Efficacious Tool

I should have had this adequate piece in my possession long ago! Oh*eM*Goodness this thing a ma jig is the bee’s knees. Last week I strutted into Michael’s as if I were my husband going to Harbor Freight to pick up another tool that he absolutely needs ;~) I in turn discovered that I REALLY DID NEED IT! AND I LOVE IT! What is it you ask?

A pom-pom maker.

For the affordable price of $8.99 I got two pieces a 2 1/2” and 3 3/8” in this maker set. Looking at this simple design may have you wondering how a pom-pom can be created. Continue following if you don’t know the process. Perhaps you’ve made a pom-pom the old fashioned way like me? You know a piece of cardboard, your hand, or even cell phone wrapped in many rounds/layers of yarn. No need for blue fingers with this nifty efficacious tool.

Efficacious = successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective.

Wrap three layers of yarn versus ten around your hand (my old fashioned way).

Both sides filled with yarn, and this process is clipping along at an amazingly quicker pace than what I’m accustomed to. I’m also not wishing I had octopus tentacles to help me out.

The pom-pom comes off the maker smoothly and I didn’t feel like Harry Houdini attempting to escape restraints removing the yarn from my hands as in the past. I split the two parts of the maker apart and the pom-pom was easily slide off the rod in the middle. Before splitting the maker into two pieces I wrapped a yarn tail around the inside of the yarn to hold it together to create the pom-pom and secure its round shape.

Time for some trimming to get the perfect pom-pom I want, being careful NOT to cut the long tail left from wrapping that will be used to connect the pom-pom to the bunny’s bum.

A snip here, a snip there, and some fluffing and the pom-pom is ready to be placed on the bunny as its tail. Using the maker instead of the old way made for less yarn waste in the trimming process too.

Perfection! The puffy, fluffy tail is spectacular on the bunny’s cute little bum.

This purchase is absolutely a wise, time saving one for me and that feeds my soul with accomplishment this week.

“Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’! ~ Audrey Hepburn

Spring Ahead

It’s started! The release of spring/summer creations from Elation Attic. Here are some keynotes of shopping with Elation Attic.

~ On the website (www.elationattic.com) what does the phrase MADE BY ORDER mean?

To avoid excess crocheted pieces that aren’t selling and in turn need storage, end up as a donation/write off, or being tossed in the trash I have decided to limit pieces made ahead of time. It’s very hard to know what it is that people are looking for to purchase and we will never please everybody. To be conscious of my time and to concentrate on what is selling or custom pieces I have placed a limit number on these made by order pieces. If sales go gonzo I have set limits in place to get orders out in a timely manner and be respectful of the customer that their order is appreciated by my small business. Once caught up I will remove the item from SOLD OUT to MADE BY ORDER availability. This pertains to pieces that are able to be created on repeat such as those that are crocheted.

~ Repurposed pieces scenario

In most instances pieces that are one of a kind will be placed on the website ready to ship immediately during the business week on the business’ shipping days. A piece may or may not be reproduced so it could be a one and SOLD OUT/DONE item. Circumstances for reproduction will be popularity of the item and materials in stock.

~ Shipping charges

I have set charges based on distance of an item being shipped. With this being said, I am certainly aware that small pieces such as the Boho Headband should not cost $9.40 to $14 to ship. If said item is ordered, paid for and the actual shipping charge is under what the customer is charged it is the plan that this small business will reimburse the patron the overage. I am in business to make money and have been burned by outside entities with shipping charges that I have lost money on, and to me it’s just not being fiscally responsible to my business. It is never the intention of this small business to price gouge a patron.

~ You live locally and want to know where you can purchase pieces

I will try my best to let you know when/where items are available beyond the online store. Spring releases will be trickling into River & Grace at 319 W Main St, Durand, WI over the next 3 weeks through the summer. Elation Attic is scheduled to be at the Balsam Lake Lodge on March 29th 12 p - 5 p for the Spring Fling Vendor & Craft Fair. Mark your calendar and come visit if able and looking for something to do.

“Spring will come and so will happiness.”

