Happy HallowE'en!

 It's the last day of October already - yet again, time is flying by so quickly...

This time of year is usually when I do my annual 'how am I doing?' post - listing how much stock I have, how many Etsy sales etc. but I am going to delay it a little this year as Lucy's 'Sea Synergy' centre is still open in the village and she has a lot of my stock.

I can't wait to get my stock (and money!) from her - so that I can add the listings back in my Etsy shop; I think she's open til the end of this week and then it'll take her a while to go through all the stock and work it all out. I usually do very well in her shop (I think people do like to buy something handmade) so hopefully this season will have been as good as the previous ones for me.

 I've finished making this ruffled handbag for a lady on Etsy - I've just listed it this afternoon and have sent her the link so I hope that she will be happy with it... It was the first one of these that I'd made in ages - they are actually really quick to crochet but the sewing part takes best part of a day as I sew everything twice and then sew in the ruffle three times just to make sure it's super-secure.

They were one of the first things I started making and I'm not sure how many of them I've sold now - they use up SO much wool though! This one was made from the second 2kg cone of Donegal Tweed that I'd bought for the hats/wrist warmers for the artists' retreat on Valentia and I still have lots of it left.

I just weighed this bag and it has taken nearly 400g of wool!

PurpleLinda sent me the replacement ball of KingCole's 'galaxy dk' recently so I was able to continue making these wrist warmers - I've listed them this afternoon.

I'm trying to crack on with making more and more pairs of wrist warmers - I sold SO many in the last few weeks (thanks to that article on Bored Panda in September) but I really need to try and build up some new stock for my Etsy shop and the local Christmas fairs.

It's looking like I'm going to three local markets this winter - Portmagee, Waterville and then the Old Oratory in Cahirciveen. I like going to all three - there are probably a couple more that I could go to but that's really enough for me :)

Merino Hats and More..

I've just finished these two hats for Jaye- made in this gorgeous merino wool from Rowan. I'd originally made her a hat for a friend in the same wool last year (in chocolate brown) and now she's asked me to make one for her friend's sister and one for another friend.

I'd a bit of trouble tracking down the wool as Rowan have discontinued it but my sister Barbara found a website that still stocks it - laughing hens so I was able to get the correct wool. It's lovely wool; I really don't know why wool companies keep discontinuing things when there wasn't anything wrong with it.

Amazingly Jaye, who just placed an order for 12 pairs of wrist warmers (10 for her friend's shop and two for herself) says that she wants to order some more pairs for Christmas presents next month! The provisional list is up to five pairs already with maybe a couple more in the pipeline!

I finished these wrist warmers last night - it's a new shade of King Cole's riot dk -- called 'rainbow' and I love it :) The colours blend so well from the one to the next one, I think I have another one of this colour 'in stock' somewhere in my wool cupboard...I've really lost track of what I do and don't have at the moment as I've ordered so much wool lately.

Right now I'm making a ruffled handbag with the Donegal tweed wool - I'd a message from a lady through Etsy asking if I could make one for her...so watch this space for photos....

More wool! This is what I'd ordered from PurpleLindaCrafts just recently - and she also sent me the replacement ball of King Cole Galaxy DK to replace the faulty one. I can't wait to start working through it all: it will all go for crocodile stitch wrist warmers apart from the three balls of cotton - which will be for scrubbies :)

I started on these wrist warmers last night as I'd left my other crochet on Valentia Island!  This is yarn that I'd first bought when we were on holiday in Germany and just recently was able to buy some more online from LoveKnitting (in the UK) - it's much finer that what I ususally use but I love the colours.

Rainbow crochet

 I've been working through my list of custom requests - and have made this matching set of scrubbies and a shower puff for my step-daughter (for a friend's birthday) - I love how they turned out and have enough of the cotton left for more :)

 I'm happy to say that I have finished Jaye's mammoth wrist warmer order: these are just ten pairs that she bought in the photo- she bought another two pairs and then a hat as well!

 I was very glad that it all went ok and they are now en route to Bournemouth and will soon be in her friend's shop (she already sells my scrubbies)

One of the other pairs she bought is in this colourway - it's 'Foliage' in King Cole's riot dk - a new shade for me but I really like the colour combination so I will be adding these ones to my shop and have ordered another ball of the wool.

I will be adding these Autumnal ones to my Etsy shop later today (once I get all the photos taken)

Nearly half of my lovely Ikea wool cupboard is full of King Cole's yarn! - mostly their Riot dk or Country Tweed (which has been discontinued) - I would say that they are my favourite and most used brand of yarns for my Etsy shop as they are affordable and great quality.

