2015 - A Year of Awesomeness Blog Hop!!!

The past few years have been a wonderful journey for me in life and in business.  I have learned a lot when it comes to Crochet Designing and made many, many friends along the way.  In the past, I had just gone with the flow of things and while it was good for my creative and laid back personality, it wasn't a strong business plan. 

This year has already started out on a different and fantastic track!  I will be working harder on various aspects of my designing and building stronger business relationships with other designers.
We're kicking off the year with a bit of fun for you!  We know that Facebook has slowly been making it harder for you, our fans, to see our sales, new pattern releases and fun posts to interact with us.  We don't want to be just a "business"  We don't want you to view us as just a logo.  We want you to know who we are, get to know us better and be more of a Real Person you can come to and ask questions and chat with and share your love of crochet with us.

I will be doing some Blog hops, Twitter hops, Google + hops and maybe even Pinterest hops throughout this year so you can follow your favorite Designers on the various social sites that you use.  
This is the 1st of many fun events coming your way.
Below, you can enter to win a handful of prizes from me and then make sure you visit the other blogs listed if you haven't already so that you can follow their journey and enter to win prizes from each of them!

Valentine Projects for 2015

With Valentine's Day not to far away,  I decided that I'd better start working on some projects for my girls to give their friends.  I'm finding a lot of fun and cute crochet patterns to choose from. Other than a cowl and matching boot cuffs that my daughter has asked me to make for her teacher, I'm not sure what to do for the rest.  It will have to be quick projects as I have a lot going on right now.  Here's a fun crochet pattern roundup just for Valentine projects so we can all brainstorm and share fun ideas with each other.

Happily Hooked Friday Face Off with my Butterfly Garden Afghan

Mountain Lace Infinity Scarf

Happy weekend everyone!  Hopefully you are able to squeeze a bunch of crocheting in over the next few days.  I will be hard at work on creating cowls to go with all my Boot Cuff patterns, so keep your eyes out for the updates on those.  

With All My Heart Photo Prop design for The Battle of the Stitches

Good Morning friends!  I have some VERY exciting news!!!  Round 4 of the Battle of the Stitches crochet challenge has come to  close and the winners have been chosen. 

It was very exciting to be a challenger this round.  I admit that it was hard not knowing every detail going on behind the scenes AND  it was hard not to tell anyone what I designed too!  One of the many great things about the Battle of the Stitches is that all the voting is based on the designs themselves.  I knew before going into the challenge that I would not make any girls dresses because I didn't want it to be a giveaway that it was my design. 

Can you pick which design is mine? Battle of the Stitches Round 4 Sneak Peeks

Well, I can finally breathe!  I'm so excited that I've completed my crochet design for Round 4 of the Battle of the Stitches.  I can't wait to see what everyone thinks and share with you what I've created!

Typically, I'm behind the scenes of the Battle since I created it.  I'm the one who chooses the themes and stitches and sets up who is judging, all the prizes, giveaways and sharing.  It's  a LOT of work but extremely well worth it!  This round, I really wanted to be on the other side of the fence and be a challenger.  I asked Jennifer from Little Luvies Shop and Lisa from Kaleidoscope Art & Gifts to help me out so I could compete fairly.  They have done an wonderful job and this has been quite the experience for me! 

HDC Chainless Foundation

One of the things that I despised the most when first learning to crochet was working stitches into a chain.  It's one of my least favorite things to do along with stitching things like buttons on.

When I first decided to try a chain-less foundation or a foundation chain (whichever you prefer), I watched a video and it confused me.  I left it alone for a while and decided to try it again.  Wowzers!!!!  It's one of my new found loves!
Most of my new designs will begin with chain-less foundations and I will be updating my older patterns to this also.  I Love the way it keeps the stitching more even and it gives a good stretch to the base of your project whereas a regular chain can sometimes be to tight. 
Some people learn better with videos and others with photos. 
If you're a video fan,  here's a link to how to work this foundation:

The Craziest Shopping day of the Year - BlackFriday Sales information

Let's talk shop for a minute.  A few years ago, I decided to try the "Black Friday" 4am store opening madness with my sister and SIL to get something for my mom at a REALLY good price.  While I was a little worried about how people would treat each other, it was a pleasant day and I never witnessed any fights or even people taking things out of other carts as you see so often on the news. That was the 1 and only time I've shopped in the early hours of the morning on Black Friday.

I'm so excited!!! This is what the next month will be filled with for Crafting Friends Designs.

As most of you know, I created the Battle of the Stitches crochet challenge back in February of 2014.  It's a fun crochet competition for designers to share the love of crochet. 10-12 designers create a new design using the same crochet stitch and a theme to focus on.  It's been a wonderful experience to get to know so many other talented ladies and build friendships and strengthen our businesses together. 

Birthday SALE-ABRATION

Happy Halloween everyone!  I hope you all have some fun or relaxing plans for your weekend wherever you are. 

We will be spending time with my family tonight having soup, Trick or Treating with all of the kids and celebrating my 2nd daughter's 6th birthday.  It's not until next week, but it will be fun to have everyone together tonight, so why not add some cake too?
  

Chevron or Ripple, do you know the difference?

It's always fun to pick at the knowledge of other designers around me and see a little difference of opinion on things.  Many things in the crochet world are not "Set in Stone".  I love crochet stitch books and my favorite is this one from Robyn Chachula called Crochet Stitches VISUAL Encyclopedia (**this is an affiliate link**)
I really enjoy looking through it to get ideas and see all the colors she uses and learn the names of the stitches she has worked.  The funny thing is with stitches, sometimes 2 people can see a stitch and call it 2 completely different names.

Reversible Textured Chevron Afghan

Which brings me to my questions...Is it a Ripple afghan or a Chevron afghan?  I was always of the opinion that the designs with the sharper angles are Chevron and those that are softer angles are considered Ripple.  To me, it's like a ripple in the water - more of a wave and that's how I relate them when designing.  Now,  in conversations with other designers, there are some that agree with me and others who consider my opinion backwards   lol, and that's ok!