*Early Access: I won’t be announcing this sale anywhere else until Wednesday!*
20% off all ready-to-ship items
No coupon code needed!
Much love, peace, and yarn;
Spring Break Sale
Vincenzo’s Spring Ripple Throw
Happy Saturday, y’all!
I finished Vincenzo’s Spring Ripple Throw! I don’t have a whole lot more to add to my observations from this post, but I will say that this is another one of those mindless, put it on repeat and go, patterns. Which is something that I really, really need sometimes. Unplug the brain, let the muscle memory take over, and sink into The X-Files. (Or your binge-worthy show of choice!)
So with that being said, have some pics!
First, a reminder of Vincenzo’s only throw to date:
And now the finished Spring Ripple Pics!:
I think he’s happy with it. 🙂
Much love, peace, and yarn;
Upcoming sale!
Mark your calendars… During the week of Spring Break (March 6-14) all items at Stardream Stitchery will be 20% off, no code needed!
(Sale applies to ready to ship items only, does not include custom orders or patterns.)
Too many projects…
Sometimes my Muse really pisses me off. Don’t get me wrong, I love her, we make beautiful things together, but c’mon… seriously?
As stated previously, I’m working on the Spring Ripple Throw for Vincenzo. I made a *little* progress yesterday, adding a section of the Pale Yellow and another line of white. Not as much as I wanted to get done, but life happens.
I also made progress on the next unicorn. Again, not as much as I wanted to, but it’ll do I guess. This one is going to be all in shades of pink. Her name is Rose. I had hoped to get at least the rear legs finished yesterday too, but no matter.
And now… now… I woke up this morning and the crazy lady that lives in my head has another project in mind for the day. Seriously?! Does she not SEE the pile of W.i.P.s (works in progress) taking up one whole side of the living room? I’ve got enough things to do already, woman; can we please finish something first!?
…
It won’t take that long… a few hours, tops, and it’ll be done…
Really?
Yeah… c’mon, you’ll be done by lunch…
(sigh)
You know he’ll love it…
No, I do not know that, but I bet he’d use it…
Exactly! Then you can get back to the stuff you NEED to do…
… Fine.
Yay!
…
So I guess now I’m making my husband a “couch pouch”!
Backstory:
Almost two years ago I got the idea that I was going to make him a blanket in his favorite colors by doing C2C squares and joining them together. After a few months, I threw that plan out the door and made him this beautiful bobble blanket instead:
The pattern is 220 My Soulmate by Nancy Liggins. I used Red Heart Super Saver in Pumpkin and Black, with my size G (4.0mm) Furls Streamline Ebony. This beast turned out to be extremely heavy, but nice and warm. I had to add a few rows top and bottom to make it long enough for him, of course! It sure came in handy 2 weeks ago when we had the Snowpocalypse, let me tell you! As a result of changing my mind (again!), I have been left with this pile of Cheez-Itz taking up space in my stash…
That’s where the Muse comes in. She’s decided that we can put them together and practice joining to make him a couch pouch for the arm of his chair so it stops eating his remotes and such. Okay, that sounds pretty easy, right?
6 hours later…
Admit it; you read that in the Spongebob voice.
Whew!
It’s my first time joining squares, let alone c2c squares. It shore ain’t purty, but it’ll do ya fine. 😉 I can definitely see that if I’m going to want to join together knitted squares to make a blanket someday, I’m going to have to practice quite a few different joining techniques before I find the one that I like. Here’s me testing the fit, before weaving in ends:
And here it is finished:
As I said, he probably wouldn’t win any beauty awards, but he should do the trick. There are 3 small pockets along the front, and behind them is a long pocket that is only attached at key structural points at the top. (My fancy way of saying the durn thing kept flopping open because the front pockets were weighing it down! Bad planning on my part!)
Now that that’s done… can I go back to my WiP pile?
Okay… for a little while…
Much love, peace, and yarn;
BEHIND THE FEATURE: Mythical Minicritters – Unicorn
A little rambling first…
There are a lot of amazing designers out there. A LOT. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the people who come up with the recipes for my creations. It’s hard stuff!
One of my favorite amigurumi designers is Megan Lapp of Crafty Intentions. Her designs have such amazing detail and shaping that gives them so much life! Here are a few that I’ve made so far:
Recently, I purchased her Cute Critters Pack 3 to make some more friends for the shop. While trying to decide which one to make first, I realized that I haven’t made a unicorn yet! (What’s wrong with me; all these dragons and no unicorn?!) Okay; decision made, I guess! Unicorn it is!
