A new Battle Round with a new Battle team

Hi everyone.  Kate here from Crafting Friends Designs and founder of the Battle of the Stitches.  I'm thrilled to see you again!  With the start of a new quarter, it's time to start another round of the Battle.  It's crazy that we are already on Round 10!  It has been a fun couple of years and a great adventure meeting new crochet designers and getting to know each of them.  

Each round, I have 3 other designers join me as admins for the Battle.  The challenge wouldn't run as smooth as it does without their help and I sincerely appreciate them! Along with helping behind scenes, each of us design something fun for the ebook along side the challengers.  We couldn't ask them to design with a new stitch and theme if we're not willing to do so with them - right?   This round, we have chosen a fun stitch for fall and we hope that you will follow along with all 12 challengers and cheer them on.  It's sure to be another fantastic ebook full of 16 amazing crochet designs using the same stitch.

This round, I'm pleased to welcome Stacy back from Too Yarn Cute to help us with the eBook.  All of our eBooks can be found on Ravelry to make it easy for you to save them to your library when purchased. Stacy will make sure all the crochet patterns are set up well for you to follow and add several links to each designer to make it easy to follow them on various social sites or contact them directly if needed.  

Leah from Creative Threads by Leah has jumped into the role of  Facebook page Admin.  

She has a wonderful group of women who help her share some wonderful things on our page that you're sure to enjoy.  Thanks to Pamela Emerson, Patricia Mannarino, Darcy Johnson, Nondas Hensley, Carol Rupprecht, Cecilia Edwards,  and Laura Fanelli for working with us on Facebook and Hollie Bobo for helping out on Pinterest!  They are awesome and we hope that you will join them each day and interact with them!  They love hearing all of your comments and seeing photos of things you have crocheted using patterns designed during the Battle.



Stacey from Busting Stitches will be joining us here on the blog.  This week, she will be announcing our 12 challengers for Round 10 and sharing a few of their designs with you.  She's the lucky one who gets to show you the sneak peeks of each design in a couple of weeks and will announce our winner at the end of July.  Be sure to follow us here on the blog or on Facebook so you don't miss your chance to vote for your favorite crochet design this round!

Round 8 Sneak Peeks

We're just a little over halfway through Round 8 of The Battle of the Stitches, so how about we take a peek at what these amazing designers have been up to!

The Theme: Wrapped in Warmth

The Stitch: Paintbrush

The Challengers:  
Rebecca Goldsmith of Desert Diamond Crochet
Amy Price from Knit Pick ~n~ Crochet
Christine Norris of Chris Cross Crafts
Kati Donahue from KatiDCreations
Stacey Williams of Busting Stitches
Raelynn Orff of AllieCat's Hats and Crafts
Shannon Kilmartin from The Hookeraholic Crochet
Maz Kwok of Be A Crafter xD
Tera Kulling of Trifles and Treasures
Dorianna Leskody-Rivelli of The Lavendar Chair
Kristine Mullen of Ambassador Crochet
Carol Rupprecht of Sweet Potato Crochet Creations
  
The Sneak Peeks:
All 12 Crochet Designers have been working very hard to create something beautiful for us all to enjoy! Check it out: 

  
What do you think they've made? Do you think you know which sneak peek belongs to each designer? Leave a comment with your guesses. It's always fun to write them down and come back to see how many you got right later (I do it every round!)

Day Two of Round 8 Reveals

Did you get the chance to read yesterday's Round 8 challenger reveals? Pretty great line up so far, right? If you missed it, you can find them HERE.

Here's more amazing talent competing this round:

We have Stacey Williams of Busting Stitches.
This will be her 5th round. 

Here's a recap of her BOS designs:

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Next we have Raelynn Orff of AllieCat's Hats and Crafts.
This will be her 2nd battle.

Raelynn's first challenged in Round 6 making the Playful Dolphin Security Blanket.

Round 6

Here's more awesome designs from her shop:

Cupid Cuff

Frozen Beaches Mittins

We also have Shannon Kilmartin from The Hookeraholic Crochet.
This will be Shannon's 1st round. Woohoo!

She has a lot of fantastic designs! Here are just a few:

Tiny Traxx Wristers

Equinox Cowl

Pillars of Life Hat

And we also have Maz Kwok of Be A Crafter xD.
This will also be her 1st round! Yipee!

She has many beautiful designs in her shop! Here's a few:

Overcast Sweater

Shawl cir-collar vest

Simple Sun Hat

We are looking forward to seeing their designs this round! 
Good luck ladies!

Make sure you head over to Facebook and like our page to follow along with this battle. Turn on your notifications so you don't miss a thing! 

16 Totally Awesome Crochet Scarfs

With Fall just around the corner, it's time to start making those warm accessories; scarfs are the perfect addition to any Autumn day outfit!

  Here's a round up of 16 great crochet scarf patterns. Some are free and some are a small fee.

Challenger #11 in Round 6 of the Battle is another Alumni...who will it be?

 

The 11th challenger to join Round 6 of the Battle of the Stitches has been in the previous 3 rounds and has a lot up her sleeve this year with her business. We can't wait to see what she brings this round!

Round 5: Who Done It & Who Won It???

