First Peek at My Pixie Doll!

I've finished my pixie doll and her first dress!  Here she is:

This is the Spring dress -- I've got designs in mind for one for each season.  And my son wants me to make a boy pixie too, so we shall see what I can come up with.  Meanwhile, this is all finished except for a button on the back, and then I'll be doing better photos and writing up the pattern, etc.

Resurfacing

I dropped off the grid for a while -- sorry about that.  We went to my parents' house, the kids and I were sick for a week, and then I had to dig myself out from under a mountain of laundry... I've barely had time to check my email and keep up with pattern sales, much less do some real blogging. 

But right now, I have a few quiet minutes, and thought I'd do a catch-up post here.  I just finished playing The Game of Life with my son, and he's now playing with the cars and little peg people, racing them around the board and telling little stories.  Both girls are napping, and outside it looks like a rainstorm might be scudding our way.

Remember how I said I wanted to have my creative nook totally reorganized by the end of May?  I failed.  It doesn't look much different than it did three weeks ago, except that I've emptied out one of the grey plastic tubs and cleared a couple things off my sewing table.  Sigh.  At this rate, it'll be the end of summer before I even manage to haul out my sewing machine, and those skirts I wanted to make the girls for this summer will have to be fall skirts instead.  Grr.

On a good note, I've finished my fairy/sprite/pixie doll, and the first dress for her!  I need to get some photos of her the next time it's sunny, and then I'll post them here and show her off.  And get the patterns in my store!  I'm hoping to accomplish that by the end of this week, we shall see.

I've also been working on a watercolor poster thing (I'm so descriptive today!) for the baby's room -- I'll post pics of that when it's finished too.  And I'm more than half done with the first knitted storage box for the shelves in my creative nook.  Haven't had a lot of crafting time lately -- did I mention the mountain of laundry? -- but I do what I can, when I can.

Okay, that's all for today.  Hoping to post more soon!

New Crochet Pattern, a Stitch Idea, and a Sleep Breakthrough

It's done!  My new pattern for a flower embellishment:

I had this idea for a kind of retro, almost cartoon-like flower a while ago, based on the kinds we tend to associate with the 1960s and '70s, flower power, hippies, etc.  But I could not for the life of me get the petals to be rounded like this without either curling up or running into each other.  I finally got it all figured out on Friday and made up a couple demos to show off in my listings for the pattern.  (It's listed on Etsy, Ravelry, and Craftsy, as usual.)

These would be so cute decorating a hat or purse, or a bunch of them sewn all over a vest or skirt!  I think they lend themselves to children's clothing really well, but adults with a fun fashion sense could totally wear them too.  Here's how one looks on my adult sun hat:

And just this morning, while I was lying in bed snuggling my baby, I dreamed up my very first crochet stitch!  I went to Yarn Cloud yesterday for new yarn to make a blanket for the new niece we'll be getting in a few months, and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for this blanket, when bam!  A new crochet stitch! It's probably been done before, but I've never used it or seen it in a book (as far as I know -- I do like reading books of different stitches).  If the blanket turns out well, maybe I'll sell the pattern for it!

Speaking of snuggling my baby, last night was a Big Night.  She slept in her own bed for half the night!  She's almost 5 months old now, and I had started putting my other two kids in their own beds at night when they were about 4 months old, but timing just has not been working out with this one -- we were gone two weeks ago, we've got another trip coming up soon, and then next month we're going on vacation.  I tried starting her in her own bed a few times, but she wasn't going for it, and I figured with all that upheaval, it just was going to have to wait.

But last night she kept waking up every half an hour, and I got fed up.  The fourth time she woke up, I said, "That's it!  Little girl, you're going in your own bed.  If you cry, so be it -- Mommy needs sleep!"  I nursed her back to sleep, put her down in the little travel bed next to our bed, which is where I've been trying to get her to sleep at nights (she naps in her own room during the day), and she stayed asleep!  So I lay back down, figuring I'd get maybe half an hour before she woke up and yowled.  But lo and behold, when she woke up again, she'd been asleep for two hours!!  I put her back in her own bed, and then she slept for almost three hours!!!  What an amazing relief!  This morning, for the first time in weeks, my back hasn't complained when I got up (sleeping around a baby this size is not comfy after the first few minutes), and she's actually been in a pretty good mood too.  Here's hoping this continues!

Is it a Sprite? Or a Fairy?

So, know that Secret Project I mentioned a couple times, the one inspired by the beautiful green sock yarn from Six Skeins that I won a couple weeks ago?  I'm mostly done with the first part and ready to share a peek!

