The Cheerful Chameleon is on a new Critter-iffic Crochet Adventure!
Hello beautiful people!
I’m Charlyn, the creative mind and pattern designer behind Critter-iffic Crochet! For the last 5 years many have followed along with my animal crochet pattern zoo over at The Cheerful Chameleon. Through the years we have created many critters. We have sugar gliders, flying foxes, dinosaurs, sloths, and yes, even a chameleon or two!
However as time has passed on, it was starting to feel as though we were beginning to outgrow our name. I offered so much more than just chameleons, and as happy as they are, with so many other various critters all waiting to be crocheted it seemed like perhaps they were not getting the spotlight they deserved, and that just didn’t seem fair.
Planning for a move in early October 2021 to a new and different state, I started to ponder what was next for the path of our shop. The more I started to plan the tedious loose ends of the business side of relocating across state lines, the more it seemed like this was the perfect opportunity to shake things up.
What a wonderful chance I was being given for a new beginning. The ability to take what I had learned and created over the years, and put it all forth into a new chapter, with new adventures to share. One night during a conversation with my husband over what I should do with my “Critter-iffic” collection of crochet patterns, I just knew. In that moment, Critter-iffic Crochet was born.
Don’t worry, Clyde and Chloe, and all of the other The Cheerful Chameleon creations are still here. Their legacy will continue to live on along side all the new residents of the crittertorium.
I feel like now is the time I should let you in on a little secret. Blogging is completely new to me, and it is in some ways, terrifying! For as much as I like to ramble, (and those of you who have stopped in on my past Twitch streams know that is very much the understatement!) writing is this strange foreign concept that often eludes me. When making posts I tend to stumble on my words and second guess everything.
“But you are a crochet pattern designer?! Writing is your job! ” Well, yes, it is, but it is different. You see, patterns are structured, and are meant to follow a somewhat uniformed format. Instructions written with care to be clear, calculated and concise. After which, they are edited and reworked. In the end you have a cleverly crafted tutorial able to be completed without much anything else added to confuse along the way.
Blogging however…is telling stories and engaging others by weaving words instead of yarn. Explaining the why and more in depth about how each of my creations come to life. Exposing the back end inner workings of my creative mind and process of how I go from an animal that has inspired me, into a finished crochet creation, is a very different experience than just writing the pattern. And boy, is it ever scary to jump into this head first!
On the other hand this will open the door for you get to know me better. The face behind the amigurumi, my quirks and all. You will get to join me in discovering a new area of the country and sharing in on all the inspiration that is sure follow.
Deep down, I know I have the tools and the ability to learn and grow in this crochet blog world as I go along. That soon those same little details that right now have me looking like a deer in the headlights when I open up my new post, will become fleeting flutters of the past. As the months and years of this wonderful new online world we will create start to unfold and we venture along sharing within our shared love of animals and yarn creations, I will look back and wonder what I was so scared of.
I look forward to watching our community flourish into something truly amazing, creating new amigurumi and friendships along the way with community events. I look forward to starting the day by visiting the gallery dedicated to showcase my creations made by others who enjoy creating them as much as I enjoyed designing them. Smiling as we start to fill in with the many faces of my critters past, present and future. Together we are going to make this the most Critter-iffic corner of the internet!
So welcome friend, be you a new face or old pal, it is so nice to have you aboard. It is going to be one hell of an epic journey we are heading out on, and I am so thankful that you are joining along.
We will get started very soon after our move this fall, in the meantime:
- Subscribe to our newsletter to stay in the loop!
- Stop by and follow our social media pages!
- Join our discord community and say hello, we would love to have you there!
- Stop by Ravelry or Etsy, meet our current faces and say hello to our Legacy zoo!
Thank you so much for the pattern.
You are a lovely and creative person ~ thank you for what you do x
You are very welcome! Thank you so much for the kind words <3
<3 xx
Pretty! This was an incredibly wonderful article. Thank you for supplying these details.
thank you!