Shop Re-opening!

I have revamped my Etsy shop and decided to re-open at last! I plan to make more items of the same type, offering them in a variety of colors, rather than doing so many of the one-of-a-kind items as I did before. I’m hoping this will create more of a draw to new customers as well as a motivation to return for more. I think it may help promote more of a “tell your friends” atmosphere, too! I’m also hoping to promote my shop more by word of mouth around our new town. I’ve heard about more local farmer’s markets and craft fairs, so I need to look into those!

Anyway, here’s a peak at what I put up for sale today:

My goal now is to update my shop with one new item every week for one month. So, if you like what you see so far, come back next week and see what’s new! Oh, and don’t forget to tell your friends! :o)

Stitchin’ and Grinnin’, Cocoa

Something old, something new

Yesterday my dear husband and I celebrated our 4 year anniversary. Some days I still feel like we are just newlyweds, still learning new things and setting up house. Other days it seems like we’ve always been together, and I can’t imagine life before we were together! Every day I’m glad I married him, and I’m thankful that through the best and worst of times we have each other.

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In crafting news, I am excited to announce that this Saturday (Aug. 9) I will be at the Farmer’s Market held on the grounds of the Crab Orchard Public Library here in Southern Illinois selling my wares! This is the first time I have participated in a sale outside my workplace, so I’m a little nervous and excited at the same time. This particular farmer’s market is a new thing for the library, too, so I’m hoping we’ll have a good turn out. If it’s a good experience, I plan to go back for the duration of the summer. If not, well, it will have been a good learning experience. In preparation for making new contacts, I’ve revamped the look of my Etsy shop, but I don’t have any items for sale there yet. (I’m hoping to sell alot of stuff tomorrow, so I didn’t want to list a bunch of items only to have to remove them right away!) After the fair, I’ll list whatever is left. I’m thinking of starting to pair down the variety of items I make for my shop and go with a few specific types of things in a variety of colors/styles. I’ve seen people be more successful this way than my attempt to sell a wide range of “one-of-a-kind” items. If you’re in the area, and you like farmer’s markets and/or crafts, come check it out!

Winter Rose Test Square

Here is a quick little project I just completed today! It was my first time testing a pattern for someone, and it was a great experience! I enjoyed the chance to try a new pattern as well as give feedback when I found something confusing or needing correction. So many times I am making something and find errors in the pattern, but I can’t directly contact the person who created the pattern and let them know! If I ever design something that is more difficult than the basic ones I have so far, I’ll be sure to have people test it before I publish it! I can now see more than ever the value in doing so.

Anyway, this square was created by Julee of Julee’s Quality Crochet Patterns. It is a 12″ afghan square, although mine turned out to be approximately 1 1/2″. I think if I blocked it, then it would measure 12 inches. I used a bit of  Caron SS I had in my scrap bucket and a G hook. I hoped to have enough blue to do the whole square, but I could see by the last few rows that I wouldn’t. So I used the white to create a nice contrasting edge. I actually like it even better this way than all one color! It seemed to bring out some of the interesting stitches a little more. This was a more challenging square than I would usually make myself, as it has several different stitch patterns that I couldn’t just memorize as I went. All these patterns make a square that looks heirloom quality, and I can imagine some beautiful afghans made from this pattern!

What am I going to do with my square? Well, I’m going to make another with the rest of my white yarn and  send them off to someone making a comfortghan! Since Judy sent me all that yarn for my Haekelbeutel Bag, I just feel like passing the love!

Stitchin’ and Grinnin’,

Cocoa

Thanks bunches!

Well, since Molly somehow sneaked in and posted here on my blog, now everybody wants in on the action! Max really, really wanted to write today’s update, but I just couldn’t let him because I have so many important links to share this week. I didn’t want him to forget one and have to come back to and fix it all later. But just so he wouldn’t feel left out I promised to post a nice photo of him and tell you all what a handsome boy he is becoming. At 12-13 weeks, the 3M’s are really growing fast, and getting into absolutely everything! Thank goodness they still can’t jump up on the counters. Oh, how I rue the day… Anyway, here’s a sweet pic I took of Max and Molly the other day while they were lounging in the sun on top of some of our instrument cases. He really is getting so big and so handsome. I can hardly believe that he is the scraggly, squirrelly little boy we brought home two months ago. He has changed so much!

Now, let’s see, on to the updates…First off, a couple of big “thank-you’s” are in order. I want to thank Lynn so much for giving me the “Brillante Weblog” award. This is the first time someone has been so sweet as to pass a blogging award my way, and I really appreciate it! Pop on over to her blog to check it out!

