Today is the first day of school for Little C. I cannot believe she is in all day kindergarten, time has certainly flown by! In honor of my daughter returning to school (yes, she expects a party for her tonight), I wanted to talk about trying new things and taking classes.
Did any of you take advantage of Craftsy Free Class Day? For those of you not aware, Craftsy offered free streaming of ALL their classes yesterday. First, before I go any further, I want to let you know that I am not affiliated with Craftsy in any way. Therefore, these opinions are my own, although if Craftsy wants more crocheters, please contact me! Now that the business is taken care of, can I tell you how excited I was on Monday morning? I woke up at 7 and started streaming from bed (it was a holiday after all). Overall I took a look at four crochet classes during the day, before life and family took over.
My first class was Curvy Crochet with Marly Bird. I spent the most time on this session, and I even followed her way of creating my own dress form! Here I am all Duck Taped up!
This class will be revisited, once I get through my other paid classes. She offered some cute patterns, and I’d like to go through her lessons a little more thoroughly.
My second class was a Tunisian Crochet class with Jennifer Hansen. I love the look of Tunisian crochet and want to explore it more. It looked like this class offered many stitches in this style, plus a versatile pattern, and some unique cording tips. Again, this will be on my wishlist for another day.
My third class was Crochet Toolkit: Designer Tips and Tricks with Shannon Mullet-Bowlsby. To be honest, I did not give this class a fair shake. I was doing dishes, my husband was mowing the lawn outside the kitchen window, and I couldn’t hear most of what he was saying. Has anyone taken this class?
My last class looked really interesting, the little bit I saw. It was a Fair Isle Crochet class with Karen Whooley. I find tapestry and now Fair Isle beautiful, and it is so nice that the crochet world can create gorgeous fabrics like these, just like the knitters do! I definitely want to revisit this class too.
The current Craftsy class I am taking is Classic Crochet Openwork with Jennifer Hansen. I am following it lesson by lesson, which is slow because I have so many orders still to work on, but it has been fun so far. I love lace, and if you love lace too, this may be a good class for you! Check out my first sample of the trellis stitch and variations (I wish I had blocked it for this photo).
Have you ever taken a Craftsy crochet or other class? Any recommendations? Are there any other online courses that you have taken that you like? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Happy Crocheting!
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I knew about the free classes for a day and wanted to take advantage of it but I just wasn’t able to. I’m glad you got the chance to explore. And love those pics!
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Thanks! The classes were neat to check out, but to really get the experience, I’d want to have them on file. My daughter thought I was going to be a robot, in those pics, and kept trying to glue “buttons” on me 😂.
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That would have been a site to see 😂
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I totally ignored it but I think Craftsy is fantastic for spreading the love of crafting out there. I have never paid for any of their classes, either. I think I’m too old for it because I am used to learning from books. The classes you looked at sound very interesting! One of the more interesting freebies I tried was about Kitchener it has nothing to do with crochet (it’s for knitting) and I liked a free class by Drew Emborsky about an afghan and different crochet stitch patterns. I have been very much aware of this free day Craftsy offered. I hope it isn’t a sign that the business is doing poorly. I think it’s a fantastic platform and a good investment for people who want to take classes. I just haven’t bought the classes because I don’t feel like I need them. If you truly enjoyed listening to Marly Bird talk on and on you are either a) very patient or b) perky. She has a fabulous stage presence, that’s for sure, but her perkiness exhausts me! She’s definitely a knowledgeable teacher and I love your explorations in following the curves because I think Marly Bird is tapping into crochet whenever she has the chance and it will only benefit the rest of us. Her crochet ideas are definitely cutting edge.
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I totally understand about learning from books more than classes. Plus, it sounds like you have a nice library! I have really enjoyed the classes, but it probably just comes down to learning style. The most important thing is it’s fun to keep learning! Thanks for sharing!
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I think it doesn’t have anything to do with learning style. It’s the orientation of the classes. If a paid class were offered that I needed, I’d go for it. Craftsy is awesome and I hope it’s here to stay. It just hasn’t offered anything new to me. To me, personally. I can do a lot without it, but I see how lots of people can learn from it. If a class is offered that I need I’ll go for it. So far, I don’t need it. I watch the free ones for fun, when I’m in the mood for seeing some vids.
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Fair enough, you can do a lot without it 😀.
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You were busy! Gutted I missed those classes, I want to take one in pattern writing and fitting garments.
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Yes! I have been looking for something like that too. Let me know what you end up taking!
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Whaaaaaaaaaaat how busy were you haha!! I almost forget Craftsy exists, will have to check out some classes. Deffo also looking for a pattern writing one. Anyway, you look like you had fun!
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Ha! I made my 5 year old clean her room (which means she just plays in her room), so that bought me some extra time for the classes 😉.
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I am signed up for a couple of quilting classes on Craftsy. I did log in for a bit yesterday, but I was too busy to take full advantage of the free day.
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It’s tough to just take a whole day for a class. I looked at it as a good way to see which classes I could take in the future, and learned a little bit while I was checking them out!
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Yes, there were a few things I wanted to Che k out but didn’t get to them, but so far I’ve been impressed with what I have seen. I usually just watch for when they have classes on sale, like this week. I’m debating signing up for a couple more.
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Yes! They always have sales. I like to look for the under $15 days, then take advantage 😉. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
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I wanted to try some out, but I should have done some research before, because there were too many options for the time I had. I did sign up for a free crafty quilting class, but haven’t gotten around to it. Maybe something for my to do list, once Girl #2 is gone. Sounds like you had fun. I’ve seen those duct tape manikins, let us know how yours turns out.
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The free classes are a good way to see if you like the style. Let me know what you think of it😊. I just filled my mannequin today, it’s slightly bigger than me (probably because my hubby didn’t want to tape me too tight), but the dimensions seem good enough to work with. I’ll have to post a finished picture soon!
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I had a super busy day, left the house at 7:30am and didn’t get back til 10pm so I didn’t get to stream any videos!! Gutted.
Creating a dress form looks fun, but how do you get it off?
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My husband had to cut it off, shirt and all. I then taped it back together and stuffed it. It took a while to make, but was worth it! There are lots of tutorials out there if you want to try your own!
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Ah no I missed that ! I did an embroidery one with them & it was the best class ever. Even now I refer back to it. You did a lot well done !
Hope your daughter enjoys school, mine started back too, so more time for crafting 😉
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I hope that’s what back to school means! My first day meant More housework! But I wrote a schedule out, so I should be able to get the crafting in 😉.
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What a fun way to spend your holiday! I didn’t know Craftsy had free class days. Next time, I’m in!! I may have to take the dress form class.:). Happy days happy days for sure!
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I’ll be more proactive about letting everyone know next time. It is worth checking out, if even for a little bit!
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I didn’t find out that it was a free day at Craftsy until yesterday! Oh well, I should pay attention so I don’t miss out if they offer it again. So now I need to know more about making a duct tape dress form!!! I know I should just break down and buy one, especially since I’ve been making so much apparel lately, but I just hate spending money if there’s a DIY out there!! I’m so glad to hear you’re busy with filling orders, that is a good kind of busy!! Now with the little one in school you should be able to get a lot done! 😀
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I hope to be busier with crochet now that C is in school. As for the dress form, there are other tutorials out there, check Pinterest. It’s fairly simple, but you do need a partner to help!
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What a great way to spend a holiday 😃 I’m usually not a big fan of video instructions. I do like written ones much better – with me it’s a learning style thing 😁 – but everything looks great, so now I’m tempted to give it another try. Thanks for sharing, Brenna 🤗
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If you do give it a try, let me know!
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I have bought a couple of Craftsy classes in the past but my bandwidth isn’t great so there is often a lot of buffering which is very annoying when you’re trying to follow a class. I only download PDF files from there now.
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I can imagine that would be annoying!
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