Wednesday 30 November 2011

WIP Wednesday 30/11/11


Good morning everyone and happy Wednesday!

I haven't got many WIPs this week as I've been trying to finish off anything I start.

Here are this weeks WIPs:



Yes I am afraid the elephant hat is still not made up :-(
I think it will be the week after Christmas before I get chance to finish this.


My next WIP I am really enjoying.  They only take about 20mins to make and I really like how they look when they are finished:


Do you know what they are ;-)

Here is what they look like finished:


Not a good picture, should of put the antlers straight.
They ar reindeer charms/decorations.
They have a charm fastner on them so they can either be used as a christmas tree decoration or they can be used as phone or bag charms.

It's my sons christmas fair on Saturday so I hope they go down well.
I don't do many fairs due to my cfs but as this one is only for a few hours so i should be able to manage that.

Don't forget to enter my christmas giveaway:


I am giving away a pdf coy of my reindeer pattern and my penguin pattern.
Just click on the picture to get to the giveaway





Giveaway at PhillysBlarney

Monday 28 November 2011

RS Island Crafts Giveaway



Stocking Giveaway at RS Island Crafts

Click on Picture to access

Friday 25 November 2011

FO Friday 25/11/11


Happy Finished Off Friday everyone.  Before I get to FO Friday I would like to let you know about my giveaway/competion. I am giving away 2 of my patterns.  The details are on my blog, just click on one of the pictures:



I've not been well (as per usual) but I have felt well enough to crochet.  Crochet is the thing that makes everything worth while.  No matter how sick I am, I can still pick up my crocheting and achieve something. 



This is a rabbit set.  The diaper cover has a bunny tail that is attached by a button so can be easily removed.

The view from the front

For the same order I made a girlie hat :-)


I Also made a little newborn hat for the school christmas fair


Sorry about the positioning of the pictures.  One day I'll figure how to fix this problem.

I hosting a stall at the christmas fair so I've been making some charm/ornaments


This is the owl design I came up with.
I used a couple of othr peoples patterns so I'll add the links to them later.
Just about to set off for the school run.



I'm back.  Picked my son up from school and then taken him to his swimming lessons.
This is the first chance I've had since getting back.

This week has been a bit of an inspiration week when it comes to patterns.
I like trying other peoples patterns but then I find myself going off and changing
it.  I do try and stick to the pattern but I am finding more and more that I end
up writing my own pattern anyway.  This isn't to say they aren't fantastic patterns
it's just I love to experiment!

The patterns I looked at fo my inspiration this week are:


















Hope you are all having a great Friday!

Thursday 24 November 2011

My Christmas Giveaway!

To celebrate Christmas coming I'm going to do my first blog giveaway


I'm giving away a pdf copy of my patterns for the following hats:



My Penguin Hat

&

My Reindeer Hat

HOW TO ENTER:
(make sure you add another comment for each entry)


MANDATORY: Follow my blog: SusanD1408 Crochet Addict

Extra Entries:
1) Like my business on facebook: Susand1408-Crochet-Addict Facebook Business
2) Tweet about the giveaway

3) Blog about the giveaway

Please indicate if you would prefer one pattern rather than the other one.


The giveaway will run from today to next Thursday 1st December 2011.
The 2 winners will be posted on my FO Friday Blog (2nd December 2011).
The patterns are in English and use U.S. crochet terms.
The pdf of the pattern will be emailed to each of the winners.
There will be 2 winners. Each winner will get a copy of one of the hat patterns that are either picked or drawn.

These patterns and others are available at my store:

Wednesday 23 November 2011

WIP Wednesday 23/11/11


Happy WIP Wednesday!


This is my 2nd try at writing this blog.  Whilst my back was turned my son decided to delete everything that I had typed.  He is now at school so hopefully this one should succeed.

There are 2 main things to post today:

1st is a competition/giveaway I'm doing on my facebook group.


Once we get to 5,000 members I am going to draw a name of a member and they are going to win
a pdf copy of my reindeer hat pattern:


My patterns are also available for sale on ravelry and on my website:



2nd is my WIPs.  I haven't got many this week as I am trying to finish off each project I start.  FO Friday is having a really good influence on me.  I've also had a couple of days of rest, my ear infection got worse and sleep wasn't an option.  Dr has prescribed me some drops and hopefully we should be back on track soon :-)


My elephant hat is still a WIP.  I might get chance to finish it off once I have finished my sons Christmas fair.  So although it might appear on here for a few more weeks yet I will try and get it finished this year ;-)


This is going to be a Newborn Bunny hat with matching nappy (diaper) cover and bunny tail

I hope you all have a good Wednesday!

