PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

Today’s PlanetJune Story is from Heather Hoover of Grove City, OH, who turned her love of crocheting into a business called The Yarnyard, by selling her impressive collection of amigurumi at craft shows. Please note: Heather’s kind words are all her own! I blushed when I read them – but not as much as I smiled when I saw this photo of her table at the craft show, laden with so many familiar designs:

I know – there are too many to make out! Check out the close-ups below once you’ve read Heather’s story….

Heather writes:

After about a year of making Amigurumi for my children, I considered the idea of making them to sell at a local craft show. I didn’t want to use just any kind of free pattern available. I wanted good quality patterns that looked both realistic and cute. I also needed to find a designer that would be willing to allow the crafted product to be sold. I quickly began losing hope in my newfound dream because so many designers would not allow selling of the finished products. I was angry! It wasn’t like I wanted to steal designs or take credit for them. I simply wanted to enjoy the hobby of crafting Amigurumi and make a little extra cash at the same time.

I kept searching and finally happened upon PlanetJune.com. As I looked through the patterns, I felt completely in awe at the design quality, the realistic look of the animals, and the cuteness encompassing them. I didn’t want to get too excited because I felt certain I would run into the same issue of selling the product. I hesitantly searched around the site for the ‘fine print’. Much to my delight, I saw “You may sell items made from my patterns, provided you comply with [my terms]”. Of course, I was happy to follow these terms. A rush of joy burst through me, and I realized I had found my perfect source.

When I bought my first few patterns from June, I expected them to be on the difficult side. I was pleasantly surprised by the easy to follow step-by-step instructions and pictures she included. I started out simple, but could hardly wait to try my hand at the textured yarns that many of June’s high-quality designs suggest. June doesn’t miss a step in her instructions. They are very easy to understand. If you do run into a problem, she offers help through email communication and has posted many of her techniques on PlanetJune.com.

After a year of buying patterns and crafting June’s designs, I had enough product to sell at the craft show. I communicated my plan with June and she gladly sent me a stack of her business cards to share with fellow crafters. I named my business The Yarnyard; created cards, and made it official. The show was a great success. I sold more than half my items and inspired many crafters to pick up their old crochet hooks. I referred them to PlanetJune with the hope that more people can enjoy the art of crochet and all that June has to offer.

I appreciate June’s willingness to share and her dedication to us, as crafters. I believe this is the way it should be in our world of artistic expression. Life is much more fun when we can work together, and that’s exactly what June and I did. I helped boost her business by getting her name out there and she made it possible for me to enjoy my hobby and earn cash at the same time.

Thanks so much, Heather, for sharing your story! Unlike many designers, I’m always happy to allow people to sell the products that they make from my patterns, provided they give me credit as the designer, and never share the pattern with anyone else! The way I see it, if you’ve put the work into making an amigurumi, you deserve to make whatever you can from it. You can buy another pattern from me if you make some money from selling and want to thank me – that way we’ll both benefit!

And now let’s take a better look at some of Heather’s craft show table:

Lots of characters I recognise! Among others, I spot AmiDogs, Dinosaurs, Fuzzy Monkey, Foxes…

Farmyard Pigs, Poison Dart Frog, Mini Fuzzies Hedgehog, Gecko…

Sea Turtle, Fruit Bat, Fuzzy Bears & Seal…

I think this is my favourite pic though – just look at all these Mop Top Mascots! I love the way Heather has displayed them, don’t you?

Do you have a PlanetJune Story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it! Please email your story to june@planetjune.com, together with one or more high quality photos showing what you’ve made from PlanetJune patterns. If I choose your story to feature here on the blog, I’ll send you your choice of pattern from my shop to say thank you!

Ah, February, where did you go?! I know I haven’t posted much lately; my time has mostly been taken up with the process of selling our house (which we managed in a very stressful 3-week whirlwind of constant cleaning and tidying, and being kicked out of the house on short notice for hours at a time while it was being shown) and trying to get all the paperwork sorted for ourselves and Maui to move abroad.

With all that on my plate, it’s no wonder that I succumbed to the flu last week! I’m over that now, but now suffering with bronchitis instead, and there’s still an incredible amount of tasks we have to accomplish before we pack our bags and set off on our adventure at the end of this month. So, if posts remain light for a while, please bear with me!

