A little crochet inspiration

I was recently browsing FreePeople and came across this lovely slouch hat:

So... I think I'm gonna try to make one. It looks simple enough, but I'm admittedly a little dumb with it comes to making slouch hats. I know they involve increasing and decreasing in the right places, though where those places are is apparently beyond me! I have yet to make one that doesn't just look ridiculous.

I think that will be my weekend project :)

PS: For some pre-weekend reading, why don't you read Vickie Howell's blog post about why all of our craft shows have disappeared from DIY and HGTV, and what we can do to bring them back!

Cool Crochet Today July/Aug 2009 Patterns

I'm sure you all know by now that I do a lot of "I really want to make this" posts and then I never do. I have all the ambition in the world and never enough time! But... that doesn't keep my from drooling over awesome goodness.

So today, I'm linking up some of the newest Crochet Today July/Aug patterns (if you haven't picked up the latest issue, do so now). They also redid their website, which makes my life a lot easier, so make sure to check that out, too!

Drool-worthy projects:

• School of Fish Pillows - I'm trying to find a way to justify making these by coming up with places I could put them in our apartment... and I've decided they don't match anything, but would still look really cute wherever!


• Whimsical Watermelons - Okay, my friends' babies need to grow up a little now so I can make this adorable hat and blanket set for everyone, hear me?


• Catch a Wave - I usually shy away from blankets because even baby blanket, to me, are super overwhelming and can't really hold my attention. This seems like a nice summer-long brain break to me, though, and I do love Designer Sport...


• Flippy the Fish - Um, yes. Multiple times yes. Too cute to bear!


• Lace & Amethyst Wrap - I've never made a wrap before, and this one looks like it might be a fun first-foray into them :)

As always, all of the patterns and article are wonderful, and Nick will tell you that my eyes light up whenever I get home from work to an issue of CT on our table. These are just a few of the great projects you'll find this summer!

What's On My Plate (sadly no photos!)

For some reason, I felt the need to blog about where I am in my creative process right about now.

I've been super busy (I hate when people give that excuse), so I haven't had time to get a lot done, but you can bet I have a ton of ideas floating around in this blonde head of mine. On top of being busy, I've also suffered from two migraines in the course of 2.5 weeks, so that's two days I've been totally out of commission. I blame it on stress, but it's not like I can really control that right now. Any suggestions from you guys?

Anyway, today begins another wedding weekend for some friends of ours. Nick's in this one this time around, which means I get to lounge around at the hotel all day while he's doing work, mwahaha. So hopefully I'll get some stuff done.

A couple things I'm working on:

• Reversible knit caps. Using the XO chart I posted last week, I've started knitting reversible hats. And so far, they look awesome. I totally wish I had a picture, but the weather's been terrible (ergo, no natural light for my light box) on top of us all being crazy busy. The one I'm working on is bright pink on one side and white on the other. I really think these will look awesome.
• Mix & Match hats and flowers. Sometimes, I do enjoy a mindless project. Crocheting a basic hat pattern is one of those mindless projects I enjoy, so I've taken to making them, but with a twist - I'll be selling these plain-ish hats separately from the flowers so people can mix and match. I think we all enjoy customizing stuff, don't we? I figure, I can link the images up to a Polyvore account to let people see what the colors would look like together, and it can be overall fun experience for everyone involved.
• Playing around with the idea of knitting a Welsh Dragon square for my dad's birthday. We all know how hard it is to craft something for the men in our lives, and my dad's birthday is coming up next week. I really think I could whip this up in a couple hours, but haven't decided what to do with it yet. Give him this square with the promise of an afghan? Frame the square? Make potholders for the kitchen at our lake? I'm not sure. I do know he's obsessed with our Welsh heritage, though, so I think this'll be a good gift.

Sigh... so much to do :)

PS: I've created a mailing list to keep in touch with all my wonderful friends and customers. It's nothing fancy (you think I'd be more anal about it being a graphic designer and all), but I want it to just be a fun and relaxing way for us all to keep in touch. I'm also offering shop deals for everyone's birthday, too! If you want to receive my updates - which I say are monthly, but we all know they'll be few and far between - just sign up! :D

Ready for Shipping!

Ready for Shipping!,
originally uploaded by jennlikesyarn.

These "Whitney Port" headbands will be ready for shipping out this Friday! The pink one is the headband featured on the pattern page - I decided to list it in my shop because it was cute, and not everyone knows how to knit.

I then made the cream-colored one as a custom order. They look mighty pretty together, wouldn't you say? :)

I've also taken to punching holes through my business cards and using them a tags... it was too much upkeep having both business cards and tags (believe it or not), so now they're multipurpose. And I certainly have enough of them!

So... these are all going out on Friday because I'm already taking a 1/2 day at work for yet another wedding (second one in two weeks!). The post office has such wonky hours that I either make Nick take them for me because he works by one, or I go on the rare occasion I have time off. How and when do you guys ship out your stuff? I used to use UPS, but they really, REALLY seemed like a rip-off.

As Promised, My Glass Flower

Hey, guys!

What a busy couple of weeks! Whew!

In one of my last entries, I had mentioned being busy at my friend's bachelorette party, where our first stop was the Corning Museum of Glass in NY. I had promised some pictures, so on one of the few sunny days we've been having here in PA, I managed to snap a couple fun pictures. It didn't turn out too shabby, I don't think!



I think my favorite part is the swirly stem :) I'm not really sure where I'll be keeping it, though... right now, it's sitting on our mantle and doesn't really match any of the decor - which generally means it'll end up in our office somewhere, haha.

I should probably also mention that the friend we went with to make these flowers got married this past weekend. I've never cried at a wedding before, but I was a sobbing mess of tears a couple times during the ceremony and reception, and I may or may not have had some champagne before my MOH toast to keep myself from throwing up. But it was a great time, and I think everyone had a ton of fun!

I'll leave you with a photo of all the lovely ladies!

As always, I am the blonde gigantor in the middle with the white lei.