Bags to Go is a "go"

Bags to Go, the pattern book I've been going on and on about is now officially up for sale on Lulu!
Check it out! I am a very excited designer right now.

It's $12.50 for a spiral bound full-color soft cover. (Who needs their pattern book flopping closed on them all the time?) Also, if you want to save some money, you can download it as a .PDF for $3.75

Now I just need to link on Crochet Pages and I think we're in business!

Photos taken for book!

Now all I have to do is add them in, tweak the formatting a bit and decide what I'm doing about a cover. Woo!

Once it's uploaded to Lulu and linked from Crochet Pages and here, I'll let everybody know!

Last pattern for bag book finished!

I finally finished the last pattern for the book today. Just need to type the last couple up and fill in the missing photos and we're good to go. I'll let you know when it's available. I'm going to go through Lulu, so hopefully it won't be long.

Photos open on CrochetPages Group

I just wanted to let everyone know that if you wanted to have a little share your projects "Show and Tell" type thing, go for it!

I opened up the photo permissions on the CrochetPages Yahoo! Group to allow all members of the group to post photos. If you already have a Yahoo! ID, you have a Yahoo!Groups login, all you need to do if you want to share some photos is join the CrochetPages group.

You all know what I'm up to, how about showing me what you're doing !?!?

Lots of stuff happening!

I think I'll do this update point by point in order to make it easier to read. Those of you who only read from the feed on Crochet Pages, I apologize in advance that you'll be missing most of the info, unless you click through to the blog.

1) I've finally got the photo posted for the Mini Teddy Bear. I hope the shot properly shows it's scale.

2) I got the Envelope Clutch pattern posted. This was the winning pattern for the preview of my book.

3) With Ren Faire season now over, I'm hoping I might be able to wrangle a couple of new patterns from Jessy, but no promises.

4) The book is well under way at this point. The layout is falling together pretty well and I only need 2 more patterns before I'm willing to call it finished. I apologize if anyone was hoping to get it in their hands before Christmas, it's not likely to happen at this point.

5) I do not intend to take a Christmas break from the website at this point. For a few reasons:
a) I just got started on this regular monthly update thing, if I don't keep going, I don't know what might happen.
b) I honestly don't see any reason why I'd need to at this point. My boss isn't let me make any headway in my frameshop, so I doubt I'll get pulled to help others.
c) I need to start getting ready for the move to a new host. My Tripod account has served me well for roughly 10 years now, but I am quickly running out of space. Regular updates are going to make that happen sooner. I'm nearly 3/4 of the way to capacity.
d) I still haven't built the web-home I promised for Because We Care. I feel really bad about that, I really need to get in touch with Anita about it.

I think that covers everything. Any questions, let me know.

And the Handbag wins

I've decided to close the voting on the pattern poll early, there's been very little activity and the clutch style handbag, was far and away the winner. (As far as if gets with 7 votes, anyway.)

So, look for the Envelope Clutch pattern to be posted soon. I still need to get the photos and then it'll be up.

I'll let you know.

Firefox Rocks, again.

So, awhile ago I switched to Google's Chrome for my browser, it looks slick, works well and promises to be the most powerful browser ever created. Plus, I use Google for everything else. But I do have to say if you use Firefox, or have ever considered using Firefox, you need to check out some of the new add-ons. I think I'm switching back! I love Fire.fm and ReminderFox!

Keep 'em coming!

Keep those votes coming in.  So far the small clutch-style handbag is winning.  If you've got something to say about it, please do!

Also, on my end, the bag pattern booklet is well underway with a total of eight patterns finished and another nearly there!

Votes, please!

So far, I've gotten 1, yes, 1, single vote on my poll.  This is your chance to get a say in Crochet Pages!  Head over to Other Pages and vote.  It only takes 3 clicks.

Some (belated) Halloween Pics

Me dressed as Amaranth from Tales of MU,  Dave in drag.  We realized later that we sorta accidentally dressed him as Steff (also Tales of MU).

