All the way from America, please welcome my guest blogger Shantier of Tia Rising Out Of The Ashes. She will be telling us all about Google+ and its uses for crocheters. I’m so glad I asked for her help – she obviously knows what she’s talking about! Thank you very much Tia for creating this informative guide for using Google+. You’re a star!

If anyone would like to add me to their circle on Google+ you can find me here. I’d love to hear from you if you’ve signed up for Google+ as a result of this blogpost.

xxx

Hey readers of crochetime! My name is Shantier Franklin. I am a Christian, Army veteran, wife to an Army veteran and mother to 4 children. I am honored to be a guest blogger here to share about Google+ and the crochet community. But first, a bit about myself.

I moved to Charlotte, NC in December 2012 (a few days before Christmas!) from Clarksville, TN. I’ve been crocheting for 6 months now. In late February, my husbands’ grandmother gave me a book, some hooks and some yarn to start crocheting with. At first, I spent my free time practicing stitches until I got comfortable and was pleased with the results. For my first project, I made scarves for my two toddlers and they just adore them. Crochet is soothing and it was an outlet for me to handle my stress that I was experiencing at the time. A couple of weeks later, I started my blog here on WordPress. When my husband left us in April (he suffers from severe PTSD), I thought my whole world was crushed. My faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, crochet and blogging really helped me to deal with the stress of raising two toddlers on my own on a shoestring budget. Now I am making shawls, apparel and accessories for my children and others. I started following blogs about crochet and fiber arts and also ventured into Google+. I’ve had a Google email for years and just started exploring Google+ when I moved here. I found tons of communities that are dedicated to crochet and other fiber arts. I’ve met a lot of experienced crocheters such as Teresa Richardson, the creator of YouTube channels Crochet Geek, Left Hand Crochet and Simple Crochet, who were willing to give great advice and offer suggestions when asked. It is truly a great place to be.

For those who aren’t familiar with Google+, the first thing you need is that you need a Google email account. Some might say, “Why? I already have an email account.” Well, the reason is that Google+, YouTube, Hangouts, etc., are all linked to your Google email account. It uses the same log in information as your email. Any notifications you receive from any one of these services will be sent to that email address. If you have a Google email, and just don’t know how to access these features, I will show you how.

When you log into your email you will see a black band at the top of your email that looks like this:

The +(your name) is what you click on to get to your personal Google+ account. You can also get to different Google services through this band as well. It will open up a new window (or tab if you have the option when right clicking on it) and you will be able to use several services at once. Though if you sign out of one, you will be signed out of all the services you have opened. Under the More tab, you will find additional services such as these:

The Even more has all the products provided by Google for web, mobile, media, geo, search, home & office, social and innovation. There are TONS of information and connectivity options available for you to use and apply to your daily living.

If you have never set up your account and need help to do so, this Account Support page should give better insight.

As for the communities on Google+, hover over “Home” and a dropdown menu will pop up. Click on “Communities” and there you can start your search for what you are interested in. For example, you can type in crochet, yarn, knitting, tatting, etc. and communities associated with the terms will populate on the screen.

If one of your friends invites you to a community, it will show up here as well. Once you join a community, the post will show up in your feed, just like Facebook. Your list of communities will also be in this section as well.

I will show you all the communities that I am a part of. The list of all the communities joined will show up here.

The numbers in red denote the amount of new posts there are. Based on your communities, you will also get suggestions as well.

If you want to post anything for a particular community, or to the public, there are four ways you can do it. You can use the post box on the home screen, on your profile page, in the community itself or through the “Share” button next to your Avatar.

Just like Facebook, you can share your photos and comment to other posts. One of my favorite communities is Crochet Along on Google+. Here you can connect with fellow crocheters while working on the project for the month. These crochet alongs, or CAL, is a great way to hone your skills or work on projects that you wouldn’t normally do. Last month, for instance, we created our own pattern and for extra points (the random winner gets a prize) you had to submit the written pattern as well. This was a first for me on both accounts but I managed to make a slouchy hat. It is currently in the works of being tested. This month we are making the Cables & Lace Broomstick Hat which is one of the 8 free patterns on CrochetMe. I haven’t done broomstick lace before and it will be quite a challenge. What is awesome is that the people in the community post progress updates on the monthly CAL when they have hit a snag, have question or just have a general update. I’ve learned so much and have made some great friends here as well.

I hope that this mini-tutorial has helped you navigate Google+ some. My best advice is to play with it until you become familiar. If you want to follow me on the various social media platforms that I use, all my info can be found here. Have an awesome day and God Bless!