Ugly Christmas Sweater Hat

Hi everyone! SnarkyB has been MIA for a bit, but I'm back in the saddle now and ready to get back in the design groove. To be honest, I've had a horrible case of both writer's and designer's block. Everything I tried to do felt like I was running in knee deep water. Finally, I just gave in and put the hooks down for a bit. I told myself I would take a week off, but at the end of the week I still had no clue what I wanted to hook. My creative tank was EMPTY!! I even looked at page after page of Ravelry hoping something would inspire me. Nothing. I thought my career as a professional hooker and designer was over. Then, as it often does, inspiration hit me! I was walking around Hobby Lobby (with nothing in my basket...that's how you know I hit rock bottom!), and there was a center of the aisle display of Christmas craft items. There were things like red and green pom poms, stickers, stained glass kits for kids etc. and these adorable little reindeer buttons. I just loved them and bought 4 packs (hello 50% off). I brought them home and just stared at them for a while and I thought how cute they would be on an ugly Christmas sweater. As run down creatively as I was, I knew I would never crochet an entire sweater so I decided to do a hat instead. When I got the hat done I felt like the dam burst and my creativity was BACK!!!!! I have so many ideas right now, I can't wait to get back on the proverbial horse! There is no pattern as the hat is a basic half double crochet beanie with a fpdc/bpdc band and buttons. I improvised the tree. If you would like to purchase the finished product, send me a message or contact me through my retail channel  Bella Carolina Boutique.

Maypop Jewel Earwarmer

With many of the roads still out in SC and me stuck at home, I decided to clean up my studio a bit and came across tons of embroidery thread. Hand embroidery is one of those things I was always "going" to do and never got around to, so I decided to put some to use. I came up with my first paid pattern available through my Ravelry store. This is called Maypop Jewel Earwarmer

Free Pattern Round Up - Halloween

Hi everybody! Here in SC we are slowly digging out of recent flooding in our state, and while my family and I, thankfully, escaped unscathed, many are left homeless and facing the loss of everything. Mere minutes from me, an entire town has been evacuated. Please, send prayers, thoughts, good wishes to all those affected, I can't imagine what they are going through.

On a happier note: I am kicking off a regular Saturday feature of a Free Pattern Round up. Because we are in the fall season, and Halloween is right around the corner, today's theme is HALLOWEEN!!! These projects are quick, cute, great for celebrating Halloween, and best of all FREE!


First we need to decorate the house...

Sugar Skull Garland

Bat Pumpkin Decoration

Ghost Coasters

Now Lets Decorate Ourselves!

The ever popular Minion Hat

This one is from Repeat Crafter Me (have I mentioned how much I love this site?)

Frankenstein Hat

Halloween Top Hat

And don't forget the PETS!!!

The Art Inspired Cherry Blossom Hat

Hi everyone, I got such a great response on my hat from my Facebook Group, I decided to make a pattern....instructions really, and share it with everyone. I'd appreciate your feedback if you attempt the hat, and if there are any questions I can answer, let me know! Enjoy!

Art Inspired Cherry Blossom Hat

5.00mm H Crochet Hook

3.25mm D Crochet Hook

Worsted Weight Yarn in the color for the hat and Brown for the branch

Embroidery floss for the flowers

Pearls (optional)

Seed beads (optional)

Stitches Used:

·         Ch – chain

·         SC – single crochet

·         HDC – Half double crochet

·         DC – Double crochet

·         FPDC – Front post double crochet

·         BPDC – Back post double crochet

1. ·         The hat pattern is secondary to the other parts of the hat. You may use any hat pattern you choose. For the example above, I used the basic HDC hat pattern by Repeat Crafter Me. If you haven’t checked out Repeat Crafter Me, you really should, the patterns always work out well, and I find the hat pattern to be the perfect size every time! Use just the basic hat pattern for the size you need, without ear-flaps. Instead add two rows of alternating FPDC and BPDC for the band.

Branch

·         For the branch, it’s not necessary to follow the pattern exactly….as a matter of fact, if you make more than one hat, you may want to change things up a bit so that each branch is different like in nature. I have put the below pattern together to show the “theory”

·         First, imaging a branch, the base is thicker than the top, and several side branches usually sprout from odd areas along the length. It is bumpy, gnarly and perfectly imperfect. Therefore, I want you to relax, imagine your branch and enjoy the process.

·         The pattern for the branch will be more of an instruction than a round by round, so I suggest reading over it first and then attempting. Once you see the theory, you will be able to make the branch your own.

Ch 20 – 30 depending on the size of your hat.

Lay the chain across your completed hat, and determine if you need a shorter or longer branch. Adjust as needed.

Visualize the chain in about thirds. The first third will represent the base, the middle third the middle and the last third the top of the branch.

You are going to start at the BASE of the branch, therefore this needs to be the thicker part of the branch, therefore start with double crochets. DC 5 spaces. Ch 3 and sl st into the top of the last dc.  This will create a small knot. Ch 1 and DC in 2 spaces.

