Little frog

Today is actually January 10... I was told to update my blog and found I had this unpublished one from December. I deleted the content and am writing a shorten version of what I was going to post.

Happy Holidays!

I will be on a trip to Las Vegas.  Hoping it will snow again while I am there. 

Made a new hat for the trip. 

Blue

A couple weeks ago I made a cat hat in a blue.  The blue is for a special request on a hat that I am still working on.  This cat will probably be a one of a kind.  

Cat in blue

Pink

Another Duck!

I was asked what is the cutest hat I had.  I am not sure what would be the cutest, but I know which is my favorite at the moment, because it seems to be the softest fleece I have.  

Richie- Cat pink

This pink cat is going to Japan.   I am hoping for pictures of the hats in Japan.  Ear flap Bunnies and Ladybug are making the trip also.

Bunny white Fp

Ladybug Fp

Names

I've noticed that I seem to name things by what the color reminds me of.  And it was pointed out to me that I seem to associated colors with different foods.

The last one was Rye because of the color of dark rye.  I happen to prefer dark rye.  I was going use Cookie as a name but it just did not seem to fit.

I like caramel.  Candies.  On desserts.  In coffee and other drinks...

A color change request.

I have not made the flower hat in any other color up to now, but I got a request for brown and pink.  

Flower brown/pink

It had been a while since I made a flower hat so it took me a while to get the flower to be the right size.  I have a basic pattern that I had drawn out from the first Flower I made,  but it is just a guide line for me.  I like the freedom to cut and alter a creation.  It also helps to be a little flexible since the fleece are of different textures.  I use whatever I find.  Some of the fleece have a soft feel, others have a rougher texture.  And then there are some that have a more polished smooth look to it.  I have also notice that the color varies too.  I guess dying is not really a consistent thing.

Mon... Key

Last week I got a request for a small monkey.  I do have sketches of monkeys.  I actually have a collection of stuff/ plush monkeys.  I knew I would have to make the ears lower down the sides.  Unfortunately I did not have enough brown to make a small sized hat.  So I had to first hunt down some brown fleece.  That took a couple days, a few phone calls and a long drive.  

My first attempt I tried to keep the ears sewn with the crown part of the hat.  And after the decision of making the back of the ears dark brown instead of a completely light brown ear I made something that did not quite look like a monkey.  Which will now become know as Rye.

Rye

The second one required some extra cuts and measurements to ensure better placement of the ears.  Now I will have to work on some larger ones so that they will fit the mannequin heads.

Monkey

Aliiolani

Aliiolani cafeteria

Here I am in the Alliolani craft fair. The cafeteria tables are made for young children so they are fairly low.  I should probably stand and greet people, but seated I am able to get to my boxes of hats more easily.  Due to the limited space I have only a few hats on the table for display. 

Apple

Writing the blog the other night made me realize it had been a while since I created a new hat.  So just like I wrote in the last blog it all starts with a pencil sketch.  More like a doodle, I have a habit of just scribbling on things, just little pictures that come to my mind.

Pencil scribble of an apple beret

Then color brings it closer to life...

Color sketch

And we get a hat.  I personally like to wear the beret tipped to one side.  

Apple

But when the mood strikes me I wear it in a puffy look.  

Apple

Nothing much. Another fair coming up.

Really not much to say lately...

Just been busy restocking the different hats.  I think I have been doing fairly well keeping up with any hat orders that I have gotten.  

Working on sketches.  I usually do a pencil sketch that evolves over time.  Then I do a few color sketches.  I do my hat creation process(make a pattern, cut and sew) and do a few more sketches of the hat. 

Also did some drawings for my Website.  Yes,  I have been taking sometime to work on my website.  I still have not decided to change the banner or keep it as it is.  And although my E-store is not yet in working condition,  I do take orders and  will be using PayPal.  PayPal works for me right now since I will be able to send a pay button by email.

Ponds

This coming Saturday I will be in Kaimuki again.  I will be in the Aliiolani cafeteria, the table I will be at is more toward the center of the room this time.  

Small differences.

Slight changes to some designs....

Beyond cute!

I finally created a quick way to preview the different hats I have.  I placed a slideshow on this blog and at sanslittlefrog.com. 

Beyond cute!

I was happy to receive these pictures last night.  I think Mindy is so cute and adorable in her hat.  Julio took these pictures of her at what I am guessing is Ala Moana Beach Park.

