hello ,hello, HELLO!

 Hellooooo everybodyyyyyy! I have no idea why I just channeled Grover there for a second. (and for some other reason RuPaul's voice was in my head while writing the title)


 HA! Well anyway.....I feel so badly for being away so long. We have had spring break come and go and I think we may be almost recovered from it.


 Hopefully all of you had an enjoyable time as well during your spring break.


 I have mostly just sitting around trying to catch up on making some inventory. Apparently not  on the things I need to. I got an order....my 2nd order (squeeee)... and of course I don't have one made up. Then again I have a custom order policy in case someone wants a different color than what is shown. I stand by my policy and will not complain a single bit. Best part of this order......it comes from AUSTRALIA!!! How cool is that?!?


 That is one of the places in the world I would set aside my insane fear of flying...let alone flying over an OCEAN....to go to.  I think my fear of ginormous bugs and spiders is stopping me more than my fear of flying. Ok the main thing stopping me is money. I don't have any LOL!


  The only other place I want to go is London. I just seem drawn there for some reason. 


 I need a vacation BAD! I would be happy just to go to Indiana to visit my family. I will just keep saving up money from my props and maybe get to go visit them someday. I think it has been 2 years since I have seen any of them. Including my best friend. Our 20th anniversary is this October and I MUST have the money to go up there then! Even if it is just for the weekend.


 I think I have stalled long enough. This order is 50% done and is not going to finish itself.

I tried, I failed,I quit

I am only talking about the Very Hungry Caterpillar cocoon here.
 I really did take everybody's advice from ravelry and crochetville when I made #3.
The look of it after it is finished just does NOT look right to me.
 I was planning on giving a set as a baby present,now I am not sure which one to give seeing as I don't like ANY of them hahahaha.
 Well here it is anyway. I never said I would just post pictures of things I was proud of :) I share my failures too.

I need your advice

I was trying out a new color scheme for "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" cocoon and hat set I have on my etsy page.
   I will show you the caterpillar from the book, the original cocoon set and the newest one I just made.
  I still need to make a face on the hat, but that won't change for whichever one I end up making.


 I just can't make up my mind. Plus the family I have asked some are biased to one or the other. One was designed by me the other was designed by my sister. So therefor I will not be getting an honest answer from them in fear they will hurt one of our feelings.


Here is a link to the one I have on my etsy page if that helps any. You just have to imagine the 2nd cocoon with a baby in it lol

Just for fun

Sometimes we need a break from the "norm". So I decided to make up some eyeball hats.
I mentioned them earlier in another post. (also if you look closely in the last pictures I posted you can see a string of eyeball lights I have hanging on my desk)
 The first two hats I made the black center was too big. So The newer hats are more even in the proper color size.
 They only way I was able to get the boys to sit still and model for me was while they were playing video games. Even then they were really bouncy and took me several shots to find one that was not a big blur.


 These hats are fun and easy. I am also making them in lots of different eye colors. 

 My brain needs to be stimulated every now and then and while working on the same project all day it is good to to something completely different.


 Oh and PLEASE pardon the messy house. I have yarn everywhere and I have been working all day and haven't picked up much yet :D

oh dear!

I have so many projects lined up that I want to make/need to make that I don't know where to start. Well that is not ENTIRELY true.
 My problem is that I am starting a bunch of them and then yo-yoing between them all and nothing gets finished. To be a little less hard on myself, 3 of my projects I ran out of yarn and need more to finish. At the same time though I have an eyeball hat that needs finished,a dishcloth half finished on my circulars over on the couch,a half finished mermaid tail sitting right beside my dishcloth and a cutesy purple baby hat that has been begging to be finished for quite some time now. Oh and some ends that need woven in on 2 other dishcloths.

 I was about to run over to my plastic tubs that I have my yarn organized into projects and start on something else. I had to stop myself and I sat down here and started typing about it instead.

 What I am going to do is force myself to finish these projects before I pick up any fresh yarn.


