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Temperature Snake CAL update!

The complete Temperature Snake pattern and workbook are now available! Click here for details >>

PlanetJune Temperature Snake CAL 2023 logo

With the first week of the Temperature Snake CAL behind us, I’m absolutely thrilled with how well it’s going so far:

  • We have over 500 participants, with more joining every day.
  • Crocheted snakes are being made in at least 26 countries, across every continent (except Antarctica).
  • The lowest temperature mentioned so far was -27°C/-17°F, in Russia.
  • The highest temperature mentioned so far was 33°C/91°F, in Mexico.

I think it’s safe to say that Temperature Snake is truly a global phenomenon!

Here’s a sampling of the week 1 snake pics that have been shared in the Discord and Ravelry groups so far. If you aren’t part of either group, I highly recommend joining us in at least one of them – the CAL is so much more fun if you share your progress and see how everyone else is doing:

PlanetJune Temperature Snake CAL - Week 1 examples

As you can see, each snake already has its unique style and character after just one week. It’s going to be so cool seeing them continue to grow and change throughout the year.

If you’d like to join the fun, please do – it’s such a fast project, you can catch up with crocheting the days you’ve missed in no time! You can grab the Temperature Snake pattern here and get started whenever you want 🙂

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Reindeer Games 2022 roundup

I’ve realised that I was so busy with the Temperature Snake CAL and starting to write The Essential Guide to Amigurumi at the start of 2023, that I forgot to share the roundup of the 2022 Reindeer Games! I’m rectifying that now, and backdating this post to when I should have posted it so it’ll make sense in the archives. Enjoy this delayed roundup!

The second annual PlanetJune Reindeer Games crochet-along built on the success of last year’s inaugural games, with an even bigger turnout and engagement.

Over the 2 month CAL, we had 22 pages of chat and an amazing 123 completed projects:

PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2022 project gallery

Wow! Click through to see the Reindeer Games gallery on Ravelry, including credit for all the participants and links to all the patterns they used!

Here’s the breakdown of all the medals awarded:

  • 26 – Santa’s Toy Shop
  • 42 – Rudolph’s Gingerbread House
  • 02 – Dasher’s Scarf Stand
  • 03 – Dancer’s Winter Wear
  • 38 – Prancer’s WIP Wrapping
  • 02 – Vixen’s Shawl Stall
  • 02 – Comet’s Closet
  • 03 – Cupid’s Cowl Corner
  • 02 – Donner’s Blanket Bazaar
  • 03 – Blitzen’s Bag Bonanza

Congratulations to everyone who participated in the Reindeer Games, and thank you to all of you who make the PlanetJune community such a friendly, welcoming environment for long-term fans and newbies alike!


PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2024 logo

The next Reindeer Games starts on November 1st, and I hope you’ll join us to close out the year with 2 months of crochet fun.

Look out for the announcement here on the blog (or sign up for my monthly newsletter so I can email you with a reminder!)

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Reindeer Games 2021 roundup

The first annual PlanetJune Reindeer Games crochet-along has just finished, and it was a huge success! It was a lovely sociable way to end the year, and provided a good escape for everyone from all the usual end-of-year stresses.

Over the 2 month CAL, we had a very active time – 48 pages of chat! – and an amazing 104 completed projects:

PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2021 project gallery

Wow! Click through to see the Reindeer Games gallery on Ravelry, including credit for all the participants and links to all the patterns they used!

PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2022 logo

I’m going to make the Reindeer Games an annual event, so look out for my announcement next October if you’d like to take part in the 2022 CAL (or sign up for my monthly newsletter now so I can send you a reminder!)

In the meantime, I’m collecting feedback on how we can make the games better and smoother for the next run. The advantage of running my own event is that everything can be changed and improved, in collaboration with the PlanetJune community. There’s a thread in the PlanetJune Ravelry group where we can discuss suggestions and decide what changes can be made – I hope you’ll share your ideas there.

And please feel free to comment here too, especially if you don’t/can’t use Ravelry – having an (additional) off-Ravelry way to participate is one of the possible improvements I’d consider for next year, if people would appreciate that. If there’s another online location that you’d prefer to use instead of Ravelry, do let me know. A Facebook group? A Discord server? Something else?


Congratulations to everyone who participated in the first Reindeer Games, and thank you to everyone who makes the PlanetJune community such a friendly, welcoming environment. It’s a pleasure to be a part of it and to get to know you all – and to see the beautiful creations you make from my patterns 🙂

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Join the Reindeer Games crochet-along!

Team PlanetJune had such a blast with the Ravellenic Games last summer, we decided that our Christmas crochet-along this year will be a Team PlanetJune special event!

PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2021

The first annual PlanetJune Reindeer Games begins on Monday November 1st, and I hope you’ll join us 🙂

Crochet anything PlanetJune as part of the PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2021 (Monday, Nov 1 – Friday, Dec 31). This is a Team PlanetJune event, hosted in the PlanetJune Ravelry group, with a similar concept to the Ravellenic Games: the idea is to challenge yourself by starting and finishing crochet project(s) before the end of the year.

It’s just for fun, like a CAL but you get to choose your projects – anything PlanetJune, including projects from my books – and earn virtual awards! During the Games, we all cheer each other on to complete our chosen projects. Our team captains will award you with your Reindeer Village medals and Antlers as you complete your project(s).

Santa and all 9 reindeer have set up their stalls in the Reindeer Games Village – have a virtual wander around and choose which you’ll visit first:

PlanetJune Reindeer Games Village awards

  • Santa’s Toy Shop – toys
  • Rudolph’s Gingerbread House – home/décor
  • Dasher’s Scarf Stand – scarves
  • Dancer’s Winter Wear – hats and mitts
  • Prancer’s WIPs Wrapping – any project started before the Games
  • Vixen’s Shawl Stall – shawls and wraps
  • Comet’s Closet – sweaters and other garments
  • Cupid’s Cowl Corner – cowls and neckwarmers
  • Donner’s Blanket Bazaar – blankets and afghans
  • Blitzen’s Bag Bonanza – bags and purses

You’ll receive the medal for the stall you ‘visited’ once you’ve finish your project! And you can also receive bonus Antler awards for your projects:

PlanetJune Reindeer Games Antler awards

  • Santa’s Helper – showing team spirit
  • Angel – charity project
  • Carolling – crochet in public
  • Cookie Decorator – colourwork
  • Deck the Halls – embellishments
  • Heirloom – using a PJ pattern you’ve owned for more than 3 months
  • Ice Sculptor – techniques: cables, lace or Tunisian
  • Snowman – modifying the base pattern
  • Master Wrapper – complete 3 WIP projects
  • Super Elf – complete any 3 projects
  • Bah! Humbug! – complete a project on Christmas Eve
  • Fireworks – complete a project on New Year’s Eve
  • Have a Cookie – a special antler for those of us who try our best but don’t quite get to the finish line

Whether you’re crocheting your favourite PlanetJune patterns as Christmas gifts, items to sell at craft fairs or online, toys for charity, or projects for yourself, we’re ready to encourage you to complete your goals and to celebrate your successes with you!

And, even if you think you may not have time to complete a project, you’re very welcome to join the team for the community spirit and friendly chat. There’s something about PlanetJune that attracts the kindest and most supportive people, and, if you enjoy PlanetJune patterns, you’re already part of our community – do come over and say hello!

Team PlanetJune in the Rav Games 2021

To give you an idea of what to expect, in the Ravellenic Games last summer, Team PlanetJune completed 54 projects, and enjoyed 56 pages of chat! Here’s a roundup of all the wonderful PlanetJune projects that we completed in just 2 weeks:

Ravellenic Games 2021 - Team PlanetJune crochet projectsRavellenic Games 2021 - Team PlanetJune crochet projectsRavellenic Games 2021 - Team PlanetJune crochet projects

Isn’t it lovely to see the variety of projects and be inspired by what other people are making? I expect the project mix will look somewhat different for the Reindeer Games, with more Christmas decorations and warm accessories – but who knows! You’ll have to join in to find out…

Join us for the Reindeer Games!

PlanetJune Reindeer Games 2021

While the Ravellenic Games is a fast-paced sprint, the Reindeer Games is more of a gentle stroll together towards the holidays. The rules are relaxed, the timeline is extended, and having fun and supporting each other is the main goal.

If that sounds good to you, please hop over to the PlanetJune group on Ravelry, and leave a message saying “I’m in!” in the Reindeer Games thread. We look forward to welcoming you into our virtual Reindeer Games Village. 🙂

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BotaniCAL roundup

The BotaniCAL crochet-along ran from May throughout the summer, and we’ve ended up with so many gorgeous crocheted potted plants, and a few lovely flowers and fruit etc too! My cactus and succulent patterns were by far the most popular options – I’m happy to say that the succulent trend is showing no sign of fading. 🙂

Highlights

All the entries are highlight-worthy, but I thought I’d share the impressive achievements of some of the most prolific CALers:

PlanetJune BotaniCAL crochetalong entries
Monica (MagicalAmigurumi) made all 26 of my individual cacti and succulents – wow! (I bet making the pots got a bit boring by the end…) I hope they’re selling well for you, Monica 🙂

PlanetJune BotaniCAL crochetalong entries
Dagrider made a massive succulent planter including all 16 succulents! Don’t they look so realistic, all together like that?

