Leviathan the.... Labrador? (Fantastic Finds)

Today I'm taking a bit of a poll.

I've run into a dilemma. I don't know whether I should make baby boy (age 15 months) Leviathan the Sea Monster (a creature fitting to his character) OR a Labrador (another creature equally fitting to his character) for Halloween. 

Here are some fantastic finds to help YOU help ME. (Thanks!)

Image courtesy of cottoncandycraftings

Image courtesy of DanasDarlingDesign

Image courtesy of FashionPatterns

Image courtesy of JustPaigeCreations

Image courtesy of lukeOWLlily

Image courtesy of MagicKnit

Image courtesy of marykaren

Image courtesy of maybematilda

Image courtesy of MonkeyShineDesigns2

Image courtesy of rcintron

Aren't those kids CUTE?! It's almost painful how adorable they are. Here's another blog post with cute kids in it.

The votes amongst my peoples are currently:
Leviathan: 9
Labrador: 5

I gotta admit, Leviathan was my first choice. Then I saw the puppy hats and made a noise like this, "Oooh, Puppy Wuppy!!"

In reality I'm probably going to make 2 dino hats and 2 puppy hats, one of each for each of my boys and they can wear them through the cold weather. :) The question is what to wear for the cutest effect on that first venture out as a Trick-or-Treater?

Vote in the "Comments" section below!

A Bed of Roses (WIP)

Today, I have no beautiful Etsy crochet to show you. Sorry. I promise I'll have something adorable tomorrow and it includes a poll which is always fun.

I just had to share something of my own making this time. And it's not a new pattern for my shop. This is something just for me. A Christmas gift to myself....

It is...a... 

BEAUtiful blanket!! Or, well, 2 squares of what will become a beautiful blanket!

I'm very, Very excited about the colors! All two of them, haha :) The yarn of choice is Naturally Caron's Claret (for the red) and Misty Taupe for the grey (it's more silver than Caron's website shows).

I think I'm going to need 7 or 8 skeins, if I did my math right. More on the numbers in a moment though.

This lovely afghan will be done in the join-as-you-go method. This was my first ever attempt and I'm kicking myself for not ever trying it before. Prior to this I'd been slip-stitching my sides together across (urg) and from this point on I'll never be doing that again!!

Doesn't that look wonderful? Initially I though the gaps would be a problem, until I realized that A) a granny square is covered in gaps B) the slip stitch holds it together snugly so it's only visible if you're playing tug-of-war with the thing and C) is an acceptable trade-off for the ease, joy and quickness of using the method.

So, the numbers...
I want my blanket to be 50"x50". Each square is 4.5" across (using a 5.5mm hook), so I'll need 11 rows down and across plus a simple not-yet-decided-on border. That's 121 squares. At half an hour per square (when my kids are awake that is about 60 hours of crochet time. Marvelous.

As for how much yarn I'll need, I'm pretty terrible at this calculation. I have my trusty Yarn Requirements pamphlet and (to spare you the arithmetic) the final number my calculator showed was 7, as in 7-skeins-of-yarn. I bought 5 : 3 taupe and 2 claret, so Oh Darn, I need to buy more yarn. An extra skein of each. Or maybe...2 just to be on the safe side? I do need to create a border... maybe 2 taupe and 1 claret...? I'm so terrible at this game.

I'll be sure to continue to show it coming along. My goal is to have it done by Christmas. A nice, repetitive,  gorgeous Work in Progress!!

(Will the pattern be available in my Etsy shop? Umm, perhaps. If The People demand it. To be determined...)

I'd Rather Be Crocheting... (Inspiration)

I made a Treasury celebrating (what else) *Crochet* the other day! And I was so pleased with how it turned out I thought I'd show everyone here who may not have the benefit of knowing what Etsy is all about. 

You can see the real deal by clicking this link....

In a highly technologically advanced move, I took a screenshot (you can see my google-search tabbed above. Whoopsie. I am ashamed).

You can see the real deal by clicking this link...

Unfortunately I'm not techie enough to know how to zoom out of my screen to get everything in one shot. So I had to take 2. Ah, well.

That's my eye-candy crochet inspiration for the week! Not that I'm not making more treasuries (such an addicting process), but that's my only crochet-inspired one. Well... I can't say that....

But, speaking of eye candy. My cousin emailed me requesting a coffee cozy. She sent me a picture of a knit one and asked if I could make it?! Since I forgive everyone who thinks crochet is knitting (or knitting is crochet, in this case), I said "Sure!" and got straight to work.

Cabled Coffee Cozy

Presenting... the Cozy Coffee Trio!!

Spiraling HotPad

Charming Coasters

Pattern available at PurpleChairCrochet

 It was a fast project and easy, once I got the hang of the cabled-look, so I made a little hot pad (the purple round item) and a charming coaster pattern to go along with it.

