PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

The Christmas Crochet-Along has been a great success! For the past month or so I’ve had the pleasure of watching the entries come in, and seeing all the special little touches (yarn choices, pattern modifications, mix-and-matching, etc) that make each project a unique creation.

And what better way to celebrate Christmas than to show off the wonderful seasonal crochet-along projects! As there are so many, I’ve split them into 2 posts, and I hope you’ll enjoy looking through all the entries as much as I have.

Stay tuned for part 2 some time tomorrow (well, technically today – it’s after midnight). I’ll also be announcing the contest winners in the next post…

Seeing double with Silverlotus‘ cute PocketAmi.

La Mañosa crocheted 2 stars and stitched them together to make it more rigid – clever!

Ellen made both poinsettia types and a Christmas pudding!

Jo-Ann made this pretty poinsettia.

This stylish green and white candy cane is from Nadine.

Barbara decorated her tree with little decorations from Hobby Lobby.

Mack made a variety of candy canes and modified my Mop Top Mascots pattern to make it more Christmassy.

Robin took my Elf one step further and added a Santa to her PocketAmi collection.

Alicia made a poinsettia table centrepiece.

Jukatca made a striking set of baubles…

…a PocketAmi set with an added girl elf…

…some candy canes and a Christmas pudding…

…AND a poinsettia!

Leigh made some self-striping baubles using a patterned yarn.

Dee made a Christmas pudding for a Ravelry “Christmas Ornament” swap.

Pysselkiisen made 4 Christmas trees…

…a poinsettia…

…and a lovely candy cane and Christmas pudding wreath!

Aren’t they all lovely? Believe it or not, these are not all of the entries – I still have plenty more pictures to process and upload once I’ve had a little sleep and put the turkey in the oven tomorrow morning 🙂

HAPPY CHRISTMAS everybody, and look out for part 2 of the CAL roundup in a few hours…

Can you believe it’ll be Christmas Eve tomorrow?! I hope you’re more organised than I am this year – I’ve been so busy sorting through all our stuff to find things we can donate or sell before the big move, I haven’t really had a chance to get into the Christmas spirit yet. We only put the tree up yesterday, and I have to brave the hordes for some grocery shopping today – what fun that’ll be!

If you’re stuck for a last-minute present for a crocheter on your list, how about a PlanetJune gift certificate? Buy them in any amount from $5 to $100 and let your recipient choose her (or his) favourite patterns and tools/accessories from my catalogue! And as a gift to you, for every $10 in gift certificates purchased, I’ll give a $1 gift certificate to the purchaser.

So, for example, if you buy $50 in gift certificates, I’ll send you a $5 gift certificate for yourself (or you can pass it on to someone else as an extra gift). This offer is valid until the end of the month. You can instantly send your gift certificates (by email) from your PlanetJune account as soon as you’ve purchased them, so they make a perfect last-minute gift.

You still have until tomorrow (Christmas Eve) to enter the PlanetJune Christmas CAL (& contest). If you’ve made anything this year using any of my Christmas patterns pictured below, don’t forget to enter – you might win a prize, and you’ll get a discount code just for participating!

• First prize: a $10 gift certificate to spend on anything in the PlanetJune store
• Second prize: a free pattern of your choice from the PlanetJune store
• Runner-up prizes: I’ll send a discount code to all participants, to use against their next order from the PlanetJune store.

It’s easy to enter the contest: just send an email to CAL@planetjune.com with either a link to where you’ve posted about your project, or a photo of your completed project. Remember to send one email per pattern you’ve made, so you’ll get your bonus entries!

I’ve sent replies to all the entries I’ve received, so, if you haven’t had an email from me, you haven’t entered yet. Please send your pics asap – I want to start putting together my grand Christmas Day CAL roundup post!

Oh, and while you’re entering contests, how about posting some reviews of the PlanetJune patterns you’ve used this month – you could win the December Review and Win contest…

Okay, I’ve taken up enough of your time – get back to your Christmas preparations!

Ah, this is an exciting moment: I think this will be the final WIP post for my punchneedle globe, because…

That’s right, I’ve finished punching the northern hemisphere!

(FYI, it looks wrinkly in the pic above because I’ve just taken it out of the embroidery hoop, and there’s no point in pressing the surrounding fabric because it’ll all be trimmed down shortly.)

Now all I have to do is stitch up this half into a hemisphere shape, as I did for the southern hemisphere (pictured below), and then keep my fingers crossed that it’ll all match up when I put the two halves together!

Will the top half match the bottom half?! That remains to be seen…

That final seam is going to be the hardest part of all. I’ll have all that pleated fabric you see in the pic above, from both halves, to wrangle (I think I’ll trim some of the excess from what you see above before I begin). And, as if that wasn’t enough, I’ll have to stitch almost half of it from the outside (instead of working inside-out, as I do to stitch the flat circles into a hemisphere). That’ll be more difficult in this project than hand-sewing the final seam closed in a normal sewing project, because the loops of the punchneedle stitches splay out over the seam I want to sew from both sides, so I think it’ll be tricky to get my needle close enough to the edge of my embroidery to create a close-to-invisible seam. But I’ll do my best!

