I have two new Fall-themed patterns to launch today: my new Mushroom Collection, and an Expansion Pack so you can crochet even more types of mushrooms!

Mushroom Collection crochet pattern

The Mushroom Collection includes 6 different realistic mushroom designs (3 domed and 3 flat, each in small, medium and large sizes). All the mushrooms in this collection are perfectly shaped, with gills hidden under the caps and a crisp colour change between cap and gills. They all use the same techniques, so once you’ve learnt them with your first mushroom, you’ll be able to whip up more in no time!

Choose the shapes and sizes you prefer, or create a mixed arrangement in a variety of shades of white and brown. Pile them in a bowl, arrange them on a window ledge, or add them to a seasonal centrepiece or wreath.

I’ve shown my mushrooms with either a dark cap and pale base, or a neutral cap and stem with dark gills, but you could also make a single-coloured mushroom, or one with different colours for the cap, gills and stem, giving 4 different colour options for each style of mushroom.

The mushrooms don’t use much yarn (15-35m each, depending on size/style) and look good in all sorts of colours, so they make great stashbusters! And you can stick with my neutral shades or get more whimsical with brightly-coloured caps – it’s completely up to you.

Mushroom Variations Expansion Pack

This Expansion Pack includes all the modifications required to crochet each of the mushrooms in the Mushroom Collection with any/all of these variations:

1. Red and White (top left): This colour scheme makes beautiful decorative mushrooms (perfect for Christmas!)
2. Short Stem (top right): Especially good for play food – these mushrooms look good enough to eat.
3. No-Sew (bottom left): A speedy crocheted alternative to the standard needle-stitched finish.
4. No Gills (bottom right): A quick and easy option – great if you want to whip up a large batch of mushrooms in a hurry.

What is an Expansion Pack?

• An Expansion Pack is an add-on to an existing PlanetJune pattern.
• The Expansion Pack lets you modify or add to the original pattern to create something else.
• You cannot use the Expansion Pack alone – you must also purchase the original pattern in order to be able to complete the pictured items in the Expansion Pack pattern.

You can pick and choose to apply any or all of the modifications to any of the six mushroom sizes and styles from the Mushroom Collection, making 96 distinct mushroom possibilities (or 384 if you include the different colour options!)

All the variations (apart from the Red and White) make the mushrooms faster to crochet/assemble.

The spots on the Red and White mushroom obviously take a little more time (especially for the large one!), but the result is so cute, and they’d make gorgeous Christmas decorations as well as Fall decor, so you can repurpose them and keep them on display for months 😉

Fall CAL

We’d love to see the mushrooms you’re making in the PlanetJune group on Ravelry – you can make mushrooms galore (or any other fall-themed PlanetJune designs) as part of the current crochet-along. The CAL runs through till the end of November, so there’s time to crochet a whole variety of different mushrooms…

I hope you’ll join us – I can’t wait to see all the combinations that sprout up!

Links to Buy & Launch Discount

As with all my Expansion Packs, you can buy the patterns separately (although please note that you do need the base Mushroom Collection pattern to be able to make any of the Mushroom Variations), or there’s a discount when you buy both together.

But to sweeten this deal even more and give you an incentive to join the CAL right away, I’m offering an additional discount on the Multipack Set (Mushroom Collection & Variations) if you buy within the next 7 days, so you can get endless mushroom options for only $7.00!

So, here are your options:

• Buy the Mushroom Collection & Variations multipack (and use discount code FALL by September 27th to save even more)
• Buy the Mushroom Collection pattern alone
• Buy the Mushroom Variations Expansion Pack (please note, the Expansion Pack only includes the modifications – you’ll also need the Mushroom Collection pattern to be able to make them!)

Or, if you’re not ready to buy yet, click through to Ravelry and favourite/queue them so you won’t forget about them!

I didn’t think I’d ever be tempted to call mushrooms gorgeous, but these designs look so decorative, I think I might change my mind on that front: they’re both realistic and stylised, and the more you make, the better they look together…

What do you think? I hope you’ll have as much fun choosing colours and crocheting mushrooms as I did while designing them 🙂

I’ve just finished upgrading the PlanetJune shop with some helpful new features that I think you’ll enjoy, as well as a host of small functional and cosmetic updates to make the shop easier to use and bring the graphics in line with the rest of the site.

I’m really excited about the new features I’ve built, so let’s have a look at them now…

Save for Later

This first feature will be useful for everyone – I’ve added a ‘save for later’ option in the shopping cart. I’m sure you’ll already be familiar with this functionality from your Amazon account – the saved items appear below the items already in your cart, so you can check out without having to delete the items you aren’t ready to buy today. You can move items between the cart and the Saved for Later section with just one click/tap.

This feature replaces my old wishlist functionality, which was always slightly buggy – when you added an item with options to the wishlist, it sometimes neglected to save the options. To smooth the transition for you, I’ve imported all your items from your wishlist to your Saved for Later section of your shopping cart.