3 for the price of 1, I love a sale! Speaking of sales, I have a Buy 3, Get 1 Free Policy in my shop. So, theoretically if you bought my 3 "trios" that I currently offer (Cozy Coffee Trio, Motif Earring Trio and Nesting Bowl Trio plus the free pattern that comes along with it you'd get 10 patterns for the price of 3. Not bad. Wonder if anyone notices this beside me.... =D

Will Work For Yarn (Inspiration)

I don't know what drives other knitters and crocheters to put their items on Etsy, but for me, it's all about the YARN!

Image courtesy of flowerpondstudio

(Side note: Wouldn't it be stellar if skeins came life sized? Then you could snuggle with them. I guess that's why we all make blankets and pillows, just to snuggle with yarn. I know that's why I do it.) 

Image courtesy of TheVintageParlor

Back to my point. My point is that, for me anyway, I started this Etsy shop to sell my patterns simply because I wanted an excuse to buy more wanted to recover some of the cost of yarn. 

Image courtesy of auntjune

And have I? HA! Not a chance! If anything I'm spending more in yarn because I'm buying higher quality.

Image courtesy of camispaperie

All the money that comes from my patterns goes right back into my yarn stash.

Image courtesy of CorsetLacedMannequin

The best part is that I now don't feel guilty buying yarn of a higher quality. It's much easier to justify spending. "It's for WORK." I can finally become the yarn snob I always wanted to be.

Image courtesy of MissMisoCrafty

 And it's cool with him, too (my Charming Husband, that is).

Image courtesy of RememberMeEmily

So what inspired you to start your knitting/crochet shop? The yarn? The money (HAHA, I'm so funny sometimes!)? The joy of creating? Even if you don't knit/crochet, I'd love to hear about your shop!

Leave a comment and give us the scoop! :)

Vintage Buttony Goodness (Button Love)

I've decided to have a few regular features- Inspiration (where I show off LoVeLy yarns, such as here and here), Fantastic Finds (a wide variety of Fantastic crochet! Just as an example: yesterday's post, the sea creature post, and the pumpkin post, but there are many, many, (many!) more), Vintage Crochet (self explanatory, right? Vintage Finds, whether patterns or finished items or vintage accessories) and oh, random chat about things I've made and the occasional happy dance. 

But my favorite feature so far is definitely *Button Love*! I get sucked into button hunting (hunting?) for an embarrassing amount of time, then I get a bit heavy on the "favorite" button and the picture saving, but the results are spectacular! Well, if you love buttons. Which I do. Excessively.

So, now that my blogging intentions are laid out and a bunch of links have been created (wasn't expecting to get that linky, but it's fun, right? I mean, the alternative is housework), I'm ready to move on with it and tell you why we're all here today: 

Button Love! 

Image courtesy of AddVintage

Image courtesy of BumbershootSupplies

Image courtesy of Butterflysue

Image courtesy of EpochBeads

Image courtesy of Motleycouture

Image courtesy of oritdotan

Image courtesy of SunnyButtons

=D <-- this is me, geeking out at the vintage buttony goodness of this post. 

Is this normal?

Meh, who cares! I'm smitten!

Manly Stuff (Fantastic Finds)

I grew up with two older brothers and there was always a lot of talk about being Manly, and doing the Manly thing.

I began wondering: can crochet be Manly? Or, okay, more accurately, masculine? Of course- it's not all rainbow yarn and pumpkin hats!

Today I've compiled some Fantastic Finds for all the menfolk out there.

Image courtesy of bigalhats

Image courtesy of hollanddesigns

Image courtesy of KerreraSkye

Image courtesy of PolariBizarre

Image courtesy of slippedstitchstudios

Image courtesy of tolduso

Image courtesy of toivima

I love the simplicity in each of the pieces. Women's clothing and accessories tends to get very elaborate,  while menswear is unpretentious and functional. A truly Fantastic Find.
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Bright, Happy Yarn! (Inspiration)

Last Saturday I made a Treasury on a whim. I really loved the way it turned out (I never really know where I'm going when I start). One of the first things I picked was this skein of yarn by thewoolpurl. I simply fell in love with it's bright, happy colors! I've said before that nothing inspires me like skeins of unworked yarn and I could use a little inspiration right now! So, here... we....GO!

Image courtesy of AuntPeggysCloset

Image courtesy of Erin48

Image courtesy of kattikloo

Image courtesy of LittleMonkeySnS

Image courtesy of myfriendlondon

Image courtesy of SheepingBeauty

Image courtesy of SierraFloraAlpacas

Image courtesy of thewoolpurl

Image courtesy of WanderingWool

Marvelous colors- they make my eyes happy! I'll take one of two of each! I'm suddenly desperate for a trip to my local yarn shop.....!!

Hope you've been inspired!