Don't think of it as Monday...

Think of it as PATTERN DAY!!

I'm so excited to finally bring you my first design of 2015... the Snowdrift Slouch.

Swirl, twist, roll… whatever you call it, you NEED this hat. It’s as fun to make as it is to wear. Versatile, cozy and comfy, with undeniable style. Make it in a solid color or with a color pop. Just make it your own today!

Here's your chance to enter to win a free copy of my new Snowdrift Slouch pattern:

Follow this link to Pin the picture to the left.
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/109071622201360202/

Then head over to my Facebook post and leave your Pinterest ID.

Tomorrow (1/13) I'll pick FIVE random winners from all the entries to win a free copy of the Snowdrift Slouch pattern (or another pattern from my shop if you already have it)!

  

  

play hard ... play hooky

HE WORE IT!!!

An idea... thousands of messages... a year and a half... one country singer... the dream came true!

Zac Brown honoring my daughter Bryn by wearing the hat I made him.

I'm in tears and a bit of shock as I write this. Forgive me if my words are inadequate.

It started a year and a half ago on a particularly hard day. I had just released my Shockwave Beanie pattern and the picture I posted of my husband reminded one fan of Zac Brown. She had the crazy idea of sending him a hat in hope that he would wear it in memory of my daughter Bryn. The idea grew and became a campaign. My family, friends, and of course my fans got involved and flooded the band's Facebook page, Twitter, and website asking for a response. 

We waited, but never heard back. And I was ok with that. Maybe a little disappointed, but the point of the whole thing was to remember Bryn and help lift my spirits during an impossibly difficult time. You did that tenfold, so for me it was already in part a success.

Back to my amazing fans. A few very dedicated and loving people continued on the hunt to find someone, anyone, who could get the hat in Zac Brown's hands. A full year later, one found success. I got in touch with a friend of Zac's who volunteered to do whatever he could to help. I immediately made two new hats to send, the original Shockwave and an Avalanche, to give him a choice. I also couldn't resist making a matching one for his baby boy on the way. 

More waiting. I thought about the campaign off and on, I'd get the occasional message that someone saw him wearing my beanie only to find out that it wasn't. But again, I was honored to have come so far with the dream. 

Yesterday it came true. I got a message of another sighting and I thought, "here it comes, another false alarm." I watched the video and as the camera panned in I thought, this might be it but it was still too far away. And then I saw it. Instantly I had tears running down my cheeks through my smile. I felt overwhelming joy knowing that he was giving Bryn this little shoutout. For a brief moment, she touched his life too. It was like an inside secret and the feeling is indescribable. I feel like I'm on the cover of the Rolling Stone!!!

Thank you's seem trivial, but they truly come from my heart to the woman with the idea, the fans who jumped in, the woman who wouldn't give up, the man who volunteered, and of course Zac Brown himself.

It still amazes and overwhelms me that so many people did all they could to make this one idea happen. It's a testament to the caring and support of our little community. And it was for my girl. Even though Bryn's not here, her spirit will continue to bring smiles, love, and sparkles forever. She and God are definitely watching me smile today. Mommy loves you more than candy.

Find out more...

• The original campaign
• One year later and the hats I sent
• Playin' Hooky with ZBB in the Rolling Stone (the video)
• The news on the official ZBB website

play hard ~ play hooky

Colorado Love

I've lived in Colorado for almost 10 years now. I got married here, had my babies here, bought my first house here. Even so, I've struggled to feel like a true Coloradan (maybe that's because I'm from Texas). Sure, the mountains are pretty gorgeous, watching snow fall is almost magical, seeing people walk around town in ski boots is good for a laugh, and I definitely don't miss sticking to my car seat in the middle of summer. So maybe I do belong here. One thing that I do know is that for me, all of the things that I love about my new home state are encompassed in this one simple beanie.

The traditional CO flag background color is blue, but I have big plans to make one in every color! Here's a start. Ok, you got me, this one's blue. But it's heathered and I love how it gives it a vintage feel! Just watch out. One day this summer, you'll see a picture of me wearing this beanie on the top of a fourteener (my first ever)!

Buy stuff: 

Get the pattern.

Or get your own beanie - what color would you choose?

play hard... play hooky

Zaggy Beanie Relaunch

I took a break from updating my patterns during the holiday season, but I'm back to it! This week it's all about the Zaggy, the what? The ZAGGY! (sorry for the nerd alert).

