September: Sort of Random Choices

I've done it before... I make up a list of items I want to make, number them, and use Random Number Generator to make a choice.

You know what happens? I get a number, look at the project assigned to that number, and decide I don't want to do that... so I do another random number generation!

So, this month I'm doing it a little differently. Yes, I picked out 15 projects to finish... I picked out items from my paid patterns list, items I need to restock, my scrap yarn list, and my list of items I think will be best sellers.

Scrap
Avocado
Purple Roly Poly Penguin - done


Best Seller:
Gecko Frecko
Hipster Llama
Octopus Hat - in the works
Rainbow Fox - done
Clown Fish Girl

Restock:
Big Red Puppy
Cat Mermaid - done
Hungry Caterpillar
Rainbow Elephant
Spotted Cow - done
Cupcake Penguin

Paid:
Mr. Wiggles

I have a spreadsheet with those 15 projects listed in different orders: alphabetical, by difficulty, by price, and by yarn usage.

For my first project, I got #3. That gave me the choice of spotted cow (came up as #3 on both lists), Avocado, or Clown Fish Girl. I pulled the yarn for a spotted cow. Once I finish that, I'll do another random number generator. Well, the cow is a big project. Maybe I'll pick another number and have a smaller project going too...I have two craft shows in September, including The World's Largest Yard Sale at the Hamburg (NY) fairgrounds. They say they have "thousands of shoppers", so I'm hoping to clear out a bunch of inventory! Small things tend to sell faster...

Hmm... Mermaid Cat, Big Red Puppy, Rainbow Fox, Spotted Cow (oops, should have removed that one and done 1-14). I think I'll start a mermaid cat.

I pulled this sparkly pink yarn for the mermaid cat.

As I thought, I'm getting bored easily with the spotted cow project. I'd rather work on something faster, like the Mermaid cat. I finished it already, and got it into my shop. https://marketplace.acmoore.com/penguinplacecrafts/crochet-mermaid-doll-amigurumi-mermaid-mermaid-cat-mermaid-kitty-mermaid-toy-mermaid-gift-mermaid-plush-custom-mermaid-doll-cat-doll

My next random number generator gave me the choice of Hipster Llama (twice), Rainbow Fox, or Mr. Wiggles. Since the Rainbow Fox is one of those "if you make this, I'll buy it at your next show" items, I'd better get working on that!

Finished the spotted cow, so I did another random number generator. (The Rainbow Fox is in the works, but I like having a little project to work on, too.)

Choices this time: roly poly purple penguin, Frecko Gecko, and Octopus Hat.

Frecko Gecko and the Octopus Hat seem too daunting to have as a back-up project, so Roly Poly Purple Penguin it is!

Since I think I might finish the Rainbox Fox tonight (I was up to the green stripe on his shirt when I finished last night, so only 3 rows of blue and 2 of purple, and I'm pretty much done with the body), I decided to go ahead and do another random number generator for my next big project.

Hmm... these numbers aren't seeming all that random... first 10, then 11...

Okay, choices for #11 are: Rainbow Elephant, Avocado, Clown Fish Girl, or Octopus Hat. Tough choice. Rainbow Elephant would be working from my handwritten notes. Avocado is quick and easy, working from a pattern. Clown Fish girl is working from a mermaid pattern to do clown fish striping, changing things up a bit... and the Octopus Hat (second time that came up) is from a pattern. Since I'm looking for a tough project, I guess I'm picking the octopus hat!

Rainbow Fox is done! 

Roly Poly Purple Penguins is done too...

So right now the only project from my plan that is in the works is the Octopus Hat, which is a big project, so I'll do another random number generator and choose a backup project. Next number picked is 2, which gives me the choices of Big Red Puppy (quick and easy), Rainbow Elephant (still pretty easy, and I have the rainbow colors out, but it is a bigger project... I mean, it's an elephant!), Avocado (small, new pattern so I'm not sure how complicated it is, I have the yarn colors out), and Fun Fur Hedgehog. Tough call... I'm picking avocado.

9/14/19 - As my GPS says, "Recalculating"
I had a booth at a local flea market (The World's Largest Yard Sale at the Hamburg Fairgrounds). The show was okay... booth rental was very expensive, so I didn't even sell double my rental. I had shared the booth fee with a friend. If I hadn't done that, I would have been in the red.

