Pandamonium Jacket

Pandamonium Jacket
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

My latest project for Etsy is this adorable Panda jacket by special request. Apparently the woman who requested it has a two year old who wants to be a panda for Halloween. How cute is that going to be? I also made some panda paw mittens to go with it. I added a drawstring to the hoodie, which I think will be a feature of all future hoodies. It's hard because I don't know anyone here with children I can try them on for fit and usefulness etc.

Personalized Crate Tag

Personalized Crate Tag
Originally uploaded by Sirelroka

I sold my first crate tag! I put this up on Etsy a couple of days ago (of course with their choice of breed and name) and I sold one today. I still have to work out with the buyer what colors they want and all that, but yay!

Rampage!

You guessed it, another onesie. This one was a little difficult because the edges of the applique were so complex, but it's one of my favorites.

Jolly

Another onesie for Etsy. This one has a white fleece skull appliqued on it. I think I might like this one better if it was on a onesie that wasn't white. That way the skull would stand out more. As it is I'm liking the fleece appliques the best. They give it an added dimension with the soft feel. Although I still think the cherries are best suited to the sheen of satin.

With a cherry on top

Today I appliqued this little onesie to sell on Etsy. I also tried another design, but something went awry and that one didn't turn out. Oh well, I will just have to try again. I have a couple other designs I want to try out and I'm hoping I can find relatively cheap onesies in other colors. I will have to go hunting at some baby stores. Some of the designs look best on the white, but some others might be cute on other colors. I found that gray one from yesterday at target for not too much, and they also had red and navy. As my mom used to say about my attempts to clean my room...It's a start.

Munch

Today I made this baby bodysuit to sell on Etsy. Bodysuit? Isn't that just a onesie? Well yes, it is, but it turns out that 'onesie' is a copyright of Gerber, so only Gerber bodysuits can technically be called onesies. I had no idea.

Anyway, it is a long sleeved heather gray 12 month onesie, which I appliqued this totally adorable panda on. The panda is white fleece with embroidered detailing, which gives it a really nice soft feel and adds some interest. I think it is super cute, and I think tomorrow I'm going to try out a couple more new applique designs.

Can't you just hear the barely audible little crunching of bamboo leaves?

Drums

I think I've got the site (and sk88.com) switched from the old host to the new one. Not without problems I'm hoping that the switch will limit some of the down time and email trouble we were having with the old host.

Also, I see that blogger beta is available for general use. I'm a little leary of switching...just a general sort of feeling. Any thoughts from other bloggers?

Progress

The toddler page is up and running. I still have to get the dragon up there, but the other three are all set to go.

Nowhere

Haven't had much to post lately, been working on my site mostly...and a few sewing projects that I'm trying to finish up. Nothing super exciting.

Quicky

Two quick things:

1. Bleys and I are set to take our therapy test on August 3rd. Wish us luck.

2. There have been even more changes. Your comments desired.

Did you have a sticker book?

I made stickers! I got some special label paper and a template and made up some stickers for the hoodies for younglings. If I can find a color laser printer I may print them out in color (the AnneArchy symbol is in red) but it's not a high priority for it to be in color.



Anne has indicated that she has found the AnneArchy sew-in labels and is sending them on. Having recently moved myself I was rather amazed at the speed with which she found them. Kudos, Anne. I also ordered some size tags in your basic S, M, and L to sew in with the AnneArchy label. And I found a possible place to get short zippers (Joann is kind hit and miss on the zipper selection and I need a very particular kind of zipper). At least I use basic colors, black mostly , so that isn't an issue.

Unfortunately every time I think of one thing and solve it, I think of about ten more that need to be addressed before I can actually get close to finishing the site. I'm getting a little discouraged.

Hip hip

Three cheers for Jason! He totally rolled a twenty on his knowledge: java check. He pointed me to the source to make my site kick out a style based on which browser the user is using. I haven't had a change to upload it to the server yet, but it's working. Not the perfect solution, but at least it is a solution. I will probably wait until I've made a few more steps forward before uploading it, so you IE user will have to wait a little longer before you see the placement as it should be. It seems kind of silly to have two style sheets when they are identical except for a few key changes. C'est la vie I suppose. I also really want to see what it looks like in Safari, but I think that will have to wait until I get back to Michigan where my only access to a mac is. Also, Anne mentioned that she was using a different browser these days and I was going to check it out, but now I can't remember the name of it.

Hoodies

A little more progress on the site. Mostly in taking more pictures (this time of the hoodies). Things are going painfully slowly, but I'm trying to just keep going. I guess we will have to wait and see.

favicon.ico

I got a little creative today and made a new icon for the Annearchy* site. I had made one that was a red A on a black background, but it looked lopsided so I didn't really like it. The new one is a teeny tiny representation of Anne's tattoo. I thought it turned out pretty well considering I made it. I also found out that more browsers are allowing file types other than ico. However just to be safe, I found a free converter and changed it over. In Firefox and Opera it shows up in the url bar, in Explorer you have to favorite-ize the page and then look in your favorites to see it. The only downside is that it verges on the too small to see what it is, but I haven't figured out any other shape to use. Anyway, there it is.


