About Bitter o’Clock

Bitter o’Clock is me. And sometimes my boyfriend husband and sometimes my friends and sometimes my children. To run a store, one needs plenty of willing heads on which to work.

As long as I can remember, I’ve been a fan of hats. Beanies, bucket hats, bandanas…anything to avoid brushing my hair. I got the idea to learn crocheting because ZOMG, I could totally make my own hats. My grandma taught me how to crochet over Thanksgiving break in 2005. It took me three intense days to learn to make a simple beanie.

That didn’t matter; I was on a roll. For months afterward, I struggled to get used to crocheting. This involved yelling, cursing, and throwing hooks across the room. Which brings me to..

  • Crocheting Tip #1: Beginners should not use plastic hooks. This is the fastest way to not only reduce your stock of hooks, but to also royally piss you off. Do yourself a favor and buy metal hooks.

I started out tentatively, working through patterns found in dusty old library books. This turned out to be a task, since most books were apparently made with the stereotypical crocheter in mind: an elderly woman with a love of granny squares and shapeless sweaters.

Soon, I began creating patterns myself. Suddenly, all the ideas I had come up with seemed doable. Gloves which look like zombie hands, a blanket that looks like dirt, and eye-patch for the cat. Think of the possibilities!

  • Crocheting Tip #2: Get a notebook. This will be helpful for many reasons: writing down the hook size and brand of yarn for each project, remembering patterns, and retaining ideas.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take for you to make and mail out a hat?

It depends on the type of hat and the season. Let’s say you want a detailed hat like an animal hat, it will take about a week for me to create it and get it to the post office. If you want something simpler like a flapper hat, it’ll only be 2-3 days. Those guidelines apply if you catch me between the months of February and August. However, once September hits, game on. You’ll want to double the aforementioned lag times, so approximately a week for the simple hats, two weeks for the detailed stuff. If you absolutelypositivelymust have a hat sooner than that, contact me and we’ll see what we can work out. Full disclosure, though: I will likely charge an expedite fee to bump your order ahead of others.

Can you make a/an <name an animal> hat?

I can certainly try. I’ve had some success with creating realistic and awesome animal hats, such as the popular Frogger, a hippo, a mountain lion, a bulldog, even Snoopy and Garfield. If you have an animal in mind, email me. I’ll give it a shot. If you really want to get particular (and by particular, I mean awesome, send me a picture of your pet and I’ll copy it in hat-form.

Do you work with cotton/wool/alpaca/cashmere/etc. yarn?

I generally use acrylic, cotton, and wool . However, I can work with any type of yarn or thread. Except yarn made out of dog fur. I just can’t do it.

Are you on Facebook?

Why, yes! I occasionally drop coupons or sales codes on there, as well as posting photos of hitherto unreleased products and links to other awesome craft-related finds. Click here to check out the page.  I know you didn’t ask, but I’m also on Twitter: @BitterOClock.

I have a question/concern about _____________…

Feel free to email me at kjaidea@yahoo.com or by filling out the contact form. I will get back to you within 2-3 days.

How did you come up with the name Bitter o’Clock?

Strangely enough, this really is a Frequently Asked Question. I wish I had an exciting story to tell. I had just decided to open my Etsy shop (oh, you have an Etsy shop? Why yes, right here). I was working for a real estate developer as a peon, and because of this, was tasked with setting up the office Christmas tree. While decorating it, my mind wandered, grumpy due to the demeaning work of cheering up my coworkers for the holidays. I thought, “What time is it? Well, obviously it’s bitter o’clock.” That’s it. I think I’ve sneezed out cleverer ideas, but there you have it.

Are you coming out with anything new?

Yes! Stay here! I’m going to fill out the animal hat collection, since I’ve gotten such great feedback about this. Also, I will be releasing a line of themed baby blankets, more intricate felt designs, and headbands. But really, stay here.

Would you like to participate in my organization’s craft fair?

Sorry to say this, but probably not. Here’s why: my hats don’t sell well during the warmer months, because who is thinking about buying hats then? But when the colder months hit, I struggle to keep up with orders and don’t have the spare time to build up a craft fair stock. You would think I would use those warm months to build up stock, but history has shown me to suck at this concept.

Would you like to be featured on my blog or in my magazine?

Sweet! Heck yes! However, I must warn you, I tend to be wary of bloggers who want a product upfront “to test out”. If you have decent traffic and it’s not right before Christmas, I may do it though. If you need high-res product photos, contact me at kjaidea @ yahoo dot com.

 

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