12 Week Countdown to Christmas

Hello blog readers! If you are reading this, you may be searching for the perfect holiday craft to create for someone you love or for yourself. I know that as the days tick by and creep closer to Christmas that I begin loosing days I can craft toward my goal - a true homemade Christmas. Perhaps I inherited the gene, but sometimes I end up too stressed or busy to accomplish the goals I set each year regarding gifts and purchase some in the weeks leading up to the holidays. This year, I am preparing!

Beginning October 2nd, I will be posting a new ornament to crochet that should be usable by any skill level. The patterns I choose may be free and some may not be; however, the respective owners need to receive all credits. Please respect everyone and keep the patterns free by not copying and giving credit to the people who deserve it.

Throughout the weeks, this blog post will be updated to include every week of the countdown for an easy way to view the entire list. I will also label every post with Christmas Countdown. This new event will replace both the Make it Monday posts and the Throwback Thursdays posts.

I am so excited to be able to bring this countdown to you.

Here's how it works

• On Thursday, I will be providing a post that includes a link to the pattern and my goals for the end result. This will include a list of all materials necessary to complete the product.
• On Monday, I will post a picture of the finished product and my thoughts on the pattern or any changes or embellishments I did.

If you happen to want to participate by sending in photos, please do so by sending them to dandecreation@gmail.com. Remember to post a good photo and the name you want to be known by. I will post the pictures on my blog to show!

It is that simple! I post the pattern. I make the product. And I am one step closer (and you) to giving them as gifts around Christmas.

Planning on participating?

Sarah

Throwback Thursday - Five Petal Bookmarks

In preparing for a previous booth, I created tons of bookmarks. They work up SO quickly. Here's a similar product of mine offered free in my ravelry shop: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/five-petal-flower-bookmark

This bookmark was done in blue and white that fits a paperback and can stretch into fitting a hardback book.

Please check back on Saturday for a preview of my new project!

A Lingering Question

Some may be wondering why Dande Creations disappeared from Facebook and that is a fair pondering. In the past few years of being a designer, I had noticed a shift in the type of fans and the attitudes of other designers through Facebook that I disliked. I was receiving more and more fans that focused on the giveaways and never participated in my posts or enjoyed my patterns. That, by itself, would have been a great reason to close the doors despite missing out on the wonderful people who did participate. What really drove me to close my Facebook doors is simple - the attitude of other designers.

In the previous months, I have witnessed a number of witch hunts, false accusations, childish actions, stealing, copyright infringement, and just plain rude behavior from the designing community. Not only that, I have been at the receiving end of one such attack that left me frustrated and no longer willing to participate in the community. As a person, I would not want to be around that. As a fellow designer and a consumer of patterns, I was appalled at the unprofessional behavior running rampant within the crochet and knit community. Reputation is a huge thing when attempting to maintain a business. In the crochet and knit community, that does not seem to be a care of many individuals.

It was those actions and words of people who were less likely to follow the law and more likely to do what they wanted that led me to leave Facebook. I do not crochet for the money. Let's be honest. 1. Many people do not see the value in what I do enough to pay for it. 2. I work in an industry that constantly has similar patterns popping up on the market with no way to "stop" someone from having an idea.

I do not have any desire to stop someone from having an idea. Two people could look outside and see a car and have similar ideas on how to translate it into crochet. It is not against the law to have a similar idea. What is against the law is copying patterns and photographs then putting your name on it. Those little details are completely ignored by many crochet pattern designers. It's like high school with each designer as a clique. Each one hates the other and finds a way to pick and pick and pick until someone bleeds. It has become a way to weed out the competition. It is disgusting. It's unethical. And frankly, it is not something I want to be around.

At the end of the day, I crochet and I design because I love working with yarn and I have ideas. When I create something similar to someone else and someone mentions it, I research it. If the other person has it for sale, I IMMEDIATELY remove mine because I feel like I am stepping on toes. Does that make my work wrong? No. Does it make my idea wrong? No. Does it mean I committed copyright infringement? No. It just means that I have ethical principles that I follow as a designer and as a person. That happened with my dino pattern.

What I stand for is ethical treatment and following the law. I can't attack or even sue for someone having a similar idea. What I can do...is be a designer I would like to see elsewhere - ethical, kind, and law-abiding. Please know that when you purchase a pattern or use one of my free patterns, this is the type of person you are supporting. There are other designers out there who follow the same principles, but be wary. Many of these individuals are vipers hidden among the grass.

Sarah

Throwback Thursday - Custom Order Viking Helmet

This one...yep this one was trouble! I remember struggling on how to create the horns in a way that matched what a Viking helm may look like. Obviously, it is not a true representation. Yet, it does give a nice nod. Yes, that is a crocheted blanket to the right of the photo, but I did not crochet it. It was a gift. That woman is me though! Unfortunately, I did not write this pattern down as it was just free hand. I might be tempted in creating the pattern in the future if there is interest....

What have you crocheted freehand?

Sarah

Throwback Thursday - Roman Helm

This Roman Helm was a difficult task, but a fun one. I had been crocheting for about 2 years when I got asked to create this and a Viking Helmet. I decided to accept the challenge and began trying to accomplish something similar to a Roman helm. Despite it not being a true representation, I thought it provided a close representation to one. I used heather gray for the helm and cherry red for the floppy brush. Looking back, I should have used starch to make it stand up!

What a wonderful way to spend Thursday!

Sarah