I picked the Zaggy as my next update simply because I had an order for it so I could easily change the format, check the gauge, add more detailed pattern instructions and tutorials. Plus, it's REALLY fun to make!

If you don't already have the pattern, you can get it in any of my shops. BUT if you check it out on Ravelry use the code HOOKYZAGGY for a special discount through noon on Tuesday (2/18).

Here's what's new:
- Detailed materials required, including yarn amounts
- Corrected gauge measurements
- Updated Photo tutorials
- Added area for you to write notes

 (PS - I made the purple hat, photographed it, and edited pics this morning all in under TWO hours! Whew!)

These hats were all made by my awesome testers! They make my patterns look good!

Where to buy:

• Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zaggy-beanie---kids or http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/zaggy-beanie---adults
• Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PlayinHookyDesigns
• Craftsy: http://www.craftsy.com/user/176644/pattern-store
• Website: http://www.playinhookydesigns.com/#!product/prd1/194516911/zaggy-beanie---crochet-pattern

* If you already have the pattern, you get the update for free! Past Ravelry & Craftsy buyers should receive an update automatically. Past Etsy & website buyers, please pm or email me your order number so I can send you your update.

PLAY HARD ... PLAY HOOKY

Saturday Daily Deal

SATURDAY DAILY DEAL

20% off any beanie when you shop my website. Just use the code HOOKYSATURDAY when you checkout!

http://www.playinhookydesigns.com/

WEEKEND SALE

Are you in search of my patterns?

Use the code HOOKYHOLIDAYS for 30% every individual pattern in my Ravelry shop through Sunday.

http://www.ravelry.com/designers/liz-mcqueen

play hard ~ play hooky

ZBB and Playin' Hooky, a year in the making

UPDATE: The hats have been delivered! They arrived in Tennessee on 11/30 to Zac's friend. I don't know when he'll see him next, but at least I know the packaged made it!

If you've been with me for a while, you know that I lost my oldest daughter, Bryn, a month after her 5th birthday. You may also know that on a particularly hard day, I started a campaign to get Zac Brown to wear one of my hats. All because of a comment on this picture of my husband Colin wearing my (then) newest design, the Shockwave Beanie.

We worked hard and SO many of you posted, tweeted, and emailed the band letting them know that you wanted him to help remember my Bryn. But, we couldn't break through. No doubt he gets thousands of messages a day, so we can't be mad!

Recently I've been in touch with a fan who had some great news. She had dinner with her parents and their friend, a man who is friends with ZBB, and even stays in one of Zac's houses when he's in town. I was stunned. A year later and I thought I would never really get in contact with anyone this close. But it's real! So I got to work.

I remade the Shockwave from the picture along with an Avalanche Beanie that I thought was his style but also a little different than what he normally wears. I also couldn't resist making a matching one for his baby boy when he arrives!

  

Making the hats was the easy part. Writing the letter was a much harder thing to do. It's still very hard to talk about losing Bryn. But this morning, I was feeling strong enough to put into words what I was feeling.

I wrote the letter on the back of a collage I made with Bryn's pictures...

and sent everything on its way to Tennessee.

Thank you so much for all your love, support, posts, and tweets! It means more to me than I can say.

If I hear anything, I'll keep you posted. And if you see anything about it, let me know (I tend to be be out of the loop and the last one to know about things, haha)!

play hard ~ play hooky

Release the Hounds(tooth)

If you've been following me on Facebook, you may know that I've started re-testing and updating my patterns. It'll be a long haul to finish them and even though going cross-eyed is definitely a possibility, I've had a lot of fun going back to them so far. Each pattern's facelift involves a full upgrade to my new pattern format and a detailed re-test by me and my testers. My Avalanche Beanie and Along Came a Spider Beanie were the first to get the upgrade.

Avalanche - Adults Along Came a Spider Avalanche - Kids

Until my Houndstooth Beanie I haven't needed to make any major updates, but that changed with one word... EARFLAPS! A friend put the idea in my mind and I knew instantly that I wanted to try it. I started on them that night and had them perfected by the next morning. They worked up so effortlessly that I can't believe it took me this long to try it. I hope you love them! They are available in the Toddlers, Kids and Adults sizes. Here are the other updates you can expect to see in the new pattern: * NEW options: Earflaps and Adults slouchy instructions * Detailed materials, including yarn amounts * Corrected gauge measurements * Added size for babies * Updated photo tutorials * Added space for you to write notes

