👋 Hi, it’s Michelle!

There are few certainties in life - but one thing we know for sure: Christmas comes every year! Around this time of year, just as the pumpkin spice starts to become ubiquitous, I tell myself this year will be different and I’ll be done with all my shopping and decorating early. My other self whispers: it’s only August and there’s plenty of time to get ready

No. No there isn’t.

In this week’s deep dive I’m covering tips to help in your holiday planning, plus a special free early gift for you. 🧡 Look for it at the end of this newsletter.

In this week’s e-mail:

🔶 When Abstract Meets Adorable. A South Dakota couple blends art and crochet animals into a late-in-life business success. (See pictures and read more: SiouxFallsBusiness)

🔶 Big Stitches, Bigger Dreams. Meet the 27-year-old who left corporate life to crochet giant plushies (and build a thriving creative career). (See video: ABCNews)

🔶 From Village Tradition to Runway Glam. Polish lacework takes center stage at Fashion Week, with 700 women carrying on generations of craft. (See pictures and read more: Columbian)

🔶 One Flower at a Time. How crochet kindness helped a woman heal from a friend’s suicide and sparked a new community of hope. (Read more: BBC)

The Guinness World Record for the largest crochet hook ever used measured how long?
a) 3 feet
b) 6 feet
c) 10 feet

Answer at the end of the e-mail.¹

If your Facebook feed looks anything like mine, you're already seeing Halloween décor creeping in… right next to the first wave of Christmas posts. 🎃✨ And you know what that means — it's officially time to start planning your holiday makes.

Christmas sneaks up faster every year. Blink and those 123 days between now and Christmas will vanish like the end of a skein in hot game of yarn chicken.

Starting to make Christmas gifts in December is like deciding to lose 40 pounds two weeks before a wedding. It doesn’t work.

Here are some tips to get you into holiday crochet frame of mind:

✅ Make a list and check it twice. Lists save my ADHD brain. Write down everyone you want to create for this year and think about their style, favorite colors and what they’d like.

Also list any home decor projects you want to tackle. Tree skirt, anyone?

📄 Choose your patterns early. Browse Ravelry, Etsy, or your favorite crochet blogs and save those links. Raindrop.io is a very good bookmark manager for taming the links.  

If decision paralysis hits, as it does, curate reliable "go-to" patterns you could make with your eyes closed or could be used for more than one person.

🧶 Audit your yarn stash. Take a proper and real look at your collection and be honest about what you actually have versus what you think is buried in there. (Don’t rely on memory)

Make notes about what you'll need for each project as well as how much you have vs how much you’ll need.

⏳ Get realistic about timing. That king-size blanket for your sister? It's going to take more than a few Netflix binges.

Be strategic and tackle the big projects first, save the quick projects like ornaments and dishcloths for when “two weeks left until Christmas”?! panic sets in.

🎁 Start creating, worry about wrapping later. There’s no time like the present and it’s comforting know you already have a stack of finished projects ready to go before the holiday chaos hits. Future you will thank you!

The best time to start your holiday crochet was three months ago. The second-best time is right now with your free gift.

✨Today ✨Set aside 15 minutes to print out the free Crocheted Gift List (edit it on Tinywow if you don’t have a printer) and fill it in using your favorite pens. Jot down the recipient's name, your project idea, pattern source, yarn requirements, and realistic time estimates. 

It doesn’t have to perfect and it doesn’t have to be complete, it just has to get started.

Choose just one project to start this week using yarn from your stash. Taking that first step will get you on your way to a stress-free holiday.

Over the next few months, I'll be sharing holiday project ideas, quick patterns, and gift inspiration to keep your momentum going.

👉 Reply and tell me what project you're starting with — I love seeing what everyone's planning!  

A curated selection of useful (mostly) crochet-related articles and tools I’ve come across recently for you to explore. All links have been vetted! 🧡

Not to be that person, but four months today is Christmas Eve! 🎄

See you next week for more Curated, Relevant, On-trend Crochet Highlights, Easy reads, and Trivia.

—Michelle 🧡

P.S. Let me know if there are patterns, gifts or tools you are looking for and if you have one to share, I’d love to know about it and possible feature in an upcoming issue.