Week 2: Start a Crochet Notebook, Journal, Scrapbook or Blog

Week 2 of the 52 Week Crochet Challenge is here, and since I already have a crochet notebook, journal, scrapbook and blog, I thought I would share my notebook with you.

I have to admit I am crazy for office supplies, so when I came across this notebook, I had to have it. What I love most about it is that the pages are graph paper. The graph paper makes it super easy to draw out stitch charts neatly. I also found a handy cover for it. It's clear plastic and has a zipper close pocket where I can store my pencils, color wheel and whatever else.

I started this notebook while working on my book Crochet-opedia and it's helped keep me organized. I can easily find notes, patterns I'm working on, design sketches, and anything else I need to keep track of. I also find that it's made me even more creative. Just looking through it is inspirational to me and will spark my creativity.

I also like to play with color. The picture above is a free blanket pattern that I created for the National Crochet Month blog roll, hosted last year by Crochetville.http://crochetville.com/ The blanket is worked in squares that are then joined together, but I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to arrange them, so I colored squares and cut them out. Then I was able to play around with the placement. It was a fun pattern to make, and it's on Ravelry here: Bright Striped Blocks Blanket Charity Pattern.

So, that's my crochet notebook, and my week 2 challenge. Thanks for visiting, enjoy!

52 Week Crochet Challenge - Are You Ready?

March is National Crochet Month, so now is the perfect time to launch my 52 Week Crochet Challenge!

I devised this Challenge as a way for me to explore crochet in ways I haven’t done before. I’m going to share my weekly discoveries and progress here on my blog and I hope to connect with other crocheters.

Click the link below to download a pdf file that includes all the Challenge information. Each page is loosely sectioned to a season, and I’ve included week numbers as well as dates, but this guide is meant to be inspirational, so feel free to add your own creative twists.

Please link to this blog and the 52 Week Crochet Challenge pdf, and email me if you
are taking up the Challenge. I would love to see your responses and to post a blog roll of participants.

Let’s celebrate and have some crochet fun!

Julie Oparka
Red Berry Crochet
redberrycrochet@gmail.com 

Join the Ravelry Group, 52 Week Crochet Challenge. Not on Ravelry? It's free to join, what are you waiting for?

Download 52 Week Crochet Challenge

1. Click the above link.
2. When the page opens, click on File in the top left tool bar.
3. Then click download in the drop down menu.
4. Open or save the file to your computer.

Celebrate National Crochet Month!

Take a Tour Through Crochet Country with 48 crochet designers this month to celebrate March as National Crochet Month. All the participating designers are Professional or Associate Professional members of the CGOA. Each day a different designer (or two) is being featured through a blog roll. Click here for the introductory blog post and a complete list of participating designers. If you haven't been following along, catch up on the previously featured designers here. At each stop along the tour each designer has a special surprise for you! It may be a free pattern, a sneak peak at the designer's crochet studio, or a stitch or technique tutorial.



All the participants have voted to support Project Night Night, a charity that helps homeless children. You can help by donating blankets or a gift of money to this worthy cause. If you do make a donation, please add to the group totals on the Tour page here.


Many thanks to Amy and Donna at Crochetville for coordinating and sponsoring this special event. Please join me here on March 19th for my tour stop - I hope to see you then!

RedBerryCrochet.com - My New Website, Etsy Linked!

Several weeks ago I stumbled across an Etsy article in the Storque about developers who have created applications specifically for Etsy users. Here I found Soopsee, and I'm so glad I did! I am able to have a home website, RedBerryCrochet.com, that not only features my shop listings, but also can connect browsers with all the other places that I am on the net in my Stockists section.

It is easy to maintain, and has several themes to choose from. With a click of the button I can update my shop listings, and also click on individual items that will automatically post on my Twitter page. I can also set it to automatically feed new items to Twitter. Plus, I can also view my stats, including number of shop hearts, blog posts, Twitter updates, and sales. And Soopsee now allows Google Analytics. I also upgraded to a Sooper Account which offers even more options.

This was a quick and easy option instead of setting up a website completely on my own, which I don't know if I would ever get aroung to. Soopsee is new and still in closed beta, which means that you need a code to sign up without having to wait for the site to open up. If you are interested in signing up for Soopsee right away, before you do convo me at my RedBerryCrochet shop. I have the code available for the first 5 people that respond.

Try Soopsee, it's free, and best of all you won't be disappointed!