Feeling Inspired

Top: Anthropologie
Mid-2: Modcloth
Bottom: BK Industries

Craft Humor...

It's funny because it's true.
Source: NatalieDee.com

Hat-a-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat-Tat... that's the way it is.

Merry, merry!  Don't have anything new to share.  I have been working on a hat that is really giving me trouble and a very complicated pattern, hence the delay in new Teabeans stuff.

But I would like to share some pics of Tara in the hat I gave her for Christmas!  She accidentally destroyed her other Teabeans crochet hat in the clothes dryer, so I was super happy to give her this hat I made recently!  She said she wanted a purple or cream girly hat, and I previously mentioned in my post on this hat that the style/color were not my thing.  What are the odds?!  It was a Christmas miracle!

How freaking cute is she in that hat!?!  I hope everyone else had a fun Christmas too!

Hat's Out of the Bag

Dear Blog-Nobbers,

Tonight we went to see the Knicks play the Timberwolves!  It was fun even though I don't like basketball.  Our seats were super close, and they definitely do a good job of pumping you up!  

On the way out, I snapped some pics of Iron Martin in the new beanie I crocheted for him!  The pattern is exactly the same as always (circle of 8 hdc, increase by 8 to 63 hdc).  This time I worked in rounds instead of turning to make it 100% seamless.  He's lookin fly as always!

I just bought a TON of yarn with Brooke out in no-man's-land this weekend so as long as I can find time, I will have more to show you!

Til then!

Happy Ho Ho Ho to You

Who's in the Christmas spirit?!  Last night we had the Kmart traditional holiday party with cheese & crackers and cookies, Christmas music, Elf, and decorations!  I may or may not have worn Santa socks. 

One very special ornament I got to hang on the tree this year is my new "Hooked on Crochet" ornament!  My old friend Laura gave it to me at our 10 year HS reunion (YIKES) over Thanksgiving.  Lucy is Laura's daughter.  Do you love it?!  I do!!!

Story of a Real Project

So I am going to start doing a for-real project.  Like, I am going to follow all the instructions just right, for real.  Here is a sneak peak - proof that I measured gauge!  13 hdc=4 inches.  Legit.

Materials:
- Lion Brand Microspun, Purple/Color #147
- J10/6.00 MM hook

Pom Bomb!

Hi!  I wish I had more time to crochet, but I did finish a new hat to share.  Say hello to the pom-bomb hat.  This kind of hat is not exactly my style, but I had a bunch of yarn left over from the hat I made for Brooke last year so I figured, why not!  I used this cable crochet hat pattern, and then added on some earflaps and pompoms.  

Special thanks again to my awesome fotog, Iron Martin!! 

Dead Sweater Office

I don't know how to put this exactly, so I am just going to go ahead and say it:  with anything I do, I definitely do not take the time to learn how to do it right.  I would rather do it wrong 10 times first to learn the right way.  Crochet is no different.  I am way too impatient to practice; I would prefer to think I know how to do it already and dive in.

And with that introduction, I give you like 14 hours of life wasted:

This was supposed to be a short-sleeved, scoop-neck sweater with flower detailing in the front.  I didn't have any books on how to do sweaters at the time (like 2 years ago??).  I just figured I would make some panels and sew them together or whatever.  Who knows what past Katie was thinking with this.

Anyways, it is time to clean out the closet so I took a pic of this and tossed it.  Bye bye attempted sweater.  You can see a similar concept of this sweater here.

Chain Gang

Hiyo!  So my sis was in town from CA to run the NY marathon this weekend - yey!  But sad because she is gone.  But it was yey when we went shopping!  Of course, we hit up Free People, and what did we behold but their Rope Neck Warmer.  See pics below:

Yowza, this totally looks like the chain scarves I just made!  The funny thing is, I hadn't even intended for my scarves to be worn that way.  I think mine are cooler because they are actually chained together.  You can't see it here, but the Free People scarf is lined up like bangle bracelets and stitched together in a row.

Quite the coincidence, eh?

All I know is I am running out of chain puns.

Trick or Treat

It's that time of year again!  One of the best part of craft blogging might be crafting up cat Halloween costumes! 

Haha, poor Mister.  For those of you who don't know, his full name is Mister Richard Nixon, which makes this costume extra funny.

Time for jack-o-lantern cheeseburgers, goblin goblets, and the Steelers!!  Happy Halloween!

Chained Melody

Happy Fall, y'all!  I went ahead and made another chained scarf with the yarn I had bought to make another owl hat.  Also, I forgot to mention last time, I used a size J hook.  Anyways, it's a totally festive scarf, and I LOVE being festive!  

Below are pics of me wearing it the two different ways, and one pic with my owl hat too.  I also included a close up of the scarf, and a couple festive pics of Halloween gummy bears and fall potpourri!  Trust me, it is way more festive in the Kmart household than these pics indicate, but probably way too festive for you to handle.  Gotta keep the festivity to a minimum in blog world.  Happy Halloween!

Ps. THANKS to that cutie Iron Martin for taking the pics!

"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!

The Little Flower

Hi! Sadly for me, Sheetal is leaving work soon, and soon after that, leaving for India. So, as promised to her (and to my blog readers), I have finally crocheted her a flower, should she want to pin it to the hat I made her.Here is a pic to demonstrate the size of the flower. My first try was waaay too big, but I think this could be cute?
Side note: it's finally feeling like fall, for real this time. I busted out the leaf candle and the mini punkins, plus some other assorted Halloween decorations (yes yes I know it is not even October). Time of punkin spice lattes, football, and CROCHET!!

xoxo

Katiebeans

Should I?

It's still 86 degrees out so I am not really busting out the hooks too much, but I am definitely getting some fun ideas for fall! Apparently crocheted clothes are really "in" now (??). I saw a whole spread on it in the latest dELiA's catalog?

Anyways...although they take forever and I never end up wearing them (see my first two here and here), I am thinking I may need to try to make a new dress? Check out this cute one from Anthro.

I know all my "inspiration" posts are totally boring. I will have something up soon, even if it is another bloring flower!!

The Rose Knows

So I finally mustered (/mustard) up the energy to get out some yarns and needles to start on a mustard-colored rose necklace. Well first try is a little bit too big for me, even for a "statement necklace," if you will (oh, and I will).
So yeah, but it was a step in the right direction for getting some new stuff on here!

Browsing...

Just doing a little online window shopping and getting some ideas for my next mini-project...

Definitely need to work on some flowers because I owe Sheetal one from like 2 years ago that she wanted to add to the Amazing Cable Hat I made for her. Now I HAVE to make it since she is moving to India in a month!!

Marty's Bike!

For some reason, I keep losing my slideshow of Marty's bike so I am reposting! Like I said before, he did an awesome job fixing it up. Enjoy!

"Evolution of Marty's Bike"

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Pimp My Bike

Today is a special edition blog post! Marty has been working on his bike all summer long, and I think he did a really awesome job fixing it up. He cut and sanded the seat himself, as well as hand-sanded and painted the body.

Here are some snapshots of us ridin around the NYC:

Iron Martin on Mon Frere, pre-new wheels:

Me on Hermano, my own pimped out bike (I made Marty put on new handlebars and I stuck on a Pearl Jam sticker hehehe):

And the best pic of all, Iron Martin taking a pic of his pimped out bike! hahahaha: