The craft show

This is something I would rather not talk about, but for the sake of my readers, I will.
The craft show sucked. There is no nice way to put it.
It was not well advertised, there were issues with parking, we were told tables would be assigned in a first come first served sort of way, this wasn't the case. I was stuck in a back corner, surrounded by the yard sale part of this supposed craft show.
I didn't sell a single scarf.
After the cost of the table, I can buy myself a Hot n Ready pizza.
No pictures, either.

Tomorrow is the craft show

The title says it all.
I haven't been a good blogger and photographing what I've been making. I also haven't kept track of my goals...
I'm hoping some of my customers will allow me to photograph them wearing their new scarves tomorrow. That would be interesting.
I am hoping to have at least a few pictures from the show tomorrow.

For locals, the show is st
K of C hall in Amherstburg, Ontario
It's from 10 am until 4 pm
If you go, look for me! I have purple hair! Say you found me here, and I will give you $5 off any purchase over $20!

Congrats Jess!

My friend Jessica just had her baby!
November 27th at 1:17 am.
Baby Scarlett weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces.
I went to see them both today, and they're doing great.
Like any knitter would do, I brought her a blanket. The Rainbow one, actually, and as soon as I get a picture of Scarlett I will put it up!

Socks and why I choose not to knit them

Fair warning, some of the links are Not Work Safe.

When one thinks of knitting, most think of scarves, sweaters and socks before anything else. I do, anyway. Some might think of willy warmers, prosthetics and stuffed animals, but we don't usually talk to those people.
A couple close friends have asked me why I do not knit two out of those three seemingly core knitted garments.

The simple reason is attention span.
I have a short one. Some days I wonder how I have cranked out over 20 dishcloths in the past 2 months. They're simple garter stitch with a few YOs and some k2togs here and there.
Sweaters and socks have shaping, short rows, heel flaps. Some of them have lace!
They're just a whole pile of different stitches one after the other in different orders on every single garment! Except socks, they're different on every other one, unless you only have one foot. But still, you get my point!
Why doesn't this captivate me?

Like I said, attention span! These things take time!
In the time it takes you to knit a sweater, I could easily knit 4 or 5 scarves. Maybe 10 dishcloths. A couple baby blankets. Any number of items. And you will only finish one!
And if you knit socks, once you're done, you think YAY! I FINISHED SOMETHING! But NOOOO! You have an other one to knit! Like I said, unless you only have one foot.

Plus, sweaters and socks have to actually FIT something. With a sock, it has to fit over your foot, around your calf, and be long enough so your toes don't poke out the end. With a sweater, you have sleeves for goodness sake! Some people have abnormally long, orangutan-like arms that drag on the ground. You probably wouldn't notice this until the sweater you spent 10 years knitting for them doesn't quite look right when they put it on.
Dishcloths, scarves and blankets are kind of a one size fits all sort of thing.

Long story short, I would rather knit my boring scarves, dishcloths and blankets than stress out over so many issues with socks and sweaters.

Work Holiday!

I have a needed but unwanted break from work.
This means more knitting time! I would love to have more reading material, because I sit at the computer and knit usually.
If you have a blog that you would like me to read, or a suggestion for a blog I should read, please post a link here!

Crocheted Beret

Yes, I know this item is crocheted, but it's totally awesome. It's a really pretty beret by LazyTCrochet that I would totally wear if hats like that make my head look misshaped.
Tricia was one of the first people to advertise on my blog through Project Wonderful. Because of this, I have been looking through her shop on a fairly regular basis, and I love everything I have seen!
Check her blog out, as well!

Rachel's Blanket

This is the giant Ruffles blanket. It's actually surprisingly warm, being acrylic and all. Rachel has sent the money order, and as soon as I get it, I will be sending it off!
These pictures are, once again, taken by Samantha.
Yes, it was THAT cold out. Don't let the leaves throw you off, it felt like the dead of winter.
These were the only 2 pictures that came out somewhat nicely. I'm not a fan of having my picture taken, and I was just goofing around the entire time.

Finished Scarf!

