The Latest Crochet

I'm getting ready to send a bunch of stuff to Finch's Boutique for their annual Holiday sale. This year it's in a warehouse in Northeast Minneapolis - which I'm super excited about because I actually want to shop. There is a vendor that will be there with hand dyed yarn and I want to get my hands on some! There's a ton of other stuff too, but below is what I'm planning on sending, well, if it hasn't sold already!

I've already sold 7 of these short cowls. I only have 5 to send to Finch's and I held back 3 for friends that want one. If you crochet and want the pattern, you can find it at The Velvet Acorn on Etsy. It's a paid pattern so I cannot share it, but you can purchase it. 

Children's owl hats - I know they were extremely popular last year but I decided to make some anyway - all the kids that walked by my booth at the craft fair were really drawn to my colors of hats and they really liked them (though parents thought they were too expensive, but seriously, they're priced at $20 each and I can't go any lower on my price for these because then I would be PAYING to sell them, and I'm not going to just give stuff away, that's not fair to me as a crafter!). I'm sending 8 hats - 2 pink, 2 blue, 2 green, 2 purple.

I'm sending some garlands/bunting - $15 each. I've got a variety of shapes, lengths and colors - there's stars, squares, flowers, etc...

I also made some earwarmers with button closures so they are adjustable for each person's head. I used simple double crochet stitches with 1 inch coconut shell buttons. There's a few wool blends and a few acrylics (I think the wool blends are softer, but I know people are allergic to wool so I tried to have a variety!). The only bad thing about these is that I was going to attach some minky material or some fleece to the inside so they would be a bit warmer, but I sell them for $10 each without the material and with the material I would have to price them at $25 to make up for the added material. I'm not sure that many people would pay $25 for one earwarmer. 

I also finished an order of slippers. These are more like the Ugg boots that people have - tall, with a button closure and double thickness for the bottoms with non-slip paint on the bottoms. I hate being able to "skate" in my slippers so I've been adding non-slip paint to what I make. I want a pair for myself in gray or brown, I may have to wait to make those because I'm working on a few other items right now for other people. These are $40 per pair - I use a wool blend chunky yarn along with toggles for the buttons on the sides. (If you want a pair, I will be happy to make them!)

I made The Monkey a new hat for winter - she even picked out the yarn herself, it's the Vicki Howell Sheep-ish yarn. I modified an adult pattern to fit her head with back post double crochet stitches.

A teal chunky cowl - these are super simple and just slip right over your head, You can then pull it up to block the wind. I've used more lace-y stitches for this, but I think for the future I'm going to use stitches that are closer together. I like this look though. This cowl will be at Finch's Boutique, along with the same cowl below - 

I HATED the coloring of the yarn above while it was still balled up - but I LOVE the look of it when I finally finished this cowl. Super soft!

A new hat for me - I found the Isaac Mizrahi yarn at Michael's and I couldn't resist. I bought 2 balls of it and now I want a cowl with the same yarn. 

This cream scarf and gray cowl will also be at Finch's. I've discovered the "third" loop when making a half double crochet and now I can't stop. Oy, I have to learn how to make a hat with the same stitch as the gray cowl - I love how it looks knit!!

Crochet Boot Cuffs

Bah. Photographing crochet and getting it listed on Etsy can be tough. Take photos? Sure! I've got time for that, but actually list items and make a description... bane of my existence. I'm horrible at describing things. I just am. What can I say? They're made of yarn. They're soft. They fit 15 inch calves. And um, well, that's about it. HA. 

In any case, most of these are now listed on Etsy. After coming up with a description I actually like, I just copy and paste, unless I've used thinner yarn or something. Why can being creative be so difficult?

Take a look. If you like what you see, then buy!

I'm thinking at some point I may post patterns, some I've been inspired by others but mostly I crochet as I go and keep the pattern in memory. 

I saw a super cute crochet wrap bracelet that I've been working on the past two days. I somehow need to make it adjustable with just one button but I don't think I can, I may have to add another button and make some measurements. Meh, we'll see how ambitious I am after The Monkey wanted to play at 1:30 am. 

