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Here Comes the Sun

Here Comes the Sun

Back in September, I told you about a little rally cry: We Craft at Dawn. Two ornaments rode out first, and I promised the rest of the army was on its way.

Well, the sun is up, the troops have assembled, and every one of them is here. Eight ornaments, eight crafts, one battle cry.

Each ornament is glossy white ceramic, about 3 inches, printed on both sides, and hangs from a gold string. The front carries the badge design. The back is yours: up to 100 characters for a name, a year, an inside joke from craft night, or a note to the maker you love. Personalization is included at no extra cost.

Find your craft below. Or find your crafts, because let’s be honest, most of us enlisted in more than one.

We Craft at Dawn

The one that started it all, for the maker whose answer to “What do you make?” is simply “Yes.” A craft box overflows with yarn, fabric, embroidery, scissors and brushes while the sun breaks over the mountains behind it.

See the We Craft at Dawn ornament here. A heart would be so appreciated!

We Crochet at Dawn

The first craft-specific ornament out of the gate. It’s for the crocheter who always has another project planned, another skein waiting and at least one work in progress within arm’s reach. Yarn and a hook are serious business.

See the We Crochet at Dawn ornament here. Hearts welcome!

We Knit at Dawn

The needles are ready. The yarn is wound. This one is for the knitter who casts on like she’s charging into battle and refuses to retreat until the bind-off. A deep red yarn ball sits on crossed needles under a golden sunrise.

See the We Knit at Dawn ornament here. Hearts are always welcome!

We Sew at Dawn

Crossed scissors and a seam ripper are basically a coat of arms if you sew often enough. This design has a vintage sewing machine front and center, for the seamstress who has a whole battle plan pinned to the fabric before anyone else is up.

See the We Sew at Dawn ornament here. One little heart?

We Stitch at Dawn

Hoop, needle, floss: armed and ready. This one honors the embroiderers and cross-stitchers whose patience could outlast any siege, one tiny stitch at a time.

See the We Stitch at Dawn ornament here. Your heart would mean a lot!

We Quilt at Dawn

A rotary cutter and a quilting ruler, crossed like swords, over a pieced star block in red, gold and green. Every quilter knows a perfect star block is basically a battle plan.

See the We Quilt at Dawn ornament here. Give it a heart!

We Weave at Dawn

A table loom, crossed shuttles and a warp that won’t weave itself. This is for the weaver who builds cloth thread by thread and takes on every pick like it’s the front line.

See the We Weave at Dawn ornament here. Another heart would be wonderful!

We Spin at Dawn

A spinning wheel, a bobbin of deep red yarn and a hank of raw wool. Spinners don’t just use yarn; they make it from scratch, which may be the most hardcore move in the whole army.

See the We Spin at Dawn ornament here. Hearts keep the wheel turning!

Outfit the Whole Regiment

Have a knitting group, a quilt guild or a sewing circle? Mix and match the crafts, personalize each back with a name and the year, and every member gets her own rally cry for the tree. They work just as well for Secret Santa, stocking stuffers, or the friend who taught you to craft in the first place.

Coming Next: The Mugs

The battle cry is coming to coffee mugs too. The We Craft at Dawn mug and the We Crochet at Dawn mug are already in the shop, and the rest of the army joins them over the next two weeks. Because nobody rides at dawn without coffee.

Gather your supplies. Choose your project. Pour the coffee.

We craft at dawn!

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Happy Birthday to Ya

Happy birthday to ya, Happy birthday, Mr. Honey. I am no longer allowed to say how old he is. The number is rather impressive, He doesn’t look, think or act anywhere near what I think someone that age should look, think or act like. Those are good things and it makes me rethink how I view people that age – since I aspire to be that age one day myself and don’t want to think, look or at like it then.

He goes out to dinner a lot thin month. His brother will take him out. So will his sister. So will I. (I already have.) If his friends remember, they’ll do something for him too. He deserves all of it for being a great brother, friend and hubby. He’d be proud, and also a little annoyed, at being singled out so we won’t tell him and we won’t make a fuss. But he can’t stop the blessings being sent his way for being such a good guy.

What’s New in the Shops

The new ‘At Dawn’ additions, The we Craft at Dawn Shirt. 5 colors. 8 sizes Shop/Heart it here. 

The we Knit at Dawn Shirt. Heart it here.

 

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All We Need Is

All we need is…..apple cider. At least today.

