Oh the Cuteness!

We're fully funded and the shop is open! Visit us at www.blacksquirrelberkeley.com! This is the concept drawing I created for The Black Squirrel. The shop is going to be amazing! Hello friends! What a crazy year this has been! But finally, as of yesterday, my big dream has a chance of becoming a reality! We launched our Indiegogo campaign to fund the creation of a brick and mortar and online fabric, yarn, and craft supply boutique in Oakland, CA! We're off to a great start but we need lots of help getting the word out about it. This is the concept drawing of my ideal storefront. I built this campaign over the past year with practically no resources, except all my lovely crafty friends. Likewise, I have no money to put into advertising, but I'm not worried about that because the crafting community has always been such a tight knit and loving one! If you've been a follower of Oh the Cuteness and enjoyed our free patterns and DIYs then you'll be happy to ...

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted here, but I have a very good excuse this time that I think you will all be very excited about. Big changes are happening and big plans are being made! First of all, I'm no longer living in Campbell (And yes, this means I had to disassemble and box up  the amazing craft room ... Le sigh.). At the moment I've got everything I own except for the essentials put in a storage pod, and I've spent the holidays with my mom and dad, and the new year with my sister, and now I'm planning on returning to my beautiful city of Oakland to finally start working on my big dream... I'm very proud to introduce to you The Black Squirrel , a brick-and-mortar and online fabric, yarn, and craft supply boutique! It's been my lifelong dream to own a little craft shop and I've decided it's time to go for it! The shop will stock a variety of beautiful trendy yarns and fabrics, with a focus on s...

There's a ton of new cute items up for sale in my Etsy shop this week! These herb and spice filled trivets, which I talked about making for a craft fair , are finally listed in the shop! As are these wonderful vintage button art pieces I made. I've been collecting vintage buttons my entire life and I'm so happy to have these special ones out of the jars and on display! The one in the top middle is sold, and the center one is mine, but the rest are in the shop waiting for new homes! I've also listed a framing option for them if you want yours to arrive nicely framed! And lastly, I've created a new version of my Yarn Bombing Kit that comes without a knitted piece included , for those of you who want to make your own and ship it off to a friend! Happy shopping! ^_^

It's finally done! Coming in at a whopping 24" x 72" and using over 1600 yards of  Lily Sugar'n Cream worsted weight cotton yarn , it's my most ambitious knitting project to date.  I knit a sweater once in a single month.  This monster took me about 9 months, working on it in the evenings here and there when I could. I'm completely in love with it! It's hefty and squishy and thanks to the fact that it's entirely seed stitch I didn't even have to block it. I started making it because some time soon we hope to get a small flock of chickens for the backyard, and I wanted a nice wrap to wear while I sit on the swing and let them roam around for a couple hours each day. I needed something that would hit at the elbow so I could knit while wearing it and this came out just perfect! I used this pattern from the Purl Bee blog , cast on the 109 stitches with my size 8 vintage straight needles, and used all the balls of Sugar'n Cream I h...

There's some exciting new products up for sale in my Etsy shop! Firstly, there's my Yarn Bombing Kits, pictured above! They've been in the works for quite some time, and I'm super excited to finally release them! They come with everything you need to install a unique yarn bomb and it all comes shipped in a drawstring bag. How fun would it be to get one of these in the mail?! Just in time for Mother's Day I've listed my pom pom flowers: beautiful handmade wool pompoms in specially chosen colors on white twig stems . They're only $3 a blossom so you can select colors and sizes from a drop-down menu and build your own bouquets! Also up for sale are some beautiful jumbo paper flower surprise balls! Filled with 9 vintage and vintage-inspired prizes, they are made from over 70 feet of hand-cut multicolored crepe paper streamers and recycled tissue paper. Each one is unique, and has a stem which also contains a prize so they're fun to gi...

It's GIVEAWAY time! It's an Instagram-only giveaway however, so you need to head over there on your mobile device to be able to enter! You can find my account @ohthecuteness! (http://www.instagram.com/ohthecuteness) I've teamed up with Nadine from @birdyboutiquephotography and Leslie from @bigcraftyblog to give away this beautiful collection of items to one lucky winner! To enter you must FOLLOW all three shops on instagram, REPOST the photo with the tag #cutecraftybirdygiveaway, and TAG all three shops in your repost. One lucky follower will receive: * A baby shabby chic flapper headband and crocheted bonnet from Birdy Boutique Photography * A set of rainbow house blocks and a Waldorf style cardinal and felted nest from Mama G's Big Crafty Blog * A set of eco-friendly moustache straws, stitch markers, a crocheted cupcake pincushion, an herb and spice filled trivet, and an organic cotton tote bag from me! The giveaway will run for one week, with a...

