Two Kazoos!

Every now and again I run across a shop I'd like to share with you all.  Well, there are actually tons of amazing shops out there but between the advertising/giveaway posts I don't want to slam you with too many shops but this one is worth spamming you!  Two Kazoos!  

First of all Two Kazoos is a super fun name.  Second, her items are all felt based...some of you may remember after the Christmas Advent calendar I have a new love for quality felt and felt made items.  

I love her tic tac toes travel games. 

cute right?!?!  They even come with a little pouch to keep it all contained when not using. 

She also sells a handful of other things and takes custom orders!  Tooth fairy bags, magnets, hair clips, baby board books, banners and more.  Two Kazoos also sells a few types of felt if you are into crafting your own things.  

What I really wanted to share with you are her embellishments though.  They are a perfect addition to your IH hats!  Well any hat really ;)  I can't wait to order a few for sweatshirts this winter.  My boys aren't the kind of boys that can wear the same sweatshirt all week.  They are a once wear kind of boy.  I can guarantee they will have dirt, snot, and food on them after one wear...yes, all 3 of those lovely things.

  Solution:  cheaper sweatshirts made cuter with a little boy bling.  Since my husband prefers I not bedazzle them I will just have to embellish them ;)

Would this rocket not be great for Sawyer?

A few other cute ones!  Karly was always into monkeys...she probably would die if I put one on a sweater for her now! haha!

Remember this hat from well over a year ago...

gasp yes that is my baby that is no longer a little baby :(  and no longer has blue eyes either.  

Man he is so cute!  Oh back to the hat....

I love this hat...I don't even mind making the hat but those damn embellishments kill me.  

I hate making them!  Step in Two Kazoos!!  I knew I had to share her shop when I saw these!  

PERFECT RIGHT?!?!  She even offers them in different sizes!

They are perfect for you DIYers that don't want to do it for your own kids hats or even sellers that don't!  Bump up your hat price a little and order them!  I plan on selling a few of them later this year and will go this route!  The cost more than makes up for how long it would take me.

If you haven't linked over to Two Kazoos yet do it!  Also follow her on Facebook and stay in the know...she also posts sneak peaks of her custom items which are always fun to see!  You never know, it might be something you didn't even know you needed!

Check her out, she has some great items and you are supporting another work at home mom in the good ol US of A!  

Want the Inner Hooker hat pattern?  go here:  Inner Hooker

Go handmade!!

Crochet Along Week 7

So.... our first week back how did everyone do??

I actually kicked butt this week and even managed to work ahead a little.  That is a good thing because from here on I will be playing catch up (in addition to the weekly goal) on the rest of the assignments.  I am actually behind having many of my circles only done through the 2nd or 3rd rounds.  That makes quite a bit more work for me from here forward but seeing this come together is pretty motivating so I am hoping it'll keep me going!

Oh how I love stacks of grannies!

Oh how I don't love tails.  

I have weaved in some but clearly not all of them.  You may want to start working on your tails while watching shows or with a glass of wine ;)

and the motivator shot

Sorry for the dark pic!  I didn't want to spread them out on the grass and the sun was already down leaving my house dark.

Again, this week you'll want to complete 44 rounds in some way, shape or form. If you are working complete grannies you'll want to make 6 grannies. If you are working a round at a time you'll want to 44 squares completed through round 6 I am going to be wrapping up my grannies so my goal is get 14-15 grannies completed through round 6 (complete through 7 if doing 7 rounds total on your grannies).  I originally was going to have 7 rounds but am fairly certain that I will be using this joining method which pretty much adds an extra round.  

Have you started thinking about how you are going to join your squares? Here are a few tutorials I found online that look good!

1.  Attic 21's join as you go

2.  Attic 21's crochet together

3.  Grumpy Girl's flat seam crochet

4.  Bethintxl's whip stitch (video) she also has a few other videos for joining if you prefer videos

5.  Gourmet Crochet has a few really pretty and interesting joining methods

6.  Carina's Craftblog joining method (this is the one I am using)

These are just a few of the joining methods and tutorials out there.  If you don't care for any of them google away, I promise you'll find others!

Don't forget to share your pictures on Inner Hooker's facebook page so we can all OOOH and AAHHH over them!!  

Flower Pattern: Free!

When I made this hat I decided last minute to whip up a flower for it.  Of course I was racing out the door (late I am most certain) to meet the photographer.  This became one of those things I really needed to get around to writing up but of course never did....until now.  