My second “thank you” goes to Andrea of Knits and Knots, who was kind enough to do a review of my blog as well as a little email interview with me! This was another first for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed participating. She asked great questions about crocheting and designing, as well as life in general, all of which made me think about why I love doing what I do! She has done lots of other great reviews as well, so visit her blog to read them all! Thank you, Andrea!

Molly mentioned last week that we had family coming in, and we did. Hubby’s parents and brother came to visit us at our new house, which was very nice. They only were able to stay overnight, but we’re hoping that we’ll get to see them more often now that we are only 5 hours apart instead of 15! The 3M’s were a little shy at first, just because of all the new voices and extra pairs of feet in the house. But they warmed up to everyone pretty quickly and seemed to enjoy all the extra shoelaces to chew! My MIL and BIL wanted to pick some blackberries, so Monday night we went out and got about four cups or so. We could have gotten more, but I didn’t want to take them too deep in the woods because Mom forgot her tennis shoes! But I went far enough in myself to get my first case of poison ivy. Ugh! From now on, when I come in from the woods I must remember to scrub myself down and get all that yucky oil off because I really don’t enjoy being itchy!

And look what came in the mail last week! Well, actually, the light brown yarn on top was in my stash, but the cream and rose colored ones found their way to my mailbox all the way from a nice lady in Texas who was moving and wanted to get rid of some yarn. I had been commenting on the Haekelbeutel Bag CAL over at Crochetville, saying how much wanted to join in but just couldn’t buy any yarn just now. Well, now I can! Thanks again, Judy! So now I’ve been making my squares for that, and I’m really enjoying it! I can’t wait to see what this bag will look like when it’s finished. I’ve really been impressed with some of the designs other people have done using Inga’s pattern as a basis. I’m not using the basic square in her pattern, though. Here are my squares:

I’m crocheting these using the first 5 rows of the Spinner block from my 200 Crochet Blocks book by Jan Eaton. I haven’t gotten to use this book nearly enough, so any excuse I can get, I take! I only wish there weren’t so many typos in it. I downloaded the errata from Interweave Press, so I guess one night I just need to sit down and pencil it all into the book itself. I was really confused on the first Spinner square I did for this very reason…there was a major error in round 3 that had me making the wrong number of stitches. Good thing I caught on before I cut my yarn!

Anyway, that’s the stuff that’s been keeping me busy over the past week. Now I’m off to begin testing a square for someone over at the ‘Ville. This is my first time testing a pattern, and I’m excited. It’s just one 12 square, so I figured that would be a good place to start!

Have a very happy week! Back with more soon, I hope!

Cocoa

Molly, here…

Ha, ha! I am so much smarter than Meowmy thinks…. She couldn’t figure out how to get my picture the right size, but it’s such a piece of cake!

…Oh, hi! Molly, here! Shhhh, don’t tell! I’m supposed to be sleeping on the kitchen rug with Max and Maggie, but that was getting kinda boring. So, since Meowmy has been so bad about blogging lately, I decided it was time for somebody to take up the slack. She says she’s been really busy, but c’mon! What does she really do all day besides take care of us? And that’s not so hard. All we ask for is 4 square meals a day, plus crunchy food in between and our litter boxes to be cleaned daily….and a few play times a day, just so we don’t get too bored, as well as lots of pats and rubs and snuggles when we are feeling cuddly…. Oh, and I guess we did have to go to the vet a couple time this week. The first time seemed okay, just a shot and a check up from the doctor. But, boy do I wish he’d stop clipping my toenails every time we go there! I can’t climb up Meowmy’s legs whenever he does that! He just ruins all our fun! The car ride is not so great either, with Max hollering to get out the whole time and all. But the second trip to the vet seemed totally unnecessary! Sure, I have worms, and sure I wouldn’t take my medicine at home with my food. But did that mean old vet tech really have to shove that pill down my throat?! Good grief! I hope next time Meowmy gets up the nerve to just give it to me herself. At least it would save alot of hassle!

By the way, did you notice how clean I am? Yeah, we got baths yesterday. Not my idea of fun, not in the least. But this time Meowmy did it really fast, so it wasn’t quite so bad. And I got a nice massage in a hot towel when it was all over. Now that was NICE! I think we need to do that more often, only without the bath! I’m glad I don’t have long hair like Maggie, though, ‘cuz her baths take longer than mine. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but she hates getting the towel massage! Not me and Max, though, we love it!

Meowmy has been cleaning like crazy this week and keeps saying something about “family” coming. I don’t have a clue what that means, but I think it might be why we had to take a bath. Oh well, I hope it’s something good! Maybe Max or Maggie will fill you in on the details later. I should probably get off the computer before Meowmy finds out what I’m doing! Otherwise, she might send me to my room….oh, wait, this is my room! Hee, hee! Don’t tell her I was here, okay? Thanks! I’ll check back in a few weeks! Bye!

