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!

The Like List: All About Colors

The most exciting thing when starting a new project (especially a big one, like a blanket) is picking the colors. Some people just seem to have a natural talent for picking color-combos with a wow-effect, and others - like me - are a little bit anxious when it comes to the big color decision. Never mind if you're a natural talent, or a lost soul in the world of colors, the following links might help you to finally find the perfect color-combo, to encourage you to experiment with adventurous new colors you've never worked with before - or to simply teach you more about the physical backgrounds of color theory (if you're interested in that). Enjoy!

1. Color Theory 101: Selecting Yarn That Go Together on Freshstitches: this article is perfect for you if you just want a quick intro into the basics of color theory, explained from a knitter's/crocheter's point of view.

Source: freshstitches

2. Crochet School Lesson 18: Working With Color on Craftyminx: this article goes more into detail about color theory and explains the different color schemes, like monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split complimentary, triad and double complementary. The article also includes links to more color-related websites, articles and tools, and a video on how the color change is done in crochet.

Source: Craftyminx

3. All About Color on Crochet Cabana: This is the most comprehensive article I've found so far about color theory and its implication for working with yarn. It defines what color is, explains the different color-schemes, and also focuses on the emotions that different colors evoke or are associated with. And of course the article provides you with even more links, if you're still not satisfied with what you learned. I personally think that with this article I've learned all there is to know about colors and working with them in crochet.

4. The Random Stripe Generator on Biscuits and Jam: This is a tool that I've often stumbled over when reading the different articles about color - once you've made up your mind which colors you want to work with, you can use this tool to generate a random stripe pattern. Could be helpful if you want to start on a ripple or stripey blanket! As a test, I've picked white, light green, and two shades of pink, and this is the first suggestion I've got:

5. Blanket Journey on Attic24: If the other articles mentioned above are just too much dry theory for you, you'll probably love Lucy's post about how she personally chooses the colors for a blanket. And we all know that Lucy's a natural when it comes to color picking, right?

Source: Attic24

6. Design Seeds: This is not an article but a whole website about color palettes for any purpose. As crocheters we can use it for our yarn-projects, but this site is also helpful when you want to (re-)design your blog and look for the perfect color palette. When you hover with the mouse over the color squares, it gives you the hex-code of the according color, so you can use it when working with html or in an image processing software (like Gimp or Photoshop).

Source: Design Seeds

And as a bonus, here are my two favorite ways of finding the perfect color combo:

7. Rattle your yarn bag or box and see if a color combo strikes you. Honestly, that's how I've found the colors for my Dots and Dashes Throw! I've got my Stylecraft yarn in a transparent plastic box, and after some rummaging around, those four balls (cream, shrimp, spring green and saffron) were lying next to each other and I knew: yep, that's it!

8. Steal. Steal without restraint. I know, this sounds strange, because as creative people we all respect the patterns, original designs and pictures of our fellow bloggers. But when it comes to color, there is no copyright (I hope *gg*). I'm collecting crochet finds like crazy on my various Pinterest boards, and not all of the pins are about the pattern only, sometimes I just pin because the color-combo strikes me. Of course, if you're using exactly the same colors and the pattern, too, a thank-you back-link to the source of your inspiration would be nice and probably very much appreciated!

I hope you've found those links interesting and helpful, if you know more great websites about colors and especially color-combos in crochet, please let me know in the comments!

Have a great and colorful week-end,

Maybe you'd like to know, that...

• This is not a ranking. I present the items on the list in an order that seems reasonable to me.
• I'm NOT paid for mentioning any of the websites or products.
• When I'm using pictures, I always try to let the owner know that I'm doing so (if it's possible to find out the owner of a picture). If I unknowingly violate some rights, please let me know and I'll remove the according picture at once.

 

Thursday Thoughts

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!

 

Thursday Thoughts

Source: Pinterest