PlanetJune BotaniCAL crochetalong entriesPlanetJune BotaniCAL crochetalong entries

Alicia (aaBrink, left) and Susanna (sujavo, right) both made fabulous succulent wreaths. I love how they took the same concept and ended up with completely different (and equally lovely!) results, by choosing different colour palettes and arrangements for their succulents.

PlanetJune BotaniCAL crochetalong entries
And Judy (jukatca) made all 6 cactus and succulent gardens. ‘Planted’ in real pots and sitting on her windowsill, don’t they look great?

PlanetJune BotaniCAL crochetalong entriesPlanetJune BotaniCAL crochetalong entries

And last but not least (except in size), Michelle (MichelleBogart) loves to make miniature amigurumi with a tiny hook and crochet thread – just look at her mini Pansies and African Violets (with a spool of sewing thread for scale)! Now that’s impressive.


Enjoy the BotaniCAL Gallery

I’ve really enjoyed watching all the plants popping up in this CAL and seeing the creativity in terms of colours, arrangements, scale, etc – there’s obviously a lot you can do with a crocheted pot plant pattern!

Thank you so much to everyone who participated – you can enjoy the full BotaniCAL gallery of projects here on Ravelry 🙂

BotaniCAL participants, it’s not too late to add your missing projects:

  1. Make a Ravelry project for your item
  2. Mark it as finished
  3. Add a photo
  4. Add the CAL tag PJCALMay18

(see the CAL FAQ for instructions on how to do those things)

…and your project will automatically appear in the BotaniCAL gallery!


Pick up a Plant Pattern

The CAL may be over, but you can crochet your own PlanetJune potted plants whenever you want! Here are a few links:


Join Us!

If this looks like fun, the next PlanetJune CAL will be starting shortly and we’d love to welcome you as a participant! PlanetJune crochet-alongs are a low stress way to try PlanetJune patterns as part of our friendly encouraging online community. There are usually small and/or free pattern options if you’re short on time or money, and we’ll offer you any help and encouragement you need, no matter your crochet skill level!

Join us in the PlanetJune Ravelry group and look out for the next CAL announcement there, coming soon 🙂

Comments (3)

Summer of Dinosaurs CAL roundup

The Summer of Dinosaurs crochet-along was a huge success, with new dinosaurs joining the herd pretty much every day, until we had an amazing 129 completed projects by the end of July! Here’s an overview of all 129 dinos completed during this CAL so you can admire our epic yarny Jurassic Park (if you’d like to see any of the projects in more detail, click here to view the CAL gallery in full, but you’ll need to be a Ravelry member to see them):









What an amazing collection! I love the variety: colours, styles, sizes, customizations, and photo staging. And top quality crocheting by all involved!

The Prizes…

PlanetJune Summer of Dinosaurs CAL - prizes

This was a prize CAL, generously sponsored by Lion Brand. The Grand Prize yarn will be provided by Lion Brand and shipped directly to the winner, and I’m providing all the other prizes.

  • Grand Prize: 3 skeins Vanna’s Choice (the yarn I used to make all my dinosaurs!) and 1 skein of the gorgeous new Textures yarn plus a PlanetJune crochet pattern of your choice
  • Second Prize: a PlanetJune Amigurumi Essentials Kit plus a PlanetJune crochet pattern of your choice
  • Third Prize: a PlanetJune crochet pattern of your choice
  • Runner-up Prizes: there are no losers at PlanetJune! All other participants who complete one or more entries in the CAL will receive a 10% discount code towards your next order from PlanetJune.com 🙂

I grabbed all 129 entries and pasted them into Excel so they were in numbered rows, sorted alphabetically. Then I used random.org to generate 3 numbers between 1 and 129 (inclusive) for the winners. And they are:

Grand Prize winner: #31 kathertine
Second Prize winner: #74 NeofelisNebulosa
Third Prize winner: #98 pandabugcreations

Congratulations to the winners! Look out for a Ravelry PM from me so you can give me your details for your prizes. And to all the other participants, I’ll be PMing you too, with your runner-up discount code 🙂

Thanks to all of you who particiapted, for making this crochet-along so successful – it’s been an absolute pleasure to see all these wonderful ami dinosaurs popping up over the past 7 weeks!

There’s always a crochet-along running in the PlanetJune group on Ravelry. If you’d like to join a current or future CAL, please join our group and participate as often as you want – we’d love to see your projects.

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Summer of Dinosaurs CAL: How to Enter

We’re now 2 weeks into the Summer of Dinosaurs crochet-along, and the dinos are starting to overrun the PlanetJune Ravelry group, with 50 projects and 37 finished dinosaurs posted already!


