Just a few quick items this month, as, behind the scenes, I’m juggling over 20 designs in various stages of completion, and trying to get my blog redesign finished so I can finally use my new logo…

Wildlife-Along CAL

Choose from my menagerie of wild animal patterns to crochet and meet us in the PlanetJune Ravelry group for the Wildlife-Along crochet-along, running until the end of the month…

You’ll find all the patterns – and a few more that didn’t make it into the above collage – in the Wild Animals category of my shop. And if you’re thinking “CAL? Huh?” or “What’s Ravelry?”, see the PlanetJune Crochet-Along FAQ for everything you need to know 🙂

With close to 100 new members in my Ravelry group over the past week (welcome to all of you!), I hope this CAL will be even better than usual!

Review and Win contest

April’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Erica A, with her Baby Bunnies review:

A very cute pattern that is enjoyable to make. The instructions are clear and detailed for both the crochet and the assembly. I love how the subtle shaping results in such a cute and realistic finished object. The three variations give added interest and value.

Congrats Erica – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

Commissions

With 2 designs completed, the new commissions process is still going well.

I’ve added a couple of new options to replace the animals I’ve already designed, but I’ve had requests for many more. I’ve put up a poll on my Facebook page to find out if you’d prefer to have more choices, or if too many in the list at once would get confusing – please vote (or comment here if you don’t use FB) if you have an opinion on that!

It may be April 1st, but there’s no fooling here – just my usual news update…

Pocket-Along CAL

The top-voted theme for April’s Crochet-Along was a Pocket-Along! This will include all my pocket-sized patterns (PocketAmi Sets 1-6, Mop Top Mascots, Tiny Whale) or, if you’re feeling adventurous, try miniaturizing any of my regular-sized patterns with a smaller hook and finer yarn.

This is a great theme for those of you with busy lives and not much free time to crochet: as the PocketAmi are so small, they work up far more quickly than my other designs. Come join the tiny ami fun at the Pocket-Along thread in the PlanetJune Ravelry group!

Easter CAL

With a week remaining until Easter, there’s still plenty of time to crochet a set of stylish decorative Easter Eggs or the cutest Baby Bunnies you’ll ever see! Here’s a sampling of some of the adorable bunnies that have already been made for the CAL, in case you need a little more temptation:

Awwww! I’ll show you full-sized photos of these and more, with credit to the crocheters, in the CAL roundup next Sunday.

Don’t forget to share your bunnies, eggs, and more in the PlanetJune Ravelry group so I can include your pics in the Easter CAL roundup 🙂

Review and Win contest

March’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Hannah B, with her Detail Stuffing Tool review:

Best. Tool. Ever. Don’t know how I stuffed before it. It’s so easy to use and it works incredibly.

Congrats Hannah – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

(By the way, if you haven’t bought your Detail Stuffing Tool yet, remember you can also pick one up as part of my Amigurumi Essentials Kit, together with a set of stitch markers for crochet and a selection of safety eyes.)

To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

New Designs…

My koala, the first design commissioned through the new pledging process is now complete, and he’s the most realistic koala I’ve ever seen. (If you follow the PlanetJune Facebook page you’ll have already seen a sneak peek photo!) My next task is to finish editing all the photos and complete the pattern. I hope to have the pattern finished and up in the shop in the next couple of days. Thank you to everyone who pledged for this design – making a koala has been on my list for years, but I probably wouldn’t have ever got around to doing it without the commission!

I wonder which design will be fully pledged next..? Platypus and Sea Otter are the current front-runners, but several others are catching up, and I have no idea who’ll end up reaching the finish line first. So far, I think this new commissions model has been a great success; the only animals I’ve put on the list are ones that I know I’ll be happy to design, so it’s fun to watch the race and wonder which animal I’ll be designing next!

I’m so glad my last post on building a unique and successful business by combining your passions and skills resonated with so many people – I hope I’ve inspired a few people to discover their own path to success. (And I also hope someone appropriates my crocheted baked goods with matching recipes idea – I still think that’s an excellent hook for a business!)

