A really good day!

Yesterday was a fantastic day!

First off, my husband and I got a car for me to drive around. It's a 2001 Honda Civic with just over 75,000 miles, and it has been taken very well care of.  I think it's super cute and am so happy I don't have to drive our crappy other car anymore! YAY!

Then, the mail came. Now, just so you understand a little something about me, my husband would say I am obsessed with getting mail. I check the mailbox probably half a dozen times daily. I love getting mail! So imagine my complete elation when I got the mail and received my diploma that I've been waiting for a month and a half to arrive! There's something so wonderful about having the physical proof, the actual document in your hand, to make the accomplishment real. So folks, here it is!

I graduated Summa Cum Laude!


AND not only that arrived in the mail, but the latest Lion Brand magazine arrived! YAY! more pretty patterns and lovely yarns to look at :)

But the wonderfulness of this day did not end there, oh no! Next amazing thing to happen, I got a job!
The school district that I student taught in is hiring me as a sub, and I made an appointment for Monday to fill out all the paperwork to make it official. This is awesome because it means that anything I make from subbing goes directly towards paying off our new car, and then saving for a house!

Then to end my fabulous day, I ate at what I deem to be the best dining experience I have had in months! My husband and some friends and I went to this hole-in-the-wall place some friends had recommended called Laguna Cafe. First off, as we drive into the parking lot, they've got a sign outside that says "Live Jazz tonight," seriously? Could it get any better than good live jazz? It was wonderful :) ...just a little combo, drums, guitar, bass, and trumpet playing some of my favorites like, "My Romance" with such taste and skill! Then we sat down only to have the owner personally seat and greet us, recommend some amazing drinks, and welcome us. We all ordered something different but were blown away by the quality, taste, and reasonable prices of everything. I had a strawberry lemonade smoothie that was the absolute best smoothie I have ever drank, and we all left saying it was an extraordinary place!
All in all, I went to bed wondering if there will ever be a day so unexpectedly lovely like this one anytime soon...

Amigurumi Friday!

I have decided to start a segment I'm going to call "Amigurumi Friday." And this segment, posted (hopefully) every friday will include helpful tips, tutorials, free patterns, etc. all about and for amigurumi!

In this first installment, I would like to recommend: The MAGIC Circle.
All amigurumi's are made in the round. That is, the pattern makes continuous spirals on to the previous round you have just made. Therefore, it is easiest to start off your project actually using a circle instead of the silly Ch. 2, sc 6 (or whatever #) in 2nd ch from loop on hook. Trust me, once you start using the magic circle to begin your amigurumi, you'll NEVER go back!

How do you make a magic circle? Well as much as I could explain it, I think it's best I just show you some of the excellent resources out there that have already done excellent tutorials on the subject!
First, check out this video, or you can visit this site, although I think the video is clearer and a more effective way of learning.

What makes this so wonderful is that once you have your allotted # of stitches in the circle, you simply pull on the tail to close the ring tight, and you're ready to go!

Michael's Sale

Michael's Arts and Crafts store is having a big sale this weekend!

Get coupons for 25% your entire purchase (including sales items), and 40% off a regular priced item here.

Quick! Go stock up! :)

Teddy Bear

(I love his little bum!)

I usually am against purchasing patterns, simply because there are a plethora of amazing free patterns online. My thinking is, if I can get something just as good for free, why pay for it? The problem with my obsession for free patterns is that sometimes, there simply isn't a good enough free pattern online for the object you desire to create. This is the problem I ran into when trying to find a cute-enough teddy-bear pattern. I wanted it to actually somewhat resemble a teddy bear, and it seemed that although there were plenty free patterns out there, nothing looked right. That is until I came upon a pattern on about.com under their crochet section. Sandi Marshall has designed a teddy bear, and a good sized one too that is super cute, and I finally had myself a pattern worth making! (You can find the free pattern here)

My friend's baby Josiah just had his 1st birthday so he was the lucky recipient of this adorable bear! Now all I need are pictures of him playing with it!






This is some of the construction of the teddy bear. I used worsted weight yarn on all his features including his nose and eyes so he is completely baby-safe!

Handmade Joy

What do you think? Does that sound like an online store you'd buy from?

