The Year 2020 and Happy Holidays

 

What a year this has been. It will be remembered for generations and taught in history classes. 

 Happy New Year 2020 was my first blog post of this year. 

This is my last blog post of this year. 

Between these two blog posts the world dealt with some challenges and we are still not over the Pandemic. I have seen posts about how so many people wish this year didn't happen and how the New Year cannot come fast enough. 

Whether we liked 2020 or not, it is a year of our lives that will never be repeated. We do not have the option of replay or start from the beginning, and we should try to embrace this year with all that has happened to us, the world, society, and individually. It is upon us what tomorrow and future holds.

 I sincerely hope that you, the reader, will have a Happy Holidays and may your days be filled with love, kindness, compassion, and generosity towards each other. 

Stay focus on the breath and look up to the stars and Universe, for we are all made of the same material.  

Joy to the world, and may you find some peace and health. 

Thank you for reading. 

PS: In my small world of knitwear design work, I have managed to published 34 new knitting patterns this year. This include plenty of self-published patterns, including an entire e-book Baba Yaga's House and also having my work published by variety of third party publishers like: I Like Knitting, Knitpicks, Lovecraft, Interweave, and Knotions. 

Happy Holidays

Scraptastic Scarf

I wish everyone at this time of the year, Happy Holidays and all the best for the upcoming year.
May your days be filled with love, kindness, compassion, and generosity towards each other.


As a thank you for all of my readers and supporters. I have created  a promotion on my knitting patterns from now until the end of this year. December 31st 2019 midnight of EST

Buy two of my patterns and receive one for free.

Use the coupon code: Givingtree 

Link to the patterns page

Thank you for visiting.

Summer knitting games

Every year I try to have some fun games throughout the summer months hosted in my Stana's critters etc group  on Ravelry. This summer is no exception.
Summer on the go started June 17th and will last until the end of August. Join our group, post a photos of your knitting and enter the chance to win some fabulous prizes.
To start off the fun event I have created a coupon code for all of my knitting patterns. The coupon code is valid until June 21st midnight of EST. Enter the code summer  during the check out.

Aliens in PJ

The fifth Ami-along  is  another event that I participate in during the summer months.
Ami-along group on Ravelry is where the fun happens.  
The Ami-along begins with a sale event running from June 25th until July 8th. The coupon code for 25% off all eligible patterns, (more on this in the Ravelry group) is AMIALONG2019 
The official Ami-along runs from July 1st until August 31st.

Enjoy your summer, or winter for those in the Southern Hemisphere, safe travels and have fun knitting. Or just look up at the sky.....

This is what I saw few days ago from my window.

Heart Shaped Cloud

Blogging

Huggalufs

In a few days this little blog will have an anniversary. I have been writing here for eight years.
Frankly I didn't know what to expect in the first place. I started the blog with a help of my friend, and continued on the journey, unsure what to hope for. Somehow it stayed alive, survived and continues to exist. There were more visitors in some years then are at this time, but that was because of the free pattern for the Minions.

Minions

The Minions are not as popular as they were once. It is interesting how popularity changes with time.
It seems that what is hot right now changes faster than in the previous years.
Sometimes I long for the slower days of the past, when everything took longer and we were more satisfied with the finished results. In the present days of instant gratification it seems to me that there are fewer and fewer things that can bring this sort of satisfaction.

On a whim I have created a coupon code this past Friday valid through the weekend. I wanted to post about it here on my blog, but this weekend was one of those rare slow weekends when I had time to bake a bread from scratch, leisurely cook delicious meals for my family, and even knit a lot. I wanted to finish a wrap so I can give it to its recipient. I have the notes and will in time write up the pattern, though it's probably fourth or fifth pattern in line to be written up. I stayed away from the electronics most of the weekend, and therefore missed the opportunity to let know the readers of my blog about the promotion. So I have decided to create a new promotion, it's valid from today until February 28th, midnight of Eastern US Time.
It is buy one and get one free pattern. So for every pattern you buy you can receive one pattern for free. Use the coupon code in your shopping cart:
The coupon code is Blog

The patterns

Voyager Sweater

Everything takes time, especially knitting. You make your masterpiece one stitch at time.
Happy knitting, and thank you for visiting and reading my blog.

Knitting Pattern for One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish and The Book Gift away

photo by Knitpicks

My knitting pattern for these three fish has been published in the book named "Cute, Cuter, Cutest knit toys to love in 3 sizes".

