Product Review: Custom Quilt from YankeeCrow

New Quilt!
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

Looking down the barrel at up to 5 different Christmas celebrations this year, my husband and I decided to shave one off by having ours on Thanksgiving. I was so excited when he opened his gift. It had been waiting for months to be unveiled! But I get ahead of myself...

I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what the heck to get my husband. I am a terrible gift giver... I feel I come up with terrible idea or get into a rut of the same thing for years and years. My husband is wonderful at giving me ideas, but I undoubtedly forget them as soon as something shiny comes across my field of view.

One fine day I happened to be in a chat room on etsy and YankeeCrow was in there. I saw her beautiful work and that got me to thinking. My grandmother gave us a wonderful quilt for our wedding and I know he really liked to sleep under it. Unfortunately, it got a little tear in it and we havent been able to get it fix yet (there is a local quilt place that just moved... so we have to take it there). I thought it would be great to give my something beautiful that we could pass down for years. I asked about the possibly of Yankeecrow creating a custom quilt... and the adventure began!

The first hurdle was the colors. My husband loves dark purple and dark green. Picking out the right shades of purple and green were paramount because he is a little bit picky about colors. This had to be the most tricky part of the whole process (for me anyway). Yankeecrow and I chatted about colors and patters. I was worried that it might be a little hard to convey my ideas over the internet... because all the quilts I normally see are very, how shall we say, foo foo girly cutesy things. Neither me, nor my husband, like foo foo girly cutesy things. I have to day, Yankeecrow listened to my every word and worked so hard to get everything perfect. She right away saw my vision of a masculine and simple but bold quilt. She has a great head for colors and concepts! We talked for days, and she continually updated me along the whole time. I am so happy to work with her, and I am glad to say I also gained a friend along the way. There were a few bumps in the road (like finding one of the fabrics was discontinued...) but everything progressed wonderfully.

When my quilt came in the mail, it was just beautiful! As you can see, I also got some matching pillow cases. I wanted to give it to my husband right then, but I knew I couldnt. I dropped a large chunk of change on this beauty and I just couldnt afford to get anything more.

I am so glad that we had Christmas early, so I could share it with everyone out there! I had to wait to write this review because I coudnt risk my husband finding out about it! I am so glad he loves it. He loves the colors and is sleeping under it right now!

Overall Impression: Yankeecrow did a wonderful job. She is a breeze to work with and has great ideas, along with working with input. She tries extremely hard to bring your dreams to fruition. I would definitely use her again if I ever need another gift to wow!

Third time is a charm!

Third time is a charm!
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

Well, there we go! I finally finally finally have a neck warmer! I know it is a bit hard to see, since it is black and I am wearing a black shirt and a black hoodie (can you tell what my favorite color is?) I can wait to turn out a few more (in different colors) and put them up on my etsy site. There are few little things I will do differently to tweak the pattern, but I really like it. I have worn it all day and it is really super comfy. All these neck, arm, and ear warmers are coming in handy as we have to keep the heat low to conserve on our energy bill. I sorta envy my cats, they have fur coats! My husband doesnt feel the chill because I am convinced he is half yeti.

Fail... at Neck Warmers

This weekend I was determined to work out a neat neck warmer I can wear all day while I am at school, teaching etc. I set out with some lovely red yarn and my knitting loom. Well, first, I ran out of the red yarn.... so no problem, I will make it double sided. I really want something that hugs my neck so I worked out a nice ribbed pattern to try. I got to learn and practice how to make the purl stitch on my loom, which was neat. I go on my merry way, knitting along. Well, I finish everything off and....


The binding off is too tight... while most of it will slip over my head, that darn binding stitch wont budge. Dang. Well, it does make a nice and warm ear warmer!



And dont forget, it is revertible! That is great because I really want to wear these items with the majority of my t-shirts during the winter. You can see that the black matches my knit arm warmers too! Those are a mess up as well, they were supposed to go all the way up to my armpits, but I didnt make them wide enough on one end and they were too tight on my elbows... so they are now a pair that sit below my elbows and are scrunchy. At least they still work!

Yesterday I tried again. I dont have any pictures of it because it was so messed up, I made my husband pull it apart. The second one was made from a nice grey and black combo. I fixed the "constriction" problem by not knitting in the round on my loom. Well, I also wanted to add some embelishment in the form of a cowl that you could fold over your nose and mouth if it was really cold, fold it down when you were inside. That didnt really work out... it ended up looking like a bib. Epic fail! I was so disappointed because I couldnt even salvage it. Well, I salvaged the yarn.

I tried again today. Plain and black, no cowl. I dont have any good buttons to close it, so it isnt done just yet... until I can make a trip to the local craft shop. I really hope it works. If it works, I may make a few more for my shop.