The mug says all i need is coffee, prayer and yarn. The prayer and the yarn are pretty much a given. The coffee is a regular of sorts. I still have not made myself coffee at home. Coffee, which I started drinking about two years ago, is still one of those luxury things for me. I don’t drink it every day the way Mr. Honey does. It is a treat for me, whether iced or hot. I didn’t understand people’s dedication to the elixir but I am converted. Except I don’t make it for myself.

So, while the mug in the photo is filled with coffee, I am drinking apple cider from Quednow Farm in Elkhorn, WI where we go every year to get apples and apple cider. I didn’t get a lot this year. We went a little late in the season and the staff there was saying it was not their best harvest year. I only picked up a dozen apples and a quart of the cider which came out really nice this season.

The apple cider is bolstering me as I rework the pattern for my Rasta Slouchy. This is one of the first hats I ever did and I have made it so much that I don’t refer back to the pattern. Recently though, I had the feeling I was making it more than a little different than the pattern I sell and that seemed a bit unfair. Opening the pattern and reading it, yep, this needs a refresh. So, that’s what I’m doing. The added benefit is that I get inventory for the shows and ready to ship for the shop. I am moving designbcb more to ready to ship and patterns and away from made to order.

The yarn and the prayer are constant: always there and always changing. Fitting the mood and the time and the piece and the maker.  It is possible for some things to stay the same and change.

What do you have in your mug, cup. bottle as you work? Find the mug at StitchPrayRepeat and watch for the pattern refresh at designbcb.

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Ooo Baby, Baby

Ooo Baby, Baby

October kind of caught me by surprise – even though I saw it coming. It’s here and now the  count down to busy season and craft season begins and I am thinking what I always think: I will not be ready.

There are things to knit. Patterns to refresh. Pictures to take. Listings to write. Then there are the things I hadn’t planned to make until I had an idea that seemed too good to leave alone. That last part might have something to do with it.

Between DesignBCB and Stitch, Pray, Repeat, I can always find something else that would be lovely to offer. A hat in another color. An ornament for another kind of crafter. A mug for the person who believes dawn is a perfectly reasonable time to start a project—as long as there is coffee.

Coming up with the idea is quick. Getting it ready for someone to buy takes considerably longer. And the ordinary work does not stop while I prepare for the extraordinary work. Orders still need attention. There is still a household, a church calendar, and a life beyond the shops. I cannot simply put everything else in a drawer until January.

Although I could probably find a drawer. Whether it would close is another matter.

I am beginning to suspect that my definition of “ready” is part of the problem. In my imagination, ready means everything is finished, photographed, listed, packed, and waiting. Every good idea has become an actual product. There are no loose ends. For someone who works with yarn, that is a fairly ambitious position on loose ends.

Perhaps I need to ask a smaller question: What needs to be ready first?

The things people already love. The things I can realistically finish. The new pieces that deserve a proper introduction, rather than a hurried photograph and a promise to talk about them later. Some ideas will have to wait. I don’t especially enjoy that part, but having an idea does not automatically give it a place at the front of the line. This I learned from years of thinking it did and still not getting it done.

So here I am again, heading into the busy season with work on the needles, products to share, and a list that could use some firm supervision. If you are also looking at the calendar and wondering how you can be surprised by something that happens every year, pull up a chair. We can commiserate together.

I would offer you coffee, but we should probably put it somewhere away from the yarn.

New in the Shops

We Craft at Dawn Mugs! As, go take a peek and heart so you can find and so the Etsy algorithm works for me! 

We Crochet at Dawn
We Craft at Dawn

A New Ornament
The Stitch with Joy Ornament

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I Want it That Way

I want it that way – Baked Spaghetti

I made baked spaghetti, and it turned out exactly how I wanted it to—even though I forgot part of my own recipe.

Apparently, writing the instructions does not mean I will follow them.

I started with a pound of Italian sausage, seasoned with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. While it cooked, I made sure to crumble it finely. Mr. Honey has texture issues, so I pay attention to things like that. A big chunk of sausage might be perfectly fine for me, but dinner is for both of us.

While the sausage was cooking, I diced an onion and four cloves of garlic. Once the meat was done, I drained the fat, added the onion and garlic, and let them cook for about a minute. Then I poured in a jar of meat-flavored pasta sauce I ordered from Amazon.

Nothing particularly fancy. Just things coming together in a pan and smelling like dinner. I used angel hair pasta—only four ounces, weighed dry. And before it went into the water, I broke it in half. I know that’s supposed to be a sin. I don’t know why. I’m making dinner in my kitchen, and I want my spaghetti shorter. So I break it.

