Mandatory Xmas Post

Merry Belated Christmas Everyone!!!

I had a great holiday, I was off work for 5 days, which was lovely, I spent most of it just relaxing and  hanging out with family. My little sisters were both back in town, we had a family reunion with my mother's brothers and their families on Friday night, and Sunday night we had taco night with 4 of my siblings, then from like 2pm Monday until 8pm Tuesday, I literally just hung out at my mom's place.

I made a small present for my parents and sisters this year, my sister's both received crochet bikinis (I do unfortunately need to remake the bottom on one of them though, WAY too small), my mom got some slippers and some socks for my step-dad. And I totally forgot to take any photos of these items... GO ME!

But here's some other random pictures! (some of which I've been wanting to post for over a month!)

Here's my awesome new bike seat and grips my parents bought me!
EE! leopard print!!! all it needs now is a pink chain and basket liner!

 

Here are the chucks I was commissioned to make!
They are a size 11.5 mens and totally awesome!
The guy they were made for was very pumped when he opened the present!

Here's a nail polish stand J bought me! It sadly doesn't fit all of
my nail polish, but it's definitely a better way to display them!

Rainbow of owls! (I may have already posted this one)

Here is a photo of our Xmas Eve treats! We had WAY too many
sweets, like always, but everything was super good!

 

And finally sad reindeer puppy... though after 24 hours of trying
to force him to wear the antlers, he finally just gave up and let us
make him look like an idiot... I love my mom's dog!

I also went shopping this morning for Boxing Day yarn sales!!! Michael's had Vanna's on for $2.49 (50% off) and Vanna's Glamour for $5.99 (15% off ) and THEN I had a coupon for 25% off! so I managed to score 17 balls of yarn for like $40! And saved $50! woot!

Well that's all for now! I have a mohawk hat that I need to get finished up over the next few days, and then I think 3 other hat commissions, and then I need to sit down and try to decide where I want to go with YarrHooked! ... I think maybe a break from commissions will be in the plans and focusing on getting some stock together for a few months... maybe?

OMG! SO...

Excuse me while I go cry and freakout... SO MUCH TO CROCHET, SO LITTLE TIME...

I finished up a three hat commission over the weekend... I have seven other items to make by Christmas! and four other post-Christmas commission to do... *sigh*

And I don't even have photos of the hats I made because it was too dark in my apartment this morning and they look atrocious! It was a football hat, another mohawk hat and a sock monkey hat...

BUT here's some ornaments I made for my mom's ornament swap party! LOVE the idea!

Really need to figure out how to take photos in the winter... it's just too dark!

I am slowly going crazy...

Actually that's a lie, I'M HAVING A BLAST MAKING THINGS!!! I was very happy to have a 3 day weekend from my day job this weekend and be able to curled up on the couch and just crocheted for hours on end! I finished up 6 amigurumi/plush owls, a pair of slippers and a hat over the weekend! I also have a wackload of ornaments crocheted that just need decorating and I started another hat! I'm hoping I can finish up those ornaments and that hat finished by Wednesday night! I think I have another 3 day weekend coming up, so it might be mohawk hat weekend (I have 3 to make)... we shall see...


My to do list really isn't much shorter than it was last time I posted... I somehow keep accidentally taking commissions... I'm hoping to clear up my commissions over the next few weeks so I can focus on presents for my own family members!

Hopefully a better post will be coming soon... in the mean time... here's some owls to help you learn your colours!

What's on my hook

Feeling pretty overwhelmed again by things I need to make. Two weeks ago, I was pumped, I was ahead of schedule... and then I got sick again, like sick to the point that it was almost pneumonia, GO ME! Therefore I didn't get much done during that time... I didn't feel comfortable working on commissions so I designed some gingerbread man and woman ornaments (hopefully more information on them soon) and I taught myself how to use double-ended crochet hooks! I had tried to learn a few months ago, but the double-ended hook I had bought (the only one available at Walmart) had a really shallow hook, and I couldn't seem to catch the yarn with it; my next attempt was using my Denise's Interchangeable Crochet Hooks but since the set only comes with one of each hook size, I was trying with a 4.5 and 5mm attached together, which also was also not the best tool for the job. Then a few weeks ago, I was ordering some yarn from Red Heart and saw that they sold the single add-on hooks to my Denise set! So I ended up picking up a 4, 5 and 6mm and within a few hours I had my first double-ended tunisian dishcloth! By the way, this technique makes the prettiest fabric! (Hopefully, I'll find some time to do a tutorial on this, because it's awesome!!)

