SUNDAY SNEAKY PEEK

Happy Sunday all my yarnies, crafters and hookers how are we today? 

Its a rainy lazy kind of day so we are taking advantage and doing crafts. The offspring have received so many craft kits for birthdays and Christmas etc that they pretty much have a craft a week. ;) Which is fine with this mama. I love that they get so involved and get in touch with their creative sides. 

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The Blue & Gold banquet went well yesterday. The food was delish and lots of laughs were had. But the best part of the day was seeing Offspring #3 receive his Wolf Badge. He has worked really hard this year towards his rank and achievements. He also received a gold arrow point and 2 silver arrow points. I'm so proud of my boy. 

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Okay so now is everyone ready for a sneaky peek at the Project of the Week?? 

Remember I told you it is actually a 'pair' of something. And I said they are my favorite summertime thing. I do have some tweaking to do with this pattern but I'm confident I can make it work better for me. 

I have to choose another two colors for the next 'pair' but I cannot make a decision. Please help me choose the colors. I need TWO color suggestions. 

If I use your color suggestion I will link to your choice of 2 of your accounts ie. facebook, etsy, blog, twitter etc on Thursdays Project of the Week post. So get those suggestions in. 

I hope you all are enjoying a relaxing Sunday. 

Happy Hooking

~Kate~

TGI...FRIDAY!!!

Hello there yarnies, crafters and friends, I hope you all are well.

Any big plans for this weekend??

The Man & I will be attending Offspring #3's Blue and Gold Banquet tomorrow. He is a Wolf Cub Scout this year. Very exciting indeed. 

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Tonight however I am on to the Project of the Week for next week. I'm pretty excited about this item especially since these are my most FAVORITE summertime item. I'll give you a hint....they're a PAIR of something. 

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So I wanted to let you all know of a new thing I'm trying along with promoting and building my business..... a YouTube channel. I have posted 2 tutorials so far. Please bear with me as I learn how to edit and clarify my videos. I'd love to hear your critique. I'd also love to hear about a particular tutorial you'd like for me to do. Right now I'm just doing small things that I can "practice and learn" with. So please head on over and subscribe. 

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I'd like to bring your attention to a new addition to the blog if you'll just take a moment to look to the left 

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You will see a new button....its called We're On The Fence. Please click this button to vote for my blog. You can click each and every day and it counts for a vote. This is a great place to help bloggers bring attention to their blogs. You never know you might even find another blog on there that you like. I know I've already found a few. I wonder how many more times I can say 'blog' in this bit about blogs. Bloggidy bloggidy blog. ;) 

Okay thats done :) 

*Remember to come back and click once each day* 

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Please tell me what you'd like to see me create for a Project of the Week. I will link your Blog, Etsy shop or whatever social site you'd like me to showcase if I use your suggestion. 

That's it for tonight my fellow crafters and friends. 

As always Happy Hooking!!! 

~Kate~

                       “Once you start pulling loops through loops, why ever stop?” – Vashti Braha

Thursday's PROJECT OF THE WEEK!!!!

                         Hello there Hookers and Yarnies. Welcome to another installment of...Project of the Week. I hope you all are happy and well this fine Thursday evening (I apologize for the late start).  

I have something exciting to share with you.....Hair Accessories!! That's right wait till you see this. When I saw how to make one of these (see link below with picture) I couldn't believe it myself. But then I did it and BAM! what a treat. I don't know how many of you have daughters and/or daughters with long hair but I have two of them and it seems I am constantly buying elastics and hair ties and clips etc. So this was a real gold mine for me to find. A gorgeous simple way to spruce up their plain old elastics and clips. And they LOVE them!

There are several different styles that I did. Some spruced up elastics, scrunchies, plain hair clips and some hair combs. I am so in love. This was a super fun Project of the Week. I hope you all like them as much as we do.

So here they are!!!

Medium Snap Barrettes with Flowers and hearts

Medium Snap Barrettes with different flowers.

Close up Medium Snap Barrette.

Hair Combs with Bead work and flowers.

Scrunchy using thread.

Hair Comb with Flowers

Ruffle Embellished Hair Elastic (tutorial found here)

Assortment of scrunchy's with cotton yarn.

Close up of scrunchy with cotton yarn.

Another Ruffle Embellished Hair Elastic

Well that is this weeks Project of the Week. Please comment below and let me know what you think of these pieces. I had a lot of fun making them. I love that there are so many ways to make a plain old hair snap or elastic look so elegant or fun. These items will be up in the Etsy shop tonight. Go and check them out. 

So I've been meaning to ask you all if there is something you'd like to see me make. Please let me know in the comments below. I'm always up for suggestions and challenges. Fire away friends and until next time......

Happy Hooking!!!

