9.22.2014

Brace Yourself for the Winner

I always try to bring you something just a little different during Playin' Hooky tee and hoodie week. I used all of my Photoshop "skills" to put a Playin' Hooky tee on Ned Stark and asked you to finish this meme. The comment with the most likes on Facebook wins a free Playin' Hooky tee.




I couldn't resist giving a little something special to my personal favorite captions. These commenters get to pick a free pattern from my shop. If you're a winner, send me an email to claim your prize.

Designer's Picks
  • Kiley Jones... They just called you a Knitter!
  • Jennifer Bibb (and Alyssa Willey)... It's time to weave in the ends!
  • Jackie Fenwick... Last minute gift requests are coming. 
  • Steff Walker... You made her lose her stitch count

And the Grand Prize winner of the free Playin' Hooky tee is...
Chellsea Hernandez


Congratulations to all the winners and thank you so much to everyone who played along. I hope we all got a smile out of it.

If you didn't win the free tee, you still have until Wednesday, 9/24 to get your Playin' Hooky gear and represent. Did you know? Every Playin' Hooky tee & hoodie is ordered and hand screen printed by a local artist. The crochet stitch design was specially created for me by another local designer. No big box companies here! I personally quality control check each one as I package them to make sure your order is perfect.

play hard ... play hooky

9.18.2014

Tee & Hoodie Fall KickOff

Fall is here! It's time to embrace it the crisp mornings, autumn leaves, trick or treaters, and of course pumpkin EVERYTHING.

As the weather turns cooler, grab your hook and bulky yarn... and another cozy hooker accessory...
your Playin' Hooky hoodie! Represent (I'm really not that cool so I tend to fall back on my old sayings).

Get your tee or hoodie for a limited time only in my Etsy shop through Wednesday, 9/24. But if you're fast, use the code hoodiekickoff today only (Thursday, 9/18) for a special discount.

HAPPY FALL!!

play hard ... play hooky

9.03.2014

It's all happening Friday

FINALLY! I get to see ZBB live! Two years... hundreds of messages... one singer... one beanie... Rolling Stone... and now the concert.
I can't tell you how excited I am. Really, even my thesaurus is failing me. This whole journey has been to remember my daughter Bryn and when Zac Brown wore my hat on stage it was like a little nod from her; an insiders wink that only a handful of people would even notice. 

And now I'm so grateful to experience the energy, the music, and the emotion in person. 

To celebrate with me, use the code ZBBHOOKY in my Ravelry shop through Thursday, 9/4 and get 40% off any pattern. (I need the gas money to get there; and maybe a tour t-shirt)

Look for lots of pictures on Instagram Friday night to follow along. #brynsconcert

Read more...

A huge thank you to my bestie Poppy, who's going with me. You made the way for us to go. Without you I couldn't have done it. (heart)

play hard ... play hooky

8.21.2014

Big new design, little bit of madness

Sure you can skip ahead to the pictures, but I'm in a particularly verbose (word of the day) mood. If you have the time, this is the story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down... wait no. This is the first look at my new design, the Boulder Beanie, and just how trying being a designer can be sometimes, but in the end it's totally worth it.

I was awake at 3:30 the morning of my son's first day of kindergarten. It was a mixture of nerves for his first full day of school, mentally running through my to-do list, and my brain throwing me random 90s TV theme songs. Some of them are still stuck in my head.

Either way I got up at 5 motivated to get through my list before anyone else in the house was up. I folded laundry, cooked breakfast, cleaned the living room, packed my son's lunch, checked email... you get the idea. By 6:30 the sun was starting to light my backyard and it became the perfect place to take pictures.

I pulled out my tripod, attached my remote shutter, drug my wooden bench half-way across my yard, and started blindly shooting, and shooting, and shooting. Hoping that if I took enough pictures I'd get at least a few keepers.

Backing up a little... I'd first had the idea last winter, just not the time to work on it. So this Spring I finally attempted it. Fail. It was ok, but it wasn't what I saw in my head. I knew I could try to force the design, but instead I put it on the shelf and took a break over the summer. 

The break was exactly what I needed. I spent a lot of time playing with my kids, I read a little, and my house was actually clean on a regular basis. About a month ago inspiration finally hit. So I dusted off my hooks. That's when I found out just how many different ways there are NOT to make this design.

I changed everything, EVERYTHING about this design more than a few times. Yarn weight, hook size, colorwork, multiples, stitch counts, brim styles... it goes on. Welcome to my world.

Here're just a few of my failed attempts. I didn't take pictures of most of them. I just couldn't. Warning: bad phone pics and unfinished hats coming your way...
Yuck. I can't bare to make this picture any bigger.
It was only when my in-laws came to my house for the weekend that I finally had the best idea yet and the day to devote to it (a huge thanks to my awesome mother-in-law, Karen, for letting me work while she played with her grandkids). It came together seamlessly in the end, the way it was meant to. Not forced, just easy. So without any more rambling, I proudly give you my first design for Fall 2014...

the Boulder Beanie
This mah Abercrombie shot... now all I need are the half-naked guys.
It comes in a kids size too
I hope you liked my little preview and look into my sometimes crazy life. Let me know what you think of my new Boulder Beanie. It's coming out Monday, 8/25 so get ready!

play hard ... play hooky