What I've been up to: Autumn edition!

Hi Readers!

It's been a while since my last blog update, so I thought it would be a good idea to let you all know what I've been doing for the past month:

First, I finally finished up and blocked this sweater...

 Pattern found here, btw: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sweetheart-sweater-5

...and I have to say that I am delighted with how it came out! The yarn is a mite bit itchy, though, so if I were to knit this again I'd use something different.

But my word. I love this sweater. I wore it for two days in a row after it was completely finished.

I've also been working on building up Lace Mountain 2014...

...which is considerably smaller than last year's Lace Mountain. I'm aiming to have at least thirty flakes, though.

I haven't had a chance to crochet as many snowflakes as I'd like; my inner ears are acting like divas so I can't crochet on my bus commute like I usually do. I'd make more time to crochet at home, but I've been distracted from my crochet projects because WE GOT A PET!

 Readers, meet Carl Sagan the Angry Fish, the newest member of our family!

Here he is showing off his gorgeous fins <3 He's his most impressive when he's hacked off. 

FISHY LASER BEAM POWERS ACTIVATE!

...thus named because the very first thing he did when we put him in his bowl was to attack his own reflection.

He's also known as Carl, Sagan, Fish, and Fishy (depending on our moods).

While it has been noted that there is the possibility of this little guy developing an identity crisis, Carl Sagan the Angry Fish doesn't really seem to care one way or the other about what we call him.

Because...you know...he's a fish.

It's been a lot of fun having a pet for the first time in goodness knows how long. Cats and Dogs are strictly forbidden in our rent agreement (And keeping Carl Sagan the Angry Fish is...kind of toeing the line on what exactly is allowed), so it's nice to be greeted after a long day.

Even when that greeting is coming from a homicidal Betta fish; swimming out with his gills and fins all puffed out in an attempt to destroy any and all who try to intrude on his fish bowl.

I caught a nasty head-cold last week and had to stay home from work for a couple of days. Carl isn't nearly as comforting as a furry kitty cat, but he did come out of his favorite hiding place (behind a large, flat rock) and followed my finger around the fishbowl glass.

Then he puffed his fins out and swam/crashed into the side of his bowl in an attempt to kill my finger.

He shows his affection in his own 'lil fishy way.

So anyways, that was my October, Readers! I'll try to be better about updating this blog, although it may be a little while before I have anything to report apart from Carl Sagan the Angry Fish's murder attempts.

Until next time!

Apis

"One can no more approach people without love than one can approach bees without care. Such is the quality of bees."
                                                 -Leo Tolstoy

I've got a new snowflake pattern, Readers! I hope you enjoy!

"Apis" snowflake

Materials:

Size 10 crochet thread

1.65 mm crochet hook

Chain 6, form ring (or make magic circle).

Round 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), 11 dc in ring. Join with sl st in third ch of beginning ch 3.

Round 2: Ch 1, sc in same st. *ch 8, skip next dc, sc in next dc. Repeat from * 4 times. Ch 3, dtr in first sc to form last ch-8 sp.

Round 3: Work beginning 4-dc cluster in same sp. Ch 9, *work 4-dc cluster in next ch-8 sp, ch 9. Repeat from * around, join with sl st to beginning 4-dc cluster.

Round 4: ch 12, sl st in same sp. Ch 20, sl st in 20th ch from hook. Ch 1, 8 sc in next ch 9 sp, *Ch 21, sl st in 20th ch from hook. Sl st in next 4-dc cluster, ch 12, sl st in same 4-dc cluster. Ch 20, sl st in 20th ch from hook. Ch 1, 8 sc in next ch 9 sp. Repeat from *4 times. ch 21, sl st in 20th ch from hook. Ch 1, and sl st in first ch of beginning ch 12.

Round 5: sl st to the center of first ch 12 loop. Ch 1, sc in same loop. *Ch 10, sl st in 2nd ch from hook; hdc in next ch. ch 1, skip one ch, tr in next ch. Ch 1, sk next ch, dtr in next ch, ch 1, skip next ch, ttr in next ch. ch 1, sc in same ch 12 space. Ch 9, insert hook into 10th ch of next ch-20 space, yo and pull up a loop (2 loops on hook), insert hook into 10th ch of next ch-20 space, YO and pull up a loop, YO and draw through all three loops on hook. (Ch 6, sl st in same st just made) twice. Ch 9,  sc in next ch 12 space. Repeat from * 5 times, omitting final sc. Join with sl st to first sc. Bind off.

Pin and stiffen using whatever method you prefer:

Crocheters, you may use the flakes you make from this pattern in any way you like, but please do not sell or republish the pattern. Thanks!

Knitting Projects and Lace Doodles in Progress...

Hello, Readers! It has been entirely too long!

It's true that I've been neglecting this blog, but I haven't been neglecting my knitting!

The Year of the Sweater is off to an excellent start, I must say! Look what I finished a few weeks ago!

Pattern found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/plain-and-simple-pullover

I'm still waiting on some blocking supplies to arrive in the mail before I model this sweater properly. I'm VERY pleased with how the sweater looks, but I have to say that the yarn I picked out is....itchy. VERY ITCHY. If I want to actually wear this sweater outside of the house (which I absolutely will, once it's been blocked), I'll have to wear a long-sleeved shirt underneath.

Plus, I'm going to re-attach some of the buttons to make it just a bit more aesthetically pleasing. I'm not going to wear it with the turtleneck buttoned up, anyway.

Too itchy.

Serves me right for picking out the cheapest yarn. Ah well. It looks lovely, at the very least.

I'm making very good progress on sweaters two and three as well! I'll be posting those in the coming weeks.