*again, currently only looks descent in Firefox and Opera.

Sort of like molasses

I made some more changes to Annearchy. *Warning, until Jason can help me increase my css mojo it will only look decent in Firefox and Opera.

My remarkably slow progress

AnneArchy

Boots

My confidence in the AnneArchy venture is at low ebb at the moment. I think there are two main reasons for this.

1. There always seems to be so much more to do before it can go anywhere.
2. I'm currently (and often) unsure whether my items are really good enough to sell.

I've also been...uneasy...this past week. I don't feel sick, overly tired, or have any specific pain/complaint. I just don't feel right, and I'm not sure if the source is physical or mental. It's kind of weird, but I've been unable to dispel the feeling.

I guess I don't have much good to say right now, so I think I'll keep it short.

Please Help

So, who's bored? Need something mindless to do? Well, I'm your gal. If anyone has some time they want to waste on the internets I've got an assignment for you. Go to a website that sells machine embroidery designs like this one and look around at the designs for anything that might look nice on a knitting needle case. I'm currently on the hunt for a cool looking skull, but it's hard because a lot of the designs are cute. I mean really cute, sickeningly cute. You have to wade through fluffy ducks and chubby angels to find anything worth while. But I'm hoping that maybe some of you might stumble across something cool. It could be something sweet like a skull, or a really nice looking flower, or something I haven't thought of at all. Happy hunting!

Update: Thanks for the heads up Anne, I fixed it.

das Heimweh

I've been working on some AnneArchy items the past few days. I've finished two and they turned out pretty well, but I'm currently feeling unsure that they are good enough to sell. Roland says they are, but he's required isn't he? So, now I need to take pictures of them. In order to do this I think I'm going to have to go out any buy some yarn and other knitting items for staging. Now I regret getting rid of all my spare yarn in the move (oh well). I also think I'm going to buy some fabric to be a backdrop, maybe something off white? I think white might be pretty stark and a color might clash with some item or another. I guess I'll have to see what I can find cheap. This is where it would be easier if I was still in Michigan because my Dad has that kind of stuff and is like a professional photographer in the quality of his pictures. Or, I could put the we're related now squeeze on Karl (with a K) and I bet he would help me with all of his knowledges. Plus, he is (as far as I know) currently a bum like me so he might actually have the time to spare.

It all kind of circles back around to "I wanna go home." I would really like to visit Michigan, but it just doesn't seem like it's going to work out any time soon. People are very busy, and have a lot of plans throughout the coming months. It will just have to wait.

Who's got the button?

Things are going slowly on the web site front, but they are going. I keep tweeking things and it's getting better. I'm not sure I could be a web designer for a living though. It gets really frustrating to deal with erm...interesting and surprising ways that different browsers interpret the css. I've been looking at it in IE and Firefox because that's about all the irritation I can take. So I guess users of Opera and other browsers will be on their own. The next step I think is going to involve getting some pictures of stuff, which I'm a little nervous about. I'm not the best photographer and one thing that can make a website really shine is good crisp pictures. We'll just have to see how it goes I guess.

In other news, my sister called me the other day and asked if I wanted her to send me the buttons she was going to get rid of. I thought, sure I can go through them and keep what I want and donate the rest. Little did I know she would be sending me one metric ton of buttons. Seriously, it was a lot of buttons.

Project Pattern

Yesterday I spent most of the day making patterns for my knitting case and knitting tote. Although I did spends some time playing with the website as well. Previous to this I individually measured and cut each piece of the case and tote every time I made one. But if by some miracle this whole thing works out and people actually want some of these I don't want to have to do that. So I started with plain printer paper so I could measure out each piece accurately. Some of the pieces were pretty simple but a few are a bit on the large side and required a couple of sheets taped together to get the whole thing. This took me quite a while (think 4-5 hours) because I was trying to be very careful and there were over 20 different pieces. The next step is to cut those same patterns out of Pattern Ease (a thin, semi-transparent material that can be used repeatedly without falling apart and holds up to pinning well). That will be easier than the paper because it is a wide material so there won't be any taping, plus I already did all the tedious measuring. This will just be cutting around the piece I already have. Then I'm hoping to make a couple of each (case and tote) with the patterns to make sure they are correct and don't need any adjustments. Then I will also have some sample to experiment with taking pictures of to see what will work/look the best on the site.

In web site news people seem to prefer the version of the website that I came up with last. The first couple I made were based a lot on pages that I've seen on the web. An idea from that one, an idea from this one. But the one people seem to like the most I thought of up one night while I was lying in bed not falling asleep. In my head it's a lot fancier than what it ends up being because I don't know how to do art on the computer. Anne had a friend of hers make a logo for the site which is awesome, but I just don't have the talent for making other stuff. It's frusterating to have ideas, but have no way to get them out of your head. I'm no good at drawing either with paper and pencil or in a computer program.

