Its Craft Fair Time Again!

There's one day in the life of Blake's Beanies that is the culmination of a year's work.  That day is this Saturday.  The Clarkston High School Band Craft Fair. 

All year long, I crochet.  This is not breaking news.  We all know this.  But why?  Because I can't sit still while I watch TV? Yes.  Because I am addicted to crocheting?  Yes.  But also because I know that if I waited until September to start getting ready for the crap fair, I'd be screwed.  

This week is called "Hell Week".  I just learned this term this week while talking to my sis-in-law when she was explaining the term for the week before a Civic Theatre production.  I thought it was very fitting to my situation as well.  

There's just sooo much that goes into these fairs.  I can't just show up the morning of, with a table and a box of hats.  Well I could, but my craft table has since turned into the camping cook table and is absurdly greasy dirty.  And I have done this in years past.  When I started doing fairs over 10 years ago, I would show up hungover and completely unprepared.  I also used to do around 3-4 a year, but then realized that I would practically sell out on the first one and then not have enough time to get my inventory back up in time for the next one.  So now, I only do one.  And loyalty wins, so the Clarkston High School Marching Band Craft fair is the one I always choose.  

Branding was always something I wanted and needed and thanks to my bff Jenny, I have business cards, stickers, price tags and bags!  Plus two giant posters.  She's pretty awesome. 

Booth design was another part I knew I needed to work on.  That and not being hungover the day of. 

I would say for the past few years I finally was able get all the pieces together and feel good about how everything, including my product looks.  Felt great!  But I know there's always room for improvement, so this year, I decided to create a mockup of my 10x10 booth square in my living room.  Perfect timing really, due to the fact that Hottie Hubs is out of town all week, because I've made a giant crocheted mess, yarnbomb really, of my living room.  What I found out, is that I have a ton of inventory.  Way more than I thought.  Since I did the yarnbomb bike and stairs at work this September, I was afraid my inventory was going to be smaller than previous years. Wrong. 

Now if I can just stay away from the beer on Friday night, I'll be set. 

Oh, I almost forgot!  I'm selling my Mom's awesome stash of Vintage Children's Books.  Including Dick and Jane!  Next to the books, a basket-o-beardies.

Sneak peek of the main table

The other side of the table

The pile of beards

P.S. Thanks Ruthie Prasil for lending me your amazing cute fabric banners.  They go perfectly with my branding designs! 

Beardie Fever

Have you seen these?

Lady Beards

 

 Man Beards

If you're a friend of mine and not some blogstalker (which is o.k. too) you probably have.

I call them beardies, I spose because it sounds like (blake's) beanies and because I'm a dork.

I've sold them to people in Vermont, Texas, New York, Utah, Ohio, California, Louisiana, Deleware, Kansas, Florida,  Seattle, Pullman, to name a few places.  Crazy thinking about all these people putting something I crocheted on their faces.

The latest beardie craze happened over the weekend.  If you saw my FB posts, then you already know.  I have an order for 50 OR MORE.   And she wanted around 1/2 of those mailed to her this week, so all beardie buyers can wear them for a football game on Friday.  Its a fundraiser for the high school she teaches at, and the mascot has an orange beard, as shown here:

It's super awesome because it means lots of exposure and mulah for muah.  But what it also means is that I'm crocheting instead of sleeping, cooking, cleaning, bathing, blinking, etc.  Well, I guess the I don't normally bathe on Saturdays anyways, so thats nothing new. jk. kinda.

On top of that, my etsy store is on FY-AH.  I started my etsy page in December of 2011, so I didn't realize how much business to expect for the fall season.  Man,  people plan ahead!!! Either that or its a lot colder in other parts of the US right now because so far this week, I've had 7 orders for hats, fingerless gloves and beardies. 

Plus, I've got my in town peeps ordering stuff too!!!  (you guys are priority right now fyi)

Obviously, I LOVE CROCHETING.  And every year I'm helluz busy.  But this year tops it.  I've stocked up for my November 17th craft fair, but now I'm selling the stuff I have in stock, so I'm now restocking my stock.   I'm loving all the orders I've received and I see myself crocheting until I grow old and can no longer operate my robotic fingers. 

Thanks to EVERYONE who is sportin a Blake's Beanie, Beardie, Headband, or fingerless gloves, pretend eating my crocheted food,  or has just purchased one and is waiting (hopefully patiently) for one.   

Also, thanks to ROKU for allowing Netflix and Hulu+ to be streaming Teen Mom, Parenthood, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Workaholics, and many many movies. 

