Drivers Ivy Scally Flat (Revisited)

Dear Crochet Community,

I finally did it.
I finally created a properly shaped flat cap. No crazy, extranneous pieces, no unneccessary steps. Just a nice looking cap of four simple pieces, joined with neat single crochet seaming.

This hat has been years in coming. Those of us looking for such a pattern rejoiced when we found the Lidsville. It had arrived! For many, content, even success, came with lidsville, that Sherlock Holmesy creation. For some, however, (*cough*me*cough) it proved to be a little fussy. (I could never get mine to turn out well at all.)

And so I kept trying. Beginning almost three years ago with a hat-that-never-quite-fit, the desire to successfully produce this hat has stayed with me. Three half-baked attempts (and many hours of despair) later, I think I have it. Behold!

So yeah. I might be a little proud. I haven't seen another like it yet, so let me just soak this in. :)
Love, Caitlin.

Manly Movies + Inspiration =

Monday night the family all settled down in the living room to watch The Bourne Identity.
Last night we all settled down for the sequel. It was late when it ended, but nobody had anywhere to be today so we stayed put and watched the Ultimatum as well.

Best man-movies ever.
Really. I prefer chick-flick type stuff, but if I'm going to watch a "guy movie," give me some Bourne. Or Mission Impossible. I can do that, too.

Anyway, I'd kind of lost my habit of crocheting while movie-watching. Inspiration left me, so I quit. However, inspiration bit me last night and those two action packed movies left me with this:

Adorable, right? Obviously, the inspiration had nothing to do with what I was watching.
It has 3 pieces - the hat, the bow part (which is just a small rectangle), and the ...uh... part that goes around the bow (which is just a tiny rectangle, plus a loop and a button). This is so that you can :
A) not wear the bow
B) wear the bow buttoned to the side, or
C) wear the bow buttoned to the side & cinch up the edge of the hat to give it a differentish shapeI really hadn't been planning on making it for myself, but... it's so perfectly, exactly what I envisioned in my mind that I don't think I could part with it. Plus, it's yellow. Need I say more?

Unrelated except for the crochet factor is this little owl mask. He's been lying around in my "finished projects" bin for... ever, and today I pulled him out, did a mini photo shoot and listed him on Etsy.
I'm rather fond of him, but I seem to recall my little sister asking "why did you make an alien head?" when I finished him. :|

I also added photos to existing inadequate listings, and I'll be adding a pair of elbow-length gloves to the shop later tonight.

Aaaand, that's about it. I don't really have anything else to add. So, I'm gonna go eat some lunch or something practical like that. lol
Happy Wednesday, friends. :)

Caiti

Showing Off

Last weekend I made a sweater vest thingy!

I kind of don't know what to call it.


I also don't know what to do with it.
Keep it? List it?

I have more of that yarn, and I don't know what to do with it, either.
Make another sweater? A different sweater?

So many decisions.

I think my photographer/little sister did a fantastic job on these pictures.

But not that last one, cuz I took it. =)

So, what do you think?

Ten Days of Listings

What started as a plan to post an item a day for 7 days turned into 10 new items in my shop!
I skipped Sundays.
Here's how it went down:

Thursday, January 7th


Friday, January 8th



Saturday, January 9th


Monday, January 11th


Tuesday, January 12th


Wednesday, January 13th


Thursday, January 14th


Friday, January 15th
January 15th

Saturday, January 16th


Monday, January 18th

Thanks to good lighting on the 14th, I was able to take pictures of all the scarves I already had, subsequently allowing me to continue listing things without having to make anything new. ;-)

YAY!

From the Library

Hallo!

Our internet provider is wonky this week, so I'm at the library.

I was unable to post my item-of-the-day on Etsy yesterday. (see above for why)

So, here I am, at the library, posting it now.

I guess I could just say I was sticking with the tradition of not working on Sunday and not count it as a loss. :) That works. So, now I say that they are Monday's item and we're all good.

While I'm here, I'll add that I'm unhappy the library won't let me get on Facebook. :(

However, I am happy that I can check out a George Winston CD. They have a sad selection of music here (actually, they have a sad selection of everything here. I am not impressed.), but I did discover George Winston and Wynton Marsalis thanks to them.