Get a copy of the pattern: Ravelry Use the code HOOKYHOUNDSTOOTH in my Ravelry shop today (10/17) to get a special discount! Craftsy Etsy My Website Get your own custom beanie: My Website Etsy

If you've already bought a pattern, you get the update for free - with all the updated information! Past Ravelry & Craftsy buyers will receive an update automatically. Etsy & mywebsite don't have an option to update past buyers, so please pm or email me your order number so I can send you your update. Coming next: Big Waffle & Old School Beanie updates PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY

Autism Awareness Graph

April is Autism Awareness Month. In honor of all the exceptional child and adults living on the autism spectrum I wanted to release a new graph. $0.50 of each sale of this graph will go to Autism Speaks. I am also going to auction off the hat and cozy shown below to raise more funds to donate.

The puzzle piece is the symbol of autism to show that each child is special and forms a unique piece in the puzzle, so I decided to go big with this one. You can show your support with both the big design or the smaller one.

Get a copy:
Ravelry - http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-graph---autism-awareness-puzzle-color-grid
Craftsy - http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/crocheting/accessory/autism-awareness-puzzle-color-grid/50647
Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/listing/128418979/crochet-graph-autism-awareness-puzzle

** UPDATE **

With your help, I was able to donate $214 to Autism Speaks!! Thank you for helping me make the auction and sales of the graph such a success! :)

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY

Evolution of a Graph

I've had a lot of fun creating graphs to go along with the Graph Beanie Pattern! And thank you for all your suggestions and seeing hats you've made from the pattern - keep them coming! I definitely have more ideas than time to do all of them. I made the decision to test every graph I release, and for some reason, my new TMNT graph has given me a few problems along the way. BUT, this shows you why I take the extra time to test each and every graph. I want it to be the best it can be and sometimes that means going through several drafts to get to the final product! Some of the differences are subtle, but combined, they make a big difference from the first to the last versions. :)

1. Obviously not right - one eye is all wonky
2. The wonky eye is better, but I don't like that he's looking to the side. I also didn't like the overall shape of the eyes
3. So I started completely over with the graph design. I like the shape of the eyes, thought it was right until I took some pictures of the hat on my son. The eyes are too far apart and it looked more like a bug than a turtle
4. Moved the eyes closer, but forgot ad moved them an odd number of rows - the eye went wonky again.
5. YEAH! EUREKA!!

the "bug" TMNT

This is why it sometimes takes me a while to get it right, haha. But I'll either get it right or scrap the graph, so you always know you're getting a quality pattern!! 

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY

The hunt is over...

Thank you for playing with my yesterday! I had a lot of fun and I hope you did too. If you found hearts and unlocked your coupon code, you have all day today to use it. 

Here's the breakdown of how many hearts were found (for all you number nerds like me):

No one found less than 5 hearts!
5 hearts found - 4.2%
6 hearts found - 16.7%
7 hearts found - 16.7%
8 hearts found - 8.3%
9 hearts found - 29.2%
all 10 hearts found - 25%

If you found all 10 hearts that's AWESOME! But if you didn't it's probably killing you where that last heart (or 2) was hiding. So I'm going to show you in no particular order (the hearts are no longer on the pics in my shop):

CROCHET PATTERN - Waffle Headband

Big Waffle Ski Beanie - Kids Custom Crochet Hat

CROCHET HAT PATTERN - Kids Ziggy Beanie

Playin' Hooky Disc - Crocheted Cotton Flying Disc

CROCHET HAT PATTERN - Kid's & Baby's Gingham Beanie

CROCHET HAT PATTERNS - Houndstooth Beanie - Adults & Kids Sizes

Avalanche Beanie - Adults Custom Crochet Hat

Ridgeline Beanie - Adult's Custom Crochet Hat

CROCHET HAT PATTERN - Shockwave Beanie - Kids Size

CROCHET HAT PATTERN - Twisted Beanie - Kid's Size

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY

1st Weekly Playin' Hooky Sighting Winner

Last Monday I started a new contest for you and the first week of Playin' Hooky Sightings was a lot of fun. You used Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to submit some great pictures. In fact, I couldn't decide on just one. So we have two winners this week!

Congratulations to MELANIE for her pic of her daughter playing with her Playin' Hooky Disc and RENEE for her pic of her husband and his pit crew wearing their Houndstooth Beanies on their way to Sault Ste. Marie Michigan for the I-500 snowmobile race! 

Melanie & Renee won a skull and cross hooks button!

I'll choose another winner next Monday so keep your eyes peeled and submit your pictures!

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY