FREE PATTERN FREE-FOR-ALL

Did you see the latest announcement from LionBrand.com that all their patterns, and there are thousands, are now FREE?

LB free one 0809

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/80243AD.html

This is a boon to us – and a GREAT way for a company to sell a lot of yarn. As you all know by now, I’m swimming in yarn. I don’t need to buy any. But, when did need ever have anything to do with YAS (yarn acquisition syndrome)?

Well, my yarn Donnybrook is upon me. I’ll be buying no more yarn for a while. Gotta use up or give away this HUGE stash before I expend more income on yarn that just sits, staring at me, yelling ‘nanny boo boo – you need to crochooo’.

No kidding! Doesn’t your yarn yell at you? Also, I believe that all the colors and textures I don’t LOVE get together in the dark of night or closet or plastic tub and MATE TO CREATE MORE skeins like them. I mean, how much orange yarn does one PINK person need? I didn’t buy all that orange yarn – ummm, or did I? Well, if I actually bought it, it was at a thrift store or a garage sale. Really! Tune out now if you don’t believe me. Non-believers are unwelcome here…..

But, I digress. Back to free patterns. Lest you run out of items to crochet, here are some sites you must visit. Cuidado! Warning! Caution! These sites are ALL addictive. You’ll spend way too much of your crochet time surfing these sites. But, a crocheter’s gotta get inspiration from somewhere, right? So here goes:

If you haven’t spent a month browsing this site, you’re don’t REALLY have PAS (pattern acquisition syndrome):

http://www.myhq.com/public/c/r/crochetpoet/

Same goes for these:

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/

http://home.inreach.com/marthac/links.html

And, here are a few others that I enjoy visiting:

http://momsloveofcrochet.com/doilypatterns.html

http://www.littleprojectscrafts.com/freepatterns.htm

http://jaybird-designs.com/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14

http://www.cbel.com/crochet_crafts/

Whew! That’s all for now. More soon. Now, go forth and surf!

Read These Next

One of the best things about the return of warmer weather is getting to plant new flowers and starting the vegetable garden if you have one. Off to the Nursery by Alice Oehr is subtitled “a celebration of gardening, plants and seasons,” and it’s also a celebration of diversity (because gardening is for everyone) and caring for the earth.

The book starts with the work of getting the garden ready for spring, pulling out the old plants and spreading compost made from kitchen scraps. They grab tomatoes and peppers, learn about zucchini and eggplant and explore the tasty world of herbs.

They also look through the seeds, succulents, berries and fruit trees, flowers and aquatic plants, talking about the benefits of different plants and how fun they are to grow. Maybe you can relate to the family buying what seems like way too many plants?

The book was originally published in Australia, so some of the flowers mentioned might not be familiar to your or your kids, but that’s kind of fun, too. You can also use this as an opportunity to talk about which plants in the book can grow where you live and that just like animals, plants have preferred habitats, too.

Illustrations are colorful and the book combines a standard font and a hand written font to make it feel more like a journal about the garden. The illustrations include fun facts and growing tips such as always planting mint in a pot or germinating seeds on a wet paper towel before planting.

If you want to introduce kids to gardening or just talk about what kind of plants can be grown at home where you live (yes to tomatoes, probably no to the kumquat tree), this cute book is a great addition to your spring reading list.

About the book: 30 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by Scribble US. Suggested retail price $18.95.

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Have you read?