National Craft Month Bingo Fest

[ysabetwordsmith]

National Craft Month – March 2026

In March, it’s the end of winter and a great time to blossom outward into National Craft Month to show what you’ve been making by hand during the short, cold days of the season past.

Admittedly, the word “crafting” covers a whole lot of territory. At one time, the word “craft” was synonymous with “trade,” meaning skilled labor in a particular area, such as weaving, engine repair, carpentry, etc. It was not uncommon for guilds to be founded based upon a shared set of skills in these and other areas of production. But in current times we’ve come to understand that “crafting” refers to those skills practiced more creatively and with a vision unique to each artisan. Some examples are knitting and crocheting, scrapbooking, leatherworking, wood burning, fly tying, jewelry making, anything created by hand that has an artistic aspect to it but is not strictly “fine art.”


What are your craft plans for March? I've got several possibilities but haven't decided which to try next month.

allbingo will be running this fest in March:
[recurring]
National Craft Month Fest hosted by nsfwords
This is a fest focusing on the myriad joys (and frustrations) of Crafting.
Posting will be March 1-30.

Comments

[witchpoetdreamer]

I didn't even know there was a crafting month like that! I think I'll be doing some embroidery, perhaps finally learn how to crochet XD

Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

Embroidery is so pretty. There are several artists who work the historic fairs around here. One of them favors French knots for making sheep!

Explore crochet is on my list for this year. I tried when I was little but had zero luck with it. Maybe it will be more feasible now.

Re: Yay!

[witchpoetdreamer]

I've never tried the french knot! One of my goals is learning more stitches than I know now. I've been making cute stuff with just back stitch and satin stitch and that's all I've used XD

I found this book for crochet "The Crochet Workshop" by Emma Osmond at the library, and I swear this is the easiest book I've found to really learn how to do it from a total beginner perspective! It's also not very long, which I appreciate! Highly recommend if you're willing to give it another go!

Re: Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I've never tried the french knot! <<

https://sublimestitching.com/pages/how-to-french-knot

https://andotheradventuresco.com/blogs/news/french-knot-tutorial

The French knot is one of the most useful stitches for a handful of specific purposes, including:

* Make tiny flowers or snowflakes on a large field.

* Put the centers in small flowers or build centers of larger flowers.

* Construct several types of complex flowers.

* Make nubbly textures for things like sheep or clouds.

* Put eyes on animals.

* Create dotted rather than dashed lines.

* Write Braille or Morse code.


>>One of my goals is learning more stitches than I know now. I've been making cute stuff with just back stitch and satin stitch and that's all I've used XD <<

Excellent plan. Let's see, chain stitch and blanket stitch are useful. My suggestion would be to make a sampler, either buy a kit or find one online that you can print out. There are traditional ones and very creative ones, so browse around and see which have the stitches you'd like to learn.

https://pumora.com/the-best-hand-embroidery-samplers/

https://shop.stitchedstories.com/collections/traditional-embroidery-sampler-patterns-kits

https://www.frenchgeneral.com/collections/embroidery-kits

https://www.snugglymonkey.com/collections/hand-embroidery-kits


https://www.stitchdoodles.com/the-ultimate-stitch-sampler/

https://cutesycrafts.com/2018/10/free-embroidery-sampler-pattern.html

https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/sampler-patterns-1177631


>>I found this book for crochet "The Crochet Workshop" by Emma Osmond at the library, and I swear this is the easiest book I've found to really learn how to do it from a total beginner perspective! It's also not very long, which I appreciate! Highly recommend if you're willing to give it another go!<<

That's cool.

I have some craft books with instructions. I've also got a kit that I found while cleaning out a closet. I have various yarns, and both styles of hook. So I'll have room to experiment.

Re: Yay!

[witchpoetdreamer]

Thanks for the links, that's really helpful! I've had plans to create a stitches book as practice so I'll use those to help get me started!

Re: Yay!

[ysabetwordsmith]

A stitch book is a great idea, especially if you make it looseleaf so you can add more pages over time.

Re: Yay!

[witchpoetdreamer]

That's what I had in mind!

[readera]

I will be moved into a new apartment and hopefully somewhat settled in by March.

I'm planning on continuing to work on my knitting projects, 2 scarfs. I'm also hoping to learn crochet. I did my first swatch this month & saved it. But I haven't had time to put into it with the move.

I'm also hoping to learn some rug making, specifically with old clothes since we are moving to a place with no carpets. It will be easier to clean but I know I will want rugs for some areas.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>I will be moved into a new apartment and hopefully somewhat settled in by March.<<

Yay!

>>I'm planning on continuing to work on my knitting projects, 2 scarfs. I'm also hoping to learn crochet. I did my first swatch this month & saved it. But I haven't had time to put into it with the move.<<

Good progress.

>>I'm also hoping to learn some rug making, specifically with old clothes since we are moving to a place with no carpets. It will be easier to clean but I know I will want rugs for some areas.<<

Rag rugs are often braided, round or straight. They can also be woven, knitted, crocheted, or knotted. It depends what texture you want.

https://sugarbeecrafts.com/11700

https://acultivatednest.com/charming-diy-rugs/

https://www.remodelaholic.com/diy-rug-ideas/

[pklemica]

I am knitting away on these reversible 2-color brioche sweaters for my sister's family! When she was far enough along last summer in her pregnancy to start telling people, she said to me, "I know from kid #1 you get a ton of stuff for right when they're first born, but that next winter when they're 1 year old not so much... is 18 months' heads up enough time to knit a baby sweater?" and I said with 18 months I can do better than that! Am done with the baby's and most of his older sister's (needed to order one more ball of yarn for the last sleeve). I'm about 6 rows from finishing the body of my sister's, then there's her sleeves and the whole of her husband's. Each is the same base pattern but with different color scheme, one solid contrasted with a strand of KnitPicks Chroma, I'm loving watching the gradients work up so much I'm still not sick of this project even though it's the main thing I've been working on since July and I've got months left to go. I am extremely happy with how they are turning out!

Wow!

[ysabetwordsmith]

What a wonderful idea! Baby sweaters are adorable.