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Tuesday

I've still got my ear infection and am not getting a lot of sleep because of it.  I'll be fine once the ear drops start working but as I'm tired I'm not making anything at the moment. There is no point trying as I know I won't be able to concentrate on the stitches and I'll only get them wrong.  Instead I'm spending some of my time searching the web and finding all those wonderful blogs that are out there. 

There are so many out there and they are all inspiring in there own ways!

Do you have a favorite blog?  I've taken a look at my list and I must have about 300 blogs I look at.  I can't pick a favorite yet as I am only just getting to know all the bloggers but I am loving reading them all.

I haven't got many WIPs but I'm looking forward to them tomorrow and hopefully finishing them before Friday.

Hope you are having a good Tuesday.

Friday 18 November 2011

IDEAS

This is just a quick blog about an idea I have.  I'm putting the idea out there to see what people think.

  • I don't know whether or not it would be a good idea
  • I don't know whether or not it would work
  • I don't know if anyone would be interested in it
  • I don't know if it would be possible
  • I don't know if I could get the funding for it

The idea is a competition
  • Everyone sends in a pattern they would like to enter.
  • Each pattern is tested by a number of testers and they grade the pattern on a number of categories
  • The patterns that win go into an ebook
  • Each winner gets a % of the takings of the book & the overall winner is on the front cover
If there is enough success of the ebook we could even look at getting the book published.

FO Friday 18/11/11


Yeah it's finish off Friday and I've got things to post.  This week has been quite productive.  I'm not well (as usual) so need to rest.  This has had the bonus of meaning I can spend some time crocheting.  WIP Wednesday has spurred me on so I've only got one WIP  left.  Probably have more before Wednesday.  Anyway onto the things I've finished:

Hubby's hat

 Hotsy the elf for my son

 Mad Red Bird Hat

  Cat Hat

 Very large Panda Scarf

 Dinosaur hats

 
Scarf for my son to match his hat for Comic Relief Happy Hat Day




All in all a really good week.  Fingers crossed I get better soon, but then again I do love to crochet :-)

Hope your having a good Friday.  Click on the link at the top to look at other people FO



Wednesday 16 November 2011

WIP Wednesday 16/11/11

Well it's been quite a good week this week.  I still have a few hats that I haven't finished but you may noticed a few have gone.  I'll be posting pictures of the finished projects on Friday.  I've started a scarf order so that's been added to WIP's but I'm hoping to get that finished today. If I do I'll post some pictures on Firday.

Yes it's going to be a rather large scarf :-)

My son is better and is back at school - at last!  I've got an ear and throat infection but I'm fine, if I don't get rid of it by the end of the week I'll go back to the Drs and get some medication but I'm coping at the moment.

hope you are all having a good week :-)




Sunday 13 November 2011

Craft Blog Directory

Universal Craft Blog Directory



I have seen this on one of the blogs I follow and think its a great idea so if anyone would be interested in joining please see Rie's Blog. Below is more information about the directory (Copied from here)

Welcome to the Crafty Bloggers Link-Up.

This is (hopefully) going to be the biggest list of Crafty Bloggers out there,
it will be a Universal Craft Blog Directory!

It's easy to join....
All you have to do is add your blog to the link below
and then invite all your blog readers to join as well,
and they will invite their blog readers etc etc
and hopefully it will keep being sent forward
& all the crafty bloggers will come back here to the directory & add their name!

Cool huh!


For now it's just under one category: Craft and as the directory list grows,
so will the categories and it will then have it's own blog site!


And to make it easy to remember where the Universal Craft Blog Directory is...
here is a button to add to your blog:

Copy & past this button to your blog & link back to this post
to help spread the word to help the directory grow!
Rules: There are no rules... Well, I guess there is one, no two rules ...
1.) It's for Crafty blogs (you can determine if your blog is crafty - do you make, create or buy lots of crafty stuff?)
2.) You need to promote this on your blog for the Directory to work!

Step 1: Add your craft blog name to the linky list below.
Step 2: Create your own blog post, letting everyone know that a huge Crafty Directory is being made & invite them to pop on over here to add their crafty blog & then to do the same with their bloggy readers.
Step 3: Add the button to your blog so you remember to pop back & peruse the fab new Crafty Directory!

YO update

Well I just wanted to update you on my year of projects.  One of the projects was a hat for my husband.


Well I started making it but he wanted it slightly different so I ended up making a pattern up myself:


Isn't quite the same but it is my first items made off the list.

