Officially Retired But Working More Than Ever

I have officially retired from working outside the home, but I really am working more than ever. The difference is I work at home in a clean house with all my laundry done. The weekends with my husband are fun weekends without having to do chores. 

I have devoted more of my time to designing crochet projects and doing a lot with ebay. My daughter-in-law Whitney taught me how to use Instagram (Sueallencrochet) and I am slowly learning all the social media nuances. Way too much information out there. Although I would die without my Pinterest. I started with a board called Crochet I Love and it got so big I had to break the boards to what they where, Crochet Afghans, Crochet for the Home etc. I can be found at SueAllenCrochet https://www.pinterest.com/susanall1952/

My latest project is an afghan for a friend, I found the pattern on Pinterest and found out the designer offered a kit through Wool Warehouse. Shipping was fast and I am almost done.

 

Wool Warehouse has good prices and quick delivery. The pattern is offered for free with a wonderful tutorial on the Attic 24 blog. 

http://www.woolwarehouse.co.uk/attic24

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/neat-ripple-pattern

Recycling Yarn

Have you ever fallen in love with a color or combination of colors and started something knowing it is not just quite right, but you crochet on just because you want to crochet? Long sentence, glad I am typing. Well, I have. Last year I fell in love with the color combination of pink, green and white. Found the right shades, yarn and thought I found the right pattern. I got the afghan 3/4 done and set it aside.
Last week I was going through Pinrest and stumbled across a pattern that was just perfect for the colors I had found. I made a swatch and it is glorious. My husband pulled the first afghan apart for me and thought I was crazy, but once I told him it saved me from going out to buy more he was happy. I told him I was recycling. Have you ever done this?

It is slow going as I am very busy right and really only get to crochet at night. But it is so pretty. See photos. You can see my Pinterest "Crochet I Love"

 Russ so enjoys taking my stuff apart.

The new pattern is coming out well.

Pattern can be found at Red Heart

Flowers in a row pattern

I am in the process of selling a lot of stuff on ebay.

Where did all this "stuff" come from? I think it comes from my "I can buy any thing I want days", and I look at it and say, "what was I  thinking". I am sure we have all had those moments.

Most of it is from the attic and some from my office. I am turning my office back into a bedroom and taking over my husbands office, he doesn't use it anymore since I bought him a laptop. He now runs our household  empire from his lazy boy.

I am selling my beloved crochet magazines, again I look at some of these and say, "what was I thinking". My how your taste does change, but it does take me down memory lane. I am making copies of the patterns I could not possibly part with and sell the rest.

My husband calls this nesting; when I start cleaning house and organizing everything. I am just doing it on a larger scale this time. I guess it is all this new found time I have. But I just can't start another project until everything is in its place and organized.

Things are a changing in a new phase of my life.

Riding out the storms this week.

We always get the leftovers from tornado alley, but they have been tame by the time they get to us here in Memphis.

Here are some of the afghans I finished this past year. I really am into trying new patterns and color mixtures.

This green and brown one is actually from a kit, my first kit. I wanted this pattern so bad. Couldn't find it anyhwhere, until after I bought it. Go figure. It was fun to make and very nice having all the thread figured out for me. I looked on the Hershnners site and they don't have it anymore. Well it was a year and a half ago that I bought it.

 

 

Liked it so much I made another; called this one my sock monkey afghan. This was made from thread I had bought to make sock monkey hats...long story, starts with pancake craving at IHOP. I am rambling.

 

 

I used Patons Classic Wool. This was so luxurious to work with. Pretty sure I got it on sale.

 

Will post more another time.

 

 

It has been a while...I think I have said that before

I am one of those people that if I can't do it perfect I would rather not start at all, hence, blog with no words. I am going to make it my therapy to write something once a week...baby steps. I love to put my thoughts down  and I will.

I had been so busy working out of the home that I always had an excuse. Now I have been unemployed and I am going to try to work more on my crochet to make my money. Boy, it is hard, but I have never been afraid of hard work.

I am currently working on getting my books on Kindle and as eBooks. A lot of my programing background comes in handy. Almost there.

I have been crocheting afghans.  I think when my Mother passed I spent most of my time at the hospital needing something to do and crocheting was my first go to and an afghan was easy to carry around. After she passed I just kept going. It was my therapy. Moving on.

My sister Liz and I have put some crocheting on Etsy, My Etsy Store  and I will be redoing my website to include some as well. I want to do so much, but I have to focus on things that will make money for now.  Check back soon.

It has been a tough year

My Mother passed away this summer. The woman who taught me almost everything I know about crochet. She put the hook in my hand to give me something to do and keep me busy. She hated when we (3 boys, 3 girls) would say “I’m bored” as she had so much to do to keep us together. My Father was in the Navy and was gone months at a time and I know we were a handful.
My Mom was in the hospital for 5 weeks. My sister Mary was there during the day and I was there at night. My other sister Liz was in the hospital having had heart surgery. We do what we do best and crocheted. I completed 3 baby afghans and 2 full size afghans. (I will be putting these on my website soon.) The past weeks we have gone through my Mother’s personal things and are trying to move on. My Mother had so many family photos and I am scanning these now for other family members.

I can’t wait for 2012. It has got to be a better year.

“Don’t Undervalue Your Labor”

I picked up a the November issue of  Martha Stewart Living while at Hobby Lobby yesterday. I was drawn in by all the pie on the cover. I am a huge fan of pumpkin and I  am always looking for new ways to eat it.  Sometimes I think that is why I am shaped like one..ha. I did not get a chance to look at it until this morning. I read it pretty much cover to cover. The dog section was so enjoyable,


The one section I enjoyed  the most is called  Follow  Your Art in the Dreamers into Doers-small business section, page 102. How to turn crafts into a career and three women who dared to do it. Since being laid off in June I am very interested in doing my craft full time. Can you imagine crocheting for a living?  I am a sponge for all the knowledge I can get on how to make this happen. Jane D’Arensbourg, one of the featured artists, when asked her best advice answered, Don’t undervalue your labor,

“I want everything to be really great,” she says. “If it takes a long time and has to be expensive, then so be it.”

It goes on to say she offers a range of prices by creating simpler pieces , rather than cutting corners to make items faster and cheaper.

Good for you Jane! I have said this for years. Artists and crafters do not charge enough for labor. I was talking to the girls at Hank of Yarn last week about this very subject. Hank shook her head and sadly agreed that we never get our labor in dollars. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to make hand crafts so expensive they do not sell. I want to get a fair price for what I have created.

In the book “Crocheting For Fun and Profit” I was quoted as saying,

“Customers do not care how many hours it took for you to make your product, and they don’t realize your time is as valuable as your time. Standard formulas do not work for me”

This was true then and sadly it is true now. I think we can change that if we change it together. The next time you buy a handmade product think about what it took to bring that product to market. I have seen items on Etsy and other sites and wanted so badly to email the crafter and ask, “Can you really make a profit selling this low?”  Something to think about.