Back from summer break!

After a long hiatus involving lots of packing, moving, and unpacking, I am getting settled into my new apartment.  I am really excited about my new place, in part because I get to decorate a new space, and in part because I finally have a craft room!  My boyfriend and I moved into a two bedroom 4-plex and have turned the master bedroom into a craft/work room for all of our hobbies.  We've split the room pretty much down the middle - I love the juxtaposition of our things.  My side is filled with colorful yarn, soft fabric, and wooden spice racks and printer's cases filled with buttons and random delights while Noah's side has wooden cases stuffed with tapes, photography equipment, electronic gadgets, and crates filled with wires, knobs, and circuit board wizardry.  It is a wonderful space to create in.

 Since moving into our new place, Noah and I have continued our love of thrift store shopping by discovering some amazing finds.  Noah's best hit was a 1965 Stemlite lamp base designed by Bill Curry which he found for $4 at one of our new favorite thrift stores.

Noah found them selling for anywhere from $175 to $450 at online auctions with the original glass lamp shade.  We only had the base, but with a bit of digging at ReStore, I found a bubble dome that looked like it would fit our new lamp for $1.  Tada!

Only $5 and I'm the proud owner of a mid-century lamp.  Yay for thrifting! To finish the week off even better, Noah and I found a nice lamp and desk on the side of the road for free.  (The vast majority of our furniture, accessories, dishes... everything we either got at thrift stores or for free - which disproves the notion that you have to spend a lot to have nice things.)

Hello new work desk!

I'm in the middle of a number of home decor and crochet projects and will post pictures as I complete them.  I also mailed off a special present to a special new person and will post photos of that finished piece once the adorable recipient has gotten his present. 

That's all for now - happy crafting!

Almost done!

I'm going out of town for the weekend for a wedding (my plane actually leaves in 8 hours) so I just have time for a quick post.  I am almost done with the owl baby blanket.  The owl has a body and face now and I'm working on the border.  Say hello to Owly!

The other side of the blanket has a blank face with white eyes - a bit creepy but I'm not sure if I want to do that side.  Noah says I should crochet big X's over the eyes, like the owl is dead, but I'd rather not traumatize my friends' baby.  :/

I also finished the apron for a beginners class I intend on teaching in late August.  I haven't gotten the class posted yet, but here is what the finished piece looks like.

I'll update with more crochet fun next week.  Have a great weekend!

Austin Craft Riot craft party recap!

I had a blast at the ACR craft party today with my great friend Erin.  There were a bunch of fun projects to do and best of all, we both got free grab bags for being early birds!

There were beautiful earrings from Pretty Kiku and a funky pin with a vintage picture from FartsyArts, both from stores I love.
 There was also Spicy Gingersnap lip balm from LipGlosserie, a wooden keychain with a cute dog from Lizziebees, cool leaf earrings from GemJunkie, a funky little creature button from Bookgirl's Studio, a rad wooden strawberry from nom nom, and coupons from chocbite (yum!) and Jerry's Artarama.  A pretty sweet collection!

While there, I learned how to make an origami box using cut up maps for paper.  I picked a map with New Orleans on it, but it got lost in a fold. 

I learned how to make a fast and easy messenger bag using an old t-shirt.

The best thing, though, was getting a bag screen printed.  Say hello to "Robot VS Cowboy" (robot is winning, of course!)  My friend Erin did the same thing but made the cowboy scaring the robot away.  Mine is, of course, the correct ending.   :)

I had so much fun today.  I can't wait until the next crafty event comes around! If you like to make crafty things, like Austin Craft Riot's facebook page to get invited to future events. 

Almost there

I've made great progress on my blanket.  I am two thirds done with the owl - only about 20 more rows - and then its just finishing up the background and creating a border.  The color changes have gone really smoothly.  I write the pattern twenty rows at a time, so it's fresh in my head while I'm crocheting it.  

This row was the worst one to do, as I was using all the colors in multiple sections.  I had 9 balls of yarn going at once.

I've been mostly working at my desk, to the disappointment of my cat (she thinks me working at my desk equates lap and snuggle time - not with yarn around!)  Because I have to count every stitch to make sure I change yarn colors at the right spot,  I haven't been able to watch tv or listen to Stuff You Should Know podcasts like I normally do.   LastFM has been a big lifesaver, as it gets very very boring counting 75 stitches for 40+ rows. 

When I need a break from the blanket, I work on a new project I'm making for my Hobby Local Classes.  A simple apron in color changing yarn - I used Encore Worsted Softspun.  The yarn is really neat - it's a strand of pink twisted with a strand of grey that changes from light to dark to a blueish silver - it creates a lovely subtle color change.

I crocheted a raised effect every 6 rows, to add texture and interest.  I'd love to make more intricate designs and add fabric pockets in colorful, maybe vintage inspired, fabric and sell them!

 I'll post photos and a link when I finish the apron and add a class to my teaching schedule.  The class should be available in late August.  You can see my current class schedule here.  Look for the classes taught by me! 

Math meets crochet - Baby blanket part two

On to part two of designing a baby blanket!

I bought my yarn yesterday night - it's so soft, I love it! The yarn is Patons Beehive Baby Chunky (with the brown in Bernat cotton tots.  They only had four colors and I needed another color for the beak and feet so I had to get a different brand of yarn.)

I made up a few swatches in half double and single crochet in different hook sizes.  It's a bit chunkier than I usually work with, so I've decided to do single instead of half-double crochet stitches.  Then I got down to measuring. 

I figured out my gauge, 12 stitches per 4 inches, 14 rows per 4 inches which breaks down to 3 sts/1" and 3.5 rows/1".  I want my blanket to be 30" across by 40" tall and I'm planning on a 2 1/2" border - in case my blanket doesn't come out exactly the right size, I can adjust the border to achieve my desired measurements (ex, too short - just add a few extra rows to the top and bottom of the border.) So minus the border, I'm looking at a 25" by 35" blanket.

To find out my overall stitches and rows, I take my 25" across times 3 (3 sts per1") = 75sts across.  Doing the same for the height, 35" tall times 3.5 (3.5 rows per 1") =122.5 rows tall.

Now I want to find out my graphed owl measurements.  My graphed owl is 7 1/2" across by 9 1/2" tall.  I'd like to double the size of that, so my finished owl should be 15" across by 19" tall. So
15"x3=45 sts across  and     19"x3.5= 66.5 rows tall.

Since my blanket is 25" across and my owl is only 15" across, I have 10" left over, or 5" on each side.  35" tall - 19" tall (owl size) = 16" left over, or 8" of extra blanket on the top and bottom.  Again, 5"x3(3 sts per 1") = 15 sts on each side of the owl   and     8"x3.5 (3.5 rows per 1") = 28 rows on top and bottom of the owl. 
Another way to do this is to take your total stitches minus your owl stitches and divide by two.  75-45=30/2=15 stitches  Do the same for the rows.  122.5-66.5=56/2=28 rows 
Here's a visual example:

The last step is figuring out what your graphed squares equal - it'd be amazing if 1 square equaled 1 st (or even 2sts) but that never seems to happen.  Count how many squares across your drawing is, mine is 30 squares across.  Count how many squares tall your drawing is, mine is 38 squares tall.  So, if I need 45 sts to make my owl 15" across, then 45 sts / 30 squares = 1.5 sts per square.  66.5 rows / 38 squares = 1.75 rows per square.  To make it easier to graph - every 2 boxes across = 3 sts (1.5 sts x 2 boxes = 3 sts)  and  every 4 boxes high = 7 rows (1.75 sts x 4 boxes = 7 rows)

I want my pattern to be as precise as possible (if I want to do it again, I know I'll get the same results) so I always draw new graph lines in, to represent each stitch and row.  Every two boxes I divide into thirds and every four boxes tall I divide into 7 rows.  I also mark where every 7th row ends and which direction I should be going on that row, so I don't get confused.

It's a lot of boxes, and a bit intimidating, but I made the owl in really simple shapes, so I think I will be ok.  I'm going to crochet the beak, feet, and irises separately and stitch them on at the end. 

Here's a few ways to make this simpler, and reasons why I'm not doing them.

• Make your graph squares equal 1 sts/1 row or 2 sts/2rows.     
• My single crochet stitches are not exactly equal in height and width, so I would end up with a short and fat owl.  If your stitches and rows are equal, this would be an easy way to go.
• If I did a 1 to 1 ratio, my owl wouldn't be twice as big as my drawing, maybe only 3/4 bigger.  If I did a 2/2 ratio, my owl would be more than 2 times bigger (each square only equals 1.5 sts, so 2 sts would make it a monster.)  If you aren't concerned about an exact size, this would work for you.
• My blanket wouldn't end up the exact size I want it, or I'd have to adjust the background sides and top/bottom rows to make it work.  I admit, I'm a perfectionist and I want this blanket to turn out as close to my plans as possible, hence my willingness to divide my graph into teeny tiny squares.

• Round your measurements up or down to easier to work with numbers (i.e. instead of each square equaling 1.75 rows, make it 1.5 or 2 rows)
• Your end piece will end up skinnier or fatter than you want, unless you compensate while working on it - adding or subtracting rows every now and then to make up for your adjustments - and that makes my head hurt just thinking about how to do that.

• Don't draw the new graph lines on your square - just wing it while keeping in mind that every two squares equal 3 sts and every 4 squares equals 7 rows (or whatever your measurements are.)
•  Even though it is sometimes hard to keep track of what row/sts I'm on, I find it easier to have it already drawn out.  I'm more consistent with my color changes and I can reproduce my work again with more accurate results.  It's also less to think about while working.

Here's a visual of all of my measurements:

I will report back with my progress, but first I have to chain 75 stitches and work 28 rows of single crochet in my background color before I can start on the owl - sigh - it's going to be a long night.

Designing a Baby Blanket

So two of my favorite people have decided to have a baby and I want to make a special baby blanket for them.  The girl loves owls, so I decided to make them a cute owl blanket, similar to the elephant blanket I made for another friend.

I love designing crochet patterns, especially pieces with pictures in them.  If you have never designed a pattern before, it can seem daunting.  I'll post my design process as I work through it, so you can see the steps involved.

Step 1:  Decide on an image - I do a google image search and save multiple images that I like, to give myself as many options as possible.  I normally search "drawing + whatever I'm looking for" because it's easier for me to work from a simplified image instead of an actual picture of an elephant. 

Step 2:  Sketch out a few of your chosen images.  See how simple you can get the lines.  If it is your first project, it's best to keep your image one solid color.  Then all you have to worry about are the color transitions between the background and your image.  I've done a couple, so I wanted to up the challenge with this one.  I'll be using a minimum of three colors and I'm still deciding if I want to crochet the eyes separately or work them with the rest of the piece.

Step 3:  Select which image you are going to use (I always ask a friend for a second opinion.)  Get some grid paper, at least 1/2 the size that you want your finished piece to be, and draw your image out. 

Step 4:  Make a swatch with your intended yarn, at least 4x4.  I normally do these projects in half double crochet - I'm too impatient to do single crochet stitches.  Figure out what your gauge for stitches and rows are (Count the number of stitches in a 4" section across - divide by 4 to get your stitch per inch value.  Count the number of rows in a 4" section across - divide by 4 to get your row per inch value.) 

Stay tuned for my next blog post - I'll explain how to calculate your overall size, image size, and how many stitches each block on your graph represents.  I need to buy my yarn first, though! 

Recap of Austin's Renegade Craft Faire

Noah and I went to the Renegade Craft Fair yesterday.  If you are interested in going, stop reading and go right now!  It runs through 7 pm today at the Palmer Event Center, and best of all, it's free!

I've wanted to go for a couple years now but I always end up working that weekend.  I was so excited to go this time.  I also wanted to see some of the fabulous vendors I met at the Mini Maker Faire last weekend.  The lovely Manue of PrettyKiku was there selling her beautiful jewelry.

And I ran into Casey Janowski of FartsyArts checking out the vendors and shopping.  There were about 200 vendors there selling a wide range of art and crafts.  It was a bit overwhelming at times and there were so many people there!  I wanted to buy everything I saw, but I restrained myself.  I did get a couple things, though.  I bought an awesome print from Drew Morrison.