I finished Johnny's cowl and hat with plenty of time to spare before Valentine's Day, and I'm sure glad I did because he only got to wear them a couple times before this unseasonably warm weather set in. Sorry it took me so long to get him to pose for a shoot lol! Info on the patterns and yarns used can be found in my previous post, here. We were both really happy with how these pieces turned out! Like I said in the original post about the cowl , he chose the patterns and yarns himself, and I think that makes him really excited to wear them. I adore the hat, especially the textural stitch pattern and the beautiful way it's decreased on top. I have to admit I've been stealing it to wear myself here and there. Even though he may have to wait till next winter to wear them, he says it's the best Valentine's Day gift ever. Daww. And holy cow look at what he made me! He's been whittling since Christmas now and this is by far the coolest thing he...

A big shipment of yarn arrived at our house! Johnny has been picking out patterns from Ravelry and, with a little help from me, has been buying the loveliest yarns to go with them! Above is a leftover Rowan skein from his cowl  (Which is finished, photos coming in a few days!), that will be turned into a toddler version of the same pattern and put in the hope chest. The two dark Patons skeins are for the socks below, and he got me the minty one on the bottom just because he likes me. I'm thinking about a slouchy folded-brim hat with a big pom pom on the end, anyone know of any good patterns? In the mean time, here's my list of things to do: Emerson Hat via Interweave    l   Java Socks via Knitty   Beer Gloves from Son of Stitch 'n Bitch I've actually already started on the hat. I love this stitch pattern and would adore a sweater made of it! The yarn, like his cowl's yarn, is Rowan, but a lighter version called Creative Focus Worsted , ...

My friend and knitting guru Suzanne had a birthday party recently that carried the theme of "Share Your Craft", and she teamed up with another Stitch 'n Bitch member to also make it a de-stash party. I brought a bag of fabric and miscellaneous crafting goodies to give, but I had no idea how much other people were bringing! Needless to say, I came home with a LOT of yarn, fabric, and knitting needles! I don't have any plans for the ones above, but I'd love some one-skein project ideas from you guys! The big pile of Fjord is going to become a lap blanket for Johnny, and I'm not sure what I'll do with the white and cream yarns yet. I also came home with these cute fabrics and colorful needles! But, I cleaned out my own needles and realized I have an extra pair of 11's and 3's, and I was wondering if anyone out in internet-land would fancy a trade? I really need a needle gauge, any kind will do! Since I have all these vintage plastic ...

I know there's a lot of people out there that don't really like Valentine's Day for one reason or another. I, however, am not one of those people. I'll take any excuse to do something special, especially if it's for someone I love. When I was a kid I tended to make valentines for my classmates instead of buying the fold-and-tear variety, and it's a tradition that's carried over to my adult life: I'm knitting a little something special for Johnny this year. (Don't worry, he knows!) He found this fantastic cowl, made buy Susk and Banoo , on my Pinterest and asked me if I would make it for him. The moment I said yes he emailed me the link and bought the same yarn that was used for the one above! (Which, by the way, is Rowan Cocoon in Mountain . She used only 2 skeins and it looks like I'm going to need 3 to finish to the proper dimensions.)  I can't help but swoon for a man that buys yarn and looks up his own patterns! Susk and Banoo...

Well guys, I did it! I learned how to knit in 2009 and since then it's been an interesting ride. I made my first knitted piece, a sweater, in one month for Me-Made-May . In between then and now I've made a few cute knitted pieces   like these , and one sock (the second one is coming, I swear), and I've written one simple cowl pattern which I posted here for free . And now I've gotten confident enough with my knitting skills to create a little baby cardigan pattern! This newborn-size sweater (With real vintage buttons!) is made from Madelinetosh's Tosh Merino Light in Badlands . It's a fingering-weight superwash yarn and I love it so much! Johnny got me a gift certificate to one of my favorite local yarn shops and he helped me pick this one out with our hypothetical someday baby in mind. He also helped me look for a pattern, but we couldn't find one that had all the elements we wanted. The vision was for this to look like a little old man's sweat...

It's done yay! Johnny bought me this gorgeous Debbie bliss yarn from a local shop late last year and since it's a silk-alpaca blend and so incredibly soft I thought it would be fun to make something for the hypothetical future baby to stash in the hope chest. Johnny helped me choose the pattern, which we found on Ravelry for free! It has 2 size choices, 3 months and 6 months, but mine came out a little bigger because the yarn I used was larger than the one called for in the pattern.  I used a vintage white shell button for the neckband closure and embroidered the little stars on afterward. We were inspired by  this little beauty we saw on Pinterest , so I made the crocheted moon topper from  this free pattern, also from Ravelry . I think I might make a smaller version of this in dark blue some time in the future as well, so once the someday baby grows out of it we'll have this one ^_~. Oh by the way there's a cute pic of one of my owl plushie...