I have this craft show coming up in two weeks and, as mentioned in a previous entry, have zero access to my yarn collection at the moment. So sadly, I must make due with what I have. Despite having some ugly, boring colors on hand, I need to get started on stuff for this craft show. I already have a ton of hats on file (though none of them are new and were used in the same craft show last year, and then I got really lazy and didn't crochet for like six months), and I recently learned how to make arm warmers... strange, considering it's usually a beginner's project. BUT - they are so much fun! And quick to make! And I can make about 90 before the craft show in two weeks, provided I buy more yarn (tomorrow = pay day!) and don't get the urge to make more hats. Thought if I do, that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Anyway, I found this pattern on Ravelry and they're seriously super quick to whip up and uber cute. I might actually try some of my own patterns as the weeks wear on and I feel more comfortable with my inventory for the show.
I expect these to sell like hotcakes, perhaps for $5 because they really do whip up quickly, but I'm never good at anticipating what sells. I poured my heart and soul into gorgeous hats last year and ended up selling a ton of fun fur scrunchies I whipped up in a day. People bought my hats, they really did, but the scrunchies stole the show. Who knew? I mean... they're scrunchies.
Anyway, super happy with these and I've already started making a set in black. With any luck, I'll finish up a bunch tonight while I do some reading for work, bust some of my unwanted stash, and have plenty of room to add more yarn to the collection tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Weekend Finished Projects
Can't believe the weekend is over already. Just as I was really getting into the crafting groove. The highlight of my weekend? NKOTB on Behind the Music. I wish I was kidding.
One thing I realized over the weekend is that I need my yarn stash back. When I moved in with Nick back in July, he still had a roommate. Because of a space shortage, I couldn't exactly bring my huge bins of yarn, plop them in the living room, and expect either of the boys to welcome the situation with open arms. My stash takes up a lot of space, people. So at the time, I thought it would be a great idea to store said stash at my parents' house with some of my other kitchen and craft supplies. They live an hour away. I'm not sure if I'll ever see my beautiful yarn again.
It's not like I don't have any to work with. I have some left from a hat I knitted this weekend, the leftover pink skeins from the baby blanket I finished two weeks ago, and some black, white, and grey from an amigurumi penguin I made for Nick's sister. It's a pretty monochromatic pallet with pastels tossed in, and we all know how I think pastels are colors that lost their will to live. My available stash makes me pretty miserable.
But I did finish up some cute projects this weekend. First and foremost is a hat I was commissioned for before the summer even started. You can view the pretty picture on the left, here. I'm really happy with it. I found the main pattern online and added a brim from cardboard. I've been knitting for as long as I can remember, but still consider myself enough of a beginner to not know how to shape a brim, so I ended up crocheting it with slip-stitch that looks a lot like thick knitting. I'm pretty happy with the result, although the brim is still a bit wider than I'd like it to be. You can read more about this project on my ravelry page.
Not to be outdone by the hat is this prototype for mittens. With the leftover baby yarn I had from the blanket, I made these heinously pink flip-top mittens from one of my pattern books. I'm in love with them, except the color. I need to figure out a better pattern for the thumbs, as they're huge, but it's nothing too difficult to mess with. What thrills me more is the pattern was so simple, I'll be able to come up with my own renditions. I mean, I really like the shell look it has going on in one way, but hate it in another. It almost seems too fancy or something. But yes, LOVE the concept and plan on making 1200 more. I bet I get bored after 3. You can again read more about them on my ravelry page.
Well, if I don't have my stash back by Friday and I'm still itching to make more of these, I'm gonna have to suck it up and make a run to the yarn store.
One thing I realized over the weekend is that I need my yarn stash back. When I moved in with Nick back in July, he still had a roommate. Because of a space shortage, I couldn't exactly bring my huge bins of yarn, plop them in the living room, and expect either of the boys to welcome the situation with open arms. My stash takes up a lot of space, people. So at the time, I thought it would be a great idea to store said stash at my parents' house with some of my other kitchen and craft supplies. They live an hour away. I'm not sure if I'll ever see my beautiful yarn again.
It's not like I don't have any to work with. I have some left from a hat I knitted this weekend, the leftover pink skeins from the baby blanket I finished two weeks ago, and some black, white, and grey from an amigurumi penguin I made for Nick's sister. It's a pretty monochromatic pallet with pastels tossed in, and we all know how I think pastels are colors that lost their will to live. My available stash makes me pretty miserable.