Kate

ITS TIME FOR A SNEAKY PEEKY !!!!!

Ahh to first of all ..... I'm ready for spring!! My oldest keeps saying "I hear the birds chirping mom, that means its spring". Yea well that may be true but I just cant feel the excitement yet because I can still feel this winter weighing in heavy. 

But what does excite me is the Project of the Week I've been working on. This time there are actually a few items that make up the entire project. 

INTRIGUED??

Good, here are some sneaky peeks. C'mon I wanna hear *read* those guesses. 

Remember I said multiple items. 

 Please feel free to leave me some comments and don't forget to put a link to your blog so I can come and check it out. 

So tell me whats on your hooks or needles this week?? 

As always Happy Hooking!! 

~Katie~

“A loop after a loop. Hour after hour my madness becomes crochet. Life and art are inseparable.” – Olek

Sunday....Sunday.....TWD Day!!!

So....its been a busy weekend in my little corner of the world. The hubs' birthday was today. Yay Happy Birthday Hubs!! Yesterday we went to my sisters for dinner and cake. Today I spent the day cleaning and I made him a cake for the children and I to share with him as some of the children were unable to make it yesterday. Yes we actually had half the amount of children in the house this weekend. And it was so peaceful. Three of the 6 minions that we claim to be ours (hehehe) were away since Friday evening. 

I tried to start cleaning and re-organizing my craft room today.....didn't get too far. So this week I am really going to try to get it done. I've been lazy this winter and just basically thrown my yarn back into any old spot rather than the color coordinated spots they belong. I've begun to separate all my cotton yarn.....holy crap do I have a lot of cotton yarn.....but ya know one can never have too much yarn really. ;) 

Since I didnt really have a lot of time to commit this weekend to beginning my weekly project I have started to redo my cotton yarn balls. Until a short time ago I would just wind the yarn into a ball. Well I have since learned to 'yarn cake'. Upon going through and separating all my cotton yarn I have discovered that I had a lot of balls of cotton yarn that need to be caked. So in between sweeping and mopping the floors, baking a birthday cake, several loads of laundry, watching our favorite weekly show The Walking Dead (actually during that) I would make a quick 'yarn cake'.

As you can see I still have a ways to go before I'm done but I'm making progress. Something is better than nothing right. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend. The weather was pretty decent her in New England. I hear we are supposed to get a storm this week though. Yikes!! I really am ready for spring. I think we all miss the sun more than we realized. 

Well friends its late and its quiet here in my abode so I'm going to put a movie on Netflix and do some yarn caking. ;) 

I wish you all a happy Monday. Dont forget to come back on Thursday and see The Project of the Week. 

Til then ..... Happy Hooking!! 

Kate 

Project Of The Week

Yay!! Finally its Thursday and I get to tell you all about the weekly project.

As I've mentioned I'm preparing for a Spring Fair coming up in May so I have been looking for projects related to warm weather and/or household use items. 

So you can imagine my excitement when I came across a pattern from https://www.etsy.com/shop/gammyshouse. 

                                                        Its called Tawashi!!

Basically its a glass/cup scrubber similar to a bottle brush. Its genius. I've made several this week. This pattern works up pretty quickly so I've pretty much completed one a night. I know I could do more in a day but its been a busy week so I set my goal at one per night. So are you ready? 

 Here they are. You simply put them on a wooden spoon, or in this case plastic since that was all I could find on short notice. Its brilliant!! You can take them off easily enough and through them in the washer machine every so often. You can slide them off after use to help it dry. Its 100% cotton using Sugar N' Cream cotton yarn. I've got tons of colors. On my hook right now is a nice orange/pink called Candy Colors.

I am stoked with this find. I had some good guesses from the sneak peeks though. Someone said a bunting (which gave me a great idea *insert evil grin*) another said a bath pouf (which I do currently have for sale in the Etsy Shop).

Now on to next weeks project....I'm probably way more excited than I should be about these weekly projects but to be honest thats what is giving me the motivation and focus to stay organized and build my dream business. I know it isnt going to happen overnight and I think I'm ok with that (or I'm learning to be). But I have to start somewhere. So here I am at the starting line. Thanks for taking the journey with me friends.

I hope you have enjoyed the Project of the Week.......Tawashi. *ta washi your glass* :) 

I look forward to reading your comments below. And hearing about your successes and even your failures (we all fail sometimes, trick is to get back up and try again). Let me know when you try this pattern if you loved it as much as I did. 

Stay tuned to see next weeks: Project of the Week

                                                 So until next time......

                                                         Happy Hooking!! 

                                                                   Kate 

I'VE GOT EXCITING NEWS!!!

Ok so I know its not Thursday yet but EEEPPPP!! Its been a crazy busy week leading up to the HUMP of Wednesday.