But, anyway... I did sell enough to make quite a few additions to my "remake" list... and I got three orders to be picked up at shows in October. Then I got another local order from a friend. So... I need to redo my list. I have fourteen items to make for orders or remake. Orders will get top priority, and then I'll see what I can do with the remake list by the end of September. So, while I will be finishing up a bunch more stuff during September, no more random number generator for a while!

Orders:

Newborn Pumpkin hat - done

Newborn mittens on a string - DONE

Bat - Done

Spotted Cow
Topo Gigio
Two Octopus Hats (child size)


Remakes:
Big Red Puppy
Cupcake Penguin
Rainbow Elephant
Taco
Sleepy Little Octopus
Carrottop Picklemonster
Rainbow Turtle
Cat with pizza
Rainbow Fox

Bodi Hat, Version 1.0

So I saw a post in a crochet group a few days ago, where a grandmother said that her toddler grandson loved the movie Rock Dog and she wanted to make a crochet hat for him like the one the main character, Bodi wears.

The hat is knit, and there is a pattern for it, but she only crochets. A few people jumped in on the search... No crochet pattern to be found... although there was a hat made up for sale... for $250!

I took on the challenge... printed out a couple of screen shots, and started work.

I did a lot of tearing out and reworking in the early rows...

And this is how it turned out: Sorry, I didn't have a toddler around to model. One of my penguins had to stand in.

I used a size H hook and worsted weight yarn. 

For the Dark Green, I used a dark sage (1.1 oz used)

For the Light Green, I used Key Lime (.7 oz used)

For the Yellow, I used Sunny Yellow (.2 ounces used)

For the White, I used Off-White (.3 ounces used)

Note: for increases, I did SC, ch 1, SC, in an attempt to duplicate the look of the knit increases.

In version 2.0, I think I will increase to a chain 2 to see if that looks better. Also, I start each row in the middle of the increase, hiding the seam that you often get when working in joined rows. 

Each row end with a slip stitch to the beginning sc, and each row begins with a ch 1. To save on repetition in the pattern, I haven't put that into each line! 

Round 1: with dark green, make 6 sc in a magic ring

Round 2: 2 sc in each stitch 

Change to Yellow

Round 3: sc, *sc, inc*, repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc. 

Change to Light Green

Round 4: sc, *2 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc. 

Round 5: sc, *3 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc.

Round 6: sc, *4 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc.

Change to Dark Green

Round 7: sc, *5 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc.

Round 8: sc, *6 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc.

Round 9: sc, *7 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc.

Round 10: sc, *8 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc.

Change to Yellow

Round 11: sc, *9 sc, inc* repeat around, ending with sc and ch 1 in same stitch as beginning sc.

Change to Light Green

Count your stitches... you will need 72 stitches (multiple of 8) to work the chart evenly. If you need to add or decrease a few stitches, work them evenly around the hat during row 12

Rounds 12-13: work around in single crochet. 

Rounds 14-18: work according to chart below. Empty squares = light green, x = dark green

Rounds 19-20: work around in single crochet with light green

Round 21: work even in off white

Now the front part of the hat is worked back and forth in rows. Change to dark green

Row 1: SC 50, chain 1, turn

Row 2-5: sc 50, chain 1, turn

Rows 6-10: work according to chart below. Empty squares = white, x = dark green

Row 11: work all 50 stitches in white. Turn and work a row of SC down the side of the 11 rows. Finish off. 

Fasten white yarn to other side and work a row of sc down the other side of the 11 rows. 

Work a row of sc around the entire front part of the hat with dark green, putting a chain 2 at the two front corners where the tassels will go. 

Front tassels: 

Cut 2 strands white yarn and 2 strands dark green, about 6" long. Fold in half and pull through the chain 2 space at the corner, making a loop. Pull the ends of the yarn through the loop and pull tight to make the tassel. Repeat for other corner. 

Back Tassel: 

Cut 2 strands light yarn and 2 strands dark green, about 6" long. Fold in half and pull through a stitch at the center of the top of the hat, making a loop. Pull the ends of the yarn through the loop and pull tight to make the tassel.

