I Heart Crochet

I just finished a big project for a magazine and a second round of magazine work will start again soon. In the lull I needed to make something silly and fun. And not knit. I love knitting but I had not picked up a hook in months. Hearts are fun. And seasonally appropriate.

Pattern here – yes it is in Japanese but it’s not hard to figure out and if you get stuck there is always Google Translate.

After reading that this week’s iheartfaces challenge was hearts I thought it would be fun to get shots of my son with the crocheted hearts. He just was not into it. But he did think they were fun to throw.

And I made an owl this weekend too. The sun was down when I finished so trust me that it is cute. Here is it’s head getting stuffed.

Best Face in Janurary 2011

Another photography challenge from iheartfaces.com. This one is simple. What was your best photo of a face in January 2011. While not exactly a happy face I loved this one of my son sledding for the first time. I have seen this look on lots of toddlers as they try to figure out if what they are doing is fun or scary. In the end he decided fun but only after daddy came to watch.

{this moment} – Cousins

{this moment} – A Friday ritual inspired by SouleMama. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Awe

I don’t think I will every get tried of seeing my child expressing his awe of the amazing world around him.

This week’s interfaces challenge was “Innocent Wonder” and it fit so perfectly with a photo I had just taken at the aquarium this weekend I had to share.

Christmas

My husband and I always seem to get very stressed before Christmas as we anticipate the mad rush from one place to another. But when Christmas Eve and Christmas Day roll around we always find ourselves more relaxed than we thought and savoring the moments between dashing.

As as special treat this year is snowed on Christmas day – something I can’t remember ever happening in my life. So we ran around like mad men in the falling snow as the sun went down. Then today we played some in the morning where my son showed that he could throw a snowball. Thanks for teaching him that Daddy.

Vintage filters feel right for Christmas don’t they? The hat is An Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee made from Malabrigo chunky. Thanks for taking the picture hun.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas.

Oh the Chunk!

Last weekend an old friend of my was kind enough to let me photograph her twins in matching baby shells. These super chunky babes were just too cute and tons of fun to work with.

Miss Lu was very interested in her sweater.

But what is a photo shoot without a little tears right?

As cute as they are in the sweaters I think they were even cuter without them.

BOGO!

While it may not feel like it there is still time to knit a great gift this year. To help you out I am offering my patterns BUY ONE GET ONE FREE until December 5, 2010 – including my new Barn Door Pullover. No coupon code needed. Just add two patterns to your cart on my ravelry store and check out.

Note: Due to some technical issue I was having if you want to buy 4 patterns and get 2 free you will have to check out twice. I am very sorry for the inconvenience.

SAFF 2010

For years I have been hearing my friends around the yarn shops talking about SAFF this and SAFF that. I had always wanted to go but it seemed a little silly for a woman who breaks out into a rash while wearing wool to go to a fiber fair. But after yammering on twitter with Kate (Tot Toppers) and Brandy (PixiePurls) I decided to jump in head first and skip the visiting the fair step and go right to vending.

Sadly Brandy ended up not being able to join us in vending, but Kate and I had a great time. Set up was the hardest part because both Kate and I are sticklers for presentation. I think it took us twice as long as any other booth but it was well worth it. I only seemed to have taken the one photo but Kate has more on her blog.

The first night in the hotel was crazy as Kate and I did some last minute upgrades to our booth. At one point Kate was sewing table clothes wile I was making a spread sheet to track sales. Then we changed out strings on bag until midnight. But after making a huge mess in the room we final got to sleep.

After the mad dash of the initial setup it was relatively smooth sailing. We had great weather of cold mornings but mild afternoons. And I loved the fresh air and the incredible fall light. They were the perfect touch to the already wonderful atmosphere created by the friendliness and passion of everyone who attended. I met some really great people and I hope to see them next year.

Also on the good new front: I spent a good portion of the weekend wearing a wool hats with no signs of a rash. Maybe it is time to try knitting with wool again. I have a skein of Spud and Chloë sweater calling to me.

Paper and Printing

Lately my life seems to be filled with paper and printing. Paper from my skecthbook, paper from my business cards, and most importantly paper printouts of my patterns. About 6 weeks ago I started selling printed copies of my patterns in my favorite local yarn store Knitch. The arrangement has been working out well and I love that I can now visit during lunch breaks guilt free. I have also been gearing up for the South Eastern Fiber Fair (SAFF). So I now have 350 copies of my patterns printed, folded and bagged – and a sore back.

This much paper feels strange in my life. I have always thought of myself more of a digital girl. I grew up with a computer in my house from a young age and for a living I work as a web designer. My new business cards even only list my email and social networking contacts.

But there is something about paper. I love going to the book store and smelling the freshly printed books and leafing through the brightly printed pages. It is tactile experience – just like yarn. While the work of printing, folding, bagging and stacking has been out of the ordinary and not something I would want to do every day there has been a pleasure in seeing my work on paper and not just on screen.

You can find me at SAFF in the Sales Arena sharing a booth with the lovely and talented Kate Oates (Tot Toppers).

If you are a yarn shop and interested in selling my pattern contact me at carey[at]fulloffluff.com

A Taste of Fall

Here in Georgia if you have a few days under 90 degrees everyone starts talking about fall. Appropriately this Labor Day weekend the weather thought a small taste of fall was in order. The slight dip in temperature got me in the mood to finish the sweater I have been working on on-and-off for the last month or so for the boy.

The pattern is my original and still unnamed design that I plan to release as soon as I can write the pattern. The yarn is rowan calmer, a cotton acrylic blend that has a good amount of elasticity that works great for ribbing. I also like that this yarn is warm without being too warm, great for fall and most of the mild winters we have here. For cooler places it would be easy to find a nice wool substation.

The taste was nice but it looks like it is over for now. We are back into the 90s today. But now my sweater mojo is flowing and my hands are itching to work on a sweater for myself. I started a February Lady about a week back. Every knitter has to make one sometime right?