Crochet Medleys' 6000 Fan Appreciation Giveaway! Pattern Paradise!

My little shop has reached a new milestone by hitting nearly 6000 fans! I adore fans, and all the support. It makes what I do even more rewarding. I decided it was time to host a giveaway(or two) for the fans!

This giveaway will be geared towards one of things I hoard(yep I said it) the most.... PATTERNS! I am a sucker for buying/gathering up some patterns. I can't even count the number of patterns I still have yet to try. Someday right?! What makes this giveaway better is I love each of these designers! I'm so thankful they have chipped in for the giveaway. So here we go...

Snappy Tots

Winner chooses 3 patterns 

Snappy Tots on Facebook

Shop Snappy Tots

 

Unravel Me 

Winner chooses 2 patterns

Unravel Me on Facebook

Shop Unravel Me
 

 

Ohio Crochet Lady 

Winner chooses 1 pattern

Ohio Crochet Lady on Facebook
Shop Ohio Crochet Lady



Just Be Happy

Winner chooses 2 patterns

Just Be Happy on Facebook

Shop Just Be Happy

 

 Playin' Hooky

Winner chooses 3 patterns

Playin Hooky on Facebook

Shop Playin Hooky

 

 

Shilo's Gifts and Notions

Winner chooses 2 patterns

Shilos Gifts and Notions on Facebook

Shop Shilos Gifts and Notions

 

HCA and Designs by Gracie

Winner chooses 1 pattern
HCA and Designs by Gracie on Facebook
HCA and Designs by Gracie Pattern Store



CrazySocks Crochet

Winner chooses 2 patterns
CrazySocks Crochet on Facebook
Shop CrazySocks Crochet
 

How to Enter
Please make sure you do all steps for valid entries. If you do not, your entries will be deleted.
I will be checking entries closely so please no cheaters.

Mandatory Entry
You must LIKE all these vendors on Facebook. Stop by, even say hi if you'd like. I wouldn't back these shops if they weren't worth it, so check them out! Once you have liked all pages, leave a comment on this blog entry. Please include your full name, email address is optional.

Optional Entry
Share this giveaway on your Facebook, or fan page. Just copy & paste the blog link to share. Once you have shared the giveaway, leave another comment on this blog entry. Please include your full name, email address is optional.

That's TWO chances to enter.

Giveaway ends Tuesday, September 25th
Winner to be announced via this blog Wednesday, September 26th

Disclaimer :  You must be 18 years of age to enter. You may not trade in prizes for cash. There is no returns or exchanges allowed for giveaways. Winner will be chosen via random.org after all entries are checked. Winner will have 48 hours to claim the prize before a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is not sponsored, associated, or endorsed by Facebook.

 

I've been asked about the Braided Spaghetti Bread our family devours so I figured Id post my recipe tweaks here :)

braided-spaghetti-bread is the link that I found via Pinterest!

I will try to post some pictures that aren't from my phone sometime :)

Here is my changes...
The first time I made this I didn't think it was bread-y enough. If that's even a word!
We aren't really Italian sausage eaters in this house, so I used ground beef.
Instead of cubed mozzarella I went with shredded, it melts evenly.
The crust needed something more, so with the cheese I added Italian seasoning and garlic salt.

So....

• I doubled the bread and used two loaves. Its alot but it was way better 2nd time around and we had some left overs! Which we love for sure.
• Mixed 1lb ground beef(browned and drained)with the sauce
• Made enough pasta for a regular spaghetti meal... again..... leftovers!!! 
• Replaced the cubed mozzarella with shredded, about 2 Cups.
• After using the egg wash I sprinkled seasoning and garlic salt, then the grated Parmesan cheese. More is better here if you ask me.

Extra tip : I rolled the bread out between two sheets of parchment paper and I HIGHLY recommend using it for this, saves you a big mess for sure!

Enjoy!

Vintage Puff Flower Pattern

Im in love with all things vintage. I love collecting old items from sales, loved ones, or even handmade. I was busy crocheting a hat up for a photo shoot and wanted to really put my own touch on it. I came up with this unique flower. I used my fancy new composite notebook (its pink!) to write this one down and now I want to share it with you! Enjoy!!