Now, If you have any ideas on how to make my Etsy shop more successful without my having to spend gobs of money, your advice is much appreciated. I suppose I'm off to not check my facebook.

Happy Monday, folks.

Caitlin

25 things plus One

My friends kept tagging me for this "25 things about yourself" thing on Facebook. So I did it.
And now I'm sharing the results for you people in blog/email world to see, too.

1. Due to my open personality and strong tendencies toward honesty and transparency, I feel I have very few interesting/random things to share.

2. In 2009 I struggled with wondering if it's okay to just let go of dying friendships. ... I might still be struggling with that, actually. It's amazing how you think you'll be friends with someone for forever, and then you just... aren't.

3. I've lately held that the photography is going to be the most important part of my wedding (besides the groom, obviously). As long as there are gorgeous pictures at the end of it all, I'll be happy. lol

4. I'm a perfectionist. Which means when I try something and fail, I beat myself up. If I try again and fail, I give up. Which is why I'm not good at playing the guitar and why I can't even properly play beginner level piano anymore. Practicing and failing was just too miserable.

5. One day when I'm rich, I'm going to get microdermabrasion done on my face. Maybe lasik surgery, too. (the spell check doesn't know those words. lol)

6. I read The Prince by Machiavelli and liked it. And I felt guilty because I totally agreed with him.

7. I love socks and hate flip flops.

8. I like my feet.

9. I've never been out of the United States. That's going to change, though.

10. If I were a boy, I would have a crazy huge collection of ties and cuff links. Cuff links are the awesomest.

11. One day I was singing and thought to myself "wow. I don't sing nearly as well as I thought I did." and then I was sad.

12. One day I had another sad realization. I used to think I was pretty well-read. Then I realized I'm only well read in childrens' books and classics from the 1800's.

13. I'm an excellent cook. Not to toot my own horn or anything... :P

14. My life has a hole in it without a bird. :(

15. I really really want to learn French, but I feel guilty because I'm sure it would be a useless endeavor... you know, in light of the fact that nobody here speaks French, and why would I ever need to use it?

16. I am most definitely biased in favor of little boys. They're way funner and way cuter. That's just how it is.

17. I have mad eye-twitching skillz.

18. One day I'm going to turn all of my blog posts into a book. I wonder when one day is.

19. I never want to be too old and mature to color with crayons, skip down a hallway and sing made up songs.

20. I wish I could sing like regina spektor and hayley westenra. Whose voices are totally different, by the way.

21. Sometimes I wish I looked like Audrey Hepburn... and somebody else, but I can't remember who. But, actually, I like the way I look pretty well. I wouldn't really change my face, given the chance. :)

22. I don't like painting my fingernails. I have tried, and having colored fingertips always catches me off guard. And then they chip, and then they have to be redone, and it's just way too much work. However, I love having red toenails. *shrug*

23. I almost always spell guard wrong. It's funny the words that throw me off. I can spell microdermabrasion no problem. But guard and piece always get me. I want to switch the vowels.

24. Sometimes I still feel like a stupid failure because I never finished algebra.

25. If I call you a weirdo, it's like compliment. Seriously. It basically means "You're an interesting person, and I rather like you" in Caitlinese.

WOW! I thought of 25 things! It took way too long. :)

The "plus One" would be the first installment of my resolution to post a new item in my Etsy shop every day for 7 consecutive days. Behold:


So there you have it!
Now if you'll excuse me, my cell phone is ringing. :)
Bye!

Thoughts for 2010

So, the new year came in with fun times at the Looneys' house. Coffee, Apples to Apples, fireworks, and the best friends ever.

Upon inspection of my cards, I realized I had an excellent description of the perfect boyfriend.

Upon inspection of her cards, Katie realized she had an excellent description of a typical girlfriend. In case you can't read them: Complicated, Fantastic, Naive, and Phony.

We girls have a mantra for the new year. A little rhyming nugget of inspiration, if you will:

-God will send men in 2010-

I know you're so impressed, aren't you? lol So, I guess we can't dictate what God's going to do, but we can have some active faith going on, right? And it makes us laugh, and laughing is good. :)

Furthermore, my blogworld friend Jess inspired me to make an inspiration board.

