A little bit of Pink

My daughter Loves the recording artist, P!nk. I admire her choice in heroines because P!nk is one hell of a woman. She is strong, hard working, and willing to give more of herself than receive. That is a rare thing in the entertainment business.

I worked up a couple of hats in a pink colorway and Emily loved them. I might not get to sell these two.

Crocheted ear flap hat in pink/grey acrylic. $40 on Etsy.

Front View.

Each flap is different.

Pink/grey/brown Mossy hat in Noro silk/wool.

I love the way the hat finished out. 

I have a couple more hats to post tomorrow, then I need to finish up a few more. I think I might even break 100 this year!

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Loves to all...

Back in the Saddle

I'm happy to be back to the blog. I should not have ignored it for so long. Life really does get in the way- if you let it.
I said I would make 1000 hats, and by hook or by crook, I will.

Here's a few recent ones- (still rounding up photos of less-than-recent ones)

My daugher, ever so the model in a pink wool Mossy hat.

Good friend and work associate, Travis and his grey wool Vanilla hat.

Soft wool self-striping. This one lasted about 30 seconds at my booth before someone bough it!

Love the green of this Mossy hat! I made a matching scarf for it for the customer who bought it.

Black Wendy hat with some Alpaca flowers. I made a shawl with the alpaca and the customer wanted a matching hat. Bangarang!

This one was a lot of fun. slip stitch, winter colors, original design. I haven't named it yet.

Wendy in a sapphire blue wool from the Brown Sheep Yarn Company. I LOVE their worsted weight. 

I'm still learning a thing or two about adding 'gadgets' to my blog. You can find the Wendy and Mossy knitting pattern on etsy at these links:

Wendy

Mossy
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A few more hats

Well Hello there, blog! Sorry it's been so long. Life sure gets in the way sometimes.

Without further yaddah-yaddah, Let's get down to the bottom line of the blog:

Hats! 1000 of them need to be made. I set a goal, I intend to keep it.

You fellow crafters- been to Craftsy? Jinkies. Just what I needed- another page to look after. I spent the last hour trying to link everything together. Pinterest, Ravelry, Twitter, Facebook, and - oh yeah! My blog!

Blue and white wool bomber style hat.  This one got sent to an old college friend that lives back in Arkansas.

                                             Black and grey wool men's hat. It went to AK as well.

My 'Mossy' hat pattern in a cranberry red. I added the classy flower clip for some Sass. LOVE it.

And a final shot of all three before they went into the mailer. 

My new business name is Antt Farm Textiles for anyone that follows me around. I've been sewing quite a bit making quilts and scrub hats. I've also dabbled in vintage jewelry on Etsy to make a few extra dollars here and there. This economy demands diversification of income. Hope all of you are well and are still chasing your dreams. Never give up!

NEVER give up. Ever.

What a wonderful story.

And we're back

I'm glad to be getting back to the blog. Hats are still being made, just in a new location. The two youngest kids and I moved into town (just a few miles away) in order to have a little better living space. I started working full-time, took a break from college to get the two oldest graduated from High School. Hey, a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do. 

In the meantime, here are a few additions to the slowly growing hat pile. I need to re-count because I'm pretty sure I haven't even broke 100 yet. 

This one is crocheted wool I whipped up to show off that pretty yarn and display the fabric flowers I've been making the last few months. 

                                

                                  Emily decided I needed a different look.  

                                        This hat is a wool blend and is my infamous "Vicki" pattern.

                                              This is a handspun I bought for my shop. It is soft!!

     

                                                 And another knit just using a single cable stitch up the side.

And for now, that is all I have to show. More hats are on the sticks. Stick around. I'll get to that 1000 mark sooner or later...

Things

I've been smashing 30 hours of work and life into 24 hours of time for quite a while. Since I started up my sewing business again and my work hours kicked back up to 32-40, and don't forget OSU classes (always), My poor blogs have been neglected yet again.

I've made a few more hats. Just need to get them up here.

Sarah

Here it is! A custom order from my Aunt Patsy for her granddaughter, Sarah. The pattern is similar to the one I made earlier for my sister, but I changed up the colors a bit by adding creamy white yarn and fur lining. Sarah's birthday was the 27th, and between Finals Week, full-time hours at work, and kids, I got it done just under the wire. Happy Birthday Sarah!

I start Spring Term at OSU on the 2nd. Calculus and Art History. I have a couple of hats on the sticks, but we'll see how fast I get them done. I'm glad I didn't set a deadline to get all these done. It will be fun to look back and read about how things changed over time from start to finish.

Stolen Time

Who is not on Pinterest?

Oh.Em. Gee.
What a plethora of information, ideas and inspiration!! If you haven't checked it out, it's a  woman's paradise. The Ultimate Magazine that we wish we all got in the mail every month. Without advertising.

I've attempted to get traffic to other blogs I follow by 'pinning' photos and things from their blogs, so let me know if you get a few more followers here and there. If you join Pinterest, be sure and 'pin' a few of my hats so we can help each other out.

I've been hard at work getting ready to start back up my sewing business since the yarn business hasn't really 'done it' for me. (and it seems that one cannot just start with a few skeins at a time around here. You have to have a full-blown shop ($$$!!!) to get any attention).

Hope Spring has decided to grace your part of the world, as she hasn't visited us here in Western Oregon yet. (We got 8" of SNOW on March 21st! Jinkies!)

I have a couple more hats done for a custom order- will get them added to the 1000 here soon. I'm on spring break and playing catch-up.

Have a great week!