Anyway... back on the farm...

I have 3 pairs of slippers, 6 hats (3 of which are mohawk hats), 7 amigurumi/plush animals, and 2 bikinis to make by December/Christmas...

And of course instead of working on all this, because I still have like ZERO energy or attention span from being sick and I'm now trying to take care of the now sick J (I like to share), I've been making gingerbread people and dishcloths... And doing some repairs on some items for J's cousin, which I will hopefully finish up tonight!

Non-Yarn Related Post: Cookie Cutters!

I wouldn't call myself a hoarder, but I have a few things that I cannot stop myself from collecting. Yes, lets call it "collecting", it sounds so much more mature and less deviant. My collections include nail polish (I have about 46 bottles), yarn (way too many balls to count), and cookie cutters! I cannot resist a cookie cutter! I currently have 115 cookie cutters... yeah I know, that's A LOT! Some of them are tiny, great for shortbread cookies, others are huge, great for writing a message on for a friend, but most of them are just average sized... The themes of the cutters vary, the majority are Halloween and Christmas related, but my random ones include: a palm tree, a hand, a teapot, and an airplane, just to name a few. Most are new, from Wilton, though I do have one, a man in a bowler hat that I bought last Christmas at a craft sale, that is from the 1940s.

Here's all 115! Sorry about the photo, it didn't line up properly
and I didn't notice until after I put them away

Here's my palm tree! It was one of the 1st I bought

And here's some fangs I got last year as part of a set from Wilton
It also came with a bat, coffin, cat

This gingerbread man is another cutter I got last year
It's from the 40s!!! and he has a bowler hat!!!

Sorry about the crappy photos, apparently a towel on my deep freeze in the kitchen isn't the best surface :)

And guess what?!

More hats!!!
These are some more hat commissions I've made over the past two weeks. I wont deny that I'm very happy to now be moving on to working on a slipper commission! I have a few more hats that I need to get done for December/Christmas, but those can wait another week or two! I'm not taking on any more commissions at this very moment, I have 9 projects to get done, so I'm going to focus on those, and then probably throw out a plea for some more commissions come mid-November :-)

Blue's Clue hat made for a toddler

Cookie Monster hat made for a toddler
I also made a cookie pin for him, that can attach to the hat or the kid's coat,
but I forgot to take a picture... shocking I know!

R2D2 hat made for a Child

Same hat from another angle... this was a very interesting project,
I don't usually do much intarsia crocheting!

I find it helpful to draw out what I'm going to be working on
before I start crocheting, here's my project sheet for R2D2

Green mushroom hat for a child, his sister owns at matching red one :)

And a sock monkey hat for a toddler and matching mittens!

And this is totally unrelated to the hatness, but this past Sunday The Walking Dead
started again, and I made cupcakes for my best friend, J and I to enjoy!
Zombie cupcakes taste even better than real ones! and I'm totally psyched to
have extra bone sprinkles leftover, though I have no idea what I'm going to do with them...

So that's what's been happening in YarrHooked Land recently... I have a blog post in the works too about an obsession of mine... it's not yarn, though I am obsessed with that as well :)

Mood Scarf - Month 3 - September 2012

TADA! July, August and September in colours! Sorry about the crappy photo quality I was rushing a little bit... I think I like how it's turning out, totally random, and I honestly can remember  from one day to the next what made me happy or angry, or why I was hungry that day, but not the next... I really kind of like that :) I'll try to get some better photos -no promises though!