I have made a small list in my head of things I would like to do this year. I made a small cork board tonight that I am going to add my resolutions, goals, and inspirations to. I encourage you to make one for yourself as well. Organize your goals and resolutions into an artistic visual piece...put it on the wall in a place you will look at every day. I have mine placed to the left of me as I sit at my desk.

Now to procure a corkboard. Or maybe I'll improvise with an unused poster frame I have. Oh, and lest I forget - some goals to fill it would be nice, too.
Let's see...

• A book a month - plus review/synopsis
• Write random kind notes
• Save a couple thousand dollars
• Read my Bible
• Consistently practice the guitar
  
• Maybe learn some French
  
• Drink more water

What else? I need an Etsy goal. None of those are really "whoa! noteworthy!", but I'm trying to keep it realistic and doable, but something I'll have reason to be proud of at the end of the year.

Ideas, people?

In the meantime, keep an eye out on my shop. I'm going to try to add a new item every day this week! I've already got 3 things finished, so watch for them!

Here's some new things you might not have seen.

Nothing like a good, stripey beanie!


What do you plan on doing this year?
-Caitlin

We Have A Winner!

So, I got home too late Saturday night to do anything but go to bed.
Then I was busy all day Sunday.
Then on Monday I just didn't feel like randomly numbering a page 1-26 and writing all your names.

But I have done so this morning, as you may now see:

See there? Completely random.
Then I went to the Random Number Generator and asked for a number between 1 and 26.
Are you ready for this?Dun dun DUUUUN! Numbah TEN, you are the WINNER!
What do you know? Number 10 is my friend Alyssa L. from church! GO ALYSSA!

Why is giving stuff away so fun? If I could afford it, I think I would do it more often. lol
Maybe I'll do a New Year's giveaway too.

So, congratulations Alyssa! And thank you SO much to everybody who participated. It still makes me kind of sad that only one person can win. :( I like all of you! Which means you'd better come back and try again when I do my next giveaway. :)

Happy Monday!

Caitlin

Time for some Christmas Fun!

Today's gonna be a good day.

In a couple hours I'm leaving to see a movie with my friends. The Blind Side, in case you were interested. And then the Michael's in Conyers had better have that yellow yarn I need, or I'm going to be in trouble. (on the bright side, YAY for Christmas sales!)

This evening is my Sunday school class Christmas Party. YAY! The only problem is that I don't have a white elephant gift... yet... heh...

Anyways, it's going to be a long and super fun day, I think.

Don't forget - it's the last day of my giveaway! Participation has been WAY lower than it was earlier this year, but that's ok, because it gives each of you a better chance. ;-) SO! Pick your fave and leave a comment!

I'll just go ahead and apologize for not having my new stuff added to the shop yet. I'm currently working on some brown gloves, and I've already finished a couple of unique stripey beanies and pretty wool scarves. I just haven't been able to photograph them yet. meh! And now I really don't have time to get them up for Christmas.

Oh well! Enter the giveaway here, and I'll declare a winner tonight, if I can stay awake. =)
Merry Saturday!

Caitlin

Giveaways are Fun - Christmas Edition!

In the spirit of Christmas (and self-promotion) I am henceforth issuing the decree for a second CaitiJo Giveaway!!

**crowd yells huzzah!**

I thought about picking one item (such as the elfin slippers -wouldn't those be a great Christmasy thing to pick?) to give away, but then I remembered that I had already made this poster that says "pick your own prize" ... I didn't want to make a new poster, and I guess people like having a choice... So.... there we have it!

Lots of other people usually give you about 5 ways you can get an entry, but I like to be simplistic. Here's how it's gonna go down:

1) Just leave a comment saying what you would pick should you win.
2) Saturday evening, December 12, I will pick a winner by using a random number generator.
3) Winner will be notified, and congratulated publicly on my blog.

Should you win and find yourself thinking "darn! I should've said elfin slippers instead of black gloves," or, "no fair! that crazy awesome beanie wasn't listed when I posted my entry!" no worries. Changing your mind is allowed. ;-)

So. Take a gander, pick your fave, and enter to win a Christmas gift for yourself!
(Or for a friend, if you're feeling generous.)
Spread the word if you feel so inclined.

