Crochet Submissions

If you're looking to submit your original crochet design, you have till August 15 for the Crochet Calendar 2013. Check out the details here on their website.

I have a couple of designs I'm considering to submit. I still enjoy getting the calendar in the mail, and flipping the pages to see what others have made.
Here's my collection of crochet calendars :)

Some Christmas Crochet Designs

If you want to crochet some Christmas home décor or gifts, why not start now when its still early. Tis better to plan and work at it ahead of time ;)
The other day, one of my customers got a head start by ordering the threads to make some Poinsettia coasters.

You can find the pattern for this in the Crochet Pattern Calendar 2009. You can also avail of the pattern in my store here. The coaster pattern is paired with the Poinsettia Doily:

Poinsettia Doily and Coaster pattern only $2.50.

Also, you can make these Playful Santa Hats for the kids and adults in your family:

Playful Santa Hat free pattern

Then there are plenty of free patterns for ornaments, snowflakes and other small décor items. One of my designs is the Radiant Coaster, which can also be made into a small doily.

Radiant Coaster/Doily free pattern 

How about some fun table display with the use of crocheted fruits? These can be made using any yarn you prefer. The smaller the size of the crocheted fruit, the cuter it is :)

Fruit Keychains pattern, $2.50

For Christmas gifts, you may find something to make by browsing on my pattern store.

Thanks for looking and happy crocheting!

And the winner is... and, some Blogger issues...

Or so I thought...Blogger made some changes in its features, and it appeared I lost access to my main blog. Turned out I only needed to uncheck a box, and the dashboard reverted to its old self :p

Now I can tell you that the winner of the Crochet! book giveaway is M of daperfectmix, congratulations! Please reply immediately to my Ravelry message so I can forward your address to Soho Publishing.
Thanks again to everyone who joined the contest :)

Crochet! - A book review and a book giveaway contest!

Crochet continues to gain popularity as a craft or hobby. We can see it everywhere on the internet as we search for anything crochet-related. There are also plenty of magazines and books on this particular craft and there are still more in the making. For those who are beginners in crochet or for those wanting to start it as a hobby, there is an enormous amount of resources for free or available for sale. But there is one book that has just been published and I definitely recommend it to a beginner or any skill level crocheter. A must-have book, Crochet! by Marie-Noȅlle Bayard is brimming with techniques, stitch tutorials and patterns for projects and inspiration. You'd want to keep coming back to this book for reference, as it is full of color photos, clear instructions and up-to-date patterns.
The author, textile designer Marie-Noëlle Bayard, has worked for haute couture designers and for women's magazines. She has written for Marie-Claire Idées and Elle Décoration and is the author of Embroidery: Techniques and Patterns and Sewing: Techniques and Patterns. She lives in France.

Here's a preview:

Open publication - Free publishing - More home

Conclusion: I was actually thrilled to have this book, and it was a long wait considering how far it has traveled. It exceeded my expectations too, from the quality of the book and its content full of color photos, to its easy to understand instructions. I highly recommend you add it to your collection. I find it better than a lot of the other crochet encyclopedias, dummy-books and such. For the most part, its the techniques and pattern stitches that would keep me coming back to the pages of this book.

Disclaimer: This book was received from Soho Publishing as a review copy.

Book Giveaway Contest
Yay! Now its time for some action here in my blog. There's one copy of the book Crochet! by Marie-Noȅlle Bayard that will be given to the lucky winner of this contest I made up. The rules of the contest are as follows:
1. To qualify for an entry you must be a crocheter of any skill level.
2. Post a comment here and let us know your Ravelry name, or share the link to your blog, or a link to your FB page.
3. I will take a peek at your projects and immediately add your name in the contest drawing.
4. To qualify for another entry, like my FB page and make a comment on the post where I share this blog post.
Now that's as easy as 1-2-3 :) Contest ends on July 12. I will assign a number to each entry, and use the random number generator to determine the winner. Winner will be notified immediately. She must be able to give her mailing address, which I will give to Soho Publishing for them to mail the book to.
Lastly, I will also be giving away at least 3 consolation prizes of a pattern gift via Ravelry.

That's all, thank you! Please email me if you have questions.