The Reindeer Snood

Here is the reason I have been MIA for the month of December. This item has quickly become my #1 seller.  13 were ordered in 14 days!  This is the story behind it.  

It all started when my coworker sent me this on Facebook.  I have no idea where she found this. I tried googling the image when I was looking and keep coming up blank.  So I had to write the pattern from scratch.  Which is fine because most of what's in the picture is knit, which while I can do it, I prefer not to.  So I wrote an all crochet version.  

She looks happy, right?

First I made the base snood- which is a new word I learned for a dog hood and neck cover.  It was a little too big for her Italian greyhounds, but she took pictures which really helped me figure out the changes I needed to make to get a good fit.  When I brought the prototype back home we tried it on my dog who thought it was a torture device, so if course I couldn't resist trying it on my cat, Bella.  

After the appropriate modifications were made to the pattern, I used the same antler pattern I used for my Rudolph hat.  The ears are the same pattern as well but I double layered them so I could have two colors.  These require a good deal of sewing as well.  Here is what the finished products look like.

I'm very grateful to my colleague for her inspiration for these and the photos she shared with me!

Within two days of listing the item, I had four orders.  Here they are! The second one was a custom order for a heather snood with shorter aran antlers.  

Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster Custom Hats

I was recently asked if I could make hats for a friend's children when they go to Sesame Place in the winter.  Because I generally believe I can do anything when it comes to crocheting, I said yes.  This is one where I really had no idea what I was in for!  Before I go on, here is a picture of the finished projects.  Abby is for a 2 year old girl and Cookie Monster is for a 6 month old boy.  

 I did a little research on the internet before I began and sent a few links to my patron.  We discussed features she liked of each and I made my own pattern.  After shopping for the perfect colors to use, I started working on the bases and went from there.  

Abby was a lot more work than I anticipated.  She requires several pieces and LOTs of color!
She includes a nose, blue eyes with blue "eye-shadow" and hand stitched eyelashes, ears, daisy hair ties, and of course the hair!  The colors I found for her hair are awesome, really the picture doesn't do it justice.  They are Shimmer yarn by Red Heart and they have colored sparkles that run throughout, perfect for a fairy!  I had to learn how to wig a crochet hat.  This free tutorial download was quite helpful, though not perfectly specified or aligned to how I made this hat, but with some common sense and experimentation, I was able to adapt it.  Then Abby got her hair done!  This was the first time I cut hair on a hat!!  

Cookie Monster was a lot easier, though he had his fair share of parts: googly eyes, mouth, and who could leave off some chocolate chip cookies with bites taken out of them!

These hats are not yet available for purchase in my shop, but I would gladly take a custom order.   I will be listing them after my next photoshoot.  

New Girly Items

At the end of November we did a photo shoot for two girlier versions of hats that were already in the shop. Here are the Gingerbread Girl and my Skull and Crossbones hat with a raspberry (instead of the red in the original) stripe.

 My friend lent me her two year old for the photoshoot.  Originally we were going to have Sydney and Joshua model the boy and girl versions together, but Joshua decided to nap.  So we let sleeping toddlers lie and just worked with Syd.  She did very well considering how cold it was!  I may or may not have paid her in cookies :)

Of course Joshua, the typical boy, woke up in time for dinner at Pizza Hut, so we tried to get one decent shot of the two of them since Josh ALWAYS has his "Jake" hat (as he calls it) on.  

Well I did say we TRIED!

There's a lot to catch up on

Hello out there!
I'm still here.  Life and my Etsy business have been so very busy the last couple months I've hardly had time to put down my crochet hooks.  I have a lot to catch you up on but we'll start with Happy Holidays (well at least I got this on here before New Year's)!

The weather really cooperated with us to get this picture.  We got the idea from pinterest.  We searched for a short real tree before we finally realized the top of my grandmom (Erma's) Christmas tree that she had since the 70s would work.  Do you like his hat?  You know who made it ;)

Vote for your favorite Christmas hat

The winner will be featured in a giveaway on Cyber Monday!

Post by Erma's Inspiration.

Skull and Crossbones hat inspired by Jake and the Neverland Pirates

I'd been feeling some mom-guilt as I was finishing my orders this weekend, when suddenly I was inspired by my son's outfit choice.  He LOVES Jake and the Neverland Pirates (on Disney Junior), so when I asked him what he wanted to wear Saturday morning, of course he said Jake--meaning his one short sleeved (aka not appropriate for the weather) shirt cover with Jake and pirate motif.  So I layered it over a striped thermal and we went about our business.  

 After I put the final stitches on yet another Yoda hat, I wanted to make him something.  He loves wearing the Yoda Hats I make but I've yet to make one for him to keep, but then I noticed the skull and crossbones on J's shirt.  I thought, I could do that! But how?

 Then I remembered I'd pinned a skull applique a while back.  


The applique from Josh's Jake shirt is a bit different; the eyes are uneven, there's no nose, and the teeth are only the top set.  But it gave me a great idea about how to start.  In fact, I'd highly recommend that pattern to beginners compared to the pattern I am debating about whether to share.  Oh and I absolutely agree with the blogger--Caron Simply Soft Yarn is a great choice for appliques, of course I have it on hand, so that's what I used.  The crossbones were simple 10 single crochets with 2 picots at each end.

Then I followed my trusty beanie pattern, using Vanna's Choice Dark Heather Gray for most of the body and Scarlet for the stripe on the 11th and 12th row.

 I stitched on the applique carefully crossing the bones at just the right point.

Then I begged my brother to take some decent pictures.

  

Click here to see the listing on Etsy

What's a Treasury?

I'm just discovering this cool feature on ETSY where you can make a themed collection of items, and then other people can use your list to shop.  Just choose your them and add items from all different shops.

Here's one I created  called the Eco-Friendly Toddler.  I use many of the items and buy from those shops.

Items from Erma's Inspiration are featured in the following treasuries:
September Serenity
Orange You Glad You Are From South Jersey
Go Play Outside
Aqua Sea
Hometown New Jersey
Kent State Golden Flashes
Etsy Fun Shopping
Happy Holidays
Soft Saturday
A Study In Brown

What do you think of this feature?  Do you have any treasuries you'd like to share?