Tag Archive | crafts

Yoda All the Time

This week has been all about Yoda. If you remember, I got my new batch of Yoda green yarn (aka Knit Picks in PeaPod) in the mail on Saturday. Sunday night I started knitting hats, and Monday afternoon I listed them on Etsy again, available in three different sizes. I sold one pretty quickly, soon got a custom order for a bigger size, and then got two more orders! I spent all day yesterday knitting, finishing and mailing three different orders…and I loved it! It made me feel like my little business is going in the right direction. I think it’s safe to say Yoda’s a pretty popular guy right now, so I’m going to keep making those hats until my yarn is gone again. If they don’t sell on Etsy, I’ve got two big craft shows coming up this fall and I’d love to feature Yoda.

Last night was a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra at Chipotle, so we met my sister and her kids there for dinner. Eat a yummy dinner AND benefit young musicians? No brainer! My nephew ran across the restaurant calling my name when he saw me, and that always makes a girl feel good. So yeah, the food was great, company was great, and then we came home. What do you know, the pillow exploded! Sigh. Apparently Grace needs a new toy or two, along with a fence in the backyard. She’s getting bored. She got another pair of the girl’s shoes the other day, and now the pillow. Super. I love my dog. I love my dog. I love my dog.

Time for Some Crochet

Sep11

Crochet came first for me, but after I learned to knit, knitting because my primary passion. I love the fabric it creates, the rhythm of my hands, hearing that little click of the needles every so often. But I still enjoy crochet too, and lately I’ve been feeling the urge. Yesterday I gave in to the urge. It was time to take a break on the blanket and I don’t have any outstanding orders to finish, so I perused Ravelry until I found a pattern that spoke to me. Now, you’ll have to be patient with me. This will be a gift for someone who I think reads my blog, so I don’t want to share the full details just yet. But here’s a little peek: I think it looks a bit like chainmail. I’m using a DK weight (a little thinner than I usually use) yarn called Merletto from Louisa Harding. It’s called Sage but to me it’s more of a silver, and it even has a lovely shimmer. I’m quite excited about this project, and in fact I’ll be going back to it once I’m done writing to you lovely people.

The girl had her second football game yesterday (reminder: she’s marching band, not football team). I think the team lost, but the band was wonderful of course. And right after the halftime show, there was lightning and then some rain and the band was sent home and I didn’t have to sit through a whole football game! Yahoo! Anyway, we came home. To the puppies. Yes, THOSE puppies. The ones who are naughty sometimes. I’d gotten a package in the mail yesterday and included was a small gauzy pouch containing a birthday present. I had set it aside to open on the actual day. Well, you can guess what happened. Grace decided she wanted it open NOW. She’s very good at opening presents. Thankfully, the present was nothing she deemed edible, so it survived. And it’s beautiful too, see: This is from Kind Spirit Jewelry. She makes pretty things. I will wear it today when my mommy takes me out for a celebratory lunch. And the weather is supposed to be sunny and slightly cooler, so I think it will be a good day. Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend!

Arizona Sunset Cowl

Sep10

I finished the Arizona Sunset cowl a few days ago, washed it, blocked it, and yesterday I went outside for a little photo shoot. I’m so happy with this cowl. It’s exactly what I pictured in my head when I bought the yarn. You can find the fantastic pattern here, my Ravelry notes here, and the listing on my Etsy shop here. I want to make some matching fingerless gloves with the leftover yarn, and then I want to make more of these cowls with the other colors of Mochi Plus.

I’ve been making good progress on my Playful Stripes blanket too. It’s going faster than any blanket has a right to. I think it’s because of the colors: I keep knitting because I can’t wait to see what it looks like with the next color. I’m on my third color now. Want to join me in the fun? Find the pattern here; what colors would you choose? The designer, Meridith Shepherd, did one in shades of turquoise, gray and white that’s gorgeous.

And something fun happened as a result of my starting this project: Meridith saw the project page on Ravelry, found the blog post, and contacted me. She’s a retail refugee/SAHM like I am, and I’m pleased to have connected with her. She’s a knitting designer doing business as Stacked Woolens. She’s doing a sweater try-on event at one of my LYS, The Studio Knitting and Needlepoint, where attendees can try on one of her sweaters, get the pattern, and buy the Anzula yarn. If you’re in the KC metro area, maybe I’ll see you there on the 24th! And if you haven’t been to The Studio yet, check out their page here.

Now I’m off to the post office. Thanks to the magic of Etsy, as of last night my shop is sold out of little Yoda hats, and I can’t replenish until I get my KnitPicks order of Yoda green yarn. Don’t you just love getting yarn in the mail?

