JoAnn Sale

I got an email from JoAnn's regarding their current sale. If you shop online with them it is well worth signing up for their online notices. The current offer includes free shipping for an order over $40.

If you are looking for discounted knitting and crochet books, the current sale offers 40% off. I noticed a few are not discounted, but many of my favorites are and they are going quick. I already found an afghan book gone before I could get the discount. If you are interested I suggest you buy quickly.

Yarn is 25% off. If you can combine your free shipping code with the yarn this is a great offer. I have a couple of items I need to stock up on so I need to check my budget.

Sign Up at Your Favorite Craft Stores

I am on email and mailing lists for JoAnn's, AC Moore, and several other companies. I also get the rewards cards when companies offer them. These programs have led me to receiving offers for additional percentages off my purchases as well as dollars removed from my purchases.

The email and mailing lists do not always offer the same deals. I find that by signing up for both I have gotten additional rewards at JoAnn's for online free shipping and other offers I would not have gotten if I had only been a mail or email subscriber.

Some people complain about increased SPAM or junk mail. I have not had a problem with this so I cannot complain. I did just get a JoAnn's flyer in the mail today with an offer for seniors that I will be passing on to my Mom who for some reason is not on their mailing list.

Happy crafting.

Buying e-Patterns

I resisted buying e-Patterns. I still prefer hard copy pattern books. For Christmas my husband purchased the Star Wars Collection Ami Patterns and the Loony for Looms patterns, paid, downloaded, and delivered them to me. I had asked for both because I knew he would deal better with managing the paying, downloading, getting the code, and printing. Still I resisted the concept of buying my patterns this way.

Then the story I discussed yesterday about Mary Maxim happened. Some of patterns were only e-Patterns and even those that were not did not have traditional pattern books. When I had purchased the doll patterns previously, they had been folded paper copies in a plastic envelope, hardly worth the additional shipping costs. Therefore, this past weekend I ventured into the world of e-patterns and purchased a set of Maggie's Crochet patterns over the Internet. Not earth shattering I realize. However, it was conquering my resistance to an issue. I successfully ordered, paid, and with my husband's assistance downloaded the patterns. When the code arrived, I was able to print my patterns. This was much quicker than waiting a few weeks for the order to arrive and as I mentioned since the patterns are not in book format, not much different from what I would have received by mail. I will still buy books when available. However, I think I will start buying the paper patterns over the Internet to save my shipping costs. Ultimately, I still have to pay for ink and paper. However, I still think there is savings and convenience.

If you arrived here looking for free toy patterns please see the following pages:

Hello Kitty

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Pictures may not be used without permission.

Buying Patterns

I love getting craft catalogs in the mail. It is tough to resist the temptation of books, yarns, and new patterns. However, it is always interesting to see what I may have missed in my journeys around the Internet.

Recently I was reminded that these catalogs provide temptations that should be researched for significant cost savings. Mary Maxim offers some beautiful doll, stuffed animal, and holiday kits. I have purchased a few of the holiday kits, mostly on clearance, but this year I splurged and bought, two prior to the post holiday sales. I generally avoid the kits. While I love the Mary Maxim yarn, it is generally more expensive without a real value added to most of the toy projects I make. The additional cost of the yarn does not really increase the enjoyment of the toy or doll clothes and they have not been shown to last longer in my experiments. In addition, the doll kits come with the dolls. The children I am making doll clothes for already have the 18" dolls and I can buy dolls to donate with coupons at AC Moore for significantly less money. Getting a doll with the kit is not an advantage.

However, some of those doll patterns are so adorable and I have been left tempted to buy the kits on clearance even though they are still more than I would normally pay for a doll pattern. Then I saw the bunnies. The last catalog had Esther and Ernie Bunny with their baby bunny. It was an adorable pattern, but there was no way I would pay close to $37 plus shipping for a stuffed animal kit. While I found the pattern cute, the colors were not as appealing. Then I remembered previous pattern hunting lessons. Google is your friend. Mary Maxim and others get their kit pattern from designers who also sell their patterns. Sometimes those patterns are available right away. Other times you have to wait for the designers to release them on their own sites. Mary Maxim rarely tells you the designer’s name, but with the pattern name, you can begin a search. The names are generally kept consistent. Searching would cost me nothing but time. Sure enough one of my favorite pattern places, Maggie's Crochet, had the Ernie and Esther pattern available for $7.99. While I was there, I found a doll pattern I had been previously been tempted to buy the doll kit on clearance at Mary Maxim and a few other doll patterns I had thought about buying through Annie's Attic.

If you arrived here looking for free toy patterns please see the following pages:

Hello Kitty

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Pictures may not be used without permission.