Cricut Bright 360

-This post sponsored by Cricut, the product was sent to me to review. This post contains affiliate links.- 

My craft room is down in my basement and the lighting is terrible. Not only is there no natural light, the overhead lights make weird shadows, and some areas are just really dark. I have wanted to find a good lighting solution for my craft space for a long time, so when Cricut announced their new lamp, Cricut Bright 360, I was excited to try it out. 

Fall Moss Cowl

-This post may contain affiliate links, yarn provided by Kraemer Yarns- 

Now that September is here and my kids have gone back to school I am ready for fall to be here. Although, I guess if I am being honest I am always ready for fall to be here. It is my favorite season and always has been. I think part of that is because my birthday is in the fall, also it starts the holiday season. But I also just love the cooler weather, the crispness in the air, the changing leaves, the smells of pumpkin spice and apple. I just love all of it. 

Sal de Mar Crocheted Hat

-Yarn for this project provided by Fairmount Fibers, North American Distributor of Manos del Uruguay yarns. This post may contain affiliate links.-

Last year I had the opportunity to review some Manos del Uruguay yarn from Fairmount Fibers that included their Cabrito yarn, which is very light, laceweight, kid mohair yarn. I paired it with their Alegria yarn to make a scarf that had stripes of color and texture.

Which Cricut Machine is Right for You?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. The opinions and text are all mine.

Have you been considering purchasing a Cricut machine either for yourself or for a gift? Between gifts, whether for someone else or for yourself, and Christmas crafting a Cricut may be on your wish list this time of year. If this is you how do you know which machine is right for you?

Celestial Swirl Scarf

-This post may contain affiliate links-

I was recently sent some yarn to try out from Brown Sheep Yarns and I thought it would be fun to use it to try out a new scarf pattern. The yarn, Stratosphere, is a DK weight super wash wool.

Cincuenta Scarf

-Yarn for this project provided by Fairmount Fibers, North America distributor of Manos del Uruguay, all ideas and opinions are my own.-

I few months ago I had the opportunity to try out some yarn from Manos del Uruguay. In that post I shared a bit about my connection with Uruguay and why I was so excited to work with this company. When I was given the chance to try out some more of their yarn I jumped at the chance.

Burly Spun Bolster Pillow

-Product for this post provided by Brown Sheep Company-

Although worsted weight yarn is kind of my go-to yarn, it is always kind of fun to work with thicker yarn. Projects work up much quicker than thinner yarns, and they are nice and thick and cozy. For today's project I was sent some bulky Burly Spun yarn from Brown Sheep Company.

Frosty Forest Cowl

-Yarn for this project provided by Kraemer Yarns. This post may contain affiliate links.-

I recently had the opportunity to try out some yarn from Kraemer Yarns, their Perfection Worsted yarn. Worsted weight is by far my favorite yarn to use. I love the drape and detail you can get with thinner yarns and enjoy working with them occasionally but I always feel like it takes forever to finish a project. I love the quickness of projects made with bulky yarns, but feel like I am somewhat limited on the detail and types of projects I can make. So although I enjoy working with all weights and types of yarns, worsted weight is definitely my go to yarn weight.

Las Flores Crocheted Cowl

 -Fairmount Fibers, North American Distributor of Manos del Uruguay yarns provided me with the yarn for this project.-

I recently had the opportunity to get my hands on some yarn that I was really excited to be a able to work with, and today I am going to share what I made. The yarn is from Manos del Uruguay, and I was really excited when they offered me some yarn for review, I have wanted to try their yarn ever since I heard of them.

Vivid Scarf

-Yarn for this post provided by Zen Yarn Garden, this post may contain affiliate links-

I was lucky enough to get three coordinating skeins of yarn to try out from Zen Yarn Garden. The yarn colors and feel are gorgeous and I am excited to share today what I made with my yarn bundle.