I would have wrapped it around my neck to show how long it is, but I didn't want my colour to rub off onto it. The reason I'm covering my face is because it too was purple.

Seed stitch love!

I went digging through my ever expanding stash a couple nights ago to find something to make a boyish scarf. I found one skein of Wool Ease Thick & Quick in Goldenrod. I sort of remember when I purchased this yarn, actually. I went to Michael's with my mom a few years back to get some picture frames for new prints we had in the living room, and I wandered over to the yarn section. There was a HUGE bin of discontinued colours from a bunch of different brands marked down from up to $10 to as low as 50 cents. I got about 3 skeins of this same brand of yarn in different colours for a dollar each.
Looking back, I wish I would have bought all of it, the T&Q at least. I love this stuff. Knits up super quick, and is super warm.

I'm doing this scarf on 10 mm needles, 13 stitches wide in Seed Stitch.
I love and hate seed stitch. I love to knit while watching TV, or reading blogs or basically, anything but watching what I'm knitting. When I have to switch between knit and purl after Every. Darn. Stitch. I tend to screw up. Which leads to swearing and throwing and frogging.
But I do love how squishy it is when it's done!

Sorry!

Ok, so, yeah, I admit it, I did get over excited last night, and say I beat my challenge. But up until this very second, I'm not sure if I have...
Last night, when I was calculating, I accidentally put 200 instead of 100 into my calculations...
So, I am no where near where I thought I was.
I am at...

32 732 stitches!

Which is more than I thought I would have, but less than my goal. I have 5 days to knit 17 268 stitches, or 3 454 stitches per day. That will not happen, cause I do have to work nearly every day this week, and I still have to get everything ready for the show.
I'm still happy with how much I've knit, though!

The baby blanket

I literally JUST cast off the Sunshine State baby blanket!
It was a pretty quick knit, and the Homespun didn't get splitty and lame until the very end.
I would take a picture right now, but my hands are still stained purple from my hair and I don't want it to rub onto the blanket.

I don't think I'm going to accomplish my goal of 50 000 stitches this month. Life is just getting in the way, which is awesome, but not so great for my goal. This is fine. I have knit quite a bit this month, and I plan on knitting as much as possible until the end of the month.
I still do plan on making a donation to charity, but I'm not sure where I should donate to. Suggestions are welcome!

Olive Coloured Scarf

This scarf is made from what I had left from Louis' blanket. Right round half of one skein of Olive Homespun.
I'm a bad knit blogger, and don't measure my finished items usually, so I can't tell you how big it is... The colour is fairly accurate (on my screen, anyway). I think Homespun is starting to grow on me again.The scarf is long enough to wear tucked through itself, or wrapped once. I am somewhat tempted to keep it for myself, but after today, it will probably clash with my hair! It's going back purple after work :)

Louis' blanket

Today, Samantha (would you like me to link you, sam?) and I had somewhat of an impromptu photo shoot. I wasn't anticipating being the model, but that's just how it went. Please, do excuse the fact that my hair needs to be re-done, this purple will not stick to my hair. Well, nothing will stick to my hair, I've absolutely killed it with all the bleaching I've been doing lately.
Also, I still haven't finished the ends. I'm a terrible procrastinator like that. This is what it looks like close upHomespun, 4ish skeins of Olive and the same amount of Deco. Unsure of that size needles. Basic "Grandma's favourite dishcloth" pattern, only giant sized.

More pictures of other finished items coming over the next few days! And pictures of the cookies I made for the cookie party!

Christmas Gifts

Some of you may be wondering why I haven't posted anything about knitting Christmas gifts. The truth is, I rarely knit gifts for others.
I know, I know. Shame on me, but I can never decide on what to make for anyone. I put so much time into some of the gifts, and to have the person just forget about the gift is heartbreaking for me.
This year, I will try to change this. There is one person I know I will knit a gift for, I can't say anything about it, cause I'm pretty sure s/he reads this.

What are you knitting for holiday gift giving this year?