Wait...there are new clothes in the house?

Wait...there are new clothes in the house?
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

I am absolutely certain that cats have a six sense (or maybe a couple more) that tells them the exact worst spot for them to nap. For example... everything you own is full of cat hair, so the most logical place to nap would be on top of the bag full of new, prestine clothes! How about on top of a stack of deconstructed boxes several feet high stacked on a couch? Wonderful! On the keyboard... Great! I love my kitties anyway, what can you do with that cute mug looking at you?

Product Review: oh the horror... BRAIN bowl from Foldedpigs

I was so so so excited when my husband called me during work today. He told me that a box was waiting for me... a wonderful box from a wonderful seller named foldedpigs. This seller is one of the first sellers I ever hearted when I first started this crazy thing called Etsy. I have saved up my paypal pennies to finally... finally get a Brain Bowl. It is hard to snag one, because they go so quickly, but I did it! This will go perfect with my skull cookie jar and eyeball salt and pepper shakers!


Well, when I got home there was this wonderful box with a great graphic of an anatomic heart on it... well that gets extra brownie points in my book! I am a total science nerd and anatomy lover. The bowl was wrapped up really securely, and I bet you could just about dropkick it and it would still be fine. I am going to keep all the bubble wrap for when I move in the future (when ever that will be...)!


The bowl itself is just perfect. According to the listing, it is microwave and dishwasher safe, which is good because I plan on eatting all my soup out of this bowl from now on! The red color is extremely vibrant and it is much larger in person that it looks in the listing too! I am going to treasure this bowl for a very long long time!

Overall Impression: I have to say, I was biased from the beginning, but I really love this bowl! I love the design, the concept and the execution! I love my brain bowl!

Blogging Hiatus

I know I have been a little lax on blogging lately, but I have some good reasons. Not only has my research life sorta taken off, but I have been doing a lot of custom orders etc for customers. I just haven't had the time to blog! I just sent off a great hat for a trade that I really am kicking myself now for not taking a picture of. The color combo was really nice and I wanted to show it off! I hope to make another similar one to sell, so we will see how that works out. I have to take photos to put it up on etsy right?! I have also been putting more items on sale, and in particular PIF sales, lately. I have sold a couple of older items that way too, which is great. My arm warmers seem to be doing good, sale wise. I even have two more pairs to put up in my shop, but the sun has not been cooperagting with me to get good pictures. Arm warmers also take more time to make than the hats, it seems, so that is another reason I haven't listed more. Keep checking my shop, because I hope to get more stuff in it soon! Enjoy a picture of my latest PIF sold!

Dread Tutorial

I finally got off my bum and worked up a video tutorial on making wool double ended dreads. I just posted it on youtube. I hope it gets a lot of views, not only because wool dreads are fun to make, but also because I am trying to win a great contest on DIYscene.com! So come and check it out, and help me along in the process!

Cutest Live Feed EVER!

This has to be the cutest live feed ever. I could watch these little puppies all day. If you have a bad day, just gander at these babies, and I am sure you will feel better... at least of a little while! Enjoy!

Full of Fun Loom Knitted Adult Santa Hat

Full of Fun Loom Knitted Adult Santa Hat
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

I finally did it! I made and listed a Santa hat similar to my husband's in my shop. I think I can make one more, but a baby size, out of the yarn I have left. I wonder if they will sell... I hope so! They are a lot of fun to make. I wish you could see it (I think it come across better in some of the photos in my listing) that the brim is not only very fluffy, but has a little bit of sparkle as well! These hats are just too cute! I was also thinking of making some in different colors, but I need the right yarn to go on sale. Figures, once I find that I really think Homespun works really well in this application, all the sales end. Pompoms are a new adventure too. I tried making them years and years ago, and they turned out horrible. I think that is because I got confused and made them wrong. Now they seem much easier and hold together. I even got a pompom maker to help with the process (so I wouldnt have to cut out tons of cardboard circles).

Pink and Black Punky Funky Monkey Baby Hat

Pink and Black Punky Funky Monkey Baby Hat
Originally uploaded by fuzzy_izmit

I have been making a ton of hats lately... and this is just one of them! I have had a lot of fun experimenting with different kinds of yarn and combination. So far I have just listed baby hats, but I plan on making some preemie hats and adult hats. In fact, I just started making an adult sized warm and fuzzy Santa hat. I made one for my husband and it turned out so cute he thought I should make some more and try to sell them! Check out my shop to see more...and I hope to be adding more as more come off my loom!

Voted!

Well, we got up at the butt crack of dawn to get to the polling station at 6:45. We got out at just before 8. It feels great to be apart of history. Lets just hope history treats us well. Now, if only I could listen to the radio down in the basement of my building... then I could follow everything while I teach tonight. Oh well!