He had a lot of amazing and quirky pieces but this one was my favorite.  Noah bought me this sweet bag from This Creative Life.  My bag is actually a canvas tote bag, but I was too lazy to take a photo of it.  Isn't it awesome?









Here's some photos of other vendors I really liked. 

3bearsstudio.etsy.com - Sassy and cute paintings

Cloth-ink.com - Modern designed lampshades and more

crapappledesigns.com - vintage notebooks

SewnStationery.com - custom cards and stationery

Amandambarr.com - printed ceramics

HelloLBF.com - Lets Be Friends Hipster Bears

Hipster Bears - Love the PBR Cans

Austin Mini Maker Faire Recap!

All in all, the Mini Maker Faire went really well!  Despite a serious lack of sleep, and a lack of sales, I still had a great time.  A met a number of great people, especially other vendors, I talked the Hobby Local program up, and I received numerous compliments on my products (If only all those compliments were followed by an, "I'd love to buy that," Saturday would have been exceptional.)

The Austin Mini Maker Faire actually started on Friday for me.  I worked an early shift at my job so I could be done by 3:30.  I ran home, took a quick nap, and then got to work getting my supplies and set up together.  I had already seen what my space looked like on Sunday and was lucky enough to get my table set in front of an open, floor to ceiling, bookshelf.  I knew I could do something really awesome with that space, but I was extremely short on time.  Noah had a brilliant idea on Thursday about the bookshelf.

   
Fill the shelves with yarn!  Noah had to work Friday night, so I packed my car and went to set up by myself Friday night.  For future reference - it's really really hard to fill open (no back) shelves with yarn by yourself.  I dropped many a ball on the floor and was sure it wasn't going to survive until morning.  The yarn goddesses were on my side though.  My yarn shelves were fully intact on Saturday!

The lovely TS512 sign pictured was one of the reasons I only slept five hours Friday night.  There were many last minute things to do, but I finished pretty much everything and still managed to sleep a bit.  Poor Noah slept even less than me, as he had just got home as I was going to bed. He was a real trooper on Saturday!

Saturday started early with set up at 8 am.  The lovely ladies of Book-Inz let me borrow a couple of their tables and table risers the night before - the one A.M.M.F provided was only 6" and I actually had too many things to fit on it!  My tables were all ready Saturday morning for me to put my products on.  Noah worked on hanging my sign and ran to Fed Ex to print a bio up for me.  Somehow A.M.M.F had gotten my bio off of my Hobby Local website, not the one I provided, so Noah saved the day by making me a new one!  :)

I was in a great spot, next to the super friendly Ky and Pat of Book-Inz and Sierra of Manic Trout with Sarah of World on a String just around the corner.  They gave me lots of great advice and helped make the day more fun.  My friend Mary came by and hung out for a good part of the day and my friend Christine stopped by, too!

I had a great time talking to people about my work, especially those who knew how to crochet.  It was great talking technique and hearing what they like to do.  A bunch of people said they want to take my crochet classes, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed they sign up.  I would have liked to sell more, but the other vendors said this wasn't a great event for selling - it was more about networking - and I think I did a good job at that!

I was exhausted Saturday and haven't done any crocheting since Friday night, but I'm already thinking about the next craft fair!  I have a bunch of ideas for booth set up - expanding my booth to a few tables and maybe some free standing displays.  I also have been thinking about ideas for products to add or adjust.  I don't think I'll do another event until the fall, closer to the holidays, but I'm getting excited already thinking about it.  :)

A few things to keep in mind for next time:

•  There are more things to do than there is time for.

• Getting only five hours of sleep before the big event is not a great idea. Not sleeping much all week before the event is also not helpful although it was great to know I still can do the old college late night routine.

