Newtown DIY markets May 30

Will be selling goodies at Newtown DIY markets 7.30am-3pm tomorrow May 30. Come visit! Corner of King St and Enmore Rd.

sidetracked....

It's been a while between posts!

I've been sidetracked somewhat by the cuteness of booties! I set aside some time last week for crafty stuff and ended up knitting teeny tiny baby shoes.

Well, one teeny tiny baby shoe anyway.

But it was lots of fun. And I have an excuse. Several lovely lady friends of mine are expecting in the next few months, so... you know, I had to get my head around this booty thing.

After much trial and error (knitting to patterns without a nanna type to help is hard work!), I have created a whole one booty all on my own.




It still needs a little cord, and to be sewn up the middle but I get the gist.

Cool huh?

Also, since the last post, I've done some marketeering!

Went to Newtown DIY markets (free stall!) with some similarly minded crafty ladies and we sat in the sun and tried to sell our whares.

Sold about $20 worth - not too shabby considering we got there a smidgen late and ended up at the very edge of the markets.

My earrings, pins and hair ties were on offer. Cheapies for about $3-4. They don't cost much to make so I figure that's about right price-wise.

I didn't have enough wooly things to sell at the time. I think I'll do some more knitting before I do the next market though. Scarves, and booties perhaps, now I know how to do those!

I have two lovely scarf designs complete that I plan to do more of.

Also - I have an idea in my head for lovely fine crocheted earrings. Only problem is when I make them the crochet goes curly. How do you make crochet rigid and starchy?? I believe it has something to do with washing the yarn.

These are my curly earrings...



Not quite right are they?

Back to the drawing board...

My other exciting news is I'm getting into resin! All booked in for a resin jewellery making course. Fun times.

xxx

Workin on it...

I visited a great shop this week, that sells handmade craft items and artworks.

It's called Beehive Gallery, on King St in Newtown.




Basically, artists and crafty folk rent a space at the shop for a monthly fee to display their items.

This place is fantastic - a great place to find beautiful and unusual gifts and jewellery.

And most of it is priced quite reasonably as well.

I purchased a sweet pair of origami crane earrings while I was there.

They have some truly awesome stuff! I'm thinking once I get properly set up this could be a cool way to advertise and make some regular money.

I saw a few things in their that are a bit similar to what I do (button earring for example). I was a bit surprised and a tad disappointed that someone has beat me to the punch. But mine are not quite the same... and I'm working on other projects as well I guess.

I've been working on some more craft ideas these past few weeks.

I've discovered woolly buttons and have been making some cool bits and pieces with these. They take a l bit of time though as you have to make the button (or at least sew the wool onto the button) yourself.

Also, as winter is coming up, I've been busting out the knitting needles.

I made a really lovely scarf last week. Long and thin, with chunky horizontal ribbing. Also made a big chunky brown scarf but gave this to my flatmate. I've been promising him a scarf for ages. But no more giving stuff away! Not for a while anyway.

Also - I've been working on a design for sales tags to put on my stuff. Top secret stuff... not finalised. I'm going to hand make a tiny weeny lino stamp though, to print my tags with!!

Fun times. It's exciting getting organised.

I don't have any pics of my stuff to post this week. But I will get my act together and take some photos for the next blog post.

Crochet and Austen

Last week I picked up a book on crochet at a secondhand place in Newtown.



The projects are a bit out there - think 70's, crocheted lampshades etc - but it has all the basic stitches and patterns and how to create them.

It's actually a bit easier to have it in front of you in a book, than following instructions from a web page.

It's been one of those weeks, you know.

The kind that make you want to hibernate for the winter. So I've been hibernating in my room with the intention of getting craftiness done.

But I've also discovered the ABC's iView website and have been watching back episodes of 'Foreign Correspondent' and 'Lost In Austen' (very bad - but very good. I think Elizabeth Bennett would approve of my crochet efforts).

So I've been a bit unproductive on the craft front. Have stumbled through some basic stitches from my new book but more focus is required I think. :-)

I did find some lovely porcelain kitty cat beads though and made some kick-ass earrings.



I've also almost finalised my lamb logo too for Bleating Heart Design (see above).

The craft market adventure is scheduled for April 26.

xx

Boxes of stuff

For ages now I've been accumulating piles of random crafty stuff.

My shelves are piled high with boxes full of wool, knitting needles.

Containers of scrap material, beads, buttons, crochet hooks and glue sticks protrude from under my bed.

Beanies and scarves with names and faces haunt my dreams (...that bit was a lie... but you get the picture).

It started last year with scarves and beanies.... all of which have now been given away to friends and relatives.

Then I moved on to crochet. A mobile phone sock and a green cactus rabbit called Gordon. And a dangly halfalienhalfsquid keyring thing.

I've discovered YouTube and the net in general have a wealth of patterns and instructions to follow. Most of it I've taught myself from dodgy craft blog instructions.

Now it seems to be buttons though. Button earrings, button hair bands, button hair pins and button brooches.

Sez and Anne are both into craft too and have asked me to contribute to a market stall - so I've started steadily building up stack of button jewellery.

I've done a fair bit already. I'd like to do some crochet work to sell too but that's more time consuming. Might have wait until I have more time.

We're going to sell our stuff at the Newtown Square markets.

I been thinking on names for my venture...

I've decided on Bleating Heart Design (think sheep).