Luv, Molly

Blackberry Summer

Yesterday I went on my usual weekday walk, even though it had been raining on and off all day (took the umbrella, just in case!) As I was going past a neighbor’s property I noticed some blackberry cane that was quite full of red berries. But what’s this? Some of the berries were black and ready to pick! I was so excited that I hightailed it home, shortening my usual route a bit. I threw on some old boots and jeans, doused myself in Deep Woods Off! and grabbed a butter tub I’d saved for, quite ironically, a “rainy day!”

Well, I quickly learned that picking blackberries in our small forest is not going to be quite as much fun as picking raspberries in the Black Hills with my mom. For one thing, berry picking is always more fun with a friend. But more importantly, the underbrush is so incredibly thick that I can’t get to most of the berries in the first place! It was also so humid from the rain we’d had that I felt like I was walking through the Amazon, picking spider webs off my face and expecting snakes to cross my path at any moment. In spite of dropping my bucket twice and getting caught on every bramble and thorn I passed, I was proud to come home with a full two cups of blackberries! And this is just the very beginning…there are so many more back there that have yet to ripen. I’m sure I will have alot more next time I go picking!

So, having these lovely fresh berries, but not yet enough for a pie, I had to find a recipe I could make with these! I recently found the site AllRecipes.com, and I am addicted to it! I have been going there on a daily basis to find recipes for my weekly meals, and I have enjoyed everything I’ve tried so far! I found this recipe for Blackberry Cobbler and decided to give it a whirl, since I had all the ingredients needed on hand. Like many of the reviewers, I chose to drop half the dough in the baking dish, sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar, then add the berries and another layer of dough. I poured the sugar syrup over the whole thing, gave it another generous sprinkling of cinnamon sugar, and popped it in the oven! Here it is before baking:

I kept checking it every 15 minutes or so, because the oven in my new house does not have a window in the door. How annoying is that!? I really miss being able to just peek into the oven and see how things are doing without opening the door and letting out a bunch of heat. Anyway, I haven’t quite figured out how my oven bakes things, but I have noticed that most things need to come out a bit early or they burn. I did end up taking the cobbler out about 10 minutes early. And here is the finished product:

I should have given a little disclaimer reminding you that I am not very good at taking photos of food yet. I just don’t have a very photogenic kitchen or cutsie little utensils, or soft lighting… Just really yummy food! Which reminds me, I need to go taste my handywork now! Wish I could share…

Flickr Frustration

I am so annoyed with yahoo/flickr right now. I just wanted to upload some new photos of the 3M’s, but when I went to flickr I wasn’t signed in anymore. I don’t know why because I never log out, but I think sometimes my computer wipes my cookies clean while doing a security check. This is usually fine, but not when it happens to my flickr account! See, I set it up when we were in Texas using the email account connected to our internet service, which was connected to yahoo. When we moved, I tried to change my email address in my flickr account, and I thought that I had changed my yahoo ID at the same time…apparently not. I cannot sign in no matter what I do! I’ve used every email address I can think of, along with every password I’ve ever used! No luck. I cannot get into flickr. Even when I asked to have my password sent to me, I got some kind of error message saying that the information I entered didn’t match any on record. At one point they directed me to my internet service provider’s website, saying I could change my password there. But I don’t use the same ISP that was connected with this old address that apparently is still my yahoo ID. I am at my wit’s end. I have upwards of 200 photos uploaded on flickr, and I can’t access my account. So frustrating.

So, I gave up and went back over to photobucket, which I don’t really like anymore at all. But at least I was able to log in and upload my photos! And here they are… The babies are about 11 weeks old now. They just had their second round of booster shots yesterday, and I took these pics while they were just lounging around recovering. They always sleep alot after they get back from the vet. It’s not so much the actual time in the vet’s office, because they seem to enjoy sniffing around and exploring and meeting new people there. But the trip to and from in the carrier makes them a little weary. Max especially does not enjoy being in the car. Once we stop moving, he quiets right down, but when we’re going down the road he constantly voices his displeasure! Maggie and Molly don’t talk as much, but they don’t look like they enjoy the ride much, either. The shots make them sleepier than anything, though. Thank goodness that they are back to normal today! We had a good game of “Chase the Kibble” in the kitchen this morning, and now they are taking their usual afternoon nap! Well, enough talking….here are the kitties!

Max decided that lying on my crochet hook case and leaning again the sewing machine was pretty comfy.

Maggie has no idea that she looks like a little jail bird, complete with striped uniform!

Molly demonstrates how much they’ve all grown in the past four weeks. All three babies used to be able to fit in this easily, but not now!

