Meet Rajeswari from "Diaper Mum"

It's the third Sunday in Advent and I'm happy to share with you another guest-post in my "Meet in K-town"-series. Today Rajeswari from Diaper Mum has come all the way from Hong Kong to chat a little about her beautiful blog...

"Thank you dear Barbara for inviting me as a guest in your very creative space @ Made-in-K-Town. It really is a special honor to be writing this for you and all your lovely readers!

My name is Rajeswari and besides being happily married and mom of 2 kids, I own my happy space at “Diapermum”. My home country is India but I live in Hong Kong right now. I used to be a run-off-the-mill IT consultant before I was blessed with my little angel and later on with my charming prince. Crocheting and crafting were my passions since childhood days and being a stay at home mom gave me the perfect oppurtunity to get back to my crafty adventures. Blogging has been my creative outlet and has connected me with so many amazing and talented people from all over the world.

In my little space I share my creations in crochet, paper craft, home decor and general ramblings of a crafty lady.

Through this blog I wish to share some of my own patterns and ideas, free of course. I have found inspiration in so many blogging sites and I try to spread this joy. For me creativity is not a hobby but a way of life! A day is not complete unless I make some mess! Being artistic or even appreciating art is the only thing that makes the human being a superior race and I want my kids to be sensitive to art.

 

Crocheting has always been my first love and a life saver many a days. Some days are not as good as others and those days crochet is the perfect comfort craft to ease away all the blues.

With little ones around and Hong Kong compact living spaces I do not get much time or space for persuing other crafts as much as I like. But I do ocassionally dabble in paper crafting, quilling and general DIYs for home improvement.

So if you are in a mood for some crochet therapy, color riot, paper crafting ideas, child management skills mistakes or just some laughs do stop over @ my blog –Diapermum – A Mum’s Crochet and Crafty space. 

Thank you dear Barbara for bringing us crocheters and crafters together. I had a blast writing this post for you and all your lovely readers! Hope to “meet” you over a good cuppa and some crochet of course and if I may add “We’ll always have YARN!”

Thank you Rajeswari for this sympathetic glimpse into your colorful, crafty world! And one more suggestion to you, dear readers: when you hop over to Diaper Mum, you just have to check out Rajeswari's Giant Granny Patch Blanket - such a beautiful blanket in stunning colors, captured in wonderful pictures!

I asume this was the last guest-post in 2013 - I'd like to thank all my guests this year for coming over and chatting with me, and all my readers for their interest and feedback. I hope that I can lure more guests over to k-town in 2014, and introduce you to some more exciting crochet and craft blogs!

Happy Sunday everyone, and don't forget: Only 9 more days until Christmas!! :) 

Meet Linda from "Linda's Crafty Corner"

Hello world! 

My guest today is Linda from Linda's Crafty Corner, another lovely lady that has joined me in my "Beyond the Square Challenge" last year. Obviously Linda likes Challenges a lot, because the whole year she's been engaged in her Stashbuster Challenge - so let's see what she's got to tell us about her Challenges and her blog:

"Thank you so much for inviting me to be one of your guest bloggers Barbara I am honoured and thrilled to be here.

My name is Linda and my blog is called Linda’s Crafty Corner.  I am an English almost 61 year old wannabe grandmother and I am pretty much addicted to crochet especially but almost everything crafty too. I learnt to knit when I was just eight years old when my grandmother taught me how to make kettle holders, she used to take me from door to door to visit her neighbours and they would fill my bag with scraps of brightly coloured yarn.  I can still remember the pleasure I got from seeing all that lovely colourful yarn and I have to say I still get the same sort of pleasure now, just put me where there is yarn and I am in heaven.

my idea of heaven.

I began my blogging adventures back in 2010, I just wanted somewhere to keep track of the things I made for charity,  I soon learnt however that there could be so much more to blogging than that. Now my blog is a place where I like to share my adventures in hand crafting and I love to explore and try new techniques and patterns.  Most of the things I make are made for charity and I am a member of Loving hands a group of lovely people who knit/crochet and sew things for all sorts of charities both in the UK and overseas.

Some Charity makes

To start your week with a smile I host The Monday Smile,  anyone is invited to participate by sending me an email of their favourite joke, story or picture I will publish it so we can all share it and have a laugh too.

At the beginning of this year I blogged about my serious stash dilemma and  Ana from Lanas de Anna suggested we challenged each other to use up some of our stash each month, I agreed as I can never refuse a challenge and the Stash-Buster Challenge 2013 was born.  Many have joined us and share their beautiful projects in the stash-buster link parties. The challenge is open to anyone who wants to join in, there is still two months to go before the end of the year, you can still bust a lot of stash in that time and who knows there may be a 2014 stash challenge too.

The thing that fills me with the most pleasure in the blogging world is you the lovely bloggers, I have made so many lovely blogging friends and I love visiting you all, reading your stories and sharing your crafting experiences.  Many of you are very generous in sharing your patterns too and I like to try out the free patterns that are available and leave links to their source. You can find these along with my own free patterns on the Projects, Patterns and Ideas tab at the top of my blog.

So if you would like to visit my blog and I really hope that you do, make sure that you have a nice cuppa coffee and a bit of time to sit and browse, have a giggle, enjoy a stroll through my garden and enjoy looking at some of the projects that I have made. Hopefully you will find some inspiration and a few new patterns too.

