Tag Archive | crafts

Crafting My Way to a Better Mood

Maybe whining really does help: I ended up having a pretty good day yesterday! I managed to make it up to my craft room, where I spent a lovely hour or so prepping my for craft show. I had a big pile of finished hats with no tags. So I pulled out the Sizzix, made some tags, and got them all ready to sell. I also had a few that needed some finishing details before I could sell them, so I gathered up the supplies I needed and worked my way downstairs. NOT the couch, the dining room, with all the sunshine. I turned on my music (Imagine Dragons. Love them.) and set to work.On the second Yoda hat, I ran into a snag. I’d finished an ear with a new skein of yarn and realized in the harsh light of day that it was the wrong color.Oops! Frogged that. I found a leftover bit of the right color, reknit the ear, and sewed it onto the hat. Bam, another Yoda hat done.I added a button to a hat. I didn’t have matching thread, so I used a contrasting color, and I’m quite pleased with it. As I sewed, I noticed the top of the hat was pretty cool.The color in the photo isn’t great; it’s a greener green than this, but you get the idea. I love it when the yarn does fun stuff like this all by itself.

By then, I’d been up for a few hours and my foot was starting to ache, so I gave in and went back to the couch. But it was good, because I finished the candy cane scarf, a holiday order that’s been hanging over me and preventing me from selfish knitting. Okay, so I messed up and made it 6″ shorter than it was supposed to be, but thankfully my customer didn’t mind. (It probably helped that I offered it at a lower price.) Jack was very happy that I was back at the couch. He needed some cuddle time.I’m also getting close to the end of the mermaid blanket. I’ve joined it to work in the round and I’m ready to decrease, then it’ll just be the fin and it’ll be done! Woohoo! Okay, it’ll be done AFTER I weave in 50 million yarn tails, but still. I’m close.

So yeah, good day yesterday. Thank goodness for yarn and puppies and helpful kids and a loving husband. And thank goodness for encouragement from all of you!

A little bit of knitting progress

Nov11

I wish I had more exciting stuff to share. I mean, I’ve had a week now of extra knitting time while I rest my foot, and I’ve got almost nothing. I’m working on that mermaid blanket but it’s still just more of the same. And I’m working on my third candy cane scarf; it’s going pretty quickly.I should be able to finish that soon and beg my husband to mail it for me. I’m just really eager to be working on FUN stuff. Sure, all knitting is fun, but these two projects aren’t using my creative energies. I want to be playing with my pretty yarns, finding new and interesting projects. I want to make a Doodler. I want to make baby hats. I want to make cowls. And I will, soon. As soon as I finish these two commissioned pieces.

I did manage to take photos of the two completed Sarah beanies. Granted, they’re not great photos. In fact, they suck a little, but my mobility is limited so this is what you get for now. It’s a really fun pattern, and the hats are much cuter than my photos make them look. You can find the free pattern here. I would say that it comes out a little big as written. The purple-ish one I cast on the 100 stitches, and with worsted weight, it’s just a looser brim than I like. The turquoise one I went down to…80? stitches, I think. Either that or 88. And then I increased to 100(ish) stitches for the body.

I also learned the downfall to knitting while under the influence of pain meds. The other night I forgot and accidentally took an extra pill, and then I tried to knit a second Yoda ear. It didn’t end well. Those don’t match. In case you can’t tell, the one on the right is the result of the doped knitting. Sigh. Guess I’ll frog that one and try again!

That’s all the knitting to report. I’ve been reading After You by JoJo Moyes, which is great. I finished Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner, and while I enjoyed it, I don’t think it was her best. While knitting, I’ve started watching My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and it’s hysterical. Just quirky and strange and delightful. And of course cuddling with the puppies. I’m so glad I have the pups for company!

Down But Not Out

Nov8

Last week was full of bad. Like, really bad, and lots of it. First was this: Wednesday morning I was coming downstairs to say goodbye to my daughter before she left for school, and somehow I completely missed the last step. I landed hard on my foot, heard it crack, and knew it was bad. She got me an ice pack and I sent her on to school. Then I managed to hobble to the dining room, where my phone was, to call my husband to take me to the ER. X-rays confirmed that I’d broken the 5th metatarsal, which is the bone that runs along the outer side of the foot. I was given pain meds, a boot, crutches, and instructions to put no weight on it.Thankfully, I hadn’t messed up the ankle or anything else. But still, it’s my right foot, which means no driving. As a SAHM with two active kids, that makes life difficult. My poor husband is now having to take on a lot of chauffeur duties, as well as errands like returning library books and going to the grocery store. Ugh.

My first full day at home alone, I lost my balance on my crutches and fell. I protected my foot, which meant all my weight landed on the heel of my hand. My right hand. I *think* it just got badly bruised, but it made using the crutches even more painful, because that’s exactly where I bear the weight when I’m using them. The next morning I had my husband bring down the rolling office chair, and that’s made getting around downstairs much easier.

Thursday, my husband got a ticket for expired tags, which neither of us realized were expired and neither of us remember getting the reminder postcard in the mail.

Friday, my puppy Jack caught a nail on something, pulling it partway off. He needed to go to the vet but I couldn’t drive and Alex couldn’t leave work, not after being gone all day with me on Wednesday. Thankfully, my sister was able to come help us out, and we managed to get him to the vet where they removed the nail, bandaged his paw and gave me meds for him, all to the tune of $140. So yeah, it was a very, very long week. I am tired and sore and frustrated and poor. It’s a good thing I can’t drive to any yarn stores because we can’t afford it right now! Thankfully, I can still knit, and I now have LOTS of time to knit while I hang out on the couch. Sarah Beanie #1, which I worked on at the World Series celebration parade on Tuesday, before the foot fiasco.Sarah Beanie #2, begun the night of the foot fiasco when I needed something soothing and happy. It was happy until the next day. I’d dropped a stitch way back and hadn’t noticed. Fortunately, I was able to pick it up so I didn’t have to frog the whole thing.Butterfly Hat #2. This one I took with me on Saturday, when both kids were auditioning for the metro district band. I hadn’t planned on going, what with the foot and crutches and all, but my daughter was so disappointed that I decided to give it a whirl, hopping down the 10 or so steps outside our house to the car.I finished the hat before the auditions were done, sadly. Since I hadn’t planned on going, I didn’t have other projects ready to grab. Just another reminder to always have a travel project on hand! Still, I was glad I’d made the effort to go, even if I was exhausted by the time we made it home seven hours later. And hooray, the week ended on a high note: my son, a 7th grader auditioning for the first time, was selected as an alternate, and my daughter earned third chair in the district band! Now I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that I’m back in the driver’s seat by the time we need to go to All-State auditions! I go to the orthopedist on Tuesday to get more X-rays, check on the healing process, and see whether I need surgery to insert a pin. Hopefully I’ll have a better idea of how long I’ll be restricted after that appointment. And until then, I’ll just keep knitting.

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?