Snuggling under Blankets Making Blankets

Winter Blankets | Color Me Reckless

I always use the wintertime to work on new blankets for around my house, and to get a jump on wedding blankets for the year. It's the perfect time to work on something warm and snuggling, that keeps you warm as it grows. There is nothing better than coming home from work, freezing and exhausted, and curling up on the couch with a warm blanket on the hook and a cup of tea steaming next to you.

I like to have several blankets going at once, because I get bored with the same thing fairly quickly.  Even just mixing up the colors in a new blanket with the same pattern works to keep me interested.  And I like that when I get tired of blue and grey, I can jump into red and white.

Winter Blankets | Color Me Reckless

I just started a new blanket on Saturday.  It's an ombre corner to corner, and I absolutely love it.  I love the different hues of blues and I love how easy (and count-free) the pattern is.  While I love my ripples, counting each stitch so I know where to increase or decrease is frustrating after a while! It's great to be able to really zone out and let my mind conquer other problems.

Corner to Corner | Color Me Reckless

How To: Single Crochet Stitch

One of my goals for this year is to teach people how to crochet.  I've taught a few people in the past, and I am constantly attempting to teach Justin how to crochet.  So I thought, what better way to teach a person than by creating online tutorials? So here's the first one. The single crochet stitch (I'm using US terms since that's how I learned) is a basic stitch, and is used to go on a make other stitch patterns. I use it to make my dishcloths.  For this tutorial, I'll be illustrating with Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn and an H8 (5 mm) hook.  The abbreviation for single crochet is SC, so if you see that in patterns you'll know what it means! I'm starting with a foundation chain of 11 here.  I'll cover how to create a foundation chain in the next post.

Single Crochet Tutorial (US)

1. Insert hook through the first stitch.  You should insert the hook under the top loop, so you're going through the stitch in your foundation row.

2. Yarn over the hook. With the hook in your right hand, and the yarn in your left, wrap the yarn over the top of the hook, from back to front.

3.  Pull the hook back through the first stitch in your foundation row, giving you two loops on your hook.

4. Yarn over the hook, and pull the loop through both loops on your hook, leaving you with one loop on your hook. Repeat this process across the length of your project.

5. When you get to the end, chain one, turn your work, and get ready to start again! Insert, yarn over, pull through, yarn over, pull through two loops.

That's it! Now you can make your own dishcloths and get started on your New Year's resolution to learn how to crochet, that you didn't realize you resolved to do until right now. So go. Crochet!

What's in a Hook?

This is my very first crochet hook.  It's old - so old I can't find anything like it in the stores.  It's a Susan Bates 3.75mm hook, made from a solid steel (or what feels like a more solid steel than my new hooks). It's been passed down to me from my grandmother (I would swear to you it was my grandmother. My mother swears it was my great-grandmother. She's probably right, but my memory is somehow connected with my grandmother). I love this hook. I love the way it feels in my hand. I love the lightness of it.  I love the sharpness on the point of the hook which makes it easy to do intricate work.

I love that this hook has been passed down from one crocheter to another.  I love that when I use it, I'm adding to its repertoire of amazing projects. Maybe with each project or blanket I use it to complete, I strengthen a tie between me and generations of my family.

It's not just my grandmother (or great-grandmother) who I feel tied to.  On my mother's side, there are generations of crocheters too. Every time I pick up this hook, I'm reminded of that fact. My family has always been spread out all over the place, hours away from me.  It's hard to feel connected to people so far away. But this connects us.  The same need to create with my hands, to pick up a hook and bring something to life, flowed through them too.

But it's not just about how this all connects us. This hook also reminds me of my first projects.  It's how I started, making one long chain after another.  I made my first blanket with it back in college.  Not only does this hook hold the memories of my grandmother's past projects, now it holds mine too.

I love this hook.