Carl as a deranged hippie with Dave.

Minor Edit and an extra chance to vote!

I just finished making a very minor edit to the Granny Square Drawstring Bag pattern.  I linked the granny square reference to the granny square pattern page.  Like I said, nothing big.

Now, the chance to vote.  The US Presidential Election is over, with results that I'm quite happy with, actually, but you're not reading this to find out my political views.  You're here for crochet stuff.

How about this.  I'm working on a booklet of bag patterns.  I'm planning on having about 12 patterns in the book, but to help encourage people to check it out, I want to preview a couple patterns on the website.  I'm including the Granny Square Drawstring Bag pattern, mentioned above, that's already been posted on the site for a few years now.

But, I'm not sure what I want to use as the other "preview" pattern.  So, I'm gonna let it up to you.  Hopefully, I get some feedback.  I'm probably going to let the voting open until December, so you have about a month.

Major Pattern Edit Posted

First of all, thank you to Peggy for bringing this to my attention.  I appreciate that you let me know.  I can't express how much it means to me that you all enjoy my designs enough that when there's a problem, you email me and give me a chance to fix it, rather than deciding that I suck and finding something else to do.

Peggy emailed me with a concern about the Oh! Danny Boy doily pattern.  Turns out, I somehow managed to leave out the entire "notes" section, which details the specialty stitches used in the pattern.  I've gotten an update posted now, and I believe it covers all of the issues.

Thank you, again, Peggy!

Long Lost Patterns

So, I found a whole bunch of patterns that never got posted to the website.  I knew I had been designing more that what was getting posted, but I couldn't find the proof.  Now I have it.

What I'm thinking, is that I'm gonna hoard them for the time being, and if I don't have time to come up with anything new in December, I'm gonna post the "lost" stuff.  I've got a couple of ideas brewing, but I'm not sure what I'm gonna have time for, beings as work my own me once Thanksgiving gets here.

I pride myself on being able to keep my shop going well enough that they can keep up without me.  Hopefully, I can pull that off again this year.

Also, if you have any pattern requests that you would like in time for Christmas, I suggest getting them to me soon if there's going to be any chance of me coming up with something.

New Patterns!

Woo!  New Patterns on Crochet Pages.  

A wacky Bean Sprout pattern.  

Also, a set of 6 snowflakes for Debbie! 

Hope everyone likes them!

Alien Cake for hubby's birthday.

Some design info:

Only the head is cake.  The body is marzipan.  The UFO is a foil pie plate, the space suit is aluminum foil with icing for trim.  The lights on the saucer are also icing.  Hands are dyed marzipan.  Head decorated with dyed cake gel with some decorator icing added to make it opaque.

Yarn Pixies Finally posted!

New Pattern at Crochet Pages!  I finally got the yarn pixies pattern settled and uploaded.  Enjoy!

Pattern Requests

Wow, I can tell the site had a huge surge in visits recently, I'm starting to get requests for specific patterns again.  With that in mind, there's a couple of things I would like to say about pattern requests.

1) Please, please feel free to send them.  Sometimes you guys think of things that never occurred to me.

2) Please give me some time to work something up, the bigger the project, the more lenient I'll ask you to be with the deadline.

3) Understand that I am a stereotypical artist of the worst sort.  I could have all the ideas in the world and the pattern still may not come to me. 

If I can come up with something, I will email it to you as soon as I have it and post the pattern on Crochet Pages, with a nod to you, as soon as I have the pictures for it.

If I can't come up with anything in a timely manner, I ask that you please do not take it personally.  It way mean I'm struggling with it, it may mean I have family commitments, it could mean work got crazy.  

Many of you know, although some don't, that I work for a major Arts and Crafts chain.  This means a couple of things - I love my job, I get to be creative every day, but also, I work retail.  I'm the Framing Manager at my local Michaels.  Which means, a minimum of 42 hours a week (if you include travel) I have no access to yarn or a computer.

