Hey, guys, I know it’s been a while. Holidays and crazy work schedule and generalized exhaustion, I haven’t been online or even crafting as much as I would like. Crafting has gotten done, but it’s been very distracted.
Anyway, all that being said. I’m here and I’m actually writing a bit of drabble for you. Yay! Oh, and Happy New Year! Because that just happened.
Currently spending my New Year reading Star Wars novels while listening to John Williams and working on a new design. So, off to a nerdy start.
I actually decided to get off my lazy rear end to type up a blog post because I have some exciting news. Friend and yarn dyer Heidi of the Undead Yarn podcast and Etsy shop is doing a KAL (knit-along) for all member of her group on Ravelry. Basically, the KAL is promoting people who design with her yarn. And we all know that I have designed with Heidi’s yarn.
You remember the pretty purple yarn that Sparkle was made from, right?
And the tutorial Unipony as well, now that I think about it:
Not to mention, Cyrano the Bookworm was designed for a kit using Heidi’s yarn:
And I have made many, many toys out of Heidi’s yarn. Because I am a heathen who does such things to perfectly nice non-acrylic yarns. Somehow, Heidi has found it in her heart to forgive me for such use of her yarn and has very kindly included me as a designer in her KAL for the month of January. The projects need not have been started in January to be entered into her group for a prize, but they must be finished sometime in January. Oh, and you have to be a member of Heidi’s Ravelry group. So go and join. Because her podcast is worth watching and her yarn is worth playing with. Trust me; there’s a reason I’ve used her yarn so often to make toys. I just love working with it. If I showed you a list of how many toys I’ve made with her yarn, you might be a little overwhelmed. Seven more toy pictures (not counting the other projects I’ve made out of her yarn) would make this post take forever to load.
Anyway, check out the KAL. Because I’m not the only one featured. January is the month focused on Franciscangypsy Designs, but two other designers are being featured as well later in the year. And I think you will enjoy exploring the patterns of friend and designer Lara Smoot and of new-to-me designer Susanna IC.
It promises to be a fun new year with much crafting fun and… dare I hint at it… many new designs. But that is a story for another post. Keep your ears perked.
Happy Independence Day, everyone! Here in the U.S. of A., I can hear people setting off fireworks. But most of all I hear music in my head, first of all, Lee Greenwood’s beautiful “God Bless the U.S.A”:
And then, as always when I think of patriotic songs, I think of growing up on an Air Force bases and hearing the National Anthem played every day all over the base at a certain time. Even as a kid, I remember stopping what I was doing and standing stock-still with hand over my chest for the duration of the song. Only when the song was finished did everyone on the base continue what they were doing. And, sometimes, I miss that here in civilian life, hence the video below (note the car that does not start driving out of the parking lot until the song is finished):
So happy Independence Day and thank God for our men and women in the Armed Forces who fight to keep this country free.
But this is a knitting/crocheting blog (with occasional book-talk and tea-talk thrown in). So let’s get on with the crafting. And it is on with the CAL/KALs.
Tortoise vs Hare has begun!
Yes, the Tortoise vs the Hare has begun. And, yes, the mug above is real and made for the cohosts of the CAL/KAL as well as two possible winners of the the CAL/KAL (one from the Crocheting Whovian podcast and one from PHN) at the end of of the CAL/KAL at the end of September. Actually, I am drinking tea from my mug right now.
Actually, I sadly just finished my cup of tea. I need to make another cup.
Anyway, the Tortoise vs. the Hare is going strong. I have a Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle and an Oops the Bunny started. I think I’m trying to go for the Bunny record. I think I’ve made seven to date. I am strongly Team Hare. I need to make T-shirts. But when I release PHN’s Episode 214, I talk more about that idea. I’d love to hear what you think. I’ll try to add in the link when the episode finally finishes uploading. My computer has been kind of slow lately with the massive amount of video content on it between me being the techie for the PHN podcast (God help us) and all my tutorial videos for my patterns.
Oh, speaking of tutorials, the tutorial Sparkle the Unipony is done! Meet Martin!
He’s the blue unicorn with the orange horn. And I’m keeping him. Which means that I will eventually being selling Sparkle (the original unipony). I just don’t have the space to keep multiples of my toys, particularly the large ones like Sparkle.
So, anyway, Sparkle is now officially in testing (and thanks all of you who agreed to test for me and/or showed interest in doing so!). All that is left is for me to finish getting my tutorials loaded and embedded in the pattern. Which takes much longer than I really like to think about. Like I said, this computer is really slow.
I know that y’all have been waiting for Sparkle for a long time. I’ve only been talking about this pattern for about 2 months. So what took so long? Well, first of all, Sparkle is a large toy. Definitely a good cuddle-size, but that also means that there is a lot of crocheting involved. And I have a bad case of project ADD anyway. Or would that be AD — Attention Deficit vs. Attention Deficit Disorder? Anyway, not congruent to my point.
So most of that two months were taken with typing up the pattern, then doing all the actual crocheting. Once all the crocheting was complete, I (thankfully) had a night off of work with nothing else planned. From about 20:30 to almost 04:30, I worked solidly on piecing together Martin and recording tutorial videos while doing so. All the videos have been recorded, but now is the long process of getting them all loaded, the sound tweaked (my GoPro records sound really softly, so I have to amp up the sound in editing), and embedding the videos in the pattern. So, yeah, an inside look at the process of putting together one of my patterns. More than you probably really wanted to know.