Perfect Weather

Today is the perfect weather for firing up the crochet hook dressed in my favorite fashion style of a soft Homebody sweatshirt and groovy LuLaRoe leggings while binge watching my favorite shows that mainly consist of game shows. New favorites are The Floor and Deal or No Deal Island. Of course old obsessions are starting back with a new season of American Idol and The Amazing Race. Plenty pleasures out there for background noise while creating and counting stitches.

I’ll be doing a small release of items for the spring season and Easter next Tuesday, March 11th. Spring and Easter evoke new beginnings, fresh air, colorful beauty with the blooms of flowers, grass greening, and the beginning leaf cycle on the trees, the birds singing in joyful chirps, and an added bounce in the human step. A little Easter tidbit for you. Easter is celebrated on a different date each year, between March 21 and April 25. Easter 2025 will be celebrated on Sunday, April 20th. The date is based on a lunisolar calendar, similar to the Hebrew calendar. There you have it. In case, like me, you were wondering why Easter seems so late this year. With the date in April we have a better chance of the snow being gone, the air being warmer, and a sunny day for the little peeps to enjoy those Easter egg hunts.

The beginning of April I plan to have a bigger release of items. See below for a couple sneak peek pics of upcoming items.

Want to see releasing items a little early? Mark your calendar and plan to come shop with me and other vendors on Saturday, March 29th from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Balsam Lake Lodge (264 Cty Rd I) for the Spring Fling Vendor & Craft Fair.

“To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” ~Ecclesiates 3:1

Vintage Teddy Bear Blanket in pictures

This project was a lot of fun to watch come together. A personal request, nine skeins of yarn, a crochet hook, and approximately 55 hours of sweat equity brought this project to life. I personally am in love with vintage. Vintage has a story to tell and for me it evokes memories of days gone by when life just seemed a little simpler. This blanket was made for a precious little girl who can grow with the blanket and enjoy many snuggles with her 42 bears. Oh the stories that will come about with this little lady and her teddy bear blanket will be priceless.

Enjoy looking at the pictures and seeing the blanket come together one stitch at a time.

Pattern credit to Dragana Savkov Bajic. Great instructions that were easy to follow. Pattern was 20 pages that included pictures. With being a more see it then I can do it person the pictures were a great tool for me.

Crochet hook in hand and I’m in it for the long haul.

One square down—41 to go

42 squares done. Let’s keep going.

Look at those adorable bear faces—so squishy

A purchase made so I can square these bears. I should’ve bought a bigger board, but this size got the job done.

Stretch it out. Square it up. It’s hip to be square

Connecting the 42—6 horizontal, 7 vertical—put that on repeat.

How cute is this? Almost there.

So many bobbles stitched. Sure gives the square added character.

The precious piece is done. I must have a photo of myself with the end product. My husband is always game to help me out in my adventures. Today he’s my photographer.

All wrapped up. Time to ship the Vintage Bear Blanket to its new home for many snuggles with a precious little girl.

Color Schemes and Themes Summer ‘25

“That’s off the hook!” was a sayings in the 1970s meaning very cool to the extreme. My summer theme is trending to the ‘70s with boho style of wear it crocheted. Currently in the works are headbands that are OFF THE HOOK and granddaughter approved; however, they haven’t modeled yet for me. More to come on that. Also granddaughter approved are mesh crop tops and shrugs that I am hoping to start soon and have for the summer months. The pieces will be groovy over a tank top with a pair of shorts or a hip maxi dress.

Nifty flowers are in the theme plan as well. Currently finished a flower hot pad that I’m in love with and for sure making more. I wish my hands could work faster and my self diagnosed adult onset ADHD would behave and discontinue taking me in ten different directions. I see something on Pinterest that I like and want to make, which I’m learning to say no to but do pin to a board for future reference; and this is why I work in themes. It gives me direction, which I bounce the best off.

It’s summer so we must have a beach theme. I’m working on that slammin’ beach bag I want to create. I have finished the front and back panel for it and currently working on side panels. Unfortunately I don’t think I have enough of the macrame cord on hand so an order went in so I can complete it. Since that needed to be ordered I added a couple additional colors that collaborate with summer color schemes.

