16 Yarnspirations for the Creative Knitter/Crocheter

Need a bit of yarny-inspiration? Here are some projects that I’ve hand selected just for you! Maybe they’ll inspire you. But probably not. Mostly, they’ll just make you laugh. Or burn your eyes. 😉

1. To Humiliate The Dog – Because what tiny dog with an inferiority complex doesn’t want to be dressed up like a mouse? You can find the free pattern for this ADORABLE dog hat/snood/ridiculousness here.

2. If you’re an overachieving dog-lover with a penchant for embarrassing your canine BFF, then this should definitely be your next project. Unfortunately, the crochet pattern for this particular tool of humiliation is not available yet although Ravelry-users can check on the creative dog-mommy who created this masterpiece here to see when the pattern becomes available.

3. Wondering what you could make with granny squares besides an afghan? Why, a sweater and matching pants, of course! Your husband can thank me later.

4. A Ravelry search for the work “toilet” results in 150+ toilet roll and toilet seat covers and even a handful of knit/crochet toilets. But there can only be one Commode-O-Dragon.

5. I love seeing hand-knits on the runway. Makes me feel like my yarny-pursuits are creative and high-fashion! But apparently, I missed the memo because this is knit haute couture. 

6. I have no words.

7. I wonder how long it took the person who knit this to get the cables just right in the crotchal region… 

8. If the hooded cabled onesie isn’t quite enough for your manly man, then surely, this will be adequate. 

10. I can’t decide if this is genius or really, really weird. 

11. This is what happens when you cross a luchador with a clown and a Cabbage Patch Kid.  12. I don’t know about you, but this guy is seriously rocking the look. His sweater vest is the perfect match for those granny glasses.  13. I don’t get it.  14. I want to know the secret to getting the yarn to stick straight up on the mohawk! And I kind of love the pants.  15. Knit pasties. ‘Nuff said.  16. Who needs knit penis cozies when you can knit a dress covered in them??? 

Happy Wednesday! 😉

For the Love of Crafting

It no secret that I love to craft. From knitting and crocheting to sewing and kid’s crafts, I enjoy everything about it: scouring Pinterest for ideas, shopping for materials, thinking of ways to make things with upcycled materials, designing and making something pretty and useful out of scraps… But most of all, I enjoy making things for other people. So several years ago, when friends asked me to make things for their kids or for other friends’ babies, the business side of jkwdesigns began. And it’s been lots of fun! I love that my clients love the things I make enough to refer me to their friends and trust my skills enough to request something vague and let me run with it.

When it comes to crafting, my favorite part–hands down–is the design process, so figuring out how to turn something like a cartoon character into a hat is what I love the most. From My Little Pony’s Princess Celestia to Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and of course, this season’s favorite Queen Elsa and Princess Anna…

Over the past couple years, I have truly been blessed with more business than I can handle. Usually, during the winter months, I am completely buried under piles of yarn, and my hands can’t knit and crochet fast enough to meet demand. And, sadly, I have come to a point where I feel a bit overwhelmed with my never-ending To-Do list, and although I still love to make things for people, as I forced myself to pick up the crochet hook after getting my kids settled into bed, I realized recently that something HUGE was missing in my crafting life. I no longer have time to just make things and give gifts to loved ones–which, for me, is the most rewarding part of crafting.

I craft for the love of the craft, but I also do it because I love to give gifts. Earlier this year, I started a Craft It Forward challenge to spread handmade love. And it’s the end of November. I’ve only managed to send out one gift. That’s not enough handmade love from me! I’ve also not had time to write and post the tutorials for the Transformers hats–I know MANY people are waiting for it! There are countless other patterns that I want to write–both for this blog and for my Etsy shop. I’ve been wanting to work on some new Star Wars themed decor for my boys’ bedroom. And now that my boys are in school, there are so many things I would like to do for their class and for their school. There simply aren’t enough hours in the day for everything. So it’s time for me to make a change.

For the love of the craft, I have decided to stop making handmade items for purchase. I want to focus my work on design and pattern writing. I want to make gifts for friends and family. I want to dedicate some more time in the kitchen working on healthy and delicious meals for my family (we were doing so well during the first half the year, but with the boys starting school and hat orders coming in, it’s been a real challenge lately!). I want to sew some curtains for my daughter’s room. I also want to continue loving the craft and not feel overwhelmed by the list of items I have to finish for paying clients. I plan to complete the orders that I’ve already taken, then spend time making gifts for some very special people in my family’s lives and focus my time and energy on the craft and not the business. When it comes to the business side, my graphic design and event planning work with delightful. has been flourishing, and unlike knitting and crocheting, it doesn’t take hours and hours of work to produce a single item. Also, because my delightful. work is ALL about the design process, it’s been much more creatively fulfilling for me.

