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IN THIS ISSUE >>>

Page 2 | What’s New: Notes From

Founder, Salena Baca

Page 3 | Pro Panel, Guest

Challenger Application!

Page 4 | New Vote Structure!

Page 5 | DW4 Yarn Pick!

Page 6-19 | Challenger Line Up!

Page 20 | Giveaways!

Page 21 | Fan Contributions!

Page 22-24 | Sponsors!

24 July, 2013

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Welcome back! Design Wars 4 officially begins with

this newsletter, and I am proud to say that we’ve made a

lot of progress and have 3 major updates to share: There

are better opportunities for more designers to apply and

participate in future rounds of DW (p3), I have formed a

Pro-Panel of designers (p3), and our voting process will

now be structured by category (p4)!

I’m adamantly knocking on a lot of virtual doors too,

and working to partner with commercial forums to give

Design Wars some positive notice! We received just that

with a mention from Bust Magazine, and a possible

interview with my crochet hero (Bust co-founder and

Happy Hooker author) Debbie Stoller! I nearly fainted

when I heard that last bit, what a dream come true!

Design Wars Challengers also received a gracious two-

part spread with Where Women Create that provided a

peek into our workspaces, and what inspires us. Finally, I’m

networking with a few of my favorite crochet forums, like

Crochet Today Magazine and Inside Crochet magazine, to

provide in depth articles about our Design Wars venture!

Publication dates for each will be available shortly.

- Peace, love, light, and great yarn for all!

Salena

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Diversity, in pursuit of excellence. That is what I am striving for

with each Design Wars challenge! However, I cannot forget the

credibility that my founding challengers provided to this forum,

even for the sake of diversity, so I’ve decided that a pro-panel

should be formed with my most trusted, loyal, and talented crochet

group. And, with this premise, here is how Design Wars will

commence:

Pro Panel: Including myself, there are 9 members of the Design

Wars Pro-Panel. In future challenges we will take turns in one of two

roles: half will compete as a DW challenger, and the other half will

help to promote, administer, and moderate the challenge.

Guest Challengers: Each member of the DW Pro-Panel will

choose 1 new challenger from our application pool. This list will be

posted as a poll for our public to vote on, and the 5 applicants who

receive the most votes will be invited to join the next round of

Design Wars as a Guest Challenger.

There you have it; diversity in pursuit of excellence, and variety

in balance with my most trustworthy group of professionals! We will

be considering new guest challengers based on the pool of

applications we receive, and you can read more about that process

and find the application right here.

Design Wars Pro-Panel

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Design Wars was way too diverse for only one winner, and after 4 successful seasons we finally decided on a great new option for fans to vote for their favorite new designs among our challengers!

After the final reveal of our DW4 designs we will ask our fans to vote for the design that best fits one of 5 given categories: Best use of yarn, Best use of Color, Most Original Design, Best new Gift Idea, and Best New Design to Wear. All designs will be available in each category, and fans can vote to choose which design best represents each.

One additional category that is not listed will be the design that receives the most votes overall; the designer who receives this honor will be named our overall DW4 Challenge winner.

Brush up on our new categories, and be ready to cast your vote for the best new design in each – we’ll be counting on you!

Voting Categories 1. Best Use of Yarn

Design that best embodied the yarn 2. Best Use of Color

Design that best used colors from line 3. Most Original Design

Design that is most unique 4. Best new Gift Idea

Design that you are most likely to give 5. Best New Design to Wear

Design that you are most likely to wear

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Anne Geddes Baby Yarn is a brand new line from Red Heart, and is a soft, colorful range that is perfect for making beautiful baby goodies! Inspired by the iconic images of Anne’s portfolio, this yarn comes in a lovely blend of acrylic and nylon, and is available in a pleasing range of pastel, primary, and variegated colors.

When I asked our DW4 challengers to pick 2 favorite yarn lines to be considered in this segment, this one was mentioned more than any other, and it’s no wonder: It’s a weight 3 (light) yarn, with 340 yards per solid skein (290 for multi), is perfect for wearable designs, is machine washable and dryable (gently), and is available in 19 colors!