Easter CAL

2012 may be the Chinese Year of the Dragon, but around these parts, it’s definitely the Year of the BUNNIES! My Baby Bunnies crochet pattern seems to be irresistible – the bunnies are multiplying so fast, we have almost 20 entered in the Easter Crochet-Along already! We should have just called it a Bunny CAL – I think the other pattern options are feeling a little neglected…

You’ll find the bunny-making madness at the Easter CAL thread in the PlanetJune Ravelry group – if you’re making bunnies this month, please come and share your pics 🙂

Review and Win contest

February’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Katalin G, with her Succulent Collections 1 and 2 review:

These plants look wonderfully realistic, yet they are easy and quick to make thanks to the smart design. It deserves to be a huge hit!

Congrats Kati – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

The next draw will mark 2 years of me running this contest – that’s 24 free patterns I’ve given away to reviewers! To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

Craft Tutorials

I’m slowly adding my most popular craft tutorials as printable PDFs (donationware) in the shop. New arrivals this month include the ever-popular Shrink Plastic Rings, and my Offset Square Wrist Pincushion and matching Fabric and Felt Needlebook sewing patterns. The needlebook was previously only available in the book One Yard Wonders, so if you don’t have that book, now you have a chance to make it anyway – and it makes a very sweet pins-n-needles set with the pincushion.

PlanetJune in the Press

Two current UK magazines have PlanetJune mentions: Simply Knitting April 2012 (they apparently cover crochet too, despite the title!) and Inside Crochet issue 27:

Simply Knitting included my Easter Eggs pattern at #6 in their “12 Treats for Knitters at Easter” article:

and Inside Crochet readers voted me as 2nd best crochet blog:

Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the blog awards, and welcome to any new UK readers who’ve found me through these articles – I hope you find lots to interest you here!

This past week has been amazing – the response to my succulents has been phenomenal (e.g. well over 600 pins on Pinterest; mentions on Craft, Neatorama and Cheezburger).

I hoped all my hard work designing these would pay off, but I didn’t expect them to outsell half my existing pattern catalogue within a week…

It’s Groundhog Day!

“He comes out. He looks around. He wrinkles up his little nose. He sees his shadow…”

…and that means we’re in for, what, 6 more weeks of baking hot summer? As (probably) the only groundhog in Africa, my little buddy is justifiably confused! (Note: that scrubby patch he’s sitting on is all that remains of my lawn…)

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone! I’m hoping we’ll have time to watch the movie tonight…

Review and Win contest

January’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Linda U, with her Emperor Penguin Family review:

These patterns are a perfect combination, not only as a beautiful penguin family, but also for practicing colour changes. I recommend you start with the baby penguin, since it is only 2 colours to work with, then continue with the adult.

Congrats Linda – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

February CALs

Get all lovey-dovey with crocheted hearts and flowers in the Valentine’s Crochet-Along, with my free (donationware) heart and rose patterns:

And/or come and work on your succulent garden together with everyone else and join the Plant-Along! We worked out that between the 8 cactus and 8 succulent patterns, there are 1820 possible combinations of “4 different plants in 1 pot” – I wonder how many of those we’ll see in the CAL?

I hope you’ll join us…

2012 is treating me well so far – I hope it’s going well for you too! I loved my holiday, but I’m enjoying getting back down to work just as much 🙂

Review and Win contest

December’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Rianne d, with her Gift Boxes review:

I’m really happy with this pattern, it does exactly what the description says; it’s like magic how the box really stays square instead of rounding up like most one-piece in-the-round cubes! The instructions are easy to follow and all the special stitches are explained really well with a nice photo tutorial, I had no trouble at all with making the corners. And the end result looks pretty, of course. 😀

Congrats Rianne – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

January CAL

The AquaAmi Crochet-Along is in full swing – come and join in at the PlanetJune Ravelry group! I have loads of patterns for you to choose from:

Other News

After my month-long designing hiatus I feel newly inspired. I’m midway through an exciting, ambitious design to be released later this month, if all goes to plan. It’s great to get back to crocheting after such a long (although much needed) break, and I’m looking forward to having new designs and tutorials to share with you soon! Watch this space…

Keep reading for the details of the 2011 Christmas CAL and contest!

How can it be December already?! This is the start of my first southern-hemisphere summer, so it’s very hard to believe it’s December – it’s certainly a big change from Canada! This whole year has been a real struggle for me – moving abroad, months of illness, building a new life in a new country, and growing a business – I’ve had too much on my plate for a long time.

So I’ve decided to pause, and to spend this month catching up with work and life-related tasks that have been stacking up, and winding down so that I can have a proper break at Christmas and relax instead of worrying about all the hundreds of emails I have to answer and everything else that I’ve been setting aside for “when I have time” (i.e. never). Then I’ll be ready to start 2012 fresh, with new goals and a new plan.