I went far out with the color choices for this summer at my very own Fashion Week collecting info from InStyle and Pantone. The five colors for this summer that will be my main colors will be: Mocha Mousse, True Red, Emerald Gem, Dusty Pink, and Seeing Tangerine (swatches below). I’m also adding in some blues for the beach and the grands picked out a couple neutrals and hot pink (raspberry) so I must let them sway the color scheme too.

Peace out for now.

Mocha Mousse

True Red

Emerald Gem

Dusty Pink

Seeing Tangerine

Update on writing my own pattern

I FROGGED it more than once! I’ve thrown in the towel; waving the white flag! I ordered a pattern and back to square one.

Crochet term FROG (GING) is a slang term that refers to ripping out yarn and starting over to fix a mistake. The term comes from the sound of “rip it, rip it” which sounds like a frog’s “ribit, ribit”. To me it means FORGET IT :~)

I got to this point and it just wasn’t coming together to my satisfaction so …..

Ripped out to this point but after purchasing the pattern will probably be ripping the rest of it out. Waving the white flag, but not giving up. Stay tuned.

I’ll write my own pattern then

There is this cute mesh beach tote I found on Pinterest that is sold on Etsy, but I cannot for the life of me find a pattern for it. I want to make this tote so bad. It’s the pockets on the outside that have me enamored with it. Anything with pockets, buttons, zippers, or bling brings me joy. Zoiks! back to the tote! I’ve searched for that specific tote’s pattern and have found similar looking totes with patterns but it’s not that exact one. So you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to-and actually have started-write my own pattern.

That fun has begun. What fun you ask? The fun of winging it until it’s precisely what you’ve envisioned it to be. Start crocheting, nope, nope don’t like that look, rip out the stitches and back to the drawing board. It’s like living the movie Ground Hog’s Day and I’m waiting (hmmm patiently or impatiently??) to get it right to move the project forward.

I’ve committed myself to this project now so I can’t throw the towel in now. I’ve begun writing my steps down while crocheting. Here is my progress this morning; and later tonight I will post another progress picture. That is if I haven’t pulled out all my hair and hurled the yarn across the room. Bah ha that isn’t me…it’ll be foul language and step away from it for a bit.

TTYL Happy Monday :~)

This, this is the tote for summer that I want. The pockets sold me. I can’t find a pattern for it.

The start of creating my own tote pattern. 1:35 pm 2/3/25.

I want that but it says SOLD OUT

It says SOLD OUT but you’d like to purchase it, what should you do? Email me at elationattic@gmail.com and let’s talk about it. I will take orders with the understanding that it may take 1-4 months to receive the item. The length of time depends on the amount of working pieces of the item. For example, I just did a Vintage Bear Blanket (see pictures below) for a customer that consisted of 42 squares to be crocheted and then assemble. The customer was given the estimate that it take four months to complete the project and deliver to her, and we were off to the production line one bear square at a time.

Another factor in length of time is what I already have in the works. I am definitely willing and excited to work with you.

If there is an item that you see out on say Pinterest that you desire just connect with me and we’ll see if we can make it happen. We will discuss your vision, material cost, labor charge, and shipping cost and then put in a written estimate/e-mail.

I’ve included a few pictures of pieces that I’ve been commissioned to create.

Vintage Bear Blanket done in cream, blush, and linen.

Memory dog made from my dad’s shirts.

Miss Rachel for a set of twins.

Fox blanket that included 60 fox heads.

Dreaming in flowers

Baby it’s cold outside and I’m working the tulip field. Today a warm high of 36 degrees, but the weather predictors are saying we’re trending down for the weekend. Awww a perfect Sunday ahead crocheting tulips. My focus right now is Valentine’s Day and not that of roses, but tulips. I just love their simplistic elegance. They make me smile and feel joy inside. They are a spendy flower to purchase, but oh so worth the feels they bring. A bonus of getting crocheted ones they will last you a lifetime. They will not lose their luster and wilt on you in fiber form.

I did a little researching and found that tulips actually have one of the most deeply romantic meanings as they signify a perfect and underlying love. I guess I am a hopeless romantic. I dug a little deeper to decide on five colors of tulips to crochet for Valentine’s Day and here is the color theory of my choices……

Red- represent true love, deep passion, and underlying commitment.

Pink- symbolize affection, care, and happiness.

