Labor Day has passed. It may be over 80 degrees outside, but it's not summer heat. It feels different. It smells different. It even looks different. The green of the maple leaves isn't bright green anymore- it's sorta an orange-y green. Soon the leaves will be red and orange and yellow. School has started. My life has always revolved around an academic calendar. This is the first time that I've had a job that is year round. So even though I'm not starting anything new this fall, I still have that little excited feeling in my stomach that I always get at the start of a new school year. So I am channeling that feeling into making new things.

This weekend is the Music is Art Festival. I'll be set up in the Rose Garden of Delaware Park all day. Hopefully I will get to meet some of you there! It's going to be a great year! [Hopefully no rain... why does it always rain the day of the MiAF?]

Here's a few of the new things I've made recently. You may notice an anatomical theme. And it was only a matter of time before my full-time job of making teeth would creep into my monster biz! I made a Tooth Fairy Monster with a pocket mouth [inspired by Anne losing her first tooth] and an ornament version of my Heart Monster. Both are so fun! Both are available to order in my online shop: https://squareup.com/market/erinmakesstuff 

Hopefully I'll post again soon... I can't believe I haven't updated this website since April! Oops!

Hello! September is almost over and I am shifting into full knitting gear to get ready for my lineup of holiday shows. Even though my next event isn't until November, I hope to pop on here more often over the next few months to give you an idea of what I'm working on. I finished this crazy neon monster last night. He is so fluffy! I saw that yellow yarn at the store and it screamed "MONSTER!" I think he's hilarious and I look forward to hearing what you guys think!

I also finished the stockings that I designed. I am embarrassed at how long it took me to complete this order- and to be fair they're not completely done, I'm still embroidering the names on them- but am very pleased with how well they turned out! I'd love to make more of them in the future [as long as my clients give me LOTS of time... they take FOREVER to make.]

Speaking of LOTS of time, if you're planning to order any monsters for Christmas, now is a good time to let me know! Just saying ;)

Okay, it's time to get back to knitting. I have a pile of monster ornaments that need mouths.

Yesterday was the Music is Art festival and it was a super awesome time. There was a brief rain storm, but the monsters all survived. Thanks to everyone who came, it was nice to see you.

I just noticed that Facebook has an option to embed a post into your website so I am going to give it a go. Please leave a comment to let me know if it works. If it doesn't, I'll edit this post to include pictures.

Next up is the Creepy Funny Furry show on November 7th and then Women's Gifts on November 15th. Hope to see you there! :)

I feel pretty silly that I haven't updated my site since winter. Where has this year gone? Seriously!

Summer is almost over. This past weekend was the Elmwood Festival of the Arts. I set up inside the UUCB at the corner of Elmwood and W Ferry. I've set up inside there for the past few years. I have entertained the idea of applying for a spot out on the street... but then I think of all the monsters I would have to make and sell just to break even... and the hours it would take me to do that. That scares me. It would be so much fun to be on the street and get a truer festival experience.

I love this festival. And this year I was super happy to be where I was! Thanks to all the volunteers and all the happy customers I met throughout the weekend!

Here are a few pictures of things I made for the show and my table. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you've probably seen these already. And if you don't follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you should. I post there more frequently.

My next show in the area is the Music is Art Festival on September 13th and that is at Delaware Park from 10am-dark. I'll have a tent set up in the rose garden and will be selling all sorts of monstery fun.

I'll end this post with a picture of the Christmas stockings I am currently knitting for a custom order. I will be making four total. The client LOVED the ones I made for Emily [@merrypad on most social media] so I am making her a similar set. I am done knitting three of them. Of course I still need to deal with loose yarn ends, wash them and block them so they are flat and tidy, just like Emily's.

[Here are the ones I made for Emily so that you can imagine how awesome this set will look once they are finished!]

Let's hope it's not 8 months before I post again!!!

It's the last day of January! I wish I had a bunch of stuff to show you but January has just been slow. I have not finished any monsters! Can you believe that!? I have so many started, but nothing done. I haven't even knit in a few weeks... and for me, that's weird.

What I have been doing is a ton of crochet. I've been making hats, chunky yarn cowls and I just finished an infinity scarf for friends. All these things are practical. It has been SO COLD. So very very cold.

I took this photo because I needed to have an artist picture for a website that will be selling clothing using my designs. That site will be launching soon and when it does, I'll post the link here! The photo shows one of the crocheted hats I mentioned before.

February will bring new things! I have a show on February 14th so, at the very least, it'll mean that the pile of unfinished monsters will be finished.

I could have used my time yesterday to knit or work on designing. Anything productive. But no. It was blizzarding outside and I wasn't going anywhere and I also wasn't doing anything. I made it through the -6F morning curled up with a blanket watching how bad it was through the window and listening to how bad it was on TV. I briefly went outside to confirm that boiling water does in fact vaporize instantly if you throw it into the subzero air. By the time we reached a daily high of 3F, I had pretty much decided that I was going to spend the day in my PJs and fully appreciate the joy of wool socks. The wind was consistently around 20-30 mph and wind chills were near -30F.

Today, by comparison, is lovely. It's 7F already. Heatwave. And there is a glowing spot in the sky. Even though it is still lightly snowing, it's not blowing. I went outside to check it out. And even though it is bitterly cold the snow looks beautiful.

I brought Matthew the Llama outside too for a little photo shoot. He tried to make a snow angel but it turns out llamas aren't too good at that. Ah well. I think the pictures are funny :)

Stay warm everyone!

It's winter in Western New York. This is what it looked like this afternoon. The camera creates an illusion because with the naked eye, you could barely see the tree and couldn't see the house across the street at all! The weatherguys are predicting 2-3 FEET of snow and really strong winds. Yep, we got a blizzard warning!

Despite being home a lot because of the weather, I really haven't accomplished much knitting yet in 2014. I did use a pattern from knitty.com to knit an anatomical heart which I made into a monster. The pattern knit up pretty easily and I recommend it. The monster itself is a gift for my professor who just had open heart surgery. It will be a while before I can visit and give it to him because he is very susceptible to illness and it's flu season and I am excited to see what he thinks of it. He has a great sense of humor and I hope he will think it's really funny :)

I took some photos of the monster heart and came up with an idea to use it as a greeting card. If you've seen the cards I make with my monsters, you know I try to make them colorful, cheerful and fun. I hope this card fits those criteria. It already got pretty good feedback on Facebook so with some minor adjustments, I'm ready to send it to get printed. I think it would be a fun Valentine's Day card.

I want to spend this month knitting different shapes. It is weird to try to follow a pattern after years of making up my own. I'm hoping that I can learn some new techniques that I can use to create more fun monsters in the future. I want to try to knit a chameleon next... We'll see!