Starting an Ambitious New Project

Sep7

I want to knit a blanket. For myself. Starting today. I’m not sure what sparked it, but this morning I had a strong craving to make a blanket. Not just any blanket, either, but a blanket I’ve been planning for a while. When I first learned to knit, I bought some Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Cotton to make a tote bag, and I loved the yarn. It’s deliciously soft and so easy to knit with, and ever since then I’ve thought it would be a lovely blanket. I started stockpiling skeins of it, a little bit here and there, since it’s a bit expensive. I knew my blanket would be multicolored, so I bought random skeins in colors I liked. For a few months now I’ve had a good size stash: 14 skeins in 9 different colors, just waiting for me. I’m ready now.I left out two colors, red and a grayish purple, because they didn’t seem to coordinate with the others. The Mediterranean Blue is the main color; I have four skeins of it. And here’s my pattern, the Playful Stripes throw. The designer works at one of my LYS, and I always drooled over the one she had on display. So now I’ll make my own version. This will be a long-term WIP. I expect to be working on it throughout the fall/early winter, and that’s okay. It’ll be my TV knitting, or my “I need a break from fiddly little projects” knitting.

Sadly, it will not be my “watching tennis” knitting because I cannot currently watch tennis. I am distraught. We cancelled cable two years ago and have been fine without it, watching our shows on Hulu and Netflix, and I could watch tennis on the WatchESPN app on my Apple TV. Well, I don’t know when it changed, but when I tried to watch the US Open, the ESPN app no longer works without a TV provider. Sob. I’m not surprised; I was surprised it worked before. But I am sad. I have found no other way to watch my tennis without re-subscribing to cable. I never would have thought I’d be tempted to pay a monthly cable fee just for tennis and baseball, but I am. It’s tricky, though, because the US Open is almost over, and then the next Slam isn’t until January. Baseball season has what, a month left? Sure, it’s the best month, but still, it’s a month. Do we pay so we can watch our Royals from now through post-season, and so I can watch the last few days of the Open? Or do we suck it up and re-consider after the first of the year? I know what the logical answer is. I just don’t like it. What do you think, fellow tennis lovers? Do I give into evil ESPN, or be strong and resist?

An Epiphany and Finished Project Friday

Sep4

Earlier this week, I had a minor epiphany. I read a quote about writers, and how if they hope to succeed at writing, they need to treat it like a job. I’ve read it before but this time it really hit me, and I realized I haven’t been doing that, either with my crafting or my writing. How can I get frustrated if I don’t put forth as much effort as I can? I’ve been treating these as hobbies, which is how they began. I’ve been treating them as fun ways to spend my days, which they still are. But if I truly want to make some sort of business out of it, I have to treat it like a business, which means committing a good chunk of my day to it.

My first order of business was updating my Etsy shop. It’s been open for a while but got pushed to the back burner for a long time. But it’s the face of my business that most of the world sees, so I wanted to present the best face possible. I pulled out all my current inventory, took new photos, reassessed prices, and updated listings. I went from around 30 listings to the current, final total of 55. These are my best pieces, the ones that will travel with me to the big craft shows I’m doing this fall and winter. My photos may not be professional quality, but they’re lot better than they were when I began, and I think it’s a step in the right direction. This is my favorite photo, even though it’s not the best one to show off the details of the bag. I do still hope to do more photo shoots with my daughter modeling my pieces, but there are two problems with it. 1, she’s so busy right now that I hate to take up her time, and 2, she’s got a rather large head so I hesitate to have her model some of the size small/medium hats. But she’s great with everything else!

So I don’t have a finished yarn project, but I finished my Etsy project, and I’m pleased with it. I don’t expect big immediate results; it may never be a strong source of income for me, and that’s ok. But it’s a place to showcase my things, a place to point potential customers as well as judges for juried craft shows. My ongoing goal is to list new pieces more often, take new photos when I can, and keep up with revising/renewing old listings.

On a similar vein, I’m going to devote a little more time to my bonny knits Facebook page. Sure, I always post a link to my blog, but I need more. I need to post pictures and updates and personal thoughts more often. I’d love to drive more traffic to that page, but I can’t do that without giving people something good to look at.

And then, after I’ve done my social media “work” for the day, then and only then will I allow myself time to sit on the couch with my yarn and my Gilmore Girls. Obviously that’s important work too! Last night I started my Arizona Sunset cowl, and I already love it. Anybody else have good tips for using social media to support your business? What are your favorite sites and how do you use them?

