There are two very important things that you need to know before I get into this blog post.  One is that there is an adorable antique/gift shop here in town.  Two is that I'm just crafty enough to be dangerous.  Trust me, this is important stuff.

  I've loved antiquing since I was a kid.  I remember saving up my allowance and heading out to little antique shops and buying all sorts of weird stuff.  I think my first cast iron skillet was bought when I was 13 at an antique shop for $2.

  Things have changed a lot since I was a kid.  The antique store in town is in a historical building and there isn't a single thing in it that you can buy for $2.  I still love visiting, though.  In fact, if I ever win Lotto, it'll probably be one of my first stops. There are great old chairs, trunks and picture frames and gobs of hand made gifts.  It's the hand made gifts that get me in all kinds of trouble on the home front.

 There are so many cute scarves and flower headbands that I'd love to use as props when I'm shooting.  Inevitably, though, I take a look at the price tag and immediately pass out.  On a recent trip with the family, I saw an adorable crocheted owl hat.  I tried it on my little girl while uttering "awwwww" and then the infamous sticker shock.  The thing is, I know how to crochet.  I know how much yarn costs (even the fancy schmancy alpaca yarn) and I know about how long a hat like that would take.  In my mind, I knew I could find a pattern online and make a cute hat all by myself for 1/6 what they were charging.

 This is where I get in trouble.  By the time I look up the pattern, see what yarn I have available and whip it up, I've ignored my loving husband for several hours.  He's gone at work from 7AM to 7PM most days, so when he gets home and I'm wasting all kinds of time on a YouTube tutorial, it's a little frustrating.  Maybe I should just pay the $$ to keep the peace.

  Although I think the test run came out pretty cute.  Now I've gotten the colors I want and I'm going to do it again.