• Order fabric labels, or any supplies, very early - it's never good for them to arrive a few days after the event ;)

I plan on continuing to blog about my crocheting, whether it's about planning and teaching my classes, making this killer baby blanket for my friends A&A (I'll post my design process next time) or actually making something for myself for once!  Keep reading to hear about the exciting crochet news.  :)

Buy your tickets for the Austin Mini Maker Faire

If you haven't gotten your tickets yet for the Austin Mini Maker Faire, buy them here!  Only 12 days left to get them - prices go up at the door.  :)

Busy Bee

I've been busy this past week, trying to check things off my to-do list.  I feel pretty positive overall with what I've been able to accomplish.  I have a number of cozies blocked or in the process of being blocked on my ironing board (blocking is the process where you wet your finished piece and pin it into the shape you want it to dry in - it gives the crocheted/knitted piece a more finished look.)  My desk area distinctly smells of wet wool, but the end result is worth the trouble.

I finished a number of projects this week and have a total of 40 finished pieces!  I have a couple more that shouldn't take much work to finish and I just uncovered another pile of 1/2 finished hair pieces that just need buttons sewn on.  I still have two weeks left, so I'm feeling great about meeting my goal of 50 pieces.  Getting my fabric labels sewn on each piece is another story but I'll worry about that later.

Since I worked hard finishing up old pieces, I let myself have some fun tonight and play with new yarn.  I've been wanting to make something with this yarn for months and I'm really hooked on the coin purses w/ clasp handles I finished this week.  I tried it combined with a black yarn and a grey yarn and I think I'm going to work it with a turquoise yarn next!  (I realize I may be the only person excited about using the different colored yarns, but that's ok.  I agonized for 10 minutes in Jo-ann's the other day about what embroidery floss to get for one of my coin purses - they just didn't have the perfect shade of reddish-orange with a touch of brown!)  I'm out of purse handles, so they'll have to wait a few days before I can finish them.

On top of all that crazy crocheting, I started working on my table setup.  I've bought fabric for my table and some display cases to show my work off.  I also did a mock setup - 8 feet by 30" is a big area to cover with little crocheted pieces.  The biggest thing I did this week, though, had nothing to do with yarn or fabric....

I bought a cell phone, and not just any cell phone, an iPhone!  This statement may seem less than exciting if you don't know me, but I haven't had a cell phone for about four years, so it's pretty huge.  I've been thinking about getting one for a while and I really really wanted to take credit card payments at the mini maker faire, so voila, I bought a phone.  I also signed up for Square and they're sending me my credit card swipe thing in the mail.  It's funny that something as seemingly old fashioned as crochet has brought me so fully into the 21st century.  Most of my online presence is due to crochet - website/blog/twitter/etsy, the crochet classes I teach are scheduled through a website, and now I have a smartphone.  A big thanks to women of yore who wanted to make lace cheaply and so crochet was born - you're the reason I have an iphone now. 

Falsely Positive

I know it's only been half an hour since I wrote my post about how I have things under control, I have a doable to-do list, I will not panic - I am panicking.  The Mini Maker Faire website has "18 days and counting" listed on their website and although I had done the math in my head, seeing it on the site gave my stomach a huge jolt.  *deep breaths deep breaths*  I won't panic, at least not yet, at least I'll try not to.  I will try to think positively, stay calm, work hard, and believe that somehow it will work out.

If only I could do all-nighters like I used to in college...damn full time job and bills to pay.

A Doable To-Do List

So I have less than three weeks left before the Mini Maker Faire takes place and I've been getting nervous.  I decided to do what I always do when stressed and overwhelmed by too many things to do, I made a to-do list (sorry for the bad photo, I'm at a coffee shop, not at my desk.)

I'm relieved and a little worried that it's only one page long.  There must be more to do to get ready for the fair than that.  I have thought of a few things already that I've forgotten to write (make sure I have a table and chairs, register myself and my helper for the event - one lucky person gets in for free just by helping me with my table for a few hours!) but nothing really major or time consuming.  

Some of my tasks are understated on my list - like my goal of having 50 items for sale.  I have 30 completed items, so I'm doing well, but it will be difficult, maybe impossible, to make 20 more items from scratch in under 3 weeks.  Luckily, I have a number of works in progress (wips in the fiber world)  that if I can only finish, should add another 10 or 15 pieces to my pile.  As I have discovered though, and really always suspected, I like starting things more than I like finishing things.  I have this big stack of half finished things, often they just need a zipper or button sewn on, but do I finish them?  Oh no, I'd rather pick up that pretty new ball of yarn and design a new project.  I must curb my desire to design if I'm to hit my goal of 50 items!

