Hello December!

Whew! What a day! So -- I'm supposed to record the December days for a December Daily scrapbook I've made. Yes -- scrapbooking is my other hobby...Hopefully I can keep up. I'd planned to have my tree up already, but that didn't happen. ...Best Laid Plans... So here's today's rundown

Professional Working ...at home...new release of software to get ready to test

Planning - for my last craft show -- lot's of crocheting to do!

Watching -- the season finales of 'The Hills' and The City' -- okay we all need a vice..

Eating - Spaghetti

Helping - Grandma pack up her hats. I thought this would be a chore I'd hate, but it was actually great. My grandma has the most wonderful hats. It was nice to look at them with her...pictures to follow

Tension

In crochet, tension is how tight or loose your stitches are. Experienced crocheters have control over the amount of tension they use when creating their items. Beginners tend to have very tight tension. I even read once that the same pattern can come out differently if the crochter is tense when creating their project. I read that and kinda chuckled to myself. I've been doing this awhile. My tension -- I thought -- was pretty controllable...Until this week. I'm currently working on my next craft show, some paid orders and -- well -- I'm a bit stressed. So... I was working on a scarf and the ends started to curl -- not from me holding the edges, but because the tension was too tight. There was no drape to the scarf -- just stiff. Those 'tense' words rang loud in my ear and after a break, I made myself relax and take the death grip off my hook and my scarf started to look much better. So relax my fellow crocheters...it'll all work out in the end!

Weekend Round Up

This past Saturday I did a craft show in Kernersville for the Traid Ladies Civitan Club. As I stated in a previous post, rain was scheduled. When I got there it was warm and cloudy, but overall I was positive I had beat the rain curse -- so I didn't even put up my tent sides...BIG mistake! At about 12 a cold wind and shower started! I had to go get my car and thankfully with help I put my sides up. 20 minutes later and I'm soaked! Ah well -- lessons are learned every day in this journey. The craft show was a good one! I continue to meet very talented, helpful crafters at each one I do. I did sell some hats and got orders. The customers were very gracious and appreciated my work which I'm thankful for. And yes -- after all that...I'd do it again. Why? Because I wasn't the only one out there getting wet we all made the best of the situation and most of all I was doing something I love :-)

Final Prep for the Craft Show

>Sigh<...Why does it always rain for my craft shows?? I've been working feverishly to be sure I have enough pieces to sell at the craft show in Kernersville. After a week of beautiful, sunny weather, it will be raining starting today and tomorrow. And guess what? Sunday will be fine....Oh well I'll be there at 6am to set up and help the others. Hopefully I can meet more crafts people and new customers. Since I ran out of baby/kid hats last month, I've made more. I still never feel like I have enough pieces, but I have to remember I'm learning. I'll post an update after the weekend.

My First Showcase on Etsy!

My first showcase on Etsy was a success!!! I bought a showcase on the crochet section for Monday. I've been doing pretty well at craft shows, but had not made any sales on my etsy site to date. Well -- I got 3 sales and lots of views to my shop! That more than covered my investment. So I do recommend getting a showcase whenever possible. The community on etsy is absolutely supportive and wonderful. I'm having a wonderful experience so far!

My First Craft Show

Whew! Only after about 5 weeks of preparation, I decided to participate in my first craft show at our local farmer's market. I had a great time and met some very friendly, helpful people. Friday and Saturday it rained in the morning, but Sunday was a nice cool day.

Things I learned:

• Make more hats for babies/toddlers. These got gone very quickly.


• Make the baby/toddler hats bigger.


• Buy a nice folding table from the local big box store. I rented a table and it was a hassle to return it on Sunday and I didn't want to leave it out there for them to pick up on Monday. The thing was 8 ft -- too big for my car


• Make sure I have weighted items. Friday was really windy and my stuff kept blowing over.


• Allow at least 5 days for orders. I'm working hard to get orders done and I need to be working on my next show.


• Don't be afraid to ask for a deposit. I wasn't consistent with this, but people were more than willing to put down a deposit for an order.

All in all I did very well for my first show. I met a lot of people and made vendor contacts for upcoming shows to participate in. Can't wait for the next one!!

A New Adventure

Hey there my fellow crochet fans! I'm starting this blog to document my life and love for crochet.

My Crochet Story...
I haven't been crocheting for a long time, but it was something I always wanted to learn. Crocheting was something that my mother and aunt did when I was smaller. My mother left this earth when I was a girl, but sewing and crochet have been things I've always wanted to see if I had any talent in. I learned to sew in 2007. I took a class and everything.

When I became determined to learn crochet, I was hooked! (Bad pun - I know). It was something about picking up a hook, taking a beautiful ball of yarn and making something from it. I was also intrigued to learn new, interesting stitches. I went to the craft store and picked up a Klutz book on Crochet for children. Find it here. Since then, I have developed a passion for crochet. I poured over the internet for videos, patterns, and finding fellow crocheters.

What is your crochet story??