The End of My First Craft Show Season

Wow. When I started doing shows this year, I had planned to do two shows.  I did a total of five, and I wish I had done just one more. I can't believe I managed to do something, and even look forward to something, so far outside my comfort zone! By the end of the year, I really enjoyed talking to people and selling them on my products.  I've learned a lot! Here are some of the lessons I learned:

1. Don't Get Discouraged.

It sucks a lot when people keep passing you by, and no one seems to be interested in what you're selling.  You put your heart and soul into this, why does no one want it?? Cue panic/freak out.

But it's ok.  My first market I did, no one bought anything until the very end of the show, and then it was just a small item.  I was so discouraged.  I was embarrassed, I was heartbroken.  I couldn't believe that I had worked that hard just to have the world throw it in my face as another failure.  (So I'm a bit dramatic...) Why didn't it work?

Simply, it didn't work out because that was not the right market for me.  That market attracted a lot of lookers, and lookers mostly want pretty things like jewelry.  They are not likely to buy a crochet washcloth on the spur of the moment. And that's ok. It just means that my market is more people who are there to buy with a purpose in mind. My job is to sell them on the fact that my item meets their purpose.

It takes time to figure out what the best shows and markets for you are. And the only way to figure it out is to try a whole bunch of different ones!

2.  Don't Be Afraid to Talk to People.

Talk to everyone. To customers, to the people you meet on the way to the bathroom, to your fellow vendors.  My favorite show, I talked to two fellow vendors that I had never met before.  One was a potter, and one was a crocheter as well.  From the potter, I learned amazing things like how to sell to stores and how to keep doing this forever.  From the crocheter, I got so much encouragement.  She was so excited to see another crocheter there, doing something different and being so young. It was awesome.

The people around you want you to do well.  Your fellow vendors want to help you learn to sell. Don't be afraid of them! Don't be afraid to ask them questions about how they got started and what they do now.  You never know, maybe there will be a partnership there.

3. Be Confident that What You Do Is Good.

I can't tell you how many times, I freaked out the night before or the morning of absolutely sure that my stuff was no good and no one would buy it. It is good, and people do buy it.  I still have a lot of things to learn, and skills to refine, but I love my work.  It's bright, it's fun, and it's practical.  And there are people are out there to buy it.  Maybe not at this show, but maybe at the next one. Or maybe people will start to recognize you and tell their friends. If you are confident and talk to people, they will remember you. And that's huge.

This is so hard for me to remember.  I tend to get very down when my items don't sell, and then I don't want to talk to people and then no one wants to buy from the sulky girl on the end.  Be confident.  Or at least fake it.

4. Keep Trying.

Your first few shows might suck, but then maybe you get that awesome show.  And it makes all the hard work and disappointment worthwhile.  Sometimes it takes a while.  My very last show was my absolute best.  I more than doubled my table fee, and it was fun! Now I know that that kind of show is probably my best bet, and I need to do more shows leading up to the holidays.  I only know that because I did all those other shows first!

5. Lessons Learned.

After each show, write down what went well or what didn't.  What did people seem to like, and what didn't they like.  This will help hugely in preparing for the next show.  When you have a good feel or sense of what people want, you can sell it better.  And that's the point, right?

I've learned so much this past year.  I'm so excited to look ahead to the next year.  I want to do even better than this year! My goals are to do 7 shows, and to have more pillows and home decor items for show.  This little hobby of mine will keep growing and it will be amazing.  One day.

Learning to Spin

On our anniversary trip out to West Virginia, we stopped at a local yarn store and I took the plunge into spinning! I've been thinking about it for a long time now, and talking to the woman at the store (who was spinning alpaca wool right there in the shop) made it seem like the right time to leap.  She even gave me an impromptu lesson!

Here's the beautiful wool I bought to spin with.  The brown is wool, and the white is Alpaca.  The woman at the store was spinning the white alpaca, and tore off a piece for me to try my hand at it.