So first of all take a look to the <<== LEFT and see my new addition......my Etsy shop is officially Open For   Business!!  I am so happy. Please go take a look. I will be working on more product placement but for now I'm OPEN. Phew. 

Second......I've been asked to showcase my shop at The Washington County Fair.                                                                                        http://www.washingtoncountyfair-ri.com/
I realize for many of you that means nothing....but to me it means so much. That is the county I grew up in and that is the annual fair that I, along with just about everyone I knew, looked forward to and attended each year. Every night there is usually a very well known country artist singing. There are truck pulls and tractor pulls. There are livestock competitions. There is great food made by local restaurants and people. There are rides and games for all. There are so many vendors, all of whom are creators. Handmade everything. Wood carvers, jewelry makers, tshirts, every kind of craft you can think of. Its an awesome place and I feel so incredibly blessed to have a spot. If I could say that any one place or experience ever made me want to have my own shop and create my own things this would be it. I have spent many hours of my life walking around this fair admiring the skill and talent people possess and learning that yes it takes guts to put yourself out there through your creations but the reward of having people admire your work is worth it.

Its been a rough year for the Mr. and I financially but I am finally starting to feel like something good is happening and our lives can begin to move forward again. My business will grow. It has to start somewhere.

I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.

William Blake 

Until tomorrow Happy Creating! 

Kate

I know I'm The Worst......

Ok...ok so I know I keep dropping the 'yarn' ball on this one but darn its so hard to organize my life and thoughts. Ok I have added BLOG to every Thursday of my calendar. My aim is to have a new project in the works or finished to showcase and discuss. I have my project list on the wall right in front of me to keep me focused.

So right now I am working on product building and spring/summer type projects. As I mentioned before my friend Deb and I have gotten together and attended a few booth sales during the holiday season and it was fun and fairly profitable. I know in time as we become more involved and get a better network going we can make a pretty decent profit for our businesses. I have recently acquired my Permit to Make Sales at Retail. YAY!! And we have a three day fair coming up in May. So I have been feverishly working on some things. This week I've been building up some baby sets. Hats, Booties and Thumb less Mittens. The way I figure it... its been a long cold winter. I'm willing to bet there's going to be a good size baby boom at the end of the summer. :)

Here are the links for the patterns I used for these baby sets. :)

One Piece Wonder Bootie http://cats-rockin-crochet.blogspot.com/2011/05/cats-one-piece-wonder-bootie-pattern.html

Thumbless Baby Mittens http://www.crochethooksyou.com/thumbless-crochet-baby-mittens-pattern/

Basic Beanie - I used the preemie size for these sets as I was thinking of newborns not toddlers. http://thefrugalfreegal.com/free-basic-baby-beanies-crochet-pattern/

 So I was also asked recently by my bestie who absolutely loves the show Firefly if I could make her a Jayne Hat. So here it is. Along with a pair of long finger-less gloves. :) She was thrilled with the hat and I hope she will love the gloves. This was a fun hat to make. :) I love being challenged. I've yet to watch the show but I saw the clip that goes with this hat. There are not many patterns available for this particular piece so I kind of had to just take bits and bobs from a few different ones. This hat was knitted by the way. The gloves were crocheted.

Now as I mentioned the Jayne hat I kind of just put together myself using a basic hat on my 36 peg loom. The earflaps part I used from a pattern that I found here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/my-jayne-hat. There is a section labeled ear flaps. The main reason I didnt use the whole pattern is because I am new to knitting and do not have the correct size circular needles called for in this pattern and I seriously couldnt figure it out anyhow. I got the pattern for the fingerless gloves by watching this tutorial https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCoQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dp9UnIWqAZnM&ei=MNAjU6rrIK3K0AHz5oDIBg&usg=AFQjCNExxyMloqOZF7fvroayzK_D_bYRJA&sig2=lxz7_o9PevYQpC8R0DN6jQ now mind you about 1/4 of the way through this kind of long and slow (but very well done) tutorial I just basically figured it out and kept going with the super easy pattern. My friend specifically requested the non-thumb-hugger because she is a gamer and likes to have her thumb and fingers free. This tutorial includes the thumb hugger addition. Kind of nice to know for future reference.

                                                                                                                                      

 OK so I'm hoping to have my Etsy shop open by the end of next week. My bestie is coming over to take pics of me. YIKES!!! She will be helping me with my product descriptions and shop story as well. She is a magician with words and sadly I am not. I can make the pieces but ask me to write about them or myself ..... forget it. Writing was never my strong suit. So being the super awesome person she is she has agreed to help me out. I just love her. :)

So that's it for tonight. Stay tuned to see whats on my hook next week. And as always feel free to share whats on your hook. 

Happy Hooking !! 

Katie