Ladies Western Wear-Women's Western Wear-Cowgirl Apparel-Cowgirl Clothes CrowsNestTrading

Ladies Western Wear-Women's Western Wear-Cowgirl Apparel-Cowgirl Clothes CrowsNestTrading

Silly Knitting Dreams..

Every once in a while, it's good to know that people appreciate your humor. If only there was such a man!

I have a published pattern!

I'm so very proud to present my second published knitting pattern, "Wendy". It's a feminine hat with chic styling and can be worn year-round. I worked very hard to make sure there are no mistakes, but please let me know if you run into one.
The hat is a beginner friendly knit as well as interesting enough for the more experienced. It will soon become your favorite go-to gift knit because after one repeat you will have the pattern memorized!

enjoy!
Have a great weekend!

Pink

Pink! More Pink! Four freaking shades of it. 

My sister is an avid pink fan. Pink camouflage always wins in her wardrobe. Her birthday is coming up the first part of March, but I couldn't wait to give this to her. When she's out feeding the horses in 27' weather, I feel guilty. "Gee I know how to knit- why can't I get off the computer long enough to whip up a hat?" has been the guilt trip of the month.

I've been entranced by the hat trend. Bombers, animals, monsters oh my! I am physically unable to knit that fast. 

My little yarn shop, Bombshell Yarns is getting some attention. I have taught four people to knit so far. So excited!

My newest design, 'Wendy' will be available for sale on the Ravelry site by the end of the month. I'm looking forward to seeing how it does.








Joe's Aspergers seems to have improved. He gets such quality help at school with the in-house Autism specialist, it's amazing how well he has improved his social skills (especially speech!) I'm so proud of that little boy.
I'm off to sew some hearts. Inspiration took over yesterday about 3am, I have the aftermath to finish.

I'm still here

I'm trying to catch up a bit here.
My apologies for those that keep up with me.

The above photo is the only one I managed to take of a hat I sold back in October. I want to make another one in the same colorways, it turned out so lovely. The lady that bought it had pretty red hair and a coat that matched perfectly. I told her I knew it was for her. We knitters are talented that way..

During the Christmas break, I knitted a berry colored hat and matching scarf for my friend/ coworker, and forgot (again!) to take pictures before sending it off to be with it's new owner. A lovely feather and fan pattern, I had a great time knitting it up.

Here are some better views of the Cherry Bomb:

This turned out to be an easy pattern that looks hard to do. I do have such a good time just knitting up something without a written pattern! I better start writing some of these down. People might want to make their own version.

Hoping you're having  a cozy January. Ours has been pretty wet.

I can feel it coming

"Busy" is an overused word.


Unfortunately, I can not think of a better word to describe the last month. 


I took a ride on the crazy train and rented a shop space to sell yarn, knitting supplies and patterns, as well as my creations.

I'm now the proud owner of Bombshell Yarns! Excited and frightened are also good words to describe that event. 


The Hat Project did not stop however, and I am still knitting hat after hat.  I had a wonderful wool one I worked up quickly for a show, and it was the very first thing to sell before I remembered to get a decent photo of it.


This one is the most recent. A nice slouchy style acrylic with a soft sheen accented by a bold red pattern.

It was a lot of fun to create! 

School is going steady for the kids and I. Last test is Tuesday! Then I'm free to create to my heart's content.  
December came much faster than I ever thought it would. I will have more photos of hats up soon.  Until then, happy knitting!
you can join my yarn shop on facebook. Just look for 
Bombshell Yarns.

Pop in, pop out

My Therapy hat looks good in all kinds of color combinations.
This one is a wonderful brown, green and tan.

My good friend Cheyenne gets this hat mailed to her today.

Sorry for the short posting, but I only get three hours to myself while my son is in Kindergarten, and I want to enjoy it knitting instead of blogging.

For you followers who are on Facebook, I now have a page for my stuff. You can find me at:

Desert Flower Creations.

You are also welcome to 'friend' me as Marilyn Wilber too if you feel so inclined. I keep my world positive and funny. You won't be disappointed.

I have a date with Monday now. Have a great day!

Fall at full speed

 I have been enjoying Barbara Walker's "Knitting Treasury" pattern books, and love to take a basic pattern and make it into hats. It's a great way to practice a new stitch without worrying too much about using up a ton of yarn, but forgiving enough to rip out with less guilt if you don't like it.

This one is called "Wave and Shield" and according to the book, quite an old pattern developed in Britain.
Lacy enough for a blanket, dense enough for a jacket, I believe this is quite an all-around. It sure made an attractive hat! The extra is the soft plum flower and vintage earring re-purposed into some bling detail.

For $45, I will send it to you for your wearing pleasure!


*UPDATE*  This hat sold! I will make another one soon!

Classics

Finally, I'm getting a chance to add a few more hats on here. I have so many projects in different stages of completion, I'm keeping really busy. I love it!

This is my "Desert Flower" hat. One of the very first hats I designed, so this pattern has been used quite a bit. I teach this hat pattern to intermediate crocheters. Emily is modeling a version made with Bernat Yarns. Their recent line is really fun to work with. You can have this hat sent to you for $35.

Another "Vicki" hat, this time in Navy blue and a vintage enamel pin I snagged at the local Rusty Relics antique shop (you can find them on Facebook). I added some novelty yarn, and the whole thing came together quite nicely! I love it. Emily had a great time modeling for me as well. You can get this mailed to you for $45. That pin is adorable! you can take it off and add it to a bag, or another favorite hat.

Noting today as September 11th, I would also like to remind everyone to NEVER FORGET the events of this day. God Bless America.