I have all sorts of stuff planned for once this move is over with and I have more time to devote to the blog again: new patterns, new crochet videos, and some other surprises. In the meantime, I do have a very cute (if I do say so myself!) new design that I hope to launch in the next week or so, so look out for that 🙂

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Now, with it being March 1st, it’s time for me to draw February’s ‘Review and Win’ contest winner… For February and March, I’m trying to encourage people to review products/patterns that don’t yet have a review in my shop. Each of these ‘first’ reviews get a bonus entry into the drawing. I’ve taken all those bonus entries into account with my drawing, and this month’s lucky winner is Anne R, with her review of my Gossamer Lace Wrap:

I started with the cowl and now am almost done with the wrap just a few rows till I start the finishing rows. I used merino wool in a lace weight. The pattern instructions are easy and complete. Thanks for making it so easy to add an extra repeat I am not a little woman. I like it so much I am waiting on the arrival of some cashmere yarn to make another. Don’t be afraid of this pattern, June has made it so simple to feel like such an artisan and accomplished crafts person. I can highly recommend this pattern.

Congratulations, Anne, I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize!

There are still lots of patterns that don’t have a review in my shop (to get you started, almost all sizes of Clear Eyes, several individual Dinosaur patterns, and almost all the AmiDogs breeds AND sets are currently review-less…), so why don’t you write a review of one of them this month, and get your bonus entry into the March ‘Review and Win’ draw?

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And one last bit of exciting news: the 3rd Annual Crochet Awards (Flamies) nominations have just been announced, and I just discovered that I’ve been nominated in two categories: this blog has been nominated for ‘Best Crochet Blog’ and my book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi, has been nominated for ‘Best Instructional/Technical Crochet Book’ – that one makes my heart sing! Voting starts on March 15th (I’ll remind you!) but I’m really happy just to have been nominated 😀

The winter sale at the Yarn Factory Outlet store (in Listowel, Ontario) runs through this week and next – a bittersweet occasion for me, as this would be my last opportunity to visit the outlet before I leave Canada…

Luckily, the sun was shining yesterday, so my final trip was a picturesque hour’s drive through farmland each way. I tried to snap a few photos of the countryside through the windscreen as I drove, but didn’t really capture how lovely it all looked, with the endless clear blue skies, white snow-covered fields, and red barns. Winter in Canada can seem endless, but on a sunny day like this it’s absolutely gorgeous – I’ll miss these farmland scenes when I leave Ontario. This is the best photo I got:

Ontario farmland in the snow

I’ve shown you the inside of the outlet store before, so I didn’t bother taking any more photos; you can get a good idea from the pics in my post from my first visit, 2 years ago – nothing has changed 🙂

This time, I made a beeline for the unlabelled yarn tables, stacked high with miscellaneous yarns, with everything on them priced at 20c/oz – so that’s about 80c for a typical 100g ball of yarn… Of course, it’s not labelled, so you don’t know what you’re getting unless you can recognise it by the look and feel. I scored big time – loads of Bernat Satin, a nice assortment of Patons Grace, and a few skeins of random yarns that I couldn’t identify, but which will be great for future amigurumi designs:

Final yarn haul

Altogether, I got 33 skeins of yarn for around $20! I do love a bargain 🙂

Yarn Factory Outlet, I salute you – it’s been a pleasure.

I’ve been hosting an unofficial Crochet-Along for my Love Hearts pattern – just for fun – and I wanted to share all the lovely hearts with you today. I don’t really approve of Valentine’s Day (because I hate the commercialism, and that anyone would think you need a special day to tell your loved ones how you feel about them), but I do approve of taking the time to make things for people you care about. That’s why I’m so happy to see how many of you have found the time to crochet up some of my Love Hearts, and how many different things you’ve found to do with them.

I don’t really know where to begin, so these are just in the order I happened to grab the pics in. So I can get them all posted before V-Day ends, I’ll keep my commentary short with just the name credits for each pic, but please know I’m enthusing about each one really!

Hooks and Glue; smscreen

muscidae; yaney

Kat; englishdormouse

PixyKayte; Fannita

Infinite Skeins (both)

Toxophily (& her kids!)

ShannanL; sweetiii2

MommaTrish; ShannanL

lkk; lkk

klopferli; LoopyJess

LoopyJess

CrochtColorJunkie; CrochtColorJunkie

CrochtColorJunkie (both)

aleks1096; Northern Hi-Lights

jukatca (both)

TheGrouchyCairn, who wrote such a sweet message to go with her masses of hearts, I thought I’d quote part of it here (click through to read the rest):

My mom lives in a retirement community. I worry about the loneliness of seniors and decided to make some pins for her apartment building floor. As I started I felt my heart leading me to make little door hangers as well so that those who do not go out as often would get a little valentine heart for sure. I ended up making I’m sure over 50 of the littlest hearts. I was thrilled that I was able to deliver them anonymously, (there is almost always someone out roaming the halls or looking for someone to visit!) By the end of the day almost all the heart pins, (left on a table by the elevator,) had been taken and every door on floor 8 had a heart!

