Here's the hat I made that won second place! I thought you'd all like to see it.

Won 2nd Place for my hat!

I got a red ribbon for my hat at the state fair! Pretty good for my first time, I would think. I already have several ideas for next year and hope to do even better then. Will add some pictures when they get developed.  Other than that, I made a new banner and added it to the blog; look up and see if you notice any difference! Also been taking pictures of the things I make so they can be put on the site when I get one.

I did it! I took my stuff to the state fair!

Yesterday I finally took in 3 items to the state fair for judging. I didn't have time to take pictures, but I took in a hat, a pair of hand warmers, and a scarf, all made with brown sparkly and regular teal yarns. So my categories are: M-10 (knitted wearing apparel > scarf), Q-3 (accessories > hat), and Q-11 (accessories > any other). If you go to the fair, look for my items! The judging is on the 17th so they will be judged by the time you'll all see them. If I don't win, I'm just going to see what the winners did so next time I can improve on my designs...if I do win I hope I get best of show for my scarf, because then I would get a $25 gift certificate to the yarn store downtown!


Wish me luck!

I thought you might like to see where I work and what I use to do it, so this is where I work and store my supplies...though I have a new silver wall lamp and 2 hot pink valances on order to replace the ugly brown stripe valances and the big, tall lamp behind my chair. I'm also going to put up a shelf to hold my remotes and a drink. Next to the black table I have a cabinet with my extra tools in it, and a red 3 drawer cart which holds my yarn.

These are all my looms that I use to knit things like hats and blankets. The one for my hand warmers is not there (that picture is next)! The tiny purple one is for the thumb when I make mittens.

This is the one that I use for my hand warmers with one warmer halfway done still on it.

These are the tools I use to make the warmers, from top down: a tape measure, 2 loom hooks (I only use one, but I have two), and a row counter for when I make the thumb hole. I also have a small pair of scissors used for when I cut the yarn at the very end.

Here's the bag I use to carry my projects in. Each set of colors I need to make a pair of hand warmers is in its own Ziploc and the tools are in a small bag in one of the pockets.

The glass and pottery hand displays I use to take pictures of the warmers I make. The third one I did myself at a paint your own pottery store we have downtown!

My father-in-law does woodworking and he made this box for me with 2 holes in the back so that I could put my yarn through the holes, close the lid, and knit without my cat getting into it (lol)!

This is how I package my hand warmers before I send them out to people. Pink and black seem to be my most popular colors :). I'm working on designing some round hang tag business cards, but for now I just put a temporary business card on instead.

Promised Pics

Remember those pictures I told you I'd post earlier? Here they are! I don't have pictures of every pair I've made, but I'll try to post more when I think about taking some more of others I have.

Hello, and welcome!

Hi from HandyCrafts! I make loom knitted hand warmers for men and women in different fun yarns, and I'm not afraid to try out new yarns; I love yarns that most people would think are too difficult to use, like very thick yarn, feather yarn, eyelash yarn, stretchy yarn, and metallic yarn. The only rule I have is that I don't use wool yarn, mainly because I'm allergic to wool and it turns me into an itchy strawberry! :)
Later on I'll be posting pictures of some of the hand warmers I've made for customers, and some of the pictures they sent to me. I haven't gotten an Etsy address to start selling them officially just yet, but at $15 a pop, I've already sold 11 sets! (That's $165!) I do intend to get one fairly soon though, probably after I enter some in our state fair, to see how well they do, this July.

In case you're curious, Here's HandyCrafts' Facebook page link: www.facebook.com/HandyCraftsHandyPage