Red Heart Boutique Swanky Yarn Review!

Red Heart Boutique Swanky Yarn Review!

I was super lucky when I emailed Red Heart to see if they would donate a prize to my 4000 Fan Appreciation Event! They said absolutely and they asked me if I would like to review a few of their products - to which I said, yes! Most definitely!!

I received my Red Heart package full of awesomeballs! It was like Christmas morning!!

I set out to find projects to make using all of this amazing yarn and the first one I came upon was a previous Design Wars pattern by Sincerely Pam called Urban Glamour Slouch and Cowl that uses Red Heart Boutique Swanky and Soft Touch yarn - of which I have plenty!

The Swanky yarn was the one that I was most leary about using because I thought it would catch up on the yarn and my hook haha but I was so wrong! It wasn't an issue at all and it turned out beautifully! I did take a couple extra minutes to turn my hat inside out and 'push' most of the flecks to the outside of the hat after it was done - just to make as much of it stand out as possible!

I think Sincerely Pam's Urban Glamour Slouch pattern was the perfect pattern to use Swanky yarn with to test it out and see if it would 'catch'. There was only a couple times where I had to take more time than usual to yarn over and pull through and that was simply because of where the lil fleck happened to land on the yarn was I was pulling through - it was super easy to just slide it through and keep on going!

I used Red Heart Soft Touch in Black and White with Red Heart Swanky in Purple to create this amazingly comfortable and unique slouch hat and it only took me about 3.5 hrs total to work up!

  

I really enjoyed using this speciality yarn and would definitely use it again to add an extra flare or something special to make an 'ordinary' hat a lil more "swanky"! I also would be more inclined to try other yarns like it that have the added flare after trying out the Swanky yarn!!

Be sure to check out Red Heart Yarns website and your local retail stores to find this and other Red Heart products! Watch this space for my next reviews of the other products I received and check out my Facebook page; Forever Stitchin to see what other projects I am working on!

4K Fan Appreciation Event WINNERS!!!

4000 Fan Appreciation Event Winners List!

The anticipation is almost over!!

Super big thank you to everyone who participated! 

Reading the comments and seeing everyone interacting was the best!!!

You're all GIANT fluffy awesomeballs!!

Now the fun stuff ;)

Sponsor: Suncatcher Craft Eyes - Claimed

Prize: a 10 pack of your choice color and size

NEW Winner: Crystal Tessin
Contact: Michelle

Sponsor: The Perfect Knot - Claimed
Prize: 3 patterns of your choice
Winner: Judi Prince
Contact: Michelle

Sponsor: Yarn Baby LLC - Claimed
Prize: beautiful skein of hand dyed yarn
Winner: Susan Selfridge Daniels
Contact: Shannon

Sponsor: Keep Calm and Crochet On UK
Prize: 3 patterns of your choice
Winners: Lashele Warren & Brittany Yenser
Contact: Heather

Sponsor: Krista Murias Fitness - Claimed
Prize: 1 Shaker Cup + 3 Flavors of Shakeology
Winner: Robin Clinton
Contact: Krista

Sponsor: Danyel Pink Designs - Claimed
Prize: 3 patterns of your choice
Winner: Tiffany Rose Kole
Contact: Danyel

Sponsor: LuckyLu Creations - Claimed
Prize: 1 sheet of fabric labels
Winner: Michelle Wulf
Contact: Kara

Sponsor: Hatch-ed With Love - Claimed
Prize: 4 patterns of your choice
Winner: Katie Leigh
Contact: Jennifer

Sponsor: Sincerely Pam - Claimed
Prize: 5 patterns of your choice
Winner: Sherry Krawicki
Contact: Pam

Sponsor: Baca Creations - Claimed
Prize: 2 patterns of your choice
NEW Winner: Randy Barnes
Contact: Salena

Sponsor: Melody's Makings - Claimed
Prize: 5 patterns of your choice
Winner: Cecelia Edwards
Contact: Melody

Sponsor: The Crafty Geekette - Claimed
Prize: 1 pattern of your choice
Winner: Leslie Bath
Contact: Jacqualyn

Sponsor: AllieCat's Hats and Crafts - Claimed
Prize: 1 pattern of your choice
Winner: Leslie Bath
Contact: RaeLynn

Sponsor: Mad Crafter Creations - Claimed
Prize: Crocodile Stitch Skirt Pattern
Winner: Leslie Bath
Contact: Jenny

Sponsor: Forever Stitchin - Claimed
Prize: 10 patterns of your choice
Winners: Susan Higbe, Barbara Mees Carr, Jill Selfridge Obrock and Barbara Larrabee
Contact: Jo at Forever Stitchin

Sponsor: Red Heart Yarns - Claimed
Prize: Red Heart Prize Package
Winner: Caitlin Rutledge
Contact: Jo at Forever Stitchin
Please include your name, address and phone number!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE WINNERS!!!

