Thank You

I won a contest for a Leisure Arts books Texting Mittsat Cute Crochet Chat. If I ever get through my Easter crocheting, these are going to make some great gifts.

I also have been blessed with some wonderful Fairy Godmothers during Crochetville's latest round of wish lists. I received a couple more dress patterns for my doll donation project AG Emerald Isle, which I think I finally found a substitute yarn that will work for the discontinued yarn in the pattern. More on that later. This gives me another historical and holiday dress to add to my donation box. The second dress I received was another historical one, Bathing Beauty. I am excited for not only another historical dress, but also the chance to challenge my thread skills. To help with my Easter box projects I was gifted the Bunny with Cradle Purse that I am looking forward to making.

There are many thoughtful people out there and it is important to acknowledge the great joy they bring to our lives. I often do think about the people who send me stuff through wish lists, swaps, or contests when I pull out a pattern to work on for one of my projects and it makes me smile to think of their gift blessing someone else.

Thank Your Favorite Pattern Writers

I am constantly updating my blog with new free patterns I find and I try to leave thank you notes on their blogs. I also go back and thank people after I have made something and the pattern was the great gift item I needed.

Far too often I get complaints that X pattern did not work out or I do not have patterns to make X item. I read on another blog recently a theory that part of the problem is people are so used to getting things for free that they fail to appreciate the wonderful gifts people give them by sharing their gift for writing free patterns with those of us who are constantly looking for them and using them to create new projects.

Recently one of my favorite doll pattern writers wrote that she was burnt out and stopping her work for a while. It was wonderful to see how many people wrote beautiful notes of encouragement and thank you's for all the work she had shared.

People have a right to charge for their hard work in designing. I buy patterns all the time new and used. There is no expectation that because we want something others should give up their hard work with no expectation of payment in return.

However, we can and should stop to say thank you for the MANY generous designers who do share their hard work with us at no cost. Leave a positive comment the next time you stop on a blog and download a free pattern. Say thank you. It is not hard to do, but it does demonstrate that people appreciate the hard work and are grateful for the gifts that are shared.