It also means that this time of year, work will only get more and more hectic until about January.  Last year, I spent almost a week in New Jersey (driving 50 miles each way, every day) before Christmas, and a little over a week going to the same stores just after Christmas.  I put almost 6oo miles on my car the one week and over 800 the other.  I got gas for cheaper than I could in PA and didn't have to get out of my car in the cold (Jersey's all full service).  I loved it.  I love meeting new framers, you never know when you'll learn something new.  I got reimbursed for gas mileage, and I got a ton of overtime.

Unfortunately, I was getting up, going to work, filing my paperwork on the way home (I had to drive past my store, anyway), saying goodnight to my husband and going to be early.  I didn't have time to think about crochet.  If I start to get into a situation like that, I'll make sure I let you all know, but I wanted to mention it now, just so it doesn't come as a surprise later.

On that note, I need to get on with my day.

Thanks for reading and happy hooking to all!!

Back to reality.

So, my vacation's over now. I don't work until 2pm today, but it is officially back to work starting today.

What does this mean to you? Well, now that I'm done getting a tattoo and visiting Maryland and taking my best friend to a concert for her birthday, life will be getting back to normal. Which means, site updates and patterns!

I finally got the pixie photos from the friend I borrowed the camera from, so that means I'll get those up, and I'll be trying to do at least one new pattern every month from here out.

I will also be putting some time into getting the studio put together and working on some more t-shirt designs. I need to look into where I'm gonna have them printed at a little more, but right now I'm looking at PrintFection. I have mixed feeling about CafePress, because of the limits that they put on free accounts, and I'm just not a good fit for Zyraxia, even though they do hand screenprint all their shirts, which makes the printing more durable.

The draw back to Zyraxia is that they don't just print stuff because you submitted it. They review they design, decide if it's sellable, then, if they like it, it becomes they're design to do with as they see fit, and they run off a batch of shirts. The only way to make sure that they print your design is to upload it and order a full printing batch. Since I'm looking for print on demand, so I don't have to store or ship the shirts, not really what I was looking for, Also, I'll consider my designs a hit even if only one person other than me buys them. Not an option with Zyraxia.

Which is where I come back to PrintFection. Print on demand. When you want a shirt, they print that one shirt and then ship it off. They take their share and I get what's left.

Also, I've been working, finally, on support badges for a local charity group called Because We Care. One of the reasons I'm putting a lot of effort into the stuff for Because We Care is that it's run by an older woman and at this point in time, the only web-presence the group will have is what I give it on my website.

I've been rearranging the homepage somewhat to start working all this new stuff in, so you will be seeing some changes coming up. Hopefully, they will all be minor, at least visually. I think all the changes are going to be for the better and I hope you feel the same.

As always, thanks for reading and if you have any ideas or concerns, please, please, let me know!

So, we were stuck in our house by police order today.

The details are a little fuzzy, but you can check out the story on our local news website, WFMZ.com or the local newspaper's site, The Morning Call.

Apparently our neighbors, or someone staying with them are bank robbers.

No really how I expected to spend my Thursday, but at the same time, everything seems to have resolved with no one injured, which is always good.

Although, I do have to say, it's a little disturbing to not know anything's going on and walk out your front door and see a SWAT team with assault rifles camped out behind and armored rescue vehicle.

I always knew knitters were Crazy

A woman was arrested and now has to knit sweaters for her victims.
Story here

So, I finally got a tattoo today.

After years of saying I would, I finally got some ink!


These were taken right after I took the bandage off, so the tattoo was about 2 1/2 hours old. Hence the smudging, purple residue from the transfer and the shininess form the ointment.

Holy Page Views, Batman! What happened?

I'm not totally sure what I did or didn't do, but Crochet Pages had over 1500 pages views yesterday and more than 62,000 this past month. Thanks to everybody who stopped by, your support in appreciated!

A test.

I'm going to try something here. I'm gonna see if it works to have my blog posts come through as a groups newsletter post. I'll keep an eye on my inbox to see what comes through, but I do ask that the rest of you please let me know if anything flakey happens.

Thanks all!

