Finally Done!

Ah, I've been in project-completion mode!  Got the scarf done for the Special Olympics:

It was a fun project.  I just did some rows of the garter stitch, some rows of the purl stitch (both in blue), then a chunk in the seed stitch (in red).  Of course, while I'm piddling along on this one scarf, my mom did 4 scarves!  I'll be shipping them off this week to the Maryland chapter (couldn't find one here in the District).  There's still time, so please check out the Scarf Project site:  http://scarvesforspecialolympics.org/

Next, the Tiramisu baby hat!

The Naked Princess!

Sorry about the sensationalist headline but Princess has been sheared!

I should have about 7 pounds of fleece coming my way soon!  Mmmm, I'd better start looking for that yarn spinning class :-)

Almost Lost Her!!

Yesterday sure had its ups and downs!  Caroline and I had decided on a name for Coopworth # 236 as a result of the Name That Sheep contest:  Princess Maple Leaf (most likely Princess for short).  And I was all excited to announce on Facebook yesterday morning and here as well, but when I went to the computer, this email pops up with an exclamation point marker on it.  Caroline sent me a message to tell me that Princess had almost been lost!

Sheep, especially pregnant ones, sometimes get "cast"--stuck upside down -- and it can kill them.

When Caroline went to check the sheep, it seemed that the flock was doing just fine, all upright and moving about.  But, as she was heading back to the barn through a woody section of the pasture, Hannah the Border Collie began bouncing around like she smelled sheep.  And, sure enough, there was Princess, upside down in a ditch, thoroughly stuck. They were able to get her back up, and, once she got the feeling back in her legs, she was able to move around, and she ate well. Close call! Caroline also pointed out that this is another good reason to put blankets on the sheep: her beautiful wool was protected from being ground into the mud.

Whew, it makes me realize how hard it really must be to tend animals and run a farm!  Thank goodness for Hannah.  I had visions in my head of those old Lassie TV shows, where Lassie goes running to the family, barks a few times, and they just immediately sense what she's trying to tell them.

Well, I hope my next update on Princess will be a much better one!!

Les Doudous

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

I've gotten a fun start to the year so far, crochet-wise:

My friend Jean just got back from a trip to Austria and brought me back a beautiful crochet book in German.  It's by a French crocheter Cendrine Armani, and it's got the cutest crocheted animals ("les doudous" in French, which basically means a child's stuffed animal or security blanket) traveling on an adventure around the world together.  Now, I don't know a lick of German, but once you figure out the German abbreviations for single crochet, double crochet, etc. (and the book has plenty of pictures), then it's not so hard to figure out the pattern instructions (plus I can always ask Jean to translate for me :-)



And, last night, I was in Barnes & Noble looking for Inside Crochet magazine when I came across the premiere issue of Love of Crochet magazine, which has been launched by the Love of Knitting publishers.  I haven't really had a chance to go through it, but with a flip-through, there's a real variety of patterns in there, though I also felt that I had seen some of them before in other places.

Reflections 2011

Well, here we are again!  Another year has gone by, and it's time to look forward to 2012.  I went back to the "Reflections" post that I wrote a year ago, in which I tried to articulate some goals for this year, to see if I had actually met any of them :-) 

Although I don't have a 1000 followers (yet) and haven't been actively participating in 5 social media forums, I have been doing a lot!  I've been designing a lot of new patterns, some of which are now up on my Ravelry page and some of which were featured in Inside Crochet magazine.  I also launched my "101 Crochet Tips" Kindle book and adopted a sheep.

So, lessons learned?  Put out valuable content and the followers will come.  It's really a simple concept but a really hard one to execute.  How do you know if you've produced valuable content?!  There are analytical tools out there now that help you determine what impact, if any, your content is having, and one of my goals this coming year is to make better use of those tools.  But, it is still really important to stay true to yourself as a creator -- don't make anything you don't want to make:  your heart won't be in it, and it won't result in something that you will want to share with the world.  With limited resources, you need to find your niche and fulfill it to the best of your ability.

Another lesson learned is that, even if you have great content, you have to present it in a compelling and professional way to attract followers (and hopefully buyers).  I received a scathing review of my old website -- it was really tough to hear, but I really recommend finding an objective observer who will truly give it to you straight.  You don't have to actually follow all the advice you receive (though you probably should try to absorb it, think it through, and adopt a new way of looking at your work, and you have to try to remind yourself that the person is trying to help you), but you sometimes really need help in objectively seeing what you are doing.  I haven't yet been able to implement all of the suggestions for the website that I have received, but it's one of my primary goals for 2012 to create a really user-friendly and compelling website, a real basic for any (small) business these days.  It was interesting how "trust", a topic we've discussed in the past, kept coming up -- a website that engenders trust, that professionally presents content, and that potential buyers feel comfortable visiting and purchasing from.

In December's newsletter, which really wasn't a newsletter as much as it was a "thank you" to all of you who have found and stuck with me this past year, I really tried to think about and outline the new content I want to create and how I will deliver it in the new year.  This goes back to the two words that I plan on making my mantra for 2012 -- content and focus.

So, what do you want to accomplish this upcoming year?  What are your two words that will be the driving force behind your actions in 2012?  Please share them here or on my Facebook page as a way to help you visualize them and to give me the opportunity to encourage you to embrace them!

Happy New Year!!

Name That Sheep Contest!!

We can name the sheep!  Caroline Owens explained to me that they bought her and a few other ewes from a well -respected West Virginia Coopworth farm when the breeder suddenly needed to downsize.  It happened quickly and during a busy time for the Owens, so they never got around to naming their new acquisitions beyond "the West Virginia ewes".  But Caroline tells me that Coopworth 236 has distinguished herself from the flock in terms of personality and performance and could really use a name.

To catch up those of you who are not (yet) regular followers of my blog ;-) I adopted a sheep recently from the Owens Farm, located in Sunbury, Pennsylvania (you can read more about her and see another picture of her in a previous post).  Shearing time is almost here (January 14th through 18th), and # 236 deserves a name by then.

So, here's the plan.  Please go to the Many Creative Gifts Facebook page by January 5th (midnight EST) and comment on this post by entering the name that you think we should give "Coopworth 236".  After the 5th, Caroline and I will discuss and choose the winning name.  Now, we do reserve the right not to choose any of the names and instead come up with one of our own, but we'd really like your help on this!  As an added incentive, the winner will not only get bragging rights but also a free copy of my "101 Crochet Tips" Kindle book ($9.95 value) and some of the newly named ewe's fleece (priceless!).

She's one of those furry bottoms in the picture where the sheep are getting herded by the dog, but there she is, in the blanket, in the other picture!

Adopt-A-Sheep!

I just adopted a sheep for the upcoming year!  I'm so excited because, when shearing time comes, her wool is mine!  I haven't even thought about what I'm going to do with it, but this is something I've wanted to do for a while, so I just did it :-)

She is a Coopworth ewe, a breed that was developed in the 1970s for New Zealand's grass-fed sheep industry.  Caroline and David Owens, the Pennsylvania family behind Owens Farm, purchased her from a breeder in West Virginia last year, and she apparently really stood out from the rest of the flock through her friendliness and curiosity.  And she sheared a gorgeous fleece and ended up having triplets!!  And she managed to feed them all so well that each is "chunky and vigorous" (which sounds good to a non-farmer :-)  But, they were all rams, and the Owens are hoping she'll have some ewes this upcoming year to perpetuate her characteristics.

I'm looking forward to more updates from the farm and will share as they come in!