I should point out that I'm not spinning on a spinning wheel - I'm learning to spin using a drop spindle.  It's the same idea as a spinning wheel, but instead of powering it with your feet, you get the spinning motion for dropping the spindle.

It's tricky. It took me a few hours just to figure out how to do it right, and I'm still not sure I am.  But my yarn did get better and more controlled toward the end of my wool.

You can see that it's still kind of choppy and un-even.  But I figured out how to make different weight yarns and learned how to control it better. So I call it progress.

And I'm hooked! I can't wait to buy some more wool roving to keep trying and learning more.  A whole new world is open!

Introducing: The Hip to Be Square Quilt

I'm so pleased to introduce this beautiful blanket!

This is the blanket that inspired this post on frogging, as I had made almost the whole blanket with hexagons, and then decided to rip it out and start over! I love the way it came out - I love the variation on squares, and the colors.

This was made as a wedding blanket for two sweet friends getting married this summer. I'm so excited to see what they think of it! (Slash incredibly nervous...).

As always, this blanket will be up in my Blanket Portfolio for you to check out whenever.  You can also order your very own Hip to Be Square Quilt by using the custom order form.

My First Pillow!

This pillow took me about one week longer than I thought it would, because I kept getting bored with the monotonous rows of hdc for the back! But I think the simplicity of the backing really makes the front that much more fun and bright. I love the way they work together.

It's made from leftover Caron Simply Soft yarn from any number of projects over the years - some is from my very first blanket (fitting, don't you think?), some if from a baby blanket for a friend, and some is from the multiple wedding blankets I've made for dear friends.

I'm determined to clean out this basket of old yarn - It's meant to be my project basket, but as been sitting as yarn storage for over a year now. I really want my basket back!

I'm thrilled that this pillow came out the way I had envisioned it.  I've already started on my next pillow (using some squares that were going to be a blanket and will now be a pillow!) and am excited by the possibility of adding these to my repertoire. For now, this one will be up in my shop.

Color Me Lately

Lately I've been trying valiantly to reduce the number of works in progress I have sitting around the coffee table.  It started as a need to clean up the living room [my craft room is under siege at the moment by spare furniture from the bedroom. Anyone want a box spring?] and that blossomed into a need to clean out my work baskets. But I'm pleased to say that this has resulted in several new items going up in the shop, and some beautiful new works are being created [because of course I hated what I had started on months ago!].

Here's a peak at what's on the hook lately:

New Wedding Blanket

This is one that I have started over three times now. Nothing seemed to fit! Finally I stumbled upon a project I had started with this stitch, tried it out with these colors, and now I'm in love.

New Baby Blanket

This one isn't planned for anyone.  It's mostly a way to work on this new stitch, and so far I'm....eh about it.  I like the stitch and I like the color, but I'm not sure a whole blanket will work well.

New Pillow #1

I really like this one! Aside from some frustrations with miscounting every few rows, I really like this stitch pattern. It's made from my big store of scrap yarn, and I'm loving the color combos.

New Pillow #2

These squares were originally going to be a huge blanket for our bed, but I got bored. So I'm giving them new life as a pillow and I really like the way it's turning out! I'm excited to finish it up and get it all put together!

Learning to Value Your Work and Price it Accordingly

PET PEEVE ALERT!! Seriously, this is something that bugs me to no end.  I can't count the number of times I go looking around on Etsy doing price comparison, or looking for packaging inspiration, or just looking at what other people are doing, and I see beautiful crochet work priced dirt cheap.  Yesterday I saw 61 items priced at $3.00. Not $3 each, $3 for all 61 items. It has to stop. Here are some really good reasons why pricing your work that low isn't a good thing, even though it might help you get sales.