 But isn't that feeling of pulling the beginning out of the middle of a skein and making the first few stitches addictive? No,no,no,no,no,no,NO! I will be strong and finish what I have started.
 I am a big girl now and I know that what I need comes before what I want. Well most of the time anyway :)

Welcome one, Welcome ALL

 I am writing to you this morning before I have had my first cup of coffee. A bit scary isn't it?
I don't know if I have mentioned this before or not. (again, no coffee yet)
 I officially opened my etsy store! *cheers* *whistles* *claps*
 Not only that, I am a registered business in the state of KY. Or at least I will be when they accept my application.


 Please feel free to go to my etsy and have a look around.(also check out my facebook page. Like and Share with all your friends)
 Right now it is all newborn photography props. I am working on some super awesome dishcloth sets right now to add to my site. There will also be different types of items too. Things just have to get made up first. Baby steps right? 
 I will also be accepting any custom orders. Even if I don't have an item for sale you can ask me about it. We can always work something out.
 Plus with everything I have you can pick your color before ordering. Make it just as you want it.


  Yesterday I ordered some super cute yarn for a new mermaid tail that I hope is going to turn out as cute as I have it it envisioned in my head.


 I can smell my coffee now,which means it is finally done! YAY!! Off I go for my first cup and to get some more things made for all of you to see.
 Have a GREAT day!

Scrooge

I hate feeling like a scrooge.
 I just picked up a blanket I was working on for someone to get some more progress made. I already made her something else and mailed it to her. Not so much as a thank you or even a mention that she even got it. 
 Most of you already know of my ordeal with giving my new neighbors the toy octopus for their babies.
 Well this was family even. (actually I have that problem with 2 other family members too but I don't have any more projects lined up for them)
 I am NOT going to send off this blanket to the person I was making it for. She didn't even know I was making it so not like her feelings will be hurt. There is no sense in me making something else and wasting my time and money for something that will not be appreciated or even acknowledged.
 I am naturally a very giving person. But thanks to these family members and neighbors I don't want to make anybody else anything anymore. I have a new neighbor moving in and she has a baby. There are no plans to make an octopus for them. I feel bad but at the same time I don't want to waste my time.
 I am not sure what I will do with this blanket when I am done. This will be my first knitted blanket. It is more of a large baby blanket or a lapghan.
  Lord knows we don't need any more blankets of any size around here.

Dishcloths

I looked and looked but just could not find a picture of the matching dishcloth and dishtowel I made for a friend of mine. 
 I did however manage to keep a picture of a very similar dishcloth I made for my best friend's birthday this past week. I also made her a heavy duty dishcloth and gave her the blue one made from pima cotton. 
 The first set I made had a butterfly on them. This picture has the one I made with a sun.
 There was enough of the pima cotton to make myself another one. So like always I like to give things away instead of being stingy and keeping it for myself.

For all you knitters out there

 Here is a little something to perk up your day. I love it. Mixing Knitting and Fraggle Rock....who knew?

A little of this, a little of that

  I spent most of today making slouchy berets for myself. I have never really worn any kind of hat before. Just never cared for them. But a post on a forum talking about hair coverings caught my attention. I am almost always in a  ponytail or bun. It hurts after awhile. Or I will wear a bandanna. Those don't exactly look good. So someone on the forum suggested a slouchy hat or beret. 
 I did some internet pattern searches and came up with a few that I liked. I made 2 of them today.I have one more that I printed out (dang thing took SIXTEEN pages to print! Sure wish I would have paid closer attention before I hit the print button. Almost each step has a big picture to go with it. I may need those,but still SIXTEEN PAGES!!) Not sure yet what color I will make it. And after printing it already I am determined to make it!


 On my facebook ads over on the right side of the page,the ones people usually just ignore, I keep seeing one for a hook and needle kit club. My interest is peaked over this. I like the idea of a kit coming each month with yarn and a pattern. A little surprise just for me. I am just not sure if it is worth it. Not knowing anyone who has ever done anything like that keeps me from jumping on the band wagon. I forget how much it is each month. I am still leaning towards it for once I get some money rolling in that is. Unless I hear otherwise about it not being worth the time and money.