Crocheted Elemental Scarf

-Yarn for this project provided by Delicious Yarns for review, this post contains affiliate links-

I was recently sent some yarn to try out from Delicious Yarns. They have have a new thing that they call "pairings", which they describe as unexpected curated combinations of 2 skeins of yarn, combinations you may not have thought to put together yourself. It is a fun idea to get get you to try out combinations that you may not otherwise try. I chose to try pairing #5, which included a dark green (Guava) and an aqua and white (Gummy Bear). They are available in super wash merino in fingering, sport, or worsted weight.

Scallop Scarf

-Yarn for this project provided by Brown Sheep Company-

I recently received some beautiful wool yarn from Brown Sheep Company, a family owned company in Nebraska, and I was really excited to make something with it. I received 3 skeins of their new Stratosphere yarn in teal, navy, and purple, although they have lots of gorgeous colors. I loved the 3 colors together and originally planned to use all of them together in one project but I couldn't come up with a multicolor pattern that loved so I ended up deciding to use them separately.

Felted Wool Ball Jewelry

-I was given a sample of this product for review, all ideas and opinions are my own-

Do you have any crafts you want to try but haven't yet? One of those things for me was wool felting. I think the little felted wool balls can be so cute for different projects but I have never tried making them. So, when I got the chance to review a sample box of wool roving from Kraemer Yarns I was really excited to try it out.

Blush Baby Bonnet

-Product for this post provided by Appalachian Baby, all opinions and ideas are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.-

A few weeks ago I was sent some yarn to review from Appalachian Baby. It was kind of fun to try out something new and the colors were so soft and pretty, perfect for a baby. The first thought that popped into my head when I saw it was baby bonnet, so that is what I decided to make and now I am sharing the pattern with you.

Project Bag with the Cricut Easy Press

-This post sponsored by Cricut, contains affiliate links-

A couple months ago I had the opportunity to try out the new Cricut Easy Press at the Cricut Mountain Make-A-Thon event they held in Salt Lake where the Easy Press and the Maker were announced. Last week I got one in the mail and was able to try it out again. I made a bag to take with me to the Cricut event, I felt like I had to bring something made with a Cricut to a Cricut event, and I have been meaning to share the project and Design Space file but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. I decided to make another bag with the same design using the Easy Press. As I was creating the design I wanted something that kind of represented me as a crafter, the word Create, along with shapes representing different crafts I enjoy- yarn, a paintbrush, a needle and thread, and scissors.

Self Striping Yarn Cakes: A Comparison of Caron Cakes, Premier Sweet Rolls, Lion Brand Mandala, and Bernat Pop

Several months ago Caron Cakes came out and they were the new big thing in yarn crafts. Every crochet group I am in on facebook was going crazy over them. They were only available at Michaels and they couldn't seem to keep them in stock. I'll be honest, I thought it was a little crazy how excited everyone was about them and wasn't really interested in joining in on the hype. I wasn't crazy about a lot of the color combinations and I didn't really like the idea of such abrupt color changes. I didn't really have much of a desire to try them out and thought they would just be a fad that would last for a little while before disappearing. Boy was I wrong. Pretty soon Premier came out with Sweet Rolls and Caron came out with a new batch of colors. It looked like the cakes were here to stay and after a while I decided that if I wanted to be taken seriously as a crochet blogger I better make something using Caron Cakes, or one of the other similar yarns. I picked up a couple of Caron Cakes and started a project, I was pleasantly surprised that I actually liked the yarn quite a bit and didn't mind the abrupt changes nearly as much as I thought I would. Not long after that I was trying to come up with a project to do for Fairfield World and decided to pick up a couple of Sweet Rolls. At that point I thought since I was trying both I would do some sort of comparison post about what I liked and/or didn't like about each yarn. Just days later I started seeing stuff on Facebook about Lion Brand Mandala and Bernat Pop coming out at Walmart. As far as I have been able to find it seems like the Walmarts around me are currently only carrying the Lion Brand Mandala, I have not seen Bernat Pop but I picked up some Mandala to compare to the other. I have information about each of the different yarns and have tried all but Bernat Pop. I made a little chart to compare all of them and will share my opinions on each. I purchased all of the yarns I tried myself so this is not sponsored by any of the companies, all of the opinions I share here are my completely unbiased thoughts on each type of yarn.