the Happy Hooker Stitch ’n Bitch Crochet Happy The Hooker Debbie Stoller Illustrations by Adrienne Yan Fashion photography by John Dolan W O R K M A N P U B L I S H I N G N E W Y O R K • Copyright © 2006 by Debbie Stoller Photography copyright © 2006 John Dolan Illustrations copyright © 2006 Adrienne Yan Cover photograph copyright © 2006 Michael Lavine All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced—mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopying—without written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stoller, Debbie. Stitch ’n bitch crochet: The happy hooker / by Debbie Stoller. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN-13: 978-0-7611-3985-0 (alk. paper); ISBN-10: 0-7611-3985-0 (alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-7611-3986-7; ISBN-10: 0-7611-3986-9 1. Crocheting. 2. Crocheting—Patterns. I. Title. TT820.S857 2005 746.43'4—dc22 2005043518 Book design: Janet Vicario with Munira Al-Khalili Workman books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for premiums and sales promotions as well as for fund-raising or educational use. Special editions or book excerpts can also be created to specification. For details, contact the Special Sales Director at the address below. Workman Publishing Company, Inc. 708 Broadway New York, NY 10003-9555 www.workman.com Printed in the United States First printing February 2006 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For my mother, Johanna C. Stoller, who gave me a love of all things crafty ACKNOWLEDGMENTS F irst and foremost, I owe my greatest thanks to the talented and tireless designers whose work appears in this book. I feel truly honored that these 40 women were willing to share their impressive and fun designs with me, and I am grateful. I am so very indebted to my brand-new agent, Flip Brophy, who not only served as a skilled business advisor and negotiator on this book, but also as a sort of Fairy Godmother who helped me find ways to make my workload more manageable. Now I can go to the ball! I want to thank my assistant on this book, Christina Roest, who did so much work in the beginning stages of production, and I am so appreciative of the work that Katy Moore did on a number of the patterns in this book, most notably Strut, Yeehaw Lady, and Bikini in a Bag. At Workman, I am thankful to Peter Workman for agreeing that the subject of crochet deserved its own book, and I am ever-indebted to my fearless editor and champion of the Stitch ’n Bitch cause, Ruth Sullivan, whose thorough and careful efforts always improve and clarify my work immeasurably. I owe special thanks to my tech- nical editor, Karen Manthey, who did such a wonderful job of painstakingly combing through each pattern, stitch by stitch, as well as creating the diagrams and schematics, and to copyeditor and crocheter extraordinaire Judit Bodnar. I’d like to thank designer Janet Vicario, who is so much fun to work with, for once again bringing her creative eye and patient mind to this Stitch ’n Bitch project and design assistant Munira Al-Khalili for helping get everything to look just right. And I really appreciate the organizational efforts of production editor Irene Demchyshyn and editorial assistant Beth Hatem for keeping everything running as smoothly as possible. I’m so glad that my favorite illustrator, Adrienne Yan, was available to make such sweet, careful drawings to go with the text, and I owe my deepest thanks to photographer John Dolan for taking the beautiful photos and for allowing us all to hang out at his gorgeous house. Thanks also to the fabulous stylist, Jenni Lee, for pulling together an endless assortment of clever outfits, to hair and makeup artist Bryan Lynde, and to photo editor Leora Kahn for pulling the entire photo shoot together. And thank you to the models, who not only posed wear- ing heavy woolen sweaters in the middle of a heat wave, but somehow managed to look cool while doing so, and a special shout-out to the good people of Be Green Cafe in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where much of this book was written. Once again I am thankful to the women of BUST magazine, and especially to my co-publisher, Laurie Henzel, for being a great friend and for making it possible for me to take some time off to write this book. I also want to thank my parents, Johanna and Bernard Stoller, for letting me know how proud they are of me. And to Michael Uman, my longtime partner and best friend, who for ten years has been my rock. I am so grateful for your constant encouragement, and your loving support. CONTENTS 3.GET SHORTY part one hooking up Making the Chain Stitch, Single Crochet, and Slip Stitch 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . LEARNING TO CROCHET Making a Slipknot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Holding Your Yarn and Hook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 V C 1.VOULEZ- OUS ROCHET Making the Chain Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 M AVEC OI? Making Single Crochet Stitches 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Brief History of Hooking 6 into the Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Joys of Crochet 8 Other Ways to Crochet into the Chain . . . . . 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crocheting vs. Knitting 8 The Turning Chain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Guide to Crochet Lingo 11 Single Crochet, Row 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Structure of Crochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 2.HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER Understanding Gauge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 The Tools of Crochet 12 The Slip Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Getting to Know Crochet Hooks 13 Finishing Off Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Choosing Your Yarn 16 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.WALKING TALL Yarn Weights 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Making Half-Double Crochet, Double Crochet Thread 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crochet, and Triple Crochet 37 Yarn Textures and Crochet 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Making Skeins and Hanks 21 The Half-Double Crochet Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How to Read a Yarn Label 22 The Double Crochet Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Triple Crochet Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Other Crocheting Double Triple and Triple Triple Supplies 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Standard Yarn Weight System 24 How to Add Yarn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Understanding Crochet Directions . . . . . . . . . 45 5.THE SHAPE OF THINGS 7.PICTURE THIS TO COME Making Images in Crochet 68 . . . . . . . . . . . Increasing, Decreasing, and Color Work Using Tapestry Crochet . . . . . . . . 69 Working in a Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Working Filet Crochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Adding Stitches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Learning the Afghan Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Decreasing Stitches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 8.OFF THE HOOK Crocheting a Circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Making a Circle with a Smaller Hole . . . . . . . 52 Sewing Your Pieces Together, Blocking, and Adding Decoration 77 . . 6.HOOKED ON A FEELING Sewing Seams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Making Fancy Stitches 54 Weaving Sides and Tops of Crocheted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . How to Read a Crochet Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Pieces Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 The V Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Making Joins Using the Whipstitch . . . . . . . . . 81 Making Shell Stitches . . . . . . . . 57 Seaming with the Backstitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Making Bobble, Puff, and Crocheted Seams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 Popcorn Stitches . . . . . . . . 58 Making Buttonholes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Making the Mesh Stitch . . . . . 61 Adding Fringe, Tassels, and Pom-Poms . . . . 84 Making the Fishnet Stitch . . . 62 Making Decorative Cords and Making the Picot Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Crocheted Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Inserting Your Hook in Other Locations . . . 63 Stitching onto Crochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Making Ribbing with Crochet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Working Away Yarn Ends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Crocheting Around the Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Blocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Making the Crossed Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 How to Make a Spike Stitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Crocheting the Granny Square . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66