Monday Morning Hat Order

This weekend was SO MUCH FUN! I was in insane hat making mode! A customer had ordered 7 hats  (2 for each of her 3 children, and 1 for her niece) and as it's suddenly really cold in the morning I had to get rushing to finish up 5 hats for her! (The other 2 are for a baby due on Boxing Day, so no rush there!)

And here they are!

Pirate Sock Monkey Hat (made to fit a toddler)

Hello Kitty-ish Hat # 1 (made to fit a child)

Brim Hat with Flower (made to fit a child)
Here's the pattern I modified to make this hat

Hello Kitty-ish Hat # 2 (made to fit a toddler)

Mohawk Hat (made to fit a toddler)

Mohawk Hat (made to fit a toddler)

I'm really happy with how all of them turned out, I think the mohawk one is going to become a staple in my store soon, it's a great fun hat! And it could be made girlier using a different colour scheme  and I'm hoping to offer different options for the applique on the side.

I'm also very happy to have these out of the way because I still have a bunch of more commissions to get made... I think there are 4 more hats to make, a set of owl amigurumi, and some slippers... I think that's it for now... I need to double check my list lol

I'm also finding myself in this weird place where pricing is concerned. I have a VERY bad habit of underpricing my work, I do great work, it's well made, creative and made with love, I love to crochet... but I also need to make some money off of it... Yarn costs money, my time costs money and I'm finally starting to realize I'm really undercutting myself in a lot of instances... I think once all these commissions are done, J and I will be sitting down and coming up with some styles I want to focus on and a pricing guide. I don't want to stop doing commissions, I LOVE THEM, they give me the chance to make things that I've never thought to do myself, but I need to be firm and try to get the prices I think my work and I deserve...

Hats, hats and more hats... that I need to make

I have suddenly found myself overwhelmed with hat commissions! I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but it did! People love custom hats and I really can't complain about making them! I do tend to get REALLY anxious though when making kid hats, adults are easy, I just have to size to fit my tiny head, or J's larger noggin... kids though... they are weird sized... and of course 8 of the 9 hats I need to make right now are for kids! I'm being very paranoid and proactive though, and giving the mother who ordered 6 of the 9 hats for her three kids the shell of a hat for each to try on them before I start the decorating. I want to ensure that all my research paid off and they'll fit properly, especially since a bunch of the hats have mohawks which take quite a bit of work!

Here's what's going to be on my hook for the next little bit -looks like my own ideas are going to have to wait :)

1. black and grey mohawk hat with skull and crossbones applique
2. grey sock monkey hat with mohawk and eyepatch
3. hello kitty inspired white and pink hat (1)
4. hello kitty inspired white and pink hat (2)
5. pink brimmed hat with flower applique
6. brown sock monkey hat with mohawk
7. football hat
8. green mushroom (mario style) hat
9. basic black mercerized cotton beanie

And yup... hats will be my life for the next few weeks... I'm hoping I can buckle down and get them done ASAP so I can move on to finally finishing my slipper sizing and work on a surprise project :) as well as some owls I was commissioned to make for Xmas. I also just found out that I might be getting 2 more hat commissions!

Mood Scarf - Month 2 - August 2012

I'm a few days late posting... I had an oddly social weekend and therefore didn't get around to taking pictures and posting my scarf update until now! So here it is!!!

The scarf is coming along REALLY nicely! I still don't know what I'm going to do with it though it's looking like the scarf is going to need some edging because all those colour changes, mean the edges are SOO uneven! I still love it though! and I'm happy to report that at the moment, yellow is the colour that's there the most, apparently at 8pm at night I'm not as depressed/angry as I thought I was :)

Free Pattern: Bow

So… this is a variation of this pattern. I wasn’t happy with the way the pattern looked, it was WAY too finicky and the ties were a bit too long for my liking.

