Full report on my first show!

Well I did it.... I did my first craft fair! It went pretty well! I learned some things and enjoyed getting the first experience under my belt. As you can see from the photo I had a pretty adorable helper with me too!

Let's take a closer look at how my display turned out....

My awesome friend C lent me her extra wooden box and I think it really helped my display look nice having a box on each side! I will definitely purchase a second one if I do a craft show in the future. Another thing I ran out of time to do but SHOULD have done was make little signs explaining what the piles of knitted things were! In the pic above you can see my "kid cowls", but it's hard to tell that they are kid-sized just from looking at them. I didn't sell any headbands at the show, but I am hopefully going to get a message from someone about a custom order for a different color! I am wondering if I need to adjust my pricing on those too. Things to think about!

 On the other side of the table I had my adult cowls, and my fun head models (affectionately named Sam and Diane... hehe). They pulled their weight at the show considering I sold that hat off Diane, and the white cowl off of Sam! Way to go, mannequins! Big thanks again to my husband for making the wooden stand to hold the heads up. :)

Another thing that people loved was my sign! A big shout out to Vistaprint for having a great and easy-to-use website, and excellent customer service. I am pretty pleased with the quality of the material they used and the fast shipping.

My cutest little blue-lipped visitor... ;-)  (he had a sucker earlier)

Last but not least, a BIG thank you to everyone who came to visit me at the show!!!! I had friends and family alike come out to support me and hang out with me, and you all made the time fly by! I am a very lucky person. You all rock!

Have a great week everyone!!!!

Faux Fur Fun

(I do love using alliteration in a blog post title... hehe!)

Hi everyone! Is it fall yet???? We had a good stretch of wonderful cool temperatures and inklings of fall's approach, but then it had to get all hot outside again. BOO. I am ready for fall!!! It's definitely my favorite season, and not just because it includes my birthday. ;-)

What have I been doing? Well a lot of cowls!!!!!

Those are all adult size seed-stitch cowls. They are addicting to make because they make great TV knitting projects!!!! In fact, this is what my desk looked like for awhile:

Neatness is not my strong suit. Haha. On top of the adult cowls you can see some of my KID cowls and on the very top, my foray into headbands! None of these (save the gray cowls) are in my shop just yet, but if you are interested you may send me a message! I am really hoping to do my first craft show this fall and I am trying to make a stockpile of items to have to sell. More details on that later!

In other news, I saw these awesome faux fur poms at the store:

I have seen a LOT of knitted hats with faux fur poms on them in Etsy shops, etc lately, and I thought I should give it a try! Here is how mine turned out:

It's hard to tell from the photos, but the top one with the brown pom is a gray yarn with brownish tweedy flecks in the yarn. The bottom one is solid gray yarn! I think they turned out pretty well. They are both listed in the shop right now (link in the right side bar). Also, if anyone is wanting a matching set, the gray seed stitch cowl in my shop perfectly matches the solid gray hat above (the second pic)!!!! Woohoo for matching! 

Have a great week everyone! :)

Sale!!!

Hey everyone! I apparently am still terrible at blogging. No surprise there.... but I had to pop on here to make sure you knew I was having a labor day sale! Today through Monday, Sept 4th, everything in my shop is 15% off. No code needed!

I already sold a pair of my toddler fingerless gloves today, Woohoo! :)

Hope you all have a relaxing and fun long weekend. Talk to you soon!

Coasters Ahoy!

Happy summer y'all! I'm apparently still terrible at blogging, though I am pretty excited about my newfound obsession with coasters. Knitted coasters for everyone! It really is great summer knitting, and uncomplicated enough to knit while watching Netflix (AKA knitflix). I also like how they are kid-friendly. If any of you have had small children around in your home, you know that coasters are like toddler-magnets for playing!

These have already gone off to happy customers:

(Blues are popular!)