I was originally thinking this would be a fairy, with outfits that reflect the four seasons.  But wings are puzzling me.  Are there wingless fairies?  Or should I call it a sprite?  She doesn't have hair yet, but I really wanted to share right now cuz I'm so excited to have the body done -- it's my first time designing a doll crochet pattern -- a full-body one, I mean -- and after lots of experimenting, it finally came out satisfactorily.


So, I got the amazing green sock yarn from Six Skeins wound into two small cakes, and I also wound up three sock yarn mini skeins I got from Wullenstudio.  Have to have yarn for the other three seasons, not just green for spring!  Though I think the green will be my starting point for the clothes.  Each outfit will be designed to reflect the season, and come with a hat too.  I already have the basic look for each one figured out (maybe one day I'll sketch out my designs so I don't forget them, but right now, all my pattern ideas are stored in my head), I just need to make them.

(My yarn cakes are a little messy because when I wound them, I had two small helpers who are possessed of more enthusiasm than exactness.  They had lots of fun!)

Featured on Crafty Saints!

I came back from a short trip to Chicago to find that my egg pattern got featured here on the Crafty Saints blog!  That was some lovely news to come home to :-)  I also sold a couple more patterns while I was gone, which enabled me to order some hand-dyed yarn on Etsy today for my Secret Project.

Why was I in Chicago?  For my new niece's baptism!  My brother's wife had their first baby a little over a week ago, so off we all flew on Friday.  Man, flying with three kids?  Lots of work.  They were all really great on the plane, except for the last 10 minutes of our flight home, when Sadie objected vociferously to having her tray table stowed and told the entire plane in no uncertain terms what a "Bad, bad Daddy!" she has.  But we had a great time in Chicago, spending lots of time with my parents, my grandma, and my brother and his wife and new baby.  It's very nice to be home too, though, even with four loads of laundry staring down the barrel at me.

I just have to share a photo of the beautiful baptismal gown my mom crocheted for her newest grandbaby:

Isn't it amazing?  My mom is a phenomenal crocheter, as you can see.  My sister-in-law crocheted the blanket, and the two have matching rosettes.

Giving Away a Sunflower Baby Toy

Can you believe it's Tuesday already?  Yesterday, my hubby stayed home because he pulled a muscle in his neck and couldn't turn his head at all -- he held it cocked at an angle like a curious little puppy all day long, which was cute, but not at all safe for driving to work, hee.  So today now feels like Monday to me, as yesterday I had help around the house (sorta) and got to spend lots of time out in the garden (will try to blog about that later).

Apropos of it still feeling like Monday to me, here's a link to my friend Julie's Monday Meltdown Giveaway over on her blog.  This week, she's giving away something that looks very familiar... cuz it's from me!  We're offering a ready-made sunflower from my new pattern for either a sunflower or daisy that I recently added to my shop.

We're also offering the crochet pattern as a PDF file, so go follow this link for a chance to win!

As Time Goes By

It's been almost a year since I blogged here last. I'm amazed anyone is still following here! Well, surprise, surprise -- I'm back!

The past year has been crazy busy. We bought a house and moved into it in August, about 6 months after our previous move. I'm still not unpacked. Why? Because I had a baby in December! The last time I blogged here, I didn't even know I was pregnant. Wow.

Due to the arrival of baby Abby, I considered closing my Etsy shop. Taking packages to the store with three kids in tow is daunting, for one thing. For another, I've been wanting to narrow the focus of my store for a while now. Or give it a focus for the first time, lol. A couple years ago, I mused in this post about whether or not having lots of different kinds of items in my shop was good or not. I've decided to try selling only my original crochet patterns. No journals, no canteens, no ready-made crocheted items. Just patterns. So far, it's been working well! I've added several new patterns recently, and am working on lots more. Stay tuned here for details, because I plan to keep this blog going once again :-)

To close, here's one of my new patterns, modeled by my new baby:

Back. Again.

Since the last time I blogged, we've moved, we're mostly unpacked, and I'm starting to get back into crafting. At last! Which means I'm also getting back to my blog :-)

I just listed this sweet hat in my shop:


It's a 6-12 month hat I made from 100% merino wool. Divinely soft! And I love the happy, springy colors, don't you?

Here's my current project:


Yes, I'm knitting! Crazy, I know. I realized I'd pretty much forgotten the little I'd learned about knitting, so I decided to jog my memory and use up a bit of left-over yarn and make something small for Mercy -- I was thinking a Barbie blanket for her to play with when she's older, but I think I'm going to run out of yarn before I make a whole blanket, so it'll be more like a Barbie throw or rug or something. But again, don't you love these colors? Bright and cheery, and I love them!