Project WebSite

In order to start the HTML project I went looking for a book to learn from. OK, so I actually started looking at tutorials and whatnot on-line, but I seem to have a hard time learning that way. There is something about having a real life book to read from that makes the difference for me. This is apparently the way I am wired so I'm working with it. To that end I found Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML. It got a lot of good reviews around the web, but I almost didn't buy it because it was published by O'Reilly¹. But after looking around I decided that it was the way to go. And I'm totally glad I did. The introduction is all about why they style their books the way they do. It is full of words like metacognition, cognative science, and dendrite. Clearly this is my kind of book. And I agree with what they have come up with - the high school textbook manufacturers should take a page or two from their notes. The book is large (about 650 pages) and I completed it in about 5 days including stopping when my brain was full so I could come back later/the next day and hopefully it would make sense then (it always did). Plus I did a lot of flitting from project to project just because I felt like it.

So I started my way through the book and now feel comfortable making a basic web site using XHTML and CSS. I made a couple of options for the index page (mostly the same XHTML, different CSS) and sent them to my sister and my parents. Hopefully they will have some feedback for improvement and whatnot. Then I will start in on the other pages in the site. Which I am thinking will be mostly the same as the index, but with one large element that changes from page to page. My main issue is that I'm not an artist. I don't have the ability to make cool stuff in a computer program to use on my website. So my websites are pretty basic, but I guess they will get the job done.

I'm excited to hear what they think both good and bad. I think I'm missing that camaraderie that you get working with other people. Not like the dreaded "group project" (just ask Jason about some of the group projects he had to work on complete all by himself in college) but more like working with people around who can give you feedback and support. That back and forth of normal conversation that I don't get a lot of staying being a stay at home...person (props to DrJ). Unfortunately everyone else will have to wait and see when I get around to Project WebServer to be able to check it out. Too bad because then I could get your opinions too.

1. This is because of WWdN in Exile. O'Reilly published his book "Just a Geek" and botched it pretty much completely. Reading WWdN in Exile has apparently biased my opinion of this publishing company.

Irresolution

I've been feeling rather unproductive lately so I started up an old idea again. Selling stuff on-line at annearchy.com (again, that site isn't up right now, so I'm not even going to bother making it a link). The reason it is down is that up until now Anne did the whole thing, made a site, found a web server and all that. However she actually has a full time job and didn't really have time to make the site what it she wanted it to be, with a cart and all that neat-o stuff. So when I called her about whether or not she was still interested in doing our sisterly craft collaboration she said yesbut. Yes, but she didn't have time to make it work. Understandable (that pesky job getting in the way again). So I set about trying to figure out what to do first. I was unable to settle on just one thing so for the past week or so I've been working on about 5 or so projects. Doing it that was means I don't finish any one project very fast, but when I get fed up/frustrated with one project I can just flit over to another one. I find that my mom was right about solving problems, if you get stuck, go do something else and while you are not thinking about the problem your brain will come up with a possible solution or two.

The projects started out as:

(re)Learn HTML and make a website
Figure out a web hosting solution
Create a pattern for the knitting needle case
Create a pattern for the knitting tote
Modify pattern for hoodie to fit adults

So for the next while those things are probably what I'm going to be blogging about. Maybe it will be interesting, maybe it won't...like the blog says: a whole lot of nothing.

Take us to...ludicrous speed

If you have read my blog in the past you know that I've been having some computer troubles. Well, apparently seeing that my original drivers went back to pre 1998 was too much for my Dad and for my birthday he got me a new computer! Wow and a half! I totally wasn't expecting it (and not just because it was early). I've never actually had a new desktop before because I usually hork my Dad's hand-me-downs. This was totally cool with me because his hand-me-down was usually still cooler than what I would have been able to buy for myself. But now I have a new wicked fast computer (I didn't realize how slow the old one was until I booted up the new one). It is a Dell and the thing I find funny is that they are trying to be cool/hip. The case has a, albeit minor, mod. It has a little see through protion with metal mesh behind it. Looks like this:

It's no TIE Fighter or anything, but it is interesting.

I've also been really discouraged lately about my craftiness. About a week ago I went to 6 different fabric stores looking for some nice, interesting fabrics. I didn't really have any particular project in mind. I was just looking for fabric I liked and could potentially be used for costumes, knitting cases, fleece for clothes, etc. I was seriously disappointed. None of the stores really had anything I liked, except a few bolts in 100% cotton. I don't like to use this cotton because it wrinkles something fierce, shrinks quite a bit and is very thin. It's great for quilting and whatnot, but not for things that should be at least somewhat sturdy. I thought, moving to a larger city (which I'm liking less and less - I just don't cope well with the press of people all the time, the lack of any open space, and the driving) I would get the benefit of some larger/nicer fabric stores. Alas, it was not to be. In my opinion they were worse than the stores in Grand Rapids. Then yesterday I decided to make a trek down to a different Joann than the one that is by my apartment. It was about a 40 minute drive (it is about 2 seconds from Roland's office) but they did have a somewhat better selection. Don't get too excited though, I was still not terribly enthused overall. But I did find some fabric that I'm going to use to make some knitting needle cases/totes. They are patterned twill (and very similar, but I'm not counting on my luck to find much else I like) and I still have to think about what I want to use as the contrast fabrics (pockets and whatnot). What do y'all think?