Ballerina was a hit

So, the ballerina pixie was a huge hit. Lin's father just passed away and she's going through a rough time. If you've been following this blog, you know that I lost my step-dad last December, so I certainly understand what she's going through. One thing that has stuck with me from that, is there's nothing that you can say that actually what the person needs to hear. All you can do is let them know you care and be there if they need you.

So, to that end, I made that ballerina pixie for Lin, because she used to be a dancer. And it had the exact effect that I was hoping for. I meant a ton to her that I cared enough to make her something, and most importantly, she hasn't been able to look at it even once without getting a laugh from it, which is really what I was aiming for. When you're going through a hard time, I think the best thing someone can do for you is give you a reason to keep laughing.

I know I've been promising pics of the pixies for days now, but with my camera on the fritz, it's unfortunately gotten to be somewhat unpredictable when I'll have access to one.

I think, though, that I've hit on what the pixies are really about to me. They're quick, they're easy to personalize and they're a great way to share a little love. Plus, you finally have something to do with at least a few of the damn grocery bags that everybody has too many of.

Another Pattern Book

So, yet another pattern book in the works. I guess that it might seem counter-productive to have so much on the table at once, but I've gotta do the patterns as they come to me and now there's a place to put them as they come up. I know I'll eventually do more dolls, doilies, and bags. There's certain things that I always come back to.

I love the idea that crochet is not just something for little old ladies and middle-aged housewives to do. I love the fact that more and more kids are getting into it. I pride myself on taking a somewhat wacky approach to an art with a centuries long history. I have said before that I don't 'get' freeform, but I do love to take something very traditional and give it a modern spin.

Doilies have been done for years, but rarely with repeats other than 2, 6 or 8. I've done 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, and 20. I plan to keep doing this.

People crochet flowers all the time, but outside of amigurumi, you don't often see cartoon-type flowers.

Lots of people crochet doll clothes, but again, outside of Japanese patterns, you don't see very many dolls that are entirely yarn.

I'm not saying all of this to brag, that's not the point. I'm genuinely proud of what I do, and the fact that I do it a little different from everybody else.

What this post is actually about, is a little bit of a preview of things to come. A modern spin on traditions.

In the coming months, here's some things I'm hoping you'll see on Crochet Pages:
- new patterns every month
- crochet related merchandise (t-shirts, buttons, etc.)
- more chances to participate in things
- possible revival of the weekly stitch along project
- revival, in some form, of the Newsletter
- pattern books for download
- if interest allows, some form of crochet exchange

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions of things you would like to see, gimme a shout! Drop a comment or send an email

Pixies on the Brain

Apparently, I've accidentally become obsessed with pixie dolls, now I've made a ballerina. I'm debating between posting all of them to Crochet Pages and posting a few of them and then putting together a book with a whole bunch of them.

Also, found a place that sells dolls by local artists on consignment, so I might try taking some stuff over there. I guess it depends on whether anybody is interested in this stuff or not. My friends all think that they're great but they're by no means an accurate representation of the world at large.

New Pattern - Yarn Pixie (in the works)

So, one thing lead to another and the yarn pixie pattern is actually going to be a pair of patterns. A girl and a boy. The boy pattern is still in the works, so it may be another few days before everything is posted.

Yarn Pixie

I have a new pattern in the works for Crochet Pages. It's for a wacky little doll and so far it's turning out great. I'll get it posted when I have everything finished and the pics taken.

Some Progress has been made!

I didn't get as far with my cleaning as I had planned. But, I did get to some cleaning and lo and behold, it's starting to look like a studio instead of a heap of random arts and crafts junk.

Photos to come!

Cleaning my Workspace

Alright, so, I wish that my camera worked so that I could get pictures for before and after, but tomorrow, I'm going to go upstairs and start to get my studio put together, for really, this time. I've been putting it off because I wanted to paint first, but let's be realistic, I've been "getting around to painting" in that room for like 4 years now. I need to just get situated so that I don't have craft supplies all over the damn house.