Sorry about the thumbnails. They are clickable, but I really prefer to post larger images right here. I just can’t get photobucket to cooperate with me on this. That’s why I switched to flickr in the first place… grrr… Anyway, maybe I’ll get it all straightened out eventually. I’ll have to have hubby look at it when he gets home. *Sigh*

Walk in the Wild

Goodness, has it really been a week already since my last post? Yikes! I really was going to try to update things more often, but I guess I haven’t had much to share crafting wise in the past week. The only real crafting I’ve done was hemming up the black-out curtains we bought for the bedroom, and that’s not worth sharing, IMO. So, instead, how about a few pics from the walk I took this morning?!

I noticed something bright orange blooming in the field across from the house about a week ago, and I was excited to see that it was some vibrant butterfly weed! We have alot of swallowtail butterflies around here, and I’m sure this is one thing that keeps them coming back. A friend of mine gave me some seed for butterfly weed before we left Texas, and I’m glad to know it will grow well here. I’d like to have a small butterfly/hummingbird garden area in our backyard next summer, and this will definitely be going in there!

This is a small pond that is down one of the roads I take during my walks. I was sad to find out that it is a private pond, according to the NO TRESPASSING sign auspiciously posted along the road. I really would love to go walk around it every now and then, looking for turtles and frogs and what-not. It’s a sweet little pond surrounded by lots of wildflowers, so it’s really a pity I can’t get closer to it. Oh well…I’m an extremely conscientious person, so I will not cross the property line. You’ve got to respect people’s wishes! I can still enjoy it from the road, anyway. Today as I was walking by, a huge waterbird (a Great Blue Heron, I think) flew up from the banks. It was just gorgeous, so graceful and gentle in flight! I love living out here!

These little lovelies are growing right on the side of the road, beautifying their otherwise dry and gray surroundings. They look like Morning Glories, but they may just be some kind of weed. They’re pretty anyway! Every week brings out a few new flowers, so I’m sure I’ll have more pics to share in a few! Oh, and the blackberries are turning red now. It’s only a matter of time before I get to pick them…YUM!

Have a lovely summery day!

Cocoa

Another Finished Project!

Woohoo! I’m so proud of myself! I have finished two WIPs this week, and who cares that they were both really small?! It’s just good to get them out of the WIP box and off my mind! Going through all my crafting stuff to organize it really helped motivate me to take care of my WIPs before starting any new projects.

So, here it is: the St. Maurus Headwarmer.

I used leftover yarn from my Spring Trench Coat to make this. I thought it might be fun to wear them together in the fall when it’s cool again. This was the first time I tried the Jacob’s Ladder technique, and it was really pretty simple. (Although I’m still not sure I did it quite right as it didn’t look like I thought it should when finished.) The reason it took me so long to finish such a little project was that I started it on a car trip, not realizing that I needed to see pics of the Jacob’s Ladder technique in order to understand what to do. So, after I got stuck during my trip, the headwarmer was relegated to the WIP pile and forgotten once we arrived home. Last night I finally pulled it back out, found Christina’s instructions and figured out what needed to be done. I still don’t really like the way it looks, at least not as much as others I’ve seen. I don’t know if it’s something I did or if I’ve just had it sitting around too long. And the headwarmer really looks bad with my new short haircut…oh well. Since I only cut my hair every six months or so, by fall it might look fine! :o) Hee, hee!

Well, I need to do some housework now, so I’d better get off the computer and get to work!

Stitchin’ and Grinnin’,

Cocoa

Finished At Last!

Believe it or not, I finally have a finished crochet project to share! Remember this? Well, I finally completed the whole set, and now it looks like this!

 

The only thing that was stopping me was the towel ring. I just couldn’t find the right pattern for it. So I finally I had to look at a ring that was given to me and create my own based on that. I wrote out a rough pattern, and I posted it on my Pattern Place page if you’re interested. (It’s called “Basic Towel Ring”…creative, I know, but I was in a hurry!) Alot of people have been asking me where I found the patterns for the scrubbie (tawashi) and the hotpad. The pattern links are in this post.

I also have to share that I did a small makeover to my craft station, although I still have more to do before it is the way I’d like it to look. The only real change, besides cleaning up messes, was the addition of this slightly vintage tablecloth. It used to belong to my great aunt Mildred, but I don’t think she ever even used it because it is completely spotless! I don’t usually like the vintage look, but I’m really liking the color of the leaves on this cloth…it may just end up on the walls in this room, if I can win over DH, that is!

 

I also had the extra time this week to go through everything in the closet, WIPs and all, and sort it all. Then I bought a few new storage containers and put everything in its own special place. I even have everything labelled! It makes me feel so good to have these things organized at last. Now I know exactly what projects need finished and what supplies I have. And I finally feel free to start crocheting and sewing again. WOOHOO!

             

Stitchin’ and Grinnin’ Again,

Cocoa