Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Conan's Blanket

Pretty much exactly a month ago Conan's mom sent me an email saying, "Do you make blankets?"  I told her I had before and could, but don't normally.  That it can get pricey and timely and I know it's nerve wracking knowing you have buckets of money out in the hopes that you will get something back.  It sounds like one great big scam.  And right at this time I was in the process of being scammed by another woman, or she was attempting to, I am to smart for that!  :)

So the emails started coming, I want this, well how about this?  Now like I said I don't normally make blankets but when she delivered that line in that email, "this is something I've wanted to do for him since I was pregnant but was never able to complete"(not quoting here) I was sold, hook, line and sinker, I was all in.  I knew in my heart I NEEDED to do this for her. 

She was nervous too, was she going to be scammed?  Is it a joke?  What is going to look like?  Can she do what she says she's going to do?  So every few days I would send her an email with an update and or picture to show her how it's coming along.  And trust me, this blanket was tedious and frustrating.  Every time I started, something went wrong.  Nothing was turning out how I envisioned.  Finally I just went for it.  It looked like it would be a little narrow but it was going to work.  She needed it for her two year old son.  I told her it would probably take until May, but she kept dropping little hints that she wished it would be done in time for her son's birthday.  I just knew I had to get it done for her, no questions asked.  It had to be done by April 1st.  It had to be there for his birthday.  So I went all in, doubled up the yarn and knitted it up quick.

The emails still kept coming she kept checking in to see how her blanket was going.  After a month long, I have finally finished this blanket.  I personally HATE doing blankets, nothing against Conan and his mom, it's me, if I can't see results in a few hours, I start to lose my mind, like the project is dragging on and on and will never end.  And as each week passed, and I finally got to the part where I was going to insert Conan's name, I knew I was in the home stretch.

I'm so glad I was able to do this for her.  Here are progressive pictures.  Like I said she emailed a lot and wanted pictures so I have so many of how this blanket came along.  And in no way was it annoying at all.  When I say the more descriptive you are the better, I mean it.  This blanket wouldn't of turned out how she wanted it if she hadn't of been so vocal.

It went from this at the start of March.



 A week or so later
 Another week
 The name is going in!  I remember how excited I was when I sent that email
 Completed the name with minimal efforts that same night.
 To it being almost done last night.
 To completely being done last night.
 My son showing how big it is, this is the back of the blanket.  All tediously interwoven.
 Wrapped around my son

I am so glad this thing is completed.  Hoping to ship it on Monday!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Adding something new!

So although yes, my site is mostly for my crochet and knit wear.  And I love doing it.  It's hard to find people to buy things.  Everyone loves my items, but let's face it, they're not year round kind of wear.  Winter only comes but once a year, if your lucky and live in the NW like us, it's almost 10 months but most don't.  My items go all across the USA.

And most recently I have supporting WAHM business and buying what I thing are "bigger" cloth diapers for my monstrous almost 3 months old.

To get a better sense of why I say monstrous you must take into consideration the size of my children at birth and a year.  My first one was 11lbs 4 oz at 40 weeks 4 days and 30lbs at year.  The second was 8lbs 11oz at only 37 weeks and 23 lbs at a year, and with my history the last was forced out via medical induction at 39 weeks and weighed 10lbs 2 oz, he's almost 3 months old and weighs about 16lbs.  No doctors have figured out WHY my children are so big, but I have no medical problems(AKA GD) to cause babies this big.  I just grow them that big.

When I brought my last son home, he instantly got burned from the Costco diapers.  Because of his weight, I couldn't buy newborn diapers, I had to use size SM, which unfortunately rubbed his stump until it fell off a few days to early.  It was fine but it fell off to soon.

As of recently I bought a WAHM diaper in Cat in the Hat for upcoming pictures.  It's an awesome diaper, but has a fold down rise, which I didn't think would matter much, but the leg hole seems to slip a little and on our second ware of testing it out, little man blew all over the diaper.  And this diaper is WHITE, pictures aren't until April 7th.

As my thoughts started coming to a head, and a rolling boil, I contacted her to see if I was doing anything wrong, I wasn't, it was him.  I was finding that even the BIGGEST of the BIGGEST diapers weren't going to last for my little one, who at not even 3 months is wearing diapers my daughter wore at 6 months old.  And his legs are wonky, so I have to lower the rise which causes the diapers to sit to low, causing leaks out the top.

So, as I'm thinking what if I can fix this?  I see so many diapers, they all have wonderful features, but not one offers it all in one glorious diaper.  Also, yes there are WAHM who make larger newborn diapers, but lets be honest, I haven't seen something really fancy that will last you until 3-4 months.  They all go up to 12 lbs and that's it.  For me that would be less than 1 month of use!

So again, can I fix this?  And all my thoughts started to finally come together!  What if I could make a beautiful custom like diaper for newborns up to about 15-20 lbs?  What if it didn't just have a PUL inner but a soft minky or microfleece?  And wouldn't it be better if it had inner gussets like the Rump-a-rooz?  To ensure that poo wouldn't seep out so much?  And what about the soakers?  I don't like that I don't get to pick my soak ability.  What if I could make snap soakers that you could continue to snap together to get the absorbency you wanted like the Thirsties duos?  I have all these wonderful diapers but they would just work better if they were all in one system!

So that's how my ideas came about.  For those of you who have already thought about being testers for this glorious new diaper, your probably wondering can I sew?  Well of course I can sew, I have been making homemade flannel fitteds for years.  I designed a wonderful line of backwards diapers similar to the g-diapers but were all in ones that never made it out of the tester phase.  My only problem is that I'm fast, and when it comes to sewing you can't be fast, you have to take your time to ensure ever stitch is in place correctly.

I have already ordered a selection of fabrics and inners, and hope to have a small line of testers out by the end of April.  I've decided to not do a two size system but to just have a more generous newborn size and then one size.  If these work I'll also make my wonderful flannel fitteds that everyone loves, and maybe wipes and simpler diapers that wouldn't be so "custom" but a PUL print with a soft inner for a more affordable option.  The options really are endless.  So stay tuned.  I think they're going to be GREAT!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

New Items

Oh my have I been adding to my items like crazy lately.  I have been making new bonnets for babies, and ACTUALLY selling things on ETSY.  Yep you read that right!  Since Facebook made the switch to the TimeLine I just can't figure it out, so I've opened back up shop on ETSY.  Still under the same name, my shop is AdriannaKnits.  Luckily this is a name that no one has ever used so I find it readily available. 

We are still working on getting the website up and running and moving like we want to.  Meaning that the husband still needs to do but, and I quote here from him, "I have some great new ideas to try out on your website."  Maybe soon we'll actually get an order form in there!  And some better pictures!

We currently are offering for the next 3 people who can do so, a $5 credit or refund that we will give once some professional or semi professional photos of an item we do not have a good picture of yet, is submitted.  So yes that is still open.  It can be for past hats, or recent orders. 

Ok well here's some new pictures of new items. 

Some new bonnet styles.  All with an under the chin closure with a wood button.



It's also that time again and getting close to Easter so I'm offering up Lamb and Bunny hats again.  I've sold a few but not many!