Another Pattern, and a bit of News

The Pattern

Everyone has to keep warm in these cold cold months. Especially your little ones! 

I made this hat for a family friend of mine and decided to write a pattern for it as well. Isn't it cute? The ridges are my favorite part, but it also is doubly warm over the ears because the black portion is flipped up! 

It also combines my favorite yarns in one project. The top part is a gorgeous blue sock yarn that's good and stretchy, while the band is super soft and cozy. 

If you'd like to make a hat like this for your little guy or gal click for a link to the download the FREE pattern.

The News

At the beginning of the year, my goal was to write and publish five crochet patterns. This is the second. As my life stands right now, I should be at five in no time at all. 
Some of my patterns can get a bit complicated though, and just from personal experience I know that visuals are always a benefit when reading patterns. So I did a little research, and found this great program that is set up specifically to diagram crochet patterns! How cool is that? The issue, is that it costs $50. $50 that I don't have right now, but I have a plan. 

The Plan

• Write 5 patterns and publish them for FREE so other crochet artists can see my work. 2 down, 3 to go. (These patterns will always be free.)
• Continue writing patterns, but put them up for sale. (I may continue to publish freebies now and then.)
• After sales reach $50 or more, I can get the program and my patterns with be THAT much nicer and easier to understand.
• Retroactively update previous patters to make all of them equally awesome.

In the mean time, if you want to help out - and help me get the program sooner - I've added a donation button on the left! Any and all contributions are appreciated. 

So if you download one of my free patterns and think to your self, "This pattern would be a lot easier to understand if there were some diagrams," just keep in mind that I think so too! I  don't have the tools to do that right now, but I'm working on it!

freezing cold update

Winter is finally here! and in case, this isn't true where you live, you're missing out. Well, except for the awful roads riddled with accidents and slide offs, white out conditions, and the bitter single-digit windchill that requires at least half a dozen layers on just to take the dog out, but it's really pretty outside!!

So I mentioned in my first post of the year that I'm working on a latch-hook rug, and it's just about half way done!  

The bottom ball of yarn was originally a gross salmony pink in the pattern, but i cut my own yarn so it could be purple. I'm also tweaking the cat so it's more solid gray and looks like Izzy. 

In other yarn news, I'm working on a new crochet hat pattern for sometime next week. This time it's toddler sized!!

My First Pattern!!

I wrote a pattern!!!! Can you tell I'm excited?

I'm not sure how many exactly, but I've made at least 25-30 hats in my crochet history. Over half of them have been along the same lines as far as a pattern. In fact, the first thing I ever crocheted was a hat!! I'm not sure where that particular hat is, but the majority of the hats I've made since have been an evolution of that pattern. It's not really anything like the original anymore, since I've tweaked it a bit every time I made a new one, but I'm really proud of it's most recent reincarnation. And now I'm sharing it with the world!!!

Ta-Da!!

Here's the link to download the pattern!!
I used Deborah Norville Collection Serenity Garden Yarn in Hibiscus. 

Since this is the first pattern I've written for the public, comments and feedback would be wonderful!! Happy Crocheting!

I'm Employable, I Swear.

With classes starting next week and bills for said classes looming (not to mention other more non-essential things I would like to spend money on), I need a job. STAT.

Job hunting is interesting. You get a lead on one job, and start to feel really good about it, and dawdle with other leads because you don't want to pass up the first one. Then, inevitably, something goes wrong and that first job goes up in smoke. So you gotta buckle down again and go at everything you have with a little more oomph. Until another job starts to seem like a real possibility....and you start the whole thing over. Or maybe it's just me that does this. 

Then there's the fact that so much of job hunting these days is done online. Job placement services and chain stores alike just turn you away to go fill out their applications online. The fact that you made yourself presentable and drove out to talk to someone in person, because you would really like a job now [or yesterday would be nice] doesn't mean anything to these people anymore! So you have to stay at home, which is seemingly more convenient  and sift through the endless web of legit jobs and total scams online. Also, you need to do all of this without being too distracted by Facebook, Pinterest, or the fact that all three of your pets want attention, and oh crap, the internet just decided to get glitchy. 

I swear I can do this!!

2013. ready. set. GO!

Ok. So clearly my past blogging habits are less than desirable, and all but dropped off a cliff somewhere in June. But in light of the new year, (and since 13 is my favorite number) I got to thinking, and this post is what I came up with. 

Be advised. these are not New Year resolutions.
They are only goals, which means I'm not setting myself up to fail.
They're merely something to strive for spelled out in plain English for all the world to see. (as opposed to floating around in my head)

13 Goals for 2013

1. Blog!!! At least once a week. No Limits.
   I know everyone enjoys my crochet updates, but no limits on topic, mean no excuses to skip a week, or two, or 13. And who knows where things may lead?
2. Finish my Associates Degree.
   I'm 6 classes away from an Associates degree in business. Two of those classes start in a couple weeks. This is by no means where I intend to finish my education (I'm defiantly a lifer), but it's the next milestone.
3. Write crochet patterns for the public. At least 5.
   Five seems like a low number for the whole year, but I'll tell you something. Writing a crochet pattern is HARD. Especially since I don't think about crocheting the same way as your average person. It's very mathy and numeric in my head when I'm making things, so translating this to regular crochet-speak takes some work.
4. Finish the Latch-Hook Rug.
   I got a latch hook kit for Christmas. It's a picture of a kitty in a basket of yarn and is completely adorable. Unfortunately, this is one of those projects I don't usually finish 100%, so it's going on the list.
5. Make Mom and Afghan.
   For part of her Christmas present, I promised to make my mom an afghan (that she may help design). It would be nice if that was done before NEXT Christmas.
   
6.  Read.
   This one isn't so much of a specific goal, as a reminder to myself. I love to read and get lost in other worlds, but when life get's crazy, it's one of those things that falls to the wayside, and I don't want it to.
7. Swim.
   I recently discovered that my exercise of choice is swimming. I'm definitely a mediocre swimmer, but it's the only physical activity I really enjoy.  I got a membership to the local pool for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to starting it up and taking full advantage. Yay for fitness!
8. Get a new tattoo.
   Perhaps a bit silly, but I got my first and only tattoo back in the summer of 2008. Nearly 5 years ago. So I'm thinking it's time for another one. No specific plans yet however.
9. Road Trip!
   I don't travel much outside my hometown, and visiting my friends and bf out of town. So it's time to nail down some plans and go somewhere.
10. Try something new.
    What that might specifically be, is yet to be determined.
11. Sleep Enough, but not too much. aka Stop hitting the snooze.
    I like sleep. No, I LOVE sleep. probably more than I should.
12. Wear Sunscreen.
    If you've never listened to this speech. Do it. It's beyond inspiring.
    
    
13. Breathe.
    Sometimes everyone needs a reminder.