Pumpkins in Progress

 

A few years ago I made a housewarming present for some family who moved into their new home in October.  Since I love Halloween I crocheted a pumpkin and gave it a variety of interchangeable faces.  I loved the project so much that I made another one for a friends' birthday the following year.  I've thought about the project a lot since I first made it and have always wanted to make another for myself and so I finally sat down to make one and ended up making four.  I started with the largest one and then once I'd finished I thought it might be cute to make a smaller one with a fixed face instead of the velcro faces.  And then when that was done I thought it would be cute if it were even smaller and then when that one was done it happened again and I made the fourth punpkin and now I don't think I can get any smaller than that.  I just need to add stems and faces and get these little guys set up around the house.

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I'm also trying to make some little bats to go along with these so I've got one of those in progress but there's no photos because it's not very photogenic right now.  It's just a stuffed black ball.  I found some cool felt eyes at Michael's that I'm going to add and maybe some little white felt fangs and then some large felt wings attached to the back.

Ideally, I'd like to start making stuff like this for my Etsy shop but it's so hard to find time.  Anyone have any advice on how to work a crafting business in with a full-time job?

Unfinished Objects

Well, now that I've introduced myself I figure I should pull out some of the stuff that I've been working on.  I've been caught up these past few months with a new home, a new job and all in a new state so my works in progress have been stuck in progress longer than I'm proud of.  I love making toys so first up is my little Elvis monkey.  I've really enjoyed adapting this monkey pattern from Ana Paola Rimoli's Seriously Cute Crochet into a Pirate and a Superhero and now Elvis.  I'm not sure why these things all seem cuter as monkeys but they totally do.

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My second unfinished object is this cute pair of socks.  It's only my third pair ever and my first that's not just a plain vanilla sock.  The pattern is Kai Mei from Cookie A's fantastic Sock Innovation.  I've only got the toe left on the first sock but I know that there's a mythical second sock hump that's hard to get past.  Hopefully, I'll finish these soon since it's getting chilly and a nice pair of socks would be useful right about now.

Lastly, I've got some fabric that I just purchased from Mary Jo's in Charlotte.  Coming from Brooklyn where space is a premium and the craft/fabric shops are the size of a studio apartment this place was insane.  It's the size of a warehouse with just fabric.  There was an overwhelming amount of options especially for someone like me with no clue what to look for.  I will say though that they had the best selection of toy eyes I've ever seen.  I think I bought one of everything in every color and size.  I've been reading Casey's Elegant Musings and she started a sew along recently for a circle skirt.  It seems like a good, simple project to cut my teeth on so the red fabric is intended for that.  I would like for the paisley fabric to become an A-line skirt.  I love the soft creams and oranges in it and it was the first fabric to catch my eye in Mary Jo's.  The orange fabric is a wool blend and I have no idea what to do with it.  I was thinking it might work for another skirt but I really don't know.   I bought two yards and it's about 60" wide so any ideas?