Settling Into the New Groove

Aug25

4 a.m. comes awfully early. Grace is still thinking she needs to be an early riser, and it’s not too fun. This morning I got up with her so Alex could at least sleep until his alarm, and I didn’t even let them out. I just stretched out on the couch with a blanket, and Grace happily cuddled up with me, and Jack curled up on the floor in front of me, and we all went back to sleep. I guess she’s just lonely? I’d let her sleep in my room, except Alex isn’t a fan. Maybe we need to just put her upstairs with the girl and close the door. I don’t know. We’ll get some curtains for the dining room, and I’m seriously considering a noise machine for them, to block some of the outside noises. There’s got to be a solution, because I can’t get up at 4 a.m. every day for the rest of her life. Until then, forgive me if my posts are few and far between.

We’re all settling in nicely in our new hometown. The boy and I explored our local library recently and were delighted to find a TARDIS! That’s a good sign, for sure! The kids are happy with their new schools and teachers. We had high school open house last night and it was the first time I wished I could go too! The teachers were all so passionate and enthusiastic about their classes, and several were very blunt about saying their class would be hard, and the kids might not get A’s, at least at first. I don’t think that ever happened in our old district. Oh sure, we had some great teachers, but not *all* of them, and I only remember one teacher ever warning us that a class would be hard. I *want* the classes to be hard. This is why we moved; so the kids would be in classes that would challenge them, make them think and grow. The girl is in a Gifted English class that will actually read books! She had one class in either 6th or 7th grade that had her read one novel, and that’s it. That’s disgraceful, in my English-major book-nerd opinion. So yeah, I think this will be a good school year.

I spent another day in the yard over the weekend and cleared out one more side of the fence. Before:

After:And that’s the bulk of it! Now I need the husband’s help to clean out stumps and pull out the old fence, and we’ll do some tree-trimming, and then we can start building our new fence HOORAY! We will all be happy. See that water pump there? (No, it’s not functional.) The puppies are ALWAYS getting their chains wrapped around it. Then they get frustrated and bark. Then we have to go rescue them. It’s not a fun game.

Yesterday I sat outside with them for a while and let them laze in the sunshine while I worked on my newest project, another Hitchhiker. I have other projects on the needles, but none of them are as calming and soothing as this one. I’m in love with garter stitch. But I need to set it aside, because I have another request for a school-colors hat! The first three have been delivered and were quite popular, as I understand, and someone saw one of them and needs her own. How about that? My evil plan is working, bwahahaha! Give me time, and I’ll hat the whole school!

The Hitchhiker is DONE!

Jun4

Now I know why everybody has made one: it’s FABULOUS. The pattern is so simple, but the end result is just stunning. It’s absolutely perfect for variegated yarns, but it would look equally gorgeous in a solid too. I loved knitting this, didn’t get bored or tired of the endless garter stitch. It was perfect TV knitting, and even though Rafa lost (so sad!) I was happy because I finished this! The photos aren’t great, sorry. It’s raining and very wet outside, but someday I’ll get better pictures. I guess I need to paint my craft room so the walls are a better backdrop color. I wanted purple, but maybe I should consider white. Or maybe a very pale gray? That could be cool. Anyway. Love my Hitchhiker. Already perusing my stash to figure out which yarn to use for my next one.

Last night I decided I needed a super-fast instant gratification project, and I wanted to use my new Marblez straight needles. I chose this Leafy Washcloth pattern and it was done within an hour. I wasn’t crazy about it at first. But then I got it wet and stretched and tugged and flattened, and voila, it became a leaf!Mine’s not as dense as the photo, so I think I’ll use smaller needles for the next one. And as much as I love knitted washcloths and dishcloths, there will definitely be a next one. This is a fun, unusual pattern.

Our new sod is enjoying the rain, I think, but the puppies are not. They did get a walk yesterday but Grace still woke up with plenty of energy for mischief.
I’ll be going out today to buy a cheap rug for her, and she will be sad because she’s a spoiled little princess who thinks she needs a cushion to sleep on. Well, too bad for her! I’m not giving her anything else that can be torn open and have its innards removed.

Today is the women’s semifinals of the French Open and I think I will work on my black and white chevron scarf. It’s becoming the neverending project! How do the rest of you find the motivation to work on those projects that seem to take forever?

Plodding Along with my Hitchhiker

Jun3

I have been quiet for the last several days, mostly because I have little to share. I’m still working on my Hitchhiker while I watch the French Open and it’s growing. I’ve got the pattern memorized by now so it’s going faster, and I anticipate much progress being made today when I watch Nadal and Djokovic battle it out.