I cooked the pasta just short of al dente because it still had some time ahead of it in the oven. Then I stirred it into the meat and sauce and transferred everything to a 9×13 baking dish.

Now, this is where knowing my own recipe would have been helpful.

The instructions called for mixing half of the eight ounces of shredded Italian blend cheese into the spaghetti and putting the other half on top. I put all of it on top. By the time I remembered, the cheese was already there. Into the preheated 350-degree oven it went for 20 minutes. You can see in the picture that nobody was going to have to search for the cheese.

I let it cool for about five minutes before serving, and it tasted great. The angel hair, finely crumbled sausage, sauce, onion, and garlic came together just as I had hoped, with that generous layer of melted cheese over everything.

What surprised me was how much it made. Four ounces of dry pasta sounds like such a small beginning, but with the pound of sausage, cheese, and everything else, it made enough for four meals. There was plenty left to enjoy again.

I could tell you I deliberately changed the recipe to try a different cheese arrangement, but that would be giving myself entirely too much credit. I forgot. It worked out.

Next time, I may remember to mix half the cheese in.

I will still be breaking the pasta.

 

New in the shops

The first tee from the At Dawn Collection has hit the shop! We Crochet at Dawn is ready with 14 colors and 6 sizes. If you know a crocheter who loves tees that celebrate the craft, click the link, heart it and share it!

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Faithfully

Faithfully

There’s an agreement every business owner wants to make with the public: I’ll make something you want – you buy it. Without that agreement, there is no business. 

It’s even more of a thing when you are asking people to give up their disposable income. I love looking at this piece. I love it in the photo and I love it even more in real time. Someone else looking at may love it, too. They can see the squishy and know it would feel great around their neck. If they didn’t just buy another cowl last week.

They may love the colors and it goes perfectly with that coat they got last year. But the $20 it takes to get it has to go into savings account because buying that car is more important.

As a person with not a lot of money, I faithfully consider all of that as I make something and consider if I am going to sell it. Of course I’m going to sell it – that’s the job. But how do I make it equitable for the buyer and for me? Because doing the work is part of the spiritual gift which also has to be considered.

I’m learning to listen as carefully as I design. I can be proud of what comes off my needles and still ask whether I’ve made a good offer. I can adjust the design, the photos, the description, or the price without pretending the work meant less. I’m learning to leave it up to someone else to take a look at it and decide ‘Is this a good choice for me?’

What’s new in the shops?

Aadi Cowl – ready to ship.
The We Crochet at Dawn Mug

 

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I Can See Clearly Now

 

 

I Can See Clearly Now.

The Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial and the Washington MonumentI took this photo in Washington, D.C., on July 17, 2012. It was probably the last time I was there.

At first glance, the tree in front of Martin Luther King Jr. seems to be the thing obscuring the view. We can see his face and parts of his memorial through the branches, but never all at once. Look across the photograph, though, and the Washington Monument is obscured too. The trees hide its base, so we can’t see its full length.

I like that about this picture now. We get a glimpse of each, but not the whole of either one.

Perhaps that is a lesson of history. We can study a person’s words and actions, visit the places that honor them, and still see only so much. The stories we tell about people are shaped by what remains in view and what gets left out.

And yet a glimpse can matter. Even through the leaves, King’s face holds my attention. Even without its base, the Washington Monument is unmistakable against the sky. We may never know all there is to know about another person. Sometimes, though, what we can see is great and rare enough to make us stop, look again, and want to understand more.

I kept this photograph mainly because of King. There was such a pushback to his having a memorial in Washington. History doesn’t allow us to imagine such a pushback against one to Washington. I mean, the city is named after him and he is the ‘father of the country.’ Though history does have some things to say about how he conducted himself and his business. But history is written by mem. So, like the trees, we will get to see some parts of each other but not all.

 

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Ride or Die

Ride or Die

We Craft at Dawn: A Christmas Ornament for the Battle-Ready Crafter.

There are people who craft peacefully—and then there are those of us who approach a new project as if we have been summoned into battle.

We gather our yarn, fabric, thread, needles, hooks, scissors and other necessary supplies. We survey the pattern. We choose our colors. We prepare ourselves for whatever tangled yarn, missed stitches, uneven seams and late-night decisions may come.

And at dawn, we ride…eh..we craft.

That wonderfully dramatic spirit inspired the We Craft at Dawn ornament, the centerpiece of a new Christmas ornament collection from Stitch, Pray, Repeat.

