Treasury

I love it when I get picked by other Etsy Artisans to be on their treasuries! This has happened quite a few times since I started selling on Etsy, funny thing is, it is the SAME EXACT item that gets featured EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Sock Monkey Forever!

Mine is the first one listed, the sock monkey soaker.

Eyelashes or Eyebrows? That is the Question.

So, what do you think, brows or lashes???

Alpaca Monster Soaker

On "what not to crochet" they often post cute things for babies and then remind the people viewing them who are fawning over them that someday they're going to want their children to take care of them, and the children might be less disposed to want to take care of mum and dad if they've dressed the children in cutesy things that might someday embarrass them. I'm pretty sure these monster pants (along with my monkey pants and several other things I've made) would turn up on that list. I say, bring it! I'm highly amused by their website (I've spent hours rolling on the floor of the computer room laughing at some of the stuff that's been posted there) but I have to disagree with their assessment of what will make kids mad when they grow up. I can't think that if my parents had dressed me in monkey or monster pants that I would be embarrassed by it when I grew up. I think I might just see if I could make a pair for myself! In fact, maybe it's time for some adult monster pants!.... or maybe not :). All I know is that my 4 year old wants them to be his. Every time I make a new pair of pants with something silly on the bum, he asks if they're for him and he's very disappointed when they're not. Maybe I'll have to take a little hiatus from making stuff for other people and make some stuff for my own children. Then I can continue to enjoy my own creations by watching the two little people that I love most being happy in them. Hey, maybe I can even make Anson a Spiderman sweater so he'll finally take off the Spiderman pj's he's been wearing for a month now! Hmm... now I've got to go get designing.

Scrappy Longies

I was very unsure about this project. Not unsure that I could do it of course, but whether it would be cute or not. In fact I wasn't sure I even liked it until I tried it on Princess Addy. Then... well... let's just say I didn't need any more convincing! :)

I have to say that even though I wasn't at all sure it was going to turn out cute, if it was very fun to make! All the different stitches I got to try out, and all the beautiful colors made it something I would really like to offer in my shop.

Detachable Skirt and Longies - Cat

I LOVE THIS DESIGN!! I can't help myself, I really love it. The only input I got from the purchaser was brown and black with a cat with green eyes in a 2t please. I asked for some clarification, and she said that she trusted my creativity and to do what I wanted. Well! I was a little hesitant to get started on it, and put it off for quite a while. I couldn't picture brown and black together, and I wasn't really excited about coming up with a cat design. I don't really consider myself an artist, and I had a really hard time finding a template I liked. I ended up free-handing this one on my magic knitters' graph paper. It's inspired by a Halloween wallpaper I found where the cat's eyes follow the mouse around the page. Seriously too cute! Of course, I can't find the link now! Curse. The skirt was easy, and adorable and I totally loved it. The pants were a different story. I was going to do a cat face inspired by the Monkey and Monster longies, but I couldn't make it work and had to rip it back several times, and finally decided just to embroider a little cat on the bum. It's free-hand, but really, it's just a couple of ovals and a tail, so not really difficult. What was frustrating was that I put it on the fron when I'd intended to put it on the back, and getting it off the front and onto the back was a real pain.

At any rate, I can't wait to post this as an option in my Etsy shop. It was so fun to make, and I love the design so much that I'm really hoping it'll be more popular than the skullie... which I'm still not a fan of making.

Octopus Longies

Texas Longhorns

Leslie's Longies

This was the funkiest yarn I've ever worked with. It's really spongy and fun! It was full of grass though, so I had to keep a pair of tweezers next to me to pick it out, and I'm sure I still missed some, but it was fun to work with. I may have to try some more! The mom did send the labels with this one, but I don't know if I still have them or not. I'll have to look around.

Leslie's Trio

I absolutely LOVE this yarn! It was sent to me by a mom who's purchased quite a few things from me and it didn't come with labels, which makes me sad because I really REALLY love it! I want to know what it is so I can get more and make more stuff with it! Heck, I'd like a hat and scarf to fit ME just like these ones!

