Up next in 10
Learn More - About Me. A 2 Year Birthday Get Together
15K views
Jul 12, 2023
Come and join me for a celebrate of my YouTube channels 2nd Birthday! There will be a Q & A, a sneak peak of the yarn I'll be working with next along with some details of upcoming designs and your chance to tell me what you want to see next on the channel. What's my favourite yarn to make hats? For a simple ribbed beanie, you can't go wrong with Paintbox Simply Chunky from Lovecrafts - their colour choices are amazing and it works up so well giving great stitch definition. See the yarn here: https://bit.ly/3KX5rLz (aff link) Have you ever sold your finished products? I have indeed - find out more in the video about that experience. Why do you have so many patterns with the granny stitch in them? I simply love everything about that stitch - a granny square was the first thing I made and I include it as often as possible. What's your next design to be released? It's a pattern featuring the granny stitch! The Running Rings Fringed Vest. It will be available on www.twobrothersblankets.com from Friday and you'll love it's boho style for summer. What's so good about Furls Hook? Why do you recommend them? There are so many reasons, but it's not the super expensive ones I love - watch on and I'll tell you why. If you want to see which hooks are my absolute faves, click this link: https://bit.ly/3Eswwne
View Video Transcript
0:00
Oh, good evening. I love it when that button says your live. It is wonderful. Good evening and welcome. I'm hoping that I'm welcoming lots and lots of my subscribers to my YouTube channel and of course all the members in the Facebook community group as well. You are all welcome and it is wonderful to have you here. As always, I like to know where you're watching from. So please pop in the comments
0:29
that where you are joining me and where you are watching this, if you're watching it live
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or of course if you're watching it on a replay, if you are watching via the Facebook group
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please allow Streamyard to pop your name on. Otherwise, I won't know who you are if you're commenting, and it gets a little bit complicated
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I'm going to see if I can open it up on my phone, just in case people do comment, and I can't see there
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Yes, I can. That's good. So let's kind of get into it
1:01
So in case you don't know me and you're just finding me and you're finding this video, my name is Fiona
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I am The Hands Behind Cozy Rosie UK and I've been a crochet designer for just over two years now
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which is why we are celebrating today the second birthday of my YouTube channel
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and I cannot believe that I've been uploading videos for crochet tutorials, crochet patterns
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for just over two years. now. The actual birthday, I think, was the 16th of April, was when I put my first ever video up
1:31
And I'd like to think it's come a long way, but probably not. I certainly enjoy making content
1:37
for my YouTube channel, and I would like to get so much more into it. But what this opportunity
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is, is a chance for you to ask me, oh, thank you, Goline, is to ask me some questions. I have
1:49
some questions that have been emailed through from my newsletter subscribers. They've been sent
1:53
the link today, so I'm hoping some of those are joining us as well. And they are not necessarily as deep as I was thought they would be, but that's also fine
2:01
If you have any questions that you'd like to ask me, feel free to pop it in the comments
2:05
and I will answer as many as I can. So let's talk a little bit about how I got into crochet designing before I go any further
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because I don't think I've ever told this story to anyone. So for me, I've been crocheting on and off
2:21
I keep forgetting how the years roll up. I've been crocheting for quite a number of years now
2:26
probably six, seven, and I'm a bit obsessed. Actually, as soon as I picked up a crochet hook, first time ever, I didn't give up
2:36
Does that make sense? If you've been a beginner recently or you remember those feelings of starting your first few chains
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how to hold your hook, all that kind of stuff, I didn't give up
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And that was the first time I tried a craft and I hadn't given up. I cannot knit the toffee
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This is a store-bought knitted cardigan, I will confess, because I can't knit
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for some reason, using both hands at the same time just does not work for me
3:01
So I started crocheting a number of years ago and then started making products to sell
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or ended up selling them. Does that make sense? People ask you to make things
3:13
but they want to give you some money for the yarn or your time and that kind of thing. And it kind of progressed into attending lots of different craft fairs in both like my mum and
3:26
dad's village. I would go to regularly and I've missed the last one but I'm hoping to get there
3:30
again in summer. It's my favourite craft fair and it's just a local village hall. It's only two hours
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long but my goodness it's a busy event and I kept doing more events. I opened an Etsy shop
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So I did sell my finish makes on Etsy which ended up nearly causing me to fall out of love with
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crochet, believe it or not, which I need to expand on that don't I? Oh Colleen you've
3:56
Oh, you got knitting down. I'm impressed. I really am. Kalima's just said that she was, she's struggled with knitting previously and obviously she's just mastered it and I'm very jealous. Maybe I need to try it again. So I started my Etsy shop and I had a product that went, that's called a bestseller, as in Etsy highlighted it to everybody and it ended up that I made, I think in a period of kind of just over two months, I made and shipped 400 of the same crochet
4:26
headband. I have not made that crochet pattern since. It's also one of my best selling patterns
4:31
actually, because it's so quick and easy. And there is a tutorial for it. If you want to look up
4:36
I might have to tag the video actually when we come off the live to, so that you can go and