1. It disrespects your work.

When your work isn't priced according to all the time and skill that went into it, you are sending the message that your work doesn't matter to you, that it didn't take skill to create, and that you don't value your work. Crocheting takes time, it takes planning, it takes an understanding of color play. You created something that you think is good enough to sell to other people, so why don't you value that? Make sure when you price your work that you value your time and energy. Take into account the cost of the yarn, and the amount of time it took you to create the item. Think about fair labor - even minimum wage, entry level jobs have a minimum wage.  However sucky and exhausting working in fast food may be, that companies values its employees time. Shouldn't you? When I go looking for an item on Etsy or on another handmade marketplace, I'm looking for something special, something handmade, and something that clearly had a lot of love put into it. I don't want crap I can buy anywhere. I'm willing to pay for handmade, don't assume I don't know what I'm looking for.

2. It makes you look like a factory.

When you don't price your work well, it makes it seem like you don't care about your work at all.  If you don't care about each handcrafted item, why should I as a consumer? Why should I buy something handmade, when even the artist doesn't value the product? And frankly, when I see things like 61 items for a total of $3.00, I start to wonder if it's all really handmade.  I know how much time goes into crocheting an item, and I know how much yarn costs. There's no formula that would make that price legitimate. Handmade businesses are not the place to use price as a means of competition. Sure you want to be in the same price category as your competitors, but this is not the place where dirt cheap prices win. Handmade items for pennies each hurt both you as the business person, and me as the consumer. You're losing money by not valuing your work, and the consumer starts to believe that's how much crochet work is worth.

3. It makes crochet seem cheap and easy, not a skillful talent.

Not everyone can crochet, and crochet well. It's a skill and a talent. When you price your crochet items dirt cheap, hoping to get buyers, you are hurting everyone who crochets. You are pulling down the value of crochet in the marketplace, and you are making consumers think that crochet is worthless. Stop.  Value yourself and your craft, and price accordingly. Remember that you are more than just a lone seller, you are a part of a marketplace, and your actions impact the whole market.

It's all economics.

I know, I know. Those three words send shivers of fear and loathing down your spine. But if you are selling your work to consumers, you better know a little something about valuing your work. I can't tell you had sad it makes me to see people who clearly think their craft isn't worth what it should be.  Recognize your talent! 

And because this post was a bit light on actual crocheting, here's a sneak preview of a blanket that's almost complete!

On Frogging

Oh frogging. There is something exhilarating about frogging a project and starting it over.  So soothing to be able to start it all over, get a fresh start. But let me explain.

What is frogging?

Frogging is the act of ripping out a project (get it? rip it rip it. ) and starting it again. Often this happens if I find a mistake in it somewhere, or if I want to change some part of it. Rarely do I rip out the whole project and start it again. Especially when the deadline is a month away!

But this time, I did.

Remember this hexagon blanket?

I liked it when I started it, but as I got to the point of putting it all together, it just didn't work. I tried to keep going on it, keep sticking to the vision I had at the start, but it just sat there in a corner. I didn't want to work on it at all. I would pick it up, do a hexagon, and then put it down again for a week. I realized that I was just trying to get it finished as quickly as possible. Not the way I wanted this project to go!

So I frogged it. Ripped out the whole thing. And  now it's becoming a new design that I like so much better!

The blocks are big, so the whole thing won't take too long to put together, meaning that I will be able to finish the blanket on time. And it will be easy to connect since it's all squares - no hexagons!

I'm now energized about the project - wanting to pick it up at all hours, not wanting to put it down again. I love this feeling! I can't wait for this project to be done to be able to see it all together.

New Blanket Palette!

I'm so excited to start working on a new baby blanket - and even more excited to be making this blanket for a dear friend of mine! I have been planning this blanket since they got married almost, and am THRILLED to finally be able to bring it to life without jinxing anything!! Here's the color palette I've chosen:

Any guesses as to what it will look like?

Buying the yarn soon...just a few more sketches and I'm all set to start working!

Catching Up

This week has been one of catching up. Catching up on watching video lectures, catching up on my daily blanket, and catching up on being creative. But it finally feels like I'm getting somewhere - like I'm getting back to the parts of being creative and learning that I enjoy.