But I did finish up some cute projects this weekend. First and foremost is a hat I was commissioned for before the summer even started. You can view the pretty picture on the left, here. I'm really happy with it. I found the main pattern online and added a brim from cardboard. I've been knitting for as long as I can remember, but still consider myself enough of a beginner to not know how to shape a brim, so I ended up crocheting it with slip-stitch that looks a lot like thick knitting. I'm pretty happy with the result, although the brim is still a bit wider than I'd like it to be. You can read more about this project on my ravelry page.
Not to be outdone by the hat is this prototype for mittens. With the leftover baby yarn I had from the blanket, I made these heinously pink flip-top mittens from one of my pattern books. I'm in love with them, except the color. I need to figure out a better pattern for the thumbs, as they're huge, but it's nothing too difficult to mess with. What thrills me more is the pattern was so simple, I'll be able to come up with my own renditions. I mean, I really like the shell look it has going on in one way, but hate it in another. It almost seems too fancy or something. But yes, LOVE the concept and plan on making 1200 more. I bet I get bored after 3. You can again read more about them on my ravelry page.Well, if I don't have my stash back by Friday and I'm still itching to make more of these, I'm gonna have to suck it up and make a run to the yarn store.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Crochet for the Special Olympics
Okay, let us pause for a somewhat serious note here. Don't worry, it'll be back to fun time soon :)
If you know me, then you'll know I'm big into charities. There are certain charities I really enjoy because I get to give directly to the charity, while there are others I avoid because I'm not so sure I trust other people with my money. I'm a little cynical. HOWEVER, it brings me joy to create something for people who need it, whether it be kids, homeless shelters, just something where I can contribute what little I have right now to anyone who can appreciate it and maybe feel good wearing something I've made.
I recently came across this idea in Crochet Today. I have a craft show coming up that is taking all my time and energy, but I'd really like to participate in this over the holidays. I'm really excited to work with these new colors and even play around with some new stitches (in either knit or crochet, whatever's blowing my skirt up that day). But I also know that there are a few people who'd like to participate and don't know how to crochet or knit, or maybe they don't have time to dedicate to the project over the extremely busy holiday season. Because of that, I'm collecting donations to purchase yarn for the project.
Now, it's not insanely expensive, believe me. You can view what is needed here. I just thought I have the time to dedicate, the access to the yarn, the support of my friends and family, and the ultimate goal of making someone very happy with my favorite hobby. If you donate, rest assured that all your money will go toward the yarn. I already have the crochet and knitting supplies, so it won't be spent on that. And hey, it's only like $3 minimum. So if you're interested, click on the happy little PayPal button below. I'll post picture of the scarves as I finish them, and maybe I'll have a little scarf party in my craft room before the year is out.
The deadline for the scarves is mid-January, so I'd need to ship them out crazy in advance because of the holidays. Just FYI :D
PS: If you'd like to include a fun little message to send to the scarf recipient, please do so on the donation form or shoot me an email. The article says we can include personal messages, so anyone who donates money for the yarn should obviously be able to send a greeting :)
If you know me, then you'll know I'm big into charities. There are certain charities I really enjoy because I get to give directly to the charity, while there are others I avoid because I'm not so sure I trust other people with my money. I'm a little cynical. HOWEVER, it brings me joy to create something for people who need it, whether it be kids, homeless shelters, just something where I can contribute what little I have right now to anyone who can appreciate it and maybe feel good wearing something I've made.
I recently came across this idea in Crochet Today. I have a craft show coming up that is taking all my time and energy, but I'd really like to participate in this over the holidays. I'm really excited to work with these new colors and even play around with some new stitches (in either knit or crochet, whatever's blowing my skirt up that day). But I also know that there are a few people who'd like to participate and don't know how to crochet or knit, or maybe they don't have time to dedicate to the project over the extremely busy holiday season. Because of that, I'm collecting donations to purchase yarn for the project.
Now, it's not insanely expensive, believe me. You can view what is needed here. I just thought I have the time to dedicate, the access to the yarn, the support of my friends and family, and the ultimate goal of making someone very happy with my favorite hobby. If you donate, rest assured that all your money will go toward the yarn. I already have the crochet and knitting supplies, so it won't be spent on that. And hey, it's only like $3 minimum. So if you're interested, click on the happy little PayPal button below. I'll post picture of the scarves as I finish them, and maybe I'll have a little scarf party in my craft room before the year is out.
The deadline for the scarves is mid-January, so I'd need to ship them out crazy in advance because of the holidays. Just FYI :D
PS: If you'd like to include a fun little message to send to the scarf recipient, please do so on the donation form or shoot me an email. The article says we can include personal messages, so anyone who donates money for the yarn should obviously be able to send a greeting :)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I actually finished a big project
Look guys, I actually had the patience to finish something "real".Okay, so it's a baby blanket, which is still a pretty small project compared to a sweater or an adult-sized afghan, but let me tell you - it's still quite a feat given my attention span (or lack thereof). And yes, it's very pink.
