A Day of Antiquing, and a Hat

Nov2

Yesterday was the husband’s birthday, and we started the day by going out for a BIG breakfast. Then he wanted to celebrate it by going antiquing. We managed to hit one huge antique mall, a tiny antique store, and a medium-sized antique mall in around four hours. No yarn, but that doesn’t mean I came home empty-handed. This coat tree is made with cheap “wood” and is a little short, but at $5 it’s a perfect display for my craft shows. It’ll be fantastic for scarves and bags. The top section even twirls!Vintage buttons!! Love them.These are my favorites. I also found a new Joseph Original figurine. (Sorry for the really bad phone photo.) They had four and I only bought one, but I’m really tempted to go back for the others. My first was the dark pink in the back, the one without arms. She was given to me by my mom’s mom, and somehow that started a wee collection. Now I look for them every time I’m in an antique store.

I did manage to get some knitting time in the car while we drove around. And during the game (WOOHOOOOO GO ROYALS!!!!), I finished it. I’m calling it the Pumpkin Slouch Hat and even though I don’t wear orange at all, I really like this hat. I especially like the reverse side!I modified my favorite Broken Rib Slouch Hat pattern for worsted weight, and though it came out a bit bigger than I wanted, I’m calling it a win. I’m a terrible mom, though: my daughter asked if I was selling it. I said yes, I need inventory for the craft show. She asked if she could buy it. I said no, she had more important things to spend her money on. BUT I did say if it didn’t sell at the show, it would be hers (for free, of course). I feel bad, but I’m just really low on hat inventory and I can’t make money without having a good selection of things to sell.

Today is sunny and warm so I’m going to take my yarn outside and enjoy the good weather while we have it. Happy November, and best of luck to all of you participating in NaKniSweMo!

Two Finished Hats

Oct31

I’m still working on the mermaid blanket, and it’s going as slowly as I expected, probably because I have to take breaks to work on something else periodically. My next craft show is the 18th, so I’m trying to balance getting new hats made for that with the need to get the blanket done before Christmas. That won’t be a problem at all; I’m over halfway through the longest part and soon I’ll get to start decreasing for the tail. It’s good baseball crochet since it’s so mindless right now, just row after row of shells. No new pictures, because it’s not really that interesting at the moment.

Here’s what’s more interesting right now: two newly finished hats! The first is the Butterfly Hat, which popped up on my Facebook feed recently and I thought was fantastic. I’ve done the butterfly stitch before, on my sister’s fabulous bag, and I really love the look. So when a friend asked me to make her a black one, I was delighted to try out the pattern. It came out a little more…bubbly than I expected, but I still like it. I think it’s because it’s a 5-strand butterfly, rather than the 3-strand that the bag pattern called for, and there’s more tension on the stitches. It might be kind of interesting to play around with it and see what happens with a 3-strand. I used acrylic this time, black Purl Essence Sincerely from Joann. It came out a bit big, but my friend has a big noggin so that should be perfect!

Last night, while I watched the Royals (it was sad, but we’re going to turn it around tonight), I finished my Spiralini Hat. I LOVE this pattern. Very simple, and I love how the spiral continues throughout the decreases. I also love the feel of the Knit Picks Preciosa. My only thought is that when I make this pattern again, and I will, I think I’ll go up a needle size for the body to give it a looser drape.

For my Halloween knitting, I’ve got an orange slouchy hat on my needles. My kids are too old for trick-or-treating, so I get to stay out of the rain and watch the game tonight. Wishing you all a safely spooky Halloween!

The Shawl After Blocking

Oct30

Today I unpinned my Chocolate Cherries shawl and took it outside for a photo shoot. It’s significantly bigger now, has much better drape, and the eyelets are nice and open. It still wants to curl a bit at the edge, but I expected that, and it doesn’t bother me. Here are a few more shots of my new pretty: If you’re interested in the details, the project is Ravelled here. I’ll probably wear it more as a scarf than a shawl, and I probably won’t wear it often. But when I do, I’ll think of Mother’s Day when I got the yarn, and of my dad, who loved chocolate covered cherries. ❤

Blocking a Wool Shawl

Oct29

Back in May, I finished this gorgeous shawlette in Baah! Sonoma Chocolate Cherries. Since then it’s lived folded up in my craft room waiting to be washed and blocked. Now that the weather is turning cooler, I decided I needed to get it ready to wear. Here’s what it looked like pre-blocking:A little bath in some Eucalan and here’s what I had: Not very encouraging, is it? But here’s the wonderful thing about wool: you can tug and pull it into shape and you end up with something like this:I’m not the best blocker; it may not be perfectly symmetrical. And the stockinette edge on the bottom will still curl up. But those tiny things won’t matter once it’s unpinned, and doing this will open up those little eyelets wonderfully. Since that’s why I picked this pattern, I think I’ll be happy with it.Stay tuned for photos once it’s dry!

Watch me WIP!