The pattern still needs some work but here it is if you are interested:
ch 62
dc in 4th ch, dc 4, hdc 2, sc, sl st 2, sc, hdc 2, dc 12, hdc 2, sc, sl st 2, sc, hdc 2, dc 12, hdc 2, sc, sl st 2, sc, hdc 2, dc 5, ch 3, sl st in last ch, working down other side of ch, ch 3, dc 5, hdc 2, sc, sl st 2, sc, hdc 2, dc 12, hdc 2, sc, sl st 2, sc, hdc 2, dc 12, hdc 2, sc, ch 12, dc in 3rd ch from hook, dc in remaining ch, sk sl st, sl st, sc, hdc 2, dc 5, ch 3, sl st in base of beginning ch 4
finish off
fold bow so the 3 thinner parts layer on top of each other, wrap the extra row of dc around and sew it into place! TADA! An awesome bow!

*pattern has been updated to eliminate the extra ch, I missed a stitch when writing it originally!

Having a "I can't think of a title" moment...

I'm off on Thursday for Dalhousie, NB to spend a few day's in J's hometown and visit his mom! While I'm there, we are also setting up for our first farmer's market! I would lie if I said I was calm about it, but I do have a ton of stock that I'm hoping I can sell off *finger crossed* so I can focus on re-branding YarrHooked! a bit, and trying to focus on a dozen or so items (in varying colours/patterns or whatever) and not having a 100 different items -probably not much of an exaggeration- that I make on a whim...

In other random news, I'm still waiting on my yarn from Turkey to come in, I'm excited for a fingering weight acrylic (it's hard to find thin yarns I can work with because most contain wool)... J's thinks it's probably on a boat over the Atlantic right now... *sigh*

I did find this AWESOME site: Yarnia!!!! YOU CAN DESIGN YOUR OWN YARN!!!! you pick the colors/fibers you want, and depending on how many you combine it can be lace to bulky weight and you buy it by the yard or ounce etc. I designed a pretty pink and yellow marbled acrylic/cotton yarn and a gorgeous peacock shade... and hopefully if the market goes well this weekend, I might actually order something from them!!! Their prices are very reasonable!

Crazy Crocheting World!

I've been pretty busy so far in August! I have two cousins who are pregnant and I've been working away on presents for their soon to be little girls and trying to keep working on other ideas I've had going on in my head, and then this morning I just got 4 new hat commissions! AHH! Slightly overwhelmed, but I'll make it work, I always do!

This past weekend J and I spent most of Saturday getting my craft/storage room organized, we were looking for some camping stuff a few weekends ago and somehow the whole thing just snowballed and it was a disaster!!!!

Ohhh! and I just remembered I might be selling stuff at the market in Dalhousie in a few weeks! Great more things for me to be terrified of!

I'll post a bunch of pictures soon, I just need to wait until the mom's get them, I also have a great set of owls that will hopefully be going up for sale once they get faces, and I have slippers I still need to finish up the design of so I can start selling those!

I think I need to quit my day job or figure out a way to make the most of the 168 hours a week I could be crocheting... well 128 crochetable hours actually (I do have a day job afterall)... well 88... since I would like to sleep every night... *sigh* Good thing I love to crochet!

And last night J bought me a new crochet book! Seamless Crochet by Kristin Omdahl! I'm so excited to eventually get some time to play with this new book! I love motifs and like everyone else, I HATE sewing in ends, so yay! I tested out a pattern last night Blue Skies Chunky Cowl and the swatch worked up really nicely and wasn't as confusing as I expected. I think I would like to turn it into an babyghan eventually.

Mood Scarf - Month 1 - July 2012

So... I will be honest and say this so far, has NOT gone at all as planned... I have been recording my mood/colour every day but I definitely have not been crocheting a row a day, infact most of this scarf got completed this past weekend. *hangs head in shame*

Well shame aside! It does have 31 lovely rows of 30 sc that do coincide to my mood every night at 8pm. I'm happy to report there really are no big trends emerging so far, there were two days in a row where at 8pm all I felt was sick (green), but I'm such an emotional person (sorry J) that thankfully even my angry bouts, or stressed bouts etc tend to really only last an hour or two.

My goal for August is to ACTUALLY crochet a row a day!