Toddlers, go figure, right?

My Fabric Shopping Secrets

Le sigh. Fabric makes me so happy. And there are so many online fabric stores now that it's really hard for me to NOT browse fabric weekly and check to see if they have any fabulous fabrics on clearance.

So I'm sharing my secret shopping spots. Yikes, am I really ready to give them up?

Fabric.com
(They have a variety of fabric but since they are well known, they sell out quickly of new and popular fabrics... like Joel Dewberry and some super cute Amy Butler stuff. They don't have as many Japanese prints though. Fabric.com has made at least 3 mistakes on orders, BUT their customer service is awesome and they've always come through with the CORRECT fabric so don't discount them because of this...)

Hawthorne Threads
(This is one of my favorite stores to shop because of the bulk discounts and the fast shipping. They've NEVER made a mistake on any of my orders!)

Pink Chalk Fabrics
(Ooohhh.... this is my favorite place to order patterns from. Like you know... the tunic that I never finished because I can't even get the cut pieces around me to see if the tunic fits. This June though... I WILL have that tunic finished! They have some great deals on fabrics and such a variety as well, you can find more specialized fabrics and more designers)

PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT being paid at all by any of these places. Instead, I'm sharing with you my secret tools to finding fabric that you may like. A lot. And cannot stop yourself from purchasing.

One more quick tip: Before you purchase fabric anywhere, I ALWAYS put the name of the fabric I'm looking at into the search bar in Google Shopping. You can see the price of shipping, where it's cheapest, etc... and find even better deals. These three fabric stores have always had the leading prices AND the best service. Don't forget to check out fabric on Etsy.com too - I've found bargains for cuts of fabric (just 1 or 2 yards!) and sellers have been easy to work with.

Do you have any favorite online fabric stores to share with me? What are some of your fabric shopping tips?

Valentine's Day Wreath

Last summer I got this AWESOME idea to make a felt circle wreath. It turned out to be the death of me. In fact, it's 7 months later and I'm still not finished with it. Why? Because it takes too freaking long. I plan on just putting it up for sale in my Etsy store when I'm finally finished with it. Good riddance and I hope that someone else enjoys the fruits of my labor. But that might not happen for a few months. And then I got the idea for this wreath from Anna over at Directions Not Included. She's awesome if you haven't started reading her blog. DO IT. You'll be happy about it. But after cutting about 300 felt circles by hand, I've given up. And I've yielded to my trusty cutting mat.

Cut about 2 yards worth of 4 inch x 4 inch squares. I just folded the fabric over twice and cut twice as many as I normally would. You don't have to be precise. At all.

Here's my fantastic stack of fabric. Yes, that's about two yards. I think if I do another one of these (which I totally will!), I'd use three yards of fabric and cut one long strip to cover the white foam so you can't see the white foam through the fabric. No problems so far - but I also have to drive by the front of the house to make sure you can't see the white from the street.

What you'll need next: straights pins, foam wreath.

Take a square of fabric, fold into a triangle (or a rectangle, your preference).

Fold again.

Stick a pin through the bottom.

And pin to the wreath form.

You can either start at one area and work your way around or just pin randomly. I pinned randomly and found that it goes by faster that way. You can watch 3 episodes of "It's a Brad Brad World" and be finished pinning with some pee breaks and a lunch break in between.

Voila!

Happy Valentine's Day!

My Chintzy Christmas Decor

You're going to laugh. I just know it. So you can start chuckling now...

I decided not to go all out decorating for Christmas this year. Partially because of the drywall, framing lumber, and metal brackets blocking the storage door in the basement and partially because I just hate taking down Christmas decorations.

So this was my solution this year:

I hung over sized ornaments from the dining room chandelier.

 And then eventually got out the mini Christmas tree. I still don't know exactly where I'm going to put it but whatever. Probably either keep it in the middle of the dining room table, put it on the bookcase in the dining room or put it on the bookcase in the living room. We shall see this afternoon.

