Saturday, March 26, 2011

I promise this is an IMPORTANT Yarn Clearance post


Do you see this yarn? DO YOU?! It's made out of bamboo. It's addictively soft and the colors are so beautiful, you forget about it being handwash only. You have to just sink your fingers into the skein and nuzzle it against your cheek....

SHUT UP, I KNOW YOU DO IT!

I moseyed over to Michael's to discover it's ON CLEARANCE! It will soon be no more! At least in the colors that exist. Maybe forever! I bought up 5 skeins to make an adorable granny-square afghan. I might go back and buy more.

This is your alert. If you want some awesome bamboo yarn, get to your local Michael's store right away. I found mine in Draper.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

I need validation.

This may tell you what a giant dork I am, but I get so excited when I see crocheted items on blogs that I know a ton of people follow. 

Apartment Therapy is certainly one of my favorite places to blog stalk. I'm in the process of searching to a living room and bedroom inspiration photo that I can copy in my house. You know, like on HGTV.  Which I currently don't have but will when the government stops taking all my money. Bastards.

What was I saying?  Crocheting! Apartment Therapy!  I read up this site every night.  EVERY NIGHT.  I wish that there was a way that I could take all the information they give and input it into my brain, like on the 'Matrix'. So when I go to do something in my home, I know exactly what I want AND I know how to do it and it will look awesome.

I keep forgetting what my point is. 

Crocheting on blogs.  Popular blogs, if you will.  It helps me prove that crocheting is awesome.

In my search for room porn, I came across this house tour that was recently featured.  Check it out here.

But seriously, how adorable is this little place?




How cute is that cabinet in the back full of warm yarny goodness?   And the super cute granny square kick assghan?

I don't even love fabric, but this picture makes my heart flutter just a little.  Anything you want is right there.  And it's arranged by color. I suddenly have the urge to sew something. 


Adorable.

I know I'm biased here and it is possible that I love yarn a little more than the average person, but how cute are those accessories? I need to cover something in granny squares. NOW.

All images found here.



Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pretty!

In my bloggy stalking I cam across this little gem a few days ago.  We've been workin' on headbands lately.  Why you ask?  

I have no idea.  

They're quick and easy and adorable.  Those are good reasons right?  

I thought so too.  

Check this action out. 


Yes, it's on my a teddy bear that may or may not be from Build a Bear.  Don't judge me.  Just look at the headband okay?  At least it's not a doll.  That's just creepy.  


And a close up.  That's a KNOT.  Genius!  How cute is that?   

So many "knotty" ideas are swimming around in my head now...hahaha.  See what I did there? 

I have plans for this pattern.  One day.  When I'm not falling asleep at 8 pm. 

And just for kicks, here are two more baby hats that I made for my good friend Jess.  She doesn't know what they look like, so hopefully this doesn't ruin the surprise before she gets them in the mail.  But I can't wait anymore!


Grey and white, 3-6 month size.  I'm a little in love with this one.  


I'm in love with this one too. Because it has a BUTTON. AHHHH!  It's so cute.  This is for a newborn-3 months.  

She gets two because I misplaced the first one in all the house chaos....sometimes I really wonder about myself.  She can keep the one that fits and give one as a gift or do whatever.  I was just pleased to make them because they're fun. 

Friday, March 4, 2011

To sell or not to sell....

....that is the question friends.....

Hey nerds, Kami here. Long time no blog.  It's been an eventful couple of months....

After several discussions about whether or not we want to make money with this blog, we've come to the conclusion that we don't want to get rich from this.  Can I just tell you how much we love to crochet?  We LOVE it.  The thought of not having a Thursday Crochet Night hurts my heart a little bit. 

But the more we do it, the more we've noticed that people like what we make and have even asked us to work some things up for them.  What we figured out was from the things that we sell, we can keep ourselves loaded with caffeine and Papa Johns for as long as we want!  This occurred to us last night and basically, the discussion went something like this:

Shannon: I don't want to get rich. I love doing it.
Kami: I don't think anyone should pay $20 for a headwrap.  Unless they're shipping it to a foreign country.
Shannon: I don't want to screw anyone either. (she's a lot nicer than me)
Kami: *SIGH* Okay, I don't either really. 

...and so on and so forth.

We did however, make a few decisions after asking ourselves the difficult questions:

Do we start an ETSY Shop?

NO.  We were both pretty emphatic about that. Neither one of has has any desire at this point to run an etsy shop.  Maybe at some point. But now is not that point.

What do we charge? 

Both of us have very strong opinions about what people charge for their homemade handicrafts.  We know what it takes to crochet a headband and it's not a week.  Some of the prices are a little outrageous to us.  I know that these people what the right to charge whatever they want, but we're actually not trying to make a lot of money. We just want dollars for dinner and drinks every Thursday night. For now... :)

That said, what we charge is based on a few things: What kind of yarn we use, how long it took us to make, and whether or not we have to mail it.

Example: When I (Kami) make a headwrap, I have timed that I put in about 2 hours total.  There are a four pieces that need to be worked and then assembled.  I use the least expensive yarn for most of these, unless it's for an baby or a chemo cap (they're super sensitive).  I think $8 is totally fair, based on hours worked and yarn used.  Especially when I see the same exact thing going for $20 in boutiques and online. Resist overpriced crocheted accessories.  Chances are, they're out of cheap yarn and not too difficult to make.  Unless they're knitted, which we don't really care about...If you'd like knitted accessories, this is not the blog for you. :)

 What's our "gimmick?"