Review and Win contest

November’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Kim D, with her Reindeer Antlers review:

I searched for THE PERFECT antler and yours are by far, the best out there! The directions are very clear and easy to understand. Having the tutorial pictures is an ENORMOUS bonus and have helped when my brain just got stuck! I was initially intimidated to try making them, but because your directions are so easy to follow, I am currently working on my third set!! Thank you so much for creating the pattern and having it available for purchase in cyberspace!

Congrats Kim (and thanks for the great feedback!) – I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

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Christmas CAL and contest

December means it’s time for another Christmas Crochet-Along! This year I’m running everything through the PlanetJune Ravelry group – it’s much more fun as you can chat with other crocheters throughout the month, make friends, ask questions, and actually be part of a group. But I’ll still be doing Christmas CAL prizes like last year, so there’s a little extra incentive to join in 😉

This crochet-along runs December 1-24 and you can join in by making any of the PlanetJune Christmas-themed crochet patterns:

Gift Boxes, Reindeer Antlers,
Christmas Trees, Christmas Baubles,
Poinsettia, PocketAmi Christmas,
Christmas Pudding, Candy Cane

The winners will be drawn randomly from all entries (one entry per pattern you crochet), and there’ll be a runner-up prize for all participants – my Christmas present to you!

The prizes:
First prize: a $10 gift certificate to spend on anything in the PlanetJune store
Second prize: a free pattern of your choice from the PlanetJune store
Runner-up prizes: I’ll send a discount code to all participants, to use against their next order from the PlanetJune store.

Please join us! You’ll find the Christmas CAL 2011 thread in the PlanetJune Ravelry group – I hope to see you there!

A quick newsy post today, with a new winner, a new name, and a new deal:

Review and Win contest

October’s ‘Review and Win’ winner is Holly M, with her Detail Stuffing Tool review:

I make a lot of stuffed toys (some crochet, some sewn) and this is the only stuffing tool I’ve ever tried that helps me get stuffing into those really small tubes/arms/legs/etc. A chore that used to take literally hours sometimes, now takes minutes with this little tool! I really can’t say enough about it – love love love it! Makes stuffing small limbs a breeze!

Congrats Holly! I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize 🙂

To be entered into this month’s draw for a free pattern of your choice, just write a review of any product in my shop – thank you!

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Renamed: Amigurumi Essentials Kit

I realised months ago that having a line of patterns called PlanetJune Accessories and a kit called Amigurumi Accessory Kit was potentially confusing, but it took a suggestion from the ever-helpful ladies (and gents?) in my Ravelry group to make me do something about it. We didn’t have much luck coming up for a replacement name for the PlanetJune Accessories line (as I didn’t want the name to limit the scope of future designs – I think accessories is a good catch-all for everything except graded garments and toys), so we voted on a new name for the Accessory Kit instead.

So, as from today, the item formerly know as Amigurumi Accessory Kit is reborn as the Amigurumi Essentials Kit!

The contents is unchanged; you’ll still get:

• 1 Detail Stuffing Tool
• 5 Stitch Markers
• 2 pairs black 6mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs clear 8mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs black 9mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs clear 10mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs black 12mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs clear 15mm safety eyes with washers

If you do want to order one (or more) as Christmas gifts, please be aware that mail from South Africa takes about 2 weeks at the best of times, and I imagine it’ll get slower as we approach the holidays, so please don’t wait too long if you want to make sure you’ll receive your package in time for the big day.

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PlanetJune Accessories Custom Set of 3 Patterns

I launched this a few weeks ago, but just realised that I forgot to announce it! Thanks to another suggestion from my amazing Ravelry group, I’ve launched a PlanetJune Accessories Custom Set multipack (following the successful model of my AmiDogs Custom Set): any 3 patterns of your choice from the PlanetJune Accessories line for a special price.

If you’re considering joining the November Accessories CAL, maybe this is the incentive you need to get started..?

Let’s get this out of the way first: I was given a copy of this book to review. But I’m not being compensated for this review in any other way, and the following is based on my honest opinions!

Overview

Microcrafts: Tiny Treasures to Make and Share, compiled by Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, and Katie Hatz, is a craft project book that includes 25 miniature craft projects that use a variety of different methods and materials – and each project is no larger than a spool of thread!

