make something days seventy-five&seventy-six

Crochet for days.

make something day seventy-two

I've been cleaning and crocheting all day.

make something days sixty-two through sixty-four

The beanie alone took me two days to make, but it was worth it because I really like the outcome. It was kind of a lengthy project but now that I know what I'm doing I'll be able to make them a lot quicker. I'm still counting it for both Sunday and Monday because if I never took the time to finish anything I'd just be piling myself up with side projects. Oh yeah! I used my first tag for this beanie, I think it makes a pretty nice finishing touch. 

Today I made, a couple more bow pins. I wanted to make up a variety of colors so I could get some good pictures for my shop. So I did that and put the bows up for ten dollars each! Request a new color and help me expand my color options.

Bow Pins on Etsy

Beanie coming soon!

make something days fifty-five&fifty-six

Yesterday I made a brand new, coral colored bow and attached it to a pin that you can clip onto practically anything. Then today I made an aqua-blue one and put it on a key chain. I already went and clipped the keychain onto my scissors though that might not be very practical, but I guess bows are more cute than practical anyways. Remember how I said I wanted to put bows on everything? Well I did.

make something days twentytwo&twentythree

Yesterday I made: an aqua colored headband. Headbands are great, I'm seriously thinking about putting some more in my shop, but I have some other things that I want to put in there first.

Today I made: fingerless gloves in aqua! They look pretty adorable along with the matching headband I don't even know if I can bear to sell them separately. So far I have one set of fingerless gloves up in my shop, I'll be adding in this color soon along with some other pretty new colors.

make something days seventeen&eighteen

Yesterday I made: the first of many fingerless gloves, (on the left). This one's made with a cream colored wool yarn and is super cozy.

Today I made: my second pair of fingerless gloves, (on the right). I perfected yesterdays design making the gloves a little bit longer and tighter around the wrists. For these ones I used an acrylic yarn. I love them so much and they're actually incredibly comfortable. I'm going to be putting them up in my shop soon and I already have a few new colors to make them in, should I make some in wool too?

make something day two

Today I made: The first half a new top. I'm working on a trade that I made with another Etsy shop owner, but I'm super late on it and I already received her part of the deal weeks ago. So, I figured I'd put this project to good use and make her top while I have the time. Like I said, I'm only halfway done, but I'll have most of it done by the end of the night. It's no simple crochet piece so it will probably take more than just one day to complete but I still made something, and it was something that needed to be done!  For her I'm making this top but in the lovely red wine color above. I'll have more pictures once it's completed but for now this is all I got. 

In other news, when I went to the post office to ship off some orders today I was hit with the smell of burnt P.O. boxes. Looks like someone had their fun this weekend and thought that the post office would enjoy some fireworks. I'm not sure what exactly was put into the drop box that caused the fire but I'm sure there's some video evidence of what happened. Thought that was interesting, what would cause someone to blow up a post office? Anyways, time for me to get back to my yarn and crochet hook. 

#MSED 365

(Make Something Every Day)

now that the rain has dried

Diaries of an amateur shop owner.. All I seem to know how to make now is scarves. Not to say that that's a bad thing necessarily, at least I'll have a good variety. However, I feel like making the same thing over and over is limiting my creativity though each one is made differently. After I make it through this holiday season I'll be able to come back next year with some new, creative holiday and winter ideas for my shop. As for this season, I feel like I started my preparations a little late to successfully promote myself as a "one stop holiday shop." Christmas is right around the corner and I still have so many presents to make on top of coming up with new winter listings, but I'm more excited than worried.

I think today I'll paint for a while. Get my hands dirty and test out my abilities.

look who's back

and comin' back

with a vengeance.. >.<

First of all, here's a little update on my shop: Motavations is currently on vay-cay until I can fill her up with a bunch of new goodies. I'll be throwing product previews at you like this extra-long, chunky, winter hat that I designed almost a year ago.
I'm currently in a state of confusion, trying to decide whether to make lots of custom order pieces or more one of a kind, ready to ship items. I'm sure custom orders will sell better, but I think there's something really special about making one unique item with no duplicates so people have an opportunity to own something that's truly one of a kind. I hope to get some feedback on my previews to help me decide whether to sell singles or customs of items.

Now most importantly! My bff, Charisma, is probably coming to room with me soon and she just so happens to be a very talented, crafty girl. I already have some dream catcher earrings of hers in my room which I'll be putting up in my shop when I open it back up. She will be the first new member of my shop, so coming soon is the new and improved Motavations! I have lots of talented friends and lots of collab ideas in mind so hopefully we can work together on some projects without goofing off too much, haha. Here's to more good times.!

I came back from a trip to Long Beach to the chilly autumn weather that I've been waiting for. I hope it stays this way so I can keep my sweater on and crank out some scarves.

In other news: 

New blog favorites: sennaloves.blogspot, I love your blog and your knits are great. And thanks to her I also found woolandthegang.tumblr which is also full of yarn lover inspiration. 

I'm going to go do a rain dance right now and try to re-teach myself to knit today.

Last winter I took some pictures of the snow:

with love, neena noel

sweater crazy lady

If I'm still up at midnight, I know I'm not going to sleep anytime soon. There's something about being in my room alone that hinders me from sleeping. But I'm not complaining, I tend to enjoy the quiet solitude, though it can get boring. So what better way to entertain myself besides browsing the internet for all those things that I want but can't have. It's a lot more fun than it sounds. 

I originally found this website, sheinside.com, from a blog giveaway that I entered earlier at rootsandfeathers.blogspot.com. I read the rules and found which item I would want as directed and then came back to the website later only to find out that they have TONS of sweaters. I'm obsessed with big, over-sized sweaters especially at this time of year. I've wandered through many Goodwills and other thrift stores collecting all of the best sweaters and never seem to get enough. And little did I know that this website existed only to sum up my love of sweaters. The lovely knits just make me feel warm and cozy and comfortable even just looking at them. Why can't I just live in awesome sweaters and soft pants? 

Here's my extensive wishlist of sweaters, or more like my dream closet. and some comfy pants too.

finds

I hope y'all are having a good weekend, I definitely am. I found some awesome stuff at a neighbors garage sale, had some adventures and an all around great time in Ojai. For the three plus years that I've lived here this was the first time that I've ever gone garage-saling, but being right across the street from my house I decided to wander over and check things out. I remember always finding a bunch of crap and occasionally one cool thing at garage sales when I was younger, but I've opened my mind and broadened my horizons since then and I can now definitely agree that one girls trash is another girls treasure. We all get tired of our little possessions after a while, even some of the things that used to be our favorites - I love garage sales and thrift stores because they give a chance for something that was once loved to be loved again rather than sitting around collecting dust. I know I will constantly be recycling through things as long as I live, donating the old and finding other peoples old treasures, and hey, it's cheaper too! I got six new things for 9$, definitely scored.

Perfectly hand-knit sweater / blazer, in love and for only two dollars.

I finally have a couple of real wine glasses!

The origin of this necklace was unknown but those are some gorgeous hand-carved beads, I'm thinking they might be African?

This is the coolest nightlight I've ever seen.

with love,

neena noel