And The Results Are In

The My Mountain Hat Design Contest Results are in and...

THIS is how I'm feeling!

BECAUSE of this....

My Mountain top 5 Finalists!

"Congratulations to our 5 finalists in the My Mountain hat design contest!

Sheri Goad for "Fusion" 2,819 votes

Rohn Strong for "Greer" 1,994 votes

Sonya Blackstone for "Mount Katahdin" 1,764 votes

Lars Rains for "Norwegian Sleeping Cap" 1,729 votes

Susan Anderson for "Woven Ladder" 1,461 votes

These finalists will receive an iPad Mini, Ravelry ad featuring their design and expanded features on mymountain.us and social media. The semifinalist and finalist patterns will be published on mymountain.us as free downloads sometime in October. We'll let you know the moment they're up! 

As the top vote-getter, Sheri's pattern, "Fusion," will become a paid Ravelry download with all proceeds going to her selected nonprofit, St. Baldrick's for Childhood Cancer Research.

Thank you so much to EVERYONE who participated in this very exciting contest. Remember, you can see more of the entries on the My Mountain Pinterest page. Look for more cool stuff coming from the My Mountain movement very soon!"

 Is my hat the "best" hat in the competition...for some, not so much for others. We all have different likes and dislikes, but isn't that the way it should be? How boring would life be if we all liked the same things?! Isn't that kind of what My Mountain is trying to do is start a movement where people can create something that reflects who they are?

I came across a comment where the person said, "I do not understand how the hat in the lead...is in the lead." 

My answer, because I promoted it. Far and wide. I invited my friends, who in turn invited their friends, who in turn invited their friends and more! Rock the Vote was only one way we, and I say we because NO WAY did I do this myself, spread the word. Besides the 166 attending this event, there were more of the 1,970 that didn't click on join but voted and shared daily. (The top two names on the list of invited but not joined are my son and my mother! You know they were voting.)

This was not the only means of spreading the word. Friends sent out daily messages, to those who wanted to be on a texting list with the link and reminders to vote, as well as emails. Along with other designers in the competition, we posted on crocheting boards we are involved with. Posts went up on local community boards where people within my community rallied in support. 

I don't think it hurt that I designed a hat that was fun, different and gave somewhere for that darn ponytail to go!  Something that could easily support the idea behind My Mountains grass-root movement...offering a simple design that even the newest crocheter could accomplish, leaving endless possibilities to those more experienced to embellish. Even if it wasn't for everyone. =)

I look forward to trying out some of the other amazing designs. Keep your eye on the My Mountain Facebook page, while the top 18 designs will be released in October, others who did not make the top 18 are posting their patterns now! If you haven't checked out My Mountain's Pinterest, add it to your to do list. Simply inspiring!!

For all those who rallied in support of "Fusion," my hats off to you! I am blessed and truly appreciative! Beyond my "prizes" I am most thrilled at the opportunity to help out St. Baldrick's Childhood Cancer Research!

My Two Cents

There are three days left of voting in the My Mountain Hat Design Contest, thank goodness! It has been a wild ride.  I was rapidly reminded why I do not like voting competitions. Not on a public level. Though, I can't complain, because I was fully aware of what I was getting into. I got free yarn to design a hat. Free yarn, now that in and of itself was worth my time. Right? The rules were simple, request yarn, design a hat, send in a picture of said hat. Voila! said hat. (As if you don't already know what it looks like.)

Moving on...once all hats were submitted and deadline passed we got to wait while My Mountain endured the painstaking task of picking 15 finalists. They couldn't, hence the reason you are all now voting on 18 hats.  So much talent!

Next on the agenda: online voting. It was supposed to be one vote per person. I was thrilled. I can get on board with that. Because of an unexpected glitch, and to keep things fair it switched to one vote, per person, per ip address, per day. YIKES! That's more than a mouthful. 