If YOU would like a beardie, or anything else crochet related, email me at blakesbeanies@gmail.com, or visit my etsy shop!  And if you've already purchased something of mine, I would LOVE a picture of you wearing the beard or hat!!!

Photo Shoot!

This is Kennedy.

She has probably had her picture taken every single day of her life. In fact, I would go out on a limb and say she has had multiple pictures taken of her every day since she was born.

But she's just so amazingly beautiful that I don't blame Chrissy (her mom and my bff) one bit.

So they came over last week and we got right down to business.

For Blake's Beanies of course!

Sock Monkey - Vintage-y colors

We happen to be babysitting my niece Roselynn.  Such a sweet baby!

Kitty Hello!

Chrissy's a Vandal girl and I aim to please.

I'm gearin up for the fall/winter season!  That means craft fairs, etsy orders, football, and lots-o-yarn.  There's lots more hats where these came from, and I'm always taking custom orders: any size, color, character, style.

Blake's Beanies has also expanded to beardies, fingerless gloves, headbands, flower accessories and much more.  "Like" my facebook page to stay updated!!!

Burger with Fries, Minus the Grease!

I love crocheting small, strange items. Its a quick "fix", gets my creative juices flowin, and puts me in an instant good mood.   

Blake's Beardies 

(think Charlie's Angels)



The beards were a hit.  My etsy page BLEW up this Christmas season with orders. I had one friend from college order 8. I had orders from all over, including Delaware, New York, Texas, and North Carolina.  Its really fun to imagine complete strangers sporting the beards and them (hopefully) mentioning Blake's Beanies, or at least a mention of some guy named Blake that crochets. Hey, I'll take what I can get.  

 

Well, its not really beardie season right now, but it is always the season for a good burger and fries.  So thats exactly what I've made.

Would you like fries with that?

One all beef yarn patty, special sauce, lettuce,

cheese, pickles, onions - all on a sesame seed bun

Its like an addict moving on to his bigger and more dangerous fix. Beanies are the gateway craft. Well, actually I think pot holders are, but I skipped right to learning the beanie. I'm bad2thebone like that.

I got the idea about a year ago when I bought a crochet book that had different toys in them, like dolls and doll clothes.  I quickly learned I'm not a doll maker, because I hate reading patterns and, they overall, just took too much time.  I favor the wham-bam thank you ma'am projects.  The book showed a hamburger with all the fixins, and a tea set with teapots, cups, saucers, and cookies.  Screw the fake porcelain. Lets eat! So I made cookies, and a hamburger set for my niece Evelyn.  Since she lives in Las Vegas, I have no idea if she ever plays with them, but thats ok.  I will just envision her sleeping with them next to her pillow every night.

Since then, I kinda moved on. I made my burger, and that was my "fix". I was good for a bit. And theeeeen, the urge was back.  I just HAD to make more food.  I found this cah-ray-zee etsy shop that has patterns for literally everything (think crochet tool set and curling iron/hair dryer set to get an idea of the word everything).  She doesn't sell the actually crocheted item, but just the pattern to be able to make it.  Like I mentioned before, me and patterns mix about as well as orange juice and toothpaste.

Take a look at a pattern I quickly found for illustrative purposes (and this is a straight forward/easy level pattern):
 Using mc yarn, ch 28 (30, 33, 35, 38, 40).
Foundation Row: Sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in each ch across -- 27 (29, 32, 34, 37, 39) sc.
Row 1: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), dc in next 0 (1, 0, 1, 0, 1) sts, *dc in next 2 sts, ch 1, sk next st, dc in next 2 sts; rep from * 5 (5, 6, 6, 7, 7) times, dc in next 1 (2, 1, 2, 1, 2) sts -- 22 (24, 26, 28, 30, 32) dc.
Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), dc in next 0 (1, 0, 1, 0, 1) sts, *dc in next 2 sts, (yo, pull up a loop) 4 times into next ch-1 sp, yo and pull through all 9 loops on hook, dc in next 2 sts; rep from * 5 (5, 6, 6, 7, 7) times, dc in next 1 (2, 1, 2, 1, 2) sts, turn -- 22 (24, 26, 28, 30, 32) dc
Row 3: Ch 1, sc in each st to end, turn -- 27 (29, 32, 34, 37, 39) sc.
*Repeat Row 3 until piece measures 9.25 (9.5, 10, 10.5, 10.5, 11.25)” from beginning.
Row 5: Ch 1, sc in next 9 (10, 10, 11, 12, 12, 13) sts, turn.
Row 6: Ch 1, sc in next 9 (10, 10, 11, 12, 12, 13) sts. Fasten off yarn and weave in yarn end.
Row 7: Attach yarn to unworked edge. Ch 1, sc in next 9 (10, 10, 11, 12, 12, 13) sts, turn leaving the center 9 (9, 12, 12, 13, 15) sts unworked.
Row 8: Ch 1, sc in next 9 (10, 10, 11, 12, 12) sts. Fasten off and weave in yarn end.

