Hi there everyone. I am still alive and enjoying a slight break from the studio. Well, that isn’t exactly true. I am spending plenty of time in my studio just dabbling around and making a few more (late) Christmas gifts.
I wish all of you a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. Make sure you have a designated driver, hire a driver or be like me and go to a party hosted by long time Alcoholics Anonymous members where the hardest thing served in an ice cold Coke.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Hope you all get lots and lots of craft supplies.
Luv,
Beth
I am a bit cranky today and I have another headache so I am going to vent a pet peeve of mine…I cannot tell you how many times a person has contacted me about buying or ordering an amigurumi from me and then, after I have given them the price and thanked them for their interest in my work, they just never write back. OK, so I am well aware that my work it out of many people’s price range and I completely sympathize and respect that. Heck, I am on the budget too. But it seems to me that common courtesy demands a response. Even if the response is “What the hell are you thinking charging that much?!” I mean, at least that would be some sort of reply and not just leave me hanging, waiting to see if I need to find space in my schedule for a special order.
There, now I am done venting.
Yesterday I went to bed at around 5 pm. My headaches aren’t normally so bad that I have to lie down and they usually don’t make me feel like crying, but this one did. And today I am exhausted. It is circumstances like these that make me grateful that I am able to do all my work from home. There is no one to care if I don’t show up to work. My doctor and I have come to the agreement that coping with and working around my migraines is the best solution for me. I told her that I don’t want to go on a wild goose chase looking for the next new drug and I am really not interested in diet changes. So I take a preventive that works only moderately well, but with no side effect at all and vicodin when I get a headache. Which lately has been more often than not…
Nevertheless, I have been able to put some work in today and I did yesterday before I laid down, although I think that may have been unwise…Between the last 2 days I have spent a little over 6 hours pattern writing and editing, which is the time goal I have set for the present, knowing that I will reassess. Anyway, I have been pleasantly surprised at how much I have been able to accomplish. The fox pattern is coming along nicely. I am still not sure when the pattern will be available because I am playing around with the idea of adding a few pattern modifications and turning it into an e-book type thing. This would mean more time and a significantly more expensive pattern as a result. Any opinions? Would you guys be more interested in a more large collection or the option to buy the patterns separately?
BTW, the yarn I dyed this weekend is almost completely dried. I have already wound some of the skeins into balls. Here is a pic of the skeins hanging on my improvised drying rack. (It is the step ladder I keep in my studio at all time because I cannot reach the top shelves)
A few of you have asked how I go about dying my yarn. It is bit complicated, so I will work on writing up a little instruction sheet sometime in the near future.
After my days of frustration in the studio I decided it was time to take a break. So I dyed some yarn yesterday. 
It made a nice change. Why do I like dying my own yarn, you ask? Well I’ll tell you. I do buy plenty of pre-dyed yarn, but there are some colors I want to use that simply aren’t available. Very pale colors are impossible to find. One of my favorites is the seafoam green I used for Hilbert. I have seen acrylic in a similar color, but since I am using only wool yarn now I have to dye it myself. Then there is the cream color I used for this little guy, I don’t think I’ve seen it anywhere. And I made a nice pukey green while I was at it. I’ll have some finished pics when the yarn is done drying and rolled into balls.
Messing around with the dye pots was relaxing enough so that I was able to put in some studio time without hyperventilating. I started a little guy that is going to wear these flowers all over his head 
sort of like a retro bathing bath cap. No pics of the face yet…
Yep, you heard me !@#$%&*!
And it’s all my own fault. I sat down today like a good girl with the intention of working on my fox pattern. Well I did, sort of. Everyone, everyone tells me that when writing a pattern I should just repeat an amigurumi exactly like one I made before so I can focus on taking pics and polishing the instructions. Wonderful advice, right? Only wonderful if you listen. So today I got very frustrated with choosing a new color scheme and trying to tweak the eye design a bit. I got myself all worked up and upset which I mean, come on, is that really necessary? It shouldn’t be. I just need to get over myself and deal with making a few repeats ;P
Many of you have been patiently waiting for me to come out with new patterns and I really appreciate that. Balancing my time between art work and pattern writing has been a struggle for me. After all, what I really, truly love to do is make art work. But I feel that I owe it to you, my faithful XD readers, to provide you with the means to create your own amigurumis.
After a LOT of thought and suggestions for others, here is what I have decided to try…Managing one’s time, especially when working for yourself, is a real skill to be developed. My dad had the brilliant suggestion of dedicating a set number of hours per week to writing patterns. Maybe this is obvious, but it wasn’t to me. That way, he said, I can be assured that I have made a good effort and be free from the nagging feeling that I should be writing patterns and just not doing it because I am afraid that it will eat up all of mine time. This makes such good, common sense that I am excited to give it a try.
Luv-able Hug-able opened last night and the on-line shop is open today. So go buy my stuff or else my husband won’t let me spend all my time making amigurumis anymore XD
I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving . My family is full of people who like to cook, which is just great since no one gets stuck doing all of the work. I made the ever popular green bean casserole. From scratch mind you 
After the feast was over I had the chance to finish up Anne’s goth girl. I experimented with a few new things as I like to do when I get the chance. This time it was the new wig, which I showed you already, puff sleeves and adding a tulle petticoat under her dress. You can see a bunch more pic in this set on flickr.
