FO Friday: Polar Bear & Caterpillars!

I finished three animals over the weekend and they are already available in my shop. My mother actually helped crochet some parts and I did all of the sewing. 

The first is a polar bear. I made the eyes bigger for this one and I'm not sure whether I like it more or I prefer the eyes smaller. I made the background blue so that the color of the bear wouldn't blend in with the all white background. I think he's cute. :)

Next I made two more Caterpillars. My mom made most of the circles. I wanted to have more color options available in my shop and since I have some left over yarn, this is the perfect animal to use it on. 

UPDATES

I finally started on the Freshstitches Mystery CAL and since clue #3 was released yesterday I am almost done crocheting all the parts. Next week the final clue will be released and it will be the instructions for sewing up the animal. I have to say I have no idea what animal it is. Stacey did a very good job when planning this because none of us doing the CAL are really sure of what it could be. So I am excited to see what it is and for sure it will be finished in time for next Friday.

I have been working on crocheting my mother's crocodile stitch triangle shawl and haven't made time for anything else. I am a little behind on my plan of crocheting 5 rows a day so I need to focus on it more. Hopefully I can make some progress this weekend. 

I will be posting the second Merchandise Monday post on Monday showing off all the new items in my shop since the opening. I think that instead of doing one of these post every Monday I am going to do it the first Monday of the month. Unless of course I have a lot to share I might do it every 1st and 3rd Monday. I will be working on that this weekend.

Have a great Weekend!

Check out more FO's on Tami's Blog!

WIP Wednesday: Yarn, Amigurumi, Crocodile Stitch & Booties

I want to start today's post by showing off my first yarn from Candy Skein! As many of you may know the owner of the Candy Skein company is this same who does these WIP Wednesday and Fo Friday post that I love participating in because they connect a lot of us who love knitting and crocheting. So I am very excited that my yarn arrived on Monday. I purchased it on Thanksgiving taking advantage of the 15% off sale that was going on for the weekend. I still don't know what I am actually going to use it on so I'm open for suggestions!

Talking a little more about this past weekend and all the sales that were going on, I know I spent way to much money and I feel like I didn't really get all that much. I was up at 8:45am on Monday morning to be one of the first on the KnitPicks website once the sale started (which was 9am where I live) and of course as expected everyone else was trying to do the same so it took me an hour but I bought my yarn. I'm still waiting on it to ship but I'm excited. I bought some more comfy which I love and I even got a couple of balls of Brava and Swish to try out. They had some really good deals but I had said from the beginning that I wasn't going over a certain amount and I stuck to it. One limit that I did go over was on Craftsy. I had originally planned to only get one class during the sale and I ended up getting three: Beyond Basic Broomstick Lace, Shuttle Tatting, and one that I hadn't even thought about getting Decadent Chocolate Cakes! I love baking so I thought why not get that one too!

On to what I have been working on this week. Amigurumi as always is at the top of the list. I am working on a deer that will be available for sale in my Etsy shop hopefully by the end of the week. I only have the head finished and just started on the body. 

The second animal is another owl. I am almost finished crocheting all the parts so as soon as I sew them on he is done. I will also be adding him to the shop this week along with another owl that is already finished. The shop has been open for about 2 weeks and I currently have 17 items. I will finally be posting on Monday an update on what's new in the shop since the last time which was the opening. If all goes as planned there will be three more animals to share.

The next thing I stated working on this past weekend are baby booties both knitted and crocheted. I bought some patterns from monpetitviolon and loasidellamaglia which both have amazing baby shoes. I started working on a couple and will hopefully get them ready in the next couple of weeks and they should be available in my shop in late December/early January. I used KnitPicks Shine and Comfy and they are super soft. 

And the last thing I have to share I put last because its a surprise. Well its actually a gift for my mother for Christmas and even though she doesn't read my blog sometimes she wants to look at pictures and its easier to hide it from her if its at the bottom. Anyway its a shawl and the reason I'm making her this is because she has been asking me to make her a shawl for the longest time and I haven't been able to finish making her one. I have two started that she knows about and I even attempted making her one last Christmas but for one reason or another it never gets finished. This time around I am committed to actually finishing it in time for Christmas. I have made a plan to crochet at least 5 rows of the completed crocodile stitch a day and so far its working out. I still have what I consider plenty of time to finish and I'm still excited about it so I think this one will actually get finished! The pattern is from Bonita Patterns and its the Crocodile Stitch Triangle Shawl. Its the first time I try the crocodile stitch and I really like it. It looks so complicated but its actually really easy and quick to crochet. 