Please keep your fingers crossed that this all comes together as I’d hoped – it’s been a huge and time-consuming project, and I really won’t know if it’s going to work out or not until I’ve made the final stitches and I either have a globe or a big lumpy mess…

Stay tuned for the nailbiting conclusion of the punchneedle globe project! 😀

I somehow stumbled into a personal holiday tradition of crafting a different poinsettia every year. With the exception of my first poinsettia (because I was a novice blogger back then and the idea hadn’t occurred to me, so I only have a quick guide that I wrote in the comments of that post) I have a full (free) pattern available for each of my holiday poinsettias – see the links below the pics if you’d like to make your own!

Top (L-R): 2006 kanzashi poinsettia; 2007 crocheted poinsettia 
Bottom (L-R) 2008 polymer clay poinsettia; 2009 punchneedle poinsettia

So similar, and yet each has its own style. I love this tradition I created! I wonder how long I can keep thinking of new poinsettias to add to the collection…

The 2010 PlanetJune Poinsettia is almost a return to that very first kanzashi poinsettia, but with a twist: to keep it fast and simple, it’s made from felt. It would make a beautiful gift topper or table decoration, and you can increase the size to make it as big as you want – just cut the green squares slightly larger than the red, and you’ll be fine!

I had intended to make a fancy-schmancy version too, in purple and white, with embroidered petals and leaves, but you’ll have to imagine how lovely that would have been (in my head, at least, it’s stunningly beautiful) – sadly, it’s already too close to Christmas and I just don’t have any more time to spare. Maybe that can be my next year’s holiday poinsettia 🙂

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy my 2010 poinsettia design!

Go to the Felt Poinsettia tutorial >>

I’m going through a bit of a rough time at the moment, trying to sort through all my stuff to sell/donate/pack so we can make the house look uncluttered and get it on the market before we make the big move to South Africa. Although I have about 10 blog posts’ worth of tutorials and information inside my head, it’s proving difficult to find the time to actually write any of them! If anyone tells you that moving to another country (that uses a different voltage, so everything electrical will have to be sold and re-bought at the other end) is easy and non-stressful, they are lying…

But anyway. I’ve managed to squeeze in the time to make an easy Christmas craft: a Pom-pom Christmas tree!

A few weeks ago, I picked up some Clover Pom-Pom Makers, for no reason at all except they look like fun and I doubt I’d be able to find them in South Africa. They are very clever, by the way: very fast and so much easier than having to pass the yarn through the centre of a ring each time! I’ll review them properly in another post when I have more time…

And now to the Pom-Pom Christmas tree tutorial:

I’m so excited with the response to the PlanetJune Christmas CAL! The Christmas projects are popping up all over the place now, and it makes me happy to think I’ll have played a part in the decorations in so many homes 🙂 I’m including a preview of a couple of projects (randomly selected from the entries so far) in this post to whet your appetite for my roundup post…

PocketAmi Christmas by Silverlotus

Don’t forget this part though: if you’d like your CAL projects to be entered in my contest, you have to send an email to CAL@planetjune.com including either a link to where you’ve posted about your project, or a photo of the finished project. One email per project (where ‘project’ means one of my Christmas patterns, so if you’ve made 12 baubles, send one email with a pic of all 12). I’ll be creating my CAL roundup and drawing the winners from the emails I receive, so you won’t be entered unless you send those emails!

Christmas Tree by La Mañosa

I’m just reminding you of this because I’ve only had 11 entries so far, and I’ve seen at least twice that many completed projects, so I think people have been forgetting to actually enter the contest! I’ve emailed an acknowledgement to everyone who’s submitted a project, so if you didn’t get an email from me this morning, you haven’t entered yet.

There’s still plenty of time if you haven’t had a chance to send the email yet, or even if you haven’t even started the CAL yet: you have until Christmas Eve to complete your projects and send me your photos 🙂 If you’d like to participate, you can make any (or all!) of my Christmas patterns:

Links:
All 6 Christmas patterns
Christmas CAL and Contest instructions and rules

Will you join the Christmas crocheting fun?

Before I forget, I need to draw the winner of November’s ‘Review and Win’ contest in my shop. And the winner is… Heather H, with her review of my Red Fox pattern :

This fox may very well be my favorite pattern from June. I brushed out the yarn for a furry look (as instructed for the Arctic Fox pattern…buy both!). It takes a good amount of time, but is well worth it as it makes the fox look so real. A very satisfying pattern overall! I get a lot of compliments on my fox.

