I have absolutely no access to my Instagram right now. One thing throws me off and everything gets thrown off. Give me a little time to get things back on track!
Custom Artwork!
Artwork by MattDraws84, visit the artist on Instagram
The Ever Clever Miss Stitch has new artwork! It was a gift from a friend who has always believed in me as an artist and knew I always wanted custom artwork for TECMS and for my books as an author. We’re both crafty folks so its inspiring to see something I envisioned portrayed by yet another artist. Look forward to seeing Miss Stitch (a la Little Bo Beep) and her adorable rainbow-yarn-ball flock more often.
–The Ever Clever Miss Stitch
Oops, no Juneteenth
Looks like the coordinator for Juneteeth 2019 ghosted me. Unfortunately, with this breakdown in communications I won’t be participating in that event after all.
Juneteenth & Updates
And another long while later, I reappeared! A lot is going on, I’ve had some life changes and challenges.
One of the things that went on was me once again tabling at the Fresno High Flea in April. I used my canopy (awesomely purple by the way) for the first time so it was a little shady. You should still be able to see all the amazing stuff I shared with the crowd and the vendors (I’d have visited them but I couldn’t leave my table so I chatted with my awesome neighboring vendors).
One of the things going on now is that I’ll be a vendor at Fresno’s Juneteenth Celebration, sharing both my authorship and my craft work.
I am both nervous and excited. I have never shared my writing with the public in this way before so I’ve decided to bribe potential readers and patrons with cold bottled water and candy. Legit.
Oracle by S.T. Rucker is available on Lulu, Wattpad, and Pressbooks.
More about the author? Visit SepiaHeaven.worpress.com~
Curious about something other than yarn? Enjoy a fantastic fantasy fiction novel by buying Oracle by S.T. Rucker on Lulu.com or reading it for free on Wattpad and Pressbooks.
Please continue to support a fellow crafty, author, and artist.
People fought over this one.
Crafty Spirit
Things have been pretty difficult for me recently. So I haven’t had a lot of time to do crafty stuff.
I lost a loved one. I also had to resign from my job where I crocheted and knitted over 100 handmade. Continuing to work as literacy mentor to first graders, I crocheted unicorns for the girls and bears (the school mascot) for the boys. I wasn’t able to finish all of them but managed to give this bear to one of the boys who was going to a different school.
Falling short of my crafty expectations for myself and not being able to give these gifts to my students was hard. But I’ve had to take some time to take care of myself. Hopefully my enthusiasm for handmade will return soon and I can embrace it with open arms.
–The Ever Clever Miss Stitch
The Challenger Pinafore
I always used to scoff at schools that have symbolic objects to represent their school…until I worked at one.
So the school where I work is home of the Challengers. We have a space theme and our mascot is a rocket. When I’m at work, I have to carry a walkie talkie radio and sometimes the pants I wear don’t have pockets to clip it on. So I looked for an apron pattern I could crochet and put a Challenger theme on.
My friend challenged me to call it something other than an “apron” so I called it The Challenger Pinafore. Which is still off because I usually wear it like a purse, tied over my shoulder instead of an apron/pinafore.
I modified this pattern from the Granny’s Market Apron by Sara. The original and free pattern can be found on her blog, TangledHappy. com. If you’d like to express interest in my version of this pattern, please post in the comments section below. Unlike the original pattern, my patterns requires fabric and sewing, also cross stitch if you want to create name tag for your apron. This is the link to the rocket you see on my apron, the Pocket Rocket Badge by Emma Varnam. There aren’t very many rocket applique patterns out there but I modified this one to suit my needs.
The Principal of my school even ordered one from me! ^_^ That was flattering, she even wrote a thank you card and everything. As you can see, I made the back of hers blue instead of black. I also used Red Heart in blue instead of blue suede so its lighter than mine. The school chef suggested I make on in red and white and I think I will for second semester!
Crafty Winter Holiday Patterns (Free Ones!)
I came down with a sinus infection so I couldn’t finish all the winter holiday stuff I was making for the kids at school. However, I did make a list of all the awesome free patterns I came across!
From RepeatCrAfterMe.com
This pattern from Sarah at Repeatcrafterme.com is exactly what I wanted in holiday hat. It comes in baby sizes, toddler/child, and teen/adult, I planned to do it in red/green, red/white, gold/white, and purple/white.
*Note: I finished three of these hats and all of them were too big for my kindergartners all the way to fifth grade kids even after I took out one of the increases and made it more like a beanie. The person who wrote the pattern admits that it isn’t tested and that she wants feedback; and there is some feedback in the comments section from crafters who tried the child and adult sizes and adjusted them through various methods. The pattern as is simply works too wide and deep so I’ll I have to do some more finagling to get the right size…
From Interweave.com
Of course I want mittens to go with my hats and scarves! ^_^ (Still working on these. Have you made some yet?) Brought to us by Brenda Anderson over Interweave.com.
From Interweave
A scarf pattern from Interweave by Marcy that likely looked wonderful in red and white to get that classic candy cane look!