So, readers, stay tuned! New patterns and printables (both free and for purchase), lots of giveaways, recipes and more are on their way! 🙂

DyakCraft Darn Pretty Knitting Needles

Eight months ago, my darling husband ordered 2 sets of Darn Pretty Interchangeable Knitting Needles for my knitting pleasure. They have finally arrived, and I am pretty much giddy with excitement. 🙂 I’ve got a new project lined up to work on. I’ll share my thoughts on these gorgeous, handcrafted needles once I get started!

7000 miles later…

I can’t believe that it’s been 2 months already since I last posted. What’s even crazier is that in that time, DH has changed jobs, we packed up our house, shipped our cars and moved 7000 miles to the opposite side of the earth! Right now, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Seoul, South Korea. My baby girl’s fast asleep in the other room, and my little boys are playing at grandma and grandpa’s house. It’s so quiet without them… You’d think that I’d take advantage of the quiet time to get some knitting done, but I haven’t really knit since just before leaving the States. I think I’ve got too much going on inside my head to sit and relax, think of nothing and just knit. The view from our hotel room is beautiful, but it hasn’t done much to inspire my creativity these days…

We’re deep in the middle of house hunting. I think today may be the last day of looking at apartments before making a decision. There are two that we like more than all the others, but the one that’s in the perfect location with lots of great facilities (fitness center, sauna, indoor playground, etc.) is just a tad small, and the one that has all the space we need and is just perfect for our big family is in a not-so-great area. If only we could transplant that house in a nicer neighborhood! Unless the realtor shows us something amazing today, I think we’ll be sticking with option one–the smaller space in the perfect location.

I’ve also been tentatively planning Miss Penelope’s first birthday party. She’s (already!!!) 9 months old, and the way time has been flying by, it’ll be February before I know it. First birthdays (or dol in Korean) are a HUGE deal in Korean culture, and the parties are completely over-the-top. The boys’ dol was pretty crazy… We rented a reception hall and had 100+ guests–all in the midst of a great Snowpocalypse of 2010 on the East Coast. Penelope’s dol is sure to be a circus as well since we have so many relatives here in Korea. If everyone actually travels up to Seoul for the party, the family guest list will be at least 70 people. And since the boys’ birthday is the day before Penelope’s… Well, the boys will have a small party the weekend before. But there’s lots of planning to do and lots of crafty projects that I need to undertake between now and then! I’m thinking of a cherry blossom theme for Penelope’s dol and I may have to do a combination of pirates and firetrucks for the boys’ party or one will be left weeping!

As for my knitting, I’m currently working on two projects. The first one is almost finished. I used the $5 in Paris pattern, available for free on the Knitting Up A Storm blog, to make a sweater dress. I just have one sleeve to finish up and the dreaded weaving in of ends to complete.

The second is a cute little cardigan for one of my nieces. I haven’t gotten very far on it, but so far, the pattern is quite easy to follow. The pattern’s called in threes: a baby cardigan, and for $6, it comes in 6 different sizes (0 to 5T)–not bad. I’m sure that once I finish this one, I’ll be working up another one for my little peanut.

Anyway, I have some phone calls to make before Penelope wakes from her nap… So until next time…

First Post-Baby Project

I actually completed my first knitting project since Baby Penelope was born! A couple of weeks ago, Baby Penelope, at 10 weeks old, began sleeping through the night, and when I say sleeping through the night, I don’t mean a 5 hour stretch, which I guess is what’s considered sleeping through the night by numerous parenting sources. I mean, this little munchkin started going to sleep between 8 and 8:30 and would sleep until 7 or 8 in the morning. Sometimes, she’d sleep as late as 9:30! So, with a beautifully sleeping baby, I was actually able to pick up the knitting needles and get to work on an important project.

A woman in my March 2012 babies group (although Penelope was born in February…) was diagnosed with cancer the same day her little one turned one month old. As a group, we’ve been trying to help her out in various ways, sending her shipments of breastmilk, ordering meals for her and her family, putting together a comfort afghan. I didn’t think I would be able to contribute to the comfort afghan, but apparently, Penny thought it would be good for her mama to share the love. After all, another group of beautiful women from Ravelry sent us a lovely comfort afghan last year following my miscarriage in May.

So here’s what I made:

I’m really happy with how it turned out, and in the future (the far, far away future probably!), I would love to make more of these squares for an entire afghan. It would look amazing!

I’m now working on Penelope’s blanket, which will probably be done right around her first birthday. No kidding. :-p