Check out more WIP's on Tami's Blog!

FO Friday: Sale & Finished Mystery Animal!

First off I want to announce my first sale! I know a lot of people start shopping for Christmas presents this weekend so I thought why not offer a sale. I know I'm always looking for a good sale and have already taken advantage of a couple. 

I bought some patterns by Bonita Patterns which is having a 20% off your purchase sale plus the more patterns you buy the more discount you get. I bought these mainly because I am thinking about making my mother the Crocodile Stitch Triangle Shawl. 

I got some yarn from Candy Skein. I have been wanting to try it and since she is offering a 15% off your total purchase sale I thought why not try it out now. I am trying to limit my spending for myself so I only bought one but I'm sure I will be getting more from her later on. She has a lot of gorgeous dyed yarn. 

There are two more sales that I may consider investing some money on. The first is going on right now and its Craftsy Classes are all $19.99 or less through November 26th. There is this new class called Beyond Basic Broomstick Lace and I really want to get it. I would also love to get the Shuttle Tatting class. I'm still undecided on whether or not I should go ahead and get one or maybe both or wait. 

The second is KnitPicks Cyber Monday sale starting Monday, November 26th at 6 am (PST) meaning 9 am my time. I ordered yarn from them last week and got it on Wednesday so I don't really need it but I mean can one ever have too much yarn especially if its on sale! Of course I have no idea what will actually be on sale but if its a good deal I will probably end up getting some. Here is what I got and all of it is for items that will eventually be available in my shop. Oh and I got a free skein of Biggo!

Okay I went off track but I have so much to share today. If anyone has any good sales to share please do!

Back to my sale it starts today November 23 and goes through Monday, November 26th. Use the coupon code THANKS10 in my Etsy shop (Adrialyshc.etsy.com) to get 10% off your total purchase (excludes shipping cost). All you have to do is apply the code before checking out. You can find where to apply it above the item total in your cart. Payment is through PayPal, you may use your account or any credit card. Make sure and take advantage of this sale now because the next sale won't be for a couple of more months! 

Here are the cuties available at my shop! 

Blues for Boys!

Pinks for girls!

Or Neutrals for either boys or girls!

These cuties make the perfect gift for everyone no matter the age. I will be adding two animals a day throughout the weekend. Here are the two for Friday! Another pink and another blue. These will become available later on today. 

Last thing to share today is my first self designed amigurumi is done! Can you guess what it is by looking at its tail?

Its a bunny!! 

No one guessed it and I think its mostly because of the colors I used. I wasn't attempting to make it realistic. I was just using the colors that my brother's girlfriend choose since she was the one who asked me if I could make her one. I really did enjoy trying to design it and was super excited to see that it actually looks like a bunny.  I may make a couple of more samples and test out some other ideas before offering the pattern for sale.

Have a great Weekend! 

Check out more FO's on Tami's Blog!

WIP Wednesday!

This week has been a little different than most other weeks. One thing is that I haven't really been crocheting as much as a usually do and not so much because I've had other things to do but its more because I was having a couple of lazy days. Maybe its because Thanksgiving is coming up. 

Anyway I didn't take a picture but let me tell ya'll I have a ton of body parts all over my desk of animals and monsters than need to be sewn up. I really don't even know where to start. I have a couple monsters that I started back in October that I never got around to finishing probably because after Halloween it just didn't seem like the right thing to work on but they need to get finished.

I also started working on some new animals that go perfect for winter and Christmas that I plan to list in my shop in the next couple of weeks. My plan is to get some crocheted, sewn and get pictures taken this weekend and then I can start editing photos and upload them as I finish.

Another project that is on my to do list is the Freshstitches Cowl I talked about last month. I got these 5 squares from other people and now all I have left is to finish it up. I love the color I think its going to look very pretty. I think I may do a border so it will take me a while to get around to working on it. Plus I need to buy some yarn. 

The last thing on my to do list is to get started on crocheting the parts for the Freshstitches Mystery Cal that started last Thursday. The second clue comes out on Thursday. I may wait and crocheted all the pieces at the same time. 

I know I don't have a lot to show today but I am excited to announce that on Friday I will be showing my first self designed animal that I finished over the weekend. I also finished another owl so that's confirmed for Friday as well. I won't make any promises that anything else will be finished by then but at least those two will be. 

