cup 'n key crochet

Sewing = Fun?

2010-11-17T18:55:00.000-08:00

Did you know that sewing can be a fun past-time? I've learned that over the last week with the help of a couple key players. It started with my mom buying me a 40-year-old, 40 lb. metal sewing machine. I love this thing. I just shoved 4 layers of wool through it and it worked like a champ. Here is my first piece of clothing since I made a Winnie the Pooh skirt for 4-H at age 8 and I'm pretty sure my mother practically did it for me.

Baby Wool Longies made from a $2 Goodwill Sweater

The other vital person in my seaming "coming-of-age" story is a good friend that I really just met. I met her through some mom groups and heard through the grape-vine that she is crafty. To make the story shorter, she gave me a boot camp class on sewing and showed me how to make this terrific fitted cloth diaper.

Kevin's old Jack Daniel's T-Shirt made the sacrifice

I've also been experimenting with flannel to make cloth baby wipes for the very sensitive bottom about to enter my world. (3 weeks until my due date!)

Next on the list: more wipes, diapers, woolies, and though it may make you feel uncomfortable, some cloth feminine pads. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Gotta make the opportunities

2010-05-11T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have an aquaintance that was in need of a hat because her head was going to begin to get very cold. This is because she was diagnosed with that awful disease that wretches your body, many times for no reason at all. After hearing her cry for a head warmer, I immediately set to work. Now this woman for whom I was making this creation, has a dare I say, badass streak. I had to use this information to incorporate softness, for the skin, but also a rocker grrl feel and this is what I came up with.

Black 100% Cotton, Violet Bamboo Blend

Lucky for me, she loved it and I got the opportunity to use a new fiber, Bamboo. I also thoroughly enjoyed crocheting for a purpose. Not that my everyday crochet is worthless but it may be lacking in aspiration if not artistry. So now I give myself a proposition. Find where the crochet is needed and go there!

Visions of what is to come?

2010-02-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

My husband is the most darling person I've ever met. This is a little doodle that he drew up to inspire my hat-making. I do believe he has a bit of cartooning skills that should be honed and developed.

As I was sitting at my desk job, bored out of my mind, I thought I would make my own doodle. Though not nearly as delightful as Kevin's, I am fond of this little image. Perhaps I am channelling my 90s pop-culture upbringing because I just can't get enough of the lined paper background.

So now I think I have a problem.

You could compare me to pre-teens who scratch their future band names all over their notebooks but never learn to play an instrument well. Or maybe those mega-sci-fi-nerds who draw up alien characters for their coming novels but never write a sentence. Now that I've created some silly image for myself, I have to make it happen.

Now where did that motivation go? Oh yeah, into photo editing.

Fuzz Everywhere

2009-11-20T19:55:00.000-08:00

I have found that there is quite a bit of fuzzy textured yarn around here...

It's in the Cards

2009-11-18T12:09:00.001-08:00

I've been struggling with how to label or brand my work for some time and I think I have finally found the answer. I came across an Etsy video not too long ago that suggested playing cards or flash cards for hang tags and I just fell in love with the idea. I was born and raised in the Midwest where it is pretty difficult to grow up without learning at least 3 or 4 card games. I am no exception. I love playing cards and to use them to help improve the look of my crochet pieces makes me stoked!

I know that my grandparents have a quite a few decks of vintage playing cards but I could not bring myself to ask them. So I began scouring the internet and local second-hand stores. The day before yesterday, I was digging through the toys section at our local Goodwill and found a treasure. These beautiful cards with the great French vintage advertisement for tea and chocolate just had to be mine.

The next 54 pieces that come out of my workshop will be adorned with these great hang tags! And they cost me less than 10 cents each!

Little Mosque on the Prairie

2009-11-04T14:03:00.000-08:00

I am a little more than obsessed with this show even though it is way too Canadian.

Little Mosque on the Prairie

Seasonal Stimulation

2009-10-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Well it has surely been a minute since I have written a blog entry even though I've had so much to say! cup 'n key headwear seems to really be jumping off the ground and I now have had some real orders! I've been pumping out some great pieces as the weather begins to turn cooler. I have always noticed that I crochet very little during the warmer months but once winter comes, I'm a machine. I'm sure I am not a rarity in the world of knit/crochet.

Some of my new favorite things are shown above and I am coming up with more everyday. Even tonight, I was browsing crochet sites looking for inspiration and a scarf called a "loop scarf" is in my near future. This is a scarf that is a continuous ring and one would loop it twice over there head to keep very warm.

There is nothing better than having the ability to make useful items.