Is it a popularity contest at this point? Well, kind of yes. Or maybe it is a who can bug your friends the most contest. Pretty sure we all got the same set of guidelines that said this was going to a vote. Has it been fun...ummm, no! I have probably had a friend or two drop me from their friends list, or at the very least hidden me from their news feeds. I have been posting about the contest daily, multiple times daily, my friends have come into it with me and they are doing the same, as are their friends. I have reached out to my community and asked them to help me. And they have. It is text message reminders for friends to vote. It has been a non stop effort on many parts since the moment they posted the top 18. 

I have managed to stay at the top, so far. Does this mean I am the most popular? Yeah, NO. Does it mean I have the best hat in the competition? Yeah, NO. Does this mean I am obtaining votes by cheating the system? Yeah, NO.  It just means right now I have the most votes. I have a lot of people in my corner who are willing to push things tirelessly. Do I believe that if this was a competition based completely on the merits of my hat I could win? Yeah, YES. But so could any of the other designs. Because they are all really good. 

I will note this, if there are contests like this in the future, might I suggest My Mountain have two categories of contestants. One for crochet designs and one for knit designs. In my humble opinion, it is like judging apples against oranges.

So....the vote and the designers. As a crocheter, I was thrilled to see 5 of the 18 designs were crochet, those patterns I can try out! Here are the other 4 crochet designs. I am glad you are able to vote for more than one hat, so I can support some fellow crocheters. 

Beautiful Ducklings
 I love the design on this and can't wait to get the pattern
so I can see how she added all those white bits in!

One Loop Shy Designs
Sadly, what you can't see in this picture is the amazing swirl
design at the top of this hat.

Loose-Enz Crochet
What a fun yarn used in this one. Loving the colors.

Misty Makes
I'm quite interested to see how the zig zag pattern was created on this one!

Crochet designs aside, there are few other hats that make me go wow, and tempt me to temporarily put my hook down for a set of needles...or maybe not. But I would certainly consider purchasing these hats if I saw them in the store. My personal favorites, and they have been since the start. I told my friends I thought they would make the final 15 before the list even came out. I vote for them every day.

Just Knots
I am a sucker for nautical! I just love this.

Mary Kubasek
Love, love, love...this is by far my most used punctuation.

I love my hat. I am not even close to the same caliber as some of these designers, but I think I came up with a fun and original design that many people will love making and adding their own personal flair to. I'm glad I entered this contest. It has really motivated me to jump start my desire to make crocheting a more integral part of my life. It has opened my eyes to some good and some bad sides to this industry, it has inspired me, it has allowed me to meet some new people, make some new friends, and did I mention I got free yarn?!

Now go, vote for the hats you love, I did!  My Mountain Hat Design Contest

Edited to add:  Seems that great minds think alike, go check out Rohn Strong's blog where guest blogger Lars Rains talks about My Mountain Contest and how they are supporting each other's designs. A Different Perspective

My Mountain and More

7 more days until the My Mountain Hat Design Contest is over! I hope you all are still out there voting, as the rules changed a few days in and you can now vote daily. Once per person, per photo, per IP address, per day...Whew that's a mouthful.  VOTE HERE

My design recently hit 1,000 likes. WOW! Thanks to all who are supporting my first step into the world of designing. Your votes past and future mean the world to me. I'm currently in the first place position, but there are some fabulous designers who are gaining on me, quite rapidly over the past few days. The top 5 voted win, however, the top voted gets their pattern listed as a paid pattern and all proceeds go to the charity of the winners choice. I would be thrilled to send some love in the direction of
St. Baldrick's for Childhood Cancer Research.


Coming Soon! Due to the high demand of interest I have had for my hats, I will be opening an online shop in the very near future. I will have both patterns and finished products available.

If you are a crocheter or knitter and would like to know more about the yarns I used for the My Mountain hats, you can find more info here: Schachenmayr Yarns. I have found a new addiction to yarn. My favorite, by far is the Boston and Boston Style yarns used to make this hat and also the "Payton" hat. It works up easily with a J or N hook.