The design features a richly colored craft box filled with yarn, embroidery, fabric, scissors, brushes and other creative treasures. Behind it, the sun rises over the mountains—as if an epic day of making is about to begin.

Because for a crafter, every day we get to use the blessing and the skill, is an epic day.

A Christmas Ornament for Every Kind of Crafter

“We Craft at Dawn” was created for the makers whose creativity cannot be contained within one particular craft.

Maybe you knit in the winter, crochet whenever the right yarn calls your name and pull out the sewing machine when inspiration strikes. Perhaps you quilt, embroider, paint, weave or spin—and have the supplies to prove it.

If your answer to “What kind of crafting do you do?” is simply “Yes,” this ornament belongs on your tree.

The round ceramic ornament measures approximately 2.8 inches and hangs from a gold cord. It is available with the design on the front only or with a message on the back:

Have a wonderful, crafty season! or whatever message you want to put there. You have 100 characters to say what’s on your heart. It makes a cheerful addition to your own Christmas decorations and a fun gift for a craft-loving friend, guild member, teacher or creative family member.

You can shop the We Craft at Dawn Ornament here. It would be so great if you can pop over and give it a heart!

The Rally Cry Began with Crochet

The first ornament released in the collection was We Crochet at Dawn, created especially for the crocheters who know that yarn and a hook can be serious business.

It has the same bold, playful rally-cry spirit, but celebrates the particular joy—and occasional chaos—of crochet. It is perfect for the crocheter who always has another project planned, another skein waiting and at least one work in progress nearby.

[See the We Crochet at Dawn ornament here.] Another heart would be greatly appreciated!

More Makers Are Joining the Charge

“We Craft at Dawn” and “We Crochet at Dawn” are only the beginning.

The collection will also celebrate knitters, quilters, seamstresses, cross-stitchers, spinners and weavers. Each ornament is being designed as a small tribute to the skill, creativity and determination that makers bring to their work.

These are not quiet little ornaments for people who occasionally dabble.

They are rally cries for the devoted makers—the ones who plan projects during dinner, carry supplies everywhere and understand that buying materials and finishing projects are two entirely different hobbies.

Whether you make gifts for everyone you love, sell your work, donate it, decorate your home or create simply because your hands and imagination need something to do, there is a place for you in this crafty little army.

Gather your supplies. Choose your project. Pour the coffee.

We craft at dawn!

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Bad Romance

This is Gisimo Merino. We’re having a bad romance. It is 100% merino and it will get its due diligence when I do the yarn review. But I am grateful yarn never reviews us. (At least that we know about. Can’t vouch what happens when we’re asleep.) I am convinced this yarn would hate me and want to return me to the crafter store from whence I came.

I’m not cheating on him- at least not with another fiber product. I’m not taking the Lord’s name in vain. But I have done what I always do when I am designing something or making something new: restarted the project several times.

The reason was simple: I want to carry the non-working yarn so I don’t have many ends to weave in and I couldn’t get it to act right. I finally had to go to the you and tube to see I was doing the twist the wrong way. So, with the last start, the twist went the way I wanted but the stitches weren’t even. I then remembered it was 100% merino and would need at least some light blocking and I also wanted to do the pattern as I went. So, I thought start it again one last time, track the pattern, work even stitches and get it right since this is a special order. Depending on how much yarn I have left over, I will be making another variation the hat and it’s best to work out the kinks as best one can. These skeins may hate me but their siblings will appreciate the sacrifice.

It’s the Signature tee. Stitch Pray Repeat on the front and the logo on the back. 

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One Thing at a Time

This is the time of the year where I don’t have time for the one thing at a time concept. I have to get things done. They have to be knit and crocheted and designed and written and uploaded and all the things. But during this particular time, it comes after an unexpected three day hospital stay, a friend losing their husband and another friend who just learned they will have to live apart from their spouse because of work obligations.

Such is the cycle we all spin within. Of course we can only do one thing at a time – we just have a bunch of one things and time gets spent whether or not we are part of the transaction and that is the part we cannot control. But we can control how we move through time and how we handle all the things we need to handle and that will often create the outcome.

I am always going to be a little concerned about how much is getting done. Well, I will be more concerned about how much is not getting done. But that anxiety cannot be allowed to outmatch the blessing I know that is all the work I have and am capable of doing because of the blessings that came that made the work possible. The blessings are far and wide and there are more than I never picked up than the ones I have embraced.

So I’m gonna knit and crochet and design and post and all the things and gather the blessings. I must remember to always gather the blessings because that is what makes everything else possible. And be grateful for all the things all the time.