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

* * *

Now we’re into December, and Christmas is fast approaching… Stuck for a present for a crocheter on your list? How about a PlanetJune gift certificate? Buy them in any amount from $5 to $100 and let your recipient choose her (or his) favourite patterns from my catalogue! And as a gift to you, for every $10 in gift certificates purchased, I’ll give a $1 gift certificate to the purchaser. So, for example, if you buy $50 in gift certificates, I’ll send you a $5 gift certificate for yourself (or you can pass it on to someone else as an extra gift). This offer is valid all through December, and gift certificates are emailed, so they are perfect for a last minute gift!

* * *

While we’re talking gift ideas, I had a great idea for a new product: I’ve put together an Amigurumi Accessory Kit that contains some of my most popular items.

A huge selection of goodies for amigurumi-making!

Whether you’re just getting started with amigurumi, or want a selection of the best accessories conveniently to hand, the Amigurumi Accessory Kit is a great deal on the bestselling PlanetJune exclusive amigurumi tools and a selection of commonly-used eyes. In this kit, you’ll get:

• 1 Detail Stuffing Tool
• 5 Stitch Markers
• 2 pairs black 6mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs clear 6mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs black 9mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs clear 9mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs black 12mm safety eyes with washers
• 2 pairs clear 12mm safety eyes with washers

Not sure how good my tools are? Don’t take my word for it – check out the reviews on their product pages (linked above) and you’ll see why these are absolute essentials! And you’ll get a great bargain when you buy this package for only $10 – the separate components would cost $13 if bought alone…

The Amigurumi Accessory Kit comes neatly packaged and would also make a wonderful gift for a new or experienced amigurumi-maker. Why not bundle it with a PlanetJune gift certificate so the recipient can pick their favourite patterns as part of your gift?

* * *

And one more option: I wasn’t planning to do this, but I’ve had so many requests, I’ve made a limited number of signed copies of my book available for purchase. Let me say right away: this is not a cheap option (shipping from Canada is always horribly expensive) – I can’t even begin to compete with amazon, so I’m only offering this in case there are any super-fans out there 😉 I only have 20, and once they’re gone, that’s it. I haven’t signed them yet, so I can personalise my message to you or the recipient (if it’s a gift). And, although I’ll ship orders asap, I can’t promise that they’ll arrive by Christmas – the international posting deadline was 2 days ago, so please be aware of that too.

My book: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Amigurumi by me, June Gilbank

I hope this has given you some options for the crocheters on your Christmas list, or maybe as a gift for yourself!

Punchneedle Globe menu:

• Update 1
• Update 2
• Update 3
• Update 4 – you are here
• Update 5
• The Finished Globe!

Here’s where we left my punchneedle embroidery globe at the last update:

This next stage is the real test of my design: I based my idea on the concept of a papercraft globe I’d once seen that turns 2D sheets of paper into a 3D globe. So, in theory, I should be able to do the same thing using a 2D embroidery. The moment of truth: I hand-sewed up all the unembroidered darts, to (fingers crossed) convert the flat piece into a hemisphere, and…

It worked! I now have one very nice hemisphere. Thanks to that extra-dense punching I did, the seams are pretty much invisible from the outside. You’ll have to take my word for that, because I’m going to be a little bit mean and only show you the inside of the hemisphere for now – I have to save something for the big reveal once I’ve punched the other half of the globe…

There’s a lot of work left to do to get it finished – the second half should actually take longer than the first: the northern hemisphere has more landmasses, islands, lakes, and general detail that I included in my pattern, so it’s going to take a lot longer to punch than the (mostly blue) southern hemisphere.

But I’ve found something to make my punchneedle go much more quickly from now on! This is a punchneedle spooler:

Spooler for Cameo punchneedle (image courtesy of The Punchneedle Marketplace)

It sits in the top end of the punchneedle. You wind your floss onto the spool and can punch for the entire length of a skein instead of having to rethread the needle every metre or so (the floss can easily get tangled or trapped with a length much longer than that). And, with a 2-step threading process, that’s a significant time saving – I think it took me almost as long to thread the needle as it did to use one length of floss!

Here’s my homemade punchneedle spooler:

Prototype punchneedle spooler

• The wire is just heavy floral wire, bent into shape with pliers. It works okay, but I’d like to get some stiffer wire to replace this, now that I know my concept is sound – I don’t think the floral wire will last forever.
• The spool is just an empty spool from regular sewing thread.
• I used my Dremel with a cutting disc to cut the pointy end off an IKEA pencil (which fits nicely inside the spool).
• I hollowed out the graphite from both ends of the pencil with a Dremel drill bit, so that the ends of the wire can slip inside the pencil.
• The black rubber bands are mini hair elastics. I found that, without those, the spool clicks back and forth against each end of the wire with each punch, and that noise gets very annoying very quickly!

The spool rotates freely on the pencil, so more floss is fed to the needle every time I make a stitch. Isn’t it great to be crafty?! It’s all made with supplies I had on hand, and it works brilliantly!

Starting the Northern Hemisphere

Thanks in part to my new spooler, my Northern Hemisphere is coming along much more quickly – I wonder if I’ll be able to finish the whole globe over the Christmas holiday…