At this point you can still purchase the book on Knitpicks website:
The book

or you may buy only the pattern for One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish

But also you have a chance to win the book. I have a copy to gift away.

Leave a comment and you will be entered into lottery to win this book, filled with the most adorable toy patterns in 3 sizes.

You have the time from today until Friday May 15th 2015.
On Saturday May 16th 2015 the winner will be announced.

The winner has been randomly selected.
The blog post is here.

Thank you for visiting and good luck to everyone.

Gift away and Mystery KAL

Since I created my little group on Ravelry named Stana's critters etc. I host periodically Mystery KAL. The theme is always softie and I tried to make them fun, adorable and not too complicated.

My first Mystery KAL in the Fall 2014 was Hariette, the hedgehog:

She lives in my craft space and is a great pin cushion.

My second Mystery KAL in December 2014 were Bob, the Bunny and Ferdinand, his helper:

Read through to the end to see what they will be up to!

My third Mystery KAL in January 2015 was Petal, the Flying Pig:

She will be donated to our library summer reading program gift away.

My fourth Mystery KAL in March 2015 was Lily, the ladybug:

She was a gift for my friend.

My fifth Mystery KAL in April 2015 is still running in my group on Ravelry and Roy G. Biv will be the finished softie from these yarns:

 

He is going tomorrow to his new home, where I hope he will be loved and played with.

And now, the gift away:

Because tomorrow is Easter, and since we still have snow here and it's snowing in Europe Bob, the bunny and Ferdinand his helper are in disguise as Santa and are ready for some fun adventure.

Leave a comment and you will be entered into the lottery to win Bob, the bunny and Ferdinand, his helper.

Or if you prefer you can receive one pattern of your choice from my collection of patterns for sale.

We will randomly select the winner next Saturday, April 11th 2015.

Peace on Earth

....to all.

Bob and Ferdinand

May kindness, compassion, love, and hope win. May the world be a better place for all.



Thank you for visiting my little corner where I share my love for yarn, knitting, and gifts that bring smiles.

Knitting Pattern for Petunia, the Zipper Monster

Petunia, the zipper monster

Petunia, the zipper monster came to existence because of a random act of kindness.
One of the groups I belong on Ravelry is named Random Act of Monsters. Last year, while the group was still active, people would post requests for a small knitted act of kindness (the reasons were various: a hard times, sickness in family, difficult period in life, someone they knew needed "a cheer me up" surprise gift, etc.) and others would response and fulfill the requests by knitting a monster that would help the recipient. I have shipped few of my knitted monsters to various people all over the world, just to make them smile. One of the recipients asked for a happy monster in happy colors.
Harvey, one of the monsters from my e-book Knitted Monsters in the Closet, went onto his adventurous journey and stayed for a while in his new home. Then, this summer I was informed that Harvey needed to travel again and help someone else who needed him more. I thought that it was very generous of the person to give up Harvey so he can help someone else. I wanted to reach out and Petunia, the zipper monster is the result. Petunia, travelled to her new home and at the moment is exploring her new place.

During the process of turning my little creations into the coherent knitting pattern which others can read and understand I rely on knitting testers during the process. Of course there is also technical editing involved, but that is something entirely different. The test knitters receive the draft of knitting pattern and recreate the same knitted toy. I always enjoy how they interpret the dry words of K, P, K2tog, KFB, SSK, etc. which is what most of knitting patterns consist off.
Franken Zipper is a great example what the test knitters can do. I am very grateful for their help, and I cannot wait for our next adventure in the world of creating knitting patterns.

Franken Zipper. Photo by Waipahu

Now,  you can create your version of  Petunia, the zipper monster. Because she started as a random act of kindness I offer the pattern for free. You can download the PDF file by clicking on this button:

download now

or from my Ravelry store:

Stana's critters etc


Thank you for visiting.

Three years gift away winners

 

 

 

The winners of the three years gift away are:

1. Mknitter
2. FalconDance
3. Helen Caudill
4. Mowbraycheryl
5. Donna Onorato
6. Sheila Zachariae
7. Karolina
8. Rebecca N.
9. Cheryl De Beer
10. Knotted Fingers
11. Audrey

To all of the winners congratulations! Please contact me (Fifinka on Ravelry) and send me PM  if you would like to have the pattern of your choice in your Ravelry library, or send me an email to crowsdatyahoodotcom and I will email you the PDF file with the pattern f your choice.

Here is the  list of my patterns  to choose from.

Thank you all visiting.