Sure it's been a year but hey better late than never right?

I used a #5 bulky weight yarn and an H (5.00mm) hook for the flower on the hat.  Truly just about any weight yarn will work it just may look a little different.

Flower Pattern

Start with a magic circle.  {never heard of this magic I speak of??  Check out this video}

Round 1:  make 6 sc in center, join to beginning and pull circle closed {6 sc}

Round 2:  (4sc in each sc)  {24 sc}

Round 3:  (3sc in each sc)  {72 sc}

(optional)

Round 4:  (sc in each sc)  {72 sc} 

want your flower more wavey?  Add an extra sc in each or every other space.  

Less wavey?  Don't do so many sc in each. 

Fasten off, weave tail to center of flower.  Use your 2 tails to tie to hat and weave in.  I also like to add a button to the center but that's completely optional.

The hat pattern can be purchased here:  Inner Hooker Super Bulky Beanie

pattern includes 5 sizes ranging from newborn to adult and directions to make the hat with or without earflaps. 

Hope you enjoy!  Now go add sweet flowers to all of your stuff!

Holiday Gift Exchange, my favorite purse, and a new pattern

A few months ago I saw this purse on Pinterest. 

 It was love at first sight. Truly I dreamt about this purse!  I could not get it out of my mind!  Of course it was one of those pins that link to the blog in general and not the post that the actual picture is in {why do people do that!?!?}.  I spent a few nights scouring the blog for this picture and finally found it BUT there no explanation of where it was from or anything!  I decided to email the blog owner....yes, I told you I was obsessed.  In fact at this point in the hunt I am pretty sure I had convinced myself that I actually NEEDED the purse to continue on with my life.  I emailed her begging and pleading her to share where she got it.  No luck.  She found the picture on google and had no clue where it came from :(  {thank you nice blog lady for at least emailing me back!}  

Sigh...being the crazy obsessed resourceful woman I am I knew what had to happen.  I had to make it myself!  Insert a few months of getting sidetracked, other projects and patterns pushing this one further down my to-make list.  

November came and with it Linda from Craftaholics Anonymous and her semi-annual gift exchange!  I signed up a little nervous but ready.  In true Scotti fashion I waited until the very last week to get serious.  I was totally at a loss for ideas.  I hadn't had much time to chat with my partner and didn't get a really good feel for her.  I knew a few things, we are both busy ladies, have 3 kids, she enjoyed photography, sewing, cooking, etc... and is in school.  So needless to say she dabbles in it all.  More thinking...more stressing....more wondering why I torture myself like this...AND THEN IT HIT ME.  My favorite purse would be perfect!  

A few late nights and I did it!!  I was so excited and really wanted to keep it for myself but I did wrap her up and send her new home in Washington!  I hope she is loved!  

Now to make one for myself!  I am holding out until I can buy some single ply handspun.  Wouldn't that be lovely?

Side note: do you think I could buy some fabulous shoes as a business expense to recreate the original picture? 

What is that you say??  You want to make one too???  Pattern can be purchased here! 

Diamond in the Rough purse pattern

I am in love with making purses!  I can't wait to start my next one!

Pin It

Inner Hooker Circus and a Giveaway

Confession:  I have had a serious case of the blahs.  I usually have so many ideas my hands won't work fast enough.  Since just before summer I just sort of got burned out.  I had ideas but couldn't force myself to actually put them out.  Months ago Ciara Hammonds Photography (one of my dearest friends) asked me to make circus themed hats.  6 months later I finally did it.  Soooo sorry I took so long Ciara!  You know I love you!  That being said I think I am back in the groove!  Now to wrap up all of these half finished things :)  
Thanks for sticking with me through the blahs and months of nothing new.  


onto the good stuff...

How can you not LOVE the Inner Hooker Circus!

We got our kids together and these are the resulting photos!  I can't believe Ciara's awesomeness!  Our kids definitely gave us a time.  That combined with the previous day of rain = gypsy circus!  Our kids were covered in mud and candy drool in about 5 minutes.  

All of the above patterns are now available for purchase!
Simply click the links below and it will take you to the shop! 

Circus Monkey

Elephant

Clown

Lion

Bear

Don't already own any of the above and want to purchase the entire circus set??  Click below!

The Circus (all 5 patterns)


and....since it's been awhile I thought it would be a good time to do a GIVEAWAY!
3 winners will win the entire Circus Set (patterns)!

Here's how to enter!

1.  leave a comment on this post
2.  follow Inner Hooker on facebook or tell me you already do
3.  share on facebook, be sure to tag Inner Hooker using the @ symbol
4.  Follow Ciara Hammonds Photography on Facebook
5.  Follow me on Pinterest...yeah it's not related but come on it's so fun!

and that's it!  5 ways to enter to win 5 patterns!

Contest will close at 11:59p Thursday the 27th with the winners
being chosen by Random.org and announced Friday the 28th.

Week 4 & Week 5

How's everyone doing so far??  My apologies for not getting a goal up last week.  

I was dealing with this

Poor sick Dex

Poor sick baby :(  After a week he is finally back to normal...or close to it anyways.

So with a freebie week did you catch up?  did you slack?  I wish I could say I got all the way caught up but like I said I did a lot of baby holding!  I am close to caught up and after this week (another half assignment) I have high hopes I'll be caught up.

Here are my happy little stacks

I currently have:  

25 through round 2

41 through round 4

and 22 though round 4

We are going to pick up the second half of the last assignment.

Here are your recommendations for goals this week, pick whichever you want:

1) work 44 squares through round 4 

2) if you worked half of your squares through round 4 last week. Work 22 more.

If doing #1 or #2 you should have all 88 through round 4 at the end of this week

3) Work 6 full squares 

In addition, if you haven't been dealing with your tails now would be a good week to start weaving some in!

We will be back to a full assignment next week so try to catch up!

This is the second half assignment of last week. Remember these are just general ideas, if you are just cruising along doing your own thang keep on cruisin’!  Love, love, love the pictures you are sharing!

 If you are blogging your progress PLEASE link up below! 

Remember to also share your pictures on my facebook and our Flikr group.

Facebook

Flikr 

and if you are blogging your progress please link up! 

 Be sure to link your actual post not the blog, this makes it easier to find

Week 2 Crochet Along

Week 2

One week down!  How did you do??  Did you meet the goal??  Work beyond or perhaps you have a little catching up to do??  I have about 40 more round 2's to go but will finish them tomorrow.  I actually am typing this at 1:30am so I guess it would be today not tomorrow.

 My line up!  I plan on doing color through round 3 or 4 (probably 4) and then the last round and joining with a creamy ivory color.

lots of round 1's!!  Look at all those tails!  Yes, this is what I still had Wednesday!  

Someday I will stop procrastinating!

My little assistant eating a round 1

and as of 2am  :(  Still have quite a few to go but hopeful I'll wrap them up today!

Week 2 Assignment

there are a few options

1.  continue working 1 round per granny (complete through round 3 on all) **I will probably do this one

2.  work 10-12 complete grannies

3.  if you get bored working the same round work rounds 3 and 4 on 44 of them (you will do this again next week)

Feel free to share your pics on any or all of the sites below!  I can't wait to see them!

Facebook

Flikr  (I am not very Flikr savvy so hopefully I did that correctly!)

someone also asked about a Ravelry group.  I'll look into it and try to have it together by next Friday.

and if you are blogging your progress please link up!  Be sure to link your actual post not the blog, this makes it easier to find

checking in!

So how is everyone coming along with their weekly goals??  Don't forget to snap a picture today or tomorrow of your progress!  We will have a few ways to share the pics with each other (blog, fb, and hopefully Flikr).  

Can't wait to see you tomorrow!

Step Right Up! Clown Bonnets for sale! One week only!

Morning!  I don’t sell many finished items but I have had a few requests for clown bonnets recently.  {{Umm and really I hate to pat myself but man alive are they so adorable...or maybe it's the super cute kids that are helping but either way.....}}  I also want to make Dex one for Halloween so timing is pretty perfect!  I am going to open up orders for them for a limited time.  Orders will be accepted through September 2.   

If you’d like to order one please head over to my website INNER HOOKER. 

I will order the yarn September 3 and as soon as it comes in I will get busy on them!  Orders will take approx. 3-4 weeks (depending on yarn shipment).  As soon as yours is complete it will ship.  Orders will be worked in the order payment is received.  If you’d prefer a particular color for the bonnet or the hair please include this in the notes to seller when checking out in paypal.  If you don’t request a particular bonnet color it will be chosen at my discretion.  The hair color will include all colors in the typical ROYGBV pattern unless otherwise requested.