Blogs I Follow, Part 2

I GOT THROUGH ALL MY BLOGS!
I am so happy right now! It was a seemingly small task, but it got harder and harder as time went on. I kept adding blogs, and obviously the ones I had initially kept updating.
I did manage to get just over half of the blanket done since I started catching up.
I have been quite productive since I moved my laptop into the basement. My wireless isn't working right (not sure if it's the computer or the internet itself) and the only available plug in is in the basement. It is a little chilly down here, but over all, its not too bad.

Tomorrow is the cookie party at Samantha's, and I will come home with pictures! Not sure what I'm going to bring with me. The scarves I've recently finished are a must, probably some dishcloths and maybe a couple blankets.

Hand knit scarves

In this post, I went on and on about how many of each item I needed to sell. I didn't give prices on any of them.
When I was talking about the scarves, I meant my NEW scarves. I have quite a few left over form last year, or even the year before that are out of style. Fun Fur, overly bright, odd dimensions or any other reason made them unappealing to potential customers.
This year, I am trying to make a few more appealing scarves, putting one price on all of them ($20) and giving gifts with purchase.
If someone buys 25$ or more, I will have a basket of what I call "ugly scarves" and they will get to choose one. This is an incentive for customers to buy more, and it will help clear out my inventory.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to clear out more of what I've made?

Blogs I Follow

Google Reader is either the best or worst thing ever invented.
Through Blogger Following, I follow just over 100 blogs. Seventy five or so are yarn related in some way. About 10 are people blogging about their day to day. The rest are craft, money or blog related.
Since "the weekend I forgot about the internet" AKA was super busy, I have had at least 50 entries lined up to read. Tonight, this number sits at 80. I am hoping to get it to 40 or lower before I go to bed.
How many blogs do you follow?
I am still working on the Homespun baby blanket. It's around 95 stitches wide, and I'm almost through one skein. I'm thinking 100 stitches would be a nice number to end off on.

Craft Show Preparation

Eleven days until the craft show! I am getting excited and anxious, because it is my only show this season.
I have chosen to only do one show this year because of work restrictions. I am required to work 4 out of 5 Saturdays as well as Sundays. The Saturday and Sunday I choose to take off cannot be on the same weekend. (I know, right?) This greatly reduces the number of weekends I had available to actually DO the shows.
The show I am doing is on Sunday November the 30th, at the Knights of Columbus hall, in Amherstberg, Ontario. The reason I chose this one is because the K of C has helped my family in the past, and I would like to return the favour.
There were other local shows I could have participated in. Some of which had more press coverage. And by press coverage, I mean they had small ads placed in the classified section of the newspaper.

I have wondered before what makes a "successful" craft show.
For myself, it is mainly the income.
This is how I figure out how much I would like to make at any given show. This is my take on what several other people have posted.
My costs
-My mom is awesome and drives me to and from my shows, so transportation is eliminated.
-Food-I buy lunch for my Mom and I while we're out at the show. This, as well as a mid day Tim Horton's run totals to around $15
-Purchases from other crafters-I try to spend under $20 at any given show. Since the holidays are coming up, I may spend more. Also, I heard there are 2 baked goods tables at the show this year.
-Taking a day off work- I break it down like this
Usual Sunday shift: 6 hours
Sunday pay: $8.95 an hour
6 hours * $8.95= $53.70

This means I have to make $88.70 just to cover my costs of that day. I would obviously like to actually make money, so I do have to pull a profit.

If I say I am making 50% profit on all my items (I am not, considering the time it takes and such), to break even I would have to sell at least $177.40.
This would work out to 9 scarves, 36 sets of dish cloths, 4 baby blankets or any such combination.

At larger shows, many would say that this is EASY. But I'm at a small town show. A small town show that is mostly populated by people who work(ed) in the failing auto sector.
If I could break even at this show, and have at least 10 people visit my blog from the show, I would be happy as a clam. If I could make $200 at this show, I would be ecstatic.

Because of all of this, I am knitting my little fingers off. If I hope to make as much as I do, I would need to have at least DOUBLE the amount available to be sold. This means 18 scarves, 72 sets of dishcloths, and 8 baby blankets. I am no where near this, but I do hope to get at least 20 scarves and 8 blankets made.