PlanetJune Summer of Dinosaurs CAL: How to Enter a CAL

With 5 more weeks to go, I thought now would be a good time to help out any of you who’ve been reluctant to join the CAL because you’re not familiar with Ravelry. Ravelry is a huge site that has a lot to offer, and that can be a bit intimidating when you first sign up and have so many options to click into. There’s definitely a bit of a learning curve to Ravelry, but the good news is that you only need to use a tiny fraction of the site to enter a PlanetJune CAL.

Don’t be scared! Just click through to my PlanetJune Crochet-Along FAQ, where I’ll show you, step-by-step, everything you need to know to add your CAL project to Ravelry and post it to the PlanetJune group.

PlanetJune Ravelry group
The PlanetJune group on Ravelry, where you can find pattern support, chat about crochet (and more), make new friends, and share your love of PlanetJune patterns!


And, once you’re comfortable with the PlanetJune corner of Ravelry, I recommend you start to explore the whole site a bit further – it’s totally free to use, and it has a lot to offer anyone who crochets (and/or knits).

Ravelry includes a searchable database of pretty much every pattern and yarn in existence, so if you’re looking for something in particular it’s easy to find it. You can also see all the projects other people have made from the patterns or yarns (before you decide to buy them!) and their verdict on what they thought of it.


Don’t forget that with every Summer of Dinosaurs CAL entry, you’ll be entered to win some of the amazing prizes pictured below: your favourite colours of Lion Brand yarn, an amigurumi kit, PlanetJune patterns, and runner-up prizes for all entrants (see the main CAL post for full details of the prizes).

PlanetJune Summer of Dinosaurs CAL - prizes

Ready to make some dinos? Join the crochet-along now!

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Summer of Dinosaurs CAL: Tutorials

We’re only 1 week into the Summer of Dinosaurs crochet-along, and the PlanetJune Ravelry group is already teeming with dinos. Just look…


Rawr!

It’s a thrill to see new unique colourful dinosaurs popping up every day, and to have lots of new participants joining our regular band of CALers! There are 6 more weeks to go, so that’s plenty of time for even a complete beginner to crochet a dinosaur to join our virtual herd…

If you’re tempted to join the CAL but you’re new to amigurumi, or haven’t made a PlanetJune pattern before, this is a great opportunity to have a go. Even if you’ve been crocheting for years, amigurumi (and my patterns in particular) use a specific set of techniques that you may not be familiar with.

PlanetJune Summer of Dinosaurs CAL: Tutorials

For your first dinosaur (or even your first amigurumi!) I recommend you choose the Brachiosaurus (who’s also our CAL mascot, pictured above left), as it has simple shaping, only a few pieces to stitch together, and an undeniably cute result.

I have a comprehensive range of amigurumi tutorials at www.planetjune.com/help, but you’ll only need a few of them for this CAL. To set you on the track to success, let’s take a look at the tutorials for making the best-looking dinosaurs…


The Essential Tutorials

To make beautiful amigurumi with no lumps, bumps or holes, all you need are these 4 absolutely essential techniques:

Magic Ring for Crochet
Start crocheting in the round with no hole in the middle.
video tutorialphoto tutorial (right-handed)photo tutorial (left-handed)

Invisible Decrease for Amigurumi
Decrease without leaving any bumps or gaps.
video tutorialphoto tutorial (right-handed)photo tutorial (left-handed)

Ultimate Finish for Amigurumi
Close up the remaining hole neatly with a smooth, gap-free finish.
video tutorialphoto tutorial

Amigurumi Seamless Join
Create a smooth, almost invisible join when you stitch an open-ended piece to a closed piece.
video tutorial

Bonus Tips for Dinosaurs

For those dinos with horns, spikes, plates, wings and flippers, these tutorials have you covered:

Flattened Pieces
What does it mean when a pattern says to flatten a piece of an amigurumi after crocheting?
photo tutorial

Narrow Pointed Tubes for Amigurumi
My tips for making thin pointy bits on amigurumi, such as spikes, legs, horns and tails.
video tutorial

Basic Techniques and Troubleshooting

If you’re new to amigurumi-making or find your stitches don’t quite look right, try these tutorials (or see my Amigurumi Troubleshooter for further assistance):

Which is the ‘Right’ Side?
Which side of your work should face outwards? (And does it matter?)
video tutorialphoto tutorial

Front, Back, Both Loops
Which loop(s) should you work into to make a crochet stitch?
video tutorial

Yarn Over
How exactly should you wrap the yarn over your hook for crochet?
video tutorial

And if you still have any questions, that’s what the PlanetJune community is here for: we have lots of friendly crocheters in the PlanetJune Ravelry group who understand exactly what you’re going through, and are waiting to offer any help and advice you need. 🙂


PlanetJune Summer of Dinosaurs CAL - pattern options

I hope this post has tempted you to join the dino fun this summer (and, don’t forget you may win a great prize too, thanks to our CAL sponsor, Lion Brand!)

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