Freebie Friday Winner

This past Friday I hosted my first Freebie Friday. Guess what? We have a winner! The winner of three free patterns is...

Esther, I'll be emailing you to ask you which three patterns you would like. Wanna know the answers to the questions I asked?

1 - Ranna
2 - Crochet Concupiscence
3 - CGOA (Crochet Guild of America)
4 - Wheel of Dreams Baby Blanket

Thanks for participating, friends! The next Freebie Friday is in May.

Freebie Friday!

The fifth Friday of January, May, July, and October is Freebie Friday! Tune in to find out how to enter my exciting giveaways. You could win yarn, patterns, findings, and more!

This Friday's giveaway prize will be... any three of my paid patterns that you desire! That's right, the winner of January's Freebie Friday will be able to choose any three of my patterns for free.

So, how do you go about winning? Here's the deal! You have to go on a scavenger hunt. No, you won't have to go to your neighbors' houses asking for eggs or pennies like in middle school! It's a blog scavenger hunt. All of the answers can be found somewhere on my blog. Use the 'sparks' on the right sidebar, the tabs under the banner, and the search feature in the top left corner to help you. The first person to email me at illuminatecrochet@gmail.com with the correct answers to the following questions will win the patterns!

1 - What is my cat's name?
2 - On what website have I been featured most often?
3 - What official crochet organization am I a member of?
4 - Which of my patterns uses the Catherine's wheel stitch?

Good luck! I'll be waiting to see who emails me with the correct answers first.

Crocheting for Cats: Important Things to Remember

Do you have a little crochet buddy? A ball of fur who keeps you company as you work? If so, you'll probably be tempted at some point to crochet them something of their very own. Here are some tips to help you out as you make a gift for kitty.

- Never leave cats unattended to play with balls of yarn. If they decide to eat it the yarn could cause problems in their intestines. Instead, supervise play and then put the yarn ball out of reach until next time.

- When making toy mice or other toys that have strings hanging, reinforce the tails and tassels so they aren't easily chewed off and swallowed.

- As with babies, eyes on stuffed animals made for cats should either be safety eyes or sewn on. Never use small beads or buttons on a project for cats.

- If you can possibly do so, choose washable materials for cat toys.

- Avoid very lacy items for cats as their paws/claws may become tangled or stuck in the holes. 

- Cats love textures so choose an interesting stitch pattern.

- There is some research to suggest that cats prefer cool colors such as green, blue, and purple, so choosing those colors of yarn for your project might please kitty.

- If you're making a stuffed item for your cat you may wish to lace the stuffing with catnip.

Have you crocheted something for your cat that they enjoyed? Let us know about it in the comments.

Silver Lining Headband

Have you ever tried crochet cables? Yes, you can do cables in crochet! They're not just for knitters. I just love the way crochet cables look. If you've never done cables and you're interested in learning, my new pattern is a great choice. The Silver Lining Headband has gentle cabling. It's versatile and easy to wear.

As always, the pattern is available on both Ravelry and Craftsy.

From the Source Friday: Pronkin Pastures

The fourth Friday of every month is From the Source Friday! Show your appreciation to these dedicated fiber farmers as they teach you all about where your yarn comes from. Today's featured fiber is alpaca. Originally from South America, alpacas have become popular with fiber lovers for the soft fibers that they produce. LeeAnna of Pronkin Pastures Alpaca Ranch on Whidbey Island, Washington is here with us today to tell us about her furry friends.

