I promised some new things today and I just have time to do a quick photo listing. It is Monday with a vengeance today. Here we go.
Ok, must run. See you all later,
Karen
Tag: Chocolate Dog Studio
Finished….Granny Square blanket
Yes! I have finished this beautiful blanket this weekend. 
Isn’t it lovely. Crocheted out of Fisherman’s wool and wool ease yarn. It is a lovely spot of color for a family room. Perfect for folding and keeping on the back of a chair. I love the modern and yet retro look of this crochet blanket.
I apologize for the photos but the sun keeps dodging in and out of the clouds. It has been gloomy here lately. I have been hoping for rain or snow but it is too warm for snow this week.
It is 52 inches square.
Talk to you later,
Karen
Wednesday!
I finished this scarf up last night. It had been laying around the studio begging to be finished  and finally it ended up this very pretty scarf. It is about 5′ long and almost 6″ wide. It has 14 granny squares in it and a pretty scalloped border. The colors are fresh and springlike.
Just a little progress on this blanket. I am working on it and it is beautiful. I love the creamy white with the flash of color here and there. I haven’t decided what color the next row will be and I am tossing some ideas around. It will get the next color row and hopefully one more before the end of the day, but it is getting larger and that just takes time and work.
talk to you later,
Karen
The Crochet line-up
During that post holiday creative slump, I started several crochet projects knowing full well, that they would be abandoned when the yarn shipments would arrive!
Here is what I started during that time and since the yarn shipment came in.
a bright and cheery granny square blanket
a black and melon granny ripple…
a beautiful big granny square blanket of brilliant colored wool with cream borders
and then this beautiful granny square blanket also out of deliciously warm wool.
I know it seems as though I should finish one before I start the next. My Mom and Grandma’s would agree but, I work best this way. I have two totes with several projects in them that are traveling size. I take these with me to places where I have to sit and wait and work on my projects while waiting. When they reach a point where they are too big to travel, I work on them at night while watching movies. If I reach a point where I have lost inspiration or run out of supplies then I simply put it aside and continue working on the other projects at hand. This system is working as it keeps the shop on a cash basis and I am not buying supplies on credit.
How do you work best?
Talk to you later,
Karen
What are you going to do different?
If what we are doing in our business isn’t bringing us the results we want and if Insanity is defined as this (see below)?
Then why do we keep doing the same things over and over in our business and expect different results. So my question to you is WHAT are YOU going to do DIFFERENTLY this year? How are you going to change the status quo? This has been the question that has occupied my mind the last five weeks. Yes, this question was going through my mind during the Christmas rush. It was a good Christmas season for the shop. Not as good as I had hoped for but quite good anyway. There were some things that I had done differently in the shop and it did pay off.
Since I have been mulling this thought over and over in my mind and the start of a new year is a time for reflection. I was getting frustrated with my inability to come to some decisions. It seemed like the year started with a huge rush of activity; getting kids back to school, kids getting sick, getting some appointments made, updating some paperwork, insurance paperwork, and house keeping stuff. All of it was keeping me from really working on the shop. I felt behind the curve already and we hadn’t even really started the year.
I even worked on this questionnaire  from Etsy and was going to do a great big blog article on it.  http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2013/reflect-on-2012-t/ It was a great place to start but it built in some frustrations as well. I may still do the blog article but really you have no desire to read about my goals unless it is a bullet list and you can scan it quickly.  I am not sure I can condense it down to a bullet list. I even tried to photograph the studio and motivate myself to clean it up because cleaning always has the ability to start a rush of ideas. I did indeed clean up the studio, but then we found some boxes downstairs that had studio items in them… and you can guess the rest.
It is a big year ahead of us with some pretty major changes. Like all families some big things and lots of little things are ahead of us. Some of them we have advance notice of and some we don’t. Â So here is…finally a short list of things I am going to do in 2013
- Try and blog more consistently
- Feature other artisans once a week….
- Make 12 tutorials for my blog…that is roughly one a month… This is a huge hurdle and one I am rather frightened of.
- Keep the studio more organized
- Diversify the items in the Studio shop…same style of items just different kinds of things…
- Read 4 good books about business… I have two titles that were reccomended by my husband. Since he usually only reads non-fiction he is a great resource.
- Try to find 4 brick and mortar shops to consign my items here in my region.
- Limit my work time to a more regular schedule which includes time off for family and other activities.
- Build a link up spot once a week to help others market their shop items.
Then like everyone else I also have the goals to lose weight, exercise, eat right and save money that fit into the personal list along with
- Do the budget thing
- Continue working on home improvement projects
- Get the veggie garden and flower gardens back looking good.
- At least once a week do something fun with kids….
- Teach DD to cook and sew…she is the last one to learn. I am on the down hill side of child rearing and she deserves to know learn as much as they did.
- Make time for friends.
Talk to you later…
Karen
What has happened lately….
It has been a busy Holiday season. Things are moving so incredibly fast. The Chocolate Dog Studio shop has been over run with shoppers…which is GREAT, and I am very thankful. Â Here are some photos of the crochet beauties that rounded out the shop this year.