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check it out. It is an amazingly simple pattern. And it's so comfortable to wear. The yarn that I
4:47
chose to use it, I still have, you can't quite see it's on my top shelf now. I have, oh, you can
4:52
just see it. It's made with Sirdar, what is that called? Jawspun, that's the one. One of my favorite yarns, the colours
5:00
work up beautifully and literally had to make 400 of the same headband in about the space of two months
5:07
And it made me nearly fall out of love with crochet completely
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And I made a decision to put my making shop on holiday
5:17
and focus more on the design and the tutorial element. I've been teaching crochet. Oh wow, that's a little bit longer than I thought about it. We think back to it for kind of way like pre-pre-COVID. So kind of two, maybe two years before COVID. So that would make that, wow, four years now. And for me, that's my absolute passion is encouraging people to learn the craft and really get into the knowledge and the understanding to make it enjoyable. Because it does take a while to master the absolute basics. Not necessarily a
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while, but when you're learning, it feels like a while. I'm talking maybe one to two months
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and you can make, you can challenge yourself to make pretty much anything out of there
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or move through some of the more complicated patterns to really get there. As you can tell
6:06
I'm really passionate about it. And we'll encourage anybody to take up crocheting, because for me, it's the ultimate fun kind of way to spend some time. That's kind of my journey
6:18
into when I sold my crochet products. I can't say that I love the experience, but I really
6:24
enjoy craft fairs I have done some bigger craft fairs as well I talking like weekend long inside shopping centres or shopping malls that were absolutely wow just that blew my mind The amount of work that goes into running those kind of events is absolutely astounding
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And you really get to know your customers. And I think that's probably one of the best things is I love people
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I will do anything that involves being around people and in kind of talking to them
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especially face to face. this is a bit strange because I feel like I'm talking to myself
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but I know you're there and I know you're watching. So again, oh, Colleen, yeah, you've been there
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You've had that experience where you've just ended up making and making and making and it can be quite draining, having to build up your inventory for making products
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and that kind of thing. Some people absolutely love it and they can just, you know
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knock out loads and loads of the same product and the same pattern
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time and time again because it's easy and, you know, they're running their business in that
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format. For me, it became a bit monotonous. I don't regret it one single bit. I certainly
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enjoy the experience, but for me, it was a natural progression into crochet designing
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With my experience of kind of teaching crochet, it meant that a lot of my original patterns were
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certainly beginner friendly and inspired with that tutorial element behind it so you can learn a new
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technique and that kind of thing. It does in fact actually, let me tell you about, I've got a guest post on the blog
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I've not linked that below, but I will do for you from one of my crochet designer friends
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I've got the wonderful B or Bernadine from me and my hook, and she's done a Mobius Twist
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Crochet cowl. And I love this design. It's absolutely beautiful. The full pattern is available for free on my website
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I will link that below for you, but do go and check this pattern out because it's absolutely
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stunning and it certainly isn't boring. I can assure you it's got puff stitches, it's got an
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open lace stitch to it as well. It's absolutely beautiful. It is suitable for beginners
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but it might be a bit of a challenge, but it's worth it most definitely. Just ticking off what
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we've talked about. So another one of the questions that came up was kind of feeds into
8:48
or feeds back into me selling my crochet products. So kind of high quality, affordable yarns
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is what I worked with, including the Sirdar dual spun. One of the other, I've got it here, one of the other yarns I used
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and I still design with. I've just done a whole blanket in the paintbox chunky
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And this is from Lovecrafts. I've linked below so you can go and check out the huge color range
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that these are available. And I think it's either 50 or 65 colors now
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And it literally says on here, pick your palette. And I certainly have
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You can see behind me. I've got certainly branded colours, definitely. You can't quite see my absolutely beautiful shelf up here
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But when you're kind of, for me, making like a simple ribbed beanie
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you can make in any single size. Again, that pattern's available on the channel
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This for me is my go-to high-quality acrylic at a very affordable price
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I also buy more than one ball of yarn at a time. I do tend to bulk buy, as you can see
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by a pack of 10 of the same colour, especially when I was making for selling