I had a dentist appointment on Wednesday, and I forgot to take my book with me for the waiting room.  But I had my sketchbook, so I took it out and started sketching. And not just rough sketching out shapes and sizes, but adding in the shading, trying to work out color patterns in black and white. And I loved it! I felt so inspired by it - I hadn't realized how long it's been since I did sketching like that.

And that simple sketching for 15 min in the dentist's office made me so excited to come home and work out things 'in real life.' I started working up these new potholders, using the corner to corner method I love so much.

It feels like a new start! I don't feel like I can only make these items I'm going to sell, and I don't feel limited at all. And I love this process.

Also - I finally finished up my placemats! I'm so proud of these - I even made the label all by myself with no help from Photoshop Wizard Husband.

On the Hook

As I shared last week, I've been pretty busy lately! But thankfully, the craziness has slowed down a bit, and I am able to get back to hooking up things I love! Here's a look at what's on my hook this week:

The first of this year's wedding blankets! I love the pattern I created for these hexies and the way the colors work together.

And because I can't just work on one project at a time, here's another!

Catching up on a crochet a day project! This started as a part of the crochet mood blanket, but quickly became just trying to do one square a day.  I'm only 60 some squares behind?

What's on your hook?

Color Me Lately

Here's a snapshot of what's been going on in my life lately: Look! It's not a mystery! Ok, he's a mystery writer. BUT! This one is not a mystery.  I've read his Ladies' Detective Agency series and I'm not a huge fan of them.  I love his non-mystery writing so much more.  This series, his 44 Scotland Street series, and his Corduroy Mansions series are my favorites.  Whenever I see a new one at the library, I snatch it up.

I've been working hard on getting ready for the craft show! Last night, I laid out everything I had ready to go so I could get a sense of what was left to work on. There is a lot left to work on. But I feel good about how many things are finished or are works in progress.

See? Lots of works in progress on my coffee table at the  moment.  These will all become soap saver bags. Eventually.

Studying for the Food Manager Certification Exam.  I got a new job at a candy store (as the Assistant Manger! Woo! I'm a grown up!) and the state of Virginia requires that anyone works comes into contact with food much be certified. Which means I will be spending my next few weeks studying how hot meat must be to serve to customers. Even though I work at a candy store.

I have been craving muffins lately! So I finally went out and found a recipe (ok, fine, I bough a mix) and made myself some for breakfast this morning. Possibly the best part of having days off during the week.

Maybe the muffin craving is coming from needing comfort food. I think I have taken more medicine in the past month, than I have in the last few years. My thumb has been sore from all the crocheting (hence the wrap) and my teeth have been a mess. I had a crown put in a few months ago and something went wrong and it's continually hitting the bone in my jaw and causing all sorts of pain. (Seriously, I handled the pain from wisdom teeth better than this. This is just awful.).  But this should soon go away with some scheduled (minor) surgery. Yay!

So that's been my life lately. What's on your camera?

My First Craft Show!

I've been a bit absent the last few weeks here on the blog, but it's been for a great reason.  I got into a craft show! I'll be selling Color Me Reckless items at the DC Meet Market on May 3.  I'm so excited! But since I got the news a few weeks ago, it has been nonstop making items and running through checklist after checklist of everything I'd need for the show.

You can see that my workspace has exploded just a bit! But amid all the mess of yarn ends (and the Greek Square Blanket in the background!) there are great items happening! I set a goal for myself to make 500 items.  So far, with one month to go, I've got 50. So that might be a bit of a reach, but I think I can make it!

See? The items are coming together! You can see my new labels in some of the soap saver bags. So pleased with how those came out!

I'm hoping that this leads to more shows and more exposure - I would love to be able to make this my living someday. Wouldn't that be great?