Tuck in random yarn ends and you're done! 

Now, being my own harshest critic, I want to try a version 2.0, with a few changes: 

As said above, I want to try a chain 2 in the middle of the increases

The dark green diamonds don't look as crisp as I'd like. I might just do the stripes and make diamond appliques to sew on. 

I carried the yarn for the front part, so you can see the white yarn through the dark green stitches. I have three possible remedies to try: 

1) use bobbins of white yarn for each point, so I don't have to carry the yarn

2) do simple stripes of white and dark green and make an applique to sew on for the design

3) Make the pattern by doing my last row of dark green in varying stitches (sc, hdc, dc, tr, dc, hdc, sc, ss), and then the first row of white in reverse order (tr on the slip stitch, dc on sc, etc.)

I have a pattern test and a deadline on a crochet-along that I need to catch up with before I can try version 2.0, and I would like to find a toddler to try the hat on and see how it fits too! So, it may be a little bit before version 2.0 hits my blog! 

Fat Cat free crochet pattern

The Fat Cat 

I saw a cute picture of a cat stuffed animal/pillow a while ago, and thought it would be fun to work one up... This is what I came up with on my first try. This was a great scrap yarn project, using up cakes of yarn that were just a few ounces each. This worked up quickly, since I used HDC, a double strand of worsted weight yarn and a K hook. I think I might go down to a J hook for the next one, since there are some gaps where the stuffing shows through.

I think I used about 8 ounces of yarn. I started with red, and when I was close to running out, I swapped out one strand of the red with orange, and did about one row with red and orange together. I continued that with all the color changes, doing one row of mixed colors between the color changes.

This guy took a lot of stuffing... make sure you have nearly a full bag of stuffing on hand!

Uses: worsted weight yarn (2 strands held together)
Size K crochet hook
Cartoon safety eyes (I got mine from Wish... but be careful if you order from them... of the six items I ordered, three weren't what I expected... I got safety noses without backings, "safety eyes" that were just painted eyes with no backing, and plain black eyes when I thought I was getting color. These cartoon eyes were pretty cute, though! I just needed to make something with a really big face to make them work!)

Fat Cat ends up being about 10" tall and 12" long. He's soft and squishy and cuddly, and can even double as a pillow.

My gauge: 9 stitches and 7 rows = 4"
Gauge isn't really all that important with this project... if you want your cat to have a longer body, you can do more rows.

Head/Body: worked in continuous rounds without joining
Row 1: 8 HDC in Magic Ring (8)
Row 2: inc in each stitch (16)
Row 3: HDC, inc, repeat around (24)
Row 4: 2 HDC, inc, repeat around (32)
Row 5: 3 HDC, inc, repeat around (40)
Row 6: 2 HDC, inc, 2 HDC, repeat around (48)
(yes, you could do 4 HDC, inc for row 6, but staggering the increases like this helps to keep his face round rather than an octagon)
Row 7: 5 HDC, inc, repeat around (56)
Rows 8 - ??? - work even in HDC (56)
Keep working until your work measures around 12" from Row 8
Before you get too far, embroider his nose, mouth and whiskers, and insert safety eyes (if using). I think he would also look cute with crocheted eyes: a long oval with little black pupils added.

I made a triangle over the bottom half of my first round, and kept making stitches until it was filled in. Then I did one more long stitch across the top to make it look neater. Then I stitched a straight line down from the point, across about two rows, then followed the curve between the rows for the smile. I did three lines on each side for whiskers. 

Decrease row 1: 5 HDC, dec, repeat around (48)
Decrease row 2: 4 HDC, dec, repeat around (40)
Decrease row 3: 3 HDC, dec, repeat around (32) Stuff the body
Decrease row 4: 2 HDC, dec, repeat around (24)
Decrease row 5: 1 HDC, dec, repeat around (16)
Decrease row 6: decrease around (8)
Finish off, leaving a long tail. Use long tail to close hole.

