Thinking about Spring!

Even though there's still snow on the ground (and more on the way I'm sure), I'm starting to think ahead to spring.  I have a trade show booked for May 4, so I'm trying to get lots of fun spring and Mother's Day appropriate items.  Here's a few things I've made so far...

I hope to have a warren of bunnies ready to go and lots of little things that kids can give to their deserving mothers.  :)
The bunny, chick and egg combo is currently in my Etsy shop... custom orders with any breed/colour bunny, different pocketami, other egg colours.  www.etsy.com/shop/chrisiemerriman

Plastic Bags to Yarn = Plarn

I haven't blogged in a while, but I thought this might be worth passing along.  My lovely mother-in-law was very interested in what I was working on yesterday... plarn.

Plarn is when you cut up plastic bags and basically make them into yarn.

There are lots of places online to get tutorials on how to make your own plarn, but here is the process I used.

Start with flattened plastic bag

Cut off handles and bottom

Fold and cut 1.5" strips

That worked out, didn't it?

Knot together

Make smallest knot possible so you can work over it

Roll into ball... 3 bags made this much plarn

Current size of project... about 20 bags so far

I'm still working on the bag, but it should be an interesting experiment.  Google 'plarn' and you will find tons of different things made with it.  Including sandals, which I thought was interesting, but I don't think I'll be trying.  So far, I think I'm going to try to make different bags.  I think plarn would make nice beach bags, market bags and laundry bags.  I'll post an update when I'm finished my current bag.

If this works out, I might send out a call to my friends to bring me their unwanted bags... some of the big projects can take over 150 bags.  :)

The Ravellenic Games

The Ravellenic Games are a just-for-fun yarn competition through my favourite site Ravelry.  You compete in 'events' such as "Scarf Hockey" and "Homestuff Hammerthrow"... making the appropriate items during the games and receiving virtual medals.  It's a fun way for over 12,000 people to knit, crochet, spin and dye yarn together.  It runs concurrently with the Olympics... July 27-Aug 12.

You can also be on a team.. I'm on two teams.  Team PlanetJune and Team Vaginal Fantasy (bookclub).

Here are my finished items...

And here are the medals I won...

The only thing I didn't get to finish was my Tunisian Purse... but my main goal for that was to learn the stitches and I did, so I'm still happy.  I'll finish it eventually.  :)

So I've been a busy bee this past month or so trying to get ready for my first trade show and then to get my first big design finished to enter into the Stampede Visual Arts showcase.

PlanetJune's Ravelry group has a Crochet-A-Long or CAL every month where people make things according to the theme chosen that month.  In June it was a free-choice of all of PlanetJune's patterns, and it was extended to July 15 because we will be doing another CAL-type thing with the Ravelry Ravellenic Games (a just for fun competition that runs during the Olympics) from July 27 - Aug  12.

So, I made a ton of things during this month... my items will probably make up almost half of the CAL entries this time around.  I'll link or share PJ's blog post when it goes up later in the month.

Anyone who is on FB or Ravelry with me knows the trade show is all I've talked about for the whole month of June pretty much, so here's the final result...

I had 70 items total for sale, and I sold 5.  But, I consider it a success and it was a fun day, so I signed up for the August 4th show.  At least I'll have lots of stock ready!  I had a couple of requests for things I didn't have, so I'll be making a few more things and hopefully those people will swing by the table again.

After that was over I turned to my biggest challenge yet, to design my own project.  I settled on an octopus because it's kind of steampunk-y, which I like and I have ideas to add accessories to it during the Ravellenic Games for my VF Team (book club).

The deadline for the design was July 10, so I really only had a couple of days to make it.  I'd sketched and had plans in my head, but it's hard for me to visualize without actually doing it.  So I just started... and I frogged (ripped it out to the start)... and started again... frogged... started... frogged... started and finally found a shape I liked.  Then I moved on to the arms.

That took a few tries too... but once again I settled on a shape and went from there.

I made a few arms, and eye sockets and then started on the 'easy to design but really hard to execute' suction cups.

I pinned them on at first, but it was a little stabby.

So I started putting them on kind of free-form.  And when I realized how long it was taking me to make them and sew them on, I put them on a lot more sparsely.

At this point it was the night before the deadline and I was feeling the pinch (and the stiffness in my hands and wrists from overuse)... but once I put those eyes in and pinned it together there was no going back.

I wasn't able to put as many suction cups that I wanted to, but I think she turned out pretty good.

Octavia the Octopus is now in the hands of the Stampede people, being judged and readied for the showcase.  I saw so many gorgeous photos that others have entered into the show... there is some stiff competition in the photography section.  But there was only 11 entries (when I dropped mine off ) in my section of Fibre Arts, Original Design, so that's good for my chances to win something.  :)

But at the very least, I am very proud of myself for making this and that's all that matters.

