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.
Today’s Posts: Phyllis Serbes | Darleen Hopkins | April Garwood
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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April Garwood, Banana Moon Studio
Crochetville is very proud to have designer April Garwood of Banana Moon Studio with us today, March 9, 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 April, check out our post from last year’s blog tour.
About April:
I have been designing crochet and knit patterns since 2010. My designs have been included in Crochet!, Interweave Crochet, Love of Crochet, and I Like Crochet, among others. I also have patterns available on Ravelry, Etsy, and Craftsy. I love designing wearables most. I have a lot of patterns for girls because I am the mom of four beautiful daughters who love to wear the things I make. However, I also have lots of pattern for women because I love wearing my designs too! My website and business name is Banana Moon Studio, home of all the ravingly awesome designs by April Garwood.
Do you crochet in public? If so, when and where?
Yes! I take a project EVERYWHERE I go. I’ll undoubtedly wish I had it if I didn’t. I can often be found crocheting at the dance studio that is like a second home to us (10 hours of class a week between my 4 daughters!) and at the theater classes that my oldest takes. I crochet at church and the doctor’s office and anywhere else that I can steel a few minutes.
Do you have a special place at home where you crochet? Tell us about it.
I have a studio, and I do a lot of crafting, and all of my writing there, but I also stitch in bed, in the armchair in my bedroom, on the couch watching movies with my family, at the table while supervising my girls’ homeschooling, and in the car while my enabling husband drives…but I guess that isn’t in my home, but whatever, just overlook that.
Share the story of your favorite thing you’ve ever crocheted or designed.
Just one? This is tough. I’m going to pick a favorite. I’m not sure that I could really narrow it down to just one favorite, but I really like “Tide Wrap”. I designed this for Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts and YarnBox. I met the team at Ancient Arts when I attended my first TNNA industry trade show and they were such lovely people. I loved their yarn from the get-go and started to work right away on coming up with a design with the sample skein they gave me. That became my Brassica Scarf design (available in my Ravelry store). Through that relationship, they emailed me a few weeks later and asked for help designing something for their yarn that would be in the YarnBox subscription box a few months later. It needed to be rushed, but I was so pleased with the design that I came up with for them. They were really pleased with it as well, and it now graces the banner that they hang up at trade shows. I’m just really proud of it.
Tell us about any other fiber-related hobbies you enjoy.
I also knit and spin. I taught myself how to knit with books and YouTube videos. I still have many things to learn in this craft. I have designed a few knit patterns, and will do more in the future when I feel like my skill level has caught up with my creativity. I got a spindle maybe 4 years ago, and started learning to spin. About a year later I got a spinning wheel. I <3 it! So far, spinning is just for fun, not for business. It’s what I do when I am procrastinating work projects. I love watching how the colors come together when I spin hand-dyed roving. So pretty!
How do you decide what to name your patterns?
Many times a name just is obvious. When I am stumped on a name, I have a few tricks for figuring one out. I live in Oklahoma. Many of my patterns are named for cities in Oklahoma. There is a list of them on Wikipedia that I have bookmarked on my browser. Sometimes I take a word that describes the piece and use Google Translate to see what that word is in other languages, and use that for the name. I have also been known to use scientific names of something in nature to name a pattern.
Tell us about your most popular pattern.
My most popular pattern is actually the one I wrote and posted on my blog for the very first NatCroMo blog tour. It is called “Peacock Feather Square” and is just a small pattern for an afghan block with a peacock feather shape in the middle of it. To date, that blog post has been viewed almost 63,000 times. That’s HUGE for me.
Tell us about your favorite camping location.
I haven’t camped nearly enough, but of the places I have camped, my favorite so far is called Roman Nose State Park in Oklahoma. There are some natural springs, streams, and waterfalls to play in, so it’s really a fun place to play.
What is your favorite camping snack/meal/recipe?
Back when I was a kid, I was in Girl Scouts. We had a traditional snack when we went camping. We used canned biscuit dough. We stretch it out into a “snake” shape, wrapped it around the end of a stick, and toasted it over the fire until it was cooked. Then we filled it with jam or whipped cream. Those were fun. Our family typically has s’mores when we camp. I love those too, ’cause, chocolate…
Visit April’s Site: NatCroMo Specials
I will have a new free pattern to share on the day of my post. Click the link above for all the details.
April’s Designs:
If you’re not familiar with my work already, I’d like to share three of my designs with you.
1. Sweet Little Rounded Mittens, $4.00
Dress baby up for a cold-weather outing! These cute mittens have a sweet “button” accent and a long cuff to help keep them on. Made is soft, washable, Merino wool, then will be perfect for baby!
2. Hollis Headband, FREE
This is Hollis Headband, a simple ribbed headband in crochet. Color-changing worsted weight yarn, and the right stitch pattern make this both warm and so trendy!
3. Brassica Scarf, $3.00
This textured scarf is worked from one long edge to the other. The main color is used to make a textured ripple stitch. The edging added to one side is lacy and feminine.
Find April Online:
Website: http://bananamoonstudio.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BananaMoonStudio/
Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/designers/april-garwood
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BananaMoonStdio
Additional Blog Tour Information:
Links to All the Info
Daily Giveaway Schedule
Daily Designer Schedule
Daily Local Yarn Store Schedule
Daily Yarn & Product Company Schedule
Discussion on Facebook
April, I was a Girl Scout too. We did a different variation with the biscuit dough. We did the snake and cooked our dough then filled it with chocolate pudding and topped it with whipped cream to make it more of an eclair. It was really good, as long as you get the dough cooked right. 😉 Try it sometime when you are camping. I bet your girls would love it. Can’t go wrong with chocolate!
If you want it even more sweet and chocolaty use chocolate cake icing instead of pudding.
Beautiful camp location! One of the primary things I consider when camping is being near water. This place has it all! I am looking at the Sierra Scarf on ravelry right now. Thank you for the peacock square and throw pillow pattern.