Projects for Craft Shows and Markets, Part 1

I need to get photos of some of my work all in one place (besides Facebook), so I'm going to be putting them here in a series of posts.

Felted Wool Bowls/Baskets

Crab Amigurumi

A Little Chicken Insanity

So my daughter and I have been on this diet lately. It's a fad diet, so I won't go into the details, but I will say we've both lost a good amount of weight in a short time. And I'm all about the instant gratification of seeing scale numbers go down on a regular basis. The food choices are very limited, though, and we've been eating chicken quite often. A LOT of chicken. And since vegetable choices are also limited, I've been searching and searching for ways to prepare said chicken, so you might say I've had chicken on the brain these past five weeks.

And when I have one thing on my mind for a long amount of time, something like this invariably happens:

Front view

Side View

It's been rather gray and dreary here, too, as late March is apt to be, and I've been longing for the colors of summer. Thankfully the chicken we've been eating doesn't come in these colors, although I do wonder if it would taste more like cake if it did ...

Pattern available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/226418189/funky-chicken-trio-crochet-amigurumi?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_query=funky+chicken+trio&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery

or here:
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/crocheting/home-decor/funky-chicken-trio/136010

The End (hahahaha!)

Project vs. Process

I'm all about the process. I love to crochet, I love to knit. But I don't care whether or not I ever finish what I'm working on. I have many single socks that may or may not ever have a mate. It took me a very long time to understand why I'm that way, and part of the answer came after we participated in the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator years ago at the company where I worked at the time. I'm all INFP, baby - no answers in any other category except those, so I'm pretty extreme in my personality.

As an INFP, I'm extremely introverted. That doesn't mean shy, although I am a little on the shy side. It just means I'm exhausted after a morning of talking to people at market on Saturday. I enjoy talking to them, I just need a few hours to regroup and get my energy back afterwards. I'm also a "big-picture" person. I can see the end result, just not the steps to get there. Or I can see the steps, but I don't care about taking them. I want to get from Point A to Point B without having to go to points A.1, A.2, A.3, etc. I'm a feeler - I care about what other people are feeling. I want to know that people like what I'm making. I spent a good deal of time with my market customers asking how something makes them feel, and I'm very interested in their answers. And I'm never, ever on time, and if I am by some chance on time, I had to work very hard to get there, often managing to convince myself that I had to be where I was going a half hour early so that I managed to arrive somewhat on time. Time doesn't matter much to me, except that it passes much too quickly most of the time.

So all that leads back [somehow] to my original point of being a process crocheter/knitter rather than a project crocheter/knitter, which I really think ties into my personality. I love the feel of the yarn running through my fingers. I love counting my stitches. I love looking at the pattern the self-striping yarns make as I work with them. I love imagining how the finished project will look (because odds are not in the project's favor that it will ever actually be finished). I love making all the little pieces for the amigurumi I create. I don't like the stuffing part. I sometimes don't much like the sewing part, so sometimes the stuffed pieces sit for a while until I have so many finished that I have to put them together in self defense. I do love making their little faces, where the slightest variation of a stitch can change their whole expression. After they're [finally] finished, I like to imagine how my customers will feel about them. Will they smile when they see them? Will they give them as a gift, making someone else smile in the process?

Now these bowls? I love the whole stinking process, which means I actually get finished projects!

 
I love the crocheting. I love watching the colors shift or blend, and I love thinking about how they'll look when finished as I'm working on them. I love the felting process - I stand by the washer the entire time, taking them out every few minutes to see how much they've felted and how much they've changed. I love taking them out and rinsing them in cold water and feeling the fabric draw together and seeing how the colors emerge or recede and this happens. I love shaping them into the perfect bowl - big or little, deep or shallow depending on how the yarn felts. I love watching them dry in the sun and transform into fuzzy little vessels. I love the tedious process of trimming off the fuzz to see the beauty of the felted fabric beneath. I love everything, start to finish, about the felted bowls I make - maybe because each step of making them is so different than the step before that it seems like a totally separate project? Whatever the reason(s), I'm just glad they're something I can finish!

 Felted Bowls drying in the sun and awaiting defuzzing ...

So, I finally ...

... posted again. Yes, it's been well over a year. I'm sort of surprised blogs stay around that long when so many people start them and don't continue on with them. But maybe that's just me?

... listed some stuff in my Etsy store. Here are some examples:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/156950900/hand-dyed-sock-yarn-fruit-stripes?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/157093635/hand-dyed-sock-yarn-fruit-stripes-pink?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/157094235/hand-dyed-sock-yarn-fruit-stripes?

https://www.etsy.com/listing/154905823/baby-elephant-crocheted-stuffed-toy?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/154903398/soft-crab-redorangelime?
https://www.etsy.com/listing/155937319/felted-bowl-frosted-rainbow?

I don't know why these aren't coming up as links. Just copy/paste into your browser if you'd like to check these out in my Etsy shop.

More project photos ...

Mesh market/beach bags - these bags are crocheted from sturdy 100% cotton yarn and stretch dramatically to hold a LOT of stuff! Use them at farmers' markets to hold all fruits and veggies or take them to the beach, stuffed with towels, flip-flops, a beach read and your shades! The handles are double-thick and very comfortable for over-the-shoulder use. I will have these in a variety of colors, including variegateds.

These spa facecloths are crocheted from luxuriously soft, long-staple cotton yarn. I plan to make a matching soap and sell them as a set. Great gift idea for Mother's Day, or a great gift for a BFF or coworker.

Next up are earrings. These are high-quality silver plated. I could work with sterling, but I want my projects to be affordable. Nothing that I sell is over $15 - the best price point for gifts. The first group contains some of my Wind Chime Earrings. They really do tinkle when you turn your head or in a breeze outside. I love the soft jingling in my ears. The beads are Swarovski crystals, so they catch the sunlight and twinkle.

And these are my Moon & Stars Earrings. I've combined moon and star charms with sparkling Swarovski crystals and have hung them from fine chain. Really pretty, and really fun to wear. They also tinkle slightly when you turn your head.

Uploading more photos soon!

In other news, my son surprised me with a credit card reader that hooks up to my iPhone. He got it all set up yesterday, so now I'm set to accept credit cards at shows. I've had a few people ask, and I've had to turn away a few sales, but now I won't have to! Very exciting stuff!