If you have any questions please email me at innerhooker@hotmail.com

Go get yours now! INNER HOOKER. 

Thanks so much!

Crochet Along Week 1

Welcome to the FIRST (but hopefully not the last) Crochet Along!!!  

I am so super excited to get started on this!  We are going to start and complete an adult size afghan (approximately 50" by 70", 88 grannies total, 8 squares x 11 squares) in 8-10 weeks.  Hefty goal?  Maybe!  We will take it a week at a time and adjust if we need to!  This will put us completing this early November!  Just in time for things to get crazy for the holidays.  Perhaps this could be one of your handmade gifts!

I’d love for you to invite your friends and family to join along as well!  If you are participating and have a blog feel free to take a button!  You may also want to follow me on facebook!  I will check in with you all throughout the week to see how things are progressing (too slow/too fast, etc).  

I am so happy you are joining me on this.  Please know this is my first time hosting a crochet along and my first granny square afghan.  We may hit a few bumps along the way but I look forward to this being good!  Now, let’s grab a beverage, sit down and get started {you can pretend we are all chatting in cozy chairs at some totally groovy coffee shop, I totally am!}

I prefer to work my grannies in more of an assembly line.  You can choose to do them however you’d like but I’ll be doing mine a one round per week.  You may prefer to do your grannies start to finish, one at a time (you’ll need to complete about 11-12 a week)  {sidenote:  I love working them in groups so I have a handful at some stage or another {truly for no other reason than they look pretty all stacked up!} but being my first time it was confusing to figure a good schedule and keeping the week’s work pretty even throughout.  Maybe the next one we’ll do this way!  Again, if you prefer you could do it this way.}  Bottom line you want your granny to grow a round a week so if you want to do half your group at a time you’ll work 44 grannies and do twice as many rounds per week and start over with your next group of grannies half way through.  Confused yet???   I shouldn’t type my thoughts out loud I confuse myself!  

Back to what I was saying…we will do one round per week.  The first week we are going to work through Round 2 on as many as possible.  Whatever we don’t finish will carry over to week 2 and so on.  This predictable schedule makes it easy enough to catch up if you fall behind on a busy week or go ahead if you have more time one week than another.  We will check in once a week, if you blog I'll post an area here to link up.  If not we can post on Flikr, Facebook or whatever idea you may have.  Let me know your thoughts on this.

Oh and did I mention we are doing the Sunburst Granny??

{pics found via pinterest you can find original credits and links on this blog}

isn't she purdy!

Week 1:

 Download the pattern.  Gather your supplies.  Before getting started I recommend making 1 granny from start to finish.  Check your gauge!  {trust me on this, I have no clue what I was thinking and checked it after about 40 circles...yeah WAY TOO TINY}  The finished granny also serves as a good reference for color changes and such.

You are going to need yarn….lots of yarn!  You may choose to use all stash yarn or go out and buy all coordinating or your colors of choice.  If I have done my math right (and I like to think I have) this project will take just under 3,000 yards…YES INSANE RIGHT!?!?  NOT including the yarn for joining {because I honestly have no clue how much that will take}.  My practice granny took about 35 yards.

Week 1:  make 88 grannies through Round 2

Week 2:  work all through Round 3

Week 3:  work all through Round 4

Week 4:  work all through Round 5

Week 5:  work all through Round 6

Week 6:  work all through Round 7

Week 7:   Round 8 & 9 dependent on size
Weeks 8-9:  finish any squares not complete and join

Now go get busy!!!  You have 88 circles through round 2 to complete!  Please leave any questions or feedback in the comments here and I'll get back with you!

Final Day!!

The final day is over!

Thank you to our vendors Taylor, Natasha, Samantha and Andrea for sponsoring today's prizes. If you didn't win you can always still shop! You will not be disappointed I can assure you!

In case you need a reminder...here is the loot!

$45 shop credit to Taylor'd 2 U (website and Facebook)

a frog lovie from Looped with Love (Etsy and Facebook)

a hand crocheted mermaid set photo prop from EvryDayThreads (Etsy and Facebook)

$25 to Doodies Booties (Etsy and Facebook)

and the winner is...........

Jacquelyn Foreman said...

Tweeted!

Congrats!!! Now if you didn't win don't hate on me, hate on random.org and then go buy yourself something so you can feel better :)

Thanks again everyone!