Happy New Year

fish scarf rev
Originally uploaded by Catheaven.

Okay so i'm half a month late in bringing in the new year on my blog. It's been awhile since I've written.

I took a small break from my knitting/crocheting because I worked like crazy for a month to prepare for some craft fairs I did in December. So I basically just got sick of working on things so quickly in so little time.

I'm finally back into the swing of things and have made a couple new projects.

This project is inspired from Morehouse Farms fish scarf pattern. Alysia did not like the colors they offered in the kit and the pattern isn't available for purchase yet. I wasn't going to be spending $30 for a yarn color she didn't like. SOOO what did I do?? I designed my own fish to put together to make a scarf. I finished last night and gave it to her this morning. She loved it!!



Another project I just finished was a shawl for Ariana. The past month has been pretty chilly over here. I started wearing my shawl at night and it kept me nice and toasty. I offered to make one for Ariana and this is what she picked!

This year I am going to work really working through my stash of yarn that I have. Here's to hoping for a great crafting year!

2nd Shop at etsy

Due to a recent critique I received on my main shop I decided to try my hand at opening a 2nd shop over at etsy.

CatheavenCrafts will be my knit and crochet store. While CatheavenCreations will feature my papercrafts and misc crafts. I will test this out for a bit and see how it works out. If after a few months I don't notice a significant change to my main shop then I'll combine my shop again.

It will take a bit before I get the 2nd shop up and running due to the fact of deadlines that I have.
Please feel free to stop by both stores and take a peek.

Combining my love for crochet and paper

So the other week I asked some friends what they might like to see if they were to receive a box full of handmade samples. Thank you to all who answered. After many days of brainstorming trying to figure out how I can easily make something that would incorporate my etsy shop and what I sell I came up with this idea.

I took my love for crochet and combined with my papercrafting and came up with this new take on the matchbook note sets that people make now. To advertise I used my business card as the cover page. In the future I will be making some new sizes and styles which will be up over at my etsy shop sometime in the near future. I'm a little iffy putting them up on etsy only because I checked over there and I haven't seen (or can find) this idea up there. I shall see though. I think these would be great to carry around in your purse or bags. They'd also make great and useful gifts in party bags. Drop me an email if you ever need some.

I'm pretty excited about them. They actually aren't as quick as i had hoped they be but they're quicker than knitting a dishcloth. I'm very happy with them! leave me a comment about what you think of them!

Something a little new

Okay I know that my blog is mainly dedicated to my knitting and crocheting. But I've been introduced to beading by my friend and I'm SOO addicted. Over the weekend my friend and I made these really pretty earrings. I still need a lot of practice but hey they are wearable and I love them. I'll have to get a pix of them up here soon.

Yesterday I received these cute little flip flop charms. So i sat there trying to decide what to use them for. Ideas were a bracelet, stitch markers, zipper pull or pendant. Well I don't quite have all the materials yet to make a lot of these items so I settled on making some earrings. I was very happy with the end result. I think these are SOOO cute!! They are for sale over at my etsy shop.

Woo Hoo new hat

I posted about this hat over at my etsy shop blog, CatheavenCrafts but I know that others read this blog mainly. I got the knitting and creating bug last night so I decided to try and sit down and design a simple baby hat. Here is what was the end result:


I'm pretty excited and can't wait to try and design some more. I'm hoping to add a little crochet mix into these knitted hats. These will be great for the cold weather which is coming up. I should have more hats in my etsy shop shortly.

Taking the Etsy Plunge

So i've decided to take the Etsy plunge. I'm always making items so I figured why not try again in this world of selling my crafts. I did try about 3 years ago but I was very new to my craft and to the world of selling. I've become a lot more advanced and felt that it might be the right time to try again. SOOO I've opened up a shop. It's called CatheavenCrafts It's very tough starting out because etsy is full of wonderfully extremely talented people. I'm in awe at some of the items I see. I've already received some favorable feedback to my shop and I've also received some less than favorable feedback. I've only been on etsy for 2 weeks now. I honestly almost thought of just chalking the whole thing up. But alas I posted a thread on Ravelry and the wonderful people there said to just keep at it.
I also have a blog dedicated to my etsy store and items. You can find it at CatheavenCrafts here on blogger. I will dedicate that blog strictly to the shop. This blog will still remain my "baby" and I will continue to update it.
So stop by and come browse around my shop. Even if it's a little bare.

County Fair Win

scarf w ribbon
Originally uploaded by Catheaven.

This year I entered two items into the County Fair. After last year I really wasn't expecting I'd win anything. I entered 2 items into the fair this year. My moondance stole and my lace scarf.

On Saturday night I attended the fair with my family and friends. I was anxious to run to the home arts dept and see how I did, but I wanted to wait until my friend got there. Luckily I didn't have to wait long and as soon as she got there we all headed over.

It took a bit to find where the knitted/crochet items were. All the entries were squished into these glass cabinets. Finally we spotted my entries. At first when i saw my items I thought well another year with no ribbons, BUT alas we spotted a red ribbon hanging underneath my lace scarf. I was so happy but disappointed at the same time. I had really hoped my moondance stole would of gotten something. The judges moved my moondance stole into the same category as my scarf so I am not sure if that had any effect on the outcome. Either way once I got over my disappointment I was happy to at least win something. Julianne was happy for me that I won. Thanks to Julianne I was able to get my entries entered this year as she dropped them off to me. Big hugs to her!!! (now i'll find out if she really reads my blog. haha)

This year the displays were just awful. Beautiful handknit and crocheted blankets were folded so small that you couldn't really get a good gauge on the pattern. Other entries were so jampacked into the displays they were missed. I still don't understand the judging that goes on at the fair. Some beautiful intricate items didn't win yet typical everyday patterns won. Maybe it's the stitch definition or the neatness of the stitches which the judges judge on??? Either way there were some beautiful entries this year.

I am proud of my scarf and I hope to work on my skills to someday either receive a best in show or at least a first place ribbon. Guess we'll see next year.

The cutest octopus you'll ever see

0801080051
Originally uploaded by Catheaven.

Okay so maybe I'm biased about it being the cutest octopus. Alysia has been on a fish obsession lately so I decided to make her this cute little amigurumi octopus.

I love crocheting because I don't need to think and it's pretty fast. I had this little guy done in about 2 hours.

Alysia loves it and has now requested a bright pink one! sigh project list never ends!