White- represent purity, innocence, forgiveness, and loyalty.

Purple- symbolize royalty, elegance, admiration, and respect.

Yellow- represent cheerfulness, hope, happiness, positivity, and friendship.

Still on the tulip subject; if you want to take a roadtrip to see tulips plan a long weekend to Holland, MI, USA. The 2025 Tulip Time Festival is being held May 2-11, 2025. My husband, daughter, and sister took this roadtrip last year and it was amazing. Our first stop from WI was Chicago, IL. We spent the day seeing the Chicago sites and eating Chicago pizza. It was a beautiful day on the Navy Pier. Be sure to wear comfy shoes to get your steps in. One thing we missed doing in Holland was walking through the Tulip Immersion Garden, so that is back on the bucket list. I would suggest if you want the full experience to plan to spend 2-3 days at the festival in order to take it all in. By the time we got done acclimating ourselves to the festival happenings and taking the walking tour we didn’t have enough time to fully go and enjoy the Tulip Immersion Garden. They were going to be closing in about an hour when we would arrive and we just didn’t feel that was a sufficient amount of time for that experience. The flowers seen below are grown in Centennial Park and that in itself is a site to see. A huge bucket list item of mine is to travel to Holland to experience the origin of the tulip and all of its glory, but Holland, MI was a very cost effective alternative and it was an amazing, joyful trip.

“You are a flower blooming each year. Growing perfectly imperfect petals, each has a story of their own.” ~Luna Lynn

Tulip Time Festival, Holland, MI

Centennial Park, Tulip Time Festival, Holland, MI

Crocheted tulips 2024

Executing the plan

Organizing, envisioning, producing, and insomnia. Each day is a look forward. What will I be releasing now so I can catch up, next month and four months from now? I’m diligently working on my 2025 plan for Elation Attic and it’s product releases. It’s hard to know what the consumer is looking for. Not everybody has the same taste. For me I am in love with nostalgia, the good old days, those childhood memories such as mom taking my siblings and me to King’s Place in Miesville to visit with Santa Claus and coming home with that mesh stocking filled with hard candies and an orange; my sister and I going to bed on Saturday night with those pokey curlers in our hair nestled under our chenille bedspread for a not so great night’s sleep; the smell of coffee (straight up Diet Coke girl for my caffeine fix), oh how that provokes the memory of my grandpa’s silvery, gray percolating coffee pot that he would let me make coffee in and play house in their camper. Being a kid in the 1970’s wasn’t so bad. The bell bottoms for me you can throw out, but the flower power, vintage to the tee for me.

In this past week I’m working on carrying out the plan by coming up with themes for what I want to produce for the seasons. For the spring and summer it looks like flowers and going to the ocean/beach are on deck for EA. I need to get the insomnia under control and that will probably be helped by narrowing my Pinterest boards to a manageable number and sticking with what I pick to produce. Again, I won’t please everyone but this is a jumping off point and a learning experience along the way and a way to tell my brain to GO TO SLEEP!

“To achieve great things, two things are needed; a plan, and not quite enough time.” ~ Leonard Bernstein

Be kind and gentle

Elation Attic has been in existence now for three months. A new year has arrived (2025) and I’ve reflected on these past three months. You know the old adage “everything for a reason”? My small business is slow to start, but there’s a reason. This fall was rough and I’m going through the grief process with the recent passing of a loved one, so the business slowness is being kind and gentle to me as I navigate through.

I sat on New Year’s Eve and journaled my thoughts and penned goals for EA in 2025. I read somewhere that journaling can be helpful and hopefully keep me accountable. I am looking forward to this year and seeing where EA lands in its goals.

Of mention, my daughter-in-law and a friend opened a boutique in our town of Durand, WI and you can find Elation Attic creations there. So grab a coffee, or if you’re like me a Diet Coke, and stop by and shop at River & Grace, 319 W Main St. Lots of cute items to look at and shop for. You can go home with a new outfit and home decor. Also, I do put items at Scatterbrain Cafe, E4507 County Road C, Downsville, WI. Good food and brew.

Now time to start executing those goals! Until next time, be kind and gentle to yourself and others. You just don’t know what someone can be going through.