Time to celebrate .......3 years

It feels like yesterday when I wrote the first post. At that time I did not know what to expect. I thought maybe some friends and family might stop by, perhaps a visitor or two might discover my knitted toys and get inspired.

Three years later, my blog still exists. Visitors come from all over the world, and I continue to share my passion. A ball of yarn with the help of knitting needles turns into a finished object In my hands. It seems that people like my creations, and therefore I share them.

This year, to celebrate, I would like to give away 11 knitting patterns from my collection of patterns for sale.

 

List of my patterns

The rules:

Followers are automatically added to the lottery.

Anyone who leaves a comment will be added to the lottery.

Drawing for the patterns will be held on Monday, March 17th 2014.

Please visit my blog to see if you are one of the winners.

Thank you for visiting.

 

The winners are listed here

Happy Holidays

... to all.

Peace on Earth

I wish everyone a wonderful time with their loved ones, cherishing the precious moments together, enjoying each other's company.

Thank you for visiting my little corner where I share my passion for anything knitted, especially toys, and sometimes my random thoughts and ideas.

Thank you for visiting my blog Stana's critters etc where I offer my knitting patterns. Some free and some for a little sum of money, which is used to buy more yarn and therefore creating more of what I love, which allows me to share more with you, my readers, and give away the knitted toys to those who need a little comfort in the darkness.

Thank you for letting me share my passion with you, my readers.

All the best for the New Year.

Stana

Black Friday in America

Black Friday is one thing that I still cannot completely understand. Why would I want to get up in the middle of the night and go to a store to purchase something that I don't really need and many other things just because they are on sale? Yet, many people will do that, and then we will watch news about stampede and fights in various stores over TV or any other materialistic object, that  they didn't need in the first place, but they all wanted to buy just because it was on sale.

 I wonder what an anthropologist would say about this tradition in about hundred years.

Anyway, just because I prefer to stay at home, spend time with the people I love, and work on some handmade gifts for them, I still would like to offer some discounts and sales for other people on my knitting patterns.

Therefore, I have a promotion 25% off the price for all of my knitting patterns published in my Stana's critters etc  Raverly Store - here. For the promotion to work you need to use the coupon "happyday"

This promotion works from November 27th until December 4th 2013.

And here is quite a long list of other fiber related discounts and deals which the author Marly Bird compiled together. It contains also my coupon code.

Thank you for visiting.

Feeling Famous......

....at least for a moment until the reality kicks in.

Please, let me explain.
Few days ago I have received a message from a marketing company in U.K. They asked for my permission to use this picture of my knitted minions as a part of one of their promotion activities prior to DVD release of the movie "Despicable Me 2".
 As a thank you for doing that, they would provide a link to the original post (my blog). A great exposure to audience that might not know about my blog otherwise.
For a moment I envisioned thousands of readers suddenly exploring my small corner on the Internet where I share my ideas, knitting patterns, and sometimes my thoughts. For that brief moment I felt as if I am someone famous. But, then reality kicked in and I realized that it is only in my head, and actually I would not want to be famous and experience all that comes with fame.
However I wouldn't mind to have more visitors to my blog, and more people knitting my critters and perhaps give them away to make this world a little bit better, by being generous, and kind, and caring for each other, outside of our comfort zone.

My brief moment of feeling famous can be viewed here.

In a  strange twist of ways the Internet sometime works, the other knitted minion was inspired by my Knitting Pattern for Minions, which the author kindly provided the link to.

And then, I saw another pattern on the Internet, which the person claimed as their own creation, but it looks exactly as my Knitting Pattern for Minions , including the number of stitches, and rows and techniques for body, arms, legs, goggles, overalls etc.

I know that I cannot prevent something like this from happening, the same way I cannot prevent somebody else from trying to sell my knitting patterns that I have provided for free on other web sites and actually charge money for it, but this makes me feel sad and disappointed. Sad for those people who would pay money for something that I offered for free. Disappointed for behavior of those people who would do that. And I have to keep asking myself, Why would anyone steel someone else's work and claim it's their own work, without  properly crediting the authors.
What else would people like this do, to make a little bit of profit from someone else's work?

I know that the world is not perfect and that bad things happen, but if we all tried to be nicer, kinder, more courteous, and respectful then the world might be a better place to live and share.

Thank you for visiting.

Another Giftaway

Pumpkins

My FB page Stana's critters etc reached 111 likes. I really like the number, and therefore I am offering a gift away of these pumpkins. Anyone who will leave a comment explaining why they like my FB page will be entered into the lottery and the winner will be randomly chosen on Friday October 11th 2013.