Ears (make 2)
Using the color you were using around row 8, two strands of yarn held together and K hook:
Leaving a long tail for sewing later, chain 18 and join to make a circle.
Ch 1 and sc in each chain. Place a stitch marker at the halfway point. You will continue to sc in rounds, decreasing at the beginning (marked by the yarn tail) and the halfway point (marked by your stitch marker). Keep working in rounds, decreasing two stitches per round, until you have three stitches left. Gather up a loop from each stitch and pull through. Finish off. Using yarn tail, sew to round 8 of the head.

Tail: 
With two strands of yarn and K hook:
Row 1: 8 sc in magic ring
Row 2: sc, inc, repeat around (12)
Rows 3 - ??? keep crocheting around in sc until tail is desired length. I made mine about 8" long.

Leg (make 4) I made mine with the same/similar color to the stripes where I would be placing them.
Round 1: 6 HDC in Magic Ring
Round 2: inc in each stitch (HDC) (12)
Round 3: HDC, inc, repeat around (18)
Rounds 4-7 - work even in HDC (18)
Finish off, leaving a long tail to sew to bottom of body

August Restart

Okay, it's August now...
No craft shows until mid-September. Feeling better about my business because I'm finally in the black. Time to do a bit of a reboot.

I want to stay in the black, so no purchases unless absolutely necessary! Yup, stick to the yarn diet!

I just opened up an A.C. Moore Marketplace shop, I imported over 150 items, but I still have close to 200 to add. I need to fine-tune the shop, adding a note about free shipping with a $25 order to items (coupon code is 25shipping)

I want to get more organized... it seems like I'm always spending a lot of time rummaging through piles of patterns to find the one I want to work on! Or I get an order and it takes me half an hour to root through a dozen boxes to find the item.

I want to get back to better healthy habits... cutting back on snacking and increasing my exercise.

So, I have made goals for the month, each week and each day:

For the month:
Finish Cera the Dinosaur (a crochet-along with an adorable pattern from Accessorize This)

Week One done - body and head.

End of Week Three... all that's left is legs & tail

Cera is done! And I won a free pattern for week three! 

Finish one pattern currently on my list of paid patterns I've never used - DONE - Hatching Dinosaur

Stick to the yarn diet! No yarn purchases unless needed for a paid order! (8/20 and still holding firm on this one!) (8/28... I think I'm going to make it!)

Get inventory sorted into neatly-labeled boxes (goal: no more than 5 minutes to find any one item)
(8/20 - got some done, but still need to work on this!)

Weekly:
Get one box of unneeded items out of the house, donated to a charity
Organize one notebook of patterns
Get 20 new listings up on A. C. Moore Marketplace
Get in three sessions of exercise
Use up one ball/cake of yarn from my scrap yarn trays

Daily:
No more non-stop snacking! Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, dinner, and (if needed) evening snack
Promote my shop on Facebook
Get in half an hour of work on an "endless" project
Take my vitamins

Of course, as soon as I set the resolutions, the temptations come... Joanns is celebrating their 76th birthday, and said all yarn is buy one, get one 76% off. A friend drops off four boxes of gluten-free goodies. My favorite designer releases a new pattern and it's adorable and she offers a 40% off coupon... The closest grocery store sends me a coupon for free ice cream...

If I can ace this list through the month, I will be so organized and ready for fall craft shows, in better health and a much less cluttered house. Time to stick to my list and get it done!

Day one went well... got in 20 minutes on the recumbent exercise bike while watching TV and working on an abandoned project. Stuck to planned meal times. Took my vitamins.

Custom order of Mom & Baby gecko done

I had a productive day on Saturday. I did some organizing and finished three projects!

Having single category notebooks will make it easier to find patterns!

Finished a pattern test on a sun hat - the Ziggle Puff Sun Hat by The Lavender chair

I didn't go to any garage sales, craft stores or thrift shops to buy stuff... I just stayed home and worked on projects! And I cleaned up the fridge and pantry a bit. I think I'm doing well with this month's goals! 

I did pretty well with my first week, getting six notebooks organized instead of one... listing 30 items on A.C. Moore Marketplace instead of 20.  This guy used up a ball of tan scrap yarn:

Exercise? Well, still working on adding that habit. Doing better with eating, and I still haven't made any purchases of yarn or patterns! Registered for one more fall craft show, but I also made one sale, so I'm still in the black!

