Choose your own bag adventure...

The crafting queen Cam, over at Curlypops is hosting another fab sew along  This time it's on Bags.
Fortunately I have a head start on this one.

I was working on our new little sheriff range for the shop last week and decided that there needed to be a bag for little boys too. Mainly because I have a little boy that loves to carry his cars and dinosaurs around when we go out. So rather then weigh down my bag, makes sense he has his own.

With some black denim on hand, a bit of seat belt webbing and our screen printed star, I came up with this...

 He does love it.

Although, that won't be my only contribution to the sew a long. I have soooo much cute, cute fabric just hanging around waiting to be turned into something awesome. Small pieces that are not big enough for garments, so a bag is the perfect option.
I'm thinking ladies bag, saddlebag shape, over the shoulder...
Hmmm. Time to start working on number 2.

Thanks Cam for hosting the challenge.

And the rest...

After a two day stint in the sewing room, I'm proud to say the rest of the Sheriff range is complete...

A fun little selection of goodies for 1 - 4 year olds by Roze Elizabeth and I.
Now available at Olive Grove Studios.

Old school...cool.

For this weeks 'What's new Wednesday' over on the Olive Grove facebook page, we decided to focus on kids wear and beef up that colorful corner of the store. Everyone has made some awesome things, but I just have to show you mine...

A crafty collaboration between Roze and I. 

Roze the screen printer extraordinaire and I the....

well I ... the designer/machinist extraordinaire.

They come in size 1 to 4 and I'm nearly finished the black ones too.
The little star says 'Sheriff, protecting Melbourne' Sooo cute.

I'll be back with pics when the black ones and matching bags are done.
Jay x

New wool ...

I needed to add new wool to my little stash, 

so took my trusty $20 off voucher to spottie on the weekend and got some.

 I had finished another beanie during the week in this cluster design, 

So applied my new cluster skills to use the same pattern for a cowl

 in this awesome Dijon color I picked up.

I then made ...and remade a cowl in an awesome 12ply rusty color. But it still looks terrible, So I'm researching a good pattern to use on a chunky wool. Anything tight or delicate is just lost on such a thick wool. It needs to be really open I think, so it keeps it's drape.

I tell you, in the time I've spent making and undoing this rusty one I could have finished all the other colors.
But I will not be defeated, Oh rusty wool. I will make you beautiful.
Jay xx

Zoom, crop, resize, upload, repeat....

Whew...that has been my life the last few days.

I decided to re-open my poor neglected Etsy shop and totally forgot how much hard work it is. In my mind I was thinking, grab a bundle of new stuff, take pics of the clearance stuff and bob's your Uncle.

But 3 days later...

 Nah it's all good.
The reality is, a normal person would just upload one or two things here and there. I was trying to put 2 or 3 of each of the things I do, so I could represent a fair amount of my range....Hmmm...Seems I do a lot!

But, you know, diversity adds interest and the reality is making/creating/dreaming/designing is the driving force, the blood in my veins. So of course there is a lot.

Worst part was my little shop front message. It went something along the lines of 'My Etsy shop is closed whilst I focus on an exciting new clothing range, stay tuned for  updates soon'

Oh No...I guess my idea of SOON, was about two years.

So slack. but....onwards and upwards. Back on track. I look forward to exploring all the new features.

A lot has changed. Etsy is pretty jiggy with it and now have Apps', Connections to Facebook, twitter and Pinterest, live feeds on your activity and more.
I feel like a kid on my first day of high school all over again.

Oh and apologies to my FB page likers for 3 days of Spamming....they have a feature on Etsy, that when you upload products you can link to you FB feed and let your page followers know. Was fun at first, but in retrospect a bit Spammy. Soz...I was a kid in a candy shop.

Life goes back to normal...Now...Well as normal as it gets around here.
Jay xx

Pretty beads...

All in a row.

I've been busy painting up beads for my new necklaces. 

Love how they look all together.

Jay x

Getting there...

So I've had a few more attempts at a shaped beanie over the weekend.

I'm getting better at it, thanks to Jennie's advice on how to mark the beginning of your round. Makes all the difference.

The shaping is coming along nicely, although my end result in sizing is somewhat unpredictable.

