Our February Issue

When we talk of yarn crafts, particularly crochet and knit, we tend to think of the women involved. Whether it's a relative who made an afghan, the owner of your favorite LYS (local yarn shop) or the many talented designers whose patterns grace the pages of this magazine, feminine names and pronouns tend to dominate the conversations.

Surprise! There are a lot of men who love stitching with yarn. According to a 2018 blog featured on the website of ATA, an Ohio advertising agency, in 2016, 71 percent of crocheters and knitters were female and 29 percent were male (https://blog.anthonythomas.com). With so many people forced to stay at home during the pandemic, I have no doubt (but no statistics yet) that the number of men who took up hooks, needles and yarn has increased greatly.

It's not surprising, therefore, that Will Chatlosh, a 20-year-old man from Grand Rapids, Mich., broadened his simple crochet work during this time of isolation. He took a giant leap from small toys to the complexities of designing crochet portraits during the pandemic.

Read the entire article in our December 2022 issue!

How often do you lose count of the row or round you're working on? I usually crochet while watching TV, so I always lose track of where I am on my projects. On top of that, I tend to lose regular stitch counters in my couch cushions. When I heard about the Accurow row counter, I knew I had to get my hands on it!

Unlike a regular row counter, the Accurow is weaved in and out of each row and removed when you're finished with the project, so you don't have to worry about misplacing it. You can use it in place of a stitch marker as well, so it's like having two tools that are essential for any project worked in the round merged in to one really convenient one.

The Accurow comes with three different sizes, each with its own color for easy identification: a small that's white, a medium that's blue and a large that's yellow. All three are thin, making them easy to weave in and out of your projects. And they're about 29.5 inches long, so you can make large projects with them. The difference between the sizes is the size of the spacing between the numbers. This takes into account different stitch heights and yarn thicknesses.

With easy-to-follow directions and helpful videos on the Accurow website, this row counter is a must-have!

You can get your own Accurow counters by visiting www.accurow.ca.