To show that I am, indeed, trying to be good and finish pieces, here are a few pictures of projects I've finished (or almost finished - just a button or two to sew on) this week.  Hopefully my next post will be about the arrival of my custom fabric labels, courtesy of Tags & Labels!

Heather Black Smartphone Cozy

Green Smartphone Cozy

Tweed Kindle Cozy - I'm obsessed with cables right now!

Yarn bombing for education

So I took some time off from crocheting kindle and iPad cozies to crochet a tree cozy today!  A few Kealing Middle School students were creating a radio documentary, through Texas Folklife, on yarn bombing and knitting groups.  They contacted me as a representative of yarn bombing to help with their radio documentary (Thank you Magda Sayeg and your lovely assistant for referring them to me).  I was joined by The Knitting Nest's owner, Stacy Klaus, a veteran yarn bomber. 

We first met a few weeks ago at their school for interviews.  The girls were very professional and asked a number of interesting questions, like how we felt about yarn bombing as a form of graffiti and what is yarn bombing and why is it important, i.e. not a waste of good yarn.  It was really great having Stacy there to hear another side/viewpoint on yarn bombing.  She's done quite a few projects, including helping with the  Komen, Race for the Cure, pink bra yarn bombing project last fall.  While we were there, the students also decided what they wanted to yarn bomb.  They picked a tree in their courtyard and after taking measurements, we dispersed so we could get our knit/crochet on.

We met again today with our knitted/crocheted fabric in hand.  Between the three students (and their parents/grandparents) Stacy, and myself, we created enough yarn fabric to go around a 40" wide by 60" tall section of the tree. 

Here are two of the students hard at work joining our pieces together.  I love how different each piece is and how great and colorful they looked once sewn together. 

Here's the lovely tree!  I crocheted the blue, green, purple, and yellow striped section towards the top.  It was great to see the other students' reactions as they walked through the courtyard.  Most of them were very excited to see a yarn covered tree. 

The radio documentary should be available sometime in the summer on KUT.  It will be played in the "Stories from Deep in the Heart" series.  I'll post a link to the audio once it becomes available.

Back to crocheting kindle and iPad cozies!

Unexpected time

What was going to be a day filled with non stop activities has suddenly opened up into an afternoon of free time.  I could do laundry, go grocery shopping, go to the bank, clean the house - be a responsible adult, basically.  Instead, I think I'm going to sit on the couch, listen to a Stuff You Should Know podcast, and finish this lovely.

Noah looked at my other iPad cozy and described it as "70's retro."  I guess my brain was on 70's color mode when I was buying yarn, because this one is very retro, too.  The 70's are vintage and in now, right? 

New yarn, new design

So as a way to celebrate being accepted into the Mini Maker Faire, I went yarn shopping, big time.  Over the course of Easter weekend, I went to two local yarn stores (there would have been a third one, but they were closed),  two craft stores, and two online yarn stores.  I now have a fresh stash of yarn wanting for me to make delicious things out of them.

Plus some funky new buttons I found at Joann's - I'm going to use them on a new design I created over Easter weekend - and a few other accessories for works in progress or ideas floating around in my head.

 After spending most of Sunday designing a new pattern, I worked on and off all week on two pieces using the new pattern.  I just finished one tonight - it's my first official piece I've made for the mini maker faire, woo hoo!

Before

 

After

 

 

 It's a cozy for your ipad or android tablet - you may notice a suspicious white color peeping through the fabric.  That's because I don't actually own a digital tablet and had to use foam core as my sample.  Maybe if I sell enough of these, I can buy a real one!  And yes, those are cables and that is crochet, not knitting - pretty cool, huh?

Besides finishing that, I worked on another version using 100% recycled yarn - very neat to work with - and I finished all the registration paper work and paid my commercial maker fee.  I am officially a maker now!