PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

Note: don’t forget to enter my contest at the end of this post!

Year in Review

Doesn’t time fly? I can’t believe I’ve been running this blog for 2 years! Looking back to last year’s blogiversary post, I see that I’ve added 19 more original designs to my crochet pattern store, plus I created 4 more free patterns.

This year’s tutorials included lots of Amigurumi Help, the Offset Square Wrist Pincushion and the amazingly popular Shrinkydinks Rings tutorial. If you’ve made anything from my tutorials, don’t forget to upload the pics to my new Flickr group, PlanetJune Tutorial Gallery – I’d love to see what you’ve made!

I tried some new crafts: felt toys, modular origami and needlefelting – all of which I hope to do more of in the future.

This year, PlanetJune also appeared in print for the first time:

• A pattern in the 2008 Crochet Pattern a Day calendar, and featured on the back cover of the box
• My Joining Amigurumi article in CROQ Zine
• A full page of photos of my designs in the design gallery section of Amigurumi Animals
• My ice cream bear pattern and a companion article I wrote in A Needle Pulling Thread magazine (Summer 2008 issue – should be out any day now, and I can’t wait to see it!)

And, on top of all that, we moved to a new city and bought our first house, which resulted in me driving back to my old job every day for 6 months (that’s almost 4 hours per day in the car) over a very long and snowy winter – I can’t remember how I even managed to get anything else done…

What’s Next?

It came as quite a shock to see how much crochet I’ve done this year, compared with other crafting. I suppose I’ve been concentrating so much on making patterns, everything else has come second. For the coming year, I’m hoping I’ll find more time to make more things, without neglecting my pattern designing either. It’s exhilarating to try new things, so I want to keep pushing myself out of my comfort zone.

I also have some new and exciting things in development, but they aren’t quite ready to share just yet…

Roll on year 3! I can’t wait to see what comes next in the PlanetJune story…

Thank you!

Of course the best part of all this is still getting to ‘meet’ so many wonderful people! I was going to namecheck some of my bestest online friends, but I don’t want to leave anyone out, so… well, I’m talking about YOU. Thank you for reading this, thank you for your comments and e-mails, thank you for buying my patterns.

Contest Time!

Now your reward for reading this far: it’s contest time! I’m running 2 contests this time:

1. Win any pattern (your choice) from the pattern store. FYI, each PocketAmi set counts as one pattern 🙂
2. Win a finished PocketAmi Mouse (shipped to you, anywhere in the world). I have crocheted an adorable little grey mouse especially for this contest… This is a rare opportunity to get your hands on a PlanetJune original!
   
   I have small hands – he is even smaller than he looks here!

To enter, leave me a comment on this post, including:

1. Your choice of prize – type MOUSE or PATTERN
2. Tell me something, e.g. your favourite thing I’ve made, a suggestion for a future design, something you’d like to see on PlanetJune. Anything goes – I just want to hear from you!

If you want to enter both contests, just leave me 2 comments!

On Friday 20th June at 5pm EST, I will draw one name from each set of MOUSE comments, and one from each set of PATTERN comments. (In the unlikely event that the same person ‘wins’ both, I will contact them to see which prize they would prefer, and then draw another name for the other contest winner). Good luck!

Introducing PocketAmi crochet patterns – the perfect introduction to amigurumi making, or a quick and easy way to satisfy your amigurumi addiction! Each PocketAmi is a tiny bundle of cuteness at around 3″ long, and can be made from any colours of worsted weight yarn – use your imagination and your yarn scraps to create a colourful menagerie.

PocketAmi patterns come in convenient variety packs of three. Set 1 includes Mouse, Pig and Bird patterns; Set 2 includes Bunny, Sheep and Dragonfly patterns.

Set 1: Mouse, Pig, Bird

Set 2: Bunny, Sheep, Dragonfly

Buy both sets of PocketAmi together and save even more: $5 per set, or $9 for both sets.

Everyone knows somebody who would appreciate a PocketAmi! Why not pick up the patterns today from the PlanetJune pattern store?

So, Drawing Day was yesterday. Pencils (brought all the way from the UK and never once used in the 5 years since): found, after a bit of a search. Sketchbook (ditto): at the ready. Time and inspiration: sadly lacking. So this is really as far as it got:

Ah well, all is not lost. The materials are ready now for when I do find the time.