Pictures?

A friend just messaged me asking when I would post pictures of what I have been knitting lately. I promise pictures soon! My camera has gone missing again.
I will ask Samantha if she could photograph my scarves and a few other things on Friday when I go to the cookie party.
I will also try to take pictures at the craft show on the 30th.

Scarves and Blankets!

I finished a scarf with 1500 stitches. That was the Creamsickle one. It's somewhat short, but I sort of like it.
I have decided to start on an other baby blanket. I have not yet sold one, but I'm thinking Christmas-time would be a time where people would be wiling to spoil babies. Especially if it's their first. It's going to be the corner to corner one, done in Sunshine State (Homespun).

I went into Michael's today, and they had quite a bit of yarn on sale. Some cotton was $1 or $1 off. Homespun was $5 a skein. And they had glow in the dark on for like $1 a skein.
Guess how much I bought...



NOTHING! I realized I should knit from my stash at least until the New Year. I am planning on moving, and I don't want to have to bring TOO much yarn with me!

I fail

I know I will not reach my goal of 30 posts this month.
This weekend has been filled with everything but knitting.
I may not even meet my goal of 50 000 stitches.
But, this month is going fantastically, and life is awesome!

An other scarf!

I finished a second scarf, this one with 2688 stitches. This brings my total to...

21920!

Nearly halfway there! And I'm one day shy of halfway through the month! By the end of tonight, I could probably finish the other scarf I just started.
This scarf is being made from what I have left from the Creamsickle coloured baby blanket.
Not much else to update about!

A giveaway?

Dear readers,
I am thinking of doing a giveaway. I have quite a few knitting books, and I don't think I will ever use some of them.
For those of you that have done a giveaway in the past, is it hard to do? Is shipping for the books expensive? (especially from Canada, to the U.S)
How do you decide how to do the giveaway?
Please help!
-Nicole

A cool new site!

I was reading my blog list this morning, and an entry in one of my favourite blogs came up.
I love reading Michelles Charm World. She makes the cutest stuff! Her entries are well written, and even though it's not my preferred type of crafting, I LOVE reading it! I think she's turning me over to the plastic side more and more!Anyway, she posted a new site called Own The Hour. Basically, you pay ONE DOLLAR for one hour of advertising. I guess or one hour, that is a little much, compared to Project Wonderful, where I sell my ad space for usually under 20 cents a day.
The way I see it, one dollar is nothing. Skip the donut with your Timmy's tomorrow morning, if you're worried about it.
If you got one or 2 sales from that one dollar, it was probably worth it.
Of course, I don't yet have an Etsy shop. But this is one of those sites that needs to be promoted before it can actually do what it's supposed to do!

Sorry!

Yesterday's meme was a sorry excuse for an update. I worked a really odd shift, and I didn't feel like knitting much once I got home.
BUT! I did figure out how much knitting I've done since the beginning of the month.
These numbers are all approximate, cause I'm counting rows and not individual stitches.
blanket: 12000
dishcloths: 4000 (I'm saying each one is 2000 stitches. I calculated it, and it's somewhere around there)
scarf: yellow-3232
For a grand total of.....

19232 stitches!

I know I said I had more done in my twitter update, but I sort of miscalculated...
I will check my word count later on today, if I remember to do so.
I am also starting on an other Homespun scarf. It's olive green this time.

I have been tagged!

This is the first time this has happened anywhere other than LiveJournal.
I was tagged by Pegasus Handmade Soaps.
THE RULES:
Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their name as well as links to their blog.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I have NO idea what sort of facts to leave about myself...
1) I hate and love my hair every single day. I am slowly killing it, and I often think I should shave it all off and start over.
2) I own so much yarn that I have started giving it away. I am in the process of making up a bag for Sam. But I'm attached to it. I am a hoarder. I was going to give a bag to a girl that hates my guts. THAT's is how much I have...
3) I went vegetarian just over 4 years ago. For animal rights reasons, because I don't like the taste, and cause it was a cool thing to do. I'm still vegetarian, for the first 2 reasons, and because the thought of eating meat makes me nauseous. Despite all this, I work in a deli, and I slice lunch meat.
4) I am a texting addict. The bill before last, I sent or received exactly 4000 texts. Last bill (that I got yesterday) was 3400 texts. A life goal is to eventually send/receive 5000 in a month. I know I can do it...
5) I don't want to have a traditional job. Yeah, I want to be a hairstylist, but I think it would be cool if I worked in a prison, or in the army.
6) I often go for weeks without shaving my legs. I'm lazy. If I can find a guy that doesn't care, I will be happy.
7) I think I'm borderline OCD.