I think I barfed a little in my mouth

So, I like to take the pictures of crochet food items, and just DOOO IT.  If its not working, I have no problem completely pulling the string and starting over.  In fact, I like doing that with new stuff, because I like it to look good enough to sell, or at least gift to a relative.  I have unraveled so many projects even hours into them, just because I'm not going to waste perfectly good (and overpriced) yarn. One time, I knitted a sweater to completion. From like really expensive, thick ass yarn. Ok that didn't read correctly. But you get it.  Anyways, I followed a pattern (knitting ones seem to be easier to follow) and completed the sweater, well "shrug".  And I never wore it. Later I found out you have to "block" sweaters so they look good when you put them on, but by that time, shrugs were just about out of style.  ( the one shrug i did own/wear ellicited many jokes about where the other 1/2 of my sweater went)  So, I took the yarn, unravelled the entire shrug and made it into hats for babies, as modeled below. 

My friend Stephanie Krupicka took these two.

She's pretty awesome!

Baby Ezra wearing the bunny style.

Love her!

Back to the food. Man can I get off track easy.

I made some breakfast foods too:

MMmm. Bacon
(The maple kind?)

"Ohmahgoodness."

I'm always taking requests and custom orders, so if there is ever anything crazy you need crocheted or knitted, ask me, as I'd probably be MORE THAN HAPPY to crochet up something crazy/different.

Are these crazy enough for ya?

HAHAHA. Love the tattoo one.

  

Blake's Beanies Giveaway!!!

****UPDATE**** We have a winner!!!

Congrats to: Chantelle Boyd!!!!

I'll be getting a hold of you for your order details! 

Thanks to everyone that entered!

 

Who wouldn't want a Blake's Beanie when its 100 degrees out?!?!?!

Feels like a perfect time to give one away!

Giveaways used to confuse me...in a not-so-interested-in-doing-them sort of way.  I mean, I get the concept but I just never really got into them on my blake's beanies Facbook page.  I see all sorts of pages doing them constantly just to get people to their page, but I wasn't really having a problem with getting strangers to my site.  Don't get me wrong, you can never have enough strangers/creepers visiting your business page. However, I was busy enough with the orders I already had to fill my "after work, before chores" time.

Here's my awesome banner from my Etsy shop.  Thanks to Jenny Purington.

So here's the thing.  I've got a lot in inventory right now, because I'm gearin up for the 2012 craft fair season (which actually only consists of 1 craft fair because I usually don't like sitting there sell out).  When I look into my craft room, I see all my hats tucked away like abandoned stuffed animals waiting to be played with. Right now, there's probably around 90-100 hats waiting for a noggin to warm/style/accessorize. That may seem like a lot of hats, but trust me, its not. I need about twice as many as that for the fair, because God made every single person's head a different size. And I'm not blaming God. I'm just stating the obvious.

Blah blah blah Blake. Get to the freakin giveaway already.

The winner will recieve one free Blake's Beanie (doi).  You can either have the version with the buttons on each side, or the version with the flower on the side.  I really like this style of hat.  It looks good on everyone!  These pics are not the actually hats you will win, but just the style. The winner will get to choose colors and size (newborn to chad m. large man head). I've got a pretty crazy yarn stash right now, so most likely I will have the color scheme you ask for.  If not? Well, work with me, its free.

My poor styro-head Phoebe. She's smelled better days.

But at least someone tried to fix that by fingernailing a smile onto her.

Thanks to whomever did that....not.

These are just a few that I found to show the flowers.

I have many many more color combos.

Oh. Like this one.

I promise I made more than fuschia colored flowers

My cute sis-in-law Michele modeling on a perfect fall afternoon.

 (Factoid: She had my niece Roselynn in her belly)

Sheesh. I almost forgot to mention HOW to win. I've had 4 blonde moments already today, and I'm not talkin about the beer my cousin Pete makes, although it really would have the same results. I'm gonna make this easy on you folks. You can either email me your entry at blakesbeanies@gmail.com, comment on this blog post, or comment on either my FB blog post, or my blakesbeanies FB blog post. One entry/person, so don't bother overachieving.  I will probably just write everyone that enters on a piece of paper and have my dog Lola sniff out the winner. Seems pretty fair. totally joking. I'll have my neighbor's dog Pepper pick.