Uke Jam Cancelled

The March 18th Uke Jam has been cancelled!!

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Feb Uke Jam

DUE TO ICKY WEATHER WE'VE CANCELLED THIS MONTH'S JAM

JOIN US ON MARCH 18TH FOR THE MARCH JAM!!

The Last Wednesday Uke Jam takes place at Crunchy Banana on February 25 (7-9pm). Hope to see you there! Be sure to download the tunebook we'll be using (click on the image below). I decided to put a variety of tunes in this one ... from 19th century to the 21st. If you're not familiar with any of the tumes, give them a look up on Youtube.

 

See you on the 25th!

cold days - hot ukes

Got a uke for Christmas? Come join us on the last Wednesday of January for a super easy tunes uke jam! All of the tunes have three chords or less. You can download the tunebook below.

January 28

7 -9 pm

Crunchy Banana, Fair Haven, NY

So easy a squirrel can play !

Click to download the Easy Tune cnyUke pdf

Christmas Jams

It's that time of year and our jam space is pretty much complete...now we just need the jammers! On Monday, December 15th (7-8:30) we'll be hosting a uke jam for all you ukers out there. Our crack team of highly accredited musicologistas have worked day and night for months creating the 2014 Ukulele Christmas Tunebook! It's hot off the presses, so get yours while supplies last - oh yeah, it's free.


We'll also be holding a Christmas Fiddle jam for all the fiddlers out there. Other acoustic players are also welcome! The Christmas Fiddle jam will take place on Saturday, December 20 (7-8:30).

Check out the "Schedule of Events" and "Location" menu above for more details. 

Hope to see you there!

The 2014 cnyUke Christmas Tunebook  - more jingle - more merry - more figgy pudding!

Ch...ch...ch...ch...changes

Ready for Halloween!

Lots of changes happening around here! The place is getting a face lift (more pics to come) and we're planning some Christmas jam sessions for ukulele players and fiddlers. Stop back for more info!

Got a uke? Look for our Christmas Jam - coming soon!

Small Stuff

Working on some small things lately. .. my credit/gift card holders.

embroidering spring

I'm still having a good time focusing on embroidery! I found this jute bag at my local Hobby Lobby and thought it would make the perfect canvas. I really like that the bag itself is lined, so I was able to hide ends between the jute outer layer and the lining without having to put a lining in the bag myself - eek!

I kept with mostly bright colors in hopes of helping to bring on spring here in the northeast. It seems to be working! Here are a few shots and close ups of the finished product.

winter works

The cold and snow has had me a bit down this winter ..... where is spring???? Anyway, an idea came into my head one day as I was looking for a new gig bag for my soprano ukulele. I noticed these hemp gig bags made by Eddy Finn and thought that it might be fun to spice one up with a bit of surface decoration. I have to admit it's been years since I've embroidered, so I thought of the project as a way of practicing some stitches I had long forgotten. As you can see from the pics I also added a bit of my tatting that I found kicking around and sewed on a few shiny things here and there.

And of course I can't finish there.... I ordered the concert size uke bag and I'm starting once again!

Here's the finished work!

More bags

Below is a pic of two bags I just finished up this weekend. These are also two of my favorite colors! The purple one is done with Lizbeth size 3, needle tatted and crocheted, lined with dark purple felt. The green one was made with Lizbeth size 10, shuttle tatted and crocheted, also lined with dark purple felt.

Hmm....yeah, I make lots of bags...freaky!

The Blue Bag Project

I like to make all kinds of small bags.... probably because I can usually get them done fairly quickly, not to mention that I'm a bag-o-holic, so it's just something I enjoy! Over the last few years I've been working on combining crochet and tatting in various ways and I really like the way it looks.... plus it's a great way to use tatted edgings since I love to tat, but I'm not exactly a lacy collar or cuff kinda woman.

crocheted bags with tatted embellishments

People often ask me about a pattern for these, but since I don't follow any and I'm just too lazy to write one up, I decided to do a photo essay (with a little video added in) on how I go about making these. Just click the link below to the Blue Bag Project. I hope someone finds it helpful!

The Blue Bag Project

The Blue Bag almost completed.

Open for 2013

We are open for the summer! Come visit next time you're in town! Mr. Snowman is ready for the season!

Big Clover

Just got back from a great time at the annual Fingerlakes Tatting Conference. It was great to see friends, meet new people and catch up on tatting geekery!