Hope to see you there, thanks again for the invite Barbara I've had a lovely time."

Thank you Linda, for taking the time to introduce us to your blog! Unfortunately I haven't been doing much stash-busting myself (or crocheting at all) for most of the year, but if there's really a 2014 Challenge, I'd better hop right in ;)

As we speak, Linda's already busy with another Challenge: this week-end she's putting together knitted squares to make a blanket for Syrian refugees. Hats off to you Linda, I really admire your Charity work!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week-end,

Meet Angie from "Le Monde de Sucrette"

Welcome to another week of "meet in k-town"! My guest today is Angie from Le monde de Sucrette, a wonderful lady you all know and love, and so I'm more than happy, that she has accepted my invitation to write a guest post...

"Hello! It is a pleasure for me today to be a guest in K-town. I am Angie from Le monde de Sucrette. I am 35 years old, a stay at home mum with 3 children (Christina 8, Sarah 6 and Joe 1). I live in a little country called Lebanon. I am a crochet addict and I sew and paint too. I love soft music of the eighties and enjoy being alone in my craft room for hours. 

I learned to crochet while we were stucked in the shelters during the lebanese civil war. I was 11 years old then and my mother, in order to distract us and distract herself from all the viollence out there, teached us, my sister and I, how to crochet. I think that was the best gift she gave me after giving me life

Crocheting is like riding a bicycle... Once you learn you never forget... Even though I took my hook back after 16 years when my oldest daughter was born I still remember every stitch my mother taught me when I was just a little girl... And since 2005 I am totally hooked

 

 

August 2010: My blog www.lemondedesucrette.com came to life and since that moment my life really changed... I had an opportunity to share my passion with like minded people and that was a real treasure knowing that around the world people addicted like myself to a hook and some colorful yarn do exist 

 

Sharing patterns (all kind of: blankets, amigurumis, cushions, ponchos, shawls etc) and hooking along with wonderful ladies who lives in the other corner of the planet that was the best thing about blogging...  

 

The moment I appreciate the most is around 8 o'clock in the evening when the children are all 3 in bed and hubby and I are sitting quietly him reading and me hooking I feel like all the stress of the day just fly away...  

 

    

What I wish? I wish to live in a peaceful world and to grow old seeing my family happy wherever they are and whatever they are doing I wish for peace and love around the world... And I wish to be able to crochet till my last breathe hahaha  

 

Before ending this post I want to send a big big hug to all my followers because it is thanks to them each and every one that Le monde de Sucrette is still here in blogland. I love you all

 

 

And thank you Barbara for hosting me in your beautiful blog ... It was a real pleasure for me writing this post

You can also follow Le monde de Sucrette on Facebook here, on Pinterest here and on Instagram here


Sucrette (Angie)"    


Thank you Angie for this little glimpse into the colorful world of Sucrette, I really love the selection of pictures you've shared with us today! 

Have a beautiful Sunday everybody and a great start into the new week!

Meet Ana from "Lanas de Ana"

I've got another guest here in k-town today, it's Ana from Lanas de Ana. Although we had known each other's blogs before, we really got to know each other better during last year's "Beyond the Square"-Challenge. I'm glad that Ana has accepted my invitation for being a guest-blogger, and recently she has send me this beautiful post:

"Thank you, Barbara, for inviting me as a guest @ Made in K-Town.

My name is Ana, and I have a knit/crochet blog called “Lanas de Ana”, which in Spanish means: Ana’s Yarns.  I am from Guatemala, and I started my blog in Spanish (as Lanas & Hilos).  But later I decided to write it in English as well, to connect with more people.  I love that, through the blog, I have made “virtual friends” from all over the world…from England, Spain, Australia, Norway, Germany, Chile, the U.S., Holland, Israel, Argentina, India, France, Mexico, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Portugal, Canada, Puerto Rico, and more.  I find it so amazing that yarn can help connect so many people from different countries and cultures.  [Should we name “Yarn” an ambassador for world peace?]

In my blog, I share “my world of yarns”—the part of my life that revolves around crochet and knitting.  By sharing my projects and ideas, I hope to inspire others in the same way as I have found inspiration in many blogs and sites.  I love to share my personal patterns for free… as a way of paying forward all that I have learned from generous crafters. 

I know many of you prefer either to crochet or to knit…but I actually love both.  Sometimes, it seems I do more crocheting (which I find easier), but lately I have done more knitting than usual.  

This year I joined Linda (from Linda’s Crafty Corner) for the Stash BusterChallenge.  The objective is to encourage each other to use as much yarn stash as we can this year (especially those odd balls or bits and pieces of unused yarn sitting in boxes and drawers).  So far, 137 friends have joined us in the challenge, and many projects have been made, and displayed @ “Linda’s LinkParty”.  I personally have made blankets, scarves, hats, cushions, and more (check Stash BusterChallenge to see my projects).  We still have a few months left of the year, so we will be working on more stash-busting projects.  All are welcome to join.

Well, thanks again, Barbara, for inviting me as a guest to your wonderful blog.  You and your friends are cordially invited to visit my corner of the blog world @ Lanas de Ana.  See you there!

♥ Ana BC

from Guatemala with love..."

Thank you Ana for this amazing post, the beautiful pictures, and your thoughts about how our common hobby crochet can connect people from all over the world!

Have a happy Sunday everybody, wherever you are!

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!

"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. 

 

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! 

 

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!

 

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. 

 

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!

 

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!