On a more exciting note, the rain finally stopped long enough for us to get a bit of sod down in the backyard! I say “us” when really it was the husband. He did good work. There wasn’t much sod available; it’s been too wet to harvest or cut or whatever they do. This is a good start, though, and now the goal is to keep the puppies off long enough to let it take root. They’re not crazy about the fence, and both of them have jumped it a couple of times, but they don’t go out unsupervised anymore so we’re able to limit the exposure. Yesterday I took them out for two walks to replace their normal backyard romping, and the plus is that today they are VERY sleepy!

Now it’s time for me to Hitchhike, and with any luck I’ll get to show off a finished project soon!

My First Hitchhiker

May30

Well, I broke my own rules. Instead of working only on current WIPs, I started a new project yesterday. I couldn’t help it. I’m going to a party tonight and I need a new simple travel project. (Yes, this is how you party when you’re old. You get together and eat, play games, and knit. I’m okay with it.) I also had a craving for garter stitch. The Hitchhiker shawl was near the top of my library and I had my new Frolicking Feet yarn handy, and before I knew what had happened, I’d cast on. It’s marvelous! I love that nifty sawtooth edge there, and the garter stitch is so squishy and dense with the size 4 needles I’m using, and wow those colors! This is my new favorite project and I’m sure it’ll be finished before I get back to those other, older WIPs.

But sadly, Hitchhiker is not a good travel project for me, at least not a good party project. You have to keep track of which row you’re on, and I’m not good at that when I’m distracted. So instead I’ll cast on for AndreSue’s KitKat Hat with some brown Malabrigo Worsted and that’ll be my happy mindless knitting for the evening.

And also sadly, I had another needle mishap. I have the worst luck with needles lately! Especially this set of Knitter’s Pride Trendz acrylic needles. I already have one with a broken tip, now I have one that came apart. Apparently you need to be very careful when you tighten these. I love the colors of these needles but they’re definitely not as durable as others I have. At least this one I can glue back together.

Oh, and big news in our house: the girl got her learner’s permit! Now I have to let her drive my car, eek! She’s been out once in my car and once in the husband’s truck, and actually she’s doing well. We’ll just stick to parking lots for a while, I think.

Two More WIPs Finished

May28

I’ve been on a roll lately! In the last couple of days I’ve completed two more WIPs, bringing me down to only three still on the needles. One of the new FOs was my Mother’s Day project, the Chocolate Cherries shawlette with the Baah wool. It hasn’t been blocked yet, so the yarnovers aren’t as open as they will be. I’m also hoping I can block it a bit longer, because I wanted to be able to wear it like this: I absolutely loved knitting with this yarn. The colors are so gorgeous, and the yarn is perfect, soft without being limp. It has great stitch definition. I have another skein of this, and I’m looking forward to finding the right project for it. My Ravelry project page for it is here, or you can go directly to the Find a Penny pattern page.

My other FO is another Oh, Helen! mesh scarf. This one I made in a silvery-gray Berroco Weekend. It’s a worsted, not DK, so I cast on fewer stitches and used size 9 needles. I rather like this one better than the first, pink one. It doesn’t roll quite as much so you see the pattern better. I made this so I’d have something versatile and lightweight to wear when I do craft shows so I can model my wares! I haven’t been knitting as much the last few days, though, because I’ve had another project going. For the first time in my adult life, the first time in the almost 18 years I’ve been married, I have an actual bed with a headboard and footboard! We’ve always just had the metal frame that comes with the mattress. We waited at first because of money, then the husband wanted to make them. I think he would still like to, but he’s got a lot of things going on, and it probably won’t happen for a while. Then a friend of mine mentioned she wanted to sell her bedroom set with a bed, dresser and nightstand. It just happened to be oak and the Mission style that I love and that matches the nightstands the husband made several years ago. She was asking a fair price and it just seemed like too good a deal to pass up.

The downside was that it meant quite a bit of manual labor, to move them home then clean out the bedroom and set up the new furniture. I took apart the old bed and set up the new one ALL BY MYSELF (okay, the boy helped a little bit) but I needed the help of the husband and brother to move heavy dressers. Last night it was all set up and I could appreciate my new grown-up bedroom! The dresser has a matching mirror, but the husband was too tired to attach it last night. Maybe tonight. Anyway, I’m delighted with it.

And last but not least, here’s a recent puppy photo. Remember the new dog bed Grace tore up? The one I mended and sprayed with the bitter apple spray? Yeah. Here it is. I give up. I mean it, I really and truly give up. No more new dog beds. At least now I can look at this and chuckle. This was Monday, and nothing’s been destroyed since then. Fingers crossed we can make that trend last a while!