Housewarming, Birthdays, Dinosaurs & Washi

What a busy summer! We had weddings to attend, I had a minor surgery, my youngest son turned 3 and now we're getting ready for our oldest son to start pre-school! I have plans of blogging more regularly, but for now I thought I'd catch up on what's been happening in my world.

Remember that house-warming gift I was working on when I last posted? It has been gifted (to my cousin) and I can finally share pictures! I was really happy with how it all came together, and she loved it too. :)
I made a set of matching potholders, a trivet/hot pad & wash clothes in her favorite colors.
I had a lot of fun working on these and coming up with the perfect color scheme. I'll definitely be making more of these gift sets!

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen pictures from my son's dinosaur birthday party, but I'll share them here too.
I got lots of ideas from Pinterest, and although his party was just a few days after my surgery, it went over pretty smoothly with lots of help from my wonderful family!

I made this dinosaur banner for the party! My son loved it and it's now up in his bedroom. :)

This past weekend I got the itch to just make something. I didn't have anything in mind when I started, I just knew I needed to satisfy an urge to make, so it had to be something that I could also finish that day. I love crocheting and other big projects, but you don't usually get that feeling of satisfaction until the project is complete and sometimes that could take days or weeks.
So I searched around in my craft supplies and remembered I had bought some blank coin pouches. Since I was still in dino-mode from the birthday party, I made a dinosaur motif, attached it to the blank pouch and then added beads. Simple, quick and satisfying! Not to mention cute, and my oldest son loved it!

While I had been searching thru my craft supplies I also came across my washi tape. I love pretty things and washi tape is definitely one of those pretty things! I have quite a few rolls and decided it's time to do something more with it. So, I grabbed a few cans from the recycling bin and taped them up to make pen holders for my desk at work! Then, since I couldn't just stop there, I also made some washi paperclips for my planner. Another simple, quick and satisfying project!

Do you ever get that undeniable itch to create? What do you make to satisfy the urge? I'd love to hear about your creations in the comment section! :)

New Pattern & What I've Been Working On

Summertime is so busy! I feel like it's flying right by.

In June I participated in a swap with fellow crafters. As one of the gifts for my swap partner, I wanted to try out a pattern I'd been eyeing for a while. It's the Yes, Yes Shawl by Bernat. This is the first pattern where I've used the chart instead of the written instructions, and I loved it! It's one of those patterns that looks complicated, but once you have done a few repeats it's a breeze. And the results are beautiful! I decided to play around with colors a bit and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

I've also been busy working on a housewarming gift, but I can't share pictures just yet. Stay tuned, I'll post pictures once it's finished and has been received. :)

And finally, my biggest news this week: The pattern I submitted to KnitPicks was accepted and is now available for purchase here! This is one of the first patterns I designed back before I really knew what I was doing. I've held onto the idea and perfected it, and it's finally available for others to make as well. I used KnitPicks Dishie yarn and I really loved working with the yarn and the company! I've already started working on some more ideas to submit!

If you like these mug cozies, but crocheting isn't really your thing, I have some finished cozies available in my Etsy shop.

Lesson Learned

It's been a while since I posted! Life has been hectic. The day job seems to be never ending. Not only did we find out our end dated will most likely be extended (AGAIN), but we've been working mandatory overtime on a special project. Not so much fun.

Anyhow, on to crochet news. 

First, I have a new item in my shop! I've had this idea for a pretty flower bunting for a while and finally had time to make some. I have 2 pre-made and ready to ship buntings so far and there is a listing for a custom bunting where you pick the rose color. I just love buntings and I have a few variations in the works that I'll hopefully be releasing soon too.

Second, no word from KnitPicks yet, but they said it could take 30 days for them to review my final submission. Crossing my fingers for good news!

Also, I mentioned that when I sent my submission to KnitPicks, I also submitted a pattern idea to a magazine. I was pretty excited about this one because I had this idea I had been working on that fit perfectly with what they were looking for. I made a swatch and a nice little sketch and was proud of my overall submission. With a lot of bigger publications you only hear from them if your pattern is accepted and even then it could take 30-45 days. I was pretty disappointed when the 45 days came and went and I didn't hear anything from them. 

Then, I went back to their website and read the guidelines about submission again. One of the big rules is about your file size. When you send your submission (with pictures which tend to increase file size), you have to make sure it is less than 2 MB. Wow, sure wish I would have paid more attention to that rule! It goes on to say that files larger than 2 MB will be automatically deleted by their server. 

Yikes! So the editor didn't even see my submission! Lesson learned: always read (and re-read) ALL guidelines.

I may try submitting my idea to another publication, or even self publishing. I'll keep you posted! :)

KnitPicks Submission

I'm so nervous and excited! I just sent my pattern in to KnitPicks for the final submission! They accepted my initial submission, but this is where they review my pattern and my sample piece and decide for sure if they will accept my pattern to be sold on their website.
The process was pretty simple, but it left me anxious for when I'll actually have more time to devote to this. Thankfully, when I submitted my proposal, I already had the pattern mostly written. I just had to add a few final touches before sending it out to my testers.
This was my first experience with testers and I definitely learned a lot. Unfortunately one of my testers didn't come through, but the others did so it was an overall win. Next time I have testers I might write up a short questionnaire for them to fill out about the test. This way I can ask specific questions about their experience while working with the pattern.
I received yarn from KnitPicks to work up the sample piece. I hadn't worked too much with this specific line of yarn and it ended up being much thinner than I thought, so I had to make some adjustments to my pattern. Thankfully it all worked out and it didn't take me too long to work up the sample.
Then came the pictures...ugh. I didn't want the classic white background because I wanted my pattern to really shine! Just when I thought I had my camera figured out, turns out I'm not so camera savvy. I finally got my pictures figured out after a few days of playing around and I'm pretty happy with the final shots!
The final submission process could take up to 30 days, but I can't wait to share it with everyone!

A New Beginning

Rewind to early December. I walked in to work thinking it was a normal day and  instead found out that my company was getting rid of a bunch of jobs (mine included). Of course, I immediatly panicked! This was supposed to be the company I worked for until I retired. The good news was I got to keep my job until May or June.

I have a bachelors degree in exercise science and my original plan was to continue schooling and eventually become a Physical Therapist. Life happened and my dreams changed. I met my husband and we started our family. My priorities changed from my dreams to our dreams and I realized I no longer wanted to continue going to school with my young son at home. So, I eventually found a full time job outside of the home.

This job; that I just found out I would be losing in a few short months. So now I had a big decision to make, go back to school or look for another job.

The very next day I was contacted by Michaels and asked to design a few crochet patterns for their spring & Easter photo shoot AND another company involved in the yarn industry (but this part is secret for now ;) ). It was like the universe was speaking to me! I had been researching crochet carreers and crocheting like mad for my Etsy shop for a few years, so it was an incredible opportunity.

This of course left me wondering,: should I work at this current job through my end date and try to make this crochet dream a reality or should I look for another day job? If I choose crochet, it could fail. In fact it could completely bomb and I could have to go out looking for a new day job again. But I'll never know unless I give it a shot.
Follow along with me on this crochet journey. Even if I have to go back to "a day job", I'll still crochet like mad because once you find your passion, you don't just let it go.

**This was originally my first post on the blog. I edited a few things due to typing errors and it republished the post.**