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But it's just so good, so squishy. I'll try and see if you can have a little bit of a close-up in that
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And it's just, you see how there's just no real fluff on that
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It's just a really good top quality acrylic yarn. In case you're wondering, I think this is washed teal, this colour, one of my favourites
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So that is my recommended yarn for making lovely, thick, chunky, crochet beanies would be paintbox simply chunky and it's linked below for you in the description
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box as well. Interestingly, one of the other questions I was asked
10:39
Kyan leads into another question that was also asked for me, which is why does so many of my
10:46
crochet patterns feature the granny stitch? Now, it did make me chuckle because to be honest
10:52
there are a lot. I haven't worked out exactly how many of my patterns have the granny stitch in them
10:57
but it's going to get bigger. So at the moment, I currently have 99 crochet patterns that are
11:02
published. That includes the one that's coming on Friday. And I'm going to show you what the
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hundredth is going to be in a moment. And there's going to be a huge giveaway for that pattern as well
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So the reason that I am such a fan of the granite stitch, actually, I need you to tell me in the
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comments if you like the granny stitch because I'm a huge fan and I think more people should
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not worry about using it so frequently because it is the ultimate beginner project is the
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traditional granny square of which I don't have but I do have another design near me that features
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the granny square which I'm going to talk about in a moment um so the granny stitch is kind of
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tends to be or the granny square tends to be that absolute beginner crochet project that
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everyone begins with and they make lots of um lots and lots of granny squares and they sew them all together and make a blanket and it looks
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like it can look really retro and really 70s depending on what colors you choose
12:00
I've just realised in the background um one of the first designs I ever released
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was my running rings around granny teapot cozy and this does feature the where are we
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the granny stitch don't know if you can see that and love it and it's almost an upside down granny stitch because it's worked top down
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this is this is actually my best selling pattern of all time and I love it and it spawned a
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whole collection of crochet patterns it really did because the running it's because it's
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worked in the round not everyone works the granny stitch in the round and I love it so I created the
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running rings around granny. Anything. Anything I can think about making from cushions to bolster cushions
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to what else have I drawn? Oh, coasters, jar cozies. I did have these lit up earlier
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but it looked a bit much. So I have little fairy lights inside my mason jars
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and they sit outside You can see how bright they are but they come outside of me I usually have lives on them And I just you making oh Helen is joined it She making a grand
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oh, a hexagon cardigan. So a granny hexagon. That's one thing I've not designed with yet. And
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oh, I know the one you mean, yes, they're absolutely beautiful. And I think for me, it's an absolute
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classic. Oh, I've got my granny blanket, which has worked in stripes. And I could go on. And obviously
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this is not the blocked version. There was the blooming granny, the blooming springtime
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or the springtime blooming granny square, which features a 3D flower in it
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And I don't know if I can get that up to you close enough, but look, there's the granny square
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And here is the granny spike stitch as well. So there are so many variations on the granny stitch
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that I can literally make anything out of it, and I enjoy working it in different ways
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Which brings me on to that next question, Let me just tick that one off the list
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What is my next pattern release? I'm very excited to share this with you
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I don't think I've shared. I shared a reel on my Instagram showing me blocking this pattern
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I probably should be wearing this, but it's a little bit chillier today. So this is, oh, I can't get it on camera
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This is the running rings fringed vest top. I need to steam my fringe again
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It's been washed again. but as you can see it features, that features the Running Rings Granny Square
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in a vest form, which is then added on to the side
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to create some side panels in rows. Now, I'm obviously absolutely in love with this pattern
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and I cannot wait to wear it all summer long. It is, for me, has a real boho feel
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when it has the fringe on there as well, and I just absolutely love it
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That was my dog snoring. Please be assured. Emily, that was. So that pattern is going to be
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available as a guest design on Two Brothers Blankets, and that will be available for you on Friday