In addition to the Year of the Sweater, I've been knitting lots of little lovely things for all of my family members who are having babies.

Three cousins have had their babies within the past two months. That's THREE knit baby gifts!

I'm VERY pleased with knit baby gift number one:

Pattern found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/foglie-su-legaccio---leaves-of-garter-stitch

Just needs buttons and blocking!

I'm also working the kinks out of a new crochet snowflake pattern. I've been inspired by some gorgeous macro-photography shots of snowflakes; one Russian photographer in particular has been catching my eye lately:

http://chaoticmind75.blogspot.com/

His name is Alexey Kljatov, and oh my sweet holy mother he takes gorgeous pictures.

I've crocheted a flake that's based off of this photograph here:

http://500px.com/photo/22899889

...and the finished result, I find, is just kind of "Meh".

The flake was also VERY sloppily starched. Yuck. 

The flake NEEDS just a little something, but I don't want to over-work it and make it into a jumble of un-necessary do-dads. In the few years that I've been designing crochet lace, I've learned a few things:

1. Less is More
2. Always make one more chain than you think you need
3. The popcorn stitch doesn't starch well.

I'm thinking the best thing I can do for "Kljatov 1" is to make it bigger, for one thing. I want the negative space in the center of the flake to stand out a bit more, and making it larger will give me a little bit more freedom in playing with the shapes that the negative space can create.

I may also do a row of single crochets along the outer-most edge, but I think that may draw the eye away from the center.

If anybody has any suggestions, I'm all ears! Leave me a comment, Readers!

Until next time! <3

Craft Fair version 2.0!

This was my table's set up at the beginning of the fair...

...and I mixed it up a bit in the middle of the fair when about a good third of the snowflakes were sold. 

Good morning, Readers!

I would like to apologize for the distinct lack of crochet patterns as of late; at the insistence of my husband and friends, I've put myself on a  crochet pattern "sabbatical" until after Thanksgiving. I've got a few things in the creative crock-pot stewing away though, so you guys can look forward to lots of new stuff in December!

Plus, I just got some very, VERY exciting news and an unbelievable opportunity! I'll give details when I can, but for now, it's taking every ounce of my self control to not start squealing and jumping up and down like a two year old.

Well, another annual holiday craft show has come and gone. Boy howdy, Readers, WHAT an improvement compared to last year's sad result!

I ended up selling about half, that's right, HALF of my merchandise. Friggin awesome.

Even though (compared to last year's disaster) this year was quite a success, I still learned quite a bit throughout the whole thing:

1. Presentation, presentation, presentation. As I'm sure my regular readers are aware, my "doitatthelastpossibleminute" strategy had given me disastrous results last year. This year, I took the time to scour the discount and secondhand stores for various decorative items; I found a nice chocolate brown tablecloth (that I could use for myself after the craft fair was over), a couple of FABULOUS golden poinsettia place mats, and an earring holder that rotated, all for about twenty dollars.  I commandeered our dining room table for an evening and played with different "layouts" until I was satisfied, and on the morning of the fair my booth was up and ready to go within ten minutes.

Plus, you guys, look at this price tag. Look.

I made my own price tags by cutting out tag shapes from a blank manilla folder and stamping them. So cute, fun to make, and in my humble opinion, much nicer looking than the store-bought ones.

You'd think that presentation would be obvious to a gal who sells her things at craft fairs, but making my flakes stand out and look their best is something I really struggle with. I'm sure that some of you who follow my "Lace Doodle Thursdays" have noticed my lack of photography skills; I find that white crochet snowflakes are VERY hard to take pictures of! Granted, taking pictures of my snowflakes is an entirely different animal than setting up a craft fair booth, but making things look good (in pictures AND in person) is a skill I am continuing to develop. The best way to learn these things (in my case) is to fall flat on my face a few times; but as the proverb goes, from last year's mistakes come this year's wisdom. My booth looked SO much better than it did last year, and all the effort I put into the presentation of my flakes really showed itself in the increased sales!

2. Pricing. My prices this year came down quite a bit, mostly due to the fact that I worked really hard to silence my inner yarn snob. The vast majority of my flakes were made with DMC's "Cebelia" (which goes for about five dollars per ball; I ended up using one ball to make around 40 snowflakes. On average, the cost of materials was about twelve cents per flake. Given that I paid about fifty cents per snowflake last year, this is an amazing improvement) and a few were made with some inexpensive beads. The most expensive snowflake was about five dollars (it didn't sell, but I kind of wanted to keep that one anyway).

Most of the snowflakes sold were priced between $2-$3.50 each. It was interesting; the customers gravitated toward the medium sized flakes instead of the itty-bitty ones (priced at a dollar) or the lager and more complicated ones (priced between $4-$5). I like having a variety of shapes/sizes to sell, but knowing what the customers usually buy is always good to keep in mind.

3. My attitude. The fabulous legal secretary who runs the craft fair (and who was been running it for the past ten years) gave me some really solid advice after she witnessed my little "craft sale fail" last year: to RELAX! Nobody sells all of their items, nobody gets it right the first time. Customers are able to detect desperation like a rabbit can detect a ravenous wolf, and potential buyers will high-tail it in the opposite direction as soon as they hear an over-enthusiastic "OH, HI!!! WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN SOME HANDMADE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS???"

I made it a point to avoid the craft fair as it was going on, with the exception of my noon break (where I went to re-arrange the booth and put out more merchandise). I know myself enough to anticipate my tendency to come off as a bit high-strung when I'm stressed out, so for the majority of the day, I stayed in my office. I will say that it was hard, SO hard, but the end result made it all worth it.


 Because, you know, it's a really good idea to NOT circle around potential customers like a shark.

With that, I'm out, Readers! I hope you all have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!