Sugar-Free Cakes! It’s My Turn to Indulge

And indulge, I will!

I’m just so happy to have met Sheila and Jherae, the ladies who introduced me to Sugar-Free yarns.

And I will forever be grateful to my dear friend, Regina, for introducing me to these lovely artistic women.

When I learned how to crochet, the only yarn I knew was Red Heart.  We have a large bin full of Red Heart SuperSaver yarns that my brother brought home from the US.  And then there’s the milk cotton variety that I buy from an online seller.  But they’re kind of expensive for a WAHM hobbyist from a single income household.

When I met Sheila and Jherae, they introduced me to a whole new world of yarns.  From them I learned how to choose the right type of yarn for certain projects, and how to substitute the imported yarns with what’s locally available.  From them I learned how to discern what hook size to use for certain yarn weight, or what hook type works best with a particular yarn type.

Sheila and Jherae are fiber artists.  Their passion is on creating yarn mixes that any avid crocheter would love to work with. They turn boring to exciting, bland to colorful and blah to wow!  They work their magic on every strand.  I’ve seen them make a plain white yarn turn into a rainbow.  And their finished projects… just wow!

My only complaint is that they do have the temperament of artists, too.  🙂

My first experience with the Sugar-Free mix was not that good.  As a beginner in crochet, I just couldn’t get all the threads together most of the time.  I was getting frustrated and wanted to forget about using the mixes.  Why punish myself when I can always use thicker yarns, right?   All I had to do was go to another supplier.  I’ve been buying online from a reputable yarn seller, and really happy doing business with her.

But I was drawn to the story behind Sugar-Free.  Sheila has a very young diabetic son, and she named her yarn mixes Sugar-Free for him.  She said every single cent that she earns from her yarns goes to her son’s medications.  So I started buying her mixes as my way of supporting her business.

Actually, I buy from Jherae most of the time, and Jherae gets her raw materials from Sheila, so in a way, I get to support two fellow working moms.

Truth be told, I have yet to finish one project using multi-strand yarns.  But there is hope.  I’m not giving up.  I have to walk my talk and be a good example to my children.

Here, look!

That’s a Sugar-Free yarn, and I’m learning to do the broomstick lace with it.

By the way, the knitting needle that you see is a DIY project of my husband.  I’m still waiting for the knitting needle I bought from Amazon, so I’m learning with a homemade needle for now.  

And here’s another unfinished project…

There are more of those works-in-progress that I’m hoping to find time to finish.  But yeah, finish them, I will.

But I don’t want to stop there.

I also want to mix my own yarns.

Below is my very first mix.

And below is my middlechild’s color mix, which she calls the Powerpuff.

Creating fiber mixes is not easy, I’m finding out.  From choosing the right combination of colors to making sure they weigh just right, it’s all hard work. We wind multiple strands together on a manual winder to create a mix.  It’s a lot of fun, yes, but can be pretty tiring, too.  And if you have allergies, forget about winding.  And no, I am not complaining.

I am beyond thrilled about this new venture.   Never dreamed I’d be in the creative business!

Who am I kidding?  Of course I dreamed of being in a creative business!  I even started a desktop publishing business, remember?  I’m just more of a realist, so I’ve accepted long ago that my creativity is in raising creative children.

But yeah…I am way beyond thrilled!  My hobby is taking me to new heights.  And my husband remains to be my staunchest supporter, setting up my workstation beside the laundry area, making me a photobox (which I have yet to try using) and committing to be my driver when we have to go pick up inventory.

Again, here is proof that you can always create income opportunities around your passion and your skills. It’s just a matter of knowing what you are good at, what you are happy doing and what people are willing to pay for.

Do come and visit my Facebook book for this crafty venture, Crafted Crafts, and of course the website.

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