I tag anyone who would like to be tagged! If you do chose to tag yourself, comment and I will post a link to your blog.

THE BLANKET IS DONE!

I finished the blanket around 9:30 last night.
It's a terrible cell phone picture, but there it is! That little box in the middle is a cell phone. For size comparison and all. Ignore the mess all around. That's the living room floor, and I can't just shove furniture out of the way to take a picture!
I noticed after binding off, that one skein DIDN'T MATCH THE REST! AUGH! AUGH UGH UGH UGH!
See that lighter band at the top of the blanket? yeah, somehow, one skein didn't match the rest. I don't know what to say to Rachel. She's paying for this... It's a Christmas gift for her boyfriend... I can't just take that part out... It will be a tiny little blanket if I did!
Any suggestions?

Twitter?

This is posted to both of my blogs.
I have signed up with Twitter. Mostly because "everyone is doing it". But also because it's an other way to promote whatever you have to promote. In my case, my blogs. And eventually a store of some sort (more than likely Etsy).
Now, this is my Twitter
http://twitter.com/3rd_timesacharm
I hear you can follow it, like Blogger.
Follow mine, I will follow yours. Promise!

Missed a day!

Sorry I missed yesterday! I was out and about from 8 am until midnight!
I left early to run some errands with mom. We had planned to go to some craft shows, but she assumed since a show was on Sunday, it would have been Saturday as well. (wrong)
We did go to Zellers and I picked up some more dishcloth cotton. Two of the large skeins of Bernat. I'll post the colours when I start using them.
On the topic of dishcloths, I saw some at the ONE craft show we did go to. They were priced at $3 each. I'm thinking 2 for $5 is reasonable. (Thank you for the input, Barbra!)

I'm definitely finishing that blanket very soon. It is almost the size I wanted it to be, and I know once it's off the needle, it will stretch out a bit. Right? It's acrylic...

What does "killing acrylic" mean? I know it involves an iron, but what does it DO exactly? Does anyone know?

Almost done?

The Sickness is back, and worse than ever. I feel like my nose is made out of pool noodle. You know the ones you fill with water, and then blow into and water shoots your little brother in the face out? Yeah, that's my nose right now...
I'm still working on the blanket. I think I may finish it after I'm done this pattern repeat.
It's getting unmanageable.
I'm kind of tiring of the colour.
I really want to knit dishcloths!
There are other reasons, but Sabotage by the Beastie Boys just came on, and that requires dancing.

Feeling better!

I think that karma thing is starting to pay off!
Woke up this morning with only a slight sicky feeling. My nose is not stuffy, and I'm not coughing nearly as much.
But I did have a terrible headache. That's due to grinding my teeth while I was having a dream that directly involved my ex boyfriend. I did find out that dreaming of an ex suggest that your subconscious is telling you not to make the same mistakes with a future partner.

In knitting news, I finished the other half of that dishcloth yesterday. I now have a set of three in that really pretty Creamsicle colour.
I'm not sure how I should price these when I go to the craft show at the end of the month, or if a set of 3 is a good number.
I was selling them for 2$ each, or 3 for 5$. I know I will never make enough money off of them to quit my day job, but I would like to get more than just covering my costs. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I knit 6 rows on the blanket yesterday. I was happy with that number, because I did have a fairly busy day.

Sick, Sick, Sick

Not feeling great today... I really didn't sleep well, and my throat is not happy.
I knit half of a dishcloth yesterday, as well as 4 rows on the blanket. Once again, only half of what I wanted to do. I did get quite a few other things done around the house, though.

