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Organize the Stash

 

yarn stash 1Organize the Stash. I have 20+ orders to get out. I’m getting ready for a craft show. It’s Christmas season so things are busy at church. And I decided to organize the stash.

This is the time you all hop in and tell me I’m crazy. I cleaned up a little messy area by my chair and it looked so good, it put me in a deep cleaning jag. So I started sorting the yarn bins. Decided to do it by color since the stash is mostly worsted acrylic. Thought I would start with the 18 bins behind my chair.

yarns stash 2Some yarn got moved to the table. Seemed as good a place as any until I needed the table to photograph an order. Didn’t quite think that through.

There’s yarn everywhere. OK, there’s always yarn everywhere but now it’s going back in some semblence of an order. I have to admit. I’m liking it. 

It’s going a little faster than anticipated but I also anticiapte running into a problem because there’s not an even distribution of colors. I have way more brown than I thought and not nearly as much purple. Some colors are sharing the same bin: white/cream, orange/yellow, black/gray. That should help. 

The photos are from day 1. I’m on day 2. We’ll see how long it takes and what issues I run across. 

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New Beginnings

New beginnings. This is the time of year when we start to think of them. Let me tell you about New Year resolutions, if you think they need to start in the new year, chances are they won’t be around on Valentine’s Day. Just sayin..

See this merry group? This was at my house over the weekend. Had a few folks there for some knitting, crocheting and tree decorating. Laeh did most of the tree decorating. This is the first time she’s decorated a Christmas tree. Laeh is Jewish. For the past few years, we’ve hosted Laeh, her brother and her sister-in-law for Christmas Eve dinner. This is the first time we’ve had the tree at new place. I brought back the tradition of decorating the tree on my birthday – or around my birthday.

This year, we combined it with starting the work for the Community Closet. I will have more to say on that when the rest of the deets are worked out. So Cat and Heavenly are working on items for that. Laeh worked on that as well. What you don’t see if Robin knitting. She had to have a quickie knitting lesson and was making progress over at the dining table.

The grey bin to the right? That has some yarn donated by one of the knitting group’s original members. She’s no longer able to craft and her daughter gave us the yarn. We are using that yarn to make the items. Cat is working on a hat, Heavenly a scarf. Laeh did a hat and I managed a hat and twisted headband. Fun for the entire family! We ate pizza, Mr. Honey baked a spice cake. We made a tentative date to go and do some glass blowing. And we are moving forward to give of ourselves to others. What could a better way to celebrate a birthday?

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Making Sausage

No one wants to be around when they’re making sausage. Just give us the plate, thank you very much. Yet, the sausage must be made. That includes knit sausage. There is a process that happens before something shows up in the shop. With the new shop, I have forgotten it takes a whole lot of behind the scenes work. But it all starts with making…….something.

The first thing is to decide what to make or decide what yarn you want to use. Sometimes I start with the item I want to make and sometimes I’m itching to get my hands on a particular yarn. Those are always the first two steps and that means I have to raid my yarn stash.

Let’s be clear: I do not have one of those fancy, staged yarn rooms. I believe they are real (kinda) but I don’t have the mindset to keep it in order. This room is a real life working studio/office. Stuff gets everywhere. I have time carved out in my schedule to spend around 10 minutes almost every morning just for clean up. Keeps it manageable. Despite what the photo might suggest.

Once the project is decided and the yarn is pulled. I decide whether to use a pattern or make it up. For the project I’m showing, it was a little of both. There were two written patterns and I still improvised.

This afghan took a lot of work; more than what is usual for an afghan. That’s because it’s made in blocks. There were 20 blocks to this afghan.Emily afghan

After they were made, they went on the blocking boards. I needed them to be as exact as possible. Pinning them to the board and then lightly steaming them, gave me the size I needed.

I sewed the blocks together to form four strips of five blocks and crocheted the blocks together for a little texture. And then about eight weeks later… Some pretty beautiful sausage.

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designbcb Bestsellers

My designbcb bestsellers and why you need them! I guess there are different ways to define a bestseller. I define it as those items which have sold the most. Short and sweet. Looking over the past year, 3 items stand out: a hooded scarf, a slouchy beanie and a stocking cap. Here are my top 3 best selling items and why you should consider putting them in your Etsy shopping cart.

#3 Black hooded scarf.  This versatile item is a three season staple. From late fall through winter to early spring. The hood can work any number of hairstyles and the long scarf can be wrapped as tightly or loosely as needed. This is a self care gift to keep you warm and fashion forward as it works with jackets, coats and long coats.