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There is going to be a special offer for you on both my Etsy, my Ravory Shop, to get a printable copy of that one
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It's fully sized and clusuf. It goes through X or small all the way up to 5X
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And I'm so excited. Oh, I'm so pleased you like it, Helen, because I can picture you wearing it very, very much. I really can
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So we have one more question before I'm going to show you what's going to be the 100th design
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And I'm also, I'm in love with this next design that's going to be coming out. I haven't got a date for it yet
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It's going to probably be before the end of April. I'm getting ready to film the tutorial
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so that's going to be a full free pattern for you and it comes in three different sizes
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Before I tell you more about that, one of the questions I get asked quite a lot
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is about my obsession with fowls crochet hooks. And the question that was asked
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someone replied to one of my newsletters and they asked quite literally
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their wording was, why do you rate them so much? Now I don't know if it's someone
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who hasn't actually tried them or someone who's tried them and didn't like them
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But I'm probably a bit of an anomaly because I don't necessarily, I've not tried
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I have to admit, I've not tried The Fells Odyssey and they are, apart from the actual handmade, hand-carved
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limited edition hooks, they are the second most expensive, basically, the Fills Odyssey hooks
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I've not tried one and I know that people really do like them. Now, I'm not a cheatscape
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but I do like a bargain. So for me, I actually prefer over any
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You can see I've got two of my favourite sizes here. I've got a 10mm, a 10mm, I don't know, my left and my right
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a 10mm streamline, wooden streamline, and a 5mm. You can see this one's still quite shiny
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I've not used this very much. And this 5mm, I have used an awful lot
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I've made blankets, cushions, everything with this hook. So the other, my other absolute favourite fowls hook is the streamlined swell
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This is the cafe. I also have the cream to go with that because, you know, coffee and cream, why wouldn't I
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This is also another my favourite, my six millimeter and my five millimeter. These are my absolute favourists
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I end up using all the time. But specifically why I like them, kind of, there's a number of reasons, actually
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The ultimate reason has to be their hand health guarantee. Now, I don't know if you're aware of this, but with Fills Crochet hooks, they actually have scientifically approved, I suppose, but they actually work with a charity to help people crochet better with hand issues. So if you have arthritis or other things like that, the ergonomic design of these crochet hooks. So, for instance, I'm generally right-handed. You can see that it fits. I have a medium-sized hand
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size seven, if you must know. And it fits right into the palm of my hand
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For me personally, I actually work with it a little bit more out. So they have quite a long shaft, as the term is known
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in comparison to my other recommended hook that I have here, which is a much shorter hook
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So depending on the type of project that I'm working with, I will sometimes use just like a soft grip
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This is a Knit Pro soft grip that I teach my beginners with. because as beginners we certainly crochet very tightly and we clench and the slightly softer grip are better for beginners than those metal ones that we can get without making a huge investment
19:13
For me, fowls, crochet hooks, yes, I have a lot. I've been crocheting for a number of years and I have quite a collection
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I tend to treat myself to a new one at least once a year, depending on the limited editions that come out
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I missed a couple last year, which was quite sad about. I'm hoping I can still get hold of them
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But they just fit so well into the palm of my hand
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And as someone who suffered during my making days with trigger thumb
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if you're not experienced that, I hope you never do. Wow Waking up with your thumb sticking upright because you can unlock your thumb from over This is why I recommend furles crochet hooks
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Life-changer for me. I can crochet literally all day without any wrist pain, without any hand pain or cramping
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And it helps me to keep an even tension as well. So that is why I rave about furles hooks so much
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Now, this is not a sponsored video in any way, shape or form. I do have some affiliate links in the description box below
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but this is my genuine opinion of felds crochet hooks. Now, I have to show you
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because I don't think I've showed this on camera since I received it. My, oh, Bernardine from me and my hook
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who's the feature to design a show, she sent me a present, and it was a present for Christmas
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And I haven't yet used this. This is a 5mm hook, and this is from Baltic
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If you've never seen them, please do go and check them out