Happy Entering!!
-CaitiJo

Happy Saturday!

Hello!

Welcome to Saturday. The sun is shining, the coffee is fresh and delicious, and it's going to be a good day.

I have some pictures I want to share, so just bear with me while I be random and show you pictures that have nothing to do with each other. :D

I didn't mention that I had planned to make a matching hat for those nifty gloves, did I?

But I did. See?

A couple days ago I was sitting here at the computer, looking out the window, and the sky just went black with birds. It was crazy. A HUGE flock of birds was just... I can't think of a good verb ... I dunno. Swarming is a lame word. It was more like undulating. But that sounds weird. At any rate, this huge flock of birds was just flying about, and it was so awesome. I ran outside as fast as I could to take a picture. I was disappointed because I only got like 1/4 of them in the shot, but it still turned out pretty cool.

Yesterday was good. I crocheted some stuff, and took 4 packages to the post office. Then I came home and got ready to go paint our sunday school classroom with some friends. I decided to take the camera and found this picture on the memory card.

Oddly morbid, yes? I was rather surprised. They took pictures of themselves rolicking happily in a leaf pile, and all of a sudden there's this. My little people apparently have some sort of appreciation for darker art. Who'da thunk a playful romp in a leaf pile would result in this creepy little photo? Awesome. lol

So, then I went to church and spent a little over 5 hours helping some super great people with some painting. Cubbie Bear and his friends have been banished from the walls. We've got some classier colors going on now. (shout out to Allison on her super trimwork!)

So. It's a great day for a walk. And since I'm caught up on Etsy orders, I can crochet whatever I want today! I plan to have a lovely day, and I wish you the same!

Bye!

The Vicious Cycle

I feel guilty for not blogging, therefore I keep not blogging.

Sad, isn't it?

I did finish those gloves! After many hours of torment trying to get the roses even.I could use the excuse "I've been crocheting a LOT" for not blogging. Which is true, except that I've spent plenty of time at the computer, too.

At any rate, here are some of the things I've been working on.
(can I just say I'm super proud of this photo?)

Currently annoyed because I ran out of yarn to do the scallop trim on the elf slippers.

I'm also in the middle of a making-non-slip-slippers experiment utilizing "craft goop" on the bottoms of the slippers. We'll see. I had faith, but it is waning.

I made a super cool scarf I was going to show you, but my pics disappeared!

I think this rain is ushering in the more wintery weather. Goodbye, pretty colors. I'll miss you.

So... Yep!
I'm ready for Christmas music, but I know I'll be sick of it by mid December if I start listening to it now. Building anticipation, I guess. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Caitlin

P.S. Sales have picked up some! wOOt!

A Frustrating Problem

Hello.

I just realized that I've got to redo some pictures in my Etsy shop.

This does not look like the same color as this.


And the sad reality is that neither representation is quite correct.
"Fig", in actuality, is not as purple as the first example, nor is it quite as pink as the second example.

This realization has made me quite distraught because, for some unknown reason, my inner photographer has died. I always take like 100 pictures in order to get 5 good ones for Etsy. And lately, I can't even seem to manage 5. I don't know if it's the camera, or if it's me, but what used to be fun is now a dreaded task. I suppose I could just open up picnik or something and tweak colors until I think they're closer to real life, but I would hate to mess up and misrepresent.
But I'm already misrepresenting! That's the problem!

So, until I realized that I was having an absolutely delightful day.
And now I've decided this little trifle shan't ruin it.

I had pumpkin spice coffee this morning, thanks to my fantastic aunt. (love you!)
My dears Katey and Alicia came over and shared it with me. Then Katey and I went for a forever-long walk and talked about C.S. Lewis and becoming and all sorts of nice things.

I expounded upon my recent realization that to become who you aspire to be, you must attempt to be it in order to really become.
**blank stare**

The more I try to say what I mean the less it sounds like what I meant to say.

I think I'll just go continue having a productive day.
lol

Happy trails, yo.

Happy Monday!

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, the air is cold, and it's a pretty day.
I've had two cups of coffee, I'm still wearing my flannel pants, and I have 3 crochet orders to work on.

