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! 

Carafe'tin Time!

I love the term Stitch and Bitch.  To me, it represents girlfriends getting together and crafting. But I would substitue Wine for Bitch in our case.  My girlfriends are pretty drama free.  We don't really have that much to bitch about other than our sore abs/ass/legs/arms at the moment due to Booty Camp.  We all are quite content with our lives, our children, our jobs, our homes, etc.  I'm not trying to paint this "pretty, stable, family picture" as one of my DNA counter parts would say, but its definitely not a "group of girls ranting and talking bad about their men/kids/pets/jobs/lives lets-use-the-stitch-excuse-to-bitch type of party.   The two words rhyme and thats pretty much it.  I'm now gonna call it "Craft and Carafe" because that's more along the lines of what happens.  And right now, the wine is flowin because of our recent trip to Walla Walla. :) 

So tonight is another edition of Stitch and Bitch Craft and Carafe.  We are going to make Valentine crafts, more specifically, yarn wreaths.  I love this idea, mainly because I'm half way there as far as materials needed.  You pick the color, I've got it.  So last night I got a head start and wrapped my foam circle in yarn.  On all the DIY blogs regarding this project I've found don't mention the part where it takes a lot of time and patience to wrap a whole wreath.  I was able to get Hottie Hubs help for a wee bit (emphasis on wee but it was the thought that counted) and then I got into a rhythm.  Tonight I'm going to add a few things to it with my trusty glue gun and felt.  Here's the start to the wreath.

Foam circle and purple yarn.

Flash from camera does not flatter this wreath

This better represents the true color.

Happy Friday! 



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UPDATE:

These are pictures I took during the crafting party, and have been a little lazy in getting them on here to show you the end results.  M

Almost done wrapping the pink string.  

This took quite some time.

Done. For the night anyway.  

Still need to put some hearts/flowers on it.

Jenny's wreath all wrapped up.

Her amazing felt flowers. 

Crap Room turned Craft Room

Post Originally Written Sept 4th:

We had big Labor Day weekend plans.....and then the j.o.b. got in the way. Hate it when that happens!  However, it may have been God's way of telling us to STAY HOME and GET WORK DONE, SON.

So, that's what we did. We had a big day planned for Saturday. Costco, Home Depot, (Bed, Bath and Beyond if we had time). I showed hubs the Martha Stewart 3x3 shelving unit that I wanted, and stated I needed 2, possibly 3.  We bought two, got home and quickly put them together. Teamwork!!! Have I mentioned the nerdy song we wrote about teamwork?  I'll sing it for ya sometime if you haven't heard it already.

Our house is pretty big, and that allows me and my hubby to each have our own room, separate from the one we share of course. This is awesome, because I have a lot of my own crap. I'm a borderline hoarder (teetering on the messier side of the border), keeping tons of stuff from my childhood that I cannot throw/give away.  Cleaning my room wouldn't have taken that long, except I kept finding stuff that brought up crazy-back-in-the-day memories.  For example, I found a 14 page letter I wrote Rodney when I was entering my Sr. year of high school. (ahhh high school love) Seems silly, however it detailed exactly how/when we first got together. Excerpts from the letter:

"The first time I saw you: Band Camp '96"   (not makin this shiz up, people)


"Then I asked you, 'Do you want to go to the movies sometime?' My heart was pounding. I'm sure you could hear it. You said, 'Sure that'd be cool' "


"We went to Coeur d' Alene a couple of times. Farting in the can, watching Bloomsday, falling asleep in front of Whose Line Is It Anyways. Kissing under the moonlight, as my mom would say."


After strolling down memory lane, I got back to work clearing out my room to make room for my awesome shelves.  I had hoarded a crib from my sister (What? Its nice, and I was hoping one day to use it!!!) that in reality didn't need to be fully set up and in the corner of the room as if we were bringing a baby home tomorrow. So I broke that down, and hid it in my basement.  Got the room pert'near empty, and then moved those suckers in. As I was filling the cubes with my precious yarn I heard my hubby from the next room yell to me, "I really want to come see what it looks like!" He was really excited for me to have my room all neat and tidy and able to show off when people come over instead of insinuating there's a hideous beast we're shielding from society.
TA DA.

Behold the power of Martha.

Hanging the official Blake's Beanies sign

(For some reason I only took an after pic with my ghetto fab phone, so I'll have to update this post later when I take a pic with my ghetto fab camera.)

Sunday we went golfing with one of my bffs Shauna and her bf Eric. It was the perfect day. I didn't even pit out.

Me n' Hottie Hubs 

Armpit Eric

Crazy Shauna and Crazy Blake

Monday it was back to the newly labeled craft room for more organizing.  When I had had about enough, I stopped and started a Breaking Bad marathon while crocheting and making a giant pasta salad and pork ribs.
And that ladies and gentleman was my Labor Day weekend. I'm sad to see it gone, but happy to hear my husband say, "oh wow" every. single.time. he walks past my OPEN door'd craft room.



*Side note: We had our 2 year anniversary of adopting Lola Rae this weekend.  It was 2 Labor Days ago that we met and fell in love with her.  I highly suggest visiting a shelter before buying a puppy or dog. 

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.

  

My mom and yard sales

Perfect combo. 

I'm not much into cruising yard sales, mostly because I like to sleep on Saturday mornings, followed by lounging in my pjs well into the afternoon without showering. And if you've ever seen my hair 1 day after a shower, you know I'm the last person that should be parading around yards. I didn't get the nickname "Greasy Bangs" for nothin. (thanks sis) 

So, I enlist those that DO like yard sales to specifically look for certain items for me. Mainly NKOTB gear knitting needles. And yarn.  However, the latter I'm very picky about.  If you bring me a sack full of yard sale or goodwill yarn, I become a total yarn snob. Most likely will not keep any of it, and have a hard time appreciating the actions at all.  Totally snobby, right?  I know. I'm sorry. I just have a ton of yarn right now, and its the good stuff. Not dusty, scratchy, stinky, blah colored yarn. Not to mention where I would put it. I'm pretty maxed out at the moment.

So my mom just called me to tell me she's at a yard sale and saw some yarn.  I had her give me the specifics and then used google images to see exactly what she was talking about.  And the yarn was $1/skein. I said I'd take a couple of those, and then asked her to tell the yard sale boss that she'd give them $.50/each for the smaller alpaca yarn skeins :)  My mother, queen of saving money/good deals was shy about doing that!!!! HAHAHA. I reminded her that she was at a yard sale, not JoAnns. Is this not what you SUPPOSED to do?  I mean, they obviously don't want the yarn anymore.  Is this the same woman that took a Snuggie tag OFF of a Snuggie for me at a yard sale????? Maybe she's afraid her yard sale good karma's running thin.

I really hope she scored.