Pixie Bloom, the Original
At around about the end of the first hoof, she started talking to me. Her name is Pixie Bloom, and let me tell you; this girl is LOUD, this girl is SASSY, and this girl KNOWS WHAT SHE WANTS. And she wants to go live with L.
Backstory time: One of my husband and I’s closest set of friends (D & L) have been there for us in so many, many ways over the years. I will never be able to adequately express how much their friendship means to us, or how much we appreciate having them in our lives. There are so many things we wouldn’t have gotten through without their help. L feels the same way about unicorns that I do about dragons. There are never enough.
So Pixie Bloom is telling me that she belongs to L, and that she wants to be a surprise. Hey, I can dig it! How exciting; receiving an unexpected, surprise unicorn in the mail! Fun! Being that Pixie Bloom is the first unicorn I’ve ever made, I find it fitting that she’s going to someone I care about.
(I unconsciously started a tradition of giving the first of any specific type of item that I make to someone I love. My parents got my first blanket, my oldest got my first scarf, my youngest got my first jellyfish, etc… One of these days I’ll figure out something to make my bestie, but she crochets too so it’s hard lol.)
From that point on, Pixie Bloom just flew off the hook. By the time I got her head done, she was egging me on faster, faster… 2 days later she was finished and ready to go! She requested a flowery variegated yarn from my stash for her mane and tail, because she’s “a spring unicorn, full of life and new beginnings and hope for the future.”
(Side note: Am I the only one whose creations talk to them while they’re working? I swear, each and every project has a voice and an opinion on what colors it wants to be.)
I am absolutely in love with her curls and her cute little face. I really hope she brings L as much happiness and joy receiving her as I got out of making and shipping her! I made a few more for the shop. For me, this unicorn in these colors now represents the love and appreciation you feel for your friends. It will always be “L’s unicorn, Pixie Bloom”. 🙂
The next colors I’m doing will represent the joy and love of children… it’s being made for my bestie’s daughter! I’ll add more to this post when that one is finished!
Much love, peace, and yarn;
Spring Ripple
Most of today was spent working on the blog. Adjusting this, tweaking that… Being a perfectionist Virgo is fun! (haha) I did eventually settle down for a while and work on the Spring Ripple blanket for Vincenzo.
(BTW, for those who haven’t met him yet, this is Vincenzo):
I made him using Hooked by Kati’s Vincent the Dragon pattern, just with blanket yarn and a bigger hook. He’s my Shop Mascot, Guardian of the Yarn, Hoarder of the Hooks, and Protector of the Patterns. He was put together in a specific way so he would sit nicely on the back of the couch that I sit on to stitch. (See this post to read about the seasonal blankets that I am making for him to lay on.)
Here he is on his Christmas Star Throw (the only one currently complete):
So anyway, here’s today’s progress on the Spring Ripple Throw for him:
I’m using various yarns from my stash, some that have labels and some that don’t. The white is Red Heart Super Saver in Soft White, the yellow is Red Heart Super Saver in Pale Yellow. The teal is Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in Ocean. The pastel rainbow is unlabeled from my stash.
My thoughts on the yarn:
- The Red Heart Super Saver is a bit scratchy to work with, but I know it softens up nicely when washed. It’s also a little thinner worsted than I like. I prefer Mainstays Basic.
- I Love This Yarn is one of my absolute favorites to work with. It’s really soft and washes up even softer! But since the Mainstays quality has improved, I tend to get it more often simply because there’s more yardage. Better color choices with ILTY though.
- This random stash yarn is… disappointing. The colors are gorgeous, but the yarn is super scratchy and fuzzy and hard to work with. I’m hoping it will soften up in the wash.
(No, I wasn’t paid to review these yarns. These are just my opinions, YMMV.)
So, I think that pretty much sums up what I’ve been up to today! Tomorrow it’s back to orders; the weekends are for me, weekdays are for the shop! I have 2 unicorns to make this week. Wish me luck!
Much love, peace, and yarn;
Seasonal Throws
My mom has always decorated her house for the seasons, not just the holidays. I’ve taken inspiration from her and decided that I want to make a throw for each season for Vincenzo to lay on. He’s currently only had the Christmas Star.