While there I picked up a set of the new larger size Clover shuttles .....and I love them! Much nicer feel and grip than any other of those larger sized shuttles I've tried, so if you're a Clover junkie, you'll love these shuttles.

Spring forward

I need some warm weather thoughts so I figured I'd start working on this baby afghan for a friend. I'm not much for those traditional baby pastel shades, so I picked a couple bright colors from my stash.  It's an April baby so I wanted a stitch pattern that was light and airy. I think this one works well!
On Google+ someone mentioned that the color combo reminded her of daffodils.... Love it...so here's the progress so far.

doing the craft fair thing

I hadn't done a craft fair in a while, so I decided to do a local one last weekend. Here are some pics I took of my table.

I've been into making a line of party bags lately... for proms, weddings, parties, etc!

Along with my standards little bags, I did a series of American Girl hats with matching backpacks.

A close up of a tatted bag, lined in felt.

A bunch o' little bags and crunchies!

Happy 4th of July!

I hope everyone has a great 4th! Crunchy Banana has been open for a few days now. Each year I reorganize and rearrange things, and this year is no different. Here are some shots of the shop:

The crunchies are here! They turn up all over the place. You can find out more about them by clicking the tab above on this blog

I got the best night time display in town (if I do say so myself)!

open!

I am open! Yay! More pics to come!

Opening June 30th

I'll be opening tomorrow for the summer! The spring has been hectic and it's been a rush to get things in place, but like always we've risen to the occasion and will open tomorrow. Pics to come!

freeform

A piece of freeform crochet I did almost ten years ago... yikes!

As I was attempting to tidy up my portable hard drive I came by this photo of a freeform crochet piece I did about ten years. It was done with various pearl cottons. I have absolutely no idea whatever became of it. I think I like it more now than I did when I made it.... and I do love working with pearl cottons. I haven't delved into any freeform for a while, but perhaps I should! If you've never tried it before, it can be quite a challenge and a good way to break out of old habits and think creatively.

If you'd like to give it a try and you're looking for more inspiration, two of my favorite freeform crocheters are Margaret Hubert and Prudence Mapstone.Check out their work and drool ... it's awesome!

my Christmas vacation

My woven potholder tote!
I used an old button and a looper for a closing.

During my brief break from my day job this holiday season, I actually did a bit of crafting and made this potholder tote bag! No, it's not a bag for toting around potholders, but a bag made up of squares that I created on a potholder loom using loopers.

I used a standard metal potholder loom (eighteen pegs) and 100% cotton loopers from Harrisville Designs. They're quite thick and sturdy and the color selection is great. the body is made up of eight squares (four on a side). The handle, sides and bottom are made of half squares. I made the half squares by just looping at half the number of loopers as usual (nine) and weaving through loopers in both directions. It creates one edge that's a bit different from the others... but that didn't bother me.

Instead of sewing them together with thread, I decided, because of the weight of the final piece, that I'd use loopers to sew them together. I cut the loopers, used a fairly big needle and joined the seams with using loopers... it just seemed sturdier that way.

one side sewn together

I went for a multicolor look for this project since those were the loopers I had on hand. What I like of the Harrisville loopers is that you can purchase bags of loopers of all one color, so if you prefer to work with a certain color combination you can do that.

Although I ddon't care much for sewing together pieces/motifs//squares etc ... in projects, this one was not too bad and I would probably do this one again.

close up of bag

low tech weaving - again

cup o' java on a mug rug

Seems like ages since I've posted, but such is life! I should have known better than to vow I was going to work straight through any pattern book of anything, but I get carried away ... it always seems like a fun idea, but then I get side-tracked and other things catch my attention and well ... I'm off on something else before I know what has hit me.

a mug rug still on the "loom"

In this case, it's been a new ukulele! But enough about that... I have had some time to do a bit of crafting and decided to go very low tech (again ... I discovered this a while back) and whip up a few mug rugs for the holiday season.

When I decide to do these I find a piece of cardboard, cut it to the dimensions I need, make a good number of slots in it and away I go!

Depending on the pattern (or lack thereof) these are really a pretty quick projects to whip up. Easy to do when you're watching a movie or tv show.

lots of mug rugs

I'm pretty new to weaving, but this past summer I bought a small hand loom and tried it out (you can see those results here) and I've been fascinated by what one can do with a potholder loom. Hmm... think I'll dig that out next and see what I come up with!