On the hook right now, I am working on getting some hats whipped up to take out to a fundraiser being put on by a friend of mine to raise money for St. Judes. If you are local stop by the Dillingham Square Shopping Center off of Old Bridge!

Here is a peek at some of the projects I have been working on this week. 

Mohawk Hat (This will be available on Saturday!)

BSU Wristers for the Crochet Crowd Challenge

Neon Wristers for the Crochet Crowd Challenge

Day Glow Wristers for the Color Run 5k my boys and I participated in this weekend!

Keep a look out, I am going to be posting a free pattern soon!  Happy Crocheting!

While I wait.

So, as excited as I am about the Hat Design Contest,  I'm not a very good waiter! The contest is open until September 23rd! Honestly, I am very intimidated by this process. Many of the designers have been out there a long time. I am barely peeking my head up in this world! The contest has been good for me. It has brought me out of my comfort zone, encouraged me to be creative, challenged me to write a pattern, and produced the excitement to take my crocheting to the next level! Now, that I made it this far I'm a nervous wreck! To keep from going crazy I've decided to put my mind on the next project. For me, that is the Crochet Arium.

The Crochet Crowd is creating a crocheted aquarium for the Creativ Festival. They are gathering donations to add to the aquarium and selling them at the festival. The proceeds of this project are going to be donated to Crafting For A Cure.

I got a jump start this weekend while I waited nervously for the Semi-Finalists to be announced. One jellyfish and two corrals done! More to come!

If you are interested in contributing to the Crochet Arium, you can learn more about it here:

Crochet Arium With The Crochet Crowd!

If you are interested in the My Mountain Hat Design Contest, and would like to check out the hats and vote go here: 

My Mountain Hat Design Contest Voting

I'm a Semi-Finalist!

I am beside myself excited! My Mountain just announced the top 18 Semi-Finalists in their hat design contest. I was thrilled to see my hat pop up in the pictures!  They are now open to voting and the public chooses the top 5!  That means YOU!  Please take a minute and GO VOTE!!

There will be 5 Finalists, but the top voted finalist will get their hat pattern listed as a paid pattern, and ALL proceeds from it will go to the charity of their choice!

A year ago I couldn't even read a pattern! I'm thrilled to be among so many amazingly talented designers!

"Yes, I believe I was the only one at the park with a hook in my hand!"

There's nothing quite as exciting as taking the kids to an amusement park to end the summer with a bang! The kids had a blast, I'm more of a hang-out-hold-stuff-while-you're-on-the-rollercoaster kind of gal myself. Thanks to hubby's awesome football throwing skills, I was in good company!

Day One - Chillin' with Dude!

Getting Dude in on some crochet action!

Day Two- Hanging with Dave!

Needless to say, the park was a bit full and lines a bit long, I had plenty of time to take advantage of the yarn packed in my bag. Here's what came out of our weekend trip.

Baby Girl Hat - Made on the way to the amusement park. Traffic was horrid!

Chillin' by the pool!

Black Light Hats! Definitely going to be getting more of this yarn and doing hats for the craft shows this fall! (Red Heart Black Light Yarn  I used the Basic Beanie (Adult Size) Pattern

I started this Purple Minion hat at the park and finished up after we arrived home, I used Dude as my inspiration. There are multiple styles of this character hat out on the WWW. I will post my pattern in the near future.

Our weekend was a blast, the kids had fun, I got to make more hats, and we all had some wonderful family time together.  School started today and soon the weather will cool, leaves will get crunchy, and the need for all these hats will be upon us!  I can't wait.

P.S.  *WAVES* to the nice lady I met at Kings Dominion and chatted about crocheting with. (Hopefully she made it here to check out the blog!)  Go ahead, pick up a hook and yarn...you can do it!