I have started a Winter blanket so that the Christmas Star will just be for Christmas, not all of winter. For this one, I’m doing Mandala Madness by Helen Shrimpton (Crystals and Crochet). I’m using Mainstays Basic Yarn from Wal*Mart in White. I’m calling this one “Schneetraum” (Snowdream).
For summer, I’ve got my Tranquil Happiness blanket that I’m making using the Rippling Waves pattern by Jean Leinhauser, and Lion Brand Mandala Ombre, in colorways Tranquil and Happy, both of which I got for Christmas from my wonderfully supportive parents. The yarn is soooo soft, and the colors just scream summer to me!
A few months back, my best friend bought some yarn off Marketplace from a woman who was destashing and shared it with me, and in with it was this partially begun blanket and all the yarn to finish it! The timing couldn’t have been any more perfect, as I had just been mentioning to my husband that I thought I might want to do seasonal throws to switch out throughout the year. It seemed like a sign that it was meant to be! And the colors are perfect for Autumn!
So that just left me with spring, and I had the hardest time finding colors in my stash that spoke to me. But finally, after weeks of thinking about it, inspiration struck a few days ago! So, another stash blanket…
The Spring Rounded Ripple Throw!
I’m using the Rainbow Ripple Baby Blanket pattern by Celeste Young for this one. I love how delicate it looks!
With that, I’m off to go stitch some more. I’ve spent the last too many hours working on this blog, it’s time to sit with my yarn and hooks for a bit! 🙂
Much love, peace, and yarn;
Something new…
I’ve gotten a lot done in the past 24 hours! This will just be a quick recap, as it’s getting late and the other half is getting tired, lol.
For the story behind the new blog, click here.
The custom order Stormfly is finished and shipped!
I’m happy with how he turned out. I didn’t put any wire in him, for safer play. I just love his face! Not too shabby for my first time really attempting to embroider eyes.
I finished a surprise gift for a friend that I’ll post about as soon as it’s been received. I could have just driven it the 15 minutes over, but how exciting is it to get unexpected packages in the mail from friends?! I hope it brings as much joy in the getting as it’s brought in the giving.
One of my favorite things… It was shipping day at the Stitchery! I love love love sending my creations off to their forever homes! (We’ll just ignore the fact that for the first hour or two after shipping, there’s lots of “ah, geez… I hope they like it. I hope it’s good enough…” The joys of being an artist, am I right?)
Once I get past that first few hours though, I get so much joy out of knowing that something that I had a blast making is going out into the world to bring someone else a little slice of happy.
I had to put my pretty Mosaic Granny into the “someday” W.i.P pile since I ran out of the yarn for the moment. It’s really coming along beautifully, though! My three favorite colors together!
So there’s today’s update! I’ve got lots and lots and LOTS more to tell y’all, but let’s not write an entire 9-book series on our first day, hmm? More to come soon; watch this space!
Much love, peace, and yarn;
The Blog’s Story
Hi there! 💜
If you don’t know me already, my name is Jehn and I’m the Owner and Lead Fiber Artist of a little crochet shop named Stardream Stitchery. (You can read the story behind the shop here.) I recently passed my one year shop-iversary (whoo!) and I decided that I wanted to keep a “journal”of my projects. I like the idea of being able to go back and look at my thoughts and ideas.
I also like the thought of sharing it with all of you, so you can get a behind-the-scenes view of my creations! A lot of love and care go into each and every item that I make. And sometimes the in-process photos are absolutely hilarious, too fun not to share!
I have a hook and yarn in my hands almost every day, and I’m excited to start documenting the experience! If you’d like to join me on the journey, you can subscribe via email below, just click the follow button!
Much love, peace, and yarn;
Some random facts about me:
- My favorite color is white, closely followed by purple.
- I’m a pet person. I’ve had an animal of some sort most of my life. I’m currently between pets; my 20 year old lady kitty (I had her the last 5) crossed the rainbow bridge last October. I’d like to get a dog, it’s only been cats since I was a teenager.
- I lived in Germany for 4 1/2 years as a kid.
- I met my husband when I was 15, but we didn’t start dating until I was 28.
- Yarn is my happy place!
- I curse way too much in real life.
- The X-Files is my favorite show. I’ve gone through all 11 seasons and both movies 12 times and counting!
- Books are friends.
Stardream Stitchery 