Check out more WIP's on Tami's Blog!

FO Friday: Platypus & Turkey

As promised here are two new animals! I finally finished the blue platypus I started a long time ago. I got more green yarn last week and was able to finally get him done. I really like this combination. He will be up in my etsy shop sometime next week for anyone who is interested. All I have left to do is edit a couple more pictures so I'm not sure exactly what day it will be. 

The second animal can already be found in my etsy shop and just in time for Thanksgiving next week. Its the first time I make this pattern and I like it. I have to say the feathers are a little difficult to position but I think over all it looks good. I probably wont be making any more of these until next year just because I doubt many people will be interested in purchasing one after the holidays. 

Updates

Mystery Animal: I am really close to finishing. The bottom half is completely done. The top half I still need to finish crocheting one ear. I need to sew on all the parts of the face but it will be done tomorrow and I will reveal what animal it is next Friday. Now that I see it almost done I'm thinking that I will be selling the pattern. Of course it will take some time since I have to figure out yardage and all of that. I will need to type it up and make another sample so it won't be available for a couple of months. 

As many of you may already know I opened my etsy shop this week so if you haven't checked it out please do. 

Adrialyshc.etsy.com  

I added one item since the opening and will be adding 2 more this weekend. I have decided to add items any day of the week and then write up one post every Monday telling you all about new items in my shop that were listed the week before. 

I am really excited because I will be adding new items soon. I love stuffed animals but I want to have a variety of things available. I just placed an order today for the yarn I will be using to make these items so I am hoping to have more news to share soon.

Baby Bibs were another item I talked about and to be honest I haven't had time to work on them since last time but I am hoping to make some progress this weekend. 

Have a great weekend!

Check out more FO's on Tami's Blog!

WIP Wednesday: New Shop & Mystery Animal

This past weekend was a super busy one. I opened my Etsy Shop on Monday and had tons to do before then. I did get a chance to finish up 2 animals and I will show them off on Friday. One of them is already for sale in my shop. Check out my Grand Opening post for more details about my shop and please visit. 

On to what I have been doing since Monday. Remember I talked about designing my first amigurumi at the end of October well I finally got a chance to work on it and here is what I have so far. Any guesses on what it is? I have most of the bottom done. It still needs feet which is what I currently have on my hook. The tail will be in loop stitch which gives me a chance to work on it since I still haven't mastered the technique. I didn't include the head because the ears are attached and that would completely give it away. Anyway I am trying to finish this one up before Friday so that I can finally give it to my brother's girlfriend. If I really like the finished animal I might consider selling the pattern in my new etsy shop!

Check out more WIP's on Tami's Blog!

Grand Opening!

Today is the Grand Opening of my Etsy Shop!

I'm really excited to finally open it. Its been a very busy week and I'm not completely finished. I still have a couple of photos to add to some of the animals. So I will be doing that during the day. Editing the photos took way longer than I had planned. 

On Friday I showed you all 6 of the 10 animals I was planning on listing in my shop. Well since I ran out of time I only listed 9 this week. The 6 you saw Friday, 2 you have seen before if you follow my blog, and 1 completely new that I finished up this morning. Here they are!

There are a lot of things that I want to do but for now I am planning on listing 2-5 new items every Monday. I will of course have a blog post up showing you all the new items. I was thinking it could be called Merchandise Mondays...I know it sounds a little odd but that's the plan for now. I want to have some type of organization so I think I might do color variations of one animal one week or maybe animals that can all be found in a certain area ex. woodland animals, marine animals, etc. And just to keep you all informed on what's coming. Next Monday I will be listing color variations for owls. I have 3 planned already and I'm sure they will be done by then. If you follow my WIP Wednesday and FO Friday posts then there won't be many new surprises since those will eventually make it to my shop. Right now I am focusing on stocking up on stuffed animals but will add new categories in the next couple of months. Baby Bibs are the next thing on my list and I'm hoping to get those ready for next month. 

I do have a special promotion for the first 5 customers. It's a secret so I won't be saying what it is but I'm sure they will like it very much. 

Thanks for taking the time to follow my blog and I invite all of you to check out my shop

www.adrialyshc.etsy.com

Also follow me in all the other sites that can be found on the left under pages tab.

Updates and Sale Announcements will be through my Twitter and Facebook so make sure and follow me there!