Anyway, what other news is there to share? The Ami-Along is still going strong, so if you are making Tortoises and Hares, make sure that you also double dip in the Ami-Along for a chance for prizes. I don’t think I can make my own toys for a chance for prizes and so I’ll be crafting along in the spirit of thing. I really do hate working with plastic eyes and really enjoy working my particular (unusual) brand of eyes, so I pretty exclusively make my own toys. But there are plenty of really cute toys in the Ami-Along. Kate E. Hancock, Vivian Clotilde, Justyna Kacprzak, Megan Barclay, and Alyssa Voznak are just a few of the many awesome designers involved in the Ami-Along. So you should really check it (and them) out. And I have a particularly special place in my heart for PatchworkMoose (Kate E. Hancock) and Stacey Trock (Freshstitches) since I feel like their influence started me off on this designing journey to begin with. Oh, and Stacey is also involved in the Ami-Along. Like I said, many, many awesome toy designers are playing in this thing. It’s a whole lot of fun.
Well, I’m craving another cup of tea (my fourth for the day), so I’m going to sign off. I hope you had a great holiday (those of you in the USA) and that you might have a great week!
Happy knitting and God Bless,
Tahlia
Don’t forget to knit something red for the Cardiac Red-Along!
Hey, readers and friends! Guess what? Today’s the first day of the Ami-Along! And since the Tortoise vs. Hare CAL/KAL allows for works-in-progress to be considered for prizes, now is the time to start making all the bunnies and turtles.
And of course, any other toys that might please your hearts to make. But, yeah, mostly bunnies and turtles.
As threatened a couple posts ago, I started both an Oops the Bunny and a Bitty the Bashful Baby Turtle. I had pretty yarn just hiding away unloved from a couple of different fiber festivals and decided that it was time to love them.
Hey, look, the beginning of a turtle face!
Actually, the yarn for Oops used to be a sweater, but I realistically was never going to finish said sweater and so I am reclaiming the yarn for an Oops. Because what more can a yarn want in life than to become an adorable bunny?
See, he already is starting to have a face! Much happier than being an unloved sweater
I was not content to stop with starting two toys (while I already have a York the Owl and a Sparkle the Unipony on the hooks); oh, no! I had to go one further.
Since I had finished a pair of socks for a sock KAL that the Bakery Bears Podcast is running, I had to, of course, start another pair of socks. Because it wouldn’t make sense to just focus on finishing of the three other pair of socks I have on the needles. Makes much more sense to start a whole new pair of socks. For purse knitting, you must understand.
Anyway, I wheedled my Mom out of some self-striping yarn I coveted by bribing her with a pair of hand-knit socks with aforementioned yarn. So, I get the happiness of working with some self-striping DK from Undead Yarn and she gets a pair of socks. All-around win.
I’m about to start the next brown section; this is a very addictive project
So, for the foreseeable future, I will be focusing mostly on making toys and socks. A terrible fate, I know.
Hopefully your summer of knitting/crocheting looks as fun and relaxing as mine does! Now I need to get another cup of tea. Cheerio!
It’s that time of year again. At least I think I posted about this last year. Maybe this is the first time.
Regardless, it’s almost time for the Ami-Along (2016)! Basically, a bunch of crochet and knit toy designers host a toy-along running from June 27-August 31st featuring their patterns. The patterns of said designers are on sale for the time of the Ami-Along and everyone gets to have fun trying new toy patterns and getting a chance for patterns. Amazing, right?
This year, the patterns are being organized in easy-to-access Bundle on Ravelry, so you can more easily browse drool-worthy toy patterns and pick the toys of your choice. And believe me, there is so much to choose from!
All the official rules are here. It’s going to be so much fun!
Almost immediately, Presley the Penguin by Forever Stitchin caught my attention. He’s just so darn cute. I need to make one. And then I need to design a penguin of my own. Because I do. Adding it to the list of toys to design at some point in my life…
The Ami-Along is also rife with awesome patterns to help with another CAL/KAL starting July 1st and running through September 1st. The Pen, Hook, And Needles podcast (Mom and my podcast, for those who don’t watch us) are participating in a special CAL/KAL being run by Laura of the Crocheting Whovian podcast. It’s called Tortoise vs. the Hare and it features my turtle patterns (Timmy and Bitty) as well as Oops the Bunny. My patterns may be the featured patterns, but any rabbit and turtle patterns can be entered into the CAL/KAL for a chance at a prize. Which means that the Ami-Along is a perfect way to find some awesome bunny and turtle patterns and get them on sale. As well as increasing your chances for to win prizes. And trust me, I’ve looked and there are some awesome bunny and turtle patterns available among the Ami-Along designers. I’ve had to remove pictures related to copyright reasons, but you should really check out these designers and their toys; they’re awesome.
Speaking of Tortoise Vs. Hare, I’ve already picked out some yarn for my next Bitty and Oops. Oh, and yarn for another possible design. I love having a veritable yarn shop in my house. Think how much money I save (no, don’t think about the fact that I spent the money to obtain the stash in the first place. Somehow I am still saving money by “shopping” from my stash. It is logical. Really.)
Anyway, yarn.
Yarn for Bitty
Yarn for Oops. Yes, I know it’s red. Yes, I know bunnies aren’t red. I want this bunny to count for the Cardiac Red-Along PHN is doing too.
So, that is all the awesome CAL/KAL news for now. More on the Cardiac Red-Along later, if not here, than on the PHN podcast. Thanks for hanging out with me. I’ll be back in a few hours (i.e. after midnight) when the Bitty pattern is released. So hang in for two days of posting in a row!
Franciscangypsy Designs 