If you would like to see other people YOP please click the link below:




Christmas Elf

I was reading someone's blog the other day (sorry I can't remember which one) and the mentioned elf on the shelf.  It's based a tradition whereby on the count down to Christmas an elf comes to visit your house.  He is there to watch whether or not the children in the house are being bad or good.  Each night the efl magically gets up and goes to visit Santa to tell him if they have been good.  Each morning he comes back but each day he is in a different place.  Each morning when they get up they have to go and find him. 

I thought this was a wonderful tradition and decided that is one that we would start.  I decided to make my sons elf and went looking for a pattern.  I found one on etsy by:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/AmigurumiParadise?ref=seller_info
I purchased the christmas set.  You get a snowman, elf, reindeer, angel, Mr & Mrs Claus.  The pattern set was only £6.32 which I didn't think was too bad for 6 patterns.  It didn't take long to make and I think he turned out well
Meet Hotsy (my son named him)

I found the patterns easy to follow and he didn't take long to make him.  I'm really pleased with him.



Friday 11 November 2011

Payment

At what point do you ask for payment?

I had a potential customer contact me saying they wanted to buy a horse hat for their daughter. I agreed to make one and advised them of the price. They agreed but said they wanted to buy it but wanted one that looked like a palmino horse. I showed them pictures and they said which type of colour they wanted. The yarn wasn't exact so got 2 slightly different colours. I bought them out of my own pocket with no payment made. Once I'd finished I emailed them the pictures to see which one they wanted. Then I heard nothing. I chased n finally got a reply saying their grandmother had already bought a winter hat so she didn't want them. Now I'm out of pocket and just don't know what to say in reply. I'm quite angry because i went out of my way just to make sure she got the hat she wanted, not what i had in stock.   Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!

FO Friday 11/11/11


It's Fo Friday which always cheers me up :-)

I haven't done a lot this week as both me and my son have been ill.  It was my husbands birthday on Wednesday and we were meant to be going out for dinner, instead we had Ryan for the day.  It wasn't quite the birthday we had planned but it was nice to all spend the day together.

Ryan is still full of cold but seems a lot better in himself today.  He still isn't really eating but I'm sure he is on the up now.  As I haven't been able to do much I haven't finished a few of my WIPs off but I've got a few things to show you:

A dinosaur hat
These hats look great on :-)

i can't get it to view the right way (sorry) but this is a mustache.  One of the departments at work is joining in Movember.  It's a charity that trys to bring mens health issues to the forefront and invest in research to help cure them.  The idea is men grow a mustache for money for the month of November.  The department is mainly made up of men but one of the women wanted to join in, hence me making her a mustache.  The link is below if you want to take a look:

I got the free pattern from:-
I hope they like that I made it for a charity event.
As my son is at home he was there when I made the mustache so wanted one for himself:-



He has also knicked my rocking chair.  I'll let him this once as he isn't feeling well.  He wanted it moving infront of the t.v. so he could watch transformers and by the fire to keep him warm.  I think he looks too comfy!

This is my favorite chair in the world.  When my granny and grandad were moving into a smaller house they decided to sell/give some furniture away.  I had grown up visiting my grandparents and spending hours rocking on this chair.  When I heard they weren't having them anymore I asked if I could have one.  It's the best decision I ever made.  My grandad has since passed away and I love rocking in his chair thinking about him whilst I crochet.  He was a great crafter and I hope I've got some of that from him.  He used to make 3-d pictures and was world renowned for his work.   His best work was anton peck pictures, they look fantastic.  I have a couple of them and love looking at them but his best one is the toy shop which my mum has.  If you ever find one of his pictures his sticker is on the back and he used ASH which was his inititals.

 It isn't a very good picture I've taken and it doesn't show all the 3-d and shaping work in it but it gives you an idea.


I have been thinking more about my grandad today with it being Rememberance day.  I would like to thank all those who put their lives on the line so we can live the life we have.  My grandad spent most of world war II as a prisoner.  Whilst as a prisoner they worked in a turnip factory.  If you didn't keep up with the work you were beaten and if you still didn't keep up you were killed.  My grandad was quite strong and picked things up quickly.  He realised if you worked the machines too hard they would block up and the machines would stop working.  His captors thought he was wonderful cause he would work so hard.  What they didn't realise was him and his colleagues were blocking up the maching so the ones who weren't well could rest for a while.  He never wanted recognition for what he did, he didn't like talking about it.  As it was near the end of the war they were all marched to germany (he was captured in north africa) and most died before they made it.  His camp was one of the last ones to be released so it was a long war for him.  I would like to thank him and many other men like him that have meant I can lead this life, free to crochet and free to live my life the way I want to.


I hope you are having a wonderful Friday!

Just click on Tami's button at the top if you want to read other FOs as well :-)