Not to make a shameless plug but as we all tend to do, here is mine.

cup 'n key headwear's online store can be found at:
www.zibbet.com/cupnkeyheadwear

Knit -> Crochet

2009-09-01T17:24:00.001-07:00

It has been quite some time since I have posted. In this quite some time I have created a few hats and I thought I would share a bit of my bounty with the internets. These hats represent my recent obsession with front-post and back-post stiches! I yearn to make my crochet projects look like knitting projects and this is my first step! Though I love the chunkiness of crochet, I adore the fine patterns of knitting and these show my slow understanding of how to mesh the two:

Now the first may look frightening but it is a study in cabling through the craft of crochet rather than knit and I took some old yarn that I never planned to use to make this creation. Now the second, which I think is adorable, was created for my adorable 6 year old sister. Though this is not my best work, I am proud of what my hands can do!

Window Feminist Art

2009-04-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I took these photos in downtown Indy but I just found them again on my computer and thought they were worth sharing. There is simply no better sight than a stack of barbies in Caution tape dresses with danger fencing as a shawl. Yes, images of womens' bodies are under construction and at least in most media, a place filled with double-standards and conflict.

This installation was located in a shop window off of one of the state streets in downtown and were also unmarked. If anyone knows who was responsible for this wonderful artwork I would love to know their name and how to get in touch with them to learn more about their work. This is one of those days where I am astonished by the creativity of other human beings and only wish that I could do it all too!

Lattice hat

2009-03-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my "Spring Break" hats, named for the fact that I had nothing to do over spring break but relax and have time for crochet. This is a pattern that I found quite a while ago and have been wanting to try out. I only had small balls of random yarn whilst staying at the in-laws over break so this "Lattice hat" is full of variation in not only color but texture as well.

Pattern Link: http://www.rheatheylia.com/index.php?page=patterns&id=11

Plarn and V-Day

2009-03-03T14:29:00.000-08:00

I have started to take my hand at "Plarn" again because a friend of mine mentioned her interest and wanted to learn how it's created and crocheted. However, I've only created one small tote before out of plastic bag yarn and it has been a couple years so this new project is a redo and needing quite a bit of work. My kitties thought that it was a good idea though. Oh and yes, I stoop to shop at Wal-Mart (I'm in college, c'mon).

I also did another sack hat experiment and although this one looks good on my head, it would definitely not fit the head of the Louisville fan I'm trying to please. Also, the "L" is not centered so I added a freshly made button in honor of V-Day (an annual event of creating awareness about violence towards women in our own country and the world).

Sack Hat.01

2009-02-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

So here is my first attempt at a sack hat. I had a friend ask for me to make him one in U. of Louisville colors but I wasn't quite sure what he meant so I did a Google search. There were absolutely no crochet patterns for sack hats online, so I made up my own and I'm not sure that I'm happy with it.

First of all, it looks a bit large. Also the fabric is quite stiff, probably due to my stitches being too tight. I guess I'll have to try again but I'm not discouraged. It's not like I've written many of my own patterns before; I think of it as a designing experience!

Back to the drawing board!

Ear Flap madness

2009-02-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

Here is my first attempt at a simple Ear Flap hat w/ tassels on my own. Once, many years ago, I made a hat with the assistance of my grandmother (who crochets half of it for me) and it turns out terrible. So now, years later, and thousands of stitches later, I have my own finished product.

Don't be fooled. This hat has numerous inconsistencies and minute errors. Luckily my new glass head, courtesy of the wonderful Miss Marcie Greene, gives this hat a professional look in a photograph that you would not receive in real life!

It also looks awful on me...

I guess I'll have to work on my pattern a bit and make a few more to master the Ear Flap!

I'll post the reworked pattern on here soon!!!

Doodlebug's Beanie

2009-02-15T14:18:00.001-08:00

I don't know if many people remember Doodlebug from the 90s hip-hop group Diggable Planets, but I saw him in Fort Wayne this weekend. My husband, Kevin, saw him last weekend down in Indianapolis and Doodlebug asked about the hat he was wearing. Kevin of course said that I had made it for him. So Doodlebug placed an order because Kevin's band "Moser Woods" had a gig with them this weekend and I would have time to make it over the week.

I'm sure that he didn't really believe that this guy's wife would show up the next weekend with a hat for him but lo and behold, I followed through. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a photograph before I gave the man his hat and didn't even get one of him wearing it, though it wasn't a perfect fit. He was a nice guy anyhow and made a point to keep my handiwork in his back pocket while he played the show. Doodlebug is still "cool like dat".

Next on the list is customized clothing labels to sew into the seams of my hats so I will be sure to be remembered.