The Coal Bunny with earflaps looks great on Mindy.  I think I only cropped one of the photos.  I really like Julio's picture compositions.  And although I only wanted to post two pictures, I just could not choose only one Bunny. There were a total of eight pictures and I managed to only eliminate two from the collection.

Thank you for the wonderful pictures!

Craft fair at Aiea.

Today was the craft fair at Aiea Elementary.  I was on a lanai space.  Which is basically on the sidewalk outside of the classrooms.  There was a tent in the grassy area in front of me selling very nice prints of sea life.  The lady was named Rita, and I do not remember her husband's name.  He was the artist of the prints.  

Once again I failed to take pictures.  I do not know what happens to me.  Maybe I should stick notes on various things that I bring with me to the craft fair, that say "TAKE PICTURES."

I talked with many interesting people.  Many buying hats as a gift for someone in colder climates.  I still get the "you are crazy" looks from people.  As well as many more people saying 'cute.'  

Many people asked about my website, which I have been neglecting to create.  And it was brought to my attention that when doing a search of San's Little frog it shows the url of my banner page(and only the banner.) I will hopefully be able to fix this soon.

I also received pictures by email tonight.  I will be posting them tomorrow.   

A Certain white cat...

You know what I am talking about, or maybe once you see the picture you will know...

I have been asked more than once if I make a certain white cat.  I have said that I would be able to make one, but nobody has yet ordered one.  So here it is, I took it as a challenge to try to make one.

I studied some pictures, did some sketching and rolled out my brown paper.  I set some guide lines on the brown paper and drew in a pattern, hoping it would turn out okay.  In a last minute decision, I am not sure why, I removed an inch from the pattern.  I originally wanted it to have a circumference of 19 inches but in the end it became 16.5-17 inches.  Seems that I should have added an inch not taken it away.

Certain

I also added velcro so the straps could be secured under the chin.  I gave the bow two crease grooves on each side of the circle.  I might have to play with that and make it to have only one crease.  Some of the ear lines might have to be adjusted to be rounder.  I think it turned out quite well for a first try with out adjustments.

Halloween picture.

Last night I received a great picture that was taken on Halloween. 

Frog, Jack(brown dog) and Bee(not a Little frog creation)

Upon asking what the dog was dressed as I got the reply 'a bee.'  Antenna were not on though.  Hope the three of you had fun on Halloween.  

Thank you for sending in the picture.  It is a nice change of pace to The Creepy Lady(female mannequin head) and the male mannequin head.  Yes, I only named the female one.  When I first bought the heads I was a bit hesitant because the eyes looked a little creepy.   I remember when I went to the warehouse to pick up my order of the mannequins the guy there called it scary lady.  Which I found to be funny.  I have the two different heads because the MMH (male mannequin head) wears a medium/large and TCL(the creepy lady) wears between a medium and a small.  I am currently looking for a doll to model my extra small hats.

Another Soot

This is the first bunny that I made with ear flaps.  I think it looks good on the mannequin.  Long ears and ear flaps is a lot going on for one hat.  

Soot

Hopefully I will receive a picture by email soon of its new owner wearing it. *hint hint*  And they will be okay with me posting it in my blog.

Kaimuki

I would like to start this post by thanking all new and returning Little frog hat owners.  NBC craft fair was a whirl wind for me and it took me a little while to recognize a few of you that came to visit me again.  I hope those that are going on trips have a safe and fun journey, and that your hats keep you warm.

Today was the craft fair at Aliiolani.  Once again I failed to remember to take pictures.  I did not even take out my camera.  *sigh*

I would like to warn all you new crafters out there doing craft fairs... if it is at a school and says 9 am that is not really when it starts. Hehe.  The instructions I got said that all unloading was to be done before 8 am... which is actually early for me on a Saturday.  My plans were to get there at about 7:50 am, figuring I only needed a few minutes to set up.  I was able to carry every thing in with Kent's help.   I took a smaller amount of hats with me, being that it was only a five hour craft fair and I had a table inside the cafeteria.   To my surprise there were already shoppers walking around browsing when I got there at 7:55 am.

Many people said 'cute' today, but the hats were not able to bring as many smiles to people's faces as at the NBC fair.  Maybe because I was not the silly girl in a frog hat.  Today I was wearing a pink beret that I beaded with one line of seed beads to make it a little sparkly.  I must be one of the few people that feels cold in Hawaii.  I like using my hat instead of putting on a jacket or sweater.  Sometimes on a rainy or windy day I wear shorts and a tank top with a hat or scarf.  I used to work at a place where the air conditioning was set at a low temperature and would use pants, a sleeveless shirt and one of the yarn scarves I knitted.  I find using a hat or a scarf to be less bulky than carrying around a jacket or sweater. 