You have until 12pm October 12 2014 to claim your prizes or new winners will be drawn!

Thank you so much to all of the sponsors for donating such incredible prizes to help me celebrate this milestone! I look forward to doing this again in the future!!

4000 Fan Appreciation Event

Woohoo!! What a couple years it has been! I started crocheting February 2012. I learned at a community crocheting class that my friend Diane was teaching with another lady. It was something I just decided to do because it was $20, it would get me out of the house for a couple hours once a week. I never in my wildest dreams anticipated that it would lead me to something that has quite literally changed my life.

I had the intention of making random hats and scarves for gifts but IT clicked. Something seriously CLICKED and in October 2012 I wrote my first pattern... leading to nearly 100 patterns to date!

Now, my Forever Stitchin page has surpassed 4000 likes! I can't even come up with the words I need to express the all encompassing gratitude I have for every single person who - for whatever reason - liked my page through this space of time.

To the regulars, the people I recognize, the people who show me love every day on that page, the people who have become my FRIENDS - I do not mean this lightly when I say you are a very huge part of my every day!! I am appreciative of each of you that share your craft with me, your enthusiasm for what I create, your excitement in seeing what I come up with next. You are all a part of my inspiration and I am absolutely not Forever Stitchin without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for every like, comment, share and bit of love you show me!!!!

Now that the mushy stuff is out there - lets get to the FUN stuff!! ;)

This giveaway will work a lil bit differently than most events lately. There is no "liking" on Facebook involved - actually, we're encouraging you to get away from Facebook! I will be posting 1 post per vendor with 'instruction' on how to be entered to win their prize and that instruction will be interacting off of Facebook! It will be easy peasy and it will lead you to another website where you can see what each vendor has to offer! We would love you to LIKE our pages, of course, if you want too! We would love for you to share our pages and our creations and most of all, interact with us!!!

So without further ado, here is a look at our incredible sponsors and what they are donating!

SuncatcherCraft Eyes

Prize: a 10 pack any size and color 

to 1 winner

Suncatcher Craft Eyes Website

The Perfect Knot

Prize: 3 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

YarnBaby LLC

Prize: this beautiful skein 

of hand dyed yarn

Yarn Baby Website

Keep Calm and Crochet On - UK

3 patterns to 2 winners

Ravelry Store

KristaMurias Fitness 

Prize: Shaker Cup + 3 Shakeology flavors 

Krista Murias Fitness Website

Danyel Pink Designs 

Prize: 3 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

 

LuckyLu Creations

Prize: 1 Sheet of Labels

Etsy Store

Hatch-ed With Love

Prize: 4 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Sincerely Pam

Prize: 5 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Melody's Makings

Prize: 5 Patterns to 1 winner 

Melody's Makings Website

AllieCat's Hats and Crafts

Prize: 1 pattern to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Mad Crafter Creations

Prize: Crocodile Stitch Skirt Pattern

Etsy Store

The Crafty Geekette

Prize: 1 pattern to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Baca Creations

Prize: 2 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Forever Stitchin

Prize: 10 patterns to 4 winners

Ravelry Store

Red Heart Yarns
Prize: 1 Red Heart Yarns Prize Pack to 1 winner
Red Heart Website




















This event will run from October 6th through October 9th on >> my Forever Stitchin facebook page << and winners will be drawn October 10th! A GIANT thank you to ALL of the incredible vendors who have donated and are helping me celebrate this milestone! You're all complete awesomeballs!!!! I wish everyone the best of luck! I can not wait to see who gets to enjoy these amazing prizes!

The Invisible Single Crochet Decrease

The Invisible Single Crochet Decrease

Awhile ago I learned a new technique to decrease without having that 'bump' left over, leaving a very obvious indication of a decrease stitch. With this "invisible decrease" there is practically no indication of a decrease stitch! There's no bump, there's no big hole, there's no 'super crazy stitch' to do it either! I decided I'd do a super quick photo tutorial to teach you this technique, if you haven't already been utilizing it!

