It always makes me smile to see what people have made with my patterns, and hosting Crochet-Alongs is a great way to bring them together. Even though I’ve been largely absent for this CAL (a crazy move halfway around the world takes up a lot of time), I’m very happy to see that people have still participated – yay! I’d like to give a shout-out to the folks in the PlanetJune Ravelry group who keep the conversation going even when I’m not around to join in 🙂

It’s been quite a challenge to put this roundup together with my very limited internet access, but I’ve managed it. And now for the fun part – let’s take a look at the Easter CAL entries:

yaney made a cute PocketAmi bunny called Pip!

camaharet crocheted pretty daffodils in pink and white.

arbitrarily made this sweet Fuzzy Lamb with a colourful tummy!

Katalin whipped up a tulip and a bee to add to her daffodils to make a spring bouquet.

englishdormouse‘s Fuzzy Bunny looks striking with that lovely variegated yarn.

klopferli‘s  PocketAmi trio look like they are chilling out in a mini armchair!

CrochtColorJunkie crocheted a whole egg box full of Easter eggs…

…and she took her trio of PocketAmi bunnies all the way to the Griffith Observatory to take their photo beneath the Hollywood sign (okay, it’s pretty small, but it’s really there at the top of the hill!)

rastakt set up a cute backdrop for her sweet PocketAmi set.

I’m melting with the cuteness of Morgan’s adorable grey lamby!

saudistitcher made this duckling and ‘chocolate’ egg for her little granddaughter 🙂

Linda sent me this pic of her daffodil that she made into a pin (clever idea!)

The prolific winner of the Christmas CAL, jukatca, has been crocheting up a storm again, making the full selection of CAL projects! Fuzzy Lamb…

…a sweet Fuzzy Bunny…

…a collection of Easter Eggs (and don’t they look pretty in those colours?!)…

…a PocketAmi Easter set…

…and a vase of red and white daffodils. I used to love that variety with the red centres (narcissi, maybe?) – I haven’t seen them since I left the UK 8 years ago, so this brings back some memories for me!

And last, but definitely not least, Jolie made the daffodil pattern her own by adding some pretty embroidered embellishments.

And now the results of the random drawing:
First prize ($10 gift certificate) goes to Morgan S
Second prize (free pattern) goes to Linda S
Runner up prize (discount voucher) goes to all the other entrants – thank you for participating!

Please bear with me: I still don’t have internet access at home so it may take me a few more days to email your prizes to you, but I promise you’ll get them some time next week!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this roundup – I think all the projects are adorable! Happy Easter to those who observe it, and, for everyone else, don’t forget to go out tomorrow to pick up some cheap chocolate eggs 😉

As for me, I hope to get my Blackberry contract approved and get back online properly any day now – it pays to be patient in South Africa, as things happen when they happen here, and trying to rush them doesn’t help at all. I’m attempting to curb my frustration: I think a nice calm nature walk to look at some of the beautiful and exotic birds and plants that are everywhere here will take my mind off it! Here’s our temporary accommodation (actually, there are 3 identical pepperpot towers and mine is the middle one that you can’t see here, but you get the idea):

Down the hill (to the right in the above photo) is the city. And up the hill (to the left above) is nothing but a spectacular view up Table Mountain:

So don’t feel sorry for me – I’ll get the internet sorted out soon, and, apart from that, it’s pretty amazing here, especially for a big nature fan like me!

Happy Christmas!

Here’s the rest of the Christmas Crochet-Along roundup (if you missed my previous post, the other entries are here).

Meg used variegated yarn to great effect with her baubles.

Di made some wonderfully sparkly baubles using beaded crochet with seed beads – I really love these!

Poor Ginger has been in hospital (get well soon, Ginger) but still managed to complete a few baubles for the CAL – now that’s team spirit!

Reem made an exact twin of my white Christmas tree, but used beads instead of pins to make the baubles.

Erica made this Christmas pudding as her first CAL.

Katie made Rudolph and all Santa’s other reindeer too – how cool is that?! And she cleverly adapted the technique from my PocketAmi witch’s hair to make a bearded Santa.

This bold red Christmas tree was crocheted by Jo-Ann.

Linda did a little outdoor decorating amid the snow in Sweden with some Christmas puddings (and a couple of Christmas whales thrown in for good measure!)

Hattalahutta stuffed her tree and decorated it with pearl headed pins and silver star sequins.

Nicole has been busy, making a poinsettia and a tri-colour candy cane…

…and a cute little white Christmas tree!

Erica didn’t have any green yarn for her pudding’s leaves, but used green thread to great effect instead.

Jana made her poinsettia into a tree ornament with a little hanging loop.