Good luck to everyone.

The winners were announced. Congratulations to all and thank you.

 Thank you for visiting.

The Big Picture

Monster Al and his friends

Few weeks ago I have returned to school again. I feel like a perpetual student since I have been attending schools for such a long time. It is a running joke in my family, that I will graduate about the same time as our child. I hope that this is not the case and I will reach my goal long before that. This semester I am working on my Thesis project. Since I am creative writing major I had the freedom to pick my Thesis in the creative field. The travels and adventures of Monster Al and his friends will be subject of my Thesis Project, and the knitting patterns for them will be included.
I am so excited to work on this project and make the knitting patterns available around the end of this semester.

I have not forgotten The Book Project, my book of more then twenty knitting patterns that I started to work on during my last semester. In my naïve enthusiasm, I thought that I can have it done before the new semester begins. As always, life happens and the work is not done, yet. However, I did not stop working on The Book Project and the book (or e-book) of knitting patterns will be available as soon as everything is done and ready.

Last, but not least, I wanted to mention my knitted monsters project. An e-book with several knitting patterns for cute and cuddly monsters is in the works and life permitting should be available shortly. The monsters created for this project will travel again to  Hope Garden.

Thank you for visiting.

Donation to our library

This is my third year that I donated knitted toys to our library for summer reading raffle. Children read, and for ever fifteen minutes they read they earn one raffle ticket. There are various prices on display each week during the summer reading program. Children can place their raffle tickets to a box next to the price and the winners are announced each week.

I wonder, which avid reader will win these knitted toys.

Thank you for visiting.

Charitable event.

Maillie, the travelling monster

Miranda, the owl

After the tornadoes destroyed parts of Oklahoma everyone wanted to reach out and help.

During the past two weeks, Suburban knits put together e-book with twenty knitting patterns in order to raise money for Oklahoma charity Other Options, Inc.
In the e-book among many others beautiful designs are two of my knitting patterns Miranda, the owl and Maillie, the travelling monster.

All of the profits from the sale of this e-book will be given to charitable organization Other Options, Inc.
Here is the link to purchase the book.

k-tog-Oklahoma-Tornado-Relief


Thank you for visiting.

Harvey, from the closet

Harvey

Harvey on a trip

In the past few months I have been busy with The Book Project. However, I also managed to create Harvey, from the closet. He has nice and friendly personality. Harvey likes to explore his surroundings. Sometimes he gets in trouble by eating pencils or crayons. He also has great hugging capabilities and offers a lot of empathy if needed. That is why he left on a great adventure and flew across the ocean to visit someone who needed his company. 
Harvey is first of the monsters who are hiding in the closet.

The knitting pattern for Harvey will be available.

Thank you for visiting.

Two years gift away winners

This morning we put all the pieces of papers with names of followers and people who left comment on my blog into our favorite hat. We shook the hat and my child draw the papers with names of winners for this two years anniversary gift away.
Here are the names:
Kristen
Celtic Spacey
Bernadette
Geraldine
Gena Meritt
Raquel
Hatty
Fleurtje Elisa
Woolytannis
Rose
Etsuko Tsuchiya

To all of winners congratulations, to those that have not win this time, there will be another gift away soon, maybe you will be winner next time!

Please contact me in regards which pattern you would like me to send you.
I can send it to your Ravelry library or I can email you the PDF file.
Send me a note to crowsd@yahoo.com or PM me(Fifinka) on Ravelry.

Thank you all for visiting my blog. I really appreciate it.

Time to celebrate....two years

                               

I cannot believe it myself, but this blog exists for two years. Time tend to fly when we have fun.

It has been an interesting and enjoyable journey.

In the midst of present commitment to write a book of knitting patterns as my school project for the creative writing class named "The book" I am overwhelmed with creating new and exciting knitted creations, knitting samples and writing up the patterns I am slightly neglecting other projects,  but I still want to celebrate the two years of this blog  - Stana's critters etc.

I will give away 10 knitting patterns from my collection of patterns for sale

these are the patterns to choose from:

Miranda, the owl

Maillie, the travelling monster

Diamondback rattlesnake

Sockeaters

Mini Pig

Mini Cat

Huggalufs

Huggalufs baby

Grecian scarf or hat

Huggalufs Pillow

The rules:

The followers are automatically added to the lottery.

Anyone's name who leaves a coment will be added to the lottery.

March 21st is the deadline.

On March 22nd we will draw the winners.

Good luck to all.

Thank you for visiting.

The list of winners is here