Ch 5 (we are creating an off shoot branch), turning back down the chain, sl st in two st, then sc in 2. Sl st to the original ch. HDC into 5 ch. Ch 7 (creating another branch), turning back down the ch, sc into 6 and sl st onto the original ch. HDC into 3 ch. SC into remaining chains.

Turning and continuing down the other side of the branch, Sl St into 5 ch, ch 5, sc down the chain to create another branch and sl st onto the original ch.  Etc….continue using the same thought process as  the first half, making the branch thicker at the bottom.

Cherry Blossoms

Using Embroidery floss and D hook

R1: Magic circle, ch 1, 10 sc into the ring, close the ring and sl st to the first sc.

R2: ch 5. DC in the 2^nd ch from hk, dc in the next st, hdc in next st, sk st, sl st to next st of the ring to form 1^st petal. Repeat until there are 5 petals. Finish off.

Make as many petals as you like. I used 3 different shades of pink.

Putting it all together

Sew the branch to the hat using coordinating thread.

Sew the cherry blossoms to the branches

Sew seed beads (or French knots with dark embroidery floss) to the center of the blossoms.

Arrange larger pearl beads so that they appear as unopened blossoms.

I just want to make something to impress my kid....

A few days ago my son was watching me crochet and said:

"Mom, you should make art with your crochet..."
ME:  I do, everything I make is a little work of art
Sam: No, you make hats and booties and baby stuff. You should make art, you know like landscapes and stuff.


OK, I didn't kill him because he is 9 and a boy and he is very good at both of those things. Instead I took it as a challenge. I was inspired by the painting "Almond Blossoms" by Van Gogh, and the Watercolor cherry blossoms of ancient Japan. What do you think? More importantly, do you think it will impress my kid???

Yes, I will sell this hat....hit me up on Facebook to order.  https://www.facebook.com/BellaCarolinaBoutique

Estelle Earwarmer

Good morning everyone! I worked on this earwarmer all night and posted a photo of it on my personal Facebook page asking for suggestions for a name for it. As if by fate, a beautiful friend of mine, Craig, suggested "Estelle", explaining the name just came to him when he saw it. I knew right away that was her name! Estelle was the name of my great-grandmother! Can you believe that coincidence? I never go to meet my great-grandmother Estelle, but she was the mother of the most awesome Grandmother on earth so she had to be pretty great! So in honor of my Great Grandma Estelle, I give you.....the ESTELLE EARWARMER!  This earwarmer was made using the Moss Stitch. If you are unfamiliar with the moss stitch, it's ok, it seems harder than it is, and there are lots of great tutorials on youtube. A bit of warning however, it is single crochet, so it work up as fast as you might think, but the end result is a beautiful texture and super stretchy!

*As always, you are free to sell any items you create from this pattern, but a link back would be appreciated, and you may not copy, distribute, or sell this pattern in part or whole.

Estelle Earwarmer

Unfortunately, Blogger will not allow me to monetize my blog, so until it does I have to charge for my patterns. Once I am allowed to monetize through ads and such, I will gladly begin sharing free patterns again. As always, thank you for your support. 

It's Fall Ya'll!

Maybe it's because I live in the South and Fall ushers in a break from the unbearable heat and humidity of the Southern Summer, or maybe it's because (as a yarn enthusiast) I finally get to enjoy my yarn creations, but whatever the reason, Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year! And I'm not alone, Fall is the 2nd favorite (behind Spring) season for Americans. For many of us, that means hot chocolate, falling leaves, warm scarves and FOOTBALL! In honor of Fall, I have created this adorable Football ear warmer and I'm sharing the pattern with all my readers. I've embellished mine with a cute flower in the colors of my favorite college team (University of South Carolina). If you enjoy your earwarmer, leave me a comment or send me a photo :)

**Edit: This Pattern has been moved to my Ravelry and Etsy Store.

Why Undervaluing Your Work Hurts All Crafters

In a Facebook group, I recently joined in a conversation where a crocheter asked how much she should charge for an infants dress. She explained she lived in a small town and people were not willing to pay a lot for items and wondered if $15 was a reasonable price. In my head, I was screaming "NO!" but my words have to be a little more gentle when dealing with others...I know...I'm maturing. More surprising than her suggested price, were the number of other hookers who were agreeing to the $15 price. I posted "Seriously? I think you are undervaluing your work," because, even an infant's dress, takes longer to make, has more materials, and is a more complicated design, than a child's hat and that's what I charge for a hat. I went on to explain that, I too, lived in a small town and understood how places with a lower cost of living expected lower prices. And I do believe your prices should reflect some consideration of the demographics of your area, however I wasn't prepared for the number of people who argued they did value their work but crocheting was just a hobby and they only wanted people to enjoy their work, so as long as materials were covered they were happy. OK, but you are selling it for $15 and a skein of yarn is $5, you have still tripled the cost of materials, so if you only wanted people to enjoy it you should only charge $5, so you are looking to profit, which leads me to believe you are keeping your prices low because 1. you don't value the time and skill aspect of pricing, 2. you are underselling your competition out of vanity. Neither of these reasons are very attractive and hurt other crafters who may be trying to make a living with their work. The excuse that crocheting is just a hobby, is even more hurtful and frustrating.