Once all of the cleaning is out of the way, it should be much easier for me and Jess to put in whole Saturdays of work, I'm hoping we can aim for once a month, plus I might actually be able to find everything for once. Organizing gets a little crazy because most people organize their yarn, or their beads, or the sewing stuff, or their scrapbooking. I need to organize all of that, plus framing, floral arranging, website samples, patterns of all kinds, projects I'm doing for other people, and so on and so on. Also, cd's because I can't work without music.

At any rate, once I have an organized workspace, I'm hoping that a few things will come to fruition.

1) The house will be cleaner.
2) I won't have to say "I need to find my..." anymore.
3) I'll be more productive.
4) My husband won't be afraid of my craft room any more.
5) I could have company over, and not have to hide my art supplies behind the sofa.
6) I won't have to worry about the cat sleeping on things he shouldn't.
7) My allergies will get better.
7a) My asthma with be better.

And so on. Right now my craft room looks like the craft room I always swore I'd never have. And I HATE IT!

So, even though I won't have any before pictures, I do plan on having many after pictures to share with you. Wish me luck, and if no one hears from me by Friday, tell my husband where I was headed. ;-)

Let's Get Serious.

Ok, so, now I have my laptop back, and unfortunately, in the meantime, the battery pack for my digital camera went bad. The good news is, it should be pretty easy to find a new one. The bad news is, they're like $50.

But I still should be able to get website work done, although, a good deal of what needs to be done at this point is behind-the-scenes type stuff. I also need to get working on the Project Wonderful stuff - like deciding where on the site I want to allow ads and designing my ad banners and the like. I also need to get registered with a new host.

And then there's Because We Care. I didn't know this until the other day, but the Lehigh Valley has a local blankets for kids charity. I talked to the founder at length and I will be participating the best I can given that I can't get to any of their meetings. (They meet one Monday night a month at the Hickory Hills Clubhouse, and I work every Monday night.) But at any rate, I talked to the founder at length and they appear to have no internet presence at all, so I told her that I would put together a mention for my website and try to help her get their name out.

That being said, I forgot to get permission to give out her phone number, so if you want more information, email me and I'll get in touch with her and get the info to you.

I am not considering this the formal write up, because I would like for that to be a permanent addition to the site.

On other topics, I finally got a decent night's sleep, thanks to (I think) an aromatherapy pillow mist that I finally broke down and bought.

And, I finally got almost enough clothes for the new dress code at work. Maybe corporate should have looked to see if there even was such a thing as long sleeve oxford-style, white, women's button-down shirts before they required them. Everything is 3/4 sleeve, or has that weird open-neck thing where the buttons stop just above your cleavage and the collar is more open and wouldn't fit around your neck even if you added your own buttonholes. Or they have frilly little ruffly stuff as the top for wearing it under a vest. And I'm not allowed a vest, first off, and secondly, I don't do frilly.

All of that being said, I think things might *crosses fingers* be getting under control around here. We've got beautiful tomatoes coming in in the garden and we're finally gaming again. If only the house would paint itself.....

Granny Square Guitar Afghan

Granny Square Guitar Afghan

(click here for plain English)

materials:
brown yarn
black yarn
white yarn (or background color of choice)
crochet hook
tapestry or yarn needle (only needed if you sew squares together or are embroidering the accents)

notes:
I have not actually made this afghan. The graph was designed at the request of a visitor to this website looking for a pattern to make a gift. Unfortunately, that also means that I don't know the yarn amounts.

Allow extra black yarn to either crochet or embroider the strings, bridge, and tuning pegs. Frets optional.

on layout "\" and "/" denote which way the diagonal split between colors will run

pattern:
complete all squares using the traditional granny square and diagonal 2-color granny patterns.

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guitar body is done in brown
music notes and sound hole in black
background in white (or other color of choice)

join squares with method of choice

notes stems, tuning pegs, bridge and strings should either be embroidered on the surface of the afghan, or crocheted and attached as appliqué.
frets are optional