I got the chance to visit my daughter in PA over the weekend, with somebody else driving, so I packed the hatching dinosaur pattern, and finished up one over the weekend. I also made up one of the hexagon granny square dolls I've been seeing on Facebook so much lately.

I did another pattern test - Mrs. Claus's fingerless gloves

 Played with a fun pattern that used up a lot of scrap yarn... the Fat Cat pattern is on my blog!

8/20 update... Well, the exercise aspect isn't going well, but other than that, I'm making good progress on most of my goals.

Did another pattern test... Bulky Ribbed Pumpkins by Carol Hladik Designs (back two pumpkins). Since I had yarn left over, I made a baby pumpkin from a pattern I used last year (from memory).

I sold my first "Mermaid Cat" at Street Fest in July, and at the end of the show, as I was packing up, a mom whose daughter was looking at it came back and wanted to buy it. Oops! I made another, and hope she will come to one of my fall shows to buy it! I think I'll make a few more while I have the pattern out!

Roly Poly Penguins and Pumpkin Pie tissue holder are the next two items that will make their way into my A. C. Moore Marketplace shop. I still have 143 items to list! This may take a while!

August summary:
Sales: worst since June of 2016
New Healthy Habits - didn't do very well
Setting up A.C. Moore Marketplace shop - pretty good progress, although it did get a bit overwhelming
Using up scrap yarn: did well on this

Listless in July

I feel deflated by June...

I did well on my goals of using up yarn, but sales were downright crummy. The one craft show I had on the schedule was cut short by wind and rain, making that day a total loss.

I'm in the midst of the worst Etsy sales drought since February.

So in July, I'm not going to make lists of stuff to get done... I'm going going to work on cute little items for the Street Fest on July 27th.

I'm going to try to celebrate "non-sale victories", like using up some yarn I've been trying to finish off, finishing a project, using a pattern I've wanted to get to for ages, getting a nice compliment or review, making something for myself.

I'll still post some pictures here... but last month's post only got three views, so sometimes I wonder why I bother.

Sales drought was broken with two Etsy orders in the early days of July.

Took a day off from work to have a beach day with family... with nearly four hours riding shotgun in the car, and time in the shade at the beach, I finished off eight bottle slings! I think I'm well stocked on bottle slings for the 7/27 Street Fest!

In one of my many Facebook crochet groups, someone asked "what are your best sellers at craft shows?" One woman posted a picture of a basket of "chill pills" and said she sells out at virtually every show... So...

I'm plugging away at Clarence the Farmer Cow (a paid pattern I picked up a few years ago because it was just so cute, but I never had a chance to make one) and a red pick-up truck for a crochet-along (didn't win a free pattern for week one... but there are still a few more weeks to win... and sometimes the designer says "everyone who finished wins a free pattern").

I've been trying to celebrate more of the little victories lately... like getting a picture of some cute babies with toys that I made... finishing off some yarn I've had in my stash for years... getting a compliment on how cute my stuff is. Yea for those moments!

Since Clarence and the pickup truck are both patterns from Holly's Hobbies, I posed them together for this week's picture showing that I finished this week's tasks. 

Clarence has overalls and a hat now.

An order for two giraffes like these has kept me busy for the last few days....

I took a break from the giraffes to use up some yarn that I had by my chair... kept thinking "this would make a cute snake..." 

It did.

Finished up the giraffe order...

Then moved on to a fun project... a set of four pastel owls in a pastel nest!
This one is just for fun, to replace one that sold a few months back... it's using up some small balls of scrap yarn, which is an extra bonus!

Then came the much-awaited day... East Aurora Street Fest. This was my second year doing this show, and last year it took knocked a Christmas show out of first place in my spreadsheet of craft shows. Things started slowly, as I didn't get my first sale for an hour and a half, but it knocked last year out of first place, by 8%. Although the cost to set up at this show is higher than most, my net sales were 6 times my average for craft shows! I'm thankful for the guy who stopped at the stand last year and said I should make up water bottle slings in every color... 2/3 of my sales were water bottle slings!

Oops, the rack of bottle slings is out of the picture... you can just see the edge of it in the lower left.

So, for these last few days of July, I'll try to finish up an order and a crochet-along, then focus on remaking sold items and getting my A.C. Moore Marketplace shop stocked during August.