Aww, how lovely! There are loads more hearts out there – 99 projects on ravelry alone! – but I’ve just highlighted the ones here who took part in the CAL or linked back to my pattern in their blog posts.

I hope this explosion of hearts has brightened your day as much as it has mine! Thanks so much to everyone who’s made one or more heart, and/or donated for the pattern. I never dreamed this pattern would be so popular – I love that my little hearts have made so many people happy 🙂

PS – If you’re looking to adopt a PlanetJune Ferret, this morning is your last chance to bid on the one-of-a-kind ferret auction…

My favourite yarns for amigurumi (in no particular order) are:

• Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice – although it’s not as soft as my other favourites, it has more substance, which makes for really nice shaping on my amigurumi, and oh! the colours! I’ve never seen such a lovely selection of muted colours. All my Dinosaurs are made with Vanna’s.
  
• Bernat Satin – my first favourite yarn! Although it’s got thinner over the last few years (when you pull it tight, as you do with amigurumi crochet, it really thins down, so it’s hard to avoid leaving some gaps between stitches), I still buy it as it’s dreamily soft and there’s a good selection of neutral colours which is handy for animals, like almost all of my AmiDogs designs.
  
• Red Heart Soft – similar to Satin, but a touch less soft and just that little bit thicker, which makes for a better-looking amigurumi, with less gaps between stitches. There are some gorgeous saturated colours and greens in the range, but it’s a bit limited for neutrals. I used RH Soft to make the boy and girl designs in my book.
  

I use these yarns a lot. All the time, in fact. Between the three, I can always find the perfect yarn for any project I dream up. But that makes me very concerned about what I’m going to do for yarn once I get to South Africa… None of my favourite brands are available over there and I don’t think there’s a South African equivalent for the soft acrylics I use for my amigurumi designs. My plan is to buy as much as possible to ship over when we move, because I just don’t know what kind of designs I’m going to dream up next year, so I can’t plan for which colours I’ll need, or how much of each. My best bet is to stockpile the biggest stash I can manage.

Yesterday, my sister commented that she’d like a way to be able to send me money to put towards building my yarn stash, and I thought, hmm, that sounds like a good idea…

So, if you find my website helpful and you’d like to send me something towards stocking up on yarn to take with me so I can keep designing new patterns and creating new tutorials for you when I’m in South Africa, you can now donate to the PlanetJune Yarn Fund:

It’s like a virtual Tip Jar, but with a specific purpose. I’ll spend every cent donated to the PlanetJune Yarn Fund as frugally as possible, taking advantage of Michaels sales and coupons (I’m in Canada, so Michaels is the only option for me here!) to make the funds go as far as I can and hopefully be able to buy up every colour of my three favourite yarns for amigurumi!

Of course, if you already support me by buying my patterns and accessories or donating for my free patterns, that all helps too – thank you! – but any Yarn Fund monies will all be spent on yarn, not sidetracked into paying for food, electricity, etc 🙂

I thank you for all of your support, financial and otherwise, as I go through this scary, exhausting transitional stage before our new African adventure begins. I can’t even begin to imagine what my life will be like in a few months from now!

ETA: Importing yarn to South Africa to use in my new designs has proven to be a major challenge, between high shipping costs, high import tax, a ridiculously poor exchange rate, postal strikes and postal theft. If you’d like to donate towards the PlanetJune Yarn Fund, it’s still operational, and all donations will be gratefully put towards my next yarn restocking adventure. 🙂

Drumroll, please…. Today I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a PlanetJune fan or a ferret fan to own a PlanetJune original! It’s very rare that I sell finished pieces – I occasionally accept a commission for a crocheted animal, but I spend almost all my time designing and writing, and prefer to save my hands for crocheting up new designs. But when I came to pack up my toy shelves:

…there was one little baby who stayed behind…

…One little ferret who decided he’d like to be adopted into a new loving home instead of moving to South Africa with me.

This sweet and realistic ferret is a totally one-of-a-kind PlanetJune original. His markings are different to those in my ferret pattern, so you can’t make one like this, even with my pattern!