If you’d like to follow along with our Design Wars 4 challengers, you can order your lot of Anne Geddes Baby Yarn from most major craft retailers, or straight from the Red Heart Yarn! Enjoy!

ABOUT | SHOP

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Meet our Design Wars 4 Guest Challenger

Alessandra Hayden, owner of Just Be Happy!

Alessandra was invited to join this round by our DW3

Challenge Winner Danyel Pink (CrazySocks Designs),

and we are all quite thrilled to have her! She is a fun,

energetic, positive lady, and I’m proud to present her

to you with some Q&A. Enjoy!

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1. How did you decide on your shop name; what's the

significance?

I opened my shop (etsy) after a great loss; I had a

stillborn baby and some times needed to keep my

hands and mind busy and my husband once told me

“just be happy, no matter where you are or what you do,

choose to just be happy” and that stuck with me.

2.Which of your crochet pieces do you feel best

represent you as an artist?

This is a hard question, because I don’t feel like there is

just one piece that can represent me, but right at this

moment I am enjoying working with some soft lace

weight mohair yarn to make very airy and delicate

bonnets, like the new Lucile.

3.What are the best words of wisdom you can provide

to hopeful crochet shop owners?

Have your work photographed by professional

photographers, don’t look at it as giving something

away, but investing in advertisement. A good

photograph goes a long way.

4.What are the 5 most fantastic things you've found on

pinterest (for crochet)?

Crochet Clock - I love adding random pieces of crochet

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4.What are the 5 most fantastic things you've found on pinterest (for crochet)?

Crochet Clock - I love adding random pieces of crochet work to my house. Gift Wrap Embellishment - I have

added crochet embellishments to a couple of gifts and for Christmas I intend to add embellishments to all

my Christmas gifts this year, perhaps snowflakes, stars and little Christmas trees? Yarn bomb - It inspired me

to yarn bomb my mailbox. Color Stripe Generator - I haven’t used it yet, but I will give it a try when I make

my next afghan. Crochet Tire Cover - I swear I want a “car” with the spare tire outside just so I can crochet a

cover for it! LOL

5.Do you wear your own crochet goods? Which pieces?

Yes, I certainly do! I have to *make* the time to crochet things for myself, but I take pride wearing things I

make.

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1. What are the best words of wisdom you can provide to

hopeful crochet shop owners?

Find a niche, and be really good at what you do. This sounds

simple and kind of lame, but it is definitely true. There are simply

too many shops that sell exactly the same thing, like crochet cell

phone sleeves, or hair accessories for little girls. Those products

are totally cute, but they're everywhere! Your job is to stand out

from the crowd. So just making cell phone sleeves won’t cut it,

unless you are really good at it and provide an original product.

Try to find your own voice, even if it takes a while. People are

much more interested in buying something original, than just

another copy of something else. Photography is also really

important, and something you absolutely need to come across

as professional. If your product is amazing but your photos are

crappy, you’re not going to sell anything. Invest in a good

camera and teach yourself the ropes, or hire a photographer to

do it for you. Look at Etsy, Craftsy, and Ravelry shops that you

admire; what do their photos look like? And again, try to find

your own voice here; inspiration is great, but nobody wants to

be copied!

Meet our Design Wars 4 Guest Challenger

Wink, owner of A Creative Being! Wink was invited

to join this round by Charissa Ragsdale (Mad Mad

me), and won our public poll as top choice for our

final DW4 invitation! She is quite creative, with a

fantastic blog, and I’m proud to present her to you

with some Q&A. Enjoy!

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2. What is your most recent accomplishment?

I'm now officially a business! I registered A Creative Being last

month, and am now officially eligible to pay taxes, haha. It was

something that I never thought would happen to my little blog,

but now that it has, I couldn't be more proud. I've only been

blogging two years, and designing my own patterns since 6

months or so; so this is not something that I take for granted. This

is the greatest accomplishment this blog has seen, so far; I cannot

wait to see where it'll go from here!

3. Do you wear your own crochet goods? Which pieces?

I've made some shawls this year that are in constant rotation. One

of them is even a knitted one; my first Stripe Study Shawl. It took

me 6 months to finish (I'm an extremely fast crocheter, and I guess

to pay for that I'm an extremely slow knitter, haha) but I'm so

proud that I was able to finish it! Of course I recently made a lovely

rainbow Festival Shawl, which is still the biggest eye catcher of all

my projects; and just last weekend I completed a South Bay

Shawlette, in lovely pastel colours. It's definitely the warmest of all

three shawls, and gets a lot of wear in those chilly summer nights.

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4. What crochet design do you wish you thought of first? Are

there any that blow your mind?

I love all the designs that Felted Button makes, but when I first

saw her Puffy Patch Quilt pattern I had a serious case of 'Man,

how come I didn't think of that!’ It's a blanket made up from

squares, nothing new there; but she stuffs the squares as if it

was a quilted piece, and then joins them with another round of

crochet! It's so clever and different, and the final product is just

amazing. It's one of those patterns that I love for its simplicity

and ingenuity, and I hope to make one someday.

5. Which of your crochet pieces do you feel best represent you

as an artist?

Definitely my mandalas. I've made a bunch of them already

exclusively for Simply Crochet magazine; I sell a

mandala pattern in my shop; and I've become quite well-

known for my 'weekly mandala' project at the beginning of this

year. They're just simple circles, but to me they are a never-

ending source of inspiration and they provide me with a

creative outlet. They also function as colour studies; something

I find highly useful! I love seeing how each colour responds to

other colours, and it is always so cool to see how the look of a

crochet piece can totally change by what colour the last round

was done in.

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Danyel Pink CrazySocks Designs: DW 1, 2, 3 Challenger, DW3

Winner.

craftsy | ravelry | .com

Dear Design Wars Community,

It seems like time has flown by since DW3

ended! I still can't believe my Pretty Little Apron

design won!! Since then, I have been working on

updating my patterns, organizing my shops,

cleaning up my home office, and doing a few

home improvement projects with my

husband. He just put together a new IKEA shelf

for me & I need to organize my yarn stash badly!

We also recently took a 10-day trip to

Chicago to visit family. We had a fabulous time

swimming, boating, eating at our favorite

restaurants, playing with our 3 kids, and

relaxing.

Now that we're back home, I'm really looking

forward to receiving my yarn shipment from RHY

so I can get busy on my DW4 project! I have 2

really great ideas! DW4 comes to an end right

around my birthday, and I'm excited to see how

everything turns out!

Best wishes,

:) Danyel

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Liz McQueen Playin’ Hooky Designs: DW 3 Challenger.

etsy | ravelry | .com

Hey everyone!

I’ve been asked to tell you what I’ve been up to

since the last round of Design Wars. At first I thought,

“That’s going to be a short article,” but looking back

made me realize I was much busier than I thought I

was!

My favorite project revolved around the biggest

and oldest whitewater festival in the US, hosted by

little Colorado mountain town. And, it was the perfect

time for a yarn bomb! My friend and I went covert

ops for this secret mission (and even took our kids).

There’s much more to the story including theft and a

Bigfoot impersonator; read all about it in my blog

post.

I’ve been busy behind the scenes too:

streamlining my listings and photography,

overhauling my blog, creating new banners and logo

flair, new packaging for my Discs, finalizing a core

group of pattern testers, and holding a t-shirt sale. I

also passed a pretty huge milestone on Facebook – I

now have over 8,000 fans! I can hardly believe it and I

couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you for

your support and I look forward to the upcoming

round of Design Wars!

- Liz

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Tara Murray Mamachee: DW 1, 2, 3 Challenger, DW1 Winner

Hi ya!

I’m so excited about another round of DW. Every

time one ends, I’m ready for the next….we couldn’t

make these wars a monthly thing, could we?

