Month: February 2015

Mel Stringer is a super amazing artist, and I kind of just want to BE every girl that she draws. She kindly sent me a pair of her Pinky Sulky Star Gazer earrings! I for serious have not worn earrings in 8 million years, and I was like, “MelMel, I don’t even know if I have ear holes anymore!!!” BUT I DO. Mel also has a zine called Girl Glue in which she gathers inspiration and art from girl artists around the world. Girl Glue 2 is out now and available in her shop, and yours truly is in there, too! The gorgeous cover art is by Wishcandy, and here is a list of all the artists inside:  (from A-Z) Amanda Whitelaw, Cat Rabbit, Chelsey Barnes, Danielle Thompson, Elena Peralimonera, Gemma Correll, Glucose Girl, Hannakin, Heidi Kenney, Hellen Jo, Kirbee Lawler, Lilly Piri, Mab Graves, Maddy Young, Manjit Thapp, Marmushka, Mel Stringer, Natali Koromoto Martinez, Natalie Perkins, Ouvra, Rebecca Marian Irene, Rudy Fig, Sarah “Catface” MG, Team Kitten, Twinkie Chan, Valerie Brown, Wishcandy. Hope you guys have a great weekend! I’m going to a Galentine’s Day party at Elysse‘s house, and then I’m powering through more work on my second crochet book, which I’ll blog about soon :). (If you guys have any fun suggestions for something vegan I can bake or cook and the turn into a heart shape, let me know!)  

All the fave crochet apparel designs nominated by the judges and YOU are now available for voting!! Click here to check out all the noms and cast your votes!

I totes forgot to show you guys the sleeping masks I made for my mom’s birthday! Strawberry cake and a hot dog! These are just inspiration photos for you guys, and I don’t really plan to write out the patterns for them. Don’t forget, though, that the basic sleeping mask pattern and how-to video are right here! Oh yeah, here’s a picture from my Instagram when I announced that I had achieved WeinerVision.

When my friend Onch told me he was sending me a surprise package… I had no idea it would contain PANDAS!!! OMG PANNNNNDASSS!!!! These little guys are so cute! You can get them in a bunch of 3 like mine or in a bunch of 5! See more at Onch’s website!

My amazing and cute friends Cat & Tom from the popular craft site Cut Out + Keep have just published their first book! It’s called Cut Out + Keep: Around the USA in 50 Craft Projects, and it follows them on their actual road trip around the U.S. with a craft project or recipe inspired by the history and culture of each state! And yes, I did get the honor of hanging out with them while they cruised through California! It is out now in the UK, and will be out here in the U.S. on March 17! I just pre-ordered my copy! (The snaps below are from Amazon…!) One of the things I’ve always loved about Cut Out + Keep (besides how nice Cat & Tom are!) is that the projects always feel very accessible, encompassing a huge range of crafts — from sewing to knitting to crocheting to jewelry-making to cooking to hair dye-ing to pretty much anything under the DIY umbrella — and also fun ideas that all crafters of all skill-levels can handle. Just for kicks, here are some old photos of me, Cat, and Tom from 2011 in London when they visited my book signing/crochet party!

I know you guys wanted me to let you know when you would be able to nominate some of your favorite crochet apparel designs for the first quarter 2015 Crochet Awards. Click here to send in your top picks! If you wanted to check out who the judges nominated, go here!!  There’s a full list with links and larger photos on the Crochet Awards website. Voting on everything will begin on Feb 23rd!

It’s the 15th of the month, so it’s time to launch a new blog sponsor giveaway! Thanks so much to my generous sponsors for offering us these wonderful goodies!  ONE lucky winner will receive:

Let’s squeeze out one more heart-shaped pattern before Valentine’s Day! I got a couple requests for a Ricardio the Heart Guy from Adventure time. I had to look him up, and he looks like this: Kinda freaky, right?! Anyway, I figured this was also a good opportunity to make heart-shaped throw pillows, and then you can put a Ricardio face on it, or a happy/cute face, or make a set of conversation hearts with your own messages. Lots of opportunities here!! I will put arms and legs on mine, but you can leave out the limbs. The world is yours! There are a few ways to create a throw-pillow-type project. You can either work in the round, or you can crochet two flat pieces and sew them together. We are going to work this one in the round, kinda like a jumbo version of my heart lollipop necklace. I normally like to use single crochet for items that are stuffed, but I wanted to bang this out really quick, so I used double crochet! Let’s go crazy!!! (p.s. I’m sorry that the photos here are just screen grabs of the YouTube video….. I changed the way I decided to work the pattern, and all the photos I took were no longer valid. I will work up another pillow this weekend and shoot proper progress photos!)