I got a LOT of great feedback from my friends and family and came up with this as a possible name for my store. I can just picture it on a tag in some cute font with a cute heart or some other decal next to it. :)

Baby Blanket

Remember this from WAY back? It was one of the first squares I made for a baby blanket I had originally planned to gift to my niece Molly. I then found the ever so cute Sweet Pea Afghan at Lion brand's website and decided the pink and green design was perfect for Molly. Since then, the fluffy, pink blanket with stars has been utterly disregarded until, my dear friend announced she was expecting a girl. So I set off to make more squares and bought the same yarn in white to make a checked pattern in the blanket. After months and months of picking up and putting down this blanket, and as my friend's pregnancy quickly comes to a close, I have finally finished the blanket!

This blanket also is a free pattern,  "Twinkle Little Star Blanket" one that came off the back of a yarn label from Bernat Baby Coordinates. It can be found online here (keep in mind that the only thing required to access this free pattern is a free membership sign up that is super simple!). 

What I love about is that the stars are subtly hidden. It's super soft and warm for baby, and I added a custom trim from the stitchfinder section on Lion brand's website- a trim called Eyelet braid. It sort of echos the way the design shows the stars by leaving a pattern of holes in the crocheting.

Booties

Thanks to Sylver Designs, I now have an adorable baby bootie pattern that I plan on using over and over! It is a real simple but lovely design that comes in sizes 0mo, 3mo, 6mo, and 9mo. So far, every pair I have made has turned out so well!

Branding

I am very seriously considering opening up a shop on etsy.com to sell my crocheted goods, but am having a hard time conceptualizing what I will call myself and how to make a brand for myself that symbolizes who I am and what I care about in my crocheting. I want to stand out and be known for high quality stuff made with lots of care, and am thinking about purchasing actual tags with my shop name/brand name and logo on it for my items to be more distinct. The only thing is...I am stuck. I don't know what to call my shop/brand. My brain juices could flow for days on crocheting projects to do, but how to start a successful online business? That is where the juices stop flowing.

I am sending this blog post out as a cry for help to all who know me and my work to please help me brainstorm on how to brand myself and my product. Ideas? .... Anyone? ....

Crocheting for my Molly

What can I say? The girl inspires me!

Hitting a crochet rut? Throw a Crochet Party!

Last month, after having talked about getting ladies together to craft several times and having a few friends ask me to teach them how to crochet, I decided to make up a party surrounding the craft I love best: Crochet! Whether it was for inspiration, learning new techniques, patterns or how to crochet for the first time, I asked several of my dearest friends to come and enjoy a night of crochet, refreshments and fun!

Some ideas:

• Send out E-vites, they're free and normally you can reach nearly everyone who you would contact on a regular basis through email or some social-networking site, such as Facebook. Most E-vites have some sort of feature that allows you to post the invitations or access your contacts on that site.
• Don't worry about whether your invitation will be welcome to non-crocheters, you'd be surprised how many people are interested in learning how to crochet, and if you offer to teach at the party, they're more likely to show up!
• Offer to teach how to crochet at your crocheting party. I asked everyone who wanted to come and learn to bring a light colored worsted weight yarn, and a hook between G-J. Anyone who was apprehensive of obtaining those things I offered to supply those things for them.
• Ask those who do crochet to bring their projects they're working on, patterns they love, and so on.
• Display your goods! I set out several of my finished products from the past few months, along with their patterns, and nearly all my yarn, hooks, and supplies for my friends to see, use, be inspired by, etc.
• Use the party as an exchange: Bring your yarn you never use, see if someone is willing to trade from their stash! Bring your patterns and share with others the projects that you loved making! Share techniques and gift-giving ideas!
• Provide refreshments and an atmosphere that is comfortable. Winter is the best time to cozy up in a house with your yarn projects, there's usually loads of holiday food available for parties, and you have every excuse to play holiday music and have your house looking particularly lovely in it's holiday splendor. I let some of my friends who asked me if they could bring anything to bring goodies- cookies, a veggie platter, crackers and a cheese ball and I provided drinks! Tea, coffee, lattes, and water for those who didn't want something hot.
• Don't let this be your only party! Chances are, those who didn't come, simply had a time conflict, so schedule another! Maybe make it a monthly affair that those ladies can look forward to. Let your first party serve as a learning experience to throw better parties along the way!
• Don't let it become a burden. Let your friends help! Parties are supposed to be fun, so if you're stressed out about providing food, divvy up the load and have a few friends bring one dish each. Don't have enough room at your house/apartment? Ask a friend with a little more room to host, and maybe make something fabulous as a thank you present for her time/effort. Ask friends for ideas for what to do at the party, how to make it better.