These next two pics are my latest sets that are in the shop and available now! Do you like the multi-color? I think I need to do more multi-color ones soon!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Latest things!

This sweet striped bunny hat was mailed off this week! Can't wait to see if it fits the baby girl recipient!

I've dipped my toes into neckwear today, by listing this cozy grey seed stitch cowl! It matches the skies today.... and my sneaky gray hairs.... haha.

Available in the shop now. As always, thanks for looking! Stay dry today if it's as rainy as it is where I am!

Hippity hoppity

Hellloooo everyone! I haven't blogged in a few weeks but I've been keeping busy! I am working on a custom order for a friend (will share when I finish) which involves 2 hats. One is done and the other a few inches into it!

What I want to share today is my little spring idea. St. Patrick's day was fast approaching, so I nixed coming up with an idea for that, so I moved onto the next holiday..... Easter! Whipped up two sweet little baby bunny hats. The pattern is from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson, who comes up with the CUTEST ideas ever! I own three of her books if that is any indication!!!!

I went stash diving to find some organic and soft yarns, since these are both sized about 0-3 months (although I constantly wish I had friends who could bring their babies over at the drop of a hat so I could try my hats on them! ha!). The first one is a bright springy pink, and it's an organic wool and organic cotton blend. Heavenly to knit with and it's super soft and smooth!

I mean, adorbs, right???? :D

The second one I used a 100% organic cotton blend in a soothing cream color. I couldn't decide whether or not to tie up the ears with bows, so I listed it with either option! What do you think? It's cute in its simplicity but is it too plain? I sort of love the green ribbon on it myself. Hmm.

 I know the first day of spring is this week but the weather is not quite convinced!!!!! I was able to get outside for a run today which hasn't happened in awhile, so that was nice... still I can't wait for some warmer weather.... dreaming of playing outside and park trips and sunshine on my face!

Have a great week everyone! :)

Flash Sale!!!

 Hey everyone!!! To celebrate the unseasonably warm temps here in Indiana, I'm having a flash sale! Get 15% off anything in my shop through Friday, Feb 24th with code: SPRINGTIME! Thanks for all the "likes" and comments and shares, I appreciate each and every one of you! :)

Rainbows for days

Hey everyone! Hope you are having a nice weekend. We have been battling an unending cough/cold/illness in our family for at least two solid months now, and it's really getting old. I am sick of the sickness!!! I took my kids to the pediatrician Friday and they both got diagnosed with ear infections! Poor kiddos. I am hoping now that we have medication that they feel better soon. It's breaking this mama's heart to see them feeling so ill!

On a much brighter note, I have been making them each a pair of cheerful rainbow mittens! Here is the pair I finished for my son:

I am over halfway done with my daughter's pair also!

Yes those are a lot of ends!!!! I haven't been weaving them in, just tying off and clipping the extra. It makes for a pretty-looking nest of yarn scraps when I finish a mitten! :) I am looking forward to getting a photo of the kids modeling their new mitts together... if they cooperate... hah. If you are a parent of young children you know what I mean! (cough-bribery-cough)

On Instagram I decided to participate in the "yarn love challenge", which is just a photo challenge thing for the month of February. So far my pics are mostly rainbow mittens, but I am trying to branch out!!! Here's a recap of the first four days:

If you want to follow along the rest of the month you can click over to my instagram in the sidebar to the right! :) Oh and I just saw that I now have over 50 followers!!! Wow! I might have to come up with some sort of giveaway or something. Hmmm!

Pink for days....

Whew! I apologize if you are getting tired of the parade of pink hats on my instagram/facebook (links in sidebar if you want to follow), but I have been a pink-knitting machine lately!!!

I was surprised to see post-march there is still a high demand for the kitty hats (AKA "pussy hats"). I put up a knit-to-order listing for the first time, and all 5 spots were taken by the end of that day! WOW! Luckily since I am holding yarn double (or using bulky), they have been knitting up fast, but still.... I felt a little panicked there for a minute. Silly of me, but it all worked out fine and everyone's hat was shipped off successfully! Whew!

