FO Friday - Epic Curb Chain

This FO is a little bit out of date, but it's been a bit mental around here of late. So, I finally finished reworking my Curb Chain pattern, and 36 links and approximately 72+ crocheting hours later, I finished up with this bad man:

On my rug

A little idea of scale

I put a lot of work into this, and I'm relieved to be able to say that it passes my personal litmus test, in that I can still look at it and be a bit awed by it. I know that's a bit big-headed, but I do think it's great, I'm really proud of it.

The pattern for the link I used was about the fourth or fifth version of the curb, here are a few examples of prototypes:

That's the original on the left, and two reworks that were both too small to work in conjunction with other links. The blue one is teeny, with not enough curve to allow following links to lie flat, and the third has too little space in the interior to allow for two links inside the centre of each one.

As a treat, I allowed myself to wear it to a wedding last weekend (after a thorough Scotchguarding) where I met a girl who is dating an old friend, she had been admiring it from afar, and has linked me up with a boutique in London that specialises in handmade objects, who will hopefully want to stock my pieces in the future. I'm also awaiting the date for the Liberty Best Of British Open Call, so that I can take a couple of my pieces to show to the accessories buyers there. More on that as it unfolds.

Crochet Organiser, Moi?

I am the first person to admit that I'm not very organised. Not that I couldn't be, I mean my maths teacher always said 'A true mathematician is not the one who can do large sums in their head, but the one who can organise a cupboard' and without trying to sound like an ass, I'm great at maths. My Gold and Best In School award from my year 9 attempt at the Natwest Advanced Maths Challenge is proof enough. (Yes, I'm aware that I'm great at sounding like an ass without trying, too.) But while I can be organised, the truth is that I just can't be bothered. Ever. My house has been tidy for the last two weeks, that's a lifetime record. I honestly don't know what's come over me. What I'm not keen to admit is that I'm actually quite enjoying the tidiness. Testament to this is the fact that the dishwasher is running Right Now.

 Like Straight After Dinner. 

This affliction just today spilled over into my crochet life (see above). In a little Rubbermaid toolbox, I've stowed all the things I need for crocheting my jewellery patterns, all the thread, hooks, piping cord, masking tape, scissors, darning needles and there's a half finished chain nestling in the bottom left corner (bagged, naturally to protect it from getting grubby)

I'm currently crocheting to a self imposed schedule of one basic chain link per day, that's about an hour and a half's work. The reason the toolbox is going to be such a revelation for me is that usually, if ever I stay away from home, I run around with five minutes to spare throwing my crochet necessaries into a plastic bag. Inevitably I end up having forgotten to pack something essential, like the masking tape or the right sized hook (duh) or my clothes end up getting abused by the wayward scissors which have punched their way out of the bag. Now, I can just grab the box and throw it in the boot, safe in the knowledge that I have everything I need in a squish proof haven. Is this what inner peace feels like?

FO Friday: Chain Commission Complete

Man, am I glad this is done. I do love crocheting, and I adore my chain pattern, especially now I've improved it (I keep looking at it and going "wow, that's amazing") but working small and to a deadline plays havoc with my fingers. As it happens, I still haven't handed it over to it's new owner, apart from a quick test to see that it was big enough to go over his head, since I really want to Scotchgard it first, and I don't think he's quite got the readies available yet. I took the picture at the stately home I work in, quite a boon since it's not even been that long since the National Trust have allowed photography (flashless, of course) inside their properties. 

This is actually my first ever FO Friday submission, hopefully the first of many.

Reworked Chain Pattern

Here's the new and improved version of my Chunky Chain, after I learned the key lesson about amigurumi patterns using a smaller hook than recommended. The result is a much tighter, neater and cleaner link, and I think it'll be one that'll wear better over time too. The initial re-work didn't take too long at all, maybe five hours, but I've been testing it out by working a whole chain using the new version, enabling myself to tweak and refine it as I go along. I was even making changes up to the last link, but I'm super pleased with the finished article.

This post is the first half of a deal I made that would result in me allowing myself to go to the wool shop. The deal being that I must write a post first. Hurray!

Hookin' Up - Affordable Wonders

We're all blog readers here, right? So we all know that there are blogs and blogs, by which I mean that the category of blog has so many different outcomes, that the name 'blog' gives away next to nothing about what you'll find when you click that link, and the world of crochet blogs in itself is just the same. You know, you get blogs which are all about one person's journey in wool manipulation, to blogs run by people that almost exclusively feature the work of others, or blogs by professional crochet designers to the new beginners.