P.S.

Thank you, Julio and Mindy for stopping by and ordering a bunny hat, and for the short chat break.  

Caramel

Moo!

Caramel

Got the light brown cow done.  Tried different horns on this one.  Seems like it does not photograph as well as the thicker ones.  I wanted a cow with floppy ears, although the ears sticking out is growing on me.

Pepper

Here is another hat that initially  in my mind was a different color.  I was in search of maybe something black and white.  Which I might actually do eventually.  Then I thought dark brown, and it was suggested I call it Hownow.  (Yes, maybe a chuckle, how now brown cow... I am sort of against Hownow.) My color indecision continued when I found a lighter brown. 

At last, be it that I am still seeing red... 

 Pepper

Here is Pepper.  I had been working on the horns for a while now.  And working on the red horn hats inspired me to finish up my horned cow.  I have not decided to make more in red yet or not.  Pepper here might be a lonely red cow.

Berry

It seems once I start working with a color I like to keep working with it for a while.  I originally bought red to make a strawberry and ended up making ladybugs.  I did not have the right color green for the stem so I kept putting it to the side.  I wanted a dark green, but ended up using a lighter green.  

Berry

Over all I like how it turned out.  I might work on the stem a bit more.   Maybe even make the seeds more visible.

Close up of the Berry

Craft fair at Aliiolani

Another Craft fair is coming up this Saturday at Aliiolani Elementary.  My pond will be located in the school's cafeteria.

I have been working on orders and have not really sewn any new hat.  I did make a red devil hat that was ordered. 

Horns

I also found a different green to make frogs with.  So hopefully I will be able to get a few more things done before Saturday. 

My F.C.F.- Part four: Day three, Neighbors, Bun Bun, etc.(4 of 4)

On Sunday I think I started to calm down and think about making a list of things to remember to do.  Such as... Maybe asking for pictures. Personalizing my bags.(Decided to do this on the second day.) Taking orders (For the first two days I had forgotten I had printed some order forms.) Changing my table layout.  

Neighbors

Julitsa in the Nilma Hunter Creations booth.

There were many vendors around me.  I mainly spoke with the ones adjacent to me.  Next time I will have to wander a bit more out of my pond.  The booth on my right was Nilma Hunter Creations,  Julitsa, Nilma and Kaleimaeole sell jewelry and paintings.  If you click on their names it will lead you to their websites/ products.  Julitsa's painting is located on Nilma's site, scroll down to the bottom of the page I linked to her name to see her paintings. 

Julitsa

Julitsa was dressed as Audrey Have-a-burn(Hepburn) I got a great picture of her. On Saturday she was wearing a white dress and a veil.  

Allen

On the other side of me was Eiselin Imports, Allen sells curtains, table runners, photo albums, etc.  The curtains are cotton in a linen weave.  I thought it was linen when I first saw it.  But the feel is definitely cotton.  The loops are velcro, but the decorative buttons make it seem like they are buttoned on to the curtain rod.

On the last day Shabri of Hawaii, Inc. gifted Kent and I with some cookies.  I opened the chocolate chip one yesterday.  It has large chunks of chocolate and macadamia nuts.  Without realizing it I had three of them.  I had to store them away or I would have ate the whole bag!

Bun Bun

There were color request for the bunny.  One in black(Soot) and the other in brown(Chocolate.)

Soot

I rather not refer to the hats by color(i.e. black, brown, etc.)  So I am going to try to name them all.  This might get confusing,  I will have to just test it and see.

Chocolate

I was going to name the brown one Coffee but it reminded me of a chocolate bunny.  Which made me think of how people like to start by breaking off the head or ear, of those chocolate bunnies at easter, to nibble on.  Maybe I should name it Nibbles.  

This is the last of my long posts about my first craft fair.  I am sure I will alway remember it. 

My F.C.F.- Part three: Day two and more(3 of 4)

~~

I forgot to mention that the last item I sold on day one was a Jack.

~~

There were so many more things that happened on the second day.  The first day was open to shoppers for four hours.  The second was ten hours of shopping time.  I did think ten hours sounded like a long time.  But until that day progressed I did not realize how long it really could be.