Got some stuff cleared up with God yesterday. It's a lot easier to be joyful when there's nothing sitting on top of your conscience.

And just now I took an hour long break from blogging to cook brunch.
Now that I've had that coffee plus cheese eggs, grits, and ham gravy, I think I'm pretty much set for a super day. :)

**hugs to all the peeps**

And just cuz I thought this post needed a picture, here's a shot of a lovely day from last month. This was taken on my way home from my last day working at preschool. I miss that drive - it was so pretty on a sunny day!

I'm so glad it's actually fall! We kind of skipped it last year. The drought killed it.

So, besides for crocheting like mad, I think I may also run some errands with Laura and go for a walk.

What are your plans?

Crochet Update

It's been a good week, Etsy-wise. And otherwise, actually. But since I can't think of anything to say about the otherwise part, this post shall focus on Etsy happenings.

Sales are up this week! woot!

I didn't think the green vest I love so very much would ever sell, but I was wrong.

Chaucee
at TaylorHouse Designs ordered some custom gloves in navy with mustard trim. They turned out really cute!

One order this week was placed by a name I recognized. Hooray for return customers!! She ordered some blue slippers and black gloves. Turns out, she placed a custom order before, and I never got back with her about it. That's embarrassing. But she still came back! Yay!



In other crochet news, you finally get to see the "fantastically pretty hat" I mentioned in a previous post.


You don't have to think it's awesome, but I'm still thrilled with it.
Since I made it up as I went, I don't have a pattern. Sad! I guess I should try to decode it sometime. However, making it up as I go is fun sometimes, so I did it again.

People keep asking if I've found a new job now that we've moved. I haven't. Just so happens, I haven't been looking. Honestly, I don't plan to. Not yet, anyways. My plan for now is to really focus on my Etsy shop. Make new things, list more frequently, ...I dunno. Try to make my presence a little more known. And I'm looking forward to it. Pouring more concentrated effort into making my little shop work will be fun!

As for this very present moment, I think I need to see if there's any chocolate ice cream left. All of a sudden I feel like rambling, and this post is long enough already. =D

Have a happy week!
Caitlin

I found a funny picture of my Vincent the other day. (It looks like he's screaming or yawning, but he was probably just bringing up some food from his crop... how boring. lol) Having a bird around was lots of fun, and I definitely want another one.

The thought entered my head that perhaps I should just get a normal little parakeet, but I dismissed the notion almost immediately. After having a parrotlet, a budgie would be so blah. :P Not that I don't like them - as a matter of fact, I was thinking of getting one a couple months ago, but I knew it would make Vincent mad. lol

So, we shall see what happens on the bird front. I'm sure I want another parrotlet (the turquoise ones are so pretty!!), but I don't know when I'll be able to get one. For one thing, I'm trying to save money and I want a new pair of eyeglases. For another, there aren't really any local breeders. But you know I'll keep you updated, whatever happens.


In the meantime, you can enjoy kitten pictures. ;-)


This is a nice flattering shot of them. Spectre's sisters are having allergy problems or something, so their little eyes don't look too swell. Poor dears.


They're only like 5 weeks old, but they've gotten really adventurous. I came bounding up the porch steps the other day and nearly tromped on them! Usually they stay close to the shed they live under, but apparently they're exploring further territory now. After I took this picture, their mom wandered off while they took a little nap.



Crocheting has been sort of a drag since I finished my earflap hat... I want to make something new and cool, but I'm never satisfied with my ideas once I start working on them! However, I did make this pretty wool beret this week. I crocheted as I watched X-Men.



The beret was finished before the movie wasn't over, so I started on these little wristies. Then I finished them during an episode of Star Trek.


So, now you know.




This week at work we're getting everything all set up. Yesterday I washed toys. Today I decorated our bulletin board and door. Yay! Tuesday is Open House and the first day of school is Wednesday. I'm so excited!



Hope you're having a good week, too. :)
Caitlin

Bring on the cold!

I need a reason to wear my new hat!

Actually, I'm sad that summer is over, and would rather winter not rush upon us. But still. My lovely pointy and stripey earflap hat is begging to be worn!!