Affordable Wonders is a blog which, somehow, seems to straddle the whole gamut. It's written by a crocheter who knows what it means to design a pattern, and who does so well, (check out the Mickey Mouse hat, look at those neat little stitches!) but who is willing to share her patterns for free. It's clear that this blog is written by someone who knows a bit about the power of giving, and I assume that's why she's so generously sharing her patterns and tips, from crocheted hair bows to home-made yarn swifts. Affordable Wonders hasn't been around long, just since February this year, but my money's on this blog becoming an invaluable resource over the next few years, for all of us crocheters and crafters out there. Definitely one to follow and keep your eyes on.

Pattern Improvisation

As you may be aware, I write and sell crochet patterns on Etsy, like a lot of other people do. Being that I spend a lot of time working on my own crochet patterns, I don't often get the time to crochet other things. Add this to the fact that I'm hard-core trained in the art of being poor, the likelihood of me shelling out for a crochet pattern is pretty low. So, I saw a pattern for a pair of fingerless gloves on Etsy that just stole my heart away, these

Yellow Air Balloon Gloves.

I hearted this pattern. I looked at it over and over, and eventually I figured out how it worked, in basic terms, and I took a shot at crocheting it myself, patternless. I used a beautiful purple merino wool (so soft!) and I probably spent about 

four hours getting to this point:

Not bad, right? But not good. It's alright, and I think I prefer the smaller stitches on the straight hand covering part, but I just look at it and see where it falls short of the original.  The trouble is, there are so many unknowns, like the size of hook, or the weight of the yarn, or where the pattern even starts that would be revealed if I had the pattern but would take me weeks of playing around with every possible 

permutation before I'd be happy with it. 

Since I sell my crochet work, I tend to measure the hours I spend crocheting in the money I would earn if I were at work. If I've spent four hours on this so far, that's about 24 quid at minimum wage, and this pattern costs three pounds twenty. That's five measly dollars. I can't remember how long ago I first saw these gloves, but it's taken me this long, and writing this blog post for me to realise that I should just pay the nice lady for her hard work and stop wasting more time. I'm going to do it. And I'll post them up for FO Friday when I eventually get them finished. I'm hoping that'll be before winter. Exciting!

My First Crochet Commission!

Yes! 

What feels like a huge milestone in my burgeoning crochet design career happened last week. No prizes for guessing, I've got my very first crochet commission. I'm over the moon (it makes me feel like an artist! Someone is paying for work that is 100% mine.) It's for one of my basic chains, and it came about in a way that gave me a little chuckle.

For all you social media lovers/haters, it was through twitter. I was having a conversation with a friend who I see on occasion, who had just recently popped up on twitter. We were chatting about what was going on, and he proceeded to rib me about the fact that I said I was crocheting "what are you knitting, a tea cosy? doily? limerick? psalm?"

I sent him a link to my chain, and long story short:

Having never been in a situation like this before, I'm sort of feeling my way around it. For one, as this is for a friend, I'm doing the chain at 'mates rates'. This is still no small sum, but taking into account the fact that each link takes me around an hour to complete, and that I'll need about 22 links to fit over an adult head, I'll probably be looking at an hourly rate that's not very far above the national minimum wage. I'm not worried about that too much, but I certainly wouldn't consider making this a regular price. I think that something around £10 for a hour of my time crocheting is more reasonable, considering that I know people who charge £25 per hour as 'artists' or 'expert' rates for skilled work.

Secondly, I am just about to re-write my chain pattern, with regards to what I recently learned about amigurumi. There's a part of me that thinks I should use the original pattern for this chain, but if I take the time to plan the new one first, I will have a shiny new prop to photograph before I hand it over, and anyone who sees this one out and about will see the improved version, so in terms of marketing itself, this must be better, even though it is likely that the newer pattern will take even longer than an hour per link. Once the re-write is done, I'm going to aim for one link per week day so it should be done in a month 

- I'll see how I do with that

Finally, I'm planning on taking payment for this one once the piece is done. I'm not sure if this is more motivation than taking the money first, but it will at least be encouragement if my resolve begins to flag during the latter stages. Again, this is not the way I would regularly do things (and so perhaps not the way I should be doing it this time either, but 

I'll learn from my mistakes.)

I hope one day to be able to build up a good stock of links so that I can list finished pieces like this on Etsy, that won't take me too long to finish. Do any of you ever undertake commissions? If you've got any words of wisdom, they'd be gratefully received.