Leslie, your little Ella is one lucky little chicky :).

More Skullies

With skirt or without? Both adorable. Still don't like doing the skull though. :)

Skull & Cross bones Longies

Happy Halloween!!! Even though the skull is really cute... it's still not my favorite thing to knit. It doesn't get any faster no matter how many I knit, and I have to do a lot of finish work. I much prefer making the monster and monkey soakers. They're MUCH easier and faster and have a lot less finish work. Maybe I'll have to change the design and see if I can't make it easier on myself.

Leaf Motif Blanket-Hat & Booties Ensemble

I think this is one of the first things I actually knitted. I know... looks pretty complicated, eh? I'm pretty proud of it. I wish I'd gotten more money out of it! At the time I didn't think I'd ever knit another one because it was very time consuming, but I've come a long way and I could probably do it much more quickly and with a better outcome than when I first started this whole knitting-for-profit thing. Maybe I'll have to give it a try?

Oh, and those are the first pair of socks I ever knit. Cute, huh? :)

Super Wash Soaker

I really like the design of this soaker. It's taken from the Curly Purly pattern here: http://www.curlypurly.com/pdf/soaker.pdf. I love the way it fits. I used DK weight yarn on this one, so it's thinner than I usually make them. I made another one from the same pattern in DK ultra alpaca and it can actually be worn under regular pants, making it very practical. I also think the pleats in the waistband are kinda cool. I wish this yarn were cheaper. It's Kole Knit (I think) and it's an Italian self patterning yarn. It has a very nice hand and beautiful drape, but it's about twice as much gram per gram as other yarns, even the ultra alpaca that I love. I loved watching the pattern develop. I'm going to have to learn how to dye this type of yarn myself. I think I've said that before...

Monster Hat

There he is again! My adorable little Owen! Anson is standing behind me saying "Look! It's baby Owen! He's swimming!" (rolls eyes) three year olds :).

Anson loved this hat too. He wants one, and since I made this one too big for Owen (apparently) maybe I'll have to make a few at the same time for my boys and nieces and nephews... I'll have to work on a pink monster :).

Monster Skirted Longies

All I can say about this one is *giggle* :) I can't wait to see pics of this on the little girl it's for!

Detatchable Skirted Longies

What can I say? I'm a complete genious! Actually, I'm not :) I'm rather surprised no one has come up with this idea before me. They probably have, but I haven't seen it. I felt kinda bad when I got this order that someone was spending so much money on something that would be appropriate to wear for such a short time. I wanted to figure out how to make her valuable purchase more usable. And this is what I came up with! A pair beautiful (if I do say so myself) longies with a detachable skirt in the theme she chose! And voila! A work of art!

This was a very labor-intensive project. Color work is tricky, and the more colors you use, the trickier it is. The leaves weren't planned out. I put them in at random as I worked, hoping that there would be a nice way to weave a stem through them :). Guess I got lucky :).

I LOVE the colors BTW. The brown has flecks of both green and orange, and surprisingly the orange matches the orange yarn, even though the yarns are not only different fibers, but from completely different makers! The brown and green are my favorite of all favorite, Berroco Ultra Alpaca, and the orange is my favorite old stand-by, Cascade 220 in-- what else?-- pumpkin orange :).

Sock Monkey Costume

First of all, I've got to say, Owen... my model... is SO FREAKIN' CUTE!!!! :)

Then I have to say... I'm completely spoiled for yarn now. This little outfit is made of 100% alpaca except for the red, which is Berroco Ultra Alpaca. The brown is baby alpaca and is probably the softest fiber I have ever, or will ever work with. I'd pick this one up to work on when I was feeling stressed out or sad because just touching it was like therapy. Any knitter, crocheter, tatter or embroiderer will tell you how cathartic needlework can be, but when you use luxurious fibers like cashmere or alpaca, it moves you into a whole new realm of finger-pricking happiness. I have just a tiny bit of it left, and I'm going to use it to make a hat for Owen, but I'm really going to miss it!