Can you believe that Round 5 has come to an end?  We started this round early because we gave our challengers the Moorish Motif to design with (not as simple as a basic stitch pattern).  Motifs can be fun to use and we hope that you enjoy all the crochet patterns that have come from this challenge.  Some of the designs are connected as you work them, others are joined after you make a certain # of motifs and others are used as accents.    What a great variety!  Now,  Are you ready to find out who the designer was behind each project?  I think you'll be surprised on some of them.  Some of the designers went out of their normal color pallet, so it was fun to see all of you guessing who done it!

The Reveals

First up, we have Jennifer Hatch from Hatch-ed With Love 

She designed the beautiful "Garden Of Grace" afghan.  This was done in memory of her grandma and aunts and looks so soft and squishy and cuddly. It will be a great comfort to her with such a wonderful meaning behind it.  This Afghan crochet pattern can be worked to any size.  Perfect for baby shower gifts, wonderful as a throw for any room and would be lovely as a bed covering.  Which ever you prefer, add a fun splash of spring to your home with the Garden of Grace!

Challenger #2 is Donna from Articles of a Domestic Goddess.  Donna is the creative mind behind the "Wings of Spring Toddler Empire Dress"  She did a fantastic job and I know several little girls who would LOVE to wear this dress! Size 2-4T is included in the eBook and she is working on other sizes for her individual release. 

The beauty and style behind the Free Spirit Trio is none other than our Heidi from Snappy Tots! Getting to spend some time with Heidi, this is SO her.  The Vest is something that I could see her wearing and I would absolutely add it to my wardrobe.  It's simply beautiful.  With the option to have a belt alone, the vest and a headband, you're sure to use this design for many family and friends!  The belt is 4" wide and can be worked to your desired length.  Her headband is 2" x 29" without the ties and the amazing vest is sized Teen/Sm Adult. 

How would you like to work up a baby shower gift that would WOW everyone?  Amanda from MNE Crafts came up with this awesome Butterfly Garden Baby Playmat.  I would have loved to have made my own as I had each of my girls.  What's even more fantastic?  She's included a graph to help you make a Bee mat so that you have an option for baby boys too!  Genius. 



 


Don't you just love the crisp clean look of the "Cute Little Accent Skirt" from Stacey over at Busting Stitches?  It would be so easy to whip up a few of these lovely skirts in different colors.  Add a pretty colored fabric underneath to play it up a little and your set!








Ponchos seem to be a Huge hit right now.  I've seen a lot of new poncho designs in the past month and even my daughter found a poncho that my grandma made me when I was a little girl and she's been wearing it around.  She'd be thrilled if I made her this bright and cheery Marly's Morish Poncho from the lovely Christine of Chris Cross Crafts.  It's a perfect fit for this motif!

Rebecca from Desert Diamond Crochet is the creator of the sweet little On the Wings of Spring Picto-ghan.  I love that you can create your own scene with all the options she's added.  You could make one for several babies and they would/could be all completely different and all amazing.  Can you picture this hung over the rocker in the nursery?  Great job!

 
Tutu?  Did you see the Whimsical Tutu?  Yep, it's adorable!  Think of all the options for this fun design from Amber of Knotted Notions.  I love the colors she chose giving a calm fairy feel to it.  What if you change the colors?  It would be so cute for little flower girls to wear at weddings.  Maybe some fairy costumes will be made for Halloween this year.  I know my youngest would wear it non-stop if I made her one!  This design is customizable, so have some fun with it. 

 

 

The Winning Designs

And now for the Winning Crochet Designs! 
This seriously was a tight race for votes and our challengers were all on the edge of their seats waiting to hear what YOU liked the most.  Thank you all for voting!


 

Congratulations to Amy from Knit Pick N Crochet for winning the Fan's Choice with her Butterfly In Bloom tank design.  The design itself and the photos are just stunning!  This is a great design for the season and we can't wait to see all the project photos that our fans take when they make one.

Our Judge's choice winner was not an easy task.  Each Judge had to rank each design based on the use of color to show the stitch, the actual use of the stitch, the most creative and the best over-all.  We appreciate each of them for taking the time to vote!  Jennifer from Crochet by Jennifer, Ann from Glamour4You, Lacey Lady from Misty Makes, April from Cuddle Me Beanies and Sonya from Blackstone Designs

Congratulations to Becky from Grammy's Creations for winning the Judge's choice!   The colors that she chose I think threw everyone off!  Not her normal color pallet, but pulled together amazingly.  So fun and So unique.  Great job Becky. 

 

eBook Release

Isn't that all exciting?  Even more exciting is that you can now grab ALL 10 designs + 4 bonus designs in 1 great place!   We love being able to offer you a fantastic book where you can use the same stitch over and over to create an amazing selection of projects.  

https://sowl.co/BcLni

Enjoy the Battle of the Stitches Round 5 Moorish Motif/On the Wings of Spring eBook for only $5.95!

2 More challengers are returning to Round 4 of the Battle of the Stitches. Who will it Be?

Entering our stadium for Battle Round #4....  

Let's hear it for Rebecca from Desert Diamond crochet!!!  
Rebecca is well known for her amazing Character hats, but she's ready to keep you guessing as she decides on something unique to design for this round.  In round 3, she designed the beautiful Braided Scoodie Wrap!