From Little Treasures blog, Maya Kuzman
I thought this might make cute hair bands or shoe ties for boots. Not that we’re trying to attract kisses here! By Maya Kuzman Crochet and Crafts on her blog, Little Treasures.
From Tales of Twisted Fibers
So adorable, brought to us for free by Serah at her blog, Tales of Twisted Fibers. I plan to make one for each of Santa’s reindeer.
San Valentine’s Day Hot Chocolate
From amigurumifood.com
This is actually a pattern I picked for Valentine’s goodies for my kids at the school but it can easily be modified for a festive winter holiday theme.
I had to include more, for obvious reasons. So enjoy!
From Ravelry.com
*Note: Newborn pattern size available for free but larger sizes must be purchased on Craftsy.
From Andreasnotebook.com
Crochet Santa Patterns | Mooglyblog.com
October 7th–One Small Step, One Big Leap
I will be a vendor at a local craft fair here in Fresno. Basically, I’m offering everything I currently have in my Etsy store and whatever I can finish before the date.
So I’m nervous. I’ve never tabled before or been able to call myself as a “vendor”, so this will be a learning experience for me. Part of me wants to stay under a rock. The other part gingerly accepts that exposure is important and people should know what I do as a crafty and a writer.
I’ve been focused on a potential new career path and haven’t been able to finish new items for my store or indulge my craft work. I also don’t have a ton of friends, connections, or family to promote me so I’ve felt invisible this whole time. Even with the steps I’ve taken to promote myself–creating social media accounts like this blog and Instagram, trying to stay on top of posting regularly, and keeping an eye out for other crafty who also do what I do and connect with them–it is exhausting and nothing ever seems like enough.
Loving what I do is important to me and I wonder if “business” is really for me. Never viewed myself as much of a businessperson. I am an artist and I try to stay passionately true to that.
But I promised myself The Ever Clever Miss Stitch would be a vendor at this event, that I would try it. So I will. This is a good opportunity to do so, even if its just for the experience.
In the grand scheme of things, this effort is probably be very small. But to me, it is a huge leap.
Pattern of the Week: My Little Pony Pattern by Knit One Awe Some
A HUGE thanks to the crafty over at Knit One Awe Some for their My Little Pony: Friendship is Magical pattern. I’m not sure if the creator is active anymore or not, but regardless I want to always, always give credit for this pattern. But unless I’m needled for not giving credit every time, it goes without saying whenever I make an MLP style pony, its likely made from this pattern.
Every pony I’ve ever done comes from Knit One Awe Some. I even designed my crochet sheep off a modified version of this pattern. People love them.
This is the first I crocheted a few years ago. My skills have improved since then as you can see in my most recent work above and below ^_^;
I typically use Red Heart yarn and Caron Simply Soft (sometimes for the mane and tail).
The hook I typically use is a Boye H hook. Sometimes the stitches gape a little or look too spacey and I don’t notice until after assembly so it might be wise to use a small hook depending on the consistency of the yarn.
Agonizing over the face and attaching limbs and eyes just right is always a thing for me. I don’t like cutting felt and I still haven’t learned to use or be comfortable with applying puff paint.
I wrote the pattern I use for the eye pieces myself and they are sewed on. I cut felt for appliques/decoration like stars and hearts and use hot glue to apply them, along with rhinestones. Or I crochet the appliques and sew them on.
I may have to do a tutorial to explain how I do the mane and tail; there are two methods for the tail and I pretty much do the mane the same way every time.
This free pattern for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magical can be found over Knit One Awesome, a blog for free knitting and crochet patterns. This pattern really is pretty awesome.
These are more examples of my ponies, old and new.
Errata–Its Important, My Fellow Crafty
CRAFTY LOVE FRIEND! ^__^ (holding the book) Support Ccaftys and Visit Shanay’s shop, Starving Artist SC!
I’ve noticed that craft magazines issue for “errata” corrections when they need to correct something that was misprinted in a pattern. Never thought I’d have such an intimate experience with this.
Neither the publishers of Designer Crochet: 32 Patterns to Elevate Your Style nor its author, Shannon Mullett-Bowlsby (Shibaguyz Designz), noticed that the beautiful pattern on the cover of the book is misprinted.
Somebody had to have bought this book and noticed the cabling on the cowl neck sweater dress pattern is misprinted…right?
Wrong.
The book was published April 2015. I bought this book and surprised my friend and fellow crafty (pictured on the left, she owns Starving Artist SC) with it that December as a gift. I felt like the gift was ruined when the one pattern my friend wanted to crochet was obviously incorrect. She noticed that the cabling wasn’t right by the way the pattern was written. After she emailed them once or twice, Lark Crafts (the publishers) were slow to respond at first…
Really, really slow.
Obviously, correcting a misprint is a process. I bought this book for my friend in December 2015… The errata correction was not issued until July 2016, over half a year later.
Mistakes happen. The cowl neck sweater dress now has a correction and that’s good.
The Ever Clever Stitch 