While browsing the web, I came across another crochet contest going on. It's for the Pattern-A-Day calendars, and there's one for knit and one for crochet. While the chances of being one of the three chosen to receive a prize out of 365 are only 1:121.6 you retain the rights to your pattern. It seems to be comparable to posting a free pattern on your website, with a chance that you might get some cash for it. They are giving away $1000 total: $500 first prize, $350 second, and $150 for third.
It appears to be a way to get published in print in a non-digital format. Your name is published with the design. These calendars are marketed to yarn stores across the country. You can enter as many times as you wish, thereby associating you name with crochet design.
Pictures, if you haven't noticed, are not my forte. The website stresses the importance of quality images included with submission. Thankfully they give you the option of sending them the finished product for them to photograph! They'll return your item to you if you include return postage materials.
I have a pattern that I made years ago sitting in my designer notebook that I think might be a good fit as it is quick and easy. Maybe you'll see my name in the 2012 calendar! I simply have to type it up. Another thing to add to my "to do" list.....
Check it out for yourself at http://www.knittingpatternaday.com/knittingcrochetcontestrules.htm
Showing posts with label knit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knit. Show all posts
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
One Idea For What To Do With Leftover Yarn
We've all been there - completed a project with a partial skein leftover that had no purpose. There's too much to simply throw away, and you don't want to be wasteful. Try this trick I learned a long time ago: ball it.
Take your first partial skein of a particular weight and fiber and wind it into a ball. Now, every time you finish a project using the same weight and fiber add it to your ball. Eventually you will have enough there to make something with.
It is very important that you keep the fiber content and weight of the yarn consistent in your ball. You don't want to finish an item, only to have part of it shrink or felt or otherwise get ruined in the wash.
Worsted weight acrylics and acrylic blends make wonderful scrap yarn afghans. A friend calls them, "so ugly they are beautiful". Usually these are on a bed, so they will not be display pieces, but still warm and functional.
Worsted weight cottons can be used to make unique handbags and tote bags. Many commercial versions of these products are of various color and print, so your crochet version is not likely to be considered an eye sore.
Worsted weight and sport weight wools can create wonderfully eclectic sweaters or set the tone of a room as a rug. Baby yarns tend to have the same color tone, so you can create more baby items with them. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination!
In the long run you will be saving money as well. Once, when I had just started a new job and had nothing extra to purchase yarn with and Christmas fast approaching, I made a rainbow afghan entirely out of scrap. I had a bin full of partial skeins of worsted weight acrylic. I took each one, balled it, and then lined them up on the table in the order of a rainbow. Various shades of the same color were put in order of what I thought looked nice. Starting with the purples (violet is the last shade of the rainbow) I rolled a ball in reverse order - violets, indigo, blues, greens, yellows, oranges, and finally reds. Upon crocheting it in rows of double crochet, the color effect was simply stunning. Small amounts of one color and larger amounts of another, added with the various shades of each, really did mimic that of a rainbow. I don't think I would have put all of those colors together if I had gone out and purchased the yarn. I had made an absolutely beautiful, one of a kind afghan without spending a cent AND I cleaned up my yarn closet in the process!
Give it a try, and share what you come up with!
Take your first partial skein of a particular weight and fiber and wind it into a ball. Now, every time you finish a project using the same weight and fiber add it to your ball. Eventually you will have enough there to make something with.
It is very important that you keep the fiber content and weight of the yarn consistent in your ball. You don't want to finish an item, only to have part of it shrink or felt or otherwise get ruined in the wash.
Worsted weight acrylics and acrylic blends make wonderful scrap yarn afghans. A friend calls them, "so ugly they are beautiful". Usually these are on a bed, so they will not be display pieces, but still warm and functional.
Worsted weight cottons can be used to make unique handbags and tote bags. Many commercial versions of these products are of various color and print, so your crochet version is not likely to be considered an eye sore.
Worsted weight and sport weight wools can create wonderfully eclectic sweaters or set the tone of a room as a rug. Baby yarns tend to have the same color tone, so you can create more baby items with them. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination!
In the long run you will be saving money as well. Once, when I had just started a new job and had nothing extra to purchase yarn with and Christmas fast approaching, I made a rainbow afghan entirely out of scrap. I had a bin full of partial skeins of worsted weight acrylic. I took each one, balled it, and then lined them up on the table in the order of a rainbow. Various shades of the same color were put in order of what I thought looked nice. Starting with the purples (violet is the last shade of the rainbow) I rolled a ball in reverse order - violets, indigo, blues, greens, yellows, oranges, and finally reds. Upon crocheting it in rows of double crochet, the color effect was simply stunning. Small amounts of one color and larger amounts of another, added with the various shades of each, really did mimic that of a rainbow. I don't think I would have put all of those colors together if I had gone out and purchased the yarn. I had made an absolutely beautiful, one of a kind afghan without spending a cent AND I cleaned up my yarn closet in the process!
Give it a try, and share what you come up with!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Yarn Stash Control
As any crochet, knit, or yarn enthusiast is well aware, their stash of yarn can easily take over the entire house. My breaking point, that point at which I knew I had a problem I had to figure out how to control, was when I went looking for a particular yarn in my closet, my daughter's room, the hallway closet AND my yarn closet without finding what I was looking for. I did, however, find that the space bags I had so carefully packed with precious yarn had split open.
That experience, coupled with the decline in the economy, led to stash control rule #1:
ONLY PURCHASE YARN FOR A SPECIFIC PROJECT
Since I have so much yarn around the house already, rule #2:
LOOK THROUGH WHAT YOU HAVE ON HAND BEFORE BUYING ANYTHING! USE IT IF YOU HAVE IT!
How many times have you come across a yarn that you had purchased because it was beautiful and you would find a use for it someday? Then, when you have found that use, you realize you don't have enough of the yarn to complete the project? Thus, rule #3:
PURCHASE ENOUGH YARN TO COMPLETE THE SPECIFIC PROJECT AND LABEL IT WHEN YOU GET HOME
I use 2 1/2 gallon zip lock bags and write on them with a Sharpie what project I have in mind for it. I know I can find the pattern directions in my Crochet Calender Binder (see previous post) which I take out and place a check mark next to the materials just purchased. All of these zip lock bags are in the same location, so I know exactly where to look to find it.
Following these three rules has taken a dent out of my stash, thus making it much more manageable. It has also saved tons of time looking for yarn, giving me more time to crochet it!
That experience, coupled with the decline in the economy, led to stash control rule #1:
ONLY PURCHASE YARN FOR A SPECIFIC PROJECT
Since I have so much yarn around the house already, rule #2:
LOOK THROUGH WHAT YOU HAVE ON HAND BEFORE BUYING ANYTHING! USE IT IF YOU HAVE IT!
How many times have you come across a yarn that you had purchased because it was beautiful and you would find a use for it someday? Then, when you have found that use, you realize you don't have enough of the yarn to complete the project? Thus, rule #3:
PURCHASE ENOUGH YARN TO COMPLETE THE SPECIFIC PROJECT AND LABEL IT WHEN YOU GET HOME
I use 2 1/2 gallon zip lock bags and write on them with a Sharpie what project I have in mind for it. I know I can find the pattern directions in my Crochet Calender Binder (see previous post) which I take out and place a check mark next to the materials just purchased. All of these zip lock bags are in the same location, so I know exactly where to look to find it.
Following these three rules has taken a dent out of my stash, thus making it much more manageable. It has also saved tons of time looking for yarn, giving me more time to crochet it!
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