Tag Archives: free patterns

My Latest Project

My latest project has been consuming almost of my free time for past few weeks.  I am the person behind Dish and Wash Cloth Mania. I realized one day when looking at the site that it had a lot of dead links. I knew it had been neglected for a few months, but had no idea how desperately it needed my attention.  I was so ashamed of it that at one point I considered making it private until there was time to make the necessary changes.  Since that was not the best decision, my next choice was to jump in and work on it as hard as I do any other major project in life.

In the past two and half weeks all of the dead links have been removed. New links are being added everyday. Sometimes it takes a bit longer than I anticipate because of my habit of cross referencing patterns . For example, a round, lacy crocheted cloth will be added to each page where it fits. My motivation is to make it easier and more efficient to use the site.

 

Knitting and Crochet Blog Day 3-One Great Knitter

The first name that comes to mind is  Maile Mauch. She has been a free lance designer of knitwear since 1974. Her designs have been published in a variety of places. At the present, some of her creations are available at the site for Pisgah Yarn and Dyeing Company.

Somehow a few years ago I ran across her  website: K1,P1, Keeping You in Stitches. One of my goals at that time was to learn to knit lace. It was a technique I had never had the courage to try. I was amazed at the abundance of free patterns on her site with most of them being lace.

Soon after  I discovered her site she announced the establishment of a Yahoo Group called: Cloth Of The Week. She was offering to teach new knitting techniques on a weekly basis. And so she has for almost the past three years. I have learned  many skills from her  ranging from t how to make a yarn over following a purl stitch to feeling comfortable following more complex patterns. 

Maile's lasting gift to me is Courage: Courage to try new techniques…Courage to play with yarns and tools I have never used…Courage to think: "what if " and then to try out my idea… Courage to explore new patterns…Courage to try my hand at designing…Courage to go where I have never been. For this I will forever be grateful.

Shortly before Thanksgiving Maile had a stroke. At this time she continues to be recovering from this  event.