• He measures 14″ (36cm) long, from the tip of his cute little pink nose to the end of his furry ferret tail.
• He’s crocheted from mohair blend yarns, which makes him fuzzy and fluffy and soft and cuddly.
• Black safety eyes complete his realistic look, so he’s not suitable for children under 3 years old.
• Complete with a signed certificate of authenticity that he was handmade with love by me, June Gilbank!

Would you like to adopt this little sweetie? He’s all ready to go to his new home, and I’ve put him up for auction on eBay with a ridiculously low starting price – far lower than my commissioned rates – so you may end up with a real bargain as well as a one-of-a-kind original!

All proceeds will go to a very good cause: buying a stash of yarn that I can take to South Africa with me so I can continue to create new amigurumi patterns for you in the yarns that you’re familiar with (there’ll be no soft worsted weight acrylics over there: no Bernat, Lion Brand, Red Heart, Patons, Caron… how will I survive?!)

I hope you like my sweet ferret. If you don’t want to place a bid yourself, please pass the link (PlanetJune Ferret auction link) on to anyone else who may be interested in this opportunity.

Or, bid on my ferret right here: PlanetJune Ferret auction 🙂

Thank you!

Happy Groundhog Day! Apart from being my favourite made-up holiday, it’s also time for me to draw January’s ‘Review and Win’ contest winner… This month’s lucky winner is Rita G, with her review of my Detail Stuffing Tool:

I used this stuffing tool and the result was great!! I have crocheted a lot of stuffed animals with the result I used the end of a crochet hook, bamboo stuffing tool, or other means to get stuffing into small places. The results weren’t always good. With this little stuffing tool I had great results finding the stuffing went where I wanted it to go so my animal took shape turning out really cute! I look forward to using this tool again and again! I highly recommend this tool!!

Congratulations, Rita, I’ll email you to find out which pattern you’d like as your prize!

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And now back to the important news of today: none of the famous groundhogs (Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie, and Shubenacadie Sam) saw their shadows this morning, so that means they all predicted an early spring – let’s hope they were right!

I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since the Groundhog-Along! My crocheted groundhog is hibernating in a box in the basement (together with all my other amigurumi) while we try to sell our house, so he’s passing on prognosticating today. I wonder what all the other amigurumi ‘hogs will predict today..? 🙂

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone! BING!

After people buy my patterns, that’s often the end of my involvement with them – I rarely get to see the end results, or what people do with their creations after they’ve made with them. With PlanetJune Stories, I hope to change all that! I want to discover and share how amazing my customers are with this new series of posts, each featuring one of my customers and his/her personal story.

My first PlanetJune Story features Sandy Grabowski of Cincinnati, OH, and the heartwarming tale of how she came to crochet this impressive AmiDogs collection:

Sandy writes:

I have crocheted for many years. When my son was young, I started making creatures using the wonderful patterns that were available then from Annie’s Attic, when Annie had first started up her business. He would go through the patterns as I was making one and say, ‘Make this one next, Mom!’ As he grew up I turned to other projects, huge afghans and such, but a few years ago I wanted to go back to making creatures. It’s such fun to take a single strand of yarn and a simple hook and end up with an almost-living being with a personality. But what to do with them when I was done?

The solution was that I offered them to the Ronald McDonald House here in Cincinnati (there are many of them across this country and throughout the world). The dedicated staff there provides a home-like place to stay for the families of children who are undergoing treatment at Children’s Hospital. Each child who comes gets a basket of goodies, and often one of my creatures is in it. It gives me a warm feeling as I work to know that my creatures may bring a smile to a a child in a difficult situation and perhaps become a lifetime companion.

In my never-ending search for patterns, I discovered PlanetJune and purchased all the AmiDogs patterns (and many others), and recently I decided that for my next shipment, I would crochet all of them at once. This marvelous group portrait is the result. I embroidered the eyes for safety reasons and gave each one a colorful collar and a smile. June Gilbank is an artist in not only creating such wonderful, true-to-life creatures, but in making it possible for anyone to make them through her lovely patterns and her most excellent and useful book (which shows how you can design your own!). The staff at the Ronald McDonald House is always amazed at the versatility of what can be done with crochet. Thanks so very much, June, and all the best to you in your big South African adventure!!!

And thank you, Sandy, for sharing your story with us! Here are Sandy’s dogs in close-up:

Aren’t they lovely?! So full of personality! I’m sure Sandy’s dogs have brightened the days of a lot of children at Ronald McDonald House.

Do you have a PlanetJune Story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it! Please email your story to june@planetjune.com, together with one or more high quality photos showing what you’ve made from PlanetJune patterns. If I choose your story to feature here on the blog, I’ll send you a free pattern to say thank you!