And finally, my friend Julie from This Cosy Life gave me this gorgeous yarn as an early birthday gift:


It's hand-dyed cotton chenille from Etsy shop Crochet 4 U 2 Dye 4. I'm going to make Mercy a sun hat from it as soon as I finish my little knitting project. Fun, fun, fun!

Hand Knit Hand Me Downs

My friend Julie from This Cosy Life has had an awesome idea. Those of us who knit and/or crochet occasionally make something that doesn't fit its intended recipient, that doesn't turn out quite the way we wanted, or that we're just plain tired of. What do we do with those handmade items? If we give them to a thrift store, will the person who acquires it know how to care for it? But throwing them away is wasteful, and storing them forever is impractical.

So Julie has created Hand Knit Hand Me Downs, a Flickr group for people with hand knitted or crocheted items that they no longer have a use for, but that still have good wear in them. You offer them for free, only asking that the recipient share a photo of the item being worn/used. Anyone who knits or crochets can join and offer or ask for items. You can join the group here, and also with the complete rules for joining.

I've joined, and I've already thought of several items I'm going to offer once I've finished moving. So in a couple weeks or so, lol. Speaking of moving, we went on our hunting trip and found an apartment, so won't be long and we'll be living in the great state of Virginia! Woo!

2010 in My Rearview Mirror

It's been such an amazing year! My daughter came into the world, my son turned three, my brother graduated from law school, my husband got a new job that he'll be starting before long... and my shop has done me proud.

I don't know about you, but the last few days of the year always make me introspective. What went right this year? What didn't? What do I need to work on in the coming twelve months? What do I want to improve on?

I know my parenting skills need work. I lose my patience too often, even my temper sometimes, and I need to get better at maintaining my cool. I also need to take more time for Dano -- he's had a rough ten months, having to share his world with a noisy little stranger. I try to spend Mercy's morning nap time with him, doing whatever he wants, but lately I've been squeezing laundry or dishes or checking email into that time slot, which is not at all fair to him. Having my Mom here the last week and a half illustrated very clearly to me how much he's missing having lots of attention -- he soaked up her time with him like a happy sponge. Sure, all kids want more attention than they get, but I feel like I've been capitalizing on his ability to amuse himself too much lately. So no more multitasking during Mercy's naps unless it's truly unavoidable.

Creatively, I've had an awesome run. I've nearly completed my fifth novel -- one of my aims for January is to finish the first draft so I can let it sit for a few months, then see if I think a rewrite would make it viable, publishable material. Who knows -- by the end of 2011, I may be on my way to getting a novel published!

As for my more crafty creativity, I've done well there too. I've had satisfying sales with Huggermugger, I've created some new products, and I've got ideas for more. I want to collage more composition-sized notebooks, try out some new hat patterns, maybe even branch out into something altogether different. I'm currently crocheting a cardigan for myself, my first attempt at crocheted clothing if you don't count hats, scarves, and mittens. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Happy New Year!

A First

If you're wondering what I've been up to for the past couple weeks, wonder no more. A good deal of my time was spent crocheting this dress for Mercy. I bought a couple hundred yards of divine hand-dyed yarn from my friend Julie back in June -- it's the same as this yarn she's selling in her shop, ThisCosyLife. I knew I wanted to use it on something special for my baby girl, but I just couldn't decide on a project. I wanted to try making her a dress or other piece of clothing... but I've never crocheted clothing before. I felt daunted by the idea.

But I started looking at crochet patterns for baby dresses. I couldn't find any I really liked -- they were all too complicated or too frilly or just not what I wanted. I wanted a simple, sweet sundress she could wear to church or the mall or whatever.

Then I said to myself, hey, I know what I want -- why don't I just make up my own pattern? I make up patterns all the time! What's the worst that can happen -- I have to unravel it and start over. Big deal. I knew my 200 yards of yarn from Julie wouldn't be enough for a whole dress, but I had some wool yarn left over from another project that was a lovely peach and just matched one of the colors in Julie's yarn. I figured between the two, I'd have enough.

So, after much trial and error, ripping out stitches and redoing, I have the sundress I wanted. Simple, colorful, and feminine without being fussy and frilly. I even had enough of Julie's yarn left to make a matching diaper cover! I found these perfect buttons at the craft store, and my first attempt at crocheting clothing was complete!

