So you thought granny squares where just for blankets? Yea, right. Cate Blanchett, an actress you may recognize from hit movies such as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Hot Fuzz and The Lord of the Rings, was photographed on the red carpet wearing a crocheted granny square dress!

Although the dress is definitely not my style, I do enjoy seeing crocheted fashioned. The granny squares are nicely colored and give a nice contrast with the black outlining. The dress is made of several granny squares and is bordered by ruffles. And before you ask, I do NOT have the pattern to make this awesome dress. But I do have the granny square crochet pattern: How to Crochet A Granny Square.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Lisa Gentry (shown to the right) holds the title of the world’s fastest crocheter. In 2005, she broke the record at the Michaels Arts and Crafts Store in Monroe, LA. She crocheted at the speed of 170 sts/min, which is almost 3 stitches per second!!! She used TLC Essentials yarn and created an 8″ mega flower (very similar to my Crochet Flower Pattern: Carnations) while she was being timed.

I don’t know about you but I consider myself a slow crocheter and only in my dreams would I be lucky to crochet 3 stitches per second! What about you? Do you crochet fast?

Bernet has announced a new line of yarn to support the fight against breast cancer! The line includes an assortment of pink, pink and more pink. A portion of the proceeds ($10,000) will be given to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. These yarns are encouraged to be used for making chemo caps, scarves and shawls for breast cancer fighters. You can find the new yarn line in stores such as Joann, etc. I can’t wait till the next time I go yarn shopping!

Need help finding a place to donate your crochet items? Visit the Crochet Spot Charity Page!

You may have seen this awesome rug, since it was made about a year ago, but I just came across it today and had to share! This lady (not sure what her name is) hand crocheted (no hook, just hands) the giant doily rug with what looks like rope.

Who ever said that doilies had to be cute little dainty things for dinning room tables. Now I dare someone to take a doily pattern and make a giant rug with it! Find more about the designer here, (thanks Erin Lea for the link).

Is public crochet decorations the new fad? I keep reading more and more about people crocheting objects to hang around the city. Remember the video I posted about decorating the city with crochet? Well, this time it’s in Cleveland, Ohio and volunteers are making covers to put around the poles of parking meters.

The reasoning behind it is that it’s pretty and cheers people up when they have to feed the dreaded meter. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to decorate, but in my opinion, there are much better things to do with your crochet talents then decorate parking meters. Come on, find a nice crochet charity and make a blanket or a toy for a baby who needs it. Or use the man who hangs crocheted hats as an inspiration. I’m just saying that the parking meter isn’t going to die if it gets cold, but a human might. Plus, do you really need to decorate a parking meter? Is there anyone suffering from ugly-parking-meter-syndrome? If so, that would be a different story.

A large part of the crochet community is founded on charity work, as you may already know. The Hat Box Foundation is a cancer/chemo cap organization that was founded in 2007. Their motto is that, “something made from the heart can help heal the human spirit.” Hat Box Foundation hats are created by everyday people like you and me, and then distributed to children, women and men all across the United States.

The Hat Box Foundation is also a volunteer-based, non-profit that has 501(c)3 charity status. Feel free to find out more about the Hat Box Foundation and donate hats to a great cause! You may also use my various hat patterns to create Hat Box Foundation hats. Learn more about charities by visiting the Crochet Spot Charity Page.

I read somewhere on the web that 12 artist will be selected to make art work for the 2012 Olympics in London. One of the top artist that is being considered proposed to make three 30 feet tall crocheted lions that will be posed into athletic positions. 30 feet tall lions, that’s a lot of yarn!!!

I wonder how long it would take to make a lion that big, but at least the artist has until 2012 if selected. I can’t imagine crocheting anything that huge. I do hope that this artist is selected so that I can see giant crocheted lions. It would be awesome and great publicity for the art of crochet.

What do you think?

I added a new feature for when you comment on post! It allows you to receive e-mail notifications when someone else leaves comments on the post. It’s totally optional and the good thing about it is that if you’re really interested in knowing what other people write, you’ll be notified when someone else leaves a comment. Or if you happen to leave a question for me and then I go and answer your question, you can be notified that I did.

If you would like to receive these comment updates for a particular post all you have to do is click the box at the end of the post that says “Notify me of followup comments via e-mail”. The box is right underneath the “Submit comment” button.

Again, it’s absolutely optional. I just think it’ll be a great way to keep up with conversations and I noticed that lots of other blogs had this feature too!

Let me know what you think!

Alright I gave in. I finally made my Etsy store! If you visit Etsy.com often, feel free to stop by my shop and take a look: rachelscrochet.etsy.com

It has the same things that are in the Crochet Spot Store. The only difference is that in the Crochet Spot store you can immediately download patterns or sign up for a Premium Pattern Membership. In the Etsy store, you have to wait for me to send the pattern to you in an email. Oh ya, the Crochet Spot store also saves your purchased patterns so you can download them again if you accidentally loose it.

I must admit the better store is the one on this site, but hey, I still love the Etsy store too!