We are happy to make the homemade gifts that you don't want to make!  That's the whole point of this.  What we make isn't too terribly difficult, but it is time consuming and sometimes the idea of making a homemade gift can be overwhelming. Let us do it for you!  Come on, you know you want to.  Everyone's doing it.  First time's free.....*wink wink*  We're going to crochet either way.

How will we distribute the work? 

If you want a Kami headband or a Shannon pair of booties, we'll each do our thang.  If Shannon's co-worker/mom/friend wants Shannon to make them something, she gets the moola. If someone we don't know wants something that neither of us made, perhaps we'll pool that money and have dinner on you. :D Basically, whoever made the item will get the money.  And then we'll probably buy each other dinner. Because that's what we do.  Well, I buy dinner.  Shannon makes it because she's awesomely domestic like that. :) I just know how to make things out of string...


How will people "place and order"?

Just email us and tell us what you're looking for. If you want something you've seen on the blog, great!  If you'd like us to make you something different, then that's great too!  Esay peasy lemon squeezy. 



You can find us in several places.  We each have a facebook account. If you're a friend, feel free to message one of us there. If you're extra special and have our personal email addresses, feel free to use that!


AND LOOK! We now have an email address just for this very purpose.




Ta-da!  We feel so legit.  Too legit to quit.

If the item you want is too hard, we'll be the first to admit it.  Our specialties include:  kickassghans, pillows, throws, hats, headwraps, headbands, scarves, bags, and other various accessories.

At some point, we'll have a page where all the projects are featured and you can pick. We'll also have a way of determining what color you'd like and what kind of yarn you want used.

Should be pretty simple.  And we're not expecting mass orders.  It's just that people keep asking so here you go!

We're easy and so is what we do really.  No one is saying that what we make is special or unique in any way. We just know that there are many times when people want a homemade gift but just don't have the time to make it.  That's where we come in.

*Disclaimer*

Life creeps up on us.  It feels blasphemous to say it, but there are some weeks were we don't crochet at all. The last couple of months have been stressful to say the least.  In this regard, crocheting has saved each of us many times. But it sometimes makes it difficult to finish a project.   We both have full time jobs, relationships that need nurturing, houses to revamp, and karaoke to sing.

Which reminds me, I (Kami) have to give a huge shout out to my girl Christy who waited for her headbands for like, 4 months.  I'm so sorry!! Does your daughter even like them?  They were some of the first ones i ever made so I bet they're a little interesting....

Coming soon: Page for our "shop" with pics and prices.  wOOt!


Thanks for readin', appreciate ya!


**UPDATE**From Shannon: Huge thanks to Denise for being our first official custom order. I hope she doesn't mind I share, but I think it's great. Denise is having me make her some coasters similar to the ones I made everyone for Christmas (did I ever post those?). She's upping the awesome factor by taking the crocheted coasters and gluing them to her sandstone coasters. This way all of the percipitation is soaked up by the cotton, but she still has a nice heavy coaster. I know the most brilliant gals I tell ya.  

Thursday, March 3, 2011

It's a Struggle

I know, I know, a month with no cute crochet updates?! It's a crying shame. Sadly it's been a slow first quarter for the crochet gals with major dips in mojo. Hopefully the changing seasons will inspire some more action, but all has not been forgotten thus far!
(although camera batteries have been forgotten thus far so camera phone pics it is...again...I KNOW tsk tsks all around)

After last month's hat fiasco I decided to make a couple more things to send to my nieces and nephew. I got started on an adorable little ruffle purse and then got bored doing the ruffles. Normally I would NEVER tire of ruffles, but it just was that kind of month so the bag metamorphasized into this little sweetness.

Because of the color, shape, and time of year, my coworkers helped reveal its true purpose in life as an easter basket. Works for me!

Now that the girls were covered I couldn't forget the most adorable little nephew ever. Need proof? Ok you asked for it. Prepare to awww...

Notice I said most adorable nephew. No fair saying your own kid is cuter, of course they are. But as nephews go, this guy is tops!

Boys are tough. There are mountains of goodies that are girl appropriate, but far less for boys. At least far less that won't get him beat up at school. Of course my nephew is hardly school aged, but I digress. I decided to make him a pair of these cutie patootie booties. Which are fast and easy and I'm in love with them. One looks longer than the other but I just messed around with the other one more and stretched it out a tad.

So you see, no need to fear. Even when things are a little slow, they're still ahappenin' in our little crochet world. 

Coming soon (I promise camera batteries will have been purchased), we have a new bed for this lovely lady.
She's even dressed up in her Dodge Ram bandana from the rodeo. This chick comes to visit every other weekend and so far, I've only had this meager setup for her. A tupperware container for water, two old pillows and a spare fleece blanket thrown over them. Such a pretty gal deserves a little comfort at least so I'm making a dog bed for when she comes to visit. I really should get at least a water bowl too somewhere along the line. Anyway, here's a sneak peek at the 70's-aliciousness that will be her bed. Good things dogs are color blind. They are right?

I actually think because of the design that it will be cuter than I originally thought. We'll see. :)