2017 NatCroMo Blog Tour, March 3: Amanda Perkins

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A-Glamping We Will Go: 5th Annual National Crochet Month Blog Tour

Welcome to Crochetville’s fifth annual National Crochet Month (NatCroMo) blog tour, taking place each day of March 2017. Join us for a month of virtual glamping (aka glamorous camping), as we visit crochet designers, crochet-friendly local yarn stores, and yarn companies, as well as offer some fun giveaways.

Want to Chat about the Tour?

Part of the fun of glamping is the daily round-up around the campfire, chatting and stitching with friends. We hope you’ll join us in our NatCroMo Facebook group, where we’ll be sharing daily camping recipes, campfire songs about crochet, and so much more! We’d also love to hear about your favorite things you’ve discovered on the tour and see photos of your current crochet projects. You’re invited to join us daily for virtual cocktails/appetizers and dinner. (We’ll be sharing links to some fabulous recipes!)

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Amanda Perkins, Amanda’s Crochet Blankets

Amanda Perkins

Crochetville is very proud to have designer Amanda Perkins of Amanda’s Crochet Blankets with us today, March 3, as one of the featured designers on our 2017 Designer Blog Tour in honor of National Crochet Month (NatCroMo). If you’d like to know even more about Amanda, check out our post from last year’s blog tour.

About Amanda:

I live with my husband, Phil, in a tiny house, in a small village overlooking the Bristol Channel sea on Exmoor, UK.

I also live with my “team”: a Maine Coon cat, a German Shepherd, and small Lurcher, who keep me company when I crochet. Billy the cat quality controls all my blankets for comfort.

My granny taught me to crochet when I was young, probably about the age of 4 or 5, so I’ve been crocheting for about 50 years and designing for the last 12 years. Until last year, all my designs have been self-published pdf patterns which are all available online, but last year my first proper book, Rainbow Crocheted Blankets, was published. It’s been a very exciting year 🙂

I crochet blankets, but think of them as art, as they are experiments using colour and shape, sometimes I have to restrain myself to not be too arty as the blankets have to be suitable for beds or as throws.

Do you crochet in public? If so, when and where?

Yes, all the time and every where I go. I always a carry a hook and small ball of yarn in case of emergencies

Do you have a special place at home where you crochet? Tell us about it.

I crochet on my sofa in the lounge, with the tv on in the background to keep me company. I like murder mysteries and can watch the same show over and over again and still not know “who did it” as I am too busy concentrating on my crochet.

Share the story of your favorite thing you’ve ever crocheted or designed.

Amanda Perkins | Amanda's Crocheted Blankets | Foxgloves

My favourite blanket so far is Countibury Hill, which I made last year. It was inspired by the wild foxgloves that grow on the hill which I can see from my bedroom window and is on the other side of the bay. The hill changes colour depending on the time of day and month. From orange during a summer sunset to dark green during a winter storm.

Tell us about any other fiber-related hobbies you enjoy.

The only thing I do is crochet 🙂

How do you decide what to name your patterns?

My early patterns are all girls names that I like. My more recent patterns are named after the places or things that inspire me. A lot of my newest ones are named after places, plants that grow, and things that happen on Exmoor.

Tell us about your most popular pattern.

Amanda Perkins | Amanda's Crocheted Blankets | Kissing Circles

My most popular pattern is Kissing Circles. I made two versions and called the second one Kissing Kaffe as it was inspired by Kaffe Fasset’s colours. It started off as an experiment to see if I could design a blanket entirely made of circles and was named after a mathematical theorem about the place where two circles touch in a pattern.

Tell us about your favorite camping location.

When I was a child, my parents took me on camping holidays all over Europe. My favourite place was on the Cote d’Azur in the South of France. Last year, Phil and I bought a tent and went on our first camping holiday since our children were little about 18 years ago. We went to the south coast of Devon. As we lived on the north coast for a long time, we decided it was time to explore the rest of the county. We love our new tent: It’s lime green and looks like a caterpillar. We had a brilliant time with our tiny lurcher, Tinkerbelle, and can’t wait to go camping again.

Tell us about any crochet items you take to “glam up” your camping experience.

Only my trusty hook and yarn.

Visit Amanda’s Site: NatCroMo Specials

Amanda Perkins | Amanda's Crocheted Blankets | NatCroMo Special

I’m offering two NatCroMo specials.

The first is a special Ravelry code so you can buy one pattern and get a second pattern free. Click the link above the photo to go to my site to get the code.

The second is a prize draw for my book Rainbow Crocheted Blankets (UK terms) in my Etsy shop, everyone who buys a pattern from my Etsy shop during March will be entered into the draw, I will send a signed copy of my book to the first two names out of the hat.

Amanda’s Designs:

If you’re not familiar with my work already, I’d like to share three of my designs with you.

Amanda Perkins | Amanda's Crocheted Blankets | Scrumtious Bubbles

1. Scrumptious Bubbles, $4.00

Scrumptious Bubbles was designed to showcase a new collection of Fyberspates Scrumptious 4-ply yarn colours. However, you can use any yarn you want. The pattern includes weights and measurements for both 4-ply and DK yarns.

The pattern also contains:

detailed colour and yarn recommendations
written and charted motif instructions in US and UK terms
step by step construction charts
full coloured layout charts
colour & size variation charts.

Amanda Perkins | Amanda's Crocheted Blankets | Stargazer

2. Stargazer, $4.00

Stargazer is my second blanket based around the layout of the Zodiac and the first blanket of my Exmoor Stars series. I live on Exmoor, which is a designated international dark sky reserve; the reserves are classified as public or private areas that possess an exceptional quality of starry nights.
The layout of the Zodiac constellations were a perfect illustration of the stars you might see on a moorland dark night. The blanket contains all 12 constellations in the right placement order, however they may seem backwards, but this is due to the earth revolving in an anti-clockwise direction.

This pattern contains the following:
detailed colour and yarn recommendations
written and charted Motif instructions in US and UK terms.
step by step construction charts
full coloured layout chart

Amanda Perkins | Amanda's Crocheted Blankets | Foxgloves

3. Countisbury Hill, $4.00

One of my favourite dog walks is on the top of Countisbury Hill. I can see the hill from my bedroom window and watch the changing colours throughout the seasons. In the early summer, the hill is covered with foxgloves.

Countisbury Hill is the hill on the opposite side of Lynmouth Bay from Lynmouth. The colour of the hill side changes with the season and times of day. It ranges from orange/red/golden brown on a summer sunset to dark green in winter storms. Countisbury Hill features magenta circles inspired by the wild foxgloves flowers that grow on the top of the hill.

The blanket is made with 4-ply/fingering yarn, however measurements and yarn quantities are also included for DK yarn.

The pattern contains:

detailed colour and yarn recommendations
written and charted motif instructions in US and UK terms.
step by step construction charts
full coloured layout charts.