 

#2 The Rasta Slouchy

This has been a best seller for years and is the all time best selling item. It has gone through three fiber changes as past yarns have been discontinued. I admit to loving this color, Mahogany, best off. This is a great first time gift for a girfriend or potential BFF. If they love wearing hats. It’s small, affordable and not intimate while still being personal.

#1 The Autum Stocking Cap No one is more surprised than me that this hat has been the bestseller for the past two years. But feedback from customers is giving me some insight. This hat has been featured in several stage productions from A Christmas Carol to Peter Pan. It’s also been gifted for Mommy (or Daddy) and me giving. It’s also just plain fun. This is a family gift idea. Whether the family is just the two of you or there’s a parcel of kids that would make the captain and Maria sing a new tune, this hat provides fun for a day in the snow and will look great in the family photos.

 

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Holiday Shopping Tips

Here’s some holiday shopping tips – and if you go to my social media pages: Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you’ll find different tips than the ones here. So, you can get real informed, real quick!

  1. Who you giving to? Make list of everyone receiving a gift. The prioritize it. You can sort by how much money you’re willing to spend on each person; you can sort family from friends. Then place a dollar amount of how much you’re willing to spend on them. Don’t worry, no one will see. It’s not a question of their worth; it’s a question of your wallet. If you have a great deal of disposable income, then dispose of it with abandon. If not, you’re gonna have to start with knowing who you want to give to and how much you have to give.
  2. Use a shopping app. I have three on my devices: Honey , Capitol One and AA (yes, American Airlines!) They have found me sales, coupons and discounts over the year and I love them. They are free to use. I’m not sure if you have to be a member of the Advatage program on American. You put your items in the checkout and then the apps popup to let you know if they have discount codes to apply. Sometimes you get nothing but  there have been times when I’ve gotten a big discount on top of sales prices for a bigger win-win for me.
  3. Those electronics are so last year. And you should get them. It’s the latest tech that costs the big bucks. If you can get the previous version of whatever and can live without the latest dohickey, you can save some serious coin.
  4. Don’t fall into the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rabbit hole. If you’re shopping in person, don’t follow the crowd to the big sales. For the most part, there’s not that big a savings during that rush week. Check prices on line and, if possible, order on line and then pick it up.
  5. Do It Yourself. C’mon, you know I was saving the best for last. If you can sew, knit, crochet, draw, bake or have some crafting skill, consider making gifts. You can get the thrill of shopping for great materials (always a rush) and then feel great making unique items for people. Win-win all day.

 

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Who Doesn’t Love a Freebie? Some Ways/Reasons to Use Digital Stickers

Who doesn’t love a freebie? I know I do. Depending on what it is, of course. A freebie of, say, iguana food wouldn’t interest me. But I know it would interest a friend of mine who has one – so I’d be interested enough to let her know about it. But this freebie is a sample sticker sheet of some current and future sticker packs!

Why use a digital sticker? Because it’s a fun way to enhance the digital journal experience! When I started using my iPad to take notes, it wasn’t long that I saw how using the digital stickers that came with them made the experience more fun and also more meaningful. It wasn’t long after that, I decided to start designing them. Abbey & Lincoln is my shop for selling my digital products.

So why/how digital stickers?

If you journal, plan or scrapbook with a hardcopy, stickers are a big thing for you, too. I’m here for that – I have tons of notebooks. But what I love about doing it digitally – every notebook can come with me on my iPad. I can use one set of digital stickers on every notebook. Hardcopy stickers can be used once. One set of digital stickers will outlive me.

Using stickers in my journals, is a visual reminder that something interesting happened. I don’t use stickers for every thing. I use them when I have an idea or a question, or for a reminder. When I skim through my notes later, I can see the sticker and that can trigger a memory or remind me of an action I need to take. I don’t have to reread an entire entry.

I create my own style when I use stickers. Am I fun? Serious? A little bit of both? No one can use stickers and not feel a little creative. Which ones you use, how you use them and how often, speaks of your own personal style. For me, I like little spots of color and tranparent backgrounds. It’s there; but not overpowering.

You can get this freebie in two formats: Here is the pdf version: print it onto sticker maker and make hardcopies if you like. (Just use them for personal use. No commercial use, please. Here is the png file. Upload this file to your digital journal and use the crop tool.

 

 

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I Just Gotta

I just gotta go yarn shopping. It’s not my fault and I do not intend to go crazy. (Do you like the instant disclaimer I put there? I don’t intend…) For the last few seasons, this has been my most popular hat. I had three balls of it and with some more orders, it is clear that will not be enough.

