Update!

Well, things have certainly changed since I last posted.  My husband and I are expecting our first baby, due in June, which has kept me away from crafting and pattern designing.  But never fear - the next post I make will have a pattern for a Triforce pillow based off of Legend of Zelda video games.

Off to take pictures and to type up the pattern!

Finally!

Over a month and a half after I first started the process of writing down and formatting my pattern for Navi, I am done!

The pattern is now available for sale on Ravelry under the name "Hey! Listen!"

Almost there...

I am 90% of the way done with the pattern for Navi. All I need to do is create a chart for the wings to offer both the chart and written instructions so that the directions will hopefully be as easy as possible for others to understand.

I hope by tomorrow afternoon (Saturday the 12th) the pattern will be ready.

Pattern Designing

I've always enjoyed making up my own designs and creations, regardless of which craft I'm currently working in. I designed a small stained glass window for my younger brother, I've created my own quilt designs (with the help of my husband), and I've made up plenty of crochet and knitting projects along the way.

It's been an interesting challenge to turn those made up creations into patterns because I know how I created each item, but I have to find a way to write the instructions so that someone else can follow them to create the same object. Sometimes I get it right, but other times I've only made the process more complicated.

My current love is for creating amigurumi items. I love the near instant gratification and how cute each one is. The current pattern that I am working on writing the pattern out for is for Navi, the fairy found in several Legend of Zelda video games.



The biggest challenge so far has been the wings, but I have the lower wings figured out, so I'm halfway there! Look for a notice here that the pattern is available in the next week.

New Yarn!

Well, not new exactly, but new for me. Ryan and I went to one of the thrift stores not too far from our apartment, and I found four sweaters to pull apart and reclaim the yarn. Two of the sweaters are very similar shades of gray that I hope to turn into a Gryffindor sweater for myself before the Deathly Hallows movie premiere in November 2010. I've unraveled two of them so far today, and I might get to the others later, or by next Tuesday at the latest.

The bottomless pit...

That is my crafting supplies is slowly being conquered!

I've been working on a couple of orders, while starting to design my next new pattern. The new pattern will also be the first amigurumi I've designed, and I love making amis!

Another part of the cleaning and reorganizing is to find all of my knitting needles and crochet hooks and to account for all of them in the handy dandy table in my Ravelry database. So far I only have the crochet hooks properly accounted for. It is slightly sad to realize that there are a couple of sizes of hooks that I have three hooks in the same size.

Back to work I go!

Progress!

Things are moving right along. I'm probably going to finish up my grandma's birthday present tonight, and then I'll be working on two sets of dishcloths that have been ordered, plus a surprise gift for a friend.

I'm also getting a good handle on what I want to do for my part of the table at ACen's Artist Alley next year. There are a few details to work out, but I'm well on my way to not only get a pattern designed but also working on building up my inventory of products.

I'm also getting better at being a stay at home wife. While it's not always easy, and our money situation is difficult, we're doing the best we can.

New Toys!

Okay, not really new toys, but a new technique that I learned at my Local Yarn Store this past weekend. I had always wanted to try hand dyeing yarn, but I was never confident enough in myself to try it on my own. So, when I saw that there would be a class I jumped at the opportunity, and I am so glad that I did!

This class was focused on dyeing with ingredients you might already have in your home, primarily unsweetened Kool-Aid, food coloring, and Easter Egg dye. I dyed my skein a beautiful shade of blue with purple and green spots. I have no clue what to knit with it now, but I'll find something.

I'm putting a call out to anyone who reads this - what color combinations (colorways) would you like to see and what would you call it?

Sorry it's been so long

My job at the bank was getting in the way of keeping up with this blog, but no longer. I left my job at the end of April (it was quit or get fired), and I have now been working from home on my little craft business for nearly two months.

An essential part of this business is my knitting machine. It allows me to knit large blocks of stockinette stitch in a short amount of time, usually for scarves or afghans. Usually I love it, but right now it's really giving me a headache. I was having some problems with it, but hopefully those issues have been resolved - meaning I can finish up the projects I'm working on.

Once I'm finished with these current projects I hope to develop new patterns and update this blog on a more regular basis.

Ravelympics 2008

So the Ravelympics 2008 has officially begun. I am knitting the Daisies Shawl for myself in KnitPicks Shadow Jewels Heather. My plan is to keep updating this single post with my progress and pictures.

Day 1/Opening Ceremonies:
48 rows. I've gotten lost in the pattern a couple of times, and while you can see where the mistakes are, it's not really a big deal since I still have so much more to knit.

Day 2 - 6 rows, 54 total. August 9th is my birthday, so I was out with my family the entire day. We went and saw Cirque du Soleil Kooza instead of staying home and knitting. I still have a couple more days off coming up so I'll be able to make up for lost time.

Day 3 - 10rows, 64 total. I spent most of today at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and only got to knit after dinner. Holy cow was the Men's 4x100 Freestyle Relay exciting to watch!

Day 4 - 22 rows, 86 total. Today was my day off to stay at home and clean around the apartment and knit.

Simple Summer Kerchief

Earlier this month my younger brother, my husband and I carpooled together to attend the wedding of a family friend in our hometown. My brother offered to drive both ways, so I had plenty of time to knit. With my hair the shortest it's been in over a year and a half (I cut off 14 inches in May) I decided to knit a simple kerchief to help hold my hair back while working around the apartment.

The basic design of this kerchief follows the pattern for diagonal dishcloths.

And now on to the pattern!

