Homefront Market at 1000 Markets

As you may know, I opened a new online shop at 1000Markets.com.  You may not know that many of the friends I made on Etsy, who are also military spouses, have also opened shops on 1000 Markets.  One of those amazing sellers, SmocksNStuff, took it upon herself to ask for a Homefront Market - a market made up of military family members who create beautiful handmade items - and her wish was granted.   The Homefront Market on 1000 Markets is absolutely gorgeous and we invite everyone to shop on by to take a peek and do a little shopping.  Support our military, support our spouses....We keep the homefires burning.

Taken from Homefront Market's Grand Opening blog post - 

"What is the Homefront? Who we are and what we do is a little bit harder to explain than the average person. From the outside this group might just seem like a group of people that just all love there artisan work and are trying to promote. On the inside it stems much deeper. We are a group that are from all walks of life, but are bonded by something much stronger than most people could ever imagine. We struggle with a life with many daily challenges the average person does not face; Living life with uncertainty and fear, but only showing pride, is our way. We deal with deployments, duty, disaster preparedness, exercises, training, emotional strife and severe traumatic experiences, wills, powers of attorney, and even the worst in the possibility of death. This is the life we have willingly entered. The service to our country and our family and unimaginable strife is what bonds us. Take care and appreciate all the tiny moments in life that make every hard moment worth it! We have gotten to live in amazing places, and see amazing things. There is a also a huge sense of camaraderie to people you've never even met. It is not an easy life, and we have sacrificed many things, but we are a close knit family, and we are proud. There is no sugar coating. We live life the best we can every day at a time!"

The blankie is done! The blankie is done!

I finished it! Okay, well the order of events is...I taught myself a new crochet stitch (the mesh stitch, which results in a trellis pattern), I crocheted like crazy, I got carpal tunnel in my pinkie, I crocheted some more, and more, after 4 days the blanket finally was a decent size for a baby so I ended my stitch and decided to add tassel fringe to finish it up. And you know what? I like it! It turned out really cute and ended up being about 22" by 28". I used 2 yarns at once so it is a heavier blanket and the effect looks great. I think it is the perfect sized blanket to lay over a little one while they are sleeping. I'm working on a new blanket for my son, who has been in love with crocheted blankets since he was an infant and I have some of the same yarn in lavender so I'll try a lavender and white one after that and make it a little larger than the green one, and who knows, maybe I'll use a different stitch.

Oh to be a Hooker

This morning I attended a beginner's crochet (hook, crochet, hooker, get it?) class. I was so excited and pumped to start making magnificent creations, starting with the granny square dish cloth we were going to make. Wow, crocheting is an art and sadly, in 1 morning, I did not master it. I learned how to make a chain, how to turn, how to single crochet and how to double crochet and I caught some of the lingo. After struggling with my soft acrylic baby yarn, the instructor gave me a ball of cotton yarn and I certainly saw a difference in how my chains and loops were forming. My technique isn't the best and I kept trying to "thread" my yarn through my fingers like the instructor showed me, and not move my hands and hook so much, but my fingers kept wanting to do things their way. I finally got in the groove and the end result? An approximate 1 1/2" by 3" sample piece with not-so-even rows or chains but counting was too difficult of a task to take on while I was busy trying to figure out which loop my hook should go through and how much tension to allow. Anyway, my little scrap is not too bad if I do say so myself, but it certainly is not a dishcloth (or a wash cloth, or much of a cloth at all actually). My 3 hour long lesson was a lot of fun but in that 3 hours I learned that the crochet world is HUGE and slightly overwhelming. I am going to keep on practicing and eventually, hopefully, make something I can be really proud of. But in the meantime I think I'll stick to my fabrics and sewing machine to create actual usable items. Crochet will be my escape for those times the sewing machine is acting up and I'd rather scrub a toilet than press and cut more fabric. :) To all you crocheters out there, what an amazing craft you have. Please leave a comment below so I can admire your work. And I am keeping my scrap and hopefully one day in the future, when I'm admiring an amazing blanket I crocheted, I remember my first little scrap and marvel at how far I have come.

The following pictures are creations of Etsy hookers and are what I hope to create someday. :)

Adorable flower pal - from HomeMadeZen

Dennis the Dinosaur - by WigglySee

Keep on Truckin' - by Moosethreads

Cute, no?