I love tiny craft projects – they can be fast to make, use hardly any supplies, take up no space to display, and have a huge cuteness factor just from their size alone! So I really looked forward to seeing this book, and I wasn’t disappointed.

It’s a hardcover book, with very nice, understated styling. It’s fun just to flip through – the photos are large and clear (larger than life-size!) and the projects are well-displayed. Project instructions are broken down into numbered steps, with illustrations, templates, and tips. It’s all well laid out and easy to follow.

Embroidered felt pendant and a felted planets mobile

The included projects cover a range of styles and difficulties, from the very basic (nutshell boats, miniature paper bunting) to more technically demanding (tiny books, miniature macrame), and a range of materials including paper, felt, fabric, polymer clay, and more. Every project is very different, and there are some original concepts that I haven’t seen anywhere else before, so you really get your money’s worth, and plenty of scope to spark your imagination.

Miniature books

My Experience

I fell in love with the miniature houseplants and macrame hanger but, not having a mini plant pot or access to any live plants, I decided to make all the components myself. I followed the Macrame Hanger (p44) instructions (see below). I also liked the Wire Plant Stand (p45) idea, but not the look of the finished stand, so I came up with my own very simple version. And this is the real beauty of the Microcrafts projects – they are based on such simple concepts that they lend themselves to customizing.

If you’re not already familiar with macrame, the Macrame Hanger is one of the most advanced projects in the book. I’ve never tried macrame before, or any knotting craft other than basic friendship bracelets, so I really put the instructions to the test. Each knot had an illustration that, after a few seconds of study, allowed me to complete it successfully. The concise instructions did leave me puzzled at a couple of places: how thin exactly is “thin cord or embroidery thread or string” and how do I “hide the ends of the knot”, for example, but I think I was overthinking it: I used size 20 crochet thread, as I had it on hand; it looks a little finer than the example, but it still looks great – the exact thread thickness obviously doesn’t matter.

I only found one mistake in the directions: the instruction for the 4 cords that hold the plant hanger says to make them 1/4″ long – that’s far too short. From the picture I assume that should actually be either 1″ or 1 1/4″, but the exact length is something you can decide to look good with your pot, so it doesn’t really matter; I just continued until mine looked long enough.

As for the macrame, it might have been easier to practice the knots at full scale before going micro, but it worked! My plant hanger looks exactly like the picture (above), so I must have followed the instructions correctly:

Genius idea – as you can see, any kitschiness you may associate with macrame totally vanishes on this scale. Isn’t it adorable? Oh, hang on, maybe you don’t appreciate the scale without anything for reference… Here you go:

This is a super-sized pic – in reality the entire pot is less than 1 inch (2.5cm) diameter!

I was inspired by the polymer clay projects in the book to create my plant pot and a tiny succulent garden from FIMO. I love how this project turned out, and I had a lot of fun making it 🙂

Peeves

I’m happy to report that I don’t have any major gripes about this book!

The introduction to Microcrafts says that microcrafting is “all about putting odds and ends to good use”, however, a few of the projects are a bit limiting because they rely on specific products in order to make them. For example, the fabric buttons project requires a fabric button covering kit; and I was very intrigued by the temporary tattoos project but was disappointed to find that it requires “clear temporary tattoo inkjet waterslide-decal paper” – you can’t get much more specific than that, and I didn’t feel it really fit with the “odds and ends” claim.

This only applies to a couple of the projects though: the bulk of the Microcrafts projects use basic craft supplies (paper, felt, yarn, glue, string, etc) that you probably already have in your craft stash, or could easily buy from any craft supply store.

And I was surprised to see a book about tiny crafts that doesn’t include a shrinkydinks project – such a missed opportunity! Note to the authors: that’s my suggestion for Microcrafts 2, ladies 😉

Final Thoughts

Microcrafts: Tiny Treasures to Make and Share is a great concept, and well-executed. There’s a wide range of projects ranging from very simple (fun to make for or with kids) to more advanced projects that any crafter will appreciate. The various contributors provide a variety of styles and materials used in the projects, so you’ll definitely find at least a few that appeal to you, and the others may just provide a spark of inspiration to create your own original microcrafts!

If you appreciate cute and tiny, and enjoy crafting, you’ll love Microcrafts. It’s a must-keep addition to my craft book reference shelf!