Wow, am I embarrassed.  You know life is full of those oops moments.  Happens to me more often than I would like to admit.  Well last week I had one of those moments.  This is what happened…. As some of you know I like to give away a little something to those people who are members of my blog each month.    Last week I wanted to say thank you to all my blog members for being so great and supportive of this blog.  (Even though I am not as consistent as I should be..darn life gets in the way).    I decided to give away a free pattern to my blog members.

I chose one of my favorites the Criss Cross puff stitch cowl.  My patterns are mostly on my Ravelry store (some here also).  I went and prepared what Ravelry calls a promotion.   I went and selected my pattern and chose the coupon code which I shared with blog members thru an email.   I thought everything was set up correctly and hit that send button on my email list.   Well.. the coupon code wasn’t working correctly.  I contacted Ravelry and they quickly set up a direct link to enable members to download the pattern… problem was.. it was the wrong pattern.  Totally my fault not theirs.  I must have gotten confused and given the wrong name.

This reminds me of those TV commercials.. that say “Kinda of like you, isn’t you.”     So here are the two cowls that caused the confusion.

When I re-send out the email it gave away the cowl on the right instead of the orange cowl on the left.   I apologize for the mistake.   The free pattern giveaways are for blog members only.  I had asked members in my email to please NOT share the pattern codes with others.   I also stated to please be sure to include the code (so you can check it’s working), prior to checking out as I would NOT be issuing refunds for people who did not check out correctly.   Well, someone did share the pattern code with another person.  Shame on you.   That person (non-member) completed the check out process.. even though the code wasn’t working.  They were charged the $5.50 for the pattern.  This really enraged them (they send me an angry email calling me all kinds of bad names.. oh, they called my mother some pretty bad stuff too) and so they opened a complaint and request for a refund from paypal.  They also went and put a complaint on my Ravelry store.   They told Paypal I was ripping people off and must be stopped.   Really?  This person wasn’t even a member.. so I could argue that they were the one trying to rip off me and my members.  Oh, well..  the issue has been resolved.   In the future I am pleading with all members please DO NOT share the codes.  This person offered to give me the name of the person who gave them the code if I would refund them the $5.50… yup, threw their friend right under the bus for $5.50.  Disappointing.

I want to correct the mistake for members who received the wrong pattern.  So tomorrow I will be sending out another email to members only to give them the direct link or the orange cowl since this was the intended pattern giveaway for September.  You should have already been able to download the diagonal cowl on the left which I also really like.   If you are not a member you can join at any time.  It’s free, just put in  your first name and email address.  I need your email address to send you notifications and links for free patterns, special promotions available only to blog members and previews of coming projects.

Back to the topic of crochet.  I love making cowls now for the fall season.   Remember you can use any color or brand yarn (medium weight) you like.  These work up pretty fast and make great Christmas gifts and sell very well at craft fairs.

That’s all.. carry on folks!

XOXO,

Yolanda