Daily life has been keeping me very busy.

Juggling cleaning time, family time, husband time,

me time, friend time, cooking time and crochet time

is something I’ve never been good at…I’m in a

constant state of trying to get better at life. I always

seem to come to the conclusion that the days just

need to get longer. We’ve been getting a lot of

awesome family time in this summer which is so so

great! Our family is a hockey family, my husband

loves to play, my son has been playing since he was 3

and I played my first year of Woman’s hockey last

year (so fun!). Our new home came with a butt load

of pavement so our family has been out playing

street hockey and loving it. * So thankful for our new

pavement*

I’m pretty sure I know what I’m making for DW4

and if it all works out, it’s going to BLOW YOUR

MIND!...Just kidding….but I am very excited about my

design idea and I can’t wait to show you!

Shine on! Tara

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Charissa Ragsdale Mad Mad me: DW 3 Challenger

Dear Diary,

As I look down at my hands perched on the keyboard, it dawns on me

how old they look. Where did all those wrinkles and spots come from? And

when did they make their grand entrance? I think that feasting on the

youthfulness of my children has focused my gaze away from myself, so when

I'm forced to consider my own 'progress' in life, I'm often surprised to see

such changes. Lately though, since I'm making so many plans and deciding

how to pursue different creative ventures, I've realized that I really do have to

focus my efforts, give up some dreams to pursue the few that are within the

grasp of these weathered hands. Being a part of DW3 was a great adventure!

I was not expecting it. I was surprised to find myself there, among so much

talent and drive. It was an opportunity to expand my own dream of

promoting and supporting creative people that dare to throw their hearts out

there and hope that their work rings a chord in the hearts of others. That is

my current, full time pursuit since DW3 and I'm sure it will be my pursuit for

years to come.

Currently, I'm working with an amazing group of folk artists in our own

elite network called the Mad Mad Makers. We are putting together a genuine

online craft fair named The Lemonade Stand. Each Mad Maker has big

dreams and hopes wrapped up with their talents and skills. It's so hard to

compete with chain stores and mass production, so we are not focused on

even trying. We are committed to making high quality, genuinely original

works of arts and crafts that are functional and lovely with many heirloom

items and styles in the mix. I really believe that we can enrich the world,

making things with our own hands is important to "The “culture and to our

own family cultures and environments. Have you ever seen a child watch

someone crochet or cook? Have you ever watched a child try their own hand

at it without even asking for help? It's in our nature! We are creative beings,

and more and more the outlets for our creativity are being taken away. I want

to see the folks arts live on, I want to be a part of a revival and a

revolution. And what a worthy revolution it will be! (You can visit the Mad

Makers at MadMadMakers.com)

- Charissa

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Jonna Ventura Frayed Knot: DW 1, 2, 3 Challenger, DW 2 Winner

Hello again good people!

This summer, so far, has been filled with family

time and I wouldn't have it any other way. Since my

boys have gotten older we are having a lot of fun just

hanging out, playing games, and if I let them they

would live in the pool.

We were also able to go camping recently as a

family with a bunch of friends from church. It was a

blast and I didn't take any yarn with me!!

Also this summer my husband and I celebrated

10yrs of marriage on July 5th. I love him more today

than the day we wed!

This summer so far has taught me exactly what I

love most about having my own business. I can set it

aside when I need or want to. So to be able to design

and write patterns on my own terms has been

amazing! I am truly blessed.

I'm REALLY looking forward to this round of

Design Wars and can't wait to see what everyone

creates.....uh-um....even me! ;)

Yours truly!

Jonna

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Salena Baca Baca Creations: DW 1, 2, 3 Challenger

I’m so incredibly excited!

First, Design Wars has never looked better; I’ve

got an amazing group of gals that work tirelessly to

make sure our forums looks their best. I couldn’t ask

for a better team of crochet socialites, and they

always make work seem like fun!

