Busy busy busy

Time flies and I have not posted anything on this page for weeks. I have been busy ... and took a littre trip.

This Sunday is my very first craft show and I'm getting nervous. I have crocheted plenty of beads and tubes and now everything is slowly coming together.

Here are the bracelets I made so far. Silk thread for the crochet of course, and semi precious stones: jade, agathe, howlit etc.

Hope you like it!

Crochet workshop and more

Almost a week has gone by since my last post. I haven't forgotten you but I'v been quite busy.

First an update on the workshop: it was a big success! I loved every minute of it and my 13 pupils were excited and had a great time.

I started by explaining something about different types of yarn, how to read a label on yarn, etc.

Then I learned them the basic stitches. I started with the smallest (chain) and ended with the biggest one (double crochet). I order to show them how each stitch is made, I had prepared a small example, a simple crochet square with several rows of each stitch, each time in a different colour.

I also brought some hooked zpagetti to the workshop and used this huge yarn to show them how to make each stitch. It worked well. And of course I went over to each pupil to help with the stitches.

Time really went by fast and we all had a great time. The ladies loved the crochet so much that they have asked me for a workshop on amigurimi, an infinity scarf and handbag. To be continued!

Because of the preparation for the workshop I got a bit distracted from my 31 days challenge preparing for my first craft show. I got stuck on Day 4: business cards.

Mollyeleen gave a tip on Friday, her Day 5. My tip is how to make a magic circle.

Day 6 for me is about marketing. Marketing is important when preparing a craft show. So I'm having a give away, not on my own blog this time, but on Erika's blog. So if you're interested in winning a pair of my earrings, just head over there and participate in the giveaway!

I have also changed the header picture on my facebook page. I've replaced a picture of my jewelry with a picture of the craft show. Anyone who visits my page can now see that I am one of the participants. I hope all this helps in making the craft show a success.

And now back to work! Still plenty of crochet jewelry to be made. I'm still working on my collection, but also looking for the perfect packaging.

Inez

Preparing for my first craft show and more

I'm still busy preparing my very first craft show. But I also have some more exciting news. This Friday I am hosting a workshop 'learning to crochet'. 13 people have registered and now I'm not only preparing my first craft show but also this workshop. 

Ik ben nog steeds volop bezig met het voorbereiden van mijn collectie voor Handgemarkt in C-Mine Genk volgende maand, maar deze vrijdag geef ik ook een workshop 'Leren Haken'. En die moet ook worden voorbereid! Dus ben ik druk bezig een bundel met informatie samen te stellen, foto's van hoe je die haaknaald moet vasthouden, hoe je welke steek haakt enz. 

Het materiaal is besteld en geleverd. Dankjewel Kristel van Wolenzo.be Ik ben nog enkele eenvoudige modelletjes aan het haken, maar ook voorbeelden van iets meer uitdagend werk, zoals dit kussen met granny's waaraan ik nu werk. Dat wil ik nog klaar hebben zodat ik het vrijdag kan meenemen. Ik denk dat ik vooral patronen meeneem voor een gsm-hoesje, brillenetui of zo. Wat denken jullie? 

For the workshop I am putting together plenty of basic information: pictures on how to crochet each stitch, tips and tricks, a couple of easy patterns. I'm also crocheting some easy pieces to take with me to the workshop. But also some more challenging pieces, like these granny's. I want to make a cushion with these. I love the colours. One side of the cushion is ready. 

Next on Mollyeleen.wordpress.com is :

Day 4: business card design

This is actually easy for me, because my business card is ready. Last December I participated in a pop up shop. There was not a lot of time to prepare and I had to create a crochet jewelry collection, think about packaging, jewelry displays and off course business cards. 

The logical thing to do for me was to put a picture of one of my jewelry pieces on the business card. Being a sentimental person, I decided it had to be a picture that meant someting to me. 

Last year we had a big party for the 12th birthday of my youngest daughter (a bit like a communion but without the religious aspect). Big parties always mean new clothers, right? I created a crochet necklace to match my dress. It was a lovely day with family and friends, good weather (not a given in Belgium!) and good food. The picture I choose was one of the necklace I wore that day. 

This is the picture and also the front of my business card. 

I have added my business name Ineseda and contact details. 
The back of the card is blank.
I'm happy with the result, it is modest, not too flashy, a bit like me :)

Designing a collection

Day 3 in the 31 day challenge 'preparing for my first craft show': how much stuff do I make? 

Big and important question. Difficult one also. So I started researching. 

I read that a jewelry collection - my 'stuff' - consists of 4 to 7 different designs and some orphan pieces. 
Those 4 - 7 designs have to be different in length, cost, target audience (younger or older woman, girls), necklaces for daytime, jewelry you would wear to go to a party etc. 

After having read this, I bought 5 different colours of silk thread and a bunch of glass beads to go with the silk thread. 

I took out my sketch book and started drawing: longer necklaces, chokers, with crochet tubes, with crochet beads and tubes, only with crochet beads and so on.

After this I picked my favourites, took my crochet hook (finally!) and started working. 

The idea is to have different pieces, but that still make a collection. The same five colours of silk thread will be used for each part of the collection.

This is what I got so far: 

A longer necklace. As you can see the necklaces have the same design, but because of the difference in silk thread and the glass beads, appeal to an entirely different type of woman. 

And these three: the same silk thread, crochet tubes combined with crochet beads and glass beads. Some of the glass beads are the same as used in the longer necklaces, others are different. Again, three different necklaces, but still clearly forming part of the same collection. 

In total I have drawn 5 different designs and bought 5 different colours of silk. So my collection will consist of 25 different necklaces. I will also be making matching earrings and bracelets.... plenty of work on my plate! I'd better get going! 

Love,

Inez

Preparing for my first craft show

Through Sara, momwithahook, I have taken on the challenge described on mollyeleen.wordpress.com '31 days: preparing for my first craft show'.

Day 1 has already passed a while ago when I decided to participate in Hangema(r)kt next month. My first 'adventure' with selling my items, was not a success. I participated in a pop-up shop, but hardly sold anything. Auch, that certainly hurts and I was ready to pack it all in and keep it a hobby. But then reason kicked in and I decided not to give up after one try. The location of the shop was not great, there was too many jewelry on sale besides my crochet jewelry etc.

That brought me to Day 2 of this preparation: deciding to be in a craft show.

I always thought it would be too expensive to participate in a craft show, that I would have to sell a lot of items to breakeven with the costs. But I was wrong. The Handgema(r)kt is a one day craft show at about 2 hours drive from where I live. Through an artist who participated last year I learned that this is a very nice fair, with plenty of visitors, well organised and all. So I took the plunge and registered. My application was accepted, and furthermore I was asked to organise a workshop on how to crochet jewelry! Well, how often does one get presented a platform to show off ones skills? Obviously I accepted immediately.

And now I am looking forward to this event. Preparing new jewelry, thinking about how am I going to organise the workshop etc.

And although I am very excited, I'm also a bit scared. Yes scared. What if this turns out to be another flop? I have an etsyshop, but that is no real success either. What if no one likes my work?

Patroon gehaakt hartje voor valentijn

This post will be mainly in Dutch because the pattern I show here already exists in English. I found it here.

Bij Wol en Zo kocht ik katoen in echte snoepkleurtjes. Het is heerlijk om mee te haken en ik heb een kleine voorraad aangelegd voor kleine projectjes. Deze hartjes zijn daar een van.

Het patroon bestaat in het Engels, ik heb het vertaald naar het Nederlands en er een fototutorial van gemaakt. Hier gaan we.
Zoals zo vaak beginnen we met een magische lus. Haak 3 lossen op de magische lus.

En daarna 16 stokjes in de lus

Trek de lus stevig aan en sluit met een halve vaste. 

Toer 2: 3 lossen en 1 stokje op dezelfde plaats als de lossen.

Daarna 2 stokjes in de volgende 2 steken en 4 halve stokjes in de volgende steken.

3 stokjes in de volgende steek en weer 4 halve stokjes.

2 stokjes in de volgende 2 steken, 1 stokje in de volgende steek, 3 lossen en 1 halve vaste in dezelfde steek als het vorige stokje.

Toer 3

Afhechten en klaar! 

Hierna ging ik aan de slag met twee hartjes en voegde ze samen tot een dik gevuld hartje, leuk als hanger.