Owlishly

In a funk

Hi all, sorry about not being around here very much.  It feels like every time I get good and ready to blast out gobs of posts, something happens that saps the will out of me.  Lately it's just been because we've been so dang busy with summer time stuff, and work being done to our house.

 Also, typically I try to keep real life things to a minimum (though not always as well as I'd like), but my husband was laid off and since we're pretty much a single income family, it's had a profound impact on the way things are done around our home.  It's probably a time I should be cranking out patterns, but all inspiration and the will to crochet of late has been sucked out of me. 

I'm not too worried, my faith is pretty personal but I have confidence that God will provide, and worrying saps too much energy that's better spent elsewhere.  Or so I keep reminding myself :) 

Anyhoo, I'm assuming that's why I've been fairly silent of late, and I know I'll get back on the horse, it's just going to happen whenever it does.  I can't force it.

Also, I have my cow pattern completely finished now except the templates were a little funky so I'm going to have to rework those; and I'm hesitating on a name so I need to choose one, but it should be soon.  I feel a bit silly about saying that because I feel like I've been saying soon over and over again, but I'm trying again :)

So, hopefully the next post will include the pattern release information, otherwise, I hope you all had great Fourth of July celebrations (those of you who do celebrate it), and I'll talk to you soon!

Sneak peak of a little cow girl...

I was taking pictures this afternoon for the pattern, and thought I'd share a couple with you.

I ended up embroidering her markings on her & prefer the way they look as opposed to crocheted ones.

It was a little frustrating trying to get all the stray tan fibers out of her hair, and the black ones off of her white suit.  This time it'd probably have been better to use acrylic yarns because of all the fiber transfer, but I think she's still pretty cute :)

I think I want to take a couple more pictures tomorrow before I'm comfy with the amount I have for the pattern, but hopefully it'll be ready by Monday.

Life is getting in the way

I can't believe how quiet I've been lately, but too many things have been going on that are just sucking up all available time and preventing me from getting anything finished craft-wise.

These are the two things that I've been able to work on in between sick kids, dentist appointments, an emergency appendectomy for my husband, t-ball, preschool and trying to cook & clean more than I like too :)

This doily is something I've been working on for quite some time now.  I like the peacock feather/fan things, or whatever they're called.  Anyway, they're always my favorite designs to look at, and the ones I'm drawn to over and over again.  I thought it'd be nice to crochet & frame for my bedroom, since I think it'll turn out fairly large.  I intended to make it bigger and am using size 3 mercerized teal thread which compliments the rest of the blues and greens in our room.

The doll had been a zebra in my mind, but when I started making it I kept having problems with the stripes.  I changed it 3 or 4 times before deciding that it was never going to be the zebra that I wanted, and it made a better cow girl. Sewing on the felt is what's taking longer than normal, but I keep thinking about working on it when it's not with me.  Or when I do have it around, I have to use the time to do something else. 

I'm hoping to have it finished soon, especially since a couple of the keys on my laptop have decided they'd rather pop off every time I type and I'm going to take my computer in to have the entire keyboard replaced. I have an appt. tomorrow for that, but I may be rescheduling.

Some more randomness to note, last weekend I'd gone to the LA and Costa Mesa Kinokuniya's looking for some Japanese crochet books, but sadly there were barely any that were interesting to me.  It may've been because there weren't very many in either section.  There were a lot of clay, sewing, quilting, jewelry making books, so I'm wondering if they just don't carry as many fiber related ones as the weather heats up, or maybe I was there after someone came and bought up all the good books. I don't know. It was just strange.

Also, my books came in that I'd ordered, or at least two of the three.  The Japanese doily one is perfectly lovely as usual.  I have to spend some time with the Spanish one to see how much I like it, but as noted before, I haven't had time for anything I find particularly interesting of late. Dang it. Soon I hope!

Japanese crochet book seller, Spanish books too!- Crochet Style etc./Creative Yarn Source

English too, but the foreign language books are harder to find I suppose.

I've decided to try the charts for the patterns in Spanish language books, so I'd read about this online store called Crochet Style etc./Creative Yarn Source over at Crochetville & thought I'd try it out.  I've been really busy and uninspired lately without time to crochet, as a result I've been a little crankier than usual, so I thought I'd look for outside inspiration by way of a new book :)

I'd been wanting to get the Pineapple Lace Stitch Doily book by Nihon Vogue too, so I bought one Japanese crochet book and 2 Spanish booklets- Muestras y Motivas Especial Puntillas 5 originales y clásicas, and Especial Paños No. 12.

This Puntillas 5 one is all borders, so hopefully I can use this one to get away with not crocheting an entire thread tablecloth for my mom.

