It's official. I am running away.

After a rough week last week and all the goings on with work and Etsy and the like, I am running away to the mountains this weekend with my husband.  I am taking no work with me, not even a ball of cotton yarn.  The plan is to runaway early Friday morning and eat lunch at the Bush's Baked Beans factory. 

Then we will go to Dollywood to renew our season passes and enjoy the shows and rides and each other. 

Then we will run away to our "Little Cabin in the Woods"

(ok so it's not "ours" we've just rented it before and therefore we say it's ours.  Plus we also say that we are going to buy it when we get old and work at Dollywood.) and we will enjoy a movie and popcorn.  No real job, no Etsy, no blog, no computer, just me and my hubby.  It's going to be great! 

Friday morning can't get here fast enough... 

Magic Ring Video

So after much fighting, I got the videos to work somewhat.  This is what I did all evening instead of testing patterns like I should have been doing.  At least this is a step in the right direction.  This is the video that I most wanted.  The quality is nowhere near what it is straight off the camera, but what's a girl to do?  Hopefully in the next few days I'll have a post up with all the stitch videos I made today and then I'll have patterns for sale on Etsy.  We'll just test this and see how it works.



It's supposed to be silent.  Don't try to adjust your speakers.  Would some background music help this?  Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe sometime in the near future...

I keep hitting brick walls.  Over and over it seems.  Despite the fact that it was cold and overcast, and thus my photography "studio" aka dining room, was dark, today, I spent half the day making lovely videos teaching different crochet stitches.  Only to find that my computer has coverted file types and it's taking an eternity to convert the videos and I still can't edit them.  My yet to get off the ground pattern business depends on these videos and pictures.  I'm just in a slump with work and (lack of) vacation, and hitting walls in my one outlet to everything.  I know I'm a grown-up and everything, but work just never seems to end, and I'm not just talking about housework.  Really makes me wonder sometimes if this creative thing should stay around, or if I should just give it up to the "real world." 

Sorry for the rant.  Maybe sometime in the near future I will get going on what I wanted this blog and my Etsy shop to be.   

Thursday Ramblings

So it's Thursday.  I have to keep reminding myself of this.  I've been working crazy hours to help cover for third shift at the hospital and will be working this weekend too.  I worked til 3am last night to help a sick coworker, and I'm supposed to stay til 3am tonight too.  So I keep thinking that yesterday was Thursday and today's Friday, but really it's just my Tuesday since I have to work Saturday and Sunday too.  Follow?  No?  I didn't expect you to.  But I didn't have to go in until 6pm tonight, so I got a little running around done. 

I went to Michael's.  :D  I got paint for the birdhouses that our Middle School girls are going to make.  I got more cotton yarn.  I've started a love affair with that stuff.  But the reason I got more cotton is because I have a request for big people sized Grayson Leigh hats, so I'm going to try it out at some point in the near future.  I also bought ribbon and elastic to finish my "Pattern Designer's Notebook."  And some pretty ribbon out of the clearance bin. :)

Then I got my hubby a polo shirt for just $2.11 at JC Penney's cause I had $10 off any purchase.  I also found some cute crop pants that I really like but won't buy for myself until I get my first Etsy sale.  Hopefully that will happen soon since I'm working on writing patterns and making them all pretty for sale in said Etsy shop.  Be on the look out!

Then tomorrow is Freebie Friday, and I will get off work at 6:30pm.  Yay!  See y'all then!

Freebie Friday has been postponed

Sorry for those of you who were anxiously awaiting this week's Freebie Friday.  I promise I have the pattern written and it is for a Twisted Candy Cat Toy.  I just didn't have time to make pictures.  Or really write the pattern down where someone else could understand it.  Sorry guys.  But I have almost a whole Saturday to myself, so the pattern should be up by the end of the weekend. 

I did find this on Etsy.  The artist is YirehJewelry.  She lives in Hawaii and is using her Etsy sales to help fund a mission trip to Indonesia.  You should check her shop out here --> http://www.yirehjewelry.etsy.com/

Happy Friday Everyone!

Almost Friday...

So I have no idea what I'm posting for Freebie Friday.  None.  No clue.  It should probably be a crochet pattern, since that's where most of my traffic comes from.  But I've been wrestling with a pattern for Mary Jane style booties to match my Grayson Leigh hat for most of the week.  I've made 3 booties and none of them look the same.  Well, they look alike, but none of them are the same.  Now I'm working on #4 and it's just as different.  Hopefully this is the last one.  I'm writing my pattern, again, and hopefully this time it will go into the new composition book that I just bought to write all my patterns in.  And Saturday is reserved for putting those patterns into PDFs with pictures and then listing them.  I really need to do some big time digital admin type stuff this weekend.  Should be an eventful weekend. 

See y'all tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll have something good here!

Happy Monday!

Ok, so I didn't really feel very happy while trying to find a place to park when I got to work this afternoon.  In fact, this may be the most unhappy Monday of the year since the weekend was gorgeous and DST started yesterday and I'm all out of whack. 

But I don't have a cold anymore, and the weekend was amazing.  I went shopping with Mama on Saturday, then Dave took me out to dinner Saturday night.  Sunday morning church was just what I needed.  Middle School Small Group's Service Night went very well.  The boys made birdhouses and the girls made cards for the shut in members of our church.  Next Service Night the girls will paint the birdhouses and the boys will make cards.  And I'm sore from doing cartwheels and wrestling with said middle schoolers in the front yard.  I know I'm about 10 years older than they are, but most of them are bigger than me, so it's ok! 

I guess overall it's a happy Monday.