I've already reached over 25 followers between the 2 blogs!

That's a party in itself! If I can keep that number steady, or even increase it by the end of the month, I will be quite happy. Even if I don't meet my other challenges.

I have a question for all of you! I'm getting ready to start on an other dishcloth set but I never know which colours of yarn to use. If you had to pick a colour of cotton dishcloth, would you pick
-A colour to match your kitchen decor
-A neutral colour like beige or white
-A happy bright colour
-A favourite colour
-A colour to match the season/holiday
-Something else
If you could comment with your answer, and include what colour you would love to see in dishcloth form, it would be greatly appreciated! I have tons of cotton to use, and it's always super hard to pick which one to use next!

An other dishcloth!

Yesterday, I spent most of the day knitting. I'm up to 18 rows knit since the first of the month. I'm a little behind, but today will be spent knitting, in between chores and such.
I finished an other dishcloth while watching movies with a friend. I started this one yesterday morning, and finished it last night. One cloth a day, plus at least 8 rows on the blanket a day would be really nice!
I'm reading all the updates on Google Following. Does anyone have a suggestion for an other blog I should read?

A dishcloth

I just finished an other dishcloth. The colour of this one is awesome! It's called Creamsicle, from Bernat Handicrafter. It's mostly white, with some really neat orange and yellow mixed in. I don't know how many I will sell at my craft show, seeing as it's kind of a Christmas show. But hey, maybe it matches someone's kitchen colours.
So far today, I've knit 4 rows on the blanket. I'm already halfway through my daily quota! I'm going to try to play catch up with the rows I missed since the first of the month. I happened to tie on the last skein on the November 1st, so I have a nice marker to show how much I've knit so far! How convenient!
I've been posting quite a bit on the Etsy forums lately. I've found quite a few new blogs to follow, and I know I've gotten at least 2 followers that found me through there.
An other challenge for the end of the month? Have 25 unique followers between the two blogs. That would be cool. That challenge isn't a priority, though. If it happens, sweet, if no, no big deal!

Daily updates?

I think I'm going to try to update this blog, and the other one, every day this month. My craft show is on November the 30th. I'm trying to get at least 10 dishcloth sets ready for then. Also, I want to finish Rachel's blanket by the first week of December.
My updates might be as simple as posting how many cloths I finished that day, or how many rows on the blankets, but I need some sort of motivation.
It's also NaNoWriMo (google it), which I am not taking part it formally, but it would be cool if all my blog posts this month added up to 50 000 words. Or if I could knit 50 000 stitches in a month.
*gets inspired*
Fifty thousand stitches in a month is doable. Each row on the blanket is 200 stitches, if I remember correctly. That comes out to 250 rows. I'm SURE I've done close to that on this blanket....
I'm currently trying to calculate the number of stitches in a dishcloth, but my math is broken. I KNOW there is a way to calculate 1+2+3+4...+45 without punching it all into the calculator. I don't even think that would be precise, but it would be pretty darn close.
Does anyone know of the formula I need?
Either way, 50 000 stitches in a month works out to 1,667 stitches a day, which is 8.3 rows of the blanket A DAY! When I knit for a while, I easily do 15 rows a day, usually more.
I think NaKnitMo is ON!
Anyone else with me? I'm starting a couple days late, but hey, I'm a procrastinator!
Added later: I updated the other blog, and I have a challenge for myself! I need all the encouraging words you followers can muster!
I WILL UPDATE TOMORROW WITH MY OFFICIAL RULES FOR MY CHALLENGE!

Little Mady

My cousin Chantell had her baby a little while back, and she is absolutely beautiful!
This is the first picture I saw with my blanket in it. (the striped one Mady is sleeping on)
I still haven't been able to see her in person, I always seem to be working while my family is out visiting.

I'm hoping to get pictures of all the babies I have made blankets for. This is hard to do, seeing as they kind of live all over the place, and I haven't met most of them!

Hopefully, I'll meet them all at Christmas!