Optimistic Crafts - Live!

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Hi all! 
Optimistic Crafts is setting up shop for a debut mini LYS (Local Yarn Shop) at the Bohemian Hall Holiday Market in Astoria Queens. Yes, the infamous "beer garden". Tab over to the "shop" page to see more details!
If you are in NYC stop by and say 'hi'. Bring a project (weather permitting) and hang out in the garden--they say the grill will be open and warm winter beverages will be available! 

Tree at Bohemian Hall Beer Garden

Wishing you all a very warm and happy holiday season!
Elisabeth

Optimistic Crafts

Autumn into Winter

Well, how did time fly by?! Hope you have been as busy as I have with life and events and crafting/sewing/knitting... etc! Me, I am catching up--or trying to!--and preparing for the holidays. More on that later, but for now...
Back in October, I attended the Craft Yarn Council's class to become Certified Instructor Program for knitting. It was so fun to go back to school for a weekend! 2 & 1/2 full days of knitting goodness! Interesting stuff and nice people, too. 

 Swatches were scrutinized and reviewed for what could be improved. I learned a lot about technique and teaching and gained confidence in my skills! Next step, logging teaching hours to get the official certificate. Anyone in the NYC area who'd like some help or a class in knitting, let me know. (if you mention you saw it here, I will give you an extra-reasonable session rate!)

Then, in November, I went to the Pattern Review anniversary celebration at Elliot Berman textiles. The theme was Little Black Dress, but the party was anything but boring black! Kyle at vacuumingthelawn.blogspot.com posted a great review here. Hey, and that's me on the "runway"! Pattern Review is such a great sewing resource and a room full of fun and talented people were there to celebrate. I loved that everyone was smiling through the whole evening! A few pics I took...

And then there are the projects! Lots in progress. Little finishing. Maybe more to show next time.What have you been working on? Stay warm and keep up the progress! 
Optimistically,
Elisabeth

Crawling Along - Brooklyn NYC Yarn Crawl Review

Hi Readers!
This past weekend there was a "yarn crawl" in NYC. Yarn stores gave discounts and had special events encouraging visitors to go to each one, like a pub crawl. I went with a group of knitters from my Astoria meet-up connections, organized by one creative pro knitter who wanted to check out the Brooklyn shops. There were 6 of us of various knitting backgrounds including a self-proclaimed "yarn snob", the previously mentioned creative pro and one totally new knitter who had never been to a yarn store (!!!). 

bench covering at La Casita

It was a fun day starting off with Kir Royales, yarn, brunch, yarn, yarn and a long train ride--knitting all the way--back to Astoria. 

dissections at La Casita Yarn Shop

La Casita has a wonderful vibe and packs A LOT into a small space including a cafe with drinks and coffee. They had this cool dissection diorama! Amazing work.

Brooklyn General is just an all out dream space. A little out of the way but HUGE! They also carry fabric and sewing supplies, including Colette patterns--I'm such a fan of theirs and I wrote about them back in May in this post.

Argyle Yarn Shop

Argyle is another inviting spot with great price points and a FABULOUS selection of books and pattern magazines. The owners and staff were amazingly friendly. We stayed there awhile.
All in all a great day full of inspiration! Did you find any inspiration last weekend?
Maybe you could try next weekend?...
Some ideas:
Friday is I love yarn day! Make something with yarn and enjoy the process! 
The King's County Fiber Festival will be going on in Park Slope.
Ok. Well that's all I've got for now. 
Happy Yarn Day a little early!
Optimistic Crafts

Hat knitting links and progress

Hi! Wow, it's been a little while since I posted. Since then, my page views have now passed a whopping 1000! So thank you if you are reading this! 
Fall is upon us and I am getting inspired by cooler weather. How about you? I would love to do some sewing--absolutely obsessed with Prada's fall line! Check out the video (and if the clothes aren't awesome enough, music by the Cocteau Twins!!!)
Despite the urge to sew, knitting and crocheting have still been my focus lately. Yay knitting! ...in the ad by Chanel.
Kollabora is inspiring some knit hat-making with their 10 fave knit hats and I started making a one from a pattern I found on Ravelry. Always starting, optimistic that I will finish! Here it is in progress--I took it off the circular needles to check the fit. 

Beginnings of a hat

Acorn Shrug progress - 3 skeins and going strong.

Making progress on  the Acorn shrug--it is coming along nicely! What are the odds that I'll finish it before I start something else? Hmmm. Have you started anything, finished anything?
So much yarn-y stuff going on! Other Optimistic ideas... the 30 day sweater challenge. Do it! And October 11th is I love yarn day! Let's celebrate!
More soon from 

Optimistic Crafts

Optimistic Suspense

Hi all!
So exciting! I just figured out how to edit the HTML code to change the Optimistic Crafts font on my logo/heading! The rest of my formatting still needs some work, but I'm getting there.
Speaking of getting somewhere...

Hmmm. Wonder what this is?...Well, I know the answer, but for now, friends, I will create a little suspense!  ...and go back to my DIY web-learning. What have you been learning/crafting?
Have a good week!
Optimistically,
Elisabeth

Optimistic Crafts

Crafting's Mystery-factor

Greetings!
Working on another new project this week. A knit tank top from Burda Style. The pattern is free!

I had been given some slubby silk/cotton blend yarn and this seemed like the perfect thing for it. I don't usually care for racer-back styles, so I planned to modify it. As it is turning out, I ended up with less of a 'Y' shape, but still it still goes in pretty far across the back. Not what I planned exactly, but since it will be worn layered anyway, I think it will still look great. Kind of hard to photograph, but here are some progress shots.


back of tank - in progress

Loving the texture!

back finished!

This material is really stretchy. It looks ok on the mannequin, but she's not as big as me! I think it is going to be too short, so I am going to make the front and then see if I need to do something creative to add length to the hem on the whole thing. Just goes to prove that there's always a bit of mystery in any crafty project!
Have you ever made something you weren't sure about as you were doing it? Did it turn out ok... or did you end up modifying... or is it left unfinished? Would love to know.
Ciao for now, crafty people.

Dolly! And doilies, and 80's vests, oh my!

Hi readers!
Recently I was able to acquire a treasure trove of vintage yarn craft and needlework patterns booklets dating from the 30's up to the 80's. I am in heaven flipping through them for ideas and just plain fun! Among the treasures...

I found my knit dolly! [made by a family friend for me when I was little]

 from Coats&Clark booklet 1973

mine--a little worse for wear!

And doilies!

And lots of 80's vests. Yikes! (I'll spare the pics on that subject).

That aside there are also some really awesome silly-cute things and many many fashionable pre-80's garments. Can't wait share more of these with you soon for great crafty inspiration! Also working on improving the blog design (don't forget I am still a beginner, after all), and there are some very optimistic things in the works to tell you more about soon! 

All the best!

Optimistic Crafts