A couple of things to be aware of, regarding this transition:

• I couldn’t import any items that the wishlist hadn’t stored correctly. So if you’d added a custom set (AmiDogs, Fuzzy Friends, or Accessories), it’s probably not in your Saved for Later because your custom choices hadn’t been saved. (This won’t be a problem in future – yay!)
• I started exporting the wishlist items at the end of July. I’ve also added all new wishlist items added since then, but, if you deleted anything from your wishlist after July 27th, it’ll still be in your Saved for Later section.
• Saved for Later can’t tell if you’ve already bought an item, so there may be patterns there that you already own. (But my other new features will help you with that!)

The other new features are both available from My Account:

My Patterns

Go to My Account and choose My Patterns to see an alphabetical list of all the PlanetJune patterns you own. Whether you bought them individually, or in a multipack, you’ll see the individual PDF names, so it’s easy to see what you’ve bought, and click through to download the PDF from your order whenever you need to. (This is especially useful if you bought several custom sets – the old system didn’t show you which patterns you’d chosen for each until you clicked into the order!)

From this page, you can also see which of your patterns you’ve already reviewed, and click straight through to write a review for any of the others. (Useful if you’d like to get some more entries in my monthly Review & Win contest, but can’t remember what you’ve already reviewed!)

This page is available in 2 versions: Full and Lite. The Full version is easy to browse because it includes a little photo of each pattern, but if you’ve bought a lot of patterns, all those thumbnails may take a while to load. So, I’ve also given you the option of the Lite text-only version, which loads in no time.

And now onto the last new feature:

Patterns I Don’t Own

I love this new feature! It’ll be especially useful to those of you who’ve bought lots of my patterns – with so many in my catalogue now, it can be hard to keep track of which you’ve bought, especially as you may have bought something in several different ways: individually; as part of a multipack; or as an optional add-on. The last thing I’d want to do is to make you accidentally buy the same pattern twice, so this list will take care of that.

If you’re looking for a new PlanetJune pattern to buy, head straight to the Patterns I Don’t Own list (in My Account) and you’ll see an alphabetical list of all the patterns that aren’t in your My Patterns list. Click any pattern name to go to its listing in the shop, so you can add it to your cart (or to your Saved for Later).

Again, this list is available in Full and Lite versions, so you can stick to text-only if you’re on a slow internet connection or just want to check for a specific pattern, or enjoy browsing the photos in the Full version if you have a minute to wait for all the thumbnails to load!

These updates are the result of a month of development and hand-coding. Although I’ve tested everything extensively, there’s always a chance that something on the live site may give an unexpected result. If you have any problems using the shop or your PlanetJune account, or see anything that looks remotely strange, please email me to let me know, so I can fix it!

I hope you’ll find the new features helpful, and, while you may not notice all the other little changes and improvements, they should all combine to make the shop, and your PlanetJune account, easier to use from now on.

This September update feels very much like a re-run of 2 years ago: I’m back from travels (this time, an amazing safari experience – pics soon! – and a far-too-brief trip home to Canada); I caught a cold on the way home which has turned into bronchitis; and I’ve been working on some big technical improvements for the shop.

But I learnt a valuable lesson in 2014 when all that left me completely burnt out, so I was prepared this time: my autumn and Christmas designs are well underway already 🙂

Shop Updates!

There’ll be a little downtime in my shop tomorrow while I install the updates I’ve been working on for the past month. I’ve planned it for my morning, so it’ll be the middle of the night tonight for most of you in North America. I anticipate it’ll take no more than a couple of hours, but if you go to my shop and see the Maintenance Lemming is still working on it, that means the updates are still in progress!

I’ll explain all the improvements to the shop in a separate post once my updates are complete – I’m very excited for the new features I’ve been developing, and I think they’ll add a lot to your PlanetJune experience. More on that tomorrow, once I’ve finished the upgrades…

Fall CAL

September brings the start of a new season, and the start of a new crochet-along in the PlanetJune Ravelry group! Join us for this relaxed crochet-along that runs from now until Halloween. You can make any PlanetJune patterns (or patterns from either of my books) that fit the Fall theme. Here’s a selection of pattern ideas:

And I’m working on a brand new pattern that’ll fit nicely with this theme too, so look out for that in the coming weeks…

Review and Win contest

You’re automatically entered in the next monthly draw every time you write a review for a PlanetJune pattern you’ve enjoyed – and you’ll also be helping future customers make an informed decision about patterns they are considering buying.

I have 2 months’ winners to announce today:

July’s winner is Peggy G‘s review of my Dinosaurs Sets 3 & 3X patterns:

Both of these sets are fantastic!! I have made all 6 dinosaurs now. The Panoplosaurus and the Ankylosaurus take the most time and are the most advanced, but I wouldn’t call them “difficult.” Just take more time and patience. However, they turn out so awesome that it’s worth it. My favorite ended up being the Protoceratops. I love the way his head fin is constructed. He’s very simple, but looks fantastic. Highly recommend all of June’s dino patterns.

And August’s winner is Verna H‘s review of my Sea Otter pattern:

I made this Sea Otter for my sister. June’s pattern is the most natural looking otter pattern by far. Her instructions are very easy to understand. My sister just loves it!

Congratulations, Peggy and Verna – I’ve emailed you both to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize!