New Pattern! Cute and Slouchy Hat

I am happy to announce that I've created a new hat pattern. This is one that I invented because I wanted to make a hat that I would actually want to wear. What I like about it is it is not tight fitting, so it doesn't mess up my hair too badly, and it covers my ears, keeping me nice and warm! In the picture of the purple hat, my model has her long hair tucked inside the hat, which is really nice if it's snowing.

Here are some of the specs for this hat pattern:

Size: One size fits all teen & adult heads.
Gauge: 4.5 sts and 8 rows per inch in stockinette stitch on size 7 needles.

Yarn:
Yarn A, worsted weight, wool/acrylic blend, solid color, 1 skein
Yarn B, worsted weight, wool/acrylic blend, variegated color that coordinates with Yarn A, 1 skein.

Needles:
US Size 5 (3.75 mm) 16” circular needles,
US Size 7 (4 mm) 16” circular needles, or size to reach gauge
US Size 7 (4mm) double pointed needles, one set of 4-5.

The pattern uses the following stitches: knit, purl, seed stitch--which is just knit and purl stitches, increase by knitting into the front and back of a stitch, and decrease by knitting two stitches together.

To order one, just email $3.75 to my PayPal account: krndpx@yahoo.com, indicating in the notes section that you wish to purchase the cute and slouchy hat pattern. I will email you a .pdf file of the pattern.

Merry Christmas and a Sneak Peak

I've almost finished my special order knitting this year, and I'm really looking forward to some time off to design some new hats and patterns and especially to relax with the family.

One thing I want to work on when I get a little time is creating kits to make the monster hats. It would include everything needed to make the hat except the knitting needles, plus a pattern in multiple sizes. Watch for that to come, and I'd love some feedback as to whether you think this is a good idea.

Sales on my cupcake hats are slower this year. Perhaps it's the economy. They are my most expensive hat, but they also are the most tedious to make.

I participated a couple of weeks ago in a small boutique in American Fork, Utah. I was amazed at the reception of my products and I did better at that small, residence-based boutique than I have at expensive, time-comsuming boutiques in other venues. I hope I am invited to participate next time.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas!

Boutique in Lehi 6/23-24

It's been way too long since I have posted anything.

If you happen to be in Utah and want to come see a much larger selection than in my Etsy shop, come to Lehi for the Lehi Round-up Rodeo days. There will be a boutique at Wines park (500 N 100 E). I'll be there. Mention that you saw this announcement on my blog and I'll give you $2 off any one item.

Headband Pattern Available

I've finally put together a pattern for the headbands I've been making like crazy. I can't seem to make them fast enough! To purchase a pattern, just go to my Etsy store and purchase it. It will be in .pdf format.

To get to my Etsy shop, just click on one of the items on the right that is featured from my shop.

Easy pattern! Now, get knitting!

Here's the Link to the Show!

The showcasing of my Brainsucker hats went pretty well, I thought. They even mentioned that I make cupcake hats, too! I noticed they had the little boy dressed in a monster vest to match. Cute touch!

I loved all the other things too, especially the removable crocheted flowers for the headbands. I'm going to have to try that.

Here's the link to the show: http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=58&sid=9483379

Let me know what you think!

Local TV Station Features My Shop

I'm so excited! Today at 11:00 a.m., Mountain Time, KSL is featuring my shop and one of my Brainsucker hats on Studio5. I anticipate that I will be getting a lot of special orders for hats from this exposure. I'll post a link to the show if I can get hold of it.

What's On The Needles?

Currently on the needles (OTN) are a number of projects. I've never been one to work on just one thing at a time.

1. I am still making lots of cupcake hats for customers from my Etsy store. Sales dropped off quite a bit right after Christmas, only to pick up again after New Year's Day. That was a pleasant surprise for me.

2. I recently re-purchased Knitware designing software. I downloaded it off the internet. I had purchased it once before, on another computer, and because of economic troubles, the company no longer supplies technical support. The did, however, lower their price for the software. So, three of my children decided I needed to knit them sweaters. I hope they realize that's a long-term project. Maybe by next winter.... But, we had a fun time sitting down together at the computer, designing them each a sweater. They are not technically on the needles yet, except the first one. I'll have to post pictures as I knit them.

3. Several people in my neighborhood have asked me to knit them wide headbands with crocheted flowers. I've been working on them in between the cupcake hats. Here's a green one I recently made for my Etsy shop.



4. I have also tried to come up with more ideas for my Brainsucker series of earflap hats. I decided a penguin would look really cute. So, I knit up a penguin Brainsucker hat. I listed it earlier this week in my Etsy store, and it sold within a couple of hours! All I have left are pictures. I will have to make another one!



5. This one should actually be on the hook, rather than needle. I decided to try to teach a group of young women in my church how to crochet. I thought I could teach them how to make a granny square. None of them had ever heard of granny squares, and most of them had never handled a crochet hook before. By the time we got down to business, I only had 20 minutes to teach them. It was a dismal failure. I came home much discouraged. Maybe we'll try again sometime, and maybe we'll just bag the idea. Maybe I should have started with single crochet, rather than jumping right to double crochet. We were going to make an afghan for a new mother in our area.

Wide Headband With Rosette

I've been seeing them all over town. They are so wide, at first glance they look like hats. Knit out of thick yarn, they are not only super cute, but warm, too! Two chunky buttons secure the headband at the back.

So, of course, I had to try making one. Here is the result. The ones I've seen around town are more conservative colors, but I am so ready for spring, I had to make it a cheery pink.

What I'm wondering is if these cute headbands are a local trend, or if they are popping up in other areas. Can anyone enlighten me?

Smakely Brainsucker

Here is my latest monster hat. Meet Snakely Brainsucker. He has one of those articulated jaws that enables it to stretch around his prey: a child's head. However, no matter how hard he tries, he never quite manages to swallow it.


Ben, age 7, loved trying on this hat, and couldn't help getting a bit melodramatic!



Keep trying, Snakely. Maybe you can swallow your meal, in time.

New Hat Series: Brainsuckers

I have created a monster! Actually, several.

When I was a kid, my brother would put his hand on my head and squeeze his fingers together. "Know what this is?" he asked me?
"No," I replied.
"It's a brain sucker and it's starving!"

Thus was the inspiration for my new line of earflap hats: The Brainsuckers. Although they have teeth and tentacles, they are friendly monsters and are completely harmless. One of their eyes is bigger than the other, giving it a cute, but crazed look.



First came Harry Brainsucker. After creating the prototype, I asked my 7-year-old to try it on so I could see how it looked on and get some pictures of it. He fell in love with it. "You made this for me, didn't you?" He was so happy and excited that I knit him a cool hat, I didn't have the heart to take it back. So, I had to make a second one.



After Harry, I created Squidly Brainsucker. Squidly has tentacles instead of teeth. He is pictured here in a lilac color, but I've also made him in gray.



Here is Squidly in gray.



Next came Sharkly Brainsucker. This is Sharkly in blue. I am working on an orange Sharkly for a customer. My kids suggested I do orange and black striped, so it could be a tiger shark. I'm not sure I want to do stripes....



I was on a roll! Next came Wally Brainsucker. Wally is a walrus with sparkly, silver whiskers and white fleece tusks.

I have more ideas for other Brainsuckers, but I am moving a little slower due to the Christmas order rush at my Etsy store. Stay tuned, though. More Brainsuckers are in the works! I am considering making a pattern booklet, too.

Taking Pictures of Knitted Hats

I decided that my Etsy store needed some real people wearing my knitted items. So, I arranged to take pictures of a cute little girl I knew, about two years old, in the neighborhood. It was quite an undertaking! Her mother and I tried for weeks to find just the right time between naps and grouchy times for her daughter. It seemed like whenever it was a good time for her, I was busy doing something I couldn't leave! Finally, the magical day arrived and our schedules meshed.

The moment I entered the house, this little girl decided I was there to take her away from her mother. Not only would she not let her mother put her down, she wouldn't even look at "the enemy," me! It took a good 45 minute to get her to warm up to me a little. It helped that her mother kept offering her food, but she accidentally spilled juice on one of my little sweaters.

I snapped dozens of pictures, hoping to catch the little girl's fleeting smiles. One frustrating thing was my camera. It took so long to save one picture and gear up to take the next one, I often missed out on the best smiles!

Fortunately, I did get some really cute pictures. I was encouraged enough to ask another mom, this one with 3 little girls, if I could use her kids as models.

This second photo op went much better. Two of the girls were a little older and the mom had promised them a nice treat (mini marshmallows)if they were well behaved and gave their best smiles. She also raved about the hats and sweaters as she put them on her girls. I spent probably an hour and a half there, taking pictures.

I'm still sorting through and editing the 170 pictures we took that day. Some of them turned out really cute, but others had a background without enough contrast, so I had to manipulate things a bit with a photo editing software.

Of course, there were a few items that didn't get modeled, so I'll probably find another model, or go back to a former one. I've learned that kids aren't easy or quick to photograph, but when they flash a good smile, it's really cute, and worth all the effort!