I’m pretty proud to say that I’ve connected with

quite a few infamous forums and crochet celebrities

to spark interest in Design Wars: we’ve partnered

with magazines like Bust, Crochet Today, Where

Women Create, and Inside Crochet to help feature

Design Wars, and I’ve snagged interviews with icons

like Vita Apala (Mon Petit Violon), Twinkie Chan, and

Sarah Zimmerman (Repeat Crafter Me)!

My proudest moment since DW3 however, is a

pending interview with my crochet idol Debbie

Stoller! Yes, the Stitch Nation Guru, the Happy

Hooker herself, Ms. Stoller. I will hardly be able to

contain myself as that’s confirmed, so you’ll have all

the details as soon as I do!

Finally, my Baca Creations fan page is nearly at

4,000 strong, and that’s an accomplishment that I’m

quite pleased with! Nothing but good news here,

and I intend to keep it that way!

- Salena

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Dear Design Wars Community,

Summer is here, and the heat and sun is flooding

everything it touches with lots of inspiring of

summertime colors.

My little daughter has finished school and is now

running around me all day. She is very excited about

her new baby sister, who will be born in November.

I keep thinking about lots of new patterns I can

create. I have lots of ideas for new blankets and

brand new designs.I think I have almost decided my

project for Design Wars 4.

I'm looking forward to receiving the new yarn for

our challenged so that I can start working. It's one of

the best moments of the process. I think this year I

will have a short holiday :)

Sincerely,

Carolina

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.com | etsy | ravelry

Dear Design Wars Community,

Over the past few months I have been taking a

much needed break from everything and have just

been focusing on spending time with family and

running my busy household.

This July is my 5 year anniversary on Etsy, so I will

be planning a big sale and a few other surprises very

soon to celebrate.

My eldest, Holland, has just started school and is

now enjoying 2 weeks of school holidays. We have

been keeping busy with walks the local park and

library...and an occasional stop at the wool shop!

Kind regards,

Lisa van Klaveren

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*RHY to render prize pack, photo may not represent actual prize.

Weekly Giveaways! Our Design Wars 4 challengers have banded

together to provide 1 huge giveaway every week that

will go to 3 lucky and adoring fans! Each DW4

Challenger will be donating 1 pattern from their shop,

so 10 patterns will be provided to 3 fans every week!

We’ll post a rafflecopter entry form on the release

date of each newsletter, and 3 winners will be chosen

near the end of that same week. The first giveaway

begins today, 24 July, and will conclude on Sunday, 28

July! Love our patterns? Click on over to enter!

Red Heart Yarn Prize Pack! Red Heart yarn is giving a massive prize to 1 of

our fans! Entries for this pack will be taken during

voting week, details to come:

1 ball of each color Anne Geddes Yarn (19 balls), 1

set size 8 Susan Bates Tipping points Knitting

Needles, 1 Susan Bates Bamboo Crochet Hook, 1 Red

Heart Thread Cutter Pendant, 1 Crochet Today

Magazine, and 1 Red Heart Tote Bag.

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WHAT’S NEXT? ISSUE 7: JULY 31 >>>

Sneak Peek Week, Part I Weekly Giveaway Fan Contributions New Lovely Sponsors

Pretty Little Apron

Alessandra Hayden (of Just Be Happy) shared this

picture of the Pretty Little Apron that she worked up

(Bottom). This is a garment from our Design Wars 3

round, the winning design from Danyel Pink of

CrazySocks Designs.

If you have completed a Design Wars Pattern, or used one of our past yarn picks that you would like to share with us, please e-mail your submission

for consideration to: DesignWarsChallenge@yahoo.com

The Perfect Bag

Rachel Brock (of Silly Stitches) shared this picture of the Perfect Bag she worked up (Bottom). This is a garment from our Design Wars 3 round, a pattern by Jonna Ventura, of Frayed Knot (Left).

If you have completed a Design Wars Pattern, or used one of our past yarn picks that you would like to share with us, please e-

mail your submission for

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Click her to reserve, some ads are as little as $15!