Oct23

I have SO many works in progress right now, it’s crazy. Maybe not, maybe everyone else has 10 unfinished projects hanging around. Do you? I tell myself it’s okay because one is in deep hibernation, and six are for me that need to be on hold while I finish some money-making projects. So really, that only leaves three, and that sounds a lot better!

I did finish the Royals gloves and earwarmer and delivered those yesterday, and I’m proud to say that for the very first time I was able to make two gloves that matched each other in size! Not only that, I did it TWICE. Whoooa, that’s serious knitting success for me. Fresh off that high, I decided to jump off the deep end and start my biggest project: a crochet mermaid afghan. I’m sure you’ve all seen the photos. Well, it’s my turn to make one. I’m using Knit Picks Brava Worsted in two shades of purple and one shade of teal. Funny story: I picked up my crochet hook and my yarn to make my chain…and froze. I’d kind of forgotten how to chain! I did two stitches like a knitting cast on before my brain was like, No, stop, I got this. Fortunately, once I got going, I realized it’s not really a difficult pattern. The hard part for me will just be keeping myself interested enough to make something blanket-sized! But I’ve got a deadline so I feel confident.

Of course, I’ve also got a couple of hats on the needles. My Knit Picks Preciosa has just started to become a hat. I’m trying the Spiraltini pattern because it’s a simple pattern that looks more complicated than it is. I’m not at the fun part yet, though. It’s still in the ribbing phase. Last night the girl had a choir concert and I needed something super simple and portable so I grabbed a skein of Cascade Eco Cloud and cast on for another Broken Rib Slouch hat. I love how the chained texture gives it such awesome stitch definition. I’ll probably finish this up today when I need a break from the mermaid. Gray and rainy day means a day spent with my yarn! Except I’m out of wine, and that’s a problem…

Yarn Day, Yarn Day!

Oct20

Today was Yarn Day! I placed a Knit Picks order recently for the yarn I need for the mermaid blanket order, and of course I needed to get free shipping plus there was a discount, so I ordered a few things for myself. And today I found it on my porch…as I was leaving to go to Costco!! Argh. I had to WAIT to open it, but finally the moment arrived. It just never gets old, diving into a box of yarn.This is Brava Worsted, and it will become the crocheted Mermaid Blanket. It might be a challenge for me, but I’m looking forward to doing some crochet again. I get awfully knitting-centered sometimes. I absolutely love these colors.This was my splurge: six skeins of Preciosa Tonal. Pretty, eh? I love the subtle color variations. They feel more…roving-esque? than I expected–I think I was expecting something similar to a MadTosh feel–but I really like them. Very soft, should be marvelous to knit with. My goal is for them to become more slouch beanies; I think I can get two hats from each skein. But sadly these little beauties will have to wait. First I need to finish some orders. I got one pair of KC Royals fingerless gloves done this morning, and during this afternoon’s game I aim to knit the earwarmer. Tomorrow is empty right now, so maybe I can get the other pair of fingerless gloves done. Here’s hoping! These gloves were a fantastic knit, extremely fast and I love how the ribbing keeps them nice and snug. Now if I could just keep track of how many rows I do in the first mitt so I can replicate it more easily for the second! The pattern is called 220 Fingerless Mitts.

I might be…a good knitter…maybe? Sometimes?

Oct19

I got a fantastic email last night, another thank-you from a happy Etsy customer. This one turned into another special order, so now I’m making two more scarves before December. That’s added on to a mermaid blanket, an earwarmer and two pairs of fingerless gloves. Whew! I’m gonna be a busy gal. I better get out my elbow support and just start wearing it every day.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would have any kind of knitting-related business, not before a couple of years ago. But then I learned to knit in April 2013, and now here I am, with glowing reviews from Etsy customers and craft show customers, repeat business from those customers, special orders, and it feels…perfect. I feel so very lucky. It’s hard for me to think very highly of what I do, because it’s not that special, it’s not unique. Many people knit just as well as I do, and many do more complicated, unusual patterns than I do. And that’s okay. I’m happy where I’m at with my knitting.

So why am I succeeding now? No idea. My attention to detail, maybe. My commitment to customer service (thank you, Coldwater Creek), maybe. I put myself into what I make and I share myself with my customers (and all of you!) and I think people respond to that. I don’t really have the answer, and that’s okay too. As long as I can keep doing what I’m doing, it works for me. It’s not like I’m making a ton of money. Nowhere near it. But I’m at a point where I think the knitting can be self-sustaining financially and that’s huge. (That’s also assuming I can resist big splurges at the yarn stores!) And I think if I keep at it, I might actually profit someday. Wouldn’t that be cool? Yep. Very cool.