But y'all should know something. I still have one ornament to hang up on the chandelier. But I can't hang it up until I'm done sewing the burp clothes (pictures in the lower right corner of the above photo) because I'm too lazy to re-thread my sewing machine. Ok, laugh now. I promise that I'm laughing with you!

Also, from the above picture you can see that I have a few things to do:

1. Clean the floors.

2. Give a bowl back to someone.

3. Eat my apple.

4. Take care of the dying paperwhites.

5. Put away packaging tape.

6. Clean off the dining room table so we can eat on Sunday.

Yikes, that's a big to-do list. Sort of. Ok, not really. Most of it isn't that bad. But it in any case... I wanted to show y'all my chintzy holiday decor. Maybe I will get more into it next year.

Sew Liberated Tunic

Here's my very first garment project. A tunic. It should be easy enough, right? I think there's only about 25 steps and I'm halfway through Step 1 (which is to trace and cut the pattern with butcher paper, as you can tell, I had a little help with Mich Golden Light).

I guess this is a pretty popular pattern, so hopefully if I get stuck I can google directions or tutorials or maybe find some pictures on Flickr.

And here's the fabric that I picked out - it's Michael Miller. The stripes go the long way, not the horizontal way, I don't want to look any fatter than my size 10 self. I was looking for gray stripe fabric like in the picture but I couldn't find any, so here is this stripe instead. I'm hoping that it doesn't look too awful when I'm done.

Crochet Project - Baby Blankets

So I hope that I'm not ruining any surprises here (because the baby shower hasn't taken place yet!) but I think I'm safe to post because I don't think the new mom reads my blog (ok, I'm crossing my fingers here!). New house projects and sewing projects have taken a back seat to this project because it takes me about 3 - 4 weeks to finish each blanket and I just found out about the date of the shower back in May so I've been crocheting like a mad woman.

And from the pics below - can you tell it's twins?

I HATE baby colors - baby blue, baby pink, nope, definitely not for me. I like bold colors and mostly I like them because that way the finished piece looks store bought and not homemade. I hate that. Looking homemade is the bane of my existence for crochet. Mostly because homemade items then get put in the next garage sale or whatnot. Yep, I know. I know - people keep stuff only because a certain person made it and not because they like it. Yes, I've been on the receiving end so I know!

The zig-zag stitch is super easy for crochet, it's just about counting stitches and making sure you've got enough rows to match your length so it's a square at the end (or a longer rectangle if you're making a throw blanket). I'm almost finished with the blue one, I just need to weave in the ends of the stripes and get the edging done. For that, it's just simple - like the pink one.

I hope the babies and the mom enjoy the colors (I'm fairly certain the girl next door likes the colors and she's 4, I had to ask because I don't what's popular for girls now, I haven't baby-sit in a VERY LONG TIME). 

Easy To Sew Purse

UPDATE: Tutorial & pattern can be found HERE. And I have teal fabric, plus some extra of the green so I think I'm going to make another one for myself this week. WOOT!
 
Sometimes I get bored and just want to sew. This is an easy project that only takes an afternoon (with you know, a few breaks for some good ol' soap opera drama). And it doesn't use up that much fabric. Now I hate to say it but I lost the link for the tutorial. I'm going to have to find it again but I was way too excited not to share.

The inside is fabric that I purchased at a garage sale. Both fabrics are home decor weight - I wanted something a bit tough for how much I beat up my purses.

So simple and easy!

I promise, I WILL find that link!

Sewing To-Make Projects & Some Link Lovin'

A gardening apron - directions/tutorial from DesignSponge.

An awesome reversible bag WITH ADJUSTABLE STRAPS. Who doesn't love adjustable straps?

Crochet baby blanket made with modern colors (note: nothing about it says baby - which is totally my cup 'o tea).

DIY Roman Shades (it says no-sew, but man, I will be using my sewing machine, I don't exactly trust TAPE holding up shades while I'm peeing).