I plan to offer my original pattern for this dress in my shop soon -- I just have to write it up first :-) And now that the dress is done, I can get back to blogging and post about the two books and three recipes I've been meaning to share.

Mother's Day Scavenger Hunt

The Busy Moms of Etsy team is holding its first ever scavenger hunt, and I'm participating! A whole bunch of team members, including me, donated an item from their shop to put in a huge prize basket -- everything from jewelry to snack bags to gift certificates. I donated the three dish scrubbies in this picture:

And that picture is just a sample of the stuff in the gift basket -- the blog post lists and shows more, and there are more being added still.

All you have to do to join the scavenger hunt is browse the participating shops, which are listed here on the Busy Moms Blog. In each shop, hidden inside the listing for some random item, you'll find this icon as one of the photos listed with the product:
When you find the icon, go back to that post on the Busy Moms Blog and leave a comment stating which store and item you found the icon in. You get one entry for every flower icon you find, and there are more than 20 stores participating, so you can enter quite a few times! Plus, you can browse for a gift for your own mom at the same time :-) All non-team members are eligible, so happy hunting!

Huggermugger Hats, Babies, and Friends

At last, I've created a hat worthy of the title Huggermugger! Ever since I opened shop, I've been wanting to make up a hat pattern that I could call the Huggermugger Hat because wearing it felt like a hug for your head. And I've finally done so! I have four in my shop at the moment, all adult/teen sizes, but I'm working on making a child size.

The Huggermugger Hat is crocheted from two strands of yarn held together, so it's extra thick and extra warm. I'll be adding the crochet pattern to my shop soon as well.

In other news, I'm 36 weeks along in my pregnancy today. I had a midwife appointment this morning, and the baby is head-down, in perfect position for birth, so I'm praying it stays that way. I haven't really mentioned being pregnant much here, and that's because there's rarely anything to say -- I'm having a very ordinary, normal, uncomplicated pregnancy, so what's there to write? I've gained 26 pounds so far, the baby's growing nicely and has a strong heartbeat, and I'm pretty much ready for it to arrive any time now :-)

Speaking of baby arrivals, my best friend Julie, who runs the Etsy shop This Cosy Life, had her third child this week, a healthy baby girl. Hooray!

Up next: another giveaway! Don't touch that dial ;-)

Sale Time!

Through January 1st, I am having a sale in my Huggermugger store. I'm getting rid of some older items to make way for new designs and ideas.



If you're like me and looking for Christmas stuff this week because you know they'll probably be on sale, my Christmas items are no exception. They're all 50% off this week!


Also, I've marked all my winter hats, scarves, and mittens down by 25%-50%. All of them -- the baby hats, the child hats, and the adult/teen attire. So if you want to keep your family warm with handmade items, here's the perfect opportunity!

My7Kids

No, I don't have seven kids suddenly -- number two won't arrive for another couple months yet. Actually, My7Kids is the name of one of my favorite Etsy shops. This shop specializes in yarn, so you can see the appeal for someone like me who loves to crochet (and is still trying to conquer that whole knitting thing). But the yarn from My7Kids is especially cool because it's recycled!

This yarn starts out as a sweater, usually a commercially made one bought from a thrift shop. It gets unraveled, washed, and then redyed. Though the photographs mostly show artful hanks and twists of yarn, it actually arrives on your doorstep in a convenient center-pull ball, which I personally prefer to those artful twists (because those tend to turn into a big tangled mess when I try to use them). I've bought four different yarns from this shop, and they are awesome! I haven't had a chance to use the two balls I bought most recently, but I'm planning to make things for Huggermugger from them once I finish a couple projects I have going.

The other cool thing about My7Kids' yarn is the way the different colors are named. Three of the skeins I've bought were called Boromir, Inigo Montoya, and The Shadow -- I happen to love Lord of the Rings, The Princess Bride, and the old radio show The Shadow (the movie was pretty good too), so you can see why I might be attracted to those particular yarns.

Right now, My7Kids has lots of yarn named after/inspired by the movie The Christmas Story, so if you're a fan of that movie, of recycling, or just of yarn in general, definitely check My7Kids out! The prices are incredibly reasonable -- all the yarns in the shop at the moment are under $20 and many are under $10. I may have to pick up a couple more myself, as a matter of fact.

My7Kids is run by Nikki, a Christian stay-at-home mom who homeschools her kids -- in other words, she's a lot like my mom and me, just with more kids. You can learn more about Nikki by reading her blog, My Thoughts on Life, Yarn, Kids, and Other Stuff.

