So hey guys, I updated the giveaway listing, but just wanted to add (since everyone’s subscribed and should hence see this) that you should also include your Twitter ID’s and blog addresses if you have them, so we can find you and follow back too! Now, I can only promise that I will follow if you do this, but I’m requesting also because it would be nice for other crocheters to find you when they come to this post too. I didn’t think to include that at the first publishing, but hey – I’m telling you now. It’s not a requirement to win the Obey Crochet Giveaway, but certainly, if you’d like me to follow back and I don’t already, I’d love to! And I don’t think I’m the only crocheter who would.
Besides, I have this whole project on Klout for Tweeps and Peeps in the crochet world. As in, I’m looking up people who interact with me and am making sure they are down for crochet and Stumbling blogs (that would be Stumble Upon). I guess I should write a post about that and explain a bit more about what I’m up to, and what this whole Klout thing is about anyway, but the brief of it is I’m using my Klout to better represent crochet. I mean seriously, when top crochet designers are down as experts in hotels, instead of the fiber fests they went to and there’s nothing about crochet on their Klout profile, yeah, it needs some help. Do I think it’s a big deal? Hmmm, well, yes and no. Do I think there’s potential for the artistic/handmade world? Yes, I do.
But more on that later. In the mean time – post your blogs and twitter ids in your comments, gain some friends!
Next, I have some custom work I’m doing for Lori, a local gal with Lakeway Women In Network – a networking group for women in business. Lori wanted a red/black hat like the last one I made, but a little shorter and tapered for her face. She also wanted a gold accent for the flower motif and so now we’re at the point of deciding which variation is best. So I’m putting together a collection of photos to make the job easier since we live about an hour from each other. If you’ve never done custom work before, this can give you an idea of what it’s like, at least for me. I like to give people choices and get them involved with the process as much as feasible. Anything Lori doesn’t choose will go into my stash of stuff to use with another project. When I do shows, it’s always nice to have a selection of flowers and motifs ready to go so I can customize a hat for someone on the spot. So every effort to customize serves future customizations as well. A well stocked pantry keeps you fed. So does a well stocked stash of supplies and finished parts.
These flowers are made of the heavier weight yarn like the original.
Two of the four buttons you see pictured are vintage buttons from my Grandmother’s stash. The other two are new buttons. Can you tell which are which? Also there’s a selection of 4 petal flowers and 5 petal flowers. Two of the flowers are in a heavier weight yarn than the rest.
These flowers are made of a lighter weight yarn, from a totally different company. Pretty close color match, isn't it?
The bottom right flower is made very similarly to the original flower on the original hat in the same yarn. The question now is which flower with which button for this new custom hat??
Which is your favorite?
Crochet Liberation Front:
Aberrant Crochet (TM) 
The hat looks lovely, I like the flowers you’ve made as well. I’m still new to crochet, but have made a few items; hats and slippers. I made my father a hat, with red trim. He’s been wearing it since I complete it. I’m so glad he likes it.
Not sure if you know, but there’s a WordPress addon that you can get which will allow users to add their twitter name. It’s called Twitterlink comments. I use it on my site.
Thanks Opal! I’m so glad you joined our crochet circles! That’s a great widget, but unfortunately, I can’t use it on the free WordPress.com hosted site, at least currently. Maybe they’ll make it available to the free hosted sites someday. I have not converted to hosting my own WordPress site just yet. It’s in the plans for this year, but in the mean time, WordPress.com only allows us so many widgets and with restrictions. Every year after the holidays, I work on my website for the year. So if I have any trouble, I know who to ping, right? 😀 Of course, after having my blog here for years, I have debated on the whole moving it elsewhere thing. Don’t want to lose what I’ve gained.
I experienced something similar in 2004 or was that 2005? Anyway, I had a personal site on Typepad, I’d kept it there for about a year or so. I was dragging my feet since I didn’t want to lose what I’d gained. It received a lot of traffic. My little community were quite active in commenting too.
A bit of research showed me that it didn’t have to be too painful. Those who were actively following me, followed me to my new home. 🙂 The beauty of it was, I now had my own hosting provider, and could do whatever I wanted with the site. I didn’t have to worry about anything happening to it since it wasn’t free.
It didn’t take as long as I thought to get the amount of traffic I’d had been receiving from search engines. I didn’t have to worry about referrals, since my active readers visited me at my new site, and when they did link to me they used my updated url. In hindsight, I should have kept that site. It was around for about five years. I could have always converted it to CMS. The good news is, I still have all the info I’ve written there, so eventually I’ll place it somewhere. 😉
If you do make, the switch by all means ask WordPress questions. I’ve been using WP since late or early 2005. I’m familiar with it, and a few other platforms like Moveable Type. If I don’t have the answer, I can steer you in the right direction.
Wishing you a wonderful New Year! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your experience Opal, because that’s really helpful and encouraging!