Kent and I

Black Cat in London

My hat will be visiting London!  I find this to be quite amazing.  A young lady came to my pond looking for something warm to wear for a London trip. She decided on a black cat with ear flaps.   If you are out there reading this, could you please send me picture of yourself in London with your Little frog hat?  Have a safe and fun trip!!

Friends and Family- Thank you for all your support and encouragement.

Me(San) on Day one

Days 1-3

Matt and Dean were in booth 221 selling their merchandise.  Matt sells DVDs, games, game accessories, etc.  Dean has cards and other collectables.

Diana came by all three days to keep me company in my booth so I would not be alone.  She brought her son Sean on day two.  He was helpful in modeling my hats for those people that were not sure about a child's hat size.  Sean is almost five but I think his head is on the larger side.

Kent was at the fair for the majority of the time.  On Friday I sent him to pick up my camera and a couple thing I had forgotten.  Saturday was the e-waste recycle at UHM campus.  Where he was able to safely dispose of a computer monitor and a few old UPSs.  I am not sure if he had an okay time or not.  I appreciate his support in my venture.  He helped keep my tables in order.  He also sold one hat on the last day, while I was walking around looking at the other booths. 

Day 2

Jon came for a short bit.

Val stopped in for a chat and she did some shopping.

Kent's parents came by and insisted on paying for a hat. (frown)  I hope Kent's niece enjoys the frog hat.

Last visitor on Saturday was Mom.  He snuck in to the craft fair.  The picture above of Kent and I was taken by Mom with his phone's camera. (There is no 'mom' in his name, Mom is just a nickname that I gave him.)

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Second to last hat sold for day two was a Jack!

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Day 3

We saw Mark, Erica and Allen(I think that is his name, Mark's roommate) walking around the craft fair.  They probably came to visit Matt.  Mark was wearing one of Matt's badges.  They were in their nursing scrubs so maybe they were on their way to work.

Gina(Dean's wife) came to look at my booth.  The night before at dinner she was asking me about the craft fair.  She thought I was sharing a booth with Matt and Dean.  When I told her I had my own booth she was surprised because she had walked around and had not seen me.

Roni and wife(Kim) showed up while I was taking an order so they came a back few minutes later.  Another Little frog- frog owner!  Kim ordered a frog.

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No Jack was sold on Day 3.  But I think that was okay since the Jack original owner came by.

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My F.C.F.- Part two: The Booth and First day(2 of 4)

I would like to start the day out by thanking everyone that has become a Little frog hat owner, as well as the soon to be owners.  I am working on completing those hats as soon as possible. 

The Pond

The Booth

I had no idea of how long it would take me to set up so I arrived around 3:00 pm.  Set up time started at noon, but I was still sewing and running around preparing for the show.  I think it took me less than 30 minutes to do my table set up.  So I sat there till 5:00 pm (when the show started) sewing bunny ears.

I really wanted to have a bright light green table cover,  but as life is you do not always get what you want.  The fabric store did not have enough of the light green for me to cover two tables.  So I went with a light blue.  The length was about four yards short of what I would have liked. Which made me decide to also get the dark green.   It took me about half the day to make my table covers and pads.  And in the end it all came together,  because I think I created something that I liked more.  I got a pond like effect.  My hats sit on green lily pads on a pool of blue.

First Day

The first hat to sell was a black cat.  I really should have gotten a picture.  I wished I has taken pictures of the people buying hats or asked people to send in pictures.  This is something I will do for the next fair I am at.

Another person that made an impression on me was a nurse that bought a pink cat hat.  She told me about her costume she wore last year.  She had seen a T-shirt at the San Deigo Zoo of a Zebra painting all the animals with black and white stripes.  But the Giraffe was too tall to have his neck and head painted.  So she had on her scrub as her shirt and wore a giraffe head, with a zebra striped skirt and black leggings.  I wish I could have seen it.

What I enjoyed the most is how my booth made people smile, laugh,  or chuckle.  Some people as they walked by and smiled said 'cute.'  

I think I need to make a new sign,  since many of the people seemed surprised when I said I sew all of the hats myself.  Yes, it is a bit crazy that I sew so much. 

My First Craft Fair- Part one(1 of 4)

San's Little Frog

Here I am at my first craft fair.  Kent took this picture right after I set my tables up. I am going to blog about the craft fair over the next few days because today was the last day of three, and I am sooooooo tired. I think it was more than twenty- three hours of craft fair in the last three days.

