Sometimes, if feels like this crochet picture frame pattern collection has been years in the making. And rightly so. Trying to remember the day I shared my first crochet picture frame pattern 6 years ago is as hard as trying to remember a past life.

I suspect not many of you were here through the whole evolution of my blog from a bobbin lace making journal through wire and resin jewelry blog to what it is now.

Read on for a little bit of a backstory, all the details about my newest (and biggest) pattern collection, and a 50% off coupon.

If you’d rather just jump straight to the end of the article to get the pattern information and the coupon code, CLICK HERE.

I started blogging about learning to make bobbin lace. As a novice, I would follow the traditional techniques and materials. As much as I admired this ancient craft in its original form, it felt a little… Stuffy. Within months of mastering the basics, I was aching to try to use this age-old technique in a modern way. You know… Just like my crochet baskets. I was searching for something that would speak to a broader audience than delicate lace. And to be completely frank, I wanted to create pieces that I could complete in a day or two. Did you know that a yard of bobbin lace 1-inch wide can take a master lace maker a week or more to make?

So in a ways, the first transition was quite natural. One idea led to another, and soon I began winding my bobbins with sterling silver wire instead of thread. And instead of doilies and lace, I started making earrings, pendants, and rings.

Unknowingly to me at the time, I was trailblazing a whole new way of making and interpreting bobbin lace. To this day I haven’t been able to find more than two dozen people who make sterling silver (or other wire) bobbin lace jewelry.

Because I can hardly ever leave things at that, though, before long I started adding resin in my designs for a splash of color and bigger durability. With that, I put yet another spin on bobbin lace. My jewelry at that point only faintly resembled lace I remember my great-grandmother make.

Ultimately, I walked a full circle when I returned to a small box filled with tiny pieces that original thread lace that took me hours and hours to make when I first started learning. I would carefully cut tiny shapes, and forever protect and preserve them in droplets of colorful resin.

But then I got pregnant. Yay, of course; but for safety reasons, I didn’t want to continue working with resins and chemicals. My fingers were itching to do something new. But what? I had no clue what to do next until a friend invited me to a baby shower that spring. An idea to crochet a set of picture frames to go with her baby’s nursery suddenly resurrected passion for a skill I learned as a child.

I crocheted my way through pregnancy and beyond. Since my son turned out to be a baby that never slept, I focused on quick and pretty basic projects so I could complete them with my brain on auto pilot. Which meant I made quite a few more crochet picture frames that year. In fact, I took on a custom order that consisted of crocheting 113 picture frames within about 2 weeks. I want to remember how on managed to do that, but I can’t. Sometimes I feel Superwoman briefly took over my body and erased any recollection of it.

By the time B was one year old, I envisioned a set of durable baskets to keep his toys organized. Through much trial and error, I developed my first sturdy stacking basket set. On a whim, I offered the pattern as a PDF for sale via Etsy, and my business was born. The interest this jute and cotton basket keeps garnering all these years continues to blow my mind. To date it remains my most popular crochet pattern.

I guess you probably know the story from there. Nowadays, I focus on designing sturdy and practical contemporary crochet baskets and home decor items.

So, it’s quite natural that steel rings and unfinished crochet picture frames fell to the bottom of my WIP box. A few months ago, though, I felt the need to take a break. Once again, I needed a quick project to take my focus away from a mammoth of a crochet project design of which requires an incredible amount of advanced math skills.

Guess what I started making?

Yup. Another crochet picture frame. When it was finished (and in a vain effort to create an awesome Instagram photo that never materialized), I started pulling out all my previous designs. I knew I had a few, but I didn’t expect an instant collection!

Gears started turning pretty quickly from then on. In my true perfectionist manner, I photographed each stitch in a genuine step-by-step fashion. Then, I decided to re-shoot the same steps in a different yarn color. And then, I’d re-shoot them in different lighting, until I was truly satisfied. I sifted through close to 900 photos that I took to create this downloadable file.

When I look at this collection, I see a full circle back to what got me crocheting as an adult. And that makes my heart smile. I love it, and hope you will, too.

2018 Crochet Picture Frame Collection

This crochet pattern collection contains 12 crochet picture frame patterns. I adapted each of the 6 individual designs for both a 3-ich and a 2-inch metal ring base.

I wanted the collection of patterns to appeal to a wide range of crocheters.

Do you prefer concise written patterns? Instructions written in standard American terms appear prominently at the beginning of the booklet.  Do you like to refer to detailed, close-up picture as you crochet along? Follow little annotations in the pattern directly to the corresponding photo tutorial page.

In addition to the 12 individual written patterns, the 29 pages of this logically organized PDF contain more than 120 pictures. They illustrate each step, each stitch, and each technique in great detail, along with precisely descriptive captions. I made sure the photos leave absolutely nothing out.

I devoted a single page to each pattern. Pattern-specific list of stitches and materials appears on each pattern page for easy reference. Here are some additional general details you might find helpful:

Stitches Used

Each pattern starts with a round of single crochet stitches worked around the metal ring base and joined with a slip stitch.

Depending on a pattern, other stitches used may include:

• chain stitch
• half double crochet
• double crochet
• triple crochet
• front post single crochet
• 3 (or 4) double crochets worked together (i.e. dc3tog or dc4tog)
• picots

Each crochet picture frame is finished with an invisible join.

The second half of the pattern booklet contains step-by-step photos with detailed annotation for each of the above stitches, and more.

Materials

• 2- and/or 3-inch metal rings
• Caron Simply Soft (or similar medium weight acrylic yarn) and 4.5 mm hook -OR-
• Sugar n’ Cream (or similar medium weight cotton yarn) and 4 mm hook
• tapestry needle and scissors

Coupon Code

Click HERE to get the crochet picture frame collection and enter coupon code OBRAZKY2018 at checkout for an instant 50% discount. Yay!

Feel free to share the coupon code with friends, or combine it with other coupons.

And stay tuned (or better yet – SUBSCRIBE & FOLLOW jakigu.com below) for a free guide on finishing the backs of crochet picture frames. It’s coming in December.