This weekend might have been my last free-knitting time before I plunge into all those custom orders. I splurged on some buttons recently, wanting to make more button slouch hats before a craft show next month. I decided the big pink one was perfect for the black and white hat.Yesterday I spent a couple of hours listening while my daughter rehearsed with her local honor orchestra, and cast on for another Borealis beanie.I was done 20 minutes before they were.The girl saw the hat and promptly stole it. This is the same girl who spent an entire day off school making cookies to sell to help offset the cost of the tuition for that orchestra. Voluntarily. So, she wants a hat, she gets a hat.How can I resist when it looks so cute on her?

Ouch. And also, Happy I Love Yarn Day!

Oct17

I did a LOT of knitting yesterday. I finished the Where’s Waldo hat…

wove in tails on a cute kid’s hat…

Started a new slouch hat during the Royals-Blue Jays pregame show…

And finished it by the end of the sixth inning. I’m thinking red buttons, what about you?

Then I cast on for another hat with the Borealis…

and things were going smoothly until I realized my elbow felt a little tight. I straightened it and yep, there was the tendinitis twinge. Oops. So I put the knitting down, and today I’ll take a break from knitting and instead go to Joann to stock up on some buttons. And since it’s also I Love Yarn Day, I might go to the yarn store. Maybe. Just maybe. What’s on your agenda this fine fall weekend?

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Oct16

You would think, with a couple hours of high school football game knitting last night, that I would have made great progress on my Where’s Waldo hat. You would be wrong. I kept looking at it as I knit on the second stretch of white, and I realized that the proportions of the sections were going to be wrong. See, I’ve been going a little nuts recently, making hats on the fly without a pattern. I look at patterns to get an idea of how many stitches to cast on, and then I knit. I’ve done enough hats that I usually have a pretty good idea of when and how to start decreasing. And that’s really cool! I like that I’m learning enough to be able to do that.

But I’m second-guessing myself on this particular hat, probably because it’s a special order and not just for my inventory. I want to make sure it’s exactly what my customer wants, with the right amount of slouch and everything. This is one time my perfectionism slows things down! So here’s what I had: I’m only doing one thick red stripe, and when I started on the second white section, I realized it would be significantly bigger than the other two, and the red stripe wouldn’t be centered. With a sinking feeling, I knew what my next step would be. I spent the first half hour of the game frogging and then picking up stitches. After counting rows and estimating how many I’d have total, I made the first white section bigger. Here’s where I am now. You like my little helper there? Yes, that’s pillow-eating Grace. At least she doesn’t eat yarn. Anyway, I have high hopes of finishing this hat today. After that, I’m moving on to building up my hat inventory for my next craft show in November. I’ve even wound the yarn I want to use.These are my last two skeins of Berroco Borealis, a gorgeous mix of blues and greens. They should make lovely slouchy hats. Hopefully I have good buttons in my stash for them, because I have no place close by to buy good buttons. Have you seen the selection at Michael’s? It’s sad. I swear, I got so spoiled by Joann. Hmm. Maybe a trip to Joann can be my reward for finishing the Where’s Waldo hat!

Finally, here’s a tiny elephant. The girl found it in Jack’s mouth this morning. We have no idea where it came from, and the poor thing is missing a leg. As small as it is, I can’t believe Jack didn’t swallow it whole. So this is a survivor elephant. He will live in my craft room now.

Keep The Momentum Going

Oct15

Wow, this has been a crazy wonderful week! So I last blogged about the craft show, and since then, I’ve had a lovely flurry of custom orders and Etsy orders and nice messages. The best was from a woman who bought one of the button slouch hats at the show. I attach a tag to all my items with my website, etsy shop, etc, and she actually took the time to find me online and found the blog post where I wrote about making her hat. She loved getting the backstory, and asked me to make her another hat. How cool is that?? I swear, I had a smile for hours from that, just that my hat and I made that good an impression on her. Even better, I had the perfect yarn for the second hat she wanted, my last skein of this purple/red/black/gray Borealis. But before I could do that, I had another special order to finish. My Yoda hats are my most popular items on Etsy, and someone who’d bought one messaged me after receiving it. She loved it, and since I’d done such nice work and was so quick and friendly, could I make a Princess Leia headband for her daughter? Well, of course I could! I could and did, and though it wasn’t as easy as Yoda, I liked how it turned out and I really hope she was pleased too. Then another message from a satisfied craft show customer: she loves her hat, can I make her a Where’s Waldo hat? Oh yes, that sounds fun! That’s on my needles right now, actually. And during all this, my Etsy app kept dinging at me: Ding, a hat sold! Ding, a hat sold! Ding, a scarf sold! Oh my stars! It’s been SO MUCH FUN. I wish it could always be like this, but I know it won’t. Still, I’m going to keep doing craft shows and getting my name out there, and I’m going to keep making fun, unusual stuff for my Etsy shop, and maybe someday I’ll get back to knitting things for myself. As I sit here typing, I keep glancing at these skeins of Chateau, which have been wound for several days waiting to be knit into a cushy cowl. Don’t worry, little yarns, I’ll get to you soon enough.

bonnyknits

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