 

These gloves and sleeves have also become popular and they are made of the same yarn and I have one ball left of that. So I gotta go yarn shopping. I just gotta. Luckily, I also got a nice big order so I don’t feel so bad spending about 25% of it on yarn to stock up and make sure I have it. 

I’m even feeling a little gleeful that HL is on our way to where we’re having dinner so I get to yarn shop and eat out. This is like a dream!

It also helps that this is the week where the yarn is 30% off so the funds will buy me a little more. It doesn’t matter if I don’t use the yarn for orders this season. It’s a very boho print – which I think explains the popularity.

BoHo is a thing right now. If I don’t use it for mitts and sleeves, I am thinking of making that trendy bag which name I can’t think of right now. Japanese Knot Bag. I looked it up. In any case, those of you who are knitters/crocheters know how exciting it is to go to the yarn aisle for something you need! A totally different high from going to just go. Though, there is nothing wrong with that. Just sayin’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Need to Escape

Last train to knitsville project photoI’m feeling the need to escape. Went to a peace circle to speak about violence and it occurred to me the violent people weren’t there. So what good did we do? Of course we did good: we shared differently similar stories. We talked about the actions we could take and we now need a system where we hold ourselves – and each other – accountable.

It was with a group called the Community of Congregations.

I wore my shirt that says, I’d rather be knitting. And I rather wished I was.

When I came home, it was with the idea I would continue doing my work and looking at what’s going on; there’s not much knitting going on here, either. There are four projects represented here and only on is being knitted. But have noticed the progress on the reverse entrelac piece? Nice, huh?

Starting from the left: the black and gold is a Christmas stocking. So is the cream and red. That is a finished object and I will show it to you later. Next, that little bitty thing between the black and gold and the entrelac is a stocking cap order and the only knitted item. Then the entrelac and finally another square for the sample afghan. That is square 6 or 7 of 10. The collective is almost complete.

I have three other hats I need to make. I will be praying over them and every project I have. Praying that wherever that items winds up; whomever it belongs to, that they be people and places of peace, justice, truth and love. And I wish the same for you.

 

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A New Beginning

This is a new beginning for a project that withered on the hook.You remember this from some time back? It hasn’t grown since then. I fell out of love with it and I didn’t want to save the relationship. Still loved the yarn – didn’t love the outcome,

So it just sat there.

 Until I decided to look into doing something new. I thought I would give crochet entrelac a go. Saw it on a YouTube video. It seemed worth a shot. 

It took me two days to learn. Two solid days. I have lost ground on other things because I was obsessed with mastering the techniques. Here are photos of my efforts:
 I was stuck here. I followed the instruction and it looked like what was in the video but didn’t work the same. This is after I commented on the video that I couldn’t make my sample wire. I was just getting a 2 square strip. The designer assured me the way to make it wider is shown in the video and I stayed up til 3 trying to fix.

When I woke up the next morning, the answer was waiting to slap me awake. Of course I had a two square strip, I was using a two square sample. It wasn’t going to get any wider until I added another row. So, watched again, followed the instructions and I got something that looked like sample in the video – see the photo – but left the squares on the left unworked. I went to one of the Facebook groups and found someone who had done it and she told me what the problem was but that still took me another few hours to work it out.

Again, I had to go back to the designer was using a two square sample; I now had a five square sample. I had to repeat what she did on the first square until I got to the last square and then I could do what she did on the last square.

DA-TA!!!!

OK great. Figured it out. But I wasn’t digging the color. One of the ideas behind reversible entrelac is to let the color changes do the work. 

That’s when I remembered the abandoned afghan. 

 

Beautiful huh?

 

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Second Half

Sample afghan squareI’ve started the second half of the sample afghan. I finished the last of the gray squares and did this first square on the way back from Wisconsin where we drove 2 hours to spend 10 minutes buying apples from an orchard. But they are good apples. They were less than $3/pound and I spent abut $15. Lots of apples. Mr. Honey bought some, too.

The square on the hook will be frogged because there are two different textures and I want to use just one. Since the first square is on the blocking board, I will make all the squares the same so the gray squares with their different stitches can be the stars of the show.

I managed to lose a crochet hook. I am pretty sure I put one in my bag because I took the yarn with me to crochet in church. Never did get the chance but I might have taken it out trying to get to something else in my bag. I didn’t find it when I went to look for it. I’m not going to pretend it’s my favorite hook but all hooks are special. It’s like the parable: I will leave my other hooks to run this one down. It’s either in the car or on the pew. I will be at church Wednesday night to see. If it doesn’t turn up before then.