Protesty

I have decided to protest against Etsy and my shop will be closed May 10th to show solidarity and support for genuine handmade goods. Etsy is allowing too many mass producers and resellers on their site. Etsy began as a site for GENUINE handmade items and small shops aren't able to compete with these mass sellers. If you have an Etsy shop and are able to do so please show your support and put your shop on vacation mode on May 10th and join the cause. For more information please visit http://protesty.com/ or become a fan on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/HandmadeSolidarity. Support handmade!

Yarnie Goodness

I've acquired a bit of merino wool yarn from a farmer in Colorado and have been dyeing like crazy. It really is addicting and so fun to do. 

Introducing my hand dyed yarn for Bad Ass knitters and crocheters.

 

 I call this color Burning Inside. A smoldering self striping yarn in variegating oranges and yellows. A pyromaniacs favorite color

 Killer Clown. This yarn is a creepy self striping rainbow of pink, blue, yellow, green, and purple. Are you afraid of clowns? You should be.

Hypothermia. This yarn starts out a frosty light blue and gradually darkens to a deep frozen arctic blue. Self Striping. Baby it's cool.

I call this color ACID TEST. A neon green and variegating purple self striping yarn sure to give you flashbacks. 

 

Atomic Vomit. This yarn is a nausea inducing shade of bright green. So Awesome you'll want to puke.

 

Hand dyed by me with food grade colors. This 100% worsted weight merino wool yarn is warm and fabulous to work with. This is a gorgeous yarn with great stitch definition.
 

Visit my Etsy shop for more info on my cool new yarns.

 

Victorian Inspired Chokers

I just love the beauty and mystic of the Victorian Era. I was inspired to make these little Victorian Mourning Chokers a few weeks ago. Made with #10 crochet thread and a #7 hook and I even added fancy ribbon to a few.  

 Work In Progress

 Ivory choker finished.

 Close up of sage green choker.

 All four completed

I love the edging on the skulls!

All chokers tie simply in a bow around the neck. I should have these babies up in my Etsy shop sometime in the next week for $15.00 each.

Fresh Designs Crochet Series

I am so excited that one of my delightfully demented crochet creations will be making an appearance at a bookstore near you this spring.

My pattern will be featured in the Fresh Designs Crochet series home edition published by Cooperative Press. The lovely and talented MK Carrol is the series editor and talked me into submitting a design and what do you know...they liked it! I can guarantee you wont see another pattern like this in any other craft book out there. It is definitely one of a kind.

I'm going to give you a little sneak peek at my project. I can only let you see a small swatch. But hopefully that will make you crocheters out there curious enough to buy the book.

It is one of my filet crochet designs and is creepy awesome! 

 

One cool thing about designing for a book is the free yarn. Or thread in my case. I got some Garden Cotton Thread by Nazli Gelin from Universal Yarn. It's great thread to work with and comes in tons of colors.

I will let everybody know when the book will be available for purchase. You can keep up to date on my progress and everyday BS on my Wicked Crochet Facebook fan page. Follow me if you want to live.

Just for Fun

Some Cool Old Crochet Photos I Found

Anarchy in the UK. 

Queen Victoria crocheting instead of knitting. 1889

Go Ahead. Make My Granny Square Vest.

Clint Eastwood in a Playboy fashion spread 1971.

Happy Halloween

"She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven't you?"  Norman Bates- Psyco

Halloween the best day of the year has finally come. I want to thank Countdown to Halloween for the chance to be a Cryptkeeper this year. I always love to share my Halloween antics with everybody. If you get a chance go check out the other Cryptkeepers for spooky fun.

This past Saturday I attended the annual Albany Oregon downtown trick-or-treat. To my surprise I spotted two fantastic crochet Halloween costumes. Since I was a kid I have always loved the comic strip Garfield. I've got a thing for fat cats....what can I say? I about died from all the cuteness these costumes have. Tons of work went into these little darlings. The lady has mad crochet skills that's for sure. 

Of course my nephew Journal won the costume contest. He was a "Lich" which according to him is an evil undead sorcerer.

My nephew and son. My son is the weird pumpkin head guy.

This is apparently what Liches do. They eat souls for breakfast and broken hearts for lunch.

That evening my family and I took a tour of Haunted Albany on the Trolley of terror. Great ghost stories were told and spooky fun was had.

Son, sister and daughter.

Melody and Mimi.

There is lots of fun to be had tonight on All Hallows Eve. 

Trick-or-Treat a haunted house

Make friends with the Jack-o-Lanterns.

Dress your pets in funny costumes.

Be safe tonight and to everyone have a Happy Haunted Halloween!!

The Semi-Great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze

Last year I was browsing around the internet and found out about this amazing event in the historic Hudson Valley. At the Van Cortlandt manor estates they hold an annual jack-o-lantern blaze where you can see over 4000 individually hand carved illuminated pumpkins. Absolutely breathtaking! Please visit the Historic Hudson Valley website for more photos and info.

The great jack-o-lantern blaze

Van Cortlandt manor

I just love jack-o-lanterns. The way they look, the smell, and especially the history. For some reason they just make me happy. I even have a grinning jack-o-lantern tattooed on my leg. So since it's such a long drive from Oregon to New York I had my own blaze last year. I invited friends and family over to a pumpkin carving party to help me carve over 80 jack-o-lanterns. We had planned on doing this outside but of course the dreaded Oregon rain decided to show up so we had to move indoors. I had pumpkin guts strewn from one end of my house to the other. But the finished project was so well worth it!

Enjoy these pictures from last years Semi-Great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze and pumpkin carving party. 

Creepy Punch

A shitload of pumpkins

My sis taking out her aggressions

My son and the porch dummy. My sons on the left lol.

Carved pumpkins along the fence

HAPPY HALLOWEEN