Friday, July 23, 2010

Sold!

Just a quick update on the 3 beach wrap/shawl/scarves I sold to a local boutique...I saw the owner yesterday and ALL 3 SOLD in the first month!!! Wooohooo!! Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance:0) :0) :0) Now she wants to see what I have for Fall and Winter.

Earlier this week I was in Chapters buying the latest issue of Inside Crochet magazine (it's a fantastic UK crochet magazine, well worth the higher price) and the girl ringing in my purchase exclaimed at how nice my purse was and wanted to know where I bought it! Of course I had to tell her I designed it and made it myself and hand her my business card with my etsy addy on it:0) crochetalacarte.etsy.com

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

My etsy shop is up and running!

I finally did it!! I just listed my first crocheted felted purse on etsy! I'm now listed on etsy as Crochet A la Carte ( crochetalacarte.etsy.com ). Here's the one I listed:


Now I'm busily working on finishing a Moroccan themed one to list. ( I am very creative crochet wise, but when it comes to the technical side of listing them, I'm a bit slower:)

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tropical paradise anyone?

I've been busy lately making beach wraps. "What are beach wraps?" you ask? Well, they are designed to be multi purpose. When you go to the beach, the larger ones can lightly cover your bottom half and help "distract" the eye from any "imperfections" :0) Or they can be made smaller and used only as an accessory for your bathing suit like you'd use a necklace for a bit of glitz at your neckline.
During the day, it's a fun beach accessory, but at night, it's a lacy shawl or pashmina, depending on the style, designed to elegantly dress up your outfit for an eveing out.

Doesn't this one just remind you of frothy waves rippling onto a warm sandy beach in the tropics? mmmmm....Add a few shells and beads and I can almost hear the gentle sighing of the waves on the pristine white sandy beach. Pina Colada anyone? This is being made in Sirdar - Ocean, a nylon/cotton ribbon yarn. Very nice to work with.


Isn't this color just so vibrant and fun? It reminds me of a tropical paradise!

I'm very excited to say that I have just sold 3 beach wraps to a local boutique!! This one is very similar to one of the ones I sold. Same color, same shape, different mesh stitch. Here it is as the beach wrap. It's done in Eros herwool. A ladder yarn by Diamond yarns.

Here it is front and back view as a triangular shawl. I also sold one in a navy/ red/ yellow/ green combo yarn; Lion Brand Trellis.


I didn't sell this one, as it was too small. It would however be suitable for a teen. I love this blue/silver color. This one was in Lion Brand Trellis as well.



Here's a close up of the gorgeous blue/silver color.

This one is the same as one I sold, but this one was too long and narrow. I'll frog this one and make it shorter but wider width to cover more. I like it so much I think I'll keep it for myself:) It is a pashmina style done in the Eros yarn in a black/silver combo. Unfortunately I can't get any more as it has been discontinued:(


I wanted to use very simple mesh patterns for these so as to let the beautiful yarns and colors speak for themselves. I think I succeeded, don't you?

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

more new-to-me yarn

Here's another yarn I found in my LYS. Regia sock yarn (approx. 420 m/100g ball. 70% wool, 25% polyamide, 5% acrylic). It's made by Coats.
Don't the colors of this one just make you think of a gorgeous peacock with his tail feathers regally spread? I need to design something using a stitch that mimics the peacock's tail feathers. Hmmmmm...

Here it is in their blue color scheme. The colors are so rich. Wouldn't it look fabulous in a lacy shawl to drape around your shoulders?

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

My favorite new-to-me yarn

Lately, I've been seeing a lot more environmentally friendly, sustainable, Fair Trade yarns on the market. Some of them had such rich, gorgeous colors that I decided I just had to buy one and experiment. My first try was a skein of Manos del Uruguay yarn that I found in my LYS. It has approx 150 yds to a 50 g skein. The colors were deep, rich jewel tones of turquoise, green, gold, brown and deep plum. It is a 70% merino extrafine wool and 30% silk blend.


I decided to make a dressy scarf for myself to dress up my wardrobe. I chose a lacy fan stitch to keep it simple and let the rich colors speak for themselves. It is so soft and luxurious that I hate to take it off! I will definitely buy more of the Manos del Uruguay yarn in future.

I enjoyed that one so much, that I decided to buy the last skein of it's sister; a skein of 100% wool in the same gorgeous colors. The colors in this skein are even deeper than the silk blend. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with this one. It's only one skein so it has to be fairly small. To felt...or not to felt...that is the question:) It's so beautiful that I hate to felt such a lovely yarn, but a small felted purse would be nice too...hmmmm...

Monday, February 22, 2010

Time to get back into my blog writing!

I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I last posted. Well, I'm going to try to remedy that and post on a more regular basis.

My oldest daughter had to do a speech and chose "Mario" from the Nintendo games of Super Mario Brothers. The speech turned out really well and she is back up to go to the gym to present it if the winner backs out or is sick! Yay! Way to go! For her speech on Mario, she saw a Mario hat in Future Shop. Unfortunately, by the time the speeches came along and she decided on her topic, the hats were sold out! Of course her first request was "Mom, I need a hat like Mario's. Can you crochet one for me please?" I responded by asking what I thought was an innocent question; when did she need the hat by? Well, by now I should know better than to think anything with my daughter would be simple. The answer was? Tomorrow!

Well I surffed the internet thinking at that short of notice and not knowing anything about Mario, really, that I could find a pattern to quickly whip up. Wrong! Well, with my red sport weight yarn and my favorite 6mm hook, to work I went, with only a picture to go by:) (should I mention that this conversation all came about in the evening?) After a couple hrs of crocheting like mad and frogging equally maddly, I finally had the finished product! A red Mario hat with a white circle in which a red "M" resided prominantly in the front center! Initially, the brim was very floppy and curled so I grabbed the only thing I could find on short notice; a red pipe cleaner! I held it along the edge of the brim and crocheted over it. Not ideal, but it did in a pinch:)

By the way, the hat was very well recieved at school and admired by all; even the teacher:) I will try to take pics of her wearing it in the next few days and post them.