My new neckwarmer pattern!

worn to the side on largest size

So I have lots to do on the beard beanie front - fall is fast approaching!  But before I get to that, I'm determined to finish up all of my semi-finished crochet patterns.  Designing is my favorite thing ever!  Well, along with cooking, on the creative front that is... (I can think of lots people that I definitely love more  :-)  ).  Getting the patterns finished and written up is a bit tedious though, seriously.  Busy work.  It is worth it though - for sure.  I love getting comments and photos from customers and readers who've finished up items following one of my patterns!  It seriously makes my day!

worn with collar up on smallest size

worn like a collar, centered on largest size

worn to the side in smallest size

Plus - I think I'll have a new pattern to post here on my blog soon!  This one will posted right on the blog and will be free to all!  Happy Crocheting!

My Crazy Life and a New Pattern

Hi all!  Long, long time no see, right?  Yep, so sorry for the over 1 yr lapse in posts.  What can I say - life got a bit more hectic than I ever in a million years expected it to!

So, for a quick update - the beardbeanie business pretty much rules my life in the fall/winter months, then in the spring/summer, I try to hibernate a bit for a break.  Hibernating in the summer sounds wierd, I know.

I'm still cooking and crocheting and being Mom and wife - and hopefully maybe getting the juggling (of my time) down better.  And I've been wanting to get back to blogging for awhile now.  Here is my first attempt at getting through the block I've had for the last while!

These are some new head bands I have in the shop, but more importantly I've written up the pattern and need some testers!  It's sized for children and adults.  So if you are reading this and you crochet - wouldn't you love to try it out for me?  Please?  You can use any worsted weight yarn you have!  They look super cute and make great gifts!  Let me know if you're up for testing it for me!

All natural fibers!

I have had several requests for the beard beanies in all natural fibers.  I am adding a few to my shop here an there as I experiment with the softest all natural fiber yarns for the beards.  If you keep checking my etsy shop, you should see them pop up here and there as I work on some new patterns.

I listed one today that is knitted from a fine deep red wool yarn with a beard crocheted in black with a super soft bamboo/silk blend yarn.

New website!

Now there's a new place you can order your beard beanies too!  We've opened a new site at beardbeanie.com!  At that site, you can order the hats in the quantities you want!  There is also a new blog for the new site that mainly features a photo gallery where you can share your photos of you in your beard beanies!  It also has the new black and charcoal striped bearded beanie available for purchase!

Black and Gray Bearded Lumberjack hat ON SALE! for the rest of January!

Hi all!  The rest of 2010 proved to be quite a whirlwind for me!  Thanks for all of the beard beanie love I received!  It was incredible!

I have lots and lots of news to share!!!  But I think I'll spread it out in a few posts, otherwise I would be writing a novel here in one post!

So, for now I want you all to know that the black and gray bearded lumberjack hat from my etsy shop is ON SALE!  And will remain on sale for the remainder of January.  $10 off the regular price, so $40 each.  I have several in stock, so if you don't see the quantities you want, send me a convo through etsy, or an email to beardbeanie@gmail.com and we'll be sure to get you taken care of!

Stay tuned in the next week!  I have new hats, new patterns, and some other big news to share as well!!!

Our trip to Moab!

A few weeks ago, my hubby wanted to take us all to Moab.  Being born and raised in Utah, I guess it was kind of ironic and a bit sad that I'd never been there before.  At the time, I was swamped with orders, but, I figured it's important to always make time for family, right?  So I gathered up all my work and took it on the road.

When planning vacations, I generally go for the more tropical destinations, you know, nice beaches and such.  I do have to say though, Moab has some truly breathtaking sights.  We were just there over a short weekend, so there's much more than what we saw.  We went through Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park.  I think the kids favorite part, however, was the sand dune.

Do you see us in the delicate arch picture?  We are there, you just have to look close. 

 We happened to be there when it rained.  When it rains, you have instant waterfalls all over!  This is one that we stopped to see.  If you look, you can see Mitch behind it!

I have two new hats that I am introducing to the shop that we took pictures of as well.  One in hunter orange, for those hunters out there!  And one I call the green river hat.  The picture we liked best of it was at the green river viewpoint in Canyonlands.

And last but not least, we decided to take one more picture of the family.  I call it a family of beard hats!!!

How I became a hooker! (Crocheter, that is!)

So my etsy team, the Create Crochet Team, is doing a series of questions for us to discuss on our blogs for everyone out there to get to know us a bit better.  This weeks question is - 

When did you start crocheting?  Did you teach yourself, or did someone teach you?  Tell us the story of how you became a hooker.

My crocheting I credit solely to my stepgrandmother.  My grandmother had died many years before I was born and my grandpa had since married a sweet lady named Neta.  They lived next door. My grandpa died when I was very young and she was left alone in the little house.  I was the youngest in a large family.  I would often visit her.  She liked to cook, sew, and crochet.  All things which I like to do now too!

I vividly remember her watching Dallas and Dynasty when I visited her in the evening.  She would crochet as she watched her old tube TV.  She started teaching me when I was probably 5 or 6 yrs old, I'm not sure exactly.  She taught me to make granny squares from her scrap yarn.  Eventually I started making hotpads, then I moved onto bigger projects. I would crochet baby sweaters for my nieces and nephews as they were born and often did edgings on receiving blankets that my mom had hemstitched.

Several years after she passed away, my mom brought over a bag of yarn and granny squares that she had received.  I took them all and put edgings on them and made them into a nice afghan.  It brought back a lot of memories of a sweet lady that taught me so much.  Hopefully I can pass it on to someone too!