Then this Paños No. 12 looks like it's mainly doilies.  Its funny because I think they're really pretty, but never get around to making them.  Eventually, I guess.

I'll try to remember to report back when I get them, and their ease of use, etc.  By the way, there's an interesting selection of yarns & threads to try too, but I really have to get through more of my stash before buying more!

Pete winners, *ducks* embarrassingly late!

Sorry about that everyone, it's just been one thing after another! I'm giving away 3 patterns again, I feel so bad about taking such a long time to get the winner announced, so I've chosen 3, or the random.org generator gave me 3 numbers-

Only those of you who answered my nut question were included in the drawing, so the corresponding winners are -

Greta-

Samantha-

and teachingjonah-

So, if you'd like to send me your email addresses at owlishly.designed[at]gmail.com I'll send the Pete pattern asap!

Pete the puppy amigurumi pattern available & a giveaway!

The pattern is finished up. Finally. I hadn't meant to take so long, but with going back to Iowa and the funeral and the aftermath, it's taken a bit of time to get back into a lighthearted mode.  I do appreciate all the kind emails that I've received, it may be a while before I can reply to all of them, but I really, really appreciate them all!

This little guy is made of worsted weight yarn, with embroidery floss, felt, 6 mm craft/animal eyes & polyfil stuffing.

He's a little guy, standing at 5.5 inches tall at his straightest, but what he lacks in height, he more than makes up for in sweetness :)

As I previously mentioned, if you leave a (1 per person) comment on this post, you'll be entered to win his pattern!  All you have to do is leave a comment on what your favorite nut is.  Another random question, I really enjoyed reading all the answers last time! Oh, and if you can't wait, and purchase the pattern but still want to enter, go right ahead.  If you win, I'll refund your purchase :)

Comments to win the pattern will close in 3 days- May 8th at 11:29 pm PST.

His pattern will be available at Etsy & Ravely later in the day May 6th with an update in this post to reflect it.

***** Update *****

Okey dokey, the patterns are added and available now at the Owlishly etsy shop & in my Ravelry shop if you're feeling so inclined :)

New puppy ;)

Doll!

I finished the doll this afternoon while hanging out in bed and nursing a horrid cold.  I'm really pleased with the little collar, for some reason that's my favorite part.  There are so many different types of dogs, and I was hesitant to make one since I wanted it looking like a dog (obviously), but I wasn't ever sure what kind. My own childhood dog was a dachshund, and I love them so hopefully this resembles our old Zoe. Or actually, hopefully it looks like a puppy! I have all the pictures for the pattern taken except the main pictures of the completed pup.

I'm hoping to get some good ones outside tomorrow but I'll be pretty busy.  I have to go register my little guy for kindergarten & pack because we're headed to Iowa on Tuesday- my husband's grandmother passed this morning. It's very sad, but after all the pain she was in, we're thankful that she's finally gone home.

Addi hook winner!

There was a bit of a family issue that came up, so I wasn't able to post sooner.  But congratulations to Susan :) Just email me at owlishly.designed[at]gmail.com with your address so I can get your new addi hook in the mail... I hope you like it Susan!

Addi comfort grip hooks & a giveaway

One of my favorite local yarn stores has sadly announced that they will be closing the store because of what's been going on in our economy.  It's sad because I really like that shop, it's close to a shopping/entertainment center, but still has that main street sort of feel to it.

After (yet another) dentist appointment to finally get a crown on my tooth, and right before I had to pick up my little boy from preschool I stopped by to see if they had any hooks left. I guess depending on the way you see it, luckily there aren't a bunch of crocheters, so there was still a good amount of hooks left.

I have some of the addi comfort grip hooks already, but I thought I'd fill in the gaps. I couldn't remember exactly which ones I had, so I bought some of the smaller ones, and some of the larger ones.  Unfortunately, I was hurrying and didn't go over the hooks to make sure there weren't doubles and ended up purchasing 2 5.5mm/I hooks. 

Fortunately for you, I have no reason to have 2 of the same rarely used hook size, so I'd like to give it away :)

Here are the rules:

• Leave a comment.
• Comment on what your favorite hook (brand and size would be nice) is.
• Do this by April 16th 10pm PST.

Thanks for participating!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Hope yours was a good day for celebration and reflection.  Things have finally calmed down around & everyone's either in bed or getting settled and preparing for tomorrow.

My little girl's still not 100%, but getting close.  I'm trying to keep from starting anything new until I've finished up the astronaut boy & maybe my little baby from last year... I think I know what I want to do to finish it the way I want it done.

Anyway, I just wanted to pop in and say hi before getting sucked into the vortex that is know as my google reader :)