Life on the ranch...
We started our business 10 years ago with the purchase of 3 pregnant female alpacas, 2 gelded males, and a rescue llama.  Over the years our herd has slowly grown. We currently have 36 huacaya alpacas, 2 suri alpacas, and the llama.  We raise them for their fine fiber which is harvested once per year - usually in late May /early June.  This timing  gives the animals relief from the summer heat and allows enough time for fiber to grow back before it gets cold again.  With 38 alpacas, shearing is a full weekend of work.  We hire a professional alpaca shearer - a husband and wife team that have become personal friends to us.  The shearer brings all the tools, equipment and expertise needed, and we have several friends and family members that help us over the course of the weekend, so we try to make it as fun as possible.  I look forward to shearing as it is always exciting to see the fiber our animals have grown - especially the new animals that are being shorn for the first time.  We save as much fiber as possible and depending on the quality and other characteristics decide on how it will be processed.  The fiber from each animal is evaluated and processed individually.  Ideally, we like to have the fiber processed into luxurious yarn and roving, but not all fiber lends itself to that end.  The lesser quality fiber is not wasted though; it is processed into batts for felting, or into actual felted sheets.  We use 3 local mini mills to process the majority of the fiber, but hand process the cria (baby alpaca) fleeces.  The cria fleeces are generally tender and quite dirty, so we take extra care with those and process them by hand from start to finish.

Day to day with the alpacas is pretty low key.  Alpacas are not the type of animal that crave human attention or interaction, so feeding, watering and cleaning up after them is really all that is required on a daily basis.  Alpacas are not washed or groomed, but we do trim their toenails on an ‘as needed’ basis.  We always trim toe nails at shearing time, but some require an additional trim once or twice in between shearing.  Since we are breeding alpacas, a little more is required during the summer months when new arrivals are due.  We like to be on the farm when the moms are close to their delivery date so that we can be on hand in the event that she or the newborn baby require assistance.  Alpacas are generally trouble free in that aspect as well, so most of the time we are just on hand to witness the miracle first hand.
 
An Alpaca Story
I think my favorite farm story is that of the conception and birth of Destiny.  My blog post dated 9/8/14 gives many of the details.  What is not in the post is that Caelia (Destiny’s grandmother, and female that we had to have put down) was one of the first 3 female alpacas we bought when we started with alpacas 10 years ago.  Lily (Destiny’s mother) was the first born female on our farm – so she holds a special place in our hearts.  Destiny is now 4 ½ months old.

Have a look!

My website is www.pronkinpastures.com.  My blog is also on my website at http://www.pronkinpastures.com/blog .  I don’t maintain an Etsy site – most of my sales are done at my shop (located on the farm premises) or by vending at local fiber related events and spin-in’s.  I usually participate in the St Distaff’s Day Spin In, Whidbey Island Spin In, Whidbey Island Fiber Quest, Whidbey Island Farm Tour, and Fiber Fusion Northwest.  I’ll be adding a few additional vending opportunities  this year as I am enjoying the off-site vending experience and reaching a wider target audience.

Wow! Thank you so much for all of the detailed information and wonderful pictures, LeeAnna! A major high five goes out to you and to all the other alpaca farmers out there for providing fiber lovers like me with awesome yarn!

Ballard Crochet Sighting

The other day I was out walking in Ballard, a Seattle neighborhood, when I spotted a bit of crochet in a wedding-themed window display. The doily appeared to be vintage and a bit worn. I couldn't resist snapping a few pictures to share with you!

I love finding crochet out in the wider world. Keep your eyes peeled and you'll likely see some neat things, too!

Journaling Through Crochet

A while back I featured an awesome Remix of the Amineko Cat pattern. Karin used the temperature of each day to craft a one-of-a-kind cat.

Temperature projects like blankets, scarves, and this cat are a form of journaling through crochet. Taking a moment of each day to work on a single project slowly over time can provide a very different kind of satisfaction than working on a project for hours at a time and finishing it much more quickly. Interested in trying out this type of project for yourself? Here are a few ideas!

Sampler Afghan 
Work up a different, large afghan block each month and combine all twelve at the end of the year for a special blanket.

Mood Project
Select a different color of yarn for each mood (happy, sad, angry, bored, excited, etc) and then work up a row on a scarf or blanket in the appropriate color each day.

Skill Builder
This is a great one for beginners. Choose a small pattern like a flower motif. Work the same pattern once every month for a year. At the end of the year you'll be able to see how much your tension and accuracy has improved. You can then use all of the bits and pieces together in a big project.

Have any other suggestions for journaling through crochet? Share them with us in the comments!