Exciting news! I have a new class launching today on Creativebug.com. It’s called the “Eat Your Fruits and Veggies Crochet-Along,” a 9-project crochet class chockfull of Vitamin Yarn, and a new fruit or veggie project is rolling out every Friday and Monday until October 7th.

ALSO, Creativebug teamed up with Lion Brand Yarn for my class. If you sign up for Creativebug.com using the promo code LION, you get 1 month free to check out all the hundreds of amazing Creativebug classes PLUS you’ll be sent info on how to get 15% off at LionBrand.com for all your yarny needs, all until September 26th. Pretty cool, right?

I can’t wait to see all your beautiful projects! Please tag me if you post any photos on social media. I’d love to share the fruits of your labor!!!! (Sorry, had to…)

Wanted to show you guys the Rainbow Rays crochet cowl pattern I wrote for the August Yarn Crush subscription box! The yarn we used was Mashmellow Rino by Joma Yarn, and it was just so gorgeous that I wanted to keep the pattern nice and simple. If you are interested in purchasing a spare August box, please contact Yarn Crush directly to see about extras. Otherwise, the pattern is also in my Ravelry shop.

Let me preface this by saying: I have not seen Zootopia.

To be honest, it’s really rare that I will see an animated movie.  The last one I saw was Big Hero 6, and I did like that a lot!

Anyway, I saw someone’s little girl wearing this hoodie, aaaaaand, I had to have it! It’s from the Girls section at Target, which is way better than the Women’s section. I looked at Target.com first to see if they had the hoodie in my size (XL!) at my local store, and, nope! I took a lil 30 minute drive to pick one up, and it was so worth it. There’s even a lil bunny tail on the back of the hoodie as well as a Zootopia Police badge patch dangling out of a pocket. I will take better quality pics of it at some point, but I just love it so much I had to share immediately!

I’m often kinda torn between posting all my patterns for free or putting them up on Etsy. And then if I distinguish between which patterns I put where….. I think some lines start to get blurry. While I love sharing inspiration and projects, I feel like my time and ideas are valuable, too, and while I have wonderful blog sponsors, it’s not like I make that much money from my blog nor do I post content often enough to make that logical. Pattern-selling in general is probably not going to ever be a living wage for me, but I do think that there is worth to our designs. I’m also not at the point yet where I want random advertising popping all over my blog. So, yes, this is a long rant. Sorry about that! I tend to over-share, but I’m still just trying to figure everything out, to get you guys the patterns you like, and to also make sure it is worth my time and energy and that I can pay for my wifi etc etc! 😛

For now, for scarf patterns in particular, I like the “FreeFor24Hrs” format. It’s like a “thank you” to the people who follow my blog and social media. This is a fairly easy pattern, and sometimes I like putting the easy patterns up for free, but since it’s also a scarf, I do like the idea of keeping all my signature scarves on Etsy. Again, I’m still playing with all of this.

tl;dr

Edit: FreeFor24Hrs is now over! Thanks so much, everyone! Find the pattern now in my Etsy shop. It was originally commissioned by Homespun Magazine last Fall, so if you were not able to get the magazine, now you can get the pattern!

I got a really cute box of goodies to share with you guys from YumeTwins!

YumeTwins is a new kawaii box released by TokyoTreat. Unlike other kawaii boxes, YumeTwins revolves around the “Yume Kawaii” culture, which is a combination of cuteness and fairytales with a touch of darkness. “Yume” itself means “dream,” so not only does Yume Kawaii center around cute styles, but it also has a magical dreamy feel to it. Yume Kawaii culture is currently extremely popular and trending in Japan. Also, with YumeTwins based in Japan, they have more variety in inventory and advantages to easily partner with big brands to provide authentic licensed merchandise for everyone.The YumeTwins box will feature exclusive items from famous Japanese brands such as Sanrio, Takara Tomy, Amuse, Re-Ment and many more. The Debut box included an exclusive 20th Anniversary Sailor Moon Plush and was HUGE hit. I was sent the July Sanrio All Stars box!

There is a mini-magazine on top which lets you know the details about what’s inside the box, as well as information about the current month’s contest (to win more goodies!), and also some short articles about Japanese pop culture. Manda was checking out the pop culture pages and definitely felt like she learned something!

And now let’s check out the cute goodies!

The box included a Shinada Poodle Plush, Hello Kitty Randoseru Charm, Harajuku Kawaii Bracelet, My Melody Memo Pad, My Melody plush, Little Twin Stars socks (my fave!), My Melody Pouch, and a Harajuku Princess Tiara.

Here‘s where you can check out all the pricing details. Plans start at $21.99/month + $6 shipping and can vary depending on how many months you commit to. All subscribers are also automatically entered to possibly win their special Yume Prize box. Check out all the stuff that was in the June Yume Prize! Dang!

You can follow YumeBox on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Hope you had fun with this peek inside! I am going to have lot of fun spreading these items amongst my friends!