Affiliate Disclaimer

The Crafty Wren is a small, independent craft blog, and like many sites that share free crochet patterns, tutorials, and tool round-ups, we sometimes use affiliate links to help cover the real costs of running this project. This page explains exactly what that means, how it affects (or doesn't affect) you as a reader, and how we decide what actually gets recommended in a pattern or guide.

What an Affiliate Link Actually Is

An affiliate link is simply a special tracking link to a product — a skein of yarn, a hook set, a stitch marker pack, a blocking mat — sold on another retailer's website. If you click that link and go on to make a purchase, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. This is standard practice across recipe blogs, craft blogs, and hobby sites, and it works the same way here as it does elsewhere.

It Never Costs You Anything Extra

This is the part we want to be completely clear about: clicking an affiliate link and buying something never adds a single cent to your total. The price you see is the price you pay, whether you use our link or navigate to the same product directly. The commission comes out of the retailer's own marketing budget, not out of your pocket. If a project calls for a specific weight of cotton yarn or a particular size hook, you're always free to buy it anywhere you like — through our link, through a different link, or in your local yarn shop.

Why We Link to Products at All

Every pattern on this site — whether it's a striped one-row-repeat blanket, a plush amigurumi octopus, or a set of tested animal coasters — was actually made, photographed, and written up by someone who used real materials. Linking to the specific yarn, stuffing, hook, or safety eyes used in a project simply saves you the guesswork of hunting down the right supplies yourself. It's meant to be a convenience, not a sales pitch.

How We Choose What to Recommend

We're picky about this, and commission rate is deliberately not the deciding factor. Before any product link goes into a pattern or supply guide, we ask a few simple questions:

• Did we (or a trusted tester) actually use this yarn, hook, or tool while making the project?
• Is it genuinely well suited to the stitch, weight, or technique described — not just a generic substitute?
• Would we recommend it to a friend who crochets, regardless of any commission?
• Is there an equally good or better budget alternative worth mentioning too?

You can read more about how we evaluate patterns and products before publishing in our Editorial Policy. Recommendations that don't hold up to actual use — say, a hook that splits stitches or a stuffing that clumps — simply don't make it into our posts, commission or not.

Where You'll See These Links

Affiliate links may appear inside pattern posts (usually in the materials list), in yarn and supply round-ups, and occasionally in techniques articles where a specific tool makes a real difference. We try to keep this practical rather than promotional — you'll find a handful of relevant links, not a wall of ads. For the fuller picture of how sponsorships, gifted products, and paid partnerships are handled separately from affiliate links, take a look at our Disclosure page, which covers those relationships in more detail.

Our Independence and Honesty

Nobody tells us which yarn brand to feature or which hook to call our favorite. Reviews, favorites, and "tested" claims — like our roundup of animal coaster patterns — reflect our own hands-on experience, not a paid script. If something underperforms, we say so, or we leave it out entirely. You can learn more about who's behind this site and why we started it on our About Us page.

Related Policies

This Affiliate Disclaimer works alongside a few other pages that, together, explain how The Crafty Wren operates. Our general Disclaimer covers the limits of the craft advice we share, our Privacy Policy explains what data is collected when you click outbound links, and our Cookie Policy details any tracking technology involved in that process. Our Terms of Use cover the broader rules for using the site's content and patterns.

Questions About a Specific Link

If you ever come across a product link that seems outdated, broken, or mismatched to a pattern, we genuinely want to know — it helps us keep every post useful and accurate. Reach out any time at [email protected], or use the form on our Contact page. We review and update older posts regularly, and reader feedback is one of the main ways we catch things that need fixing.