My latest knitting project, which I just finished last night, is the devil hat from the Stich-n-Bitch book. It’s a prototype for one I am going to make for my friend Jacintha, and I was pretty excited about it. Origially when I saw the pattern I thought about making one for another friend of mine, whom I thought it would be perfect for, ’cause it’s cute and sassy and seemed like the sort of thing she’d like.

So I took the hat to a big lunch today, mostly so Jacintha could try it on (which would allow me to adjust the patten for her). As I was talking about it, I discovered that the other friend (for whom I’d orginally thought of making one) doesn’t like it. (She didn’t say anything mean or anything, she just didn’t want one.) I was far more disappointed by this than I “should” have been.

I think it touched on one of my bigger hang-ups of late: the intersection between “craft” (I’m not even confident enough to call it “art”; somehow “craft” seems less presupposing) and identity. You see, I’m at the point where I sort of want to start selling some of the things I’m making (how do you like that hedge “sort of want” — ha!), and though I know (intellectually) I just need to “put it out there,” I’m terrified to do so. What if people don’t like it? What if no one wants to buy it?

Intellectually, of couse, I know that’s no reflection on me (or how well anyone likes me), but from a purely “gut” standpoint, it feels like it is. And heavens only knows, I don’t handle rejection particularly well.

So I hem and haw and put things on my craft page (but with no prices on them, and very little mention of the fact that I’d be interested in making more of them and getting paid for it) and make the occaisional “accidental” sale (someone sees something ans says “Ooh, I’d like to buy that, would you sell it?”), but never quite get around to doing what I need to do, which is to march into my favorite local boutique-y stores, samples and price list in hand and say “Hi, you should sell my most fabulous stuff.”

I’ve made (TINY) strides: getting things up on the site at all was a big deal, and I’ve finally gotten a rubber stamp with my logo and contact details so that I can make cute, hand-crafted hang-tags…I’ve even made some cute handcrafted hang tags. Which I’ve hung on the things I’ve made. Which are just waiting to be marched into a store…

sigh.

I need injectable confidence.

I don’t know why I was so driven to make a 50’s style apron, but there you have it. It’s very hard (ok, almost impossible) to tell in this photo that the pockets are made of a fabric with tiny red and yellow vertical stripes. An experiment in mixing patterns that, thankfully, worked.

 

Aside: When I was a child the “mix”ing part of “mix and match” completely eluded me. I thought that blue was the only color that went with blue and red was the only color that went with red. (Yes, I had monochromatic tendencies as a wee one. Who’da thunk?)

Later I evolved enough to allow prints containing a color to be paired with that color (plue plaid with blue, for instance), but it’s only been (embarrassingy) recently that I’ve allowed solids to mix with different color solids (light green shirt with dark green sweater, for instance). Needless to say, I’m dern impressed with my recent foray into the wacky world of print mixing. What next? Who knows, I might consider letting my green bean juice run over into my mashed potatoes…

No. Nevermind, that still grosses me out.

Someone asked over in the knitting community what people use to store their needles and knitting tools. This is my latest project, made out of a flowered fabric from my Granny’s great 70’s stash, which was, at one point, used for drapes (I think) in my bedroom growing up.

Hats of goodness (all made with Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, which comes in some lovely colors and is machien washable [truly important for baby stuff] and a sorta-version of this pattern.**)

 

My friend Jacintha has bought this one for her neice, Isabelle, who is in Spain, for Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

This one is for Jeff’s friend Carolyn who is (a) pregnant and (b) really into racing and (c) not a fan of baby-pink. I found the applique at Jo-Ann’s or somesuch and just sewed it on with itsy-bity stiches.

 

 

 

 

 

This one hasn’t got itself a baby yet.

My boss, David, has gotten this one for his wee granddaughter.

** Turns out I’m not very good at following patterns. I start out well (usually) but then I usually get a wee bit off track and end up fudging it. Sigh. Will work on this. (I think it’s a counting issue. I lose track.)

The scarf I knitted for the charity scarft drive at Get Crafty can be seen here. It’s in the bottom photo, almost square in the middle and is black with a manilla tag hanging on it!

Here’s the bag I made this weekend for Meghan using some really wonderfully terrible 70’s fabric from my Granny’s stash…
…and here’s a closeup of the same bag showing the fabulous red taffeta lining and the baby-ric-rack-and-button closure.

I haven’t sewn in a Very Long Time, so there were quite a bit of …um.. relearnings (for example, I had forgetting the necessity of using fusible interfacings when you’re trying to make a pocket out of a knit thing which will be sewn onto a non-kint thing. I completely made up the pattern (nto so sure that was a good idea, but anyway) and improvised. I am happy with it, though!

This year I’m participating in the Get Crafty Scarf Drive, a very cool project where folks donate handmade scarves that then go to two programs serving women in need: TLC (women & mothers with mental illness) and Sanctuary For Families (a haven for abused women/mothers and their children).

If you want to donate a scarf, just check in with the Get Crafty folks. Deadline is Dec. 10.