Some of you, may notice, this is not the scarf I originally showed  4 weeks ago. There were a few flaws with that plan, the hdc were probably going to make this thing way too long, my math initially said it was going to be 7 feet long, but so does my math on the new sc version... so math somewhere failed me! But the bigger problem with the 1st version was the 730 ends I was going to have to deal with! OMG that's so many little 3" strands to sew in! Thankfully Lion Brand Yarn came to my help! Their blog recently showed an awesome technique for dealing with ends, that still takes a bit of time, but it does cut down a ton on the annoying little ends! Go check it out! So thrilled to learn this! I had heard about the Russian join years ago, but that method involved cutting yarn and handfelting it together, which would only work with wool. This doesn't help me at all, since I can't work with wool, but this one works with acrylic yarn! It's the little things :)

And now back to working on some commissions and presents!

YARRHOOKED IS ON ETSY

After A LOT of debate with myself and discussing the pros and cons with J, I've decided to give Etsy a try! I had meant to have this update done a few weeks ago, but yet another cold hit me hard, and it didn't happen... but whatever it's up and running now

Listed are 3 crochet patterns (also available on ravelry), scarves and amigurumi! I'm starting with 3 of each category so I can see if this site works for me or not...

Patterns for sale on Etsy:

Scarves for sale on Etsy:

Amigurumi for sale on Etsy:

If anyone from Moncton, NB or nearby would like something from the shop, buy it and if we can set up a drop-off/pick-up I'll refund your shipping charges :)

And of course, if you want a custom made item email me!

Summer Hibernation

Once again, I haven't posted in a few weeks, and that's because I really haven't been up to much. I managed to catch a dreaded summer cold, and I've been sick on and off since July 1st with this thing! I'm on the mend, thanks to antibiotics, but I still feel only about 50% and it's making me very cranky...

I have a few projects on the go, including some awesome new slippers! I think I have 2 sizes figured out, and 3 more to perfect before I am ready to make them for sale. I love these slippers because they are totally old fashioned, they look like the crochet version of the ones my Nanny used to knit for me me when I was a kid. Mine are made using Vanna's and/or Waverly yarn so they are lovely and soft, but still just as warm and machine wash and dry-able! Ooh! I'm just planning on adult sizes right now, but hopefully I'll figure out some kid sizes as well.
Slipper sizes: 
     X-Small - children's sizes 2-3/women's sizes 4-5
     Small - women's sizes 6-7/men's sizes 4-6
     Medium - women's sizes 8-9/men's sizes 7-8
     Large - women's sizes 10-11/men's sizes 9-10
     X-Large -  men's sizes 11-12

I'm also working on a blanket, for ME! or my future - no, I'm not pregnant, so don't ask - kids! It's cute and colourful! And I have a couple of small commissions on the go, that I probably should try to finish up shortly!

Also there is the etsy update... which I swear someday will actually happen! *sigh* there are not enough hours in the day!

Animaritimes Wrap-Up

I DID IT! My first Convention is done and was extremely successful!

After MONTHS of prep work, on Saturday morning, my co-worker Lyne and I did a quick run to the Moncton Market, then at 9am we set up our table! Lyne was nice enough to let me steal about 1/3rd of her table. Before the doors even opened, I had my first sale! It was a dinosaur I had made last fall, that on a whim J and I had tossed in with my Con. items! And by the time the doors opened at 10am I was pleasantly caffeinated and riding a sugar-rush from the cinnamon roll I had grabbed earlier at the Market, and then sales took off! Well "took off" is probably a bit generous... I went in with 47 items and sold 19... however most of the stuff that did sell was the medium/most expensive items, so I did actually sell about 50%, leaving me with a bunch of $5 items and a few medium/most expensive dolls, hats and scarves. I had lots of people who stopped by and promised they would be back (THEY DIDN'T) but even without them, I did great! I had 3 people coveting the mermaid I had made, they all did come back, but she was already sold by then. I also had some people wanted my Zombie Bear, but at $50 he was a little too expensive for them, though a few did wander back around near closing to see if I had lowered my price on him. My nyan cat scarf was a hit, I sold it within the1st hour, and got a fully paid commission for another one about 15 minutes later that I need to make. Plus since leaving the Con. at 9pm on Saturday, I have managed to sell three other pieces to friends based on photos of my table that I had posted!

