Thursday, October 29, 2015

Stuff I've Made!

I thrive on custom orders from people.  And that's much easier when people have ideas of what they want! So I figured a blog post with pictures of some of my older work might help with that.  See examples of stuff below, or if you see something online (Pinterest, Facebook, other blogs) that you want customized or made for you, please please please email me a picture and let me know!

I have made tons of crochet items.  I've only recently started knitting in the last two years.  Once you do one needle craft, others come pretty quickly!  I can pretty much do anything knit or crochet, and there are tons of free patterns out there in case I need a little help!

Blankets

I love making blankets.  For people who don't know, a crocheted throw blanket probably takes 20-30 hours.  A big blanket like the ones I've made for queen sized beds (which is what most of the pics are from) take around 50 hours.  So if I charged $10/hour for my work, a blanket would be several hundred dollars!  Which is why most people don't sell homemade blankets unless they're smaller baby blankets.  It's also a reason why you should be very, very happy and grateful if someone gives you a homemade garment or blanket for a gift!!  Even if you don't use it.

Realistically I would probably charge $75-$100 for a large blanket, but know that it will take weeks to work on, so if there's something you want or a colour you love but can't find, let me know!  Otherwise, I suggest hitting up your local HomeSense or Bay store to find beautiful machine-knit blankets that are a reasonable $25-$50.

Here are some of my favourite blankets I've made in the past.


Top row: Alphabet blanket (50 hours!), Hexagon blanket (40 hours!), Sunshine blanket (50 hours!)
Middle row: Hearts blanket x 2 (25 hours each), Block blanket x 2 (30 hours each)
Bottom row: Mossy throw (10 hours), Granny Squares (40 hours), Simple baby blanket (15 hours), Ripple baby blanket (20 hours)

Hats

Hats are quick, easy, and can be super fun or really elegant.  I crochet the fun hats, with owl faces or yoda ears, and a knit the more elegant ones with twists (cables) or intricate patterns.  I like doing them because they're quick and they're easy to size, so I know the recipient will be happy!!  Plus I love making pom poms and flowers for them.  Baby hats are cute but I also love making manly hats or beautiful hats for adults.  Homemade is better than store bought, but you can't beat the prices in the stores because they're mass produced by a machine!  My homemade hats usually cost $20-$30 depending on the yarn used and the complexity.

Here are a few hats I've made.  There are lots more on my store!


Clockwise from top right: Pink Cable hat (knit), Engineer cap (crochet), Sock monkey hat (crochet), Slouch hat (crochet), Newborn Berry hat (knit)

Critters!

Sometimes people don't even think of the kinds of little critters that could be made!  Custom critters for their kids, or for adults to have as something fun on their desk at work (reddit alien, anyone?).  Personally, I made some fun angry bird bean bags that I took to the office, and when we were frustrated or bored we would toss them around and it would bring us a bit of joy!  A little critter would probably cost $10-15 per critter depending on the size.  They're quick and fun to make!

Here are some critters I've made.  I found great 'safety eyes' that can be used for eyes that cannot be pulled off by little ones, so that's a great feature to have for these!  Some have stuffing inside, others have a sewn bag with little beads inside and are bean bag quality.
Clockwise from top: Angry bird beanies, Little Penguins, Baby Turtles, Lil' Octopus, Monkey beanie

Baby Clothes

I love making baby sweaters, especially now that I know how to knit.  However, I find it complicated and a bit stressful to make something the exact right size, so I don't do it often!  These sweaters can take a long time (20 hours?) and if the fit isn't right, it sucks!  So they take a lot of planning as well!  Depending on the size of the sweater I'd probably charge $35-60 for a sweater.  Because of the complexity, I don't really make adult sweaters.  I may dive into it sometime but it's not high on my list right now!

Here are some kid's garments I've made.


Clockwise from left: Baby Whales sweater (knit - it's AWESOME!), Baby hat and sweater set (crochet), Baby Sophisticate Cardigan (knit), Lemon-Lime St. Paddy's sweater (knit)

Footwear

You may not think of socks and decorative fooltess sandals when you think of homemade knits, but they're fun to make and the "barefoot sandals" are so quick and easy!  A pair of custom knit socks are a different story, those can take some time and definitely won't be cheaper than socks at the Wal Mart!  But if you want something you really love, they're a great option!  A footless sandal set would probably cost $10 and knit socks would cost around $25.

Here are a couple examples that I've made.


Left: Crimson socks (knit)
Right: Footless sandals (custom made for a couple bridesmaids, crochet)

That's all for now!