Happy Six Months Since Launch!

I am counting the "launch" from the day I bought the first business cards: March 2026. 

There are various people, patients, community members I wanted to make something for but had not quite launched the whole brand idea yet. Would love to re-connect with some of them and also forge new connections. 

If I threw a card at you in person, yes, this is actually my website.

Some celebratory timestamps as of Aug 20 2026 are:

20,857 total blogger page loads! 

3,000 page loads in 8 years and then 17,000 page loads in the past six months!

15 items that went to individual people who I had never made anything for before in 2026!

29 patterns on my ravelry with 17 available for free ravelry download!

Also: Christmas Gift Season is Open! Unbelievable that it is Christmas Knitting Season 2026 already. It'll be time to pick a new favorite of the year before you can sneeze.

Ivory lace curtains

Oct 2 - THEY RESTOCKED ORIGINAL SIZE! Instant buy!

Sep 7 Final decision: start 2nd panel in original, cannibalize fold-over on 1st panel and swatch, and when that runs out, resume with doubled up lighter weight.
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Critical decision time: double up on skinnier strand or single of skinnier strand
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First curtain cast off Sep 5! First panel ended up being 388 grams out of cone measuring 17.6 oz. (498.9 g) and 1260 yd. (1152.1 m) and out of stock!!!
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Aug 27 2026 - 41 x 8 = 328 rows.  328 rows x 9 min per row = 49.2 hours??? I VASTLY underestimated how many rows I have done???
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Apparently one row takes 8.5 minutes if I straight knit. Row 9, I forgot to press lap. Plus the time I spent planning
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Aug 15 2026 -- 40 inches!...or maybe 38 sue me. Also, it has become clear I may have not bought enough for two panels.....I really thought one cone would be enough....ugh. Will have to buy the same color in a different weight :(
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It groooooows!!
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Ended up with 22 columns
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Swatch = about 4.5 inches wide = 26? Stitches
62 wide x 57 tall, which means two panels that are 32 wide x 57 + affixing method tall = 184 stitches?
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Jul 11 2026 - Did a skinny, long tower of swatches from this stitch book because I was too lazy to make individual swatches. I am bemused to say verdict is: they're all basically the same in terms of knitting experience.

Replacement for little dudes

Custom Order: Duplicate worn baby blanket (Requestor identified original yarn)
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Ready to go!
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Please enjoy my hilarious attempts to figure out how on earth to package a baby blanket


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This has been the blanket of many hard truths. I could NOT figure out why it was so SMALL but I found two almost completely intact skeins AFTER finishing & washing....my flabbers are gasted.
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Top & Bottom 90 stitches (43 shells)
 Left & Right 98 stitches (52 shells)
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5dc + chain 2 much better
7dc + chain 2 might be a little too flappy...
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Sept 5 - Finally at the edging!!!! I love doing scallops. One of the few crochet things I genuinely enjoy.
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Tip: Independent Shells
Most shell patterns say just skip 1 chain, but I like to slip stitch 2 chains directly into foundation row, allowing the succeeding shell to fill the space before the prior shell. 

Makes floppier shells that independently move and centers the shell row from the center shell stitch rather than the between-shells stitch. 

Less of a rigid border but much more fun to ruffle with your fingers.

Flappy shell example: work up a foundation chain, dc7, work 3 slip stitches in a row, repeat. For corners, dc 9-10
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Square completed:
Top:90, 44 squares across
Left Side: 98
Bottom:96
Right Side:108 - Will have to reduce 1 every 10 on right side
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Cannibalization in progress. Much more regular piece since I figured out the stitch. Hopefully will only be like 10 more hours, and then however long the scallops take. 
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2nd attempt, new stitch math
10 stitches = 2.5 inch
CO 160 stitches = 40 inches
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Aug 30 - After about 15 hours, had to cannibalize this guy. Too wide and only had one ball of yarn left. Not sure where my math went wrong.
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I have never liked crochet not only because I find it much more difficult on your wrists, elbows, and shoulders, but because I can't understand written patterns the way I do knitting.

I compared the written pattern to the YouTube video transcript to find the discrepancy:
"chain into the chain one space" (actual instruction)
vs
"chain one into the chain one _" (nonsense)
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Aug 5 - swatch with two single crochet in main color, single crochet in white, and scallop white transition to mimic original blanket as closely as possible
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Requestor was able to source original blue.

Jul 28: Maybe a spike stitch? Mini Bean stitch? Basic woven crochet? More fancy woven stitch?
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Jul 22 2026 - original baby blanket reference pics!

coffee jars series


All shellac'd and dried and filled!

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3. Decaf jar (Aug 22 2026)

Was gonna give him forehead wrinkles but decided to leave him with a five head.
 
His poor little belly is in the totally wrong place. Let's just say he is a Picasso gojira. Or maybe has three feet. Radioactive lizard can totally have three feet.
Going with a sleeping gojira :)
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2. crazed hyper boston terrier(?) espresso (May 25 2025)



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 1. cute and sweet sugar cat (Apr 12 2025)

I am reposting the sugar cat because I had to redo the ears. I had to wait until we went through another Illy espresso container in order to have a new cap to redo the ears rather than the cat.
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Main grounds coff-bee jar link

Kleenex kitty for nice lady

Custom order: ginger kitty with tissues coming out the rear pie hole


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Made one of my signature microsoft paint diagrams. 
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Beans!
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Back paws! (Instead of paws under like a cat sitting on glass. Making a flap was not intelligent design even if it would have been cute)
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Front paws!
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Loaf is finally done. Still needs his legs and under flap.
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Back is done!
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Pull!
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Working on front. Something is not right. Hmmm.....I figured it out--ears were too far apart!
Kinda looks like salmon nigiri right now lol
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Decided to just sew tissue box in place until it's further along
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Removed those front feet that I hated. They will be too small anyway.
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Loaf cat turkey leg set up
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Checking overall shape. Will have to extend tail length 
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Peach box = under lining, finished exterior will be cat shaped, not box shaped. Base of square will have under loaf paws like under a glass table as well.
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Size 8, aran, 17 per side x 4 = 68, add a few extra and 72 = total round
Box: 4 3/8" x 4 3/8" x 5"'

Someone saw this ceramic orange cat tissue box cover on hubby's desk, and thus, request.