Goodbye January 31, 2008

I made a decision yesterday. I’m shutting down my jewelry website. I’m not quitting, but the website is probably on the 1,000,000,000th page of Google results, and I’m just not getting any business. I’m going to put everything up on Etsy, and let people know that if they want to custom order anything that we can do so.

What brought this on? My domain name expires next week. And I don’t see any point in paying $25 for a domain name that doesn’t bring in any money. And it hasn’t for about 5 years. The first two years were fantastic. I got so much business from wedding message boards that I could hardly keep up. But when my daughter was born, I had to take a break from it all, right in the middle of wedding season. I lost my momentum, and therefore lost my word-of-mouth advertising. The next year, I advertised in a BC wedding magazine. That ad brought me one customer, who only ordered one set of jewelry. And you don’t even want to know how much it cost me.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while. My best friend hosts my site for me, so I’m not paying for hosting, but I see no point in paying for a domain name if I am not making any money.

Etsy, here I come!

Knitting Bag January 31, 2008

I’ve been wanting to make myself a knitting bag that stands up nicely and can go places with me… unlike the large green plastic salad bowl I’ve been using. I was going to knit myself a Booga Bag, but decided I really want pockets. Besides that, the pattern makes a fairly small bag, and I have no idea how much bigger to make it.

I’ve scrapped the idea of knitting myself a bag for my knitting, and decided to sew one instead. I’ve had a pattern sitting around for ages that I got for free (I don’t remember why or how now) and it is perfect.

I’m doing the bag in the top left corner. I have some lovely purple, pink & black tweedy fabric, and some wine fabric to line it. I’m modifying the pattern a bit. It is supposed to have a zippered top, but I’m not doing that since I don’t want my yarn to snag on the zipper. I’m also lining it, and adding a small zippered pocket inside so that I don’t lose small things like stitch markers. The outside pockets will be perfect for storing crochet hooks and extra needles, and the inside is roomy enough for my yarn and project. The bag measures 13″ wide x 12″ high x 6″ deep.

I cut out the fabric last night, and used some fusible interfacing on the fabric to stiffen it up a bit. I might add a second layer of interfacing since the fabric is pretty drapey. And yes, I’ll be sure to post pictures when I’m done!

Branching Out – adventures in knitted lace January 30, 2008

I may be out of my mind. I’ve been assured that this is an easy lace pattern. But I’m anxious about it.

I’m making it out of Knit Picks Shine Sport. It is buttery soft and wonderful. I think I may be in love with this yarn! I’m off to knit. Wish me luck!

Rollin’ Beret, Take 2 January 30, 2008

Here’s the one I’m keeping. I finished it this afternoon.

Rollin’ Beret January 29, 2008

Time to show off! This is the Woolly Wormhead’s Rollin’ Beret I made. The yarn is Paton’s Shetland Chunky and the colourway is “Imperial Variegated” The rolled bottom is black.

My beret will be made from the same yarn, but in a different colourway. It is called “Dark Forest Tweed”. I’m actually surprised that I like the colourway of this hat so much though. I’m not normally a fan of orange, and the skein looked like it had a lot of orange in it, but once it is knitted, it doesn’t look like much orange at all!

Crafting update January 26, 2008

I’ve had some frustration and false starts on projects recently. First of all, let me say that I’ve never knit a hat. And I wanted to knit one for a friend (I hope she’s not reading this!) I tried three patterns. One didn’t say how many rows/inches to make it, so I eyeballed it and it barely fits my 5 year old. Scratch that. The other one I think I messed up on, but I didn’t like it enough to frog it and start over. I had my heart set on knitting a beanie, but a friend gave me the link to the Woolly Wormhead Rollin’ Beret. This hat is gorgeous. She’s knit a couple of them. So I figured that I’d give it a shot, what with the rave reviews I read on the pattern. I’m about half way done, and it is turning out so nicely. I think my friend will love it.

 And that’s not all. I’m trying to make a drawstring bag for my tarot cards. I normally just fold over the exposed edges and sew them flat and have no trouble with fraying, but I want to use satin, so I need some kind of edge finish. I’ve made 2 that look like hell, so I did some searching and found this tutorial. I am loving it! I will definitely make this bag for my cards. I love that it has a lining.