A door mat from Martha Stewart (wooden and I'm going to paint the slats a different color so it's nice and cheery. And hopefully won't attract gross bugs to live under it like the jute one I have now).

So friends, anyone want to be crafty with me this summer?

Recent Inspiration - From my Pinterest

Pinned by me - via Apartment Therapy

Repinned by me - via prepfection.tumblr.com

Image from Elle Decor

Via Love, Maegan

 Eep. I have so many inspiration pins on Pinterest... If you want to follow me, click here. And if you want an invite, just let me know! It's super addicting once you get the "Pin it" link. I.can't.stop.looking.at.Anthropologie. Darnit.

Easy Tote Bag To Sew

I think its' s already been established that I can be crafty and I've had this bag on my to-do list for quite awhile. Bimmer was gone so I needed something to do. This took me 4 hours, with plenty of breaks so I think maybe only 3 total? Not too bad for doing something the first time.



Cutting isn't too bad as long as you do it right the first time. I didn't read the directions and only cut the exterior half the size of what it was supposed to be. Oops. And then I cut two straps. I'm trying to find a way to get the two patterns on the handles (one on each side) with them still being sturdy and 1 inch thick.



You can see the lining better here. Tomorrow I'm going to do a second bag with the lining fabric as the exterior. I should just set up an assembly line. I think I have enough fabric to make three bags total.

Et voila!!




 I think next time, I'm going to try and find some fabric that has fruits and veggies on it - something totally retro and mod. I found the directions in my new book, One Yard Wonders. Totally worth it to buy if you sew! There are so many fantastic ideas - I just want to make them all!

Oh - and don't forget to check out Fingerprints on the Fridge Feature Yourself Friday post!

- Posted from my iPhone

Yarn Wreath For The Front Door

 I've been feeling mighty crafty lately. As in I've made two crocheted scarves, I'm working on a second yarn wreath (it's gray with fuschia & orange flowers, then I'm going to figure out how to make leaves out of felt) and I got new photo cards in the mail to make up some thank you notes and birthday cards for the family members. And I haven't yet mentioned my new sewing book, One Yard Wonders which I pretty much want to make everything in it. So my to-do list is sort of long so bear with me when I post craft stuff if you're not interested.

To make this wreath, I followed this tutorial here. It was really easy - but the longest part was wrapping the yarn around the wreath. I got through three episodes of Shameless on Showtime and I was mostly done. Not to mention that about halfway through, I sort of got distracted and kept pulling tangled yarn out of the middle of the wreath so it was sort of a mess.

Tip #1: There's obviously 2 ends to a ball of yarn. Start from the outside of the yarn ball instead of the inside, you won't have as many tangle issues as I did. I'm used to pulling yarn out of the middle for crochet so I kept screwing myself over.

Tip #2: Watch good television. It'll get you through the 60% - 100% mark of the yarn wrapping.

Tip #3: No homemade craft is perfect. It's ok if you screw up and don't get the wrapping straight. It makes it look better anyway.

Also - for making the felt flowers, they're super easy, but remember to keep them tight so that way when you go to get your hot glue gun and can't find it, the flowers will stay in place while you make a quick trip to Michael's for a new glue gun - and remember to get a "high heat" glue gun so that it's flexible enough to use on other projects too.

Anyone want a wreath?

Ms. Crafty, am I???

Well, since the message board that I frequent is having some *ahem* issues, I shall ask my question here and if anyone is crafty enough to answer, well, then, that's just fine and dandy too!

Has anyone heard of a snap press? And does anyone have a snap press? They're used for putting snaps on sewed items, like bags, purses, dresses, shirts, etc... and frankly, I hate hand sewing so I thought this would be a great and useful tool for me.

However, it's price is $87.00 from KamSnaps.com.

I don't mind paying that much for something that I will inevitable use often, but I want to know if they're worth it and where you got it. I've read great reviews about KamSnaps but I don't want to be stuck having to order snaps online all time.

Any insight? Anyone???