National Crochet Month

You’ve arrived at A Tour Through Crochet Country! During March 2013, Crochetville is hosting a daily designer blog tour in celebration of National Crochet Month. Each day, we visit the blogs of one or two crochet designers, who share something with us — a free crochet pattern or tutorial, a peek into their studio or a-day-in-the-life, a coupon code, or something else special. Join us each day for a new surprise!

On our 29th day of A Tour through Crochet Country, we’re visiting Crochetville co-owners Donna Hulka and Amy Shelton.

[button link=”https://crochetville.com/national-crochet-month-donna-hulka-on-community/”]Today’s Stop 1: Visit Donna Hulka[/button]

These days, Donna Hulka spends a lot more time managing Crochetville than she does designing. But with a little nudge and a deadline, she enjoys whipping up a crochet design, like her Easy Beauty Chain Scarf. This pattern needed to be really eye-catching and yet fit entirely (written pattern and photos) on one side of a postcard (which is harder than you might think!).

Donna’s crochet tends to focus on items for the home that are useful and simple, yet beautiful. She believes our daily surroundings greatly influence our ability to work, play, and enjoy life. She hopes her patterns will inspire you to create everyday objects that will make you happy when you see and use them.

Donna joined the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) in 2004, and became a professional member in 2010.

 

Donna enjoys working with alternative materials such as jute twine and wire, as you can see in her Wire Hairpin-Lace Bowl.

 

[button link=”https://crochetville.com/national-crochet-month-amy-shelton/”]Today’s Stop 2: Visit Amy Shelton[/button]

Amy Shelton comes from a family of crocheters. Although she learned the basics of crochet from her third-grade teacher, Amy’s mother and grandmother, longtime crocheters themselves, helped Amy expand her skills. She has been happily crocheting, left-handed, for over 30 years. Her right-handed daughter also crochets. Amy feels a strong sense of connection to family and community through crochet.

Amy enjoys crocheting for herself when she can squeeze in the time. She has been known to turn heads with her extensive crocheted wardrobe of clothing and handbags, which are her favorite things to crochet. She enjoys working with natural fibers or blends, especially for clothing, and her favorite hooks are Tulip Etimo aluminum.

Amy joined the Crochet Guild of America (CGOA) in 2006, and became a professional member of CGOA in 2008. Amy was the featured luncheon speaker at the CGOA’s Professional Development Day in 2008. Elected to the board of directors in 2009, Amy served as president from 2011-2012.

This crochet crown received a lot of attention and garnered demands for a pattern when Amy wore it in the Crochetville/Red Heart booth at Stitches West this past February. A pattern is now available in the Crochetville pattern store.

 

This crocheted business card case is made from sock yarn. It always gets a lot of attention at shows when Amy pulls it out to give one of her business cards to someone.

 

See You Again Tomorrow!

I hope you enjoyed today’s stops visiting with Donna and Amy. Please come join us again tomorrow when we’ll visit with Linda Dean and Kristin Dragos.

Our Little Giveaway: Autographed Pattern Postcard

Each day of A Tour Through Crochet Country, we’ll be giving away two promo postcards, one to each of two winners. These are only available at our 2013 consumer show booths, and will be autographed by both of us, Amy Shelton and Donna Hulka, co-owners of Crochetville! The postcard includes Amy Shelton’s exclusive X Marks the Spot scarf pattern.

To enter, please leave a comment below answering this question: How long have you been a part of the Crochetville community (forum member or visitor or fan of our Facebook page)? What is your favorite thing about Crochetville? Is there anything else you’d like to see us do?

The fine print: Must be 13 or older to enter. Entries must be received by 12:00 midnight Pacific time on the date of this post. Winners will be selected by random drawing and notified by email the following day. Void where prohibited by law.

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All photos used with permission or under the Fair Use Exclusion of US copyright law.