The pattern is from Baby Bubble Wraps, and I had trouble deciding on just one pattern - they are all fabulous. I completed the fringe on this bad boy sometime last week. It seemed to take forever, but I only started it about a month ago. I also took a few creative liberties with it. For example, the pattern called for fringe on every other row, but I added it to every row because it looked scarce. I just thought the bubbles would be fun for a baby to play with, and who doesn't love fringe?
Now I have a hat to finish knitting, and I just can't work up the nerve to sit there and cable. I ended up crocheting two hats from Crochet Today last night just to get it out of my system. Something tells me I'll make about 20 of them.
I might be getting my yarn collection back this weekend. My parents have been holding it hostage since I switched apartments and had no storage for a few months. They're actually worried about whether or not it'll all fit in the car. Hmmm... Meanwhile, my pattern books are starting to fall off my bookcase and I just got two more from Annie's Attic yesterday. I wonder if they have meetings for such addictions.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Garfield Minus Garfield
One of my favorite RSS feeds is the amazingly popular and simple Garfield Minus Garfield. I've been awful and keeping up, but today I found this little gem hidden in the ruins of my negelcted Google Reader:
It's me. Amazing.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Getting around to redoing the website
Well, I'm finally redesigning the website! I won't even begin to tell you the awful process that was switching hosting providers to get to this point, but we'll leave it at this: I would have updated this thing long ago had it been easy.
Anyway, I've tried to keep a bunch of crafting blogs in the past, so we'll see how long this thing lasts :) That being said, I'm trying to take a new approach with this one and not consider as so much of a blog, but more of an "instant website update without having to redesign anything or upload files three times through my host's FTP server" feature. Maybe if I view it as something easy, I won't put off updating :P
The main website layout is done and I'm working on the subpages. The biggest project is going to be the store, something I'm really not looking forward to in the least. I'm waiting for the mini-tripod I ordered so I can reshoot my items at least somewhat professionally. Then I'll need to tackle PayPal. Or I could just go the easy route and link all the items to an etsy shop, but I really don't want to do that (even though I'll end up putting my stuff on etsy anyway). We'll have to see how lazy I get in the next few weeks with my busy schedule.
Currently, I'm finishing up a knitted hat I was commissioned to make, then it's time to go balls out for a craft show I'm doing mid-October. It's time to get my act in gear with that, and I'm excited to start! I'll also be participating in a lot of charity things coming up, like making scarves for the Special Olympics, so I'll have the updates here :) Check back soon!
PS: I almost forgot to mention that I watched an episode of Uncommon Threads about Card Weaving, and I am more than excited to try this. I think it would be better if I could find a local class, but good luck doing that anywhere around here. I'm doing to ask the darling boyfriend if he'd buy me a starter kit for Christmas, since I wouldn't have the time to bother sitting down (or standing up and tying myself to a doorknob) until after the holidays, anyway. The cards I found to buy are $10 for 25, so I'd probably want to get two packs. Either way, this might just be a passing fancy, but it's so cool!
Anyway, I've tried to keep a bunch of crafting blogs in the past, so we'll see how long this thing lasts :) That being said, I'm trying to take a new approach with this one and not consider as so much of a blog, but more of an "instant website update without having to redesign anything or upload files three times through my host's FTP server" feature. Maybe if I view it as something easy, I won't put off updating :P
The main website layout is done and I'm working on the subpages. The biggest project is going to be the store, something I'm really not looking forward to in the least. I'm waiting for the mini-tripod I ordered so I can reshoot my items at least somewhat professionally. Then I'll need to tackle PayPal. Or I could just go the easy route and link all the items to an etsy shop, but I really don't want to do that (even though I'll end up putting my stuff on etsy anyway). We'll have to see how lazy I get in the next few weeks with my busy schedule.
Currently, I'm finishing up a knitted hat I was commissioned to make, then it's time to go balls out for a craft show I'm doing mid-October. It's time to get my act in gear with that, and I'm excited to start! I'll also be participating in a lot of charity things coming up, like making scarves for the Special Olympics, so I'll have the updates here :) Check back soon!
PS: I almost forgot to mention that I watched an episode of Uncommon Threads about Card Weaving, and I am more than excited to try this. I think it would be better if I could find a local class, but good luck doing that anywhere around here. I'm doing to ask the darling boyfriend if he'd buy me a starter kit for Christmas, since I wouldn't have the time to bother sitting down (or standing up and tying myself to a doorknob) until after the holidays, anyway. The cards I found to buy are $10 for 25, so I'd probably want to get two packs. Either way, this might just be a passing fancy, but it's so cool!
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card weaving,
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