Recently, we started doing a twice-weekly live show on our Facebook page called LIVE From the Kitchen. Starting at about 6:30pm PT (2:30am GMT) on Mondays and Fridays, we cook dinner and chat with you all about what we’re making, share cooking tips, and answer your questions about everything from cooking to how to care for cast iron. We even let the Shibakidz in not the fun (when they care to make themselves available) so y’all get a dose of furry faced (theirs… not ours) lovin’ from Apollo, Atlas, and Dallas. And, yes, Jason will wear THAT apron. If you’ve seen the show, you know the one we mean…

If you didn’t catch the show last Friday, you missed Jason’s Mac & Cheese. Seriously y’all… it’s the real deal. Yes, we’ll be posting recipes right here on our website and we’ll start things off with the legend that is Jason’s Mac & Cheese recipe!

We hope you’ll join us for the weeknight edition of LIVE From the Kitchen on Monday or for Fun Food Friday on… ummm… Friday. Oh… have a question about one of our recipes or a show? Leave a comment here or on our Facebook page here: Shibaguyz on Facebook

Rather than pulling out large clumps of hair or screaming and ranting so that the Shibakidz go running for the hills, we set out on a quest of experimentation that lead us to a happy place full of unicorns, rainbows, cheesecake, chocolate, puppies... and straight edges (mmmm… chocolate cheesecake). We call this land, The Land of First-Stitches. (But let's get back to the chocolate and cheesecake thing soon…)

In order to reach this blissful place of non-wonkiness, we’ve developed a series of stitches we call First-Stitches designed to clean up those edges by replacing the chain ups at the beginnings of rows. In fact, we’ve come up with FOUR different options for first-stitches that we will be sharing with you over the next few weeks starting today! WOOHOO!! In today’s tutorial we'll focus on the first of these 4 First-Stitch techniques: The Stacked First-Stitch.

Wonky edges occur when a row of pattern instruction starts with a chain-up that is meant to be counted as the first stitch of the row: Chain 3, count as first double crochet of row. Because of how chain stitches sit on the outside of the fabric, these chain substitutes for the first stitch of a row create an unsightly gap where the first stitch should be. We hate that... I mean, REALLY hate that. And, from your emails and questions in classes, we know you're not particularly fond of wonky edges either. The outrage is totally understandable! We spend days/weeks/months working on the perfect crochet fabric; only to have the edges betray us. And don't even get us started on the difficulties these wonky edges create when sewing garment components together. Nope… not gonna go there right now because we're watching our blood pressure.

Breathe in… breathe out…

We were all taught it... "work to the end of the row, turn, chain up to the height of the stitches in that row". While this makes sense in the grand scheme of things, it also makes for some seriously wonky edges on any stitch taller than a single crochet. AND, speaking on our experience as designers and photographer for over 300 patterns, few things look worse on a great design than wonky edges! So how does one fix this problem?

Over the next few weeks we'll be sharing 4 different techniques that will clean up your crochet edges. Not only will your raw edges look better, this will make your life SO much easier when sewing seams. SOOOOO much easier!

It's time to purchase tickets to our classes at this year's Sew Stitch Expo in Puyallup, WA. WOOHOO! We have a LOT of classes at Sew Expo this year including crochet, knitting, math for crocheters and knitters, alterations, taking proper measurements for crochet and knit garments, photography, and two lecture/demo sessions! In addition, we will be presenting two runway shows and will be sharing a booth with the most glamorous shepherdess on the planet, Katrina Walker of the Spoiled Sheep Flock. What a FAB weekend!!

Now we wouldn't want y'all to miss out on a minute of the FAB fun we have planned for you but, occasionally, we hear from folks that they have problems finding our classes and registering online. So this year we thought we'd put up a little walkthrough to help you with the process. The process does take a couple of steps, but is not difficult. Once it is all over, you end up with the best possible prize... a class with the Shibaguyz! [blush]

Here we GO…
First go to www.sewexpo.com