For this tutorial I made a simple 10 stitch swatch but you can utilize this stitch in ANY pattern where you see "sc2tog" - this is my starting point:

You will work in ONLY the 2 front loops of the next 2 stitches (in the picture - the 2 loops that are raised, directly left of the current stitch)

Insert your hook into the next stitch, using the front loop only - 2 loops on your hook

Insert your hook into the next stitch, using the front loop only - 3 hoops on your hook.




Yarn over and pull through the first 2 loops only

You will have 2 loops left on your hook, yarn over and pull through both loops.

This is what you will be left with! A practically invisible decreased stitch!

Your finished row will look 'seamless' and your decrease will essentially be invisible!

Try out this technique the next time you have to "sc2tog" [single crochet 2 stitches together] and let me know what you think!! It takes a lil bit of getting used too, using only the 2 front loops but after you start using it and you see the difference in your projects look, I am sure you will be utilizing this method every single time you see that "sc2tog"instruction!!

This method works best while working "in the round" if you are using rows, the back of the decrease will leave an obvious (2 left over loops) look where you decreased!

Visit me on my facebook page - Forever Stitchin and check out my Ravelry Store for all my patterns!

The Crochet Lounge Giveaway Winners!!

The Crochet Lounge's 

Birthday and Loungiversary 

Giveaway Winners!!

The event has come to an end and 2 winners have been contacted and given their Forever Stitchin prizes!!

Congratulations to Lisa Hudson and Bonnie Stratton!!

These 2 lovely ladies each won 1 copy of each of my 5 dinosaur patterns - Ashley the Apatosaurus, CeCe the Triceratops, Patricia the Pterodactyl, Rachel the T-Rex and Suzi the Stegosaurus from my "Extinction Pack" collection!

Congrats to ALL of the winners and thank you to Yi-An from The Crochet Lounge for hosting such an incredible event!

SPECIAL:
From September 3 until September 10th use code "DINOS" in my Ravelry Store to receive 25% off all of my patterns!

The Madly Mahvelous Giveaway

The Madly Mahvelous Giveaway is now live!

There are 23 prizes go to ONE lucky winner!

 Get your entries in and then head over

 to the Mad Mad Makers Website today

 (9/1/14) for the Scavenger Hunt activity!!!

You could win....

!!!GOOD LUCK!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Lapgan for Grandma

This project started out with the intention of being a birthday present for my Mom but her birthday is in November and... well... it's August! 

I was able to finish the 30,000 stitches in approximately 30 hours over 9 days so instead of waiting until November, the boys and I are just going to give it to her as a "We love you Grandma" present the next time we see her! Those are the best presents anyways, I think haha

It is 150 sts and 200 rows, measuring 3.5 feet by 4 feet without the border. I will add that next week, after I decide what color combo I think will look the best! I showed her today and she loved it! I can't wait to get it finished up and give it to her!

We love you Grandma Cindy!

Visit me on Facebook - Forever Stitchin - to see more of my work! 

Graph pattern by Momma's JAM Pack Crochet Word Charts

The Crochet Lounge B-Day Giveaway!

The Crochet Lounge is hosting an incredible giveaway to celebrate her birthday and her 'loungiversary'! I am super excited to be participating in this event with so many amazing pages!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Forever Stitchin "Extinction Pack"

Introducing the "Extinction Pack" from Forever Stitchin

Ashley the Apatosaurus, CeCe the Triceratops, 
Patricia the Pterodactyl, Suzi the Stegosaurus and Rachel the T-Rex!

After millions of years being... extinct... these creatures are back and ready to be awesomeballs! These patterns are simple and beginners will be able to work these up and make them just as cute as the originals! Adjustable with whatever colors that YOU want to use, you can make an adorable and fun set for your fave dino-lover!

Ashley the Apatosaurus

CeCe the Triceratops

 Patricia the Pterodactyl

Rachel the T-Rex

Suzi the Stegosaurus

Stay tuned for the release of these adorable patterns! 

They will be available soon!

Forever Stitchin

Hooded Cowls

I've had multiple people share with me the pattern from The Velvet Acorn for the animal cowls asking me if I could make them - of course I can make them ;) My BFF asked if I could make one for her daughter - of course I said yes! BOOM... the explosion of awesome winter gear came afterwards!

These are so much fun to work up and so easy too! The yarn can be tricky, since it uses a Super Bulky weighted yarn but if you have access to it, it's wonderful! I'm sure doubling up regular worsted weight / 4 ply yarn would work as well, but it might alter the end look a lil bit. The color options would be endless if you went that route though!

I look forward to making more of these babies in the coming months!

Visit my facebook page to message me and get one for your fave creature ;)

Forever Stitchin
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