Lena says this poinsettia and pudding were her first completed ravelry projects 🙂

And last but definitely not least, Kim adapted my Elf pattern to make a cutie Merry Mouse to go with her other PocketAmi!

All wonderful, I’m sure you’ll agree… And now to the winners! I used random.org to draw 2 from all the emailed entries:
First prize ($10 gift certificate) goes to Jukatca – congratulations Judy! 🙂
Second prize (free pattern) goes to Robin!

But nobody’s a loser around here: I’ll email runner-up prize discount codes to all the CAL participants within the next couple of days!

Thanks so much for taking part; seeing all these sweet projects has really put a smile on my face. I hope it’s done the same for you with these roundup posts 🙂

And one more thing before I settle down with Dave and Maui for some tea and Christmas cake: I hope you’re having a very happy Christmas. Cheers!

UPDATE: I missed a few pics from my updates – oops! Here they are:

Cora ran out of time to finish her tree, but did complete a cute snowman for the CAL!

Rebecca had the lovely idea of making baubles to decorate the tree for her family reunion – each family gets to take one home at the end of the reunion. She also modified the pattern to make some into the ‘candy’ shape you can see here – clever!

…And Rebecca also made this cute elf and snowman into tree ornaments by adding a hanging loop to them.

If I’ve missed your entry too, please let me know so I can add it to this post!

The Christmas Crochet-Along has been a great success! For the past month or so I’ve had the pleasure of watching the entries come in, and seeing all the special little touches (yarn choices, pattern modifications, mix-and-matching, etc) that make each project a unique creation.

And what better way to celebrate Christmas than to show off the wonderful seasonal crochet-along projects! As there are so many, I’ve split them into 2 posts, and I hope you’ll enjoy looking through all the entries as much as I have.

Stay tuned for part 2 some time tomorrow (well, technically today – it’s after midnight). I’ll also be announcing the contest winners in the next post…

Seeing double with Silverlotus‘ cute PocketAmi.

La Mañosa crocheted 2 stars and stitched them together to make it more rigid – clever!

Ellen made both poinsettia types and a Christmas pudding!

Jo-Ann made this pretty poinsettia.

This stylish green and white candy cane is from Nadine.

Barbara decorated her tree with little decorations from Hobby Lobby.

Mack made a variety of candy canes and modified my Mop Top Mascots pattern to make it more Christmassy.

Robin took my Elf one step further and added a Santa to her PocketAmi collection.

Alicia made a poinsettia table centrepiece.

Jukatca made a striking set of baubles…

…a PocketAmi set with an added girl elf…

…some candy canes and a Christmas pudding…

…AND a poinsettia!

Leigh made some self-striping baubles using a patterned yarn.

Dee made a Christmas pudding for a Ravelry “Christmas Ornament” swap.

Pysselkiisen made 4 Christmas trees…

…a poinsettia…

…and a lovely candy cane and Christmas pudding wreath!

Aren’t they all lovely? Believe it or not, these are not all of the entries – I still have plenty more pictures to process and upload once I’ve had a little sleep and put the turkey in the oven tomorrow morning 🙂

HAPPY CHRISTMAS everybody, and look out for part 2 of the CAL roundup in a few hours…

The Fall CAL in the PlanetJune crochet designs group on Ravelry is now over! Participants crocheted along using my Pumpkin and PocketAmi Halloween patterns. Check out my roundup below of all the cute and spoooooky finished projects. (If I’ve missed yours, please email me or leave a comment with the link, and I’ll add it to this post.)

Ready to see the cuteness? Read on…

Halloween Trio by klopferli. I love the blue witch – why aren’t there more blue witches out there?!

Nicole (klopferli) was very busy this time around; she also whipped up both cute AND spooky pumpkins!

A nice set of all 4 designs (love the cat’s eyes!) by amanda1981, pictured in a very cool handmade set!

Spot the crocheted pumpkin! Megan of Crochet Every Day held her own CAL using my Pumpkin pattern – and here’s her contribution.

Another cute set by Silverlotus, with a special surprise…

…she used Glow in the Dark yarn for the ghost! Love it! And on the right, we have another creative idea: Veggie used bamboo skewers to turn her Halloween set into a mobile. (Cool idea!)

Here’s a spot the difference by Missie of Crafting With Cat Hair. It’s so cute together with the real mini pumpkin!

Launi of Gracious Rain crocheted my pumpkin pattern using ‘yarn’ she made by cutting an old t-shirt into strips! Cool, huh?

Here’s a monochrome set by rastakt – I love how the cat’s eyes look like they’re glowing in this pic!

A very stylish pumpkin by Becky L (submitted via my Facebook page).

