"Craft" Beer

Well hello there!  I have been meaning to crochet ALL week long, but things are always so mega busy.  I am training for another half marathon, and I have been promoted to shift leader at the cat shelter.  Plus, I do occasionally like to go out with peeps and gnomes.  

So then, I was planning to crochet this weekend while Iron Martin was off being Mister Nike Guy.  But instead... this is what I ended up doing... running by the river; sleeping waaay too late; watching reality TV, teen flicks, and romantic comedies; eating junk food; drinking delicious seasonal beers; being the last person on Earth to read that Dragon Tattoo book; buying Iron Martin Halloween treats; and doing all sorts of bloring chores like handwashing clothing swap items and painting my nails.

I will end on a crafty, blog-worthy note though!  As I was changing out my summer clothes to my winter clothes, I came upon this crafty item that Iron Martin made for me on my 25th birthday.  He screenprinted the Pearl Jam stickman (designed by my favorite member of Pearl Jam, Jeff Ament) onto a tshirt of my favoritest color!  The stickman is saying "so down with KMart! WOOOT!" Katiebeans + Iron Martin = Kmart

Talk to you soon - with a new crocheted project!

Ps. GO STEELERS!

Chain Reaction

Hi everyone! I am finally back in the NYC after spending the last two weeks traveling to PA, San Diego, and then Boston.  Whew!  Time to finally relax, and more importantly to this blog, time to crochet!

I spent Saturday crafting with Brooke.  I have SO much yarn, and my apartment is messy, and my closet is a disaster, so I just grabbed a bunch of Jiffy yarn I had left over and figured I would make a scarf.  Scarves don't really make me excited, but I had seen a few chain-style scarves in blogs and such, so I thought I could try that.

I spent about an hour and a half trying to make tubulars, but I wanted the chains to be seamless.  The only way to do that, I figured, was to go in spirals, instead of turning at the end of a row.  Soooo... I did ch 89, slst to join, dc around, instead of turning, continue with fpdc (four rows).  Easy!!  And the effect ended up looking like tubulars, but really the chains just curl in.  See pics below!

This is how I intended to wear the scarf (ummm... wrapped around like... a scarf?).  You can just loop a loop in a loop.

This is how Brooke thought I had planned on wearing the scarf- with all the loops stacked on one another.  I love this idea!  It made this fun scarf extra fun!

Here are some other shots.  Clockwise from top left: 

- Chained together

- Front side of the green/blue chain link pulled flat - you can see how this is actually the inside of the tube

- Curled outside of the multi-color chain link

- Back side of a brown chain link pulled flat 

Thanks for reading! I hope you had a fun Sunday!

Wedding Season Part 2

Yay!  Wedding season was concluded with two amamamazing weddings of two of my amamamamazing (former) NYC girls!  It's hard to believe I don't have anymore lovely weddings left this year! 

Wedding #4: The BK Bombshell, Kristin

Ann Arbor, MI

 Wedding #5:  Southern Belle, Molly

Nashville, TN

Acck!  So sad the fun is over!  And so sad these girls live far from the NYC now.  I guess having less friends around means I will have more time to crochet this winter!

Off to San Diego and then Boston... I promise I will be crocheting again soon after that!!

Cardi Party

I was thinking I didn't have anything to post today, and then my dad sent me this snapshot of my sis in the 'Burgh rocking the sweater I made her! I know I post pics of it a lot, but it is pretty cool, and I couldn't ask for a hotter model!

Also, I got some yarn in the mail today to maybe start on a dress or a sweater!

Starfish & Swirls Crocheted Necklace

Yay! I finally made something new! I finally made good on all those necklace "inspiration" posts. Check it out.

I initially had meant for this to look like flowers, but the five prongs on the flowers make me think of starfish and seashells, which I also love! Here are a couple close ups:
I used size G6/4.00 MM hook, and the same shiny yarn that I use for other accessories here, here, and here. The circles are row 1 - 12 dc, row 2 - 24 dc, row 3 - 36 dc, with a row of slst along the outside. The starfish flowers are 5 picots. The chain is 50 ch, turn, slst back. Pretty simple, but I do always drive myself nuts weaving in the ends.

I feel so beachy! Too bad summer is over! I really need to go to Michael's craft store to get some clasps for the end of the necklace... but we all know where Michael's is...

I hope you like it! If anyone wants to buy, let me know, and I can put it up on my Etsy shop!

xoxo

Katiebeans

Lose-a-Palooza

Today is Lose-a-Palooza, a one-day social media extravaganza where for every *accepted* social mention of Weight Watchers Lose for Good campaign, Weight Watchers will donate $1 to a hunger charity!

So I am doing my part to help fight hunger by encouraging my few-but-amazing readers to get involved. Visit WeightWatchers.com/LoseforGood!

Full disclosure: I am a WeightWatchers.com employee and my blog represents my opinion only and not the opinion of Weight Watchers!

Crochet is Fashionable?

Browsing Free People's site today, and they have a whole section called "Shop Lace & Crochet."

I need to step up my game and capitalize on this trend!