Let me give you an example:

Supposed your hobby was gardening, specifically vegetable gardening. One year you have a bumper crop of tomatoes. You produce so many tomatoes you could not possibly eat them all. You give some away to friends, family, neighbors to the point that they stop answering the door when they see you coming, so you decide to take your crop down to the local farmer's market to earn just a couple extra dollars. At the Farmer's Market there are local produce farmer's who have businesses to run so they have put a lot of time and thought into the cost of doing business and come up with a price of $2.39 a pound for tomatoes. The other farmer's there may be able to get by with charging $2.20, but there is a bit of an unwritten rule at the market that everyone charges close to the same price to keep from creating an unfair market. Don't believe me? Pay attention next time you go to the Farmer's market. Anyway, you bring your tomatoes and you realize to pay for your booth and have a little extra, you decide you will sell your tomatoes for $1 a pound. After all you don't need to make any real profit, and this is just a hobby and all that's important is people enjoy your tomatoes. For the rest of the day, no one buys the tomatoes of the farmer's who have businesses to run. You seem pretty proud of yourself because everyone wanted your tomatoes instead of the professional farmers so you feel your product was superior. In actuality, you were cheap. The other farmers are then left with the dilemma of marking their prices lower to compete with someone who doesn't care if they make a profit, or let their product "wither on the vine". You don't think it's that big of a deal because you are only one person and you are only going to be there that one day, but what you don't realize is there is someone doing the exact same thing ten booths down, every day. There are always hobby gardeners who have no clue what to charge because they just want to sell their stuff and excuse their low prices as they are just hobbyists. 

Look, I get that you don't want to price gouge people, believe it or not, I don't think it's right to over charge for an item either. A great deal of "What would I pay" goes into how I price my items, but a fair price should include a consideration of your time AND SKILL. Just because this is something that comes easy for you, doesn't mean it doesn't have value. Painting, sculpting, singing, acting, basketball, baseball, football, swimming.....are all skills that come easy to the people who are masters at their "craft", that's why they put the time and effort into developing their skill. SO DO YOU. Don't poo poo your abilities, because I will promise you, as someone who has tried to teach others how to crochet, not everyone can do it. 

If you aren't comfortable charging a fair market price for your work, then don't charge....donate your items, there are plenty of avenues for donating your work that will make you feel good about yourself. Don't stand on the "I just want to cover my materials..." excuse because I will assure you if you donate your time and skill, someone will donate materials. But stop undervaluing yourself AND your fellow crafters. 

Heirloom Gifts

One of the things I love the most about crochet is the ability I have to whip up a gift for almost anyone that I know will be cherished. We live in such a "run out and buy it" society where everyone has the same inventory to pick from. Everything is so mass produced, cheap and impersonal, it takes all the joy out of giving. I have found most people appreciate the time and effort I put into a gift I have made myself, and they know I didn't run out and buy it that morning and wrapped it in the car on the way to their event. I took the time to consider them, design and make a gift just for them.

My favorite gift occasion is a baby shower. The majority of my retail business consists of baby items, both sewn and crochet. I love the idea that an item I have made and presented to the parent to be could be an heirloom, passed down from one generation to the next. I love knowing, when I am designing a dress, gown, hat or other baby item, that there is a mother who will cherish that item for years to come.

You don't need a lot of experience or skills to create a cherished item. Consider making a simple beanie hat and then personalize it with some beads or pretty buttons.

Initial Post

So this isn't your grandma's crochet page. I'm the Snarky B, and I live up to the name. I might cuss, I might swear, I might make a pretty offensive joke and throw the word 'fart' around. You may be regaled with tales of drinking too much (when I was younger) and getting into arguments with people who don't respect my personal space at WalMart. But, along with it, you will get some pretty cool crochet patterns, ideas and advice. I am a badass, but I'm a badass that likes to crochet.

So lets get things started with a free pattern for these cute baby sandals. 1/11/16 Edit: Until Blogger allows me to monetize my blog, (there are hoops....lots of hoops to let OTHER people advertise on your space), I'm afraid I will have to charge a nominal fee for my patterns at this time. If that changes, I will happily convert this pattern back to free.) In the meantime, you may purchase this pattern through my Ravelry store HERE

Baby Bling Sandals
Materials Needed:
F sized hook
Medium worsted weight yarn, Size 4
2 Ribbon Slides (bling)
Yarn Needle
Scissors
Stitches Used:
SS – Slip Stitch
SC – Single Crochet
HDC – Half Double Crochet
CH – Chain