So anyways, I am going to be listing some already-knit hats hopefully by Monday night, if anyone is looking to get one. Right now I have a pink one, a marled light-dark pink one, and working on a purple one too! (I mean a girl can only take so much pink....)

Looking forward to taking a break from pink and knitting up some fingerless gloves next... so keep your eyes peeled for those next weekend! Hope everyone is having a nice Sunday!

Custom order fun!

Wow! Thanks to everyone for all your love and support from my shop opening announcement! I appreciate every "like" or "heart" or comment that I get!!!

I have gotten several custom orders in the past week and have had a lot of fun working with my customers to make something for them! First one that I just finished and delivered was this sweet little "Bee stitch" baby hat!

(from my instagram - link in the right sidebar if you want to follow!)

As you can see it fits the little recipient with room to grow, and I am really happy with how it turned out! I am thinking I will have to whip up some more of these for the shop soon.

Second order I've been working on is a cute panda themed baby hat. I still have to work on the face, but the pom pom "ears" came out adorable.

Next up is 2 more hats for some preschoolers - stay tuned to see what cartoon character they will be based off!

Won't you be my neighbor?

Hey everyone! I just posted about this on Facebook, but wanted to make sure I mentioned it on the blog as well. If you live in or near Fort Wayne (IN), then please message me before making any purchases in my Etsy shop! I have a code for you to use to remove the shipping costs. Then you can either pickup your item from my home or we can meet someplace! I wanted to make sure to put that out there.

In knitting news, I just shipped out a "pussy hat" to my friend N. She's going to be wearing it in the Women's March on Portland (local variation of the Women's March on Washington) and I am proud to be able to contribute in a small way! My first pussy hat went to family, and I believe it will be marching in Indianapolis. I have a THIRD one on the needles for another family member!!!! There has been a LOT of pink in my knitting bag lately. Hah.

If you are wondering what in the world I am talking about then please check out the movement here:

https://www.pussyhatproject.com/

It's a fun idea and a VERY quick knit! If that sort of thing isn't your jam, no problem! In any color it would make a super cute kitty hat for any kiddo or fun-loving adult. I love how just folding the flat-knit fabric in half causes it to have the kitty ears. If you think your little kid would want one, please ask! I might have to make a few more of these for the shop anyway!

Happy Friday everyone, hope you have a fun and relaxing weekend!

Welcome to the NEW blog!!!!

Well I haven't been using my blog for awhile.... but now it's time for a REBRANDING!

Welcome to WALLABY KNITS! I am super excited as you can tell from the caps. At the end of November I finally decided (after much debate and hand-wringing) to open an Etsy shop! It's been exciting and nerve-wracking so far... I am not sure how things will turn out, but I am happy I am giving it a try. If I can knit cozy things that make other people happy, and contribute to my family's income, then I will consider it a success.

Now, for those of you who don't know me, I will do a quick intro! My name is Lauren, and I am a married 30-something mom of 2 silly kiddos. I've lived in Indiana my whole life, and I really do like it here! Having all four seasons is handy for a knitter.... every winter we are needing warm things to clothe ourselves with!

I taught myself to knit in 2005 from a "learn to knit" book/kit that was written for children. Hah! I really began to take off with my knitting after meeting a dear friend at the place I worked. She had been knitting MANY years and was able to open my eyes to all the amazing things you can do with sticks and string. I haven't stopped crafting since then. It really is a great hobby. I don't think I could watch TV without having some knitting project in my lap.... I would be too antsy!

Wallaby Knits is my new adventure... knitting for people other than my friends and family! The name is from an early nickname for my son when he was born. My little wallaby boy! Also, wallabies are just cute in general. Like mini kangaroos. Aww.

Anyway thanks for visiting and I plan on getting back to blogging about my shop adventures more in 2017! Happy New Year!