Craft Day Workings

I think I've mentioned before that my friends and I get together for a craft day about once a month.  We all bring a project, open a bottle of wine, and spend the next few hours chatting and crafting.

I'm absolutely obsessed with my friend Anna's serving ware (is this a thing? I mean the chip bowl and the blue bakeware behind it).  So brightly colored and always filled with yummy food.  I'm convinced the goodness is because of the bowl. I won't lie, I totally copied her and registered for some of the same set for our wedding.

The weather this past weekend was absolutely gorgeous! Warm and sunny, such a nice change from the deary cold we've been having.  We opened up the windows and let that beautiful fresh air in.

Usually during our craft days, the women craft while the men play Xbox or do other manly things.  Not sure why it breaks down like this, as the men are fairly crafty themselves. I guess maybe it's a male bonding thing? This time, however, they made beer!

It seems that the only pictures I managed to take well were of the beer making process! So all I have to show for the craft projects part is a before picture of  my yarn...

...which didn't come out super great.  I snapped it in a hurry to get out the door, but at least you have an idea of my color palette for this project! It will eventually be a wedding blanket for a friend getting married this summer.  It's the exact opposite of the design I planned to do, and I love it. I'll do a picture wrap up of it here soon.

Do you craft with a group of friends?

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Getting Ready for Spring

I don't know about you, but I am ready for spring. Warm weather, sunny days, and no more walking through snow drifts to get the bus stop. So when I found this beautiful bright green variegated yarn, I snatched it up. And promptly made these beautiful face scrubbers.

Are you ready for spring?

You Can Now Order a Custom Blanket!

I am so so pleased to be able to announce (although if you've been on Facebook, you've seen this announcement already!) that you can now order a custom blanket right from this website! This is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time now, and finally got everything to work right on the site to be able to announce it! Making blankets for people is something that I truly love doing, and now this will make it even easier.

There will be lots of changes as I refine the process and play with the organization of the page a bit over the next few weeks, but the bones are there and ready for orders :)

If you see any problems with it, please leave a comment on this post, and I'll make sure to fix it ASAP.

Thanks!

Cuddling Under Blankets

The eastern bit of the US has had a good bit of winter storms lately.  Although, in Virginia, we've had less snow than the rest but got a good helping of polar vortex to go with it.  It makes it really difficult to go to work when you have to bundle up in every layer possible just to walk to the bus! If only teleporting was invented yet... The good news is that I've had a lot of time to work on some crochet projects!

My crochet mood blanket is coming along nicely.  30 squares really makes it seem like a blanket and less like a bunch of squares stitched together! I'm really loving how the colors are coming together on that one.

The blanket for the guest room is also coming along.  This one I do in spurts because it's hard to keep my attention on just the two colors, over and over.  But I love the feel and weight of it.

My family came to visit this last weekend, and it made me realize how few blankets I actually had in the house! So I started on a new diagonal blanket, using up some of my medium weight yarn. I love the colors and how they seem to come together.

I've been working on the Moogly crochet along - my first square came out well, but the second one is a bit...ripple-y.  I think I have a few extra stitches in there that will require some puzzling out.  I've learned through this crochet along that I make really small, tight stitches! I've had to add a few rows to each just to make them come out the right size.

Finally, I've had time to work on items for my Etsy shop! I have some new soap saver bags and a few new face scrubbers to get photographed and written up for the shop.  I love how quickly these all work up - the only downside is then having to wait for the right light to photograph them!

Have you been working on anything new because of the weather?

New Projects!

I re-discovered how much I love to make blankets! I know, I know. I make a lot of blankets.  But I realized that I have never really made one for me! So I started thinking about what to make for me.  I decided to make a blanket for the guest bedroom.  It has really pretty red and white curtains, so I picked similar shades and got to work!

I love the colors.  At first, I was just going to leave them white-edged, but I really love the red around the outside. Especially, once they all got put together:

What new projects are you starting the new year off with?