Woot! Grab a comfy chair and your favorite drink and treat, ’cause you know you deserve it, and settle in for the second edition of Crochet Carnival!

Priscilla starts us off with an inspiring essay about why she crochets (and sometimes knits) for charity.

Then Fern shares her design process with her Lorenzo’s Blanket project, and Krakovianka writes about the process of trying something new in Not Leonardo, but…, her first attempt at a “painted doily” made with sewing thread.

Heather Kuhn brings us a product review:  Cool Crochet Tool: Illuminated Hook. I’m thinking this would be really handy for summer evening crocheting on the back porch or camping trips. I might have to get one!

Then we zip over to Maryse’s Bustin’ The Stash Ripple Blanket, which is so gorgeous you’ll never think about leftover yarn the same way again.

When you’re done drooling over that, you can adorn yourself with a lovely Crochet Orchid from Fern or a stylish Bobble Cuff Bracelet from Leah Hitchcock Ybarra, have some amigurumi fun with June Gilbank’s Fuzzy Yarn Tips, and learn new techniques with Sleepycat’s Granny Square Videos and Anastacia’s Diagonal Shell Stitch Corner to Corner Afghan Tutorial.

Great stuff huh. Enjoy! And thank you to everyone who sent their posts in, to everyone helping spread the word, and to all our readers. Also check out the issue that started it all here and be sure to grab a button here and give us a little linkage love, ok? Ya’ll rock! Happy hookin’.

The next Crochet Carnival will be July 15th; deadline is July 1st. Blog posts for that can be submitted here.  If you’re interested in hosting a future edition, drop me a line at mtnmermaidAThotmailDOTcom.