I totally forgot to blog these nail photos from a week or two ago! I bought a set of nail stickers from Pygmy Hippo Shoppe a few months ago, and finally tried them out! (Sorry, it looks like these are no longer available… but there are still tons of cute things in the store!) The set came with a bunch of things like these pretzels, kitties, and french fries, but also pizzas, pugs, and some other things I can’t remember because the sheet is in another room right now! This is the 2nd set of nail stickers I’ve tried, and they are thinner and lay much flatter against my nail. Some other stickers are thicker and end up leaving a ridge around the image, even with a good coat of Seche Vite on top. So while thinner stickers are a bit trickier to place on the nail correctly… they definitely have a better finish!

I gotta show you guys this baby sloth pen cozy I made for my buddy Elysse! I just gave it to her today, so now you can see it, too! I used a pet slicker brush to get him nice and fuzzy. At first I thought his head turned out too small, but in photos, he’s still pretty cute! I was going to give you guys a tutorial for a heart-shaped pillow before Valentine’s Day, but would you rather have a baby sloth first? I think he would make a good VDay present, too 😛

First up, check out this panel of awesome ladies I get to join as a judge for The Crochet Awards! To be perfectly honest, and I get asked about this sometimes in interviews, I am kind of clueless about a lot of other crochet designers. Like, I have not been super active on Ravelry, and I have not really become internet-buddies with a  lot of other crochet designers, so this is such a neat and unique opportunity for me to get more in touch with the crochet world at large, and I’m so thankful to Salena from Design Wars for inviting me! As soon as I think of the word “judge,” I automatically think of Judge Dredd… which I know is weird… cuz I’m not the law in this case… and I don’t get to beat anyone up or arrest them or wear a cool helmet. (I know… crochet one…and don’t beat anyone up.) As I mentioned before, the awards are now occurring quarterly, with the first quarter being all about APPAREL. Here are the categories of crochet patterns for which we got to nominate our favorites: Best Coat/Jacket Best Dress Best Shrug/Bolero Best Skirt Best Beachwear (Swimwear, Coverups) Best Vest Best Shorts/Pants Best Sweater (Cardigan or Pullover) Best Tank/Sleeveless Tunic Top Best Shawl/Wrap Best Cowl/Snood Best Scarf Best Poncho/Capelet You guys, it was really hard!!! I would nominate a shrug and wonder if it was more of a mini sweater. I would nominate a bottom beach coverup and wonder if it was more of a pair of shorts. One of the things we noticed though was that swimwear or beachwear was kind of a seemingly avoided category in crochet patterns, so, WATCH OUT WORLD. I’m bringing you cupcake bikini tops galore for SS 2015!!! 😉 But anyway, YOU guys will still have an opportunity to nominate some wildcards, so start sorting through your favorite crochet apparel patterns from 2014. Stay tuned for more info on that!

We’re having a sale over at Yummy You! Use code SWEETTREAT at checkout for 20% off your order until Wednesday night at midnight! xo

Fun news!!! I’ve been asked to be a judge for the 2015 Crochet Awards, formerly known as The Flamies!! How cool is that!? Created by Founder and Fearless Leader of the Crochet Liberation Front, Laurie Wheeler, the Crochet Awards are a celebration of the best of what the crochet universe has to offer. These coveted awards are a collective voice to show appreciation to the makers, designers, publishers, and suppliers of crochet tools and yarn.  They are voted on by the passionate crochet community to show their pride and celebrate excellence. And new for 2015: the Crochet Awards will now occur quarterly, in order to really focus on all the amazing contributions to the crochet community! This quarter, we will be focusing on Crochet Patterns in Apparel! To follow along and stay on top of all the Crochet Awards news, hit up their Facebook page! I gotta go now and keep working on my nomination list :). Stay tuned…. I think you guys will also be getting an opportunity to do some nominating, too!