/span>
\n3) As a visual learner (which you note in the introduction) did you find it hard to limit your instruction-giving to the options available to you in a book? I’ve found this particularly hard in the WWMDfK?<\/a> books. Did you make videos to go with the book or do you have any that you particularly recommend to newer crocheters?\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Unfortunately, I did not make any videos but I hope to do some in the near future. Some instructions can seem so wordy and confusing when they are written and yet they are really very simple. Videos would be the perfect solution to simplify!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
4) I love how you encourage crocheters to make these garments their own (e.g., new\/different colors, bigger, smaller). Does Ravelry play into that stance or have you always treated your patterns like that?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I treat everything in my life that way. I love to continue learning, experimenting\u00a0and trying new things especially things that might be a little “off the wall”. I took 2 years of auto mechanics in high school, went to tractor trailer school and got my commercial drivers license, I’ve flown a small airplane,\u00a0laid brick and ran a brick crew with my husband for 15 years, got a scroll saw for Christmas a few years ago, and next I want to get a metal detector and learn to play the banjo. There are just always so many new and exciting things to discover and\u00a0try!<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Okay, you are now officially my favorite person this month. That is such an astoundingly awesome list of things to say “did that” it makes me want to tap dance…. but that’s on my list<\/em><\/strong> of things to learn.
\n5) Where do you stand on crochet charts? I know there aren\u2019t any in the book, so this is more of a philosophical question.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I am a huge fan of charts and would have really loved to include them in the book but it just didn’t work out this time.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
They seem to be incredibly difficult to make, but they make so much sense to the organic way crochet is built. I hope someone comes up with a program to make it easy! (If you know of one, please link in the\u00a0<\/span>comments!)<\/span><\/span>
\n6) Do\u00a0<\/span><\/span>you<\/i><\/b>\u00a0have a favorite pattern? Mine are\u00a0<\/span>Clementine\u00a0Shells,<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>Aredona Lace,<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Zen Garden<\/i>.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\"Clementine\"Ardeona\"Zen<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
My favorite pattern is\u00a0Waiting for Willow.\u00a0<\/em>It is my favorite kind of lacy motifs with a join-as-you-go assembly, in a color that I love and I made it while we were waiting for my first granddaughter, Willow, to be born.<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\"Waiting<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And I think that’s a perfect place for us to stop.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I hope you’ll take a closer look at Tammy’s new book. If you like, you can join the giveaway we having for a copy of the book on the CraftLit<\/em> site for the month of February 2014<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And if you are interested in some of the brain benefits (ones you might not expect) of crochet, take a look at CognitiveAnchoring.com<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was lucky enough to be asked to host a little Q&A with Tammy Hildebrand\u2014Crochet Queen and all-around-awesome-person. Since this blog usually focuses on knitting, I was really excited to be able to cross the line (as it were) and bring Tammy on. I’ve crocheted longer than I’ve knit (I learned both when I was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[55,471,472,470],"class_list":["post-3413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-fun","tag-crochet","tag-join-as-you-go","tag-scroll-saw-awesomeness","tag-tammy-hildebrand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3413"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3422,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3413\/revisions\/3422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crafting-a-life.com\/mamaoknits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}