My favourite part of Animaritimes was: that 99.9% who walked by my table, and looked at my things, left with a huge honest smile. Even if most of them didn't stop or buy, just the smile, meant that I was at least doing something right! I also got some awesome validation from other artists that were there, who didn't understand why I was only doing sales now, if I could produce work that good *blushes* and I even gave a few tips to some fellow crocheters whose own amigurumi attempts always seemed to fail - my secret, which really isn't one, is TINY HOOKS! I use a 2.5mm with worsted weight yarn (ex. Red Heart Soft Touch) and a 3mm with aran weight (ex. Lion Brand Vanna's Choice).

My least favourite part of Animaritimes was: ... I don't know... I did enjoy the overall entire experience. The only thing that upset me was one random woman who walked by and muttered that my work was "beginner" but there were enough awesome people who commented that my crochet work was the best they had seen, that I really can't be upset about one sour apple. Someone even complimented my business card?! I found that funny, since I had designed it myself and J printed them for me and punched them out...

What surprised me the most about Animaritimes was: the costumes! I, like many of you, have seen what happens at Comic and Anime Cons on TV, but seeing it in person?! Totally shocked me! I've never really been a huge Anime fan, so I didn't know most of the costumes I saw, however as the theme was steam-punk (which I do find pretty) I saw lots of great steam-punk costumes, and some gorgeous Japanese style Lolita costumes (I LOVE Lolita dresses!!!).

What I learnt at Animaritimes was: that I need an actual set up! I need a way to better showcase my scarves and dolls, and keep things like hair clips contained... I also and possibly more importantly learnt that I cannot presume to know what will or will not sell! There were things I was convinced would sell, and didn't, and then there were things I wasn't sure about bringing in the first place which did sell. Though possibly somewhat ironically, three of the items I was sure would sell at the Con, sold after the Con to friends/acquaintances. I think this means, this wasn't the right venue for me, though I will probably try again, and maybe work at configuring what I bring to better suit the audience (more Japanese style toys and dolls). I also learnt that I'm a pretty good sales person! Apparently those many years in retail paid off! I'm still horribly shy, but the fact that I giggle (which I think I did non-stop for 11 hours) makes me seem really friendly, which helped me seem approachable.

The next step for me is: that I'm going to put up some of my leftovers on Etsy (I'm finally going to give in and try it) to see if I can sell well there. I've always shied away from Etsy (even though I've had a store there since like 2008) because I don't like the idea of having to pay listing fees, however I think at this time, I need the marketing ability that they provide... I also need to buckle down and get more patterns finished up and ready to sell, and J and I need to decide where we are going next! I have a 5 options for 2013 right now and I'm divided on which I would like to try: HalCon, Animaritimes, Victoria Park Craft Fair, Christmas at the Coliseum and apparently Moncton's first ComicCon is happening next year too... Je ne sais pas! I don't know! I have some thinking to do...

So yeah! That's how my Saturday went, and what I think about the event now... by the way, coolest thing ever, was seeing my name in the brochure and having someone squeal while holding up a doll (even if she didn't buy it) :) I'm glad I spent all that time prepping, especially that last week, and that I had Sunday and Monday to recuperate and finally hit the beach before heading back to work! Also I managed to get a sunburn after only about 60-90 minutes in the sun while wear 85spf... further proof that I'M AWESOME!

Canada Day!

So there will be an Animaritimes wrap-up post tomorrow, but for now, here's a TON of fireworks pictures!!! J and I spent Canada day napping/at the beach and finished off by walking downtown and watching the fireworks (which are totally my favourite part of Canada Day)! We were both exhausted yesterday from our Saturday's, but we still had fun together celebrating July 1st!

Inside the firework...

I REALLY LIKE FIREWORKS!