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Sunday, October 6, 2013

Meet Tamara from "moogly"

It's been a while since I've had a guest over here in k-town, and so I'm happy that Tamara from moogly has followed my invitation to chat about her blog today. I've already recommended Tamara's free pattern round-up in my Like List last week, but let's hear it from herself what else we can discover on her lovely blog!


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"Hi everyone! I'm Tamara Kelly, designer and blogger at Moogly. When Barbara asked me to be a guest blogger on Made in K-town I was thrilled - it's a huge honor to be here! I'm 30-something (mumble mumble), and I live right by the Mississippi River in Iowa, USA. I grew up across the river in Illinois, but I love living in Iowa and am pleased as can be that Fall is finally here! Great crocheting weather is finally on the horizon - though of course I yarn all year long. While I'm most known for crochet I do knit a bit too, though I like the speed and flexibility of crochet best. In addition to blogging and designing I stay busy with my 3 kids, 1 husband, and our new puppy, Loki. Just like his name suggests, he's quite a handful! In my spare time (haha!) I love gaming - computer games, board games, X Box, you name it! And believe it or not, I still can't relax during a movie or TV show without a yarn project going at the same time. 

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I started crocheting shortly after my oldest child was born - almost 12 years ago! I always enjoyed being crafty and had taught myself to chain from a book years earlier, but the rest didn't click until my sister-in-law taught me how to work the single crochet stitch. That 2 minutes changed my life, though it wouldn't be obvious until much later. For a few years after that, depending on babies and the craziness of life, my crocheting time waxed and waned. But it was always my favorite hobby, and I returned to it again and again, getting better with each project. A couple of years ago, thanks to social media, I was finally able to show someone outside of my family what I was making - and the response was so positive, Moogly was re-born! Re-born? Well, Moogly started off as a mommy blog. But I wasn't very good at it. I was too busy being a mommy to write about it... and not very good at turning funny kid one-liners into whole blog posts. But one thing I did do was publish a very simple crochet pattern for a washcloth/dishrag. And lo and behold, it got views! So when I realized that I could turn my passion for crochet into something more, I went back to Moogly and deleted all the old posts except for that pattern, and relaunched as a commission crochet and pattern site! Eventually the blogging and designing took over, and the commission portion ended - and I've never been happier! 

 Moogly Guest Post on Made in K-Town!

At Moogly I focus on a few different types of posts. There are my free original crochet (and a few knit) patterns. When I was learning to crochet, I was so excited to discover free patterns online - and it's been so fun to be able to give back to the crochet community in this way! I also have one pay pattern, the Sven Sweater, which has been a great learning experience for me in many ways. My patterns are of all sorts - hats, cowls, baby clothes, household items, toys, I love to design them all!

 Moogly Guest Post on Made in K-Town

There are also HD video tutorials on Moogly, which my husband helps with (aka does all the video-ing and editing, he's amazing!). I also do free pattern roundups every week, where I pick a theme and present the best free patterns that fit that theme. The most popular roundup to date is one I did last winter on 30 Last Minute Gift Crochet Patterns - it gets lots of views still every day. I also co-host a bi-monthly link party with My Merry Messy Life for fiber arts bloggers. 

 Moogly Guest Post on Made in K-Town

And last but not least, Moogly has gotten big enough now that I've been able to start hosting giveaways, which is very exciting! I love being able to give things away, and the sponsors so far have all been fantastic, from indie designers to big yarn companies. I couldn't have done it without the fans - both the ones who were there at the beginning, cheering me on and spreading the word about Moogly, to the new fans who are excited to discover the site - I love them all! So a big shout-out to all of YOU in the interwebs who've helped make Moogly what it is today! To continue to help give back, I've recently launched a Moogly Makers page, where sellers who make FOs from Moogly patterns can have their link right on the blog!

 Moogly Guest Post on Made in K-Town

The Moogly Facebook page is super active, and a great place to share! I also have a Twitter, Tumblr, and a great set of Pinterest boards! In addition, signing up for the weekly Moogly Email Newsletter gets you exclusive content and keeps you up to date with all the blog posts. I hope to see you around the web, and on the blog! I read every comment and am always ready to help with crochet questions. Thank you again to Made in K-town for the invitation and space to tell you a bit about Moogly!"

Thank you so much for this interesting guest-post, Tamara! And dear readers, I hope you all liked this little glimpse into Tamara's world of crochet, if you're on your way to visit her, please tell her hi from me! :)

Have a great Sunday everyone!


 

2 comments:

  1. It was great to read more about Tamara :) Thank you for having her as your Guest Post! Rhondda

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  2. Tamara has THE most amazing tutorials! I know she will have the answers when I get stumped or need to remember a stitch I haven't done in forever. Tamara is the BEST!

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