A set by saudistitcher (the witch’s eyes are hilarious!). It’s incomplete because her real-life cat Bibi made off with the black crocheted kitty before Jana could take the photo! 🙂

These teeny-tiny pumpkins were crocheted from thread by Anne R (again, submitted via my Facebook page). To give you an idea of just how tiny they are, that’s a marble in between them – wow!

And last but definitely not least, jucatka made a spooky Haunted Cactus Garden using the CAL patterns and my Cactus Collection patterns! Too cool for words – I love it!

It’s so great to see such variety here, and I’ve especially enjoyed seeing how people have staged their photos this time around – nice job, everyone! Thanks so much to everyone who joined in; I hope you enjoyed it 🙂

If you like seeing things people have made using my patterns, check out the PlanetJune Crochet Flickr group. Join the group, and add photos of everything you’ve made from my crochet patterns – I just love to see what you’ve been making!

And one more thing: Happy Halloweeeeeeen!

First up: the August ‘Review and Win’ winner is… Cora S, with her review of my Dinosaurs Set 1 patterns:

I am very happy with this pattern. June has a way of explaining things very clearly. I love they simplicity of the design. I am almost finished the brachiosaurus and look forward to finishing the others. I also have her other dinosaurs. These are going to be sets for Christmas gifts. Thank you June for another great set of patterns.

Congratulations, Cora, I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize!

If you’d like to be entered into the September drawing to win a pattern of your choice, it’s easy! Just review any item(s) you’ve bought from me – each review in my shop gives you another entry into the contest.

*****

The Summer CAL in the PlanetJune crochet designs group on Ravelry is now over.

The Summer Crochet-Along had a choice of two designs: my Alpacas and African Violets patterns. Both patterns were popular, but even though the CAL lasted for 2 months, I suppose summertime isn’t the best time for completing crochet projects, as many participants have yet to complete theirs. But that’s okay – we all know life gets in the way of things sometimes, and I’m sure everyone will find the time to complete their projects eventually!
Below I have a nice little roundup of all the cute finished projects. (If I’ve missed yours, please email me or leave a comment with the link, and I’ll add it to this post.)

Alpacas by indigo22 and rainydaybaby.

African Violets by bsktkls and devinise.

An alpaca converted into a giraffe by NatureandNurture and a regular Alpaca by nuime.

African Violets by jukatca and klopferli (who made both sizes!)

And a gold star goes to Silverlotus for making not one, but four alpacas!

I love seeing everyone’s choice of yarns etc and how adorable all the finished projects are! Thanks so much to everyone who joined in; I hope you enjoyed it 🙂

If you’d like to help choose the pattern(s) for the Fall CAL, come join us at the PlanetJune ravelry group!

A little admin before we begin: Today is June 1st, which means it’s time to pick a new winner of a free pattern from everyone who’s written a review for my shop. And the winner is… Michelle T! Congratulations, Michelle, I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize!

If you’d like to be entered into the June drawing to win a pattern of your choice, it’s easy! Just review any item(s) in my shop – each review gives you another entry into the contest.

*****

Over the past 6 weeks, we had our first crochet-along at the PlanetJune crochet designs group on Ravelry.

The Spring CAL had a choice of two designs: my Daffodils and Tiny Whale patterns. The daffodils are lovely and seasonal, but the whale pattern got more takers because it’s possibly the fastest amigurumi pattern in the world 🙂

I thought I’d do a roundup post to show all the Daffodils and Whales everyone came up with! (If I’ve missed yours, please email me or leave a comment with the link, and I’ll add it to this post.)

I wanted to join in the Crochet-Along too, so I super-sized my whale pattern by using a larger hook and thicker yarn, and made Mega Whale!

One of these whales is not like the others…

And now to the good part: here’s the gallery of whales and daffodils that you all made (in no particular order):

Whales by sparklyshiny and jjphotoftw.

Daffodils by yellowpinksparkly and momohewey.

Whales by hbootsman and nuime.

Whales by klopferli and amAlison.

Jelibe made a whale and a daffodil.

Whales by LoopyJess and missclairey.

All these daffodils are by spartyliblover.

Whales by hattalahutta and rastakt.

Whales by dukianababe and LadyDark27.

All these daffodils are by Jukatca.

And a special mention has to go to bethand, for making this huge pod of whales…

…and then making another pod of them (with little fins!)

Aren’t they all wonderful? I love seeing them all together like this! Thanks so much to everyone who joined in; I hope you enjoyed it! We’ll definitely be doing this again (with different patterns) – if you’d like to join in the next CAL, come join us at the PlanetJune ravelry group!