And if we count digital art as drawing (and I will, so I don’t feel like a complete failure) I’m very happy to report that I’ve finally got the hang of the basics of vector art, so I ‘drew’ the mouse for my PocketAmi logo (it’s a vector image, so it’s scalable to any size – very useful!):

A crocheted mouse drawn using a computer mouse, haha

Speaking of which, the PocketAmi sets are almost ready for publication – expect the announcement tomorrow. And it’s my 2 year blogiversary this coming Thursday, so check back then as well, to enter my birthday contest!

Ever get that feeling where there is so much you want to do, and not enough hours in the day?! I just found out from Drawspace that this coming Saturday is Drawing Day 2008. It’s been years since I’ve drawn anything, but this is really tempting me to get some pencils out and have a go…

According to the website, “Drawing Day is a worldwide drawing event encouraging everyone to drop everything and draw for the sake of art. The internet is an open canvas. Help us create 1 million drawings online this day and boost online art communities.”

I used to be able to draw (at a very, very slow speed):

I drew this cat in 1992… 16 years ago?! How old do I feel now…

There’s more of my old stuff in the Gallery if you’re interested.

I wonder if I can still even do it?! I really want to try, and Drawing Day seems like the perfect excuse! Anyone else interested?

6/6 – and the range has a name! Thanks to everyone who suggested names; my favourite is Val‘s suggestion of PocketAmi. Thanks Val – some PocketAmi patterns will be winging their way to you as soon as they are ready!

The final design for the PocketAmi range (well, final for now – if these are popular there may be more sets later) is a dragonfly:

It was originally going to be a butterfly, but as I was crocheting, it decided that it wanted to be a dragonfly, and it was just turning out too cute to fight against that! So that’s why we have an unusually-coloured dragonfly here, but we all know ami can come in ANY colour, so you could make one in bright jewel tones or any other colour combo!

Here’s a pretty in pink example (yes, I confess, I just recoloured the above picture, but isn’t it sweet this way?)

I think a few of these would make an adorable baby mobile, don’t you?

Now to write up all the patterns! Don’t forget to sign up for the mailing list if you’d like notification when the PocketAmi are ready for purchase.

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the PocketAmi Set 2 crochet pattern in my shop.

5/6 for the ‘mini’ range is a little bird:

I think he looks like he’s just about to leave the nest and take his first flight 🙂

By the way, I decided against the ‘farm’ theme because this range is designed to be really simple and quick to crochet; the shapes are all really simplified and I didn’t think a cow or a horse without a defined head, neck and body would look too good!

Instead, I’m going with a theme of ‘nature that you might see on a walk in the countryside’. One more design to go, and then I’ll get the patterns ready for you! Any more suggestions for the name of the range?

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the PocketAmi Set 1 crochet pattern in my shop.

… well, virtual spring cleaning anyway! Changes are afoot at PlanetJune to make the site easier for you to use, and easier for me to maintain. What’s been done so far?

• Flickr
  My 3 Flickr groups (Fuzzy Friends, AmiDogs, AquaAmi) have been merged; now there is just one big PlanetJune Crochet Flickr group – please join and upload anything based on any of my crochet patterns (including the free patterns) to this group!

• Live Chat
  Unfortunately, I have had to remove the ‘Live Chat’ box from the site. Too many people were leaving me messages through it while I was offline, but not leaving an e-mail address, so I couldn’t reply to their messages.

  Please continue to contact me via e-mail with any questions, comments, suggestions etc: craft [at] planetjune [dot] com – I am always happy to hear from you!

• Lost Orders
  Unless you specify a different e-mail address in the comments box when you order, I will send your patterns to the e-mail address you have registered with PayPal. Please keep this e-mail address up to date! Sometimes my e-mails are returned and I have no other way to contact you to deliver your patterns 🙁 To this end, I have started a Lost Orders page in the sidebar with a list of orders I have been unable to deliver. If you haven’t received your patterns and it’s been over 24 hours since you ordered, please contact me or check this page.

That’s it for now. More improvements to follow!

I can hardly believe I’ve been coming up with one design per day for the past few days! I’m exhausted now, so I’m going to slow down for a little while. Here’s the latest tiny ami; my little miniature sheep:

This makes 4 mini designs so far (with the piggy, bunny and mouse). I think I’ll make 6 and then release them as two sets of three, unless anyone has any better ideas? Don’t worry; they’ll be cheap because they are so tiny! I’m still working on the name for the range – thanks for the suggestions so far!

As always, I’d love to hear your ideas for the name or for other designs. If I use your idea for the name, I’ll give you some free mini patterns for your trouble! You have until I’ve made the 6th to send me your ideas, either by comment or e-mail 🙂

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the PocketAmi Set 2 crochet pattern in my shop.