Thanks! Have an awesome Monday!

PS: I already have 1 admirer! Yay! =)

FO Friday: Etsy Shop Sneak Peek

As many of you may know my Etsy Shop opens on Monday and I'm very excited! I am well aware that just because it opens doesn't mean I'm going to have tons of people buying things right away but the thought of officially opening it is what excites me more than actually having customers right away. I mean everything starts off slow and grows with time if you put the effort into it. For instance I started this blog back in January of this year and to be honest I didn't think anyone would even read it. It took me a couple of months but I found a way to get people to read and leave comments and now I have 20 followers. Those may not seem like a lot for people who have 100 or more but for me to have at least 20 people interested in seeing what I am doing means a lot. I can only hope that with time more people will see the items I sell in my shop and will be interested in buying something for themselves or as gifts for others. 

So this FO Friday is more of a sneak peek of what will be for sale on Monday. I have quite a few stuffed animals waiting for their new homes but for now I am going to start off listing 10 of them. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be to pick which of these 10 would go first. To be honest I have a difficult time giving away these cuties. I get so attach to them but I know that at the end of the day its best to put them up for sale because eventually I will have so many they will take over my house. Here they are: Owl, Bear, Caterpillar, Monster, Dragon and Turtle. I wanted to offer a variety of different ones to see what interest people the most. The last 4 will be a surprise until Monday. Two of them I am still working on and the other two will probably be familiar if you follow my blog.

Now for the details of the grand opening of my shop. I know that a lot of you will probably not be potential customers since you may already know how to crochet and can probably make stuffed animals yourselves but I would greatly appreciate it if you could check out my shop and give me any feedback. I will have a blog post on Monday announcing the grand opening of my shop and will provide all the information for each animal so be sure and leave your comments there. There will also be a special promotion for the first five customers!

 www.adrialyshc.etsy.com

Grand Opening Monday, November 12, 2012 

Time: 12:00 noon EST

Make sure and follow my Facebook and Twitter for updates!

Have a great Weekend!

Check out more FO's on Tamis Blog!

WIP Wednesday!!

This week has been a busy one. I still have a lot to get done before I open my Etsy shop on Monday. So I haven't been crocheting as much as I usually do. 

Monday was a really good day for me. I got 3 packages in the mail. Two of them were full of yarn. I got 13 hanks of Berroco Vintage from Yarnmarket.com. I ordered from them previously and had an issue but when I called them to fix it they sent me the correct yarn super fast. And this time there were no problems with my order so I will be purchasing from them again. I will be using this yarn for more cute stuffed animals to add to my shop in the up coming weeks.

The second yarn related package was from Knitpicks! This is the second time I order from them and I love their cotton yarns. I ordered 17 balls of Comfy Worsted and all will be used for an item I will be adding to my shop soon. Which is the only WIP I worked on this week.

The item I am making with all these awesome colors are BABY BIBS! Many of you may remember the crocodile bib I made a few weeks ago, these are also from downcloverlaine.blogspot.com. The picture doesn't look to good, I forgot to take a picture earlier. These bibs will not be up in my shop just yet. I want to make a couple more before adding them so it will be another 2-3 weeks before they are added.

The last thing I wanted to share was what came in the last package, my business cards!! I love them! They turned out better than I imagined. I ordered them from Vistaprint.com last Tuesday and they got here this past Monday! Less than a week for printing and shipping! Anyway as of right now I'm not sure if I am going to have anything new finished for Friday so I may end up doing a post about all the things that will be up on my shop!

Check out more WIP's on Tami's Blog!

FO Friday!

I've been busy working on the first amigurumi I am designing so I didn't have time to finish any more monsters but here are the two I promised. 

This first one I wanted it to look Halloweenish and I think it looks really good. This is one of the Freshstitches monsters available for free on Knittingfever.com. He was also an entry to the Freshstitches Halloween Cal. 

This next one is also a free pattern on knittingfever.com. This one looks more like a robot than a monster. I really loved the way it tuned out. The great thing is that it doesn't look like its for Halloween so I think I will be making more of these to sell on my shop. 

For those of you who didn't get a chance to read my WIP Wednesday post I announced the opening of my Etsy Shop for Monday, November 12. I'm super excited and still have lots of stuff to do so I will be busy this weekend. 

Have a great Weekend!

For more FO's check out Tami's Blog!