Simple Summer Kerchief


Materials:
Size 6 knitting needles (I used both a 16" circular and 2 DPN's
Approximately .75 ounces of cotton yarn (With one ball of most dishcloth cotton you can make 2 kerchiefs)
Yarn needle to weave in ends

Instructions:
Cast on 3 stitches
Row 1: K1, Kfb, K1 (4 stitches)
Row 2: K2, Kfb, K1 (5 stitches)
Row 3: K2, YO, k to the end of the row
Repeat row 3 until there are 80 stitches on the needle, or as wide as you would like for the kerchief to be

Break yarn, leaving live stitches on needle

CO 3 stitches on separate needles and work an I-cord for approximately 9-12 inches, depending on how long you would like the ties to be.

I-Cord bind off:
*K2, knit last stitch of I-cord and 1 stitch of live stitches together. Slide stitches to right side of needle
Repeat from * until all 80 stitches are bound off.

Continue working I-cord until it measures the same as the first tie.
Bind off.
Weave in ends.

ADD to the Rescue!

I've slowly been making progress on the Fox-squirrel. The tail is done and I've started on the ears. Eventually I'll make this in both knitting and crochet, but I'm working on the knitted version first.

My other problem is that I keep coming up with ideas, and while I will write them down, I often don't do anything with the idea. I want to do so many things, but I end up not doing them (both in the craft world and in real life) because I usually convince myself that I won't do a good enough job.

But, hopefully things are changing for the better. I have a new job potentially lined up (I find out for certain on Monday), and while I only have 3 days of work next week I will be okay because that means more time to craft and to actually get things done.

Post ACen Progress

Well, technically I finished this hat before ACen, but I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. My co-worker Abel commissioned this from me, and the logo is from his favorite Mexican soccer team the Pumas. It is based on the House Color Hat found in Charmed Knits. This was also my first time using the double knit technique. It was fun and interesting to learn, but I'm not certain if I will make another double knit object in the round. My tension when purling is much looser than knitting, and it impacted how the hat looks on the yellow side.


You can kind of see the change in gauge on the yellow side above the logo, which is where I switched from working in double knit to separating the sides of the hat and working them each like a basic stockinette stitch hat. If I write up the pattern for this hat I will be shifting the placement of the image or logo so that it doesn't fall right below one of the decrease points.

I was also able to finish knitting the gloves and socks that Belldandy wears in Ah! My Goddess to go with my costume for ACen. Pictures of these will come an another post.

But now my next project (other than continued progress on the Cozy shawl for my grandma) is designing my first amigurumi. I've decided to make the Fox-squirrel from Nausicaa.



I have the yarn and a couple of test knitters/crocheters lined up. Now all I need to do is get started, which I hope to do either today while watching all of the Indiana Jones movies with my husband (before we see the new one tomorrow) or tomorrow afternoon after my job interview.

And my husband is helping me to brainstorm more ideas for amis. I'm so lucky that he supports my craziness.

So Many Ideas, So Little Time

I keep wanting to design more patterns and make them available, but I keep getting distracted by other projects. I am nearly done with all of my cosplay costumes for ACen, which is good since I have signed up for a couple of photoshoots.

My two biggest projects have been a double knit hat for a coworker and a lace shawl for my grandma. I have been making progress, mostly on the hat, but I wish there were just more hours in the day.

I hope to type up the patterns for a couple of projects that I made when I first started knitting and crocheting. I'm having a hard time deciding which patterns I should offer for free and which ones to sell. Hopefully the answers will come soon. But until then, back to sewing.

Bitten by the Designing Bug

I seriously have been bitten by the designing bug. Since I posted by dice bag here and started offering my Stargate Earth Dishcloth as a free Ravelry download all I can think about is designing. I've even started a new notebook dedicated to brainstorming design ideas.

Though, I think my only problem is actually following through with all of these ideas. There are certain projects that will probably have patterns written sooner than others, but I have no idea how many I'll actually finish. I will be offering a mixture of free patterns and patterns with a low cost. Dishcloths will cost around $2, Amigurumi patterns will be between $2-6, Scarves and mittens will be between $3-8, Sweaters and shawls will be between $8-15. This is just my best guess for now, as the price won't be decided upon until after the full pattern is written.

I also hope to start dyeing yarn. I've acquired a good deal of clearanced Easter egg dye and inexpensive packets of unsweetened drink mix. It's in the plans.

My mind is so full of ideas!

Basic Crocheted Dice Bag

This is the first free pattern I have to offer. I have made two of these so far - one for my husband (Ryan) and one for our friend JJ. This is so super easy that I'm surprised I haven't found directions for it online. That's okay - means I can write it out and "officially" become a designer.

Basic Crocheted Dice Bag

Materials Needed:
Size I (5.5mm) crochet hook
1 skein of yarn - your choice (you only use about 1/4 of the skein for this project)
Yarn needle

Techniques used:
Chain stitch
Single Crochet
Creating Eyelets

Instructions:
Chain 56
Slip stitch to join into circle. Place stitch marker if desired to mark beginning of round.
Rounds 1-24: Single crochet in back loop of each single crochet.
Round 25: *Chain 3, skip 3 single crochet, 4 single crochet in the next 4 single crochets, repeat from * until the end of the round.
Rounds 26-28: Single crochet in back loop of each single crochet.
Finish off.

Sew bottom edge closed with either whipstitching or a running stitch and weave in ends. Turn bag right side out (sewing is now on the inside).

Drawstrings:
Either purchase cording or make two braids measuring 18" long.
Weave one cord through the eyelet loops. Tie ends together
Starting on the other side, weave the other cord through the eyelet holes in the opposite direction. Tie ends together.

And you are finished! Just pull on the ends to keep your roleplaying dice or other small trinkets safe. Happy gaming!

Pattern Edit: After getting some feedback about this pattern (especially with crocheting it in the round and then seaming the bottom), another way to start the dice bag would be to chain 28 and to work both sides of the chain to create an oval with a total of 56 chains. This would eliminate the need for seaming.