Giveaway: "Denim" Purse

To celebrate Thanksgiving Day this week (and the kickoff of the Christmas season), I'm holding my second giveaway! This time around, I'm giving away this groovy purse:


You have one week to win it -- this giveaway ends on November 30th.

I've crocheted the outside of this bag from fuzzy denim-colored yarn that's a mix of acrylic/mohair/polyester. It has a nice ribbed pattern, and I've lined the bag with actual denim. The top flap fastens with a loop around a bright red- and pink-striped plastic button that says "Be happy" in purple letters.

This bag is 9" tall, 9" wide, and 2" thick. The strap is 2" wide and 39" long. That gives you plenty of room to carry around your stuff, but isn't so big and bulky it'll get in your way all the time.

How can you win this bag, worth $30? There are three ways:

+ 1. Leave a comment here listing your favorite item from my store, www.huggermugger.etsy.com , and either your email address or your blog so I can contact you if you win.

+ 2. Follow my blog. Leave a comment here letting me know you're a follower, plus either your email address or your blog so I can contact you if you win.

+ 3. Post about this on your own blog. Leave a comment here with a link to your blog post, plus either your email address or your blog so I can contact you if you win.

This means you can be entered up to three times!

Enter by midnight on November 30th! I'll draw the winner on December 1st, announce who it is here, and contact them to get their mailing address.

Sound good? I hope so. Be Happy!

Santa Hat Pattern

I just added my original pattern for baby/child Santa hats to my store! It's in my Crochet Patterns section (obviously). This pattern is really easy, perfect for beginning crocheters. If you can chain and work a double crochet stitch, you can make this hat! This pattern has instructions for five sizes: 0-3mo, 3-6mo, 6-12mo, 12-24mo, and Child. I also include the directions to make the pom-pom.

I've been selling my crochet patterns quite a bit lately. I love the idea of someone taking my pattern and making something of their very own with it -- it's like getting to be a teacher, in a way. And since I also love making up my own crochet patterns when I can't find one for what I want to make, I'm sure I'll be adding more patterns to my store in the future.

If you order this pattern now, you'll have plenty of time to make one or two of these before Christmas, even have your kids' portraits taken in them if you want. I also sell the already-made hats in my store if you don't feel like making them yourself, and if you don't see the size you need, contact me because I love making custom orders.

Up next week -- a giveaway!

Still See a Pattern?

Remember the snowman hat I talked about in my last post? I've made another one and listed it in my shop in my brand new Child Hats section. I'm planning to add some more hats there soon -- after all, why should babies have all the fun? I've also added the pattern to my shop, so now I have five of my original patterns for sale! I've expanded my pumpkin hat pattern to include a child size too.

The North Wind Doth Blow

It's snowing! It's not sticking, of course, but still, it's snowing! In honor of our first snow for the season, I thought I'd highlight some of the new winter hats I've been adding to my shop lately.

For adults, I just added this groovy hat. I call it the Purple Waves hat, not just because the yarn is purple and the pattern is wavy, but as a reference to one of my favorite books ever, The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I crocheted this hat from a wool/acrylic blend that has a handspun texture, which means it has "slubs," or thicker parts in the yarn. That gives this hat a nobbly aspect that I think is extra fun.

Another adult hat I added recently is this black and burgundy cloche. A cloche is a close-fitting women's hat that's sort of shaped like a bell. They were really popular back in the Roaring Twenties. I made this one from satin-finish acrylic yarn, so it's extra soft. And it matches a pair of mittens that I made a couple months ago. Both mittens and hat are done in single crochet for maximum warmth.

And I'm adding some children's sizes to my shop! My first is this Jack-o'-lantern hat that's actually a larger size of the baby ones I already offer. This is big enough for a toddler up to about a ten-year-old. (I offer the pattern for the baby sizes here.) I'm going to be adding a snowman hat soon -- I made one as a custom order and it turned out so cute, I'm going to make more for my shop. In fact, I've got one started already. More about that when I list it!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas....

It's 98 degrees here today. Yesterday was almost as bad, and tomorrow promises to be the same... if not worse.

So what better time to think about Christmas, right?

Last year, I crocheted a tree skirt for the little table-top Christmas tree we have to use because this apartment is too small for a full-size tree. And I made one for my shop too. Now, I've transcribed my somewhat illegible scribblings for the pattern, put it in pdf format, and am offering it for sale in my shop. Sure, it's only August, but I figure if you want to make your own tabletop tree skirt, you might want to get started on it before, oh, December 24th. So this gives you lots of time :-)