The newest offering from Straight From the Designer’s Hip group has just been released.

copyright Straight from the Designer's Hip

It’s Strapped for Bags Volume 3,which can be seen and ordered at Ravelry or at

Straight From the Designer’s Hip

It includes my design for a very cute little  crocheted copper wire bag.

When I was thinking about the bag that I wanted to design for the book,

it was important to me to come up with a unique and fun little bag that would

be an invitation for the readers to try something new.

I love crocheting wire and have made lots of jewelry with it,

so it was the natural choice for me for this book.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The other designers in the book are Amy O’Neil Houck, Tammy Hildebrand, Vashti Braha,

Dee Stanziano, Doris Chan and Marty Miller. What a great group!

We didn’t set limits or themes when we decided to put our work together for Book 3, so, it’s always neat to see how the bags somehow, magically all work together.

And what fun bags they are…. each of them definitely carries the signature style of the designer that came up with it.

But how did we come together to make this series of books?

Well, as well as being designers and authors, most of us are also workshop teachers. And, we are all professional members of the Crochet Guild of America.

A few years ago, we got together for lunch at one of the national conferences of the Crochet Guild of America. Naturally, we were talking about our experiences with publishing. Someone said: You know…. we should publish some booklets ourselves…..

and one thing lead to another. So, here we are, with our 4th booklet.

We are lucky, in that we have some extremely gifted people in the group, who handle the wide diversity of chores that publishing a series of books  entails.

We are still in ‘beta mode’ so aren’t accepting submissions from other designers at this point. BUT, if we can do it, then why not other people, too? Go for it!

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Here is the link for the pattern for the earflap style baby cap that I designed for the Knit One, Save One campaign for the Save the children fund:  Baby Cap

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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She has written about what it has been like for her to do the sewing of the memorial textiles (called antependia) that we have co-created in memory of her Nana, my precious mother in law….. we both found it to be very stirring to put huge effort into creating a loving memorial to a marvelous woman who was central in our lives.

Here’s her entry: Chloë  and the memorial textiles

Here’s what I wrote about this process:

1] Starting the weaving 

2] a not so stellar moment…. 

3] weaving…. 

4] weaving a metaphor

5] my part finished…. 

Sunday morning, we’ll be participating in the dedication of the altar cloth,  pulpit banner and  table runners.  Jim’s trio is going to play, and a friend of ours, a fabulous singer, is going to be singing. It’s going to be wonderful….

I’ll take some pics and post them……

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Some of the intricacies of bloggery leave me scratching my head. When my CE (channel editor) told the Lifestyles gang that we oughta write ‘about me’ stuff to link to on our blogs,  I went,

‘eh?’  (in true Canadian fashion)

Luckily, my clever daughter was able to explain to me, in small words that I could write on my little stickie pad, how to do it.

So, I’ve done it!
I’ve written an ‘about Hankering for yarn and Noreenski’ page!  The link

Such a clever durl!  ROTFLOL!

By the way, the photo of my puppet  at the top of the page was taken byAlan & Terri Bibby of Bibby Productions. The photo is therefore copyright to them, while the puppet design is copyright to me.  (Gotta give proper copyright accreditation – those are the rulz.)

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is organizing a ‘top 50′ carnival and invited her fellow b5 bloggers to join her .

My first response was: Not on your life! I don’t have 50 seconds to spare, let alone 50 neurons to fire off for 50 synapses! LOL!

But then, it struck me, I have no idea how many books I’ve got work in….I might as well see how close I get to 50…….

Let’s see….

1] Why not start with the 3 books that I published with Krause books? So, Number one is:

Soul Mate Dolls: Dollmaking as a Healing Art.

2]

Storytelling with Dolls: a collaboration with elinor peace bailey

3: Creative Crocheted Dolls:

4] and four booklets that I published with Kustom Kraft:

Handful of Puppets book 1:

5] Handful of Puppets, Book 2

6] Knitted String bags:

7] Crocheted String Bags:

And these are ones that I self published:

8]

“OUR LADY OF THE HOURS”
Crocheted and Knitted Dolls

9]

Peggetty Loom Book

10]

POTHOLDER LOOM 1,2,3-EASY AS CAN BE!
WOVEN CRITTERS

11]

POTHOLDER LOOM WOVEN MAGICAL CREATURES

12]

NINNIENONNY DOLLS:

Sweet Somewhat Silly Dolls Made With The Potholder Loom & Spoolknitter

13]

POTHOLDER LOOM TEDDY BEARS & MONKEYS, TOO!

14]

POTHOLDER LOOM WOVEN CHRISTMAS DOLLS

15]

CROCHETED DOLLS:
ANGELS, BABIES & OTHER SWEETHEARTS

16]

CROCHETED DOLLS: HEART & SOUL DOLLS
17]

CROCHETED FUR & FEATHER KIDS

18]

CROCHETED CATS & RABBITS

19]

CROCHETED TEDDY BEARS

20]

POTHOLDER LOOM WOVEN SMALL DOLLS
& THEIR PUPPY, TOO!

21 ]

Merrie Sunshine’s Paper Doll Clothes Pattern Book

22]

SPOOLKNITTED TREASURES

I’ve  self published a fair few more books, but the rest of them are now out of print.

Here are a bunch of books that I have designs in:

23] From Soho publishers:

Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Sock Book,

24]  Knit.101:The Indispensible self help guide to knitting and Crochet,

25 Vogue Knitting on the Go: Crocheted Bags,

26 Vogue Knitting on the Go: Baby Blankets,

27 Vogue Knitting on the Go: Scarves Two ,

28 Vogue Knitting on the Go: Knits for Pets);

29] from St. Martin’s Press: (Embellished Crochet);

30]  from Sterling: (100 Crochet Projects

31] and 100 Purses to Knit and Crochet, both edited by Rita Weiss and Jean Leinhauser); 

32] from Lark (The Fiberarts Design Book volume 1),

33] from Voyager Press (Hooked: A Crocheter’s Stash of Wit and Wisdom); 

34] from Leisure Arts:

( Retro Home Décor,

35] Baby Brites);

okay… 35 books is not so bad…. let’s see how close Iget to 50 with magazines I’ve had work published in:

36]Interweave Knits,

37]Vogue Knitting,

38]Soft Dolls and Animals,

39] Great American Crafts,

40] Ladies Home Journal Needlework and Crafts, 41] Knit Simple,

42] Handmade,

43]American Home Craft,

44] Canadian Living,

45] Cutting Edge,

46]  Knit.1, Crochet,

47] Crochet Fantasy,

48] Simple Knits,

49] Crochet Today,

50] Creative Knitting,

51] Cloth Doll

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