I had funny watching the people walk by and smile, point, or tap a friend.  I also met some really nice people.  Some friends also came by to see my booth.  Tomorrow I will write more about it. 

 

White

It has been all things white for a while now.   I made some white cats, which I will be calling Snow kitty.  

Snow kitty

One  with just a folded band and the other with ear flaps.  Anything without long floppy ears gets made in the two different band types.  

 Snow kitty

Also, finally decided on the final look of the ghost cap.  My sister sent me a picture of the ghost beanie she made to wear last Halloween.  I changed it a bit.  Took me a while to get the look of the hands to be smaller than the one my sister made.  I am still not happy with the way it looks.

When my sister was here, I showed her my work in progress.  All she said was "that's scary, that's not cute."  My response was, "I do not make cute."  So I changed the eyes and mouth to look more friendly, like the one she made.

  Boo

Below is the one my sister made.  Which I guess you could say is more cute.  It has a cartoonish look to it.  Fluffy... almost marshmallow like.  

Ghost beanie

Spots, spots and more spots.

On one of my trips to the fabric store I saw red and was inspired.  Well... my original idea has not materialized yet.  Instead I ended up with this~

Lady bug

The spots nearly drove me insane.  I did twenty hats with six spots on each hat.  Yes... that was 120 spots.  I am not sure what I was thinking when I cut those out to sew on to the hats.  The Lady bug hats turned out okay.  It does not photograph as well as I would like it to.  

~Visiting two more Ponds~

Aliiolani Elementary

  December 6 Saturday 9am- 2:30pm 

Aiea Elementary

  November 15 Saturday 9am- 2:30pm

Leafy leaf

Hooray...

I will start this off by telling my story of mailing this particular beret.  

Black leaf beret

I was all ready to send off the hat on Monday.  I actually had it in the envelope the previous week all ready to go.  But I knew I would have time Monday morning to go to the bank and the post office.  

The morning of October 13 came along and it was raining.  I really did not feel in the mood for walking in the rain.  I decide to do my errands in the afternoon right before going to lunch with a friend.  My friend called and said he was running late.  I thought, "Great, more time for me to run my errands."

So, I headed off on my walk to the post office.  I used my normal route, but encountered a very large puddle.  I did not realize it rained so much that the path I usually walk was flooded.  I back-tracked and took a shortcut through a little community park. 

When I got to the post office, to my surprise the desk was not open. How disappointing.  Discovers Day... okay so it seems I do not pay attention to federal holidays.  Here in Hawaii it is not a state holiday.  I believe they replaced it with observing Martin Luther King Day.  The post office closed, the bank closed...  my day was not looking so great.

Lucky me there is an automated postal service.  I started to enter information into the machine.  My phone rings which distracted me and the screen timed out.  I had to start again... oh what a day.  Not to mention that they do not leave the AC on, which made it like a sauna in there.

Here is what the hooray is about.  I get another Duck.  The beret that created the adventure for me.

Mike the sprout

Mike showed interest in having a black leaf beret.  He insisted he had a Tarutaru sized head.  Being a little doubtful I made one with the estimated measurements I was given, these were not calculated with a ruler or any measuring device.  It really was an extra large beret.  I had to pin it so I could take a picture of it on my mannequin.  

I am wondering how Mike got it to sit on his head.  Duct tape?  Paper clip? Safety Pin?

Thank you for sending the picture.  

P.S.  I forgot to say less than three Vivian for sending the cap picture.

Dino

With so much green fleece.  I began thinking what else could I do in green.  I decided to make a green spiky hat.  Like the spine of a dinosaur or a dragon.  

Dino

On a side note, since it took me a while to decide on the proportion of the spikes on this hat.  It makes me think of how there are so many other things in the creation process.  Some of which I have yet to figure out how to construct.  My sketch book contains drawings of things I have yet to make.  Sometimes I stitch a sample of something and it sits on a mannequin head for days.   I look at it everyday trying to decide if I like it or if it needs to be changed.  There are a few things that I placed on the side because looking at it was not helping.  Other things I have on the side because I have been searching for the right construction materials.

Jack

Finally I got a reply from Roni that I could use the picture I took of the Jack.  By far this was the most difficult Duck to shoot.  Maybe the hesitation was because it was a work environment.  And when I finally did get him to place it on, everyone in the other cubicles peered over to see him in the hat.

Jack

I guess it could pass for a floppy eared kangaroo. I was trying to convince him that he should wear it at work.  It would make for a great thinking cap.