The first pattern was in a 1980's Womens weekly book and had all sorts of terminology I didn't understand. I get the DC, HDC, CH, SL ST... but was thrown by a few others MC, ISC and INC for example and they didn't have the key to their little codes anywhere, so I had to call in the big guns .... Mum to the rescue.

Seems MC = main color  CC1 = color change one and inc h tr means you have to increase hmmm. I reckon these pattern writers are LAZZZYYYY. Is it so hard to just write stop using blue and start using the red!

And how about saying... do two htr's in the next hole, then one etc...not just inc h tr, rep from *

My goodness, it's like learning Morse code. You know, the crochet bit is easy easy it's reading the lazy patterns that does your head in. Thank god I have my interpreter on call ( Mum xx)

So anyways, rant over...

I made this, which worked out well and to the correct size based on instructions from my 1980 Woman's day book.

Then I made this one following a pattern I found on Ravelry. Whilst it was my best attempt yet at having a shaped crown, the sizing was way off. It was supposed to be a 3-5 year old and I reckon it's 3 - 6 month old.

I think ... after googling and staying up far too late last night trying to conquer this thing, I think I'm doing it wrong. Well obviously! But to be precise I think I'm putting my stick into the middle of stitches and not in between the top two. That's the only thing I can think that might effect the out come. My stitch count is spot on, per round, so it's not that.

I dunno.
I have not been beaten though. I will carry on with my experiments as with each attempt I can see I am getting better.
I'm knowing where my rounds start and stop, counting my stitches... two little changes that make a big difference and hats are a perfect size project to test on. They don't take too long to do and they'll always fit someone.

I know I'd be too sad if I'd devoted that time to a Cardigan only to see it wasn't working and had to be unravelled.
But a few more attempts and I reckon I'm ready for a garment...

This perhaps:

 Pattern available here:

Oh ... blessed readers who are not into crochet...My apologies for boring your socks off.
Other types of crafting to resume shortly.
Jay xx

Is it a plane...

Is it a crocheted snow cone.

A pear cover perhaps?

Well no, it's supposed to be a beanie.

 One that is nice and shaped on top, not all cinched in like my last two.

Alas it is shaping up to look more like a snuggli for your pear.

Aint no human head gunna fit in there! 

And it has some weird pointy bit happening up top..

Sort of shaping up to be a form fitted crochet bikini perhaps!

Nope... time to unravel and start again me thinks.

I know where it all went pear shaped too. 

Some time around the bit that said, when you get to the end of that round start doing ...

Who can tell where it starts and ends. It's all one big circle. A circle that never ends. And who has time to count stitches.

Oh I know. If you don't pay attention Jay, you end up with nipple covers not beanies!

So I shall undo, start again and figure out a way of marking the end of a round.

Wish me luck.

Jay xx

Beanie attempt no.2

So after my not too bad attempt at beanie number one,

 I tried another one from the same pattern and came up with this.

I crocheted it as double instead of single...again to suit my need for speed.

Seems that doing stuff in double crochet renders it a bigger finished size. 

It was still a 48cm band and 20cm long but it's looser. Probably the best way I can describe it.

I also winged it and tried reducing stitches as I got to the top, so it was somewhat shaped. 

It sorta worked.

After this one I decided to search for a new pattern to experiment with in the land of the beanie.

Come back tomorrow for my 'Project, shaped beanie... FAIL'... 

Seems I still have a lot to learn in the land of the things made with yarn and a stick.

I will persist, as I hear practice makes perfect.

Jay xx

Printing...

On the print table today...

Jay x

It's not a scarf...

So today, I roused up some yarn I had lying around the house, grabbed the nearest crochet stick and committed to making something that was not a scarf.

Perfect time to start a challenge, what with being 11 degrees and pouring outside.
I headed to the newly joined, Ravelry site and searched beginners beanie.

It's a size 2-3 and I mostly followed the pattern except for adding a few rows of double crochet, which occurred purely out of my wish to get it done quicker.

 Although I quite like the effect.

I tried the finished hat on Mstr.Finn and found it to be to high in the crown, but then thought it was probably more about it being a bit tight and not big enough to pull down any further to fill the crown, hence my decision that it's a size 2-3.

Knowing it didn't quite fit my little one, I decided to add a flower and make it for a little girl instead.

I'm quite happy with my first attempt at crocheting something that was not a scarf, but will try to find a beanie that is more shaped on top rather then a square pulled in.

Tomorrow's mission.
Jay x