Craft Show Tomorrow

My very first craft show is tomorrow in Ann Arbor, MI. I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I have quite a lot of stuff ready--maybe not everything I wanted to have, but I'm sure I have plenty. So we will see how it goes. I will be taking everything out of my Etsy shop until I get back, just so I don't sell something at the show and on Etsy at the same time. And I will hopefully be posting all about the show sometime next week. (Now that I don't feel so rushed.)

Teaching Crochet

While we were on vacation, I taught my friend Emily to crochet. It was my first time teaching anyone and it was really hard at first. (I suppose it didn't help that we were in the car while I was teaching her.) But I think I did okay once I realized what I needed to show her. I'm self taught so I really don't know how people teach other people. I don't know if she'll continue to do it now that we're home, but I gave her the yarn (bright yellow left over from a rainbow ripple blanket, lucky her) and hook she was using so she can keep going if she wants to.

Avocado Yarn

While on vacation, we had this absolutely gorgeous avocado. (It was so pretty I had to take a picture.) I offhandedly said I'd like to dye a yarn in those colors, not really thinking about it. Well, the other night I got it into my head to try it and I'm thrilled with the results.



I think I'll work a bit more on this and then actually make a repeatable colorway instead of all of the one-offs I've been doing. Now I need a name. I can't call it Avocado because there is a color avocado and I don't want it to be confusing. This skein will be for sale in my Etsy shop soon--if I can manage to part with it.

Vacation

Here's a picture of me on vacation in North Carolina--crocheting, of course.


I'm holding my pattern between my knees in an attempt to keep it from blowing away. It was probably far too windy for me to be sitting out there and crocheting at all, but I wasn't going to sit inside where I couldn't even see the ocean. I didn't spend too much time working because I was on vacation, but I do enjoy crocheting, so I did do a bit. However, even though I really wanted to, I did not take my yarn and hook to the beach. I thought that might be a bit too much. Or more importantly, it might get sand in my work.


This is my latest clutch for sale in my Etsy shop. I crocheted some flowers out of handpainted merino and sewed them to the front. Until now, I've only used storebought appliques. I may do more of these.

I'm Back

Well, I'm home from North Carolina and pretty much in full panic mode about the craft show. We got back at about 4:00AM yesterday morning and I'm still not quite settled in yet. So I will be posting more soon, but I wanted to make a quick post about my needle felted heart pin being on the Etsy front page yesterday. !!!


And I actually got a picture. I don't think I was up there very long, but still it's very exciting. So, a big thanks to Maple of North Star Alpacas for putting me in her lovely Treasury.

Recent Etsy Purchases

I wanted to show off some of my recent purchases on Etsy. Technically, I suppose I should say trades since I traded for all of them--I may become obsessed with trading if it's always like this. These were my very first trades and all of them were just wonderful--not only because of the amazing products, but because of how nice all of the sellers were.


This is a necklace and earrings from Groovy Glass Girl that I gave to my sister for her birthday. So gorgeous--I love glass jewelry. I almost couldn't give up the necklace, but somehow I made myself do it. I may have to get one for myself in the future, however. It was (almost) worth it because my sister adored them both. (Also check out her blog.)


This is one of several notecards I got from Menta. They are just so cute and I can't wait until I need to send someone a card. She also does the same picture in lovely prints--as well as many others.


And this is a necklace from Design by Sabreena--which is also for my sister. (That one will be for Christmas, I guess.) It's adorable and so light, which will probably make it really nice to wear.

Please don't judge the quality of the products by my pictures--I guess it's good I don't make jewelry because I can't manage to take decent pictures of it.

I also wanted to let everyone know that I will be going out of town for about a week and a half starting tomorrow. We are going to the gorgeous Outer Banks of North Carolina. It seems like such a bad time to leave since my craft show is in only a few weeks, but we take this trip every year and I'm not planning on missing this one. Hopefully, I will manage to relax even with the craft show looming. I am taking some things to work on, so maybe that will help. I will be back on September 16th.

New Hats and Social Networking

Well, I'm still frantically trying to get ready for the craft show at the end of this month. And I'm still feeling like I'm never going to have enough stuff ready. I'm trying to be calm. (I'm not very good at it.) I've been crocheting these children's hats for the show. The picture needs some work for when I list them on Etsy, but I guess you can see what they're like.


I also just made this kid's hat. I love the tassels. I just think it's so fun--I hope you can tell how adorable it is from this picture.


I've been meaning to mention the social networks that I recently joined--We Love Etsy and Indiepublic. I'm still feeling my way around, but I'm having fun with it. I need to do some work on my pages, but I think it's going to have to wait until after the craft show because I just don't have time. Still it's fun--if you like Etsy or are interested in independent art and design in general, you should definitely check it out.