 I am still behind on making squares for the girls over at crochetville for the friendship-ghan CAL. I haven't gotten my new list yet to know who wants what. I have a couple squares started though. SO I can have those ready and go through the list to see who wants them.



 I am trying to think of what all else I have been up to lately. 


 I have made a matching dishcloth and dishtowel for a friend of mine. She said they were too fancy to use. I said they better get used! I didn't make them for decoration. hahahahahaha Plus I made them in white so they can be bleached if needed. I am working on a dishcloth for myself out of this beautiful pima cotton in a pretty blue color I found at my LYS. It is taking FOREVER to make. So it keeps getting a few rows made then pushed to the side while I make a faster project. If something takes too long I get bored with it fast. I know this will be a nice dishcloth after it is done,I just run out of patience quickly.


 Walmart had a cute navy blue sweater cardigan on clearance for $3 that I "splurged" on. I normally buy a size bigger than I need just because I am self conscience about my weight and don't want things too tight showing off my problem areas. This one happened to be the only one they had and a size smaller than I buy. BUT I liked it and bought it anyway. It fits like a dream! I love it. Hopefully that means I am starting to lose weight again. I don't own a scale so I don't know. I am trying to exercise and eat right. I do slip up and eat ice cream and cookies with the kids. But even at Applebee's today I got my meal off the 550 calories or less menu. And it was YUMMY! OK OK OK I did eat some mozzarella cheese sticks too. So my entire meal was NOT 550 calories. But it was still lower than say I got the bacon cheeseburger or something like that. I still mark that as a win.


  Tonight we change our clocks for daylight savings time. I don't stress too much over that anymore thanks to computers and cell phones setting themselves. My alarm clock in the bedroom has already been set since I only look at that on weekdays anyway. Going forward an hour is much easier to set on clocks anyway. Just push 1 button and BAM done. Unless of course you accidentally hit it twice then you have to go ALL the way back around to get it right. (yes I have done that many a time. This time I got it first try)


 I will leave you with a couple of pictures of my berets. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

My etsy shop is now OPEN

 I have officially opened my etsy shop. I am very excited.
 There are not a lot of things listed as of yet but there are lots more to come.
 My photographer needs some girl babies to take pictures of the other items before I can post them.


 I will also be getting busy making non baby items as well. I already have 2 cupcake purses ordered. (from my husband's friend) Those are always a hit with little girls. Teen girls too it turns out.


 Maybe you can come check it out. Remember there will be lots more to come.


click here

Portable dvd player tote pattern FREE

                               Portable dvd player tote pattern


(I will be assuming that you have a prior knowledge of crochet and changing colors. Begging of row  you will ch 2 for the first hdc and you will ch 3 for the first dc. So on and so forth.)


Materials:
p hook
Lion Brand- Hometown USA in (CA)Virginia Beach/(CB)Portland Wine/(CC)Pittsburgh Yellow and(CD) the bright pink that I lost the label for. Or whatever colors of your choice.
large yarn needle to fit this bulky yarn




Directions:


BAG


With CA ch 17
Row 1 - 16 hdc across
Row 2 - 16 hdc across
Row 3 - CB 16 dc across
Row 4 - 16 dc across
Row 5 - CA 16 hdc across
Row 6 - 16 hdc across
Row 7 - CC 16 dc across
Row 8 dc across
Rows 9 - 16 Repeat rows 1-8
Rows 17 - 20 repeat rows 1-6
Finish off


 STRAP


 With CD ch 150 sl st to 1st chain to form a circle.
 sc in each ch around. 
 Finish off

 Wrap strap around bag to form the handles as seen in the picture. Secure in place with pins or some other form.
 Use CA and a yarn needle to stitch up the middle of the strap to sew it onto the bag. Do this on both sides of the strap from top to bottom and up the other side.