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They are handmade. It's a small company and this is a walnut and pink resin and you can really see those colours in that resin
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And I absolutely am in love with this, even if it's just to look at
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That's when we know we have a problem, isn't it? So I know that you're probably absolutely desperately
21:06
So I hope you're desperate to see what the 100th pattern is going to be. I can't believe I've only just worked out that it's going to be my 100th
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pattern release. And I think this is probably going to come out next Friday. Give me a little
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chance because it's already in testing. See if I can pick this up. Now my ends have not yet been
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woven in on this pattern because that's how quick these things happen. Are you ready
21:32
Look at it. So I see if I can flip this up for you. This is a macrame-inspired or macromay. I'm
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never sure how to say it, inspired crocheted plant hanger with a very secure tie at the top
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coming down through two beautiful, well, four beautiful hangars and then in a diamond shape
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to support your beautiful plants. And you can see at the bottom, you've got these really strong
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support there. And if you have real plants, mine's obviously fake, you can still water them
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and the water can still come out of the bottom of the pot. That is going to be the Trinity
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wall hanging, not wall hanging. Oh, maybe I know. The Trinity plant hanger and that's going to be
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available. Should we have a look at the date? Should we go for next Friday? Okay, so, yeah
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let's go for Friday the 29th of April. I will be releasing my 100th pattern. And
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And there is going to be a giveaway on that. There will be a full video tutorial for that one for three different sizes
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So small, pots, medium and this is the large. And there will be instructions on how you can make it bigger
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but there's a limit as to how big you can go. I can tell you right now what you are going to need for your materials
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You're going to need two wooden or plastic, ideally wooden or metal macrame rings
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You're going to need either some macrame cord. This is from HobbyCraft, who I work for
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I did pay for this for HobbyCraft, and this is available in their stores and online
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So that's HobbyCraft.com.uk. And you can purchase this in store, and it comes in a variety of shades
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I can show you a different shade, but I'm pulled out, ready to start working on that colour
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That's going to be in the tutorial, that colour. and I'm making more in this colour
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And you can get this at your local Hobbycraft or you can find various different Macrame chords online
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I believe Lovecraft also have a beautiful Macrame cord. They have some recycled cotton
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That might be a little bit too chunky because you're only going to need a 6mm crochet hook
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That's how this is why this is up here. So you can need a 6mm crochet hook, some macrame cord, or you can triple strand
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DK weight cotton and two macrame rings. You can use one macrame ring if you don't have enough
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You will find on my Etsy shop from tomorrow that I do have some macrame rings available
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if you wanted to purchase them. My Facebook group is going to have first dibs on those
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and they're only available. They're very low cost. It's just going to be the postage at the moment
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Just so you can get ready to make this pattern with me. We may even do, see if I can figure out the filming
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see if we can do a live demonstration for that one as well. No one has asked me any other questions as I have gone through this
24:47
or not that I can see them. If you've asked them in the Facebook group and I haven't answered them, I will come back and answer them for you
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If you do have any burning questions, please feel free to enter them into the comments
24:56
and I will come back to you and either do a follow-up video or, of course, I can answer you on the comments too
25:03
One of the things I wanted to ask you, my fabulous people in my lovely community
25:07
is what would you like to see on this channel? I have dreams of doing yarn halls
25:14
and taking new yarn shopping with me and showing you different things
25:18
over the next 12 months and I would love you to get involved as well
25:23
So if there is something you would like to see on this channel, please either feel free to drop it in the comments
25:28
drop me an email or head on over to the website and leave a comment on there
25:32
There's so much happening in the world of Cozy Rosie UK. but we just don't know what it's going to be yet
25:41
The next few months is Evelyn wants to see some yarn shopping. That I can do no problems
25:46
I know some lovely local yarn shops, and there are certainly some big box sellers around here as well
25:54
I have literally a local yarn shop just over the way. I wonder if she would let me film
25:59
I haven't seen over a few years, but she's absolutely lovely. So thank you again for joining me
26:06
and celebrating my two-year anniversary. on my channel. It's been an absolute pleasure and I cannot wait to share even more lovely
26:13
crochet tutorials and crochet patterns with you over the next 12 months. Thank you again for joining me
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