They have good customer service too as I found out recently ... I was making a pair of wristwarmers in their Galaxy dk in 'Plum' and reasised that half the ball was like this - a tangle of much thinner yarn (made up of just the sequins and the threads that run through the yarn normally - there wasn't any wool in this section at all) I posted a photo on their fb page and they got back straight away, asking for my phone number; and a lady from their customer service dept phoned.

I will be getting a replacement ball from PurpleLindaCrafts as that is where I had bought it from - which gave me the opportunity to order some more wool :)

I have two orders due to arrive soon because as well as the one I just placed from PurpleLinda I've ordered some wool for a pair of hats for Jaye (she really is my best Etsy customer!) - don't ask me where I'm going to store it all!!!

 It's feeling so Autumnal now - even in our conservatory: my friend Jana gave me these lovely German woodland decorations as a gift just recently (the squirrel one also has felt acorns on the string and the hedgehog one has felt apples)

I'm now officially on my winter break from my day-job on the ferry, having completed my 11th season there.

 I brought in my camera on my last day to take some scenery photos and some detail photos too (I love the old ropes that we have on board)

 this last one says it all - the ferry looks so badly in need of a coat of paint by the end of the season!

 Since I last wrote on here I've ordered yet more wool - Jaye wanted a pair of teal sequined crocodile st wrist warmers in with her large order so I ordered it from PurpleLinda in the UK.

It was hard to get hold of; it turns out that it's been discontinued (why do they do this?!) so I ordered enough for two pairs of wrist warmers and then a few other colours too...

...and a couple of King Cole's 'riot' while I was at it...

Hopefully Jaye will be able to choose the remaining pairs that she wants from these - or I've just taken a snap of the other colours that she might like 

 I'm so grateful to her for wanting to buy so many pairs but I will be glad when they have been shipped off and she has received them!


When I placed my order with LoveKnitting (see previous update) I also ordered this pure cotton for a custom order for some scrubbies and a shower puff.

 I love these colours and think that they will all turn out really lovely in it! The ball is approx 300g so there will be plenty of it left over for more scrubbies etc.

I'm feeling up to my ears in crochet projects at the go - which is why I'm so eager to finish Jaye's order for the wrist warmers - it's unusual for me to have a long list of things that people want me to make; usually at this time of year I'm just concentrating on the build up to the Christmas markets etc.

 Isn't this little wrist pincushion just the best thing ever? My friend Carrie makes them and she sent me one to replace my old one as it was starting to get threadbare (it gets a LOT of use when I'm sewing in loose ends in my crochet)

Not only is the pincushion great but look at the lovely card and message she sent - Carrie, you really are the BEST friend xxxx

Talking about friends; my friend Mary Ruth in New York state asked me to make her wrist warmers in this soft grey yarn that I'd bought in Iceland.

Oh gosh I need to remind myself to ease off buying cobweb yarn - it is so fine that it makes me cross eyed to use it. It isn't too terribly bad as long as you keep going and don't put it down but after a while it kind of does my head in and I need a break and return back to a 'regular' yarn for a while.

I was very glad to have finished the pair and to be able to send them off to Mary Ruth. I'm sure I bought this yarn in another shade too and it's somewhere in the depths of my wool cupboard but I'm not going to go looking for it just yet.

October

 I've got that end of the ferry season feeling, though I still have two more morning shifts to do - I'm so so grateful that I've been off yesterday and today as it's done nothing but rain. I'm spending most of my time in our conservatory with the cats and my crochet instead, and working my way through our DVD collection :)

 I'm super busy working on orders for my Etsy shop and local people - I am still doing the 11 pairs for Jaye - she got back in touch recently and still wants the ones for her friend's shop. It'll be my biggest ever order for wrist warmers and I will have to take a photo of them all together before I post them off to her. I'm still waiting for the wool for one pair but I got an email to say that it's been posted this morning so hopefully will be here soon.

I'm crocheting so much yesterday and today that my thumb has turned black! The paint has worn off my trusty 3.5mm hook and now the metal (aluminium?) leaves a mark on my skin...luckily it doesn't transfer to the yarn at least.

Look what's just arrived in the post: it's part of my latest order from Moo. I ordered a set of round stickers so that I can decorate my selkie packages before they wing their way around the world :) No sign of my new business cards just yet but I'd imagine they will come tomorrow.

I'm amazed that there was any post today as it has been raining SO much - there are several road closures and areas of flooding locally, so these were a great surprise on a dreary day.