If anyone is interested in designing crocheted toys, I'd recommend June Gilbank's The Complete Idiot's Guide To Amigurumi ... it has great advice.

So, on to getting ready for my next trade show (August 4, Grandstand Room, Stampede Grounds), doing a few items that people have requested, and waiting to see if I've won anything.  :)
Oh, and getting ready for the Ravellenic Games... I'm team co-captain for Team PlanetJune.  I have decided to learn a new (to me anyway) crochet technique called Tunisian Crochet... it should be interesting.  And I have a shawl to complete for Team VF.

Trade Show Prep

I'm working hard to prep for my first official show... here's what I've come up with for my Made To Order sheets.

Also, here is a look at my business card.

Crafting Goodies From Vacation

We went on a family road trip to Vancouver Island last week.  We visited Joey's family and saw lots of sights, and a highlight for me was finding some cool craft stuff that I can't get in the Hat.
Here's my haul...

From left to right: Needle felting supplies (needles and two bags of felting fibre), Debbie Bliss Lace yarn in a gorgeous blue color, two (50% Fine Merino, 30% Baby Camel Hair, and 20% Kid Mohair) balls of yarn and a shawl pin.  In the very middle is a yarn bowl.
Everything but the bowl was from http://www.ingridsyarn.com/, Ingrid's Yarn & Needlework in Duncan, BC.  I made a special trip to that store and I was glad I did.  I wanted to get needle felting supplies and she was very knowledgable and helpful so that was great.

If you don't know what a yarn bowl is, well... you put your ball of yarn in it and feed your yarn end through the little dip thingie there and then your yarn doesn't roll all over the place.  Cool, heh?  The only problem is I don't know where to put it so it doesn't get broken...  Currently it's sitting on my dresser, home to steampunk fuzzy lamb.

I bought the bowl from a local artist (Barbara Strachan bstrac@shaw.ca from her business card), in the store Pyromania Pottery www.pyromaniapottery.ca in Coombs, BC, where they have goats living on the roofs of the stores.  Yup, goats.  On the roof.  Anyway, it was purely a happy coincidence to find a bowl, but it is my favourite purchase.  :)

Here are a couple of close-ups of my various goodies.

The camel yarn is definitely the most exotic, and I hope I can find a good project for it.  :)

I will be putting up lots of pictures of our trip on my Facebook page, but I thought some of my crafty friends would appreciate this.

Happy to be home!

The Anatomy of a Crochet Aardvark: Super Post - Start to Finish

Here's the progression of Annie Aardvark...

Thanks for reading!

The Anatomy of a Crochet Aardvark: Part 5 - Assemble!

My least favourite part of making amis is the sewing, but this one wasn't too bad.

45 minutes total sewing time... including pinning to check positioning and stuffing the legs and tail.

Introducing Annie the Aardvark!

Isn't she sweet?

For those who were counting... just over 4 hours total time spent.  :)

The Anatomy of a Crochet Aardvark: Part Four - All Parts Present and Accounted For

So I realized just how fragmented my crocheting time is when I was trying to time myself.  It's literally three minutes here, 5 minutes there... the only time I really get a good stretch in is when the kids are eating (or sleeping).

It's Tuesday, and I managed to get the rest of the crocheting done.  That's one ear, all four legs and a tail complete.

And that took 1 hour, 15 minutes.

All I have left is the assembly, my least favourite part.  :/

The Anatomy of a Crochet Aardvark: Part Three - Monday Funday

I do enjoy Mondays, but only because my parents are awesome and take Katie (my youngest) when Isaac has gymnastics.  Then I can craft for almost an hour while he gets his sillies out.  Yay.

Rnds 26-42, 45 minutes

Rnds 43-52 finished the head and body portion, one ear finished, 45 minutes (yay gymnastics!)

So all I have left is one ear, four legs, a tail, then sewing it all together.  (2 hrs, 5 minutes time spent so far.)

The Anatomy of a Crochet Aardvark: Part Two - One Stitch At A Time

I named my Etsy shop One Stitch At A Time because that's how a piece is made - literally building stitch upon stitch one at a time until you are left with something fantastic (hopefully!).  For me, that's the best part of crafting.

I got a bit of a start on my aardvark early Sunday...

Rounds 1-14 done, 15 minutes

Rounds 15-25, 10.5mm eyes added, stuffing added, 20 minutes

That's all for Sunday, but Monday is usually a good crocheting day because Isaac has gymnastics.  Later!