Interview and Giveaway with Dedri Uys

Meet Dedri Uys

Dedri Uys is a passionate crochet designer and blogger. She is best known for her Amish puzzle ball designs, which are modular stuffed toys perfect for baby gifts. Of these designs, my favorite is the Gregor Rhinosaur. Dedri is also well known for her gorgeous free blanket design Sophie’s Universe, which was made available in a popular crochet-along this spring. You can see a portfolio of all of Dedri’s designs on her Ravelry designer page.

Left to right: Gregor Rhinosaur, Sophie’s Universe, Sophie’s Universe close-up.

The Interview

Q: Can you tell me a little bit about how you came to be familiar with puzzle balls?

A: My mom made us some when we were children ( fabric ones) and then my mom’s friend sent me a link to a fabric one.  I was too lazy to get my sewing machine out, so I decided to crochet one instead.

Q: Can you describe your first crocheted puzzle ball? Did it look anything like the designs you went on to publish?

A: The plain Amish puzzle ball (free pattern here) was my first try and first design. It is the basis on which all the puzzle animals are created.

Q: How did you go about developing your first design? Did you have any experience with amigurumi?

A: Not really.  I’d made 3 vehicles (car, tractor, and digger-loader), but I was very much a beginner designer when I made the ball.

Q: What one piece of advice would you give someone trying one of your designs for the first time?

A: Read carefully and trust the pattern!  Sometimes written instructions don’t make sense until you actually make them. Most of the people who get stuck with the design do so before even casting on a stitch.  I have learned to follow a pattern blindly (regardless of what I think it should say), before making any judgements.  If it still doesn’t make sense when I’ve worked it up, that’s a different matter.  But sometimes patterns take a little faith.

Giveaway

Dedri has generously offered to give away a copy of her book, Amamani Puzzle Balls! To enter, comment below and tell Dedri which of her patterns is your favorite! Then, click here to submit. The giveaway ended on Wednesday, August 6 at 23:59 PST.

Rainbow Road Scarf

A Hobby Lobby store recently opened in my town, so I’ve been having fun trying some new (to me) yarns! My latest creation, the Rainbow Road Scarf, was made from Yarn Bee Diva Sequin in the beautiful Bali colorway.

I used the free pattern Faux Broomstick Lace Infinity Scarf by Kate Cannon. At first glance, the pattern only gives instructions for a simple single crochet scarf. But the twist is in the gauge: the pattern uses a P (15.00 mm) hook with a worsted weight yarn! The broomstick lace effect is created by stretching the scarf when it is completed.

I didn’t have a P hook, so I used the largest hook I had: L. Straight off the hook, the fabric looked as it did below. The scarf was 6″ wide and 39″ long.

The picture below shows the fabric as I began to stretch it. After being fully stretched, the scarf was 4.5″ wide and 58″ long! Just for good measure, I steam blocked the scarf. The final dimensions were 4″ by 72″. It grew impressively, considering I went down 4 hook sizes. It doesn’t quite have a broomstick lace effect, but the beautiful colors stand on their own.

Fibonacci’s Biased Scarf

This scarf is totally biased. That’s not to say that it’s prejudiced, but that it was worked in the diagonal direction of the cloth.

My project was made from Julie Blagojevich’s free pattern Fibonacci’s Biased using Knit Picks Curio. The number of rows in each stripe is according to the numbers of the Fibonacci sequence up to 34. In other words, if you start at the blue side of the scarf and work your way right, the sequence of the number of yellow rows is 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34. The sequence of the blue stripes are the same, but in the opposite direction. The effect is a rotationally symmetric scarf with few color changes at the edges and frequent color changes in the center. As I frequently tell my friends, math is beautiful.

If my geekiness hasn’t scared you away yet, here’s a random fun fact: my project was the 42nd one of this pattern to be posted on Ravelry! And as the computer Deep Thought so famously stated in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.

Vest for a Thlee Year Old

“Karissa, will you let me take some photos with you in this?” I asked, holding up a newly completed blue-green crochet vest. The little “thlee year old” glanced up from her smoothie, then decidedly shook her head. “I’ll take you swimming later,” I coaxed. Her eyes lit up and she smiled. “Okay…”

Half an hour later, I’d finally gotten her into an outfit that worked with the vest. Before we went outside, she grabbed an old Lorax hat I’d made for her Halloween costume 2 years ago. “I’m gonna wear this too,” she announced as she placed it firmly on her head. I knew it wouldn’t be wise to argue.

After the first few shots, I took off her Lorax hat. Luckily, she made no protest. She was beginning to enjoy herself, and she started to dance as she posed.

When I saw her attention beginning to wander, I told her she could go inside to change into her bathing suit. Instead of running to her dresser, she looked up and asked, “Can you take a few more photos before we go swimming?” I couldn’t refuse, could I?