 I’m also going to make myself a zafu for use in meditation.

Slippers, version II January 10, 2008

I finished seaming and felting the slippers for my daughter and her friend B today. They’re so cute!

 Since I didn’t take a pre-felting picture of my husband’s slippers, I figured I’d do it with our daughter’s… I put one of her size 11 shoes next to it to show how much they shrink when you felt them.

And here they are after felting for about 15 minutes in the washer with an old pair of jeans…

And here are B’s slippers. She loves mismatched socks (her mom buys them that way) so I figured I’d do opposite slippers!

Both pairs of slippers are in the oven. I know that sounds really strange, but I thought I’d give them a head start by preheating it to about 100F, turning it off, and putting the slippers in so that they wouldn’t take 3 days to dry!

Now what? I have nothing to knit right now, really. I suppose I could start a lace headband to practise on doing lace. I want to start my Booga bag (which will become my knitting bag) but I’m waiting for my new circular needles to arrive and the Boye needles I have are terrible.

More knitting January 8, 2008

Hubbs loves his slippers and has worn them every day since they FINALLY dried. It took 3 days for them to fully dry. Wool holds a ton of water! I even put them on the heat registers in hopes that the warm air would dry them faster without shrinking them like throwing them in the dryer would.

 I’ve also made a pair for our daughter, and am nearly finished the pair for Leslie’s daughter. My daughter’s are pink and I used some of the leftover blue print on the cuffs. They need to be sewn and felted. Leslie’s daughter’s slippers are nearly finished. I have half of one top plus the cuffs to go. She has a thing for mismatched socks (you can get socks that, for example, have dark blue stars with a white background on one sock, and the opposite on the other sock) so I’m making her mismatched slippers! I’m just going to felt both pairs of kid’s slippers at the same time, and yes, I’ll post pictures.

 I also have plans to make myself another headwarmer (aka calorimetry). They’re fantastic for those of us who need to keep their hair up most of the time because unlike a hat, it won’t mess your updo. I wore my purple one today. Someday I’ll post a picture. Anyway, I’m making a green one, and matching scarves. I will do a longer version of the Climbing Trellis scarf in the purple and a Bramble Stitch scarf in the green.

 Knitting the slippers has given me a lot of confidence in reading patterns, so I am also going to knit a tunic for my daughter and a sweater for myself. Maybe I’m too ambitious, but I have really fallen in love with knitting. I do still have that hat to finish for my friend, as well as two shawls, but the shawls can wait since they’re really easy to do. In fact, I may just save them for something to do while waiting for my daughter at school since they’re mindless.

Crafting fun! January 8, 2008

Last week, my husband went out of town overnight on business, so since our daughter was still off school, my friend Leslie and her daughter came over for a sleepover. Leslie brought her sewing machine and we made stuff for our girls. I made PJ’s for my daughter, and Leslie made her daughter a mess of pants. What fun! I adore our craft dates, even moreso now that she has her own machine… this way we can both sew at the same time.

Fun with circular needles January 3, 2008

Did I say fun? I meant it in the most sarcastic way possible. If I ever consider buying a set of Boye circular needles again, I give you permission to flog me with a carrot. The join between the needle and the cable isn’t smooth, and there’s a bump where the needle widens, so it is a fight to get the yarn onto the needle. It makes for slow, frustrating knitting, and I’m not enjoying it. I think I’ll put them on ebay or something, because they’re brand new and I can’t use them. Only issue is that the one set I’ve tried doesn’t have the size marked on them, and I tossed the package like a moron.

Anyway, I’ve heard good things about Knit Picks circular needles. Specifically the Options series, which is interchangeable. But then, the Options are more costly than just buying fixed circulars, so I ordered the fixed circulars in size 6, 7 & 8, which are the most common sizes in worsted weight projects. Hopefully I like them as much as others do! Shipping is reasonable too. Bonus!

If these don’t work out (which I really hope they do!) I may buy a set of Addi Turbo needles on ebay. They’re pretty expensive though.