 Finished measurements: 10 x 10 x 1.5
 (not including straps)

Things to do

 I have just been sitting here thinking of what fun things to take the kids to do. I don't think we will actually do anything today. We all stayed up late last night,here it is noon and some kids are still sleeping.


 I did find that the train museum in Paducah is starting their free Train rides when you visit. Sure there is a fee to get in to the museum but it is not a huge one. My youngest is obsessed with trains. This will be a big treat for him.


 I would love to find a place to take the boys where they can see tanks and other war type things. That is the other thing my boys are obsessed with. Mostly my 9 year old.


  I found a pattern to make a crochet tank toy that I am working on today. I hope to get two of them done today so the green eyed monster doesn't appear if I only get one done.


 My husband has used this time to teach my oldest son how to change a tire,put new brakes on my van and changing the alternator in his van. 


  I have been using weekdays to work on things for my upcoming etsy/ravelry/Facebook online shop. I will be catering mostly to newborn photography props but I will also have things for everybody. Gifts and "just because" items.
 So I use the weekends to make things for myself or family. 
 This way I don't feel like I am wasting my time.


 While making these props I am working closely with my sister who is the owner/photographer for The Right Angle Studio. She is a perfectionist when it comes to these props. So she keeps me in line a bit. I will be straying into my own things too since they aren't things she will be using in her studio. I am hoping she will take some good quality pictures of my other things as well since I do not take such good shots myself.


 Now, before I get any bad remarks about me using these pictures. There is an agreement between myself,the photographer and the parents which allows me to use these pictures on my site. I would never dream of using these pictures unless I had permission first. Plus since the photographer is my sister I am in close contact with her during this and there is no doubts in any of this.


 There will be lots more items to be shown as soon as some female "models" are ready to be born and have their pictures taken. 

Jana's Scarf - free pattern

My sister has a foreign exchange student staying with her from Germany. I wanted to do something special for her before she leaves to go home.
 So I designed her a scarf in Germany's colors. I am really hoping she likes it.


 Plus being in the mood of doing something special I thought I would share the pattern with all of you.
 I did not give an ending row count simply because each person has their own preference in scarf length. I will leave that up to you.
Enjoy

 Jana's Scarf


Type- Crochet
Difficulty- advanced beginner to intermediate




Material's needed
3 colors of red heart or any other WW yarn. I used Black,Red and Gold (though Yellow is often substituted in the German colors)
I hook




Terms used- 
DC- double crochet
FPDC- front post double crochet
BPDC- back post double crochet
SK- skip
ST- stitch
SP- space
SL ST- slip stitch
CH- chain




Special instructions- Each row is began with a ch3 which is ALWAYS your first dc
FAN- 5 dc in the same st
V ST - dc,ch1,dc in same st
Half fan- 3 dc in same st


Color changes will occur after every 3 rows with the exception of first and last 4 fpdc/bpdc rows


With BLACK ch 27
Row 1- 25 dc across
Row 2- alternate fpdc and bpdc across
Row 3- alternate bpdc and fpdc across
Row 4- alternate fpdc and bpdc across
Color change RED
Row 5-  half fan in first st,* sk 3 st,V st in next st, sk 3 st, fan in next st  repeat from * end with a half fan
Row 6- V st in first st,* fan in ch 1 sp, V st in 3rd dc of fan  repeat from * end in Vst
Row 7- sl st (loosely) in ch1 sp,half fan in ch 1 sp,* V st in 3rd dc of fan,fan in ch 1 sp  repeat from * end in half fan
Color change GOLD
Row 8 to ? (however long you wish to make the scarf) Repeat rows 6&7
Don't forget to color change after every 3 rows
Last 4 rows- dc across making 25 dc. Depending on which row you end on you will need to add 2 or 3 dc at some point across this row. Inside a ch1 space works well for me.
Work 3 rows of alternating fpdc and bpdc like you did for rows 2,3 and 4
Finish off and weave in all ends







As always feel free to ask any questions or leave any comments or suggestions.

 I would love to see your finished scarves and color choices.