Maybe I should get some laceweight baby alpaca and start on that wedding shawl I've been wanting to attempt? A wedding shawl, for those who aren't knitters, is a lace shawl knit so fine that the entire thing can be threaded through a wedding ring. For most knitters, it's a years-long project... I think maybe if I started it out of baby alpaca yarn, it could give me several years worth of marriage and family saving therapy.

Happy fibers aside, I love how this cute little costume turned out. I surprise myself with my ingenuity sometimes. The tail is detachable. It just snaps through the fabric and leaves no mark whatsoever, which I think is pretty darn cool. I also LOVE the hat!! It's one of those things, like the Monster skirty/longies that just made me giggle while I was making it because it so cute! It was also a big hit with my niece and nephew. Jack, a 2 year old, put it on and went around patting himself ont he head, feeling how soft the yarn was! I made a matching adult hat for the mom who ordered it. The night I made it I was hanging out with one of my best friends, and we kept passing it back and forth, taking turns wearing it :). Now I'm going to need to make one for myself! It's so soft and cozy and warm! If I'm not too busy this Christmas season, I think I'll make several of them and take them up to the hospital children's oncology ward and donate them. My friend's little boy has leukemia and it makes me much more aware of how much things like cute hats are appreciated both by the patient and the family... just to know someone cares.

Oh, and just FYI, for anyone who wants to know, this entire outfit was improvised by me. I used several reference books to figure out technique, but the patterns are uniquely mine, which is very gratifying in and of itself.

Classic Fit or Wide leg???

I've got the cutest little monkey in the world! I now wish I'd had my sister take pics that included his face so everyone can see what a cute baby I made :). The model in these pics is my little boy Lucas. He's quite a character. He doesn't stand still for more than about 5 seconds at a time. I guess that's pretty typical of a 2 year old, but he really is very VERY busy, and pretty hard to catch. I have many more pics of his big brother Anson than I do of him because I can't get him to stand still for long enough for the picture not to be blurry! I think we lucked out getting what we did for this blog!

When I finished the monkey pants, I absolutely had to see how they would look on. I thought they would be too short for Lucas, but obviously, I was wrong! Not only would he not stand still for a pic, he was extremely difficult to catch to get them off of him again!!! He was so funny! He did this funny little dance that made the pant legs swing around and brush his little legs... he was a tiny, tow-headed Elvis. When I finally got them off of Lucas, Anson decided he wanted to try them on too. It was heartbreaking to try to make him understand that he was just too big for them. So now I HAVE to make them for my boys!

I have to say I'm really glad that I figured out how to do wide legs. Not that it was difficult... it's basically just an inside-out or backward gusset. I love the way both fits look, but I think the wide-leg is a little more manly and boogie friendly. I would recommend them if your toddler really loves to dance :)

Monkey Longies - Wide leg red/chocolate brown

Love this. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!! I really do think I'm going to have to raise my prices and start making everything out of Ultra Alpaca. It's such a gorgeous yarn! So soft, beautiful colors, gorgeous drape... And yeah, I like the design too, if I do say so myself :).

Black and Blue Skull & Crossbones Skirted Longies

Yeah... what to say? I'm surprised this one has been so popular! I have 3 more that I still need to get on the needles! I've worked out some of the kinks in the skull design and I think it looks much better now than it did the first time around. The skirt gave me some trouble. I need to think harder before I dive into things. That's one of my shortcomings in life... if I'm going to do something, I want to dive in and do it. I don't really want to prepare for it. I don't want to spend hours drawing out a design. I don't want to have to get my calculator out to figure out exactly how long or wide I need to make a thing or where I need to put shaping stitches. I'd rather just wing it. Of course, this leads to all kinds of less effective things. For instance; the skirt on this soaker has turned out so beautifully... and if I'd just taken about 5 minutes to figure out just how wide it needed to be and exactly how I wanted the skirt shaped, and where I wanted the skull to go, I wouldn't have finished it, and realized it was about 5 inches too wide and the skull wasn't centered. I could have finished it two days earlier if I hadn't had to rip it back and start over. Lesson learned? Time will tell.