This is a grand total of 10 full size crochet blankets and 5 baby blankets, two with baby hats. This isn’t counting the boot cuffs and Christmas ornaments. I have been fighting burnout on the crocheting end of things and I think a little break is what is called for. So, if I can I will take a rest. I have a couple of special orders lined up to finish now and a couple for after the holidays. I won’t turn down any special orders that come my way but I think I will sort through the yarn, roll it into little balls and maybe put it up.
Chocolate Dog Studio has tons of items 45% off at http://www.chocolatedogstudio.etsy.shop
Please stop by and say hi or just browse the shop. I uploaded a bunch of photos to my ravelry page. There are a few more details about the blankets there. You can find that here: http://www.ravelry.com/people/chocolatedogyarns .
thanks so much,
Karen
Granny Stripe Finished!
I finished this up last night after an extended tv watching session. I talked the photographer into photographing it for me. He did an awesome job!
I love it. It is in the ChocolateDogStudio shop here:
You can find the pattern here on Etsy and here in the Chocolate Dog Studio shop.
Crocheted out of very soft 100% washable acrylic yarn from the UK. It is 62 1/2″ long x 41 1/2″ wide. The pattern is a granny stripe and the stripes run lengthwise
Talk to you later,
Karen
Rainbow Granny Stripe
It is now almost December and I have been sadly missed posting. It has been the Thanksgiving and Christmas rush around here. I finally got my camera out and took a few snap shots of my newest favorite.
I am about three quarters of the way finished, at least I think I am. It is definitely over the halfway mark. It is a wonderful five feet long and of the softest yarn. When it is finished I will be adding it to the shop!
I have also been selling quite a bit at the Etsy shop and it has been keeping me busy. We had a wonderful visit with our oldest dear daughter (home from college) for Thanksgiving. She brought her room mate and we had a great time watching Dr. Who on netflix. Only a few more weeks and we will have her home for three weeks. I have done absolutely NO Christmas shopping. So I will have to get busy and get on with it!
See you later,
Karen
November Already!
Yes, it is November already…am I ready? NO! There is so much I want to finish before the end of the year. It has been a hard year and I won’t be sad to put it behind me and start with a fresh clean slate. It has been a year of changes.
- We have moved: packed everything we own and moved it 7 hours South and unpacked it yet again…plus unpacked the boxes we hadn’t unpacked yet the first time. No, we aren’t done yet and there are still boxes left.
- Put one kid in college (and then drove off and left her five hours away from home)! Don’t laugh that has been one of the hardest things to do and also one of great joy. She is doing fantastic, even when she thinks she isn’t…she is!
- welcomed a son back home until the wedding so he can save money…That has also been hard and continues to be hard simply because I forget he is an adult, but he has been an incredible help and I have so enjoyed this time.
- preparing to have a wedding….no they haven’t picked a date or have a minister yet…but there is the Dress, so things are moving forward.
Well, that is a small list but there has been some good news. I found my camera last weekend. So, I will once again be able to show off some bad photos of things I have finished unlike these that my live in photographer took last weekend.
I added up the things I have done lately and here is my list. 
This is the stack of afghans I have finished this year that haven’t been shipped off. That is a huge stack of crocheted blankets. It doesn’t include the two granny square blankets that I shipped last week or the custom baby blankets I have been crocheting lately. The pretty one second from the bottom is headed out tomorrow after I get a box. We did braces today and then some comforting and hanging out. I would love for all of these blankets to find a home. Some crocheting is so repetitive that I find myself praying for the person that will receive them. That it will comfort and warm them when they need it most. I have also made tons of Christmas ornaments and I am just going to share one photo of them.Â
I love these star ornaments. I was trying to come up with a way to use small bits of yarn and ended up crocheting  too many of these stars. Then last week, I had a great idea…so these happened. Spontaneously, and now I have about eight pairs and could easily make tons more.
Boot Cuffs! Aren’t they cute? I don’t usually wear boots. I love these cuffs. I have so many different colors now. So, that is some of what I have done. I am also in the painting mode. I am in the process of finishing a house project that has been in the unfinished stage for more years than I would care to count. I have done the prep and just need to get the motivation to finish. You know, it is painting a bathroom cabinet. The downstairs bathroom cabinet and I keep putting it off as I know that I WILL get paint all over me when I forget that I painted in there.
See you later,
Karen
P.S. You can crochet your own boot cuffs from this pattern here on Etsy and here in the Chocolate Dog Studio shop.
Blue baby blanket
Who needs anymore stress on Monday? So here are some beautiful photos of a blue baby blanket that I just finished and shipped off on Saturday!
I simply love the beautiful colors and it is wonderfully soft. It is 36″ square. It was a custom order and started from these beautiful yarns. It was a super quick crochet job as I started it on Sunday and shipped on Saturday!
I am working on another custom order now and it is huge. I believe it is going to take 150 crocheted granny squares. Yes, 150! Yikes, I have a plan though and it is happening pretty quickly. I have about 80 centers worked now. I will show you more at a later this week.
See you on Tuesday!
Karen