In craft news, I did some research this weekend regarding selling my crochet patterns online.  I'm thinking that this may be beneficial for me.  Right now, my key blog traffic comes from Crochet Pattern Central, a site that I love and adore.  But it seems that people want the patterns for things I'm selling in my Etsy shop, which is no way to make money.  So I think I'm going to sell patterns, as well as submitting my little freebies to CPC.  I may also start selling some SVG files for the SCAL and Make the Cut software and Cricut machines.  To say the least, I've got to get busy whether or not I sell patterns because I have so many ideas in my head and none of them are in yarn yet. 

In the meantime, I found this on Etsy today.  I know I'm not a knitter, and this particular item was a custom listing that sold already, but I had to share

Is that not the cutest thing?  The creator is wearthou.  Here's the link to her shop, you should go check it out http://www.wearthou.etsy.com/

I'll see y'all later for another Freebie Friday!

Yet Another Freebie Friday--Crochet Dandelion

After working 7 days straight, being sick on my 2 days off, and finally feeling better just in time to go back to work, I'm finally doing another post.  I feel like I've been dead to the online world since last Friday, but I have been productive.  Monday I got to go craft shopping to replenish my yarn stash with some good quality stuff.  No acrylic here.  I did manage to not get the one skein of chocolate brown cotton yarn I needed, but that just meant another trip to Hobby Lobby (too bad :P).  But because of the stash replenishing, I got my crochet line of stuff started on Etsy.  Yay!  So in honor of the lauch of Evan Becky's Crochet Line, I am posting the pattern to the Dandelion flower on my Grayson Leigh Hat. 





For this flower, I used Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn and Size I crochet hook.  As I've said in another post, I crochet tight, so if a pattern says to use a  Size G hook, I use a size I to get the right gauge.  Luckily, gauge isn't really important in this pattern.  Just use larger or smaller yarn or hooks to make it it the size you want.  You may also want a yarn needle handy too.  It's not necessary, but it might be easier than using a crochet hook for the last part of the pattern.  This flower measures about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.

Stitches used:

Ch = Chain

SS = Slip Stitch

SC = Single Crochet

Round 1:  Ch 4, join to first Ch with SS to form a ring.

Round 2:  *Ch 11, turn as if you were working in rows, 2 SC in second Ch from hook and in each Ch back to the starting ring (20 SC), SS in ring* 10 times.  To finish, Ch 1 and pull tight. 

Note:  Working 2 SC in each Ch will make the row start to spiral, this is what you want to happen.  It can be a little tricky getting used to this. 

Finishing:  Now your flower is kind of spread out and doesn't look much like the picture.  If you like it, that's great, you're done!  If you still want it to look like the picture do this:

In the 4th SC from the ring of each little "petal," either use a yarn needle or a smaller crochet hook, to pull yarn around the outside of the flower to bunch the petals together.  Tie as loose or as tight to get the look you want and fluff a bit.  Isn't it cute?  Now attach it to anything that needs a Dandelion.

I know this pattern may be a little hard to understand.  So if you have any questions, comments, concerns, hair ripping temper tantrums with it, leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do to relieve any stress. 

If you would like to purchase the Grayson Leigh Hat, and possibly other things to go with it in the future, visit my Etsy shop here --> Evan Becky's Etsy Shop

Freebie Friday! Flying Swallow

As promised, I have a Freebie Friday for everyone.  This week it's not a crochet pattern, but an SVG file to use with Sure Cuts A Lot or Make the Cut software and your Cricut.  SCAL software has really changed the way I scrapbook and craft.  I like computers anyway, but being able to combine my computer with a machine in order to get the cutouts I can with my Cricut has been amazing.   

This week's Freebie Friday is an SVG file of a flying swallow.  Here I have provided links to download both an SVG file for those of you with a Cricut and cutting software and a bitmap file for those of you who don't want to download an SVG viewing program.  These links are to Google Docs files.  I'm a little new at this so please let me know if either doesn't work. 

Swallow SVG File To download this file, click "File" in the upper left hand corner and the select "Download" from the drop down menu

Swallow Bitmap File To download this file, simply click "Download" in the middle of the page.

This is the same Swallow SVG file that I used in my Damask Swallow Birthday Card that I'm selling on Etsy.

Damask Swallow Birthday Card in my Etsy Shop

Hope everybody has a nice weekend!  Happy Crafting!

A Little Behind...

So when I got my blog off the ground, I had intended to post at least twice a week.  I had hoped for a post around Monday or Tuesday and then would try to have a Freebie Friday every week.  Now it's Thursday, and although I do have a Freebie Friday planned, I did not post early in the week.  Mostly because I wanted pictures and just haven't had time to load some.  Well here's what's going on without the pictures.

I just started the first of my line of baby and children's clothes and accessories.  Right now all I have is a blue conductor's/military hat crocheted with Lily Sugar 'n Cream, but the details will come.  There should also be a pair of booties and possibly a jacket to match the hat coming soon.  I'm also planning to start making ribbons and hair bows thanks to a $5 Extra Bucks coupon I had for CVS.  All of this should come just in time for Easter.  Everybody dresses their young'uns up for Easter.  I also have mini Shamrock bobby pins that I've made, but considering it's only 2 weeks to St. Patrick's Day, I don't know if I'll list them in my Etsy shop this year or not. 

I feel a little like I'm spinning my wheels at the moment, but most of that is due to the fact that I'm lacking some crucial supplies.  But that will all change come next week!  I will have Monday and Tuesday off, so I will be going supplies shopping.  Hopefully I can really get my children's items up and running sometime next week.  In the meantime, I will deal with what I have and go from there.

Once I get everything going, you can purchase, or make custom requests, from my Etsy shop here --> Evan Becky's Favorite Things

I'll see y'all tomorrow for Freebie Friday!