What to Charge?

I had a dental appointment today, in which I expected a filling and ended up with a root canal. If you have kids with overlapping teeth, do them a favor and give them braces! But, I digress. We have a new dentist, and of course, I brought along a knitting project for the waiting time. He was interested in what I was making, and I told him about my Etsy store. Watching me knit with 4 needles in the round, he said, "I can't imagine doing that. It surely can't pay very well, does it?" I told him that my best-selling item, cupcake hats, take me about 4 hours to make, and I charge $18 for a hat. So, no, the hourly wage stinks. But, I reasoned, it is something I can do in my "spare" time, and pays better than washing the dishes.

So, now I wonder. Several things. Am I devaluing my time? Is my time really worth even minimum wage? Say I charge $7/hour. I would have to charge $28 for one of my cupcake hats. I'd love to get that much, but will they really sell for that much? I know there are some people who really appreciate the work that goes into hand knitted items, but I have to assume most people don't, and if they can get something equally cute at Wal-Mart for $8, why would they pay $28 for my hat? These are questions I've asked myself numerous times. I don't really know the answers. I personally would probably not pay $28 for a hat for my child (of course, I can make one myself, so why would I?). I've always been frugal and love a bargain. And yet, as a craftsperson, isn't my time worth at least minimum wage?

Aside from that constant, personal little debate, I've been knitting lots of fun things for little ones. I've designed a lacy hat and made some cute bows to wear with it. When my girls were little, they had very little hair, so it was hard to get any bows to stay in their hair. I wish I'd had one of these little hats so they could wear the bows on the hat! So far, I haven't sold any, but I hope that's because it has been summer here in the Western hemisphere. I'll attach some pictures of the hats. I've also been knitting some cute leg warmers, but I don't have pictures of those yet.

Baby Sweaters

I've been making baby sweaters lately, as several of my friends and relatives are having baby girls. I've used a couple of different patterns, which I found on the internet, for top-down sweaters. They knit up pretty quickly, and I love that there's no seaming!

Hats and Mittens Garland

This is what I've been knitting lately. Tiny hats and mittens. They will have numbers embroidered on them and then be put together in a garland for a Christmas count-down! My sister-in-law found the pattern at www.tangleonline.com Just adorable! The little hats and mittens have been fun to make. I have a few mittens left to make before I start embroidering the numbers on them.

New Price for Teapot Hat Pattern

I decided that to improve sales of my teapot hat pattern, I would reduce the price to $5.00.

Teapot Hat Pattern Available

Good news! You can now purchase the teapot hat pattern! The pattern includes an adult sized hat and a 4-8 yr. child-sized hat. I accept only PayPal for payment ($5.00). My PayPal email is krndpx@yahoo.com. Once I get word from PayPal of your payment, I will email you a .pdf file of the pattern. If you want the pattern sent to a different email than the one connected with your PayPal account, make a note of the email you want it sent to in the notes section of the Pay Pal receipt.

Teapot Pattern Coming

Just a heads-up. I am working on a pattern for the teapot hat. I'm trying to include an adult and child size in one pattern. When I finish it, I will post it here for sale, so watch for it!

Teapot Hat

So often my inspiration comes as a challenge from a potential customer. So it was with this teapot hat. A customer had seen someone wearing one and, since she couldn't convince that person to sell it off her head, she asked if I could knit a teapot hat. I was sure I could, and when I had a few spare minutes, I gave it a go. Here is the result. I think it turned out great, particularly as it was my first attempt. I basically just winged it.





The hat prompted my son to sing the "I'm a Little Teapot" song, of course. Can't you just see a room full of pre-schoolers wearing hats like this and singing? They'd be cute in pastel colors....

Speed Knitting

I was looking at my new Knit Picks catalog that came in the mail today. On the back cover, it shows a picture of this woman from Holland, named Miriam Tegels, who holds the worlds' record for speed knitting. She can knit 118 stitches per minute. A YouTube of her knitting can be seen here This woman is wicked fast! Her technique is interesting. She carries the yarn in her left hand like I do (continental style), but when she's knitting on straight needles she anchors one long needle under her armpit as she knits.

Well, says I, I wonder how fast I knit? Fortunately, my husband was home and could time me. I tested myself 4 times using only the knit stitch. I was knitting in the round on a circular needle.

And, my home-tested knitting speed is....drum roll please....ta-da! 70 stitches per minute. I've got some practicing to do before I can break the worlds' record, but I'm still pretty fast!

Here's a video giving tips for fast knitting.