Materials:

Yarn, J-Hook, Button, Yarn Needle, Scissors.

Gauge is not important for this project

Using different hook sizes will yield different sizes :)

Special Sitch - Puff Stitch : *YO, insert hook through the ring, YO, pull up a loop* Repeat from * 4 more times. You will have 11 loops on your hook now. YO and pull through all 11 loops.

Begin with a Magic Ring 

Round 1: CH 3. * Puff Stitch, CH 4. * Repeat from * 6 times total. Join with Sl St to the top of 1st Puff.

You now have 6 Puffs and 6 Ch 4 spaces

Round 2 : CH 1. SC in same space. * 4 SC in CH Space, SC in top of Puff Stitch * Repeat from * 6 times total. Join with Sl St to 1st SC. 

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing. 

Attach your button to center of flower ( I use my sewing tail ) Weave in ends or sew to your hat. 

This pattern might be FREE but please give me credit where its due. 

Excitement leads to..

ADD....yes, ADD. Thats what my excitement is leading to currently. I still have so much to do around the house lately, but the phrase "never enough hours in the day" doesn't fit into my life. Time can fly. Happy New Year to all my readers!!

Heres a few pictures of my recent projects, and my sons 3rd birthday with my family over Christmas. Again, time flies :)

Preparing just is never enough :)

With all the homecoming fuss, I am trying to not get overly excited! We still have some time yet but Ive been doing as much around the house that I can. Family trips to break up the month have helped. I can't believe our baby boy will be 3 in just a bit. Im not ready for that! No amount of prep will brace me for that. I think there will be some sobbing for sure!!! Sadly we are both super sick with a nasty cold. For once I cannot point the finger at the origin ((sad face)) so we shall blame shopping carts!! Its even worse than when little man had a double ear infection early in the deploy. Hes so miserable and basically just lays around, and if you know my son at all, thats not his nature.

Heres somethings Ive made for US this year...

SANTA!!!

For our son, he is so in love with it :)

My parents gave me some yarn for my birthday and I made myself a cowl. 

Blue Christmas...

I've been trying my very hardest to get into the holiday spirit, I really really have. I promised to try this year, Im doing okay I think! I have basically every gift already wrapped. Im being really sneaky about some things around the house cause I want my husband to have some surprises when he finally gets back to us. Its been rather depressing knowing this is the 2nd Christmas in 4 years of marriage he has missed due to deployment. I really shouldn't whine because he has a much shorter term that so many others that serve, but that to me doesnt matter when hes missing my birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, our sons birthday, and then even New Years. Its a total punch in the gut. We've been trying to visit my side of the family as much as usual, which is only because they live in state and are close enough given the little man gets car sick if we aren't careful. Sometimes it makes things easier but sometimes not so much. We went to the base wide Christmas party this past weekend and only lasted about an hour and half max. For one, little man was tired. Then it was crowded, loud, and just crazy basically. Ive been basing when we leave mostly on when he says so. Id rather him not be that child who leaves kicking and screaming.

I got together with a friend this weekend too, we made wreaths and I think they turned out rather nice!

This is her final result, all lit up

This is my red, white(well silver) and blue simple wreath

This one I made over the course of two days really. Im loving the mums, rolled roses, buttons, yarn and bells. This is on our front door this year.

I finally started the holiday baking, since we have a family party this coming weekend. Guess its crunch time!

Wrong Side vs Right Side

A lot of people that a new to crochet have asked me for helpful tips, and ideas. I decided to share some with you. One of the most important ones I think is knowing wrong from right side. This is mainly used on hats for me.

This is what as known as the "Right Side" in crochet. The stitches tend to look more uniform and bold. Sharper if you will.

This is what is known as the "Wrong Side" in crochet. You can see the stitches blend more and are not as sharp.

One more helpful thing I wanted to post would be helpful to those who have photographers as clients, or whom send items off to be photographed professionally. There are far to many times Ive seen pictures with hats on backwards. There is a "joining seam" on hats, sometimes its very noticeable but most times a little reminder will not hurt. This picture is of a more obvious seam.

Just for fun I wanted to share some of my texture images I just took today and fell in love with. Enjoy!