Huge Shop Update!

As many of you know, Wednesday I have my Heartsy deal! To prepare for this, I started listing the rest of my inventory today. Rick took photos of my earrings, he showed me some editing short cuts, and I was on my way! Between the earrings, and the knitted items, it took me pretty much all day to get all the listings ready. I saved most of them as drafts so I could post some every couple hours over the next few days. I am getting really nervous and excited about going live on Heartsy. I'm hoping it goes well!

Monday Magic: February 27, 2012-Chocoholic Edition!

Happy Monday! I hope to help you start your week off right with my Monday Magic posts. I'm not a huge chocolate fan, but these three things really caught my eye this week. Enjoy!

This Nutella Banana pie looks delicious! I pinned the recipe to remind myself to make it one day! I love bananas, and paired with Nutella, they will be even more delicious!

I'm not a huge hot chocolate drinker, and when I do drink it, it's usually white hot chocolate. Anyway, this Coconut Hot Chocolate with Almond Whipped Cream sounds divine!

This mint chocolate lip balm from Daisycakes Soap looks delicious! I recently received the mint 3-pack of lip balms, and I am in love! They go on great, and smell wonderful. Once I run out, I think this will be my next purchase!

Another Giveaway!

Yes, that's right, you can enter a second giveaway to win some of my earrings!! This one is being hosted by Rachael of Talk2TheTrees. The prize is THREE pairs of earrings in the colour of your choosing!

Rachael is a year-long sponsor of Knit, Nicole, Knit, and an absolutely awesome person. If you didn't win the giveaway on here (or even if you did!) go and check out her blog and enter to win!

Awesome Thursday: February 23, 2012

Happy Thursday, everyone! In case you're just joining in, I post every Thursday about the awesome things that have gone on in my life over the past week. It really helps to put things in perspective, especially when you're having a bad day. Studies show that grateful people lead happier, more productive lives.

• My giveaway went incredibly well! I had over 120 entries total. I mailed out the prizes the day after drawing, and I can't wait to hear back from the winners when they receive them!
• I figured out how much stock I have in my Etsy shop currently, and how much I need to add in order to have enough for all the Heartsy shoppers I will have. It turns out, I have way more than I thought I did, so I don't have to panic as much, haha
• I went out with my friend Christine last night to knit and crochet together. I don't see her nearly as much as I'd like to, so it was really nice to go out.
• I'm almost done my to do list for this week already. That is definitely encouraging.
• I've entered to win lots of blog giveaways recently. Hopefully I win a couple!
• I'm thinking about joining two new stores so I have my items available in new places. I'm going to have to think about it for a while, but it will be nice to be able to sell more items.

What sorts of awesome things have been going on in your lives lately?

Advertiser Round Up! February 2012

I'm doing things a little different this month, and featuring a few items from my sponsors shops. Please take a moment to check them all out!

Blog~.~Shop~.~FaceBook~.~Twitter~.~Pinterest~.~Flickr

Blog~.~Shop~.~Pinterest

Blog~.~Twitter~.~Facebook~.~Etsy~.~Pinterest~.~Ravelry

Blog~.~Pinterest~.~Twitter~.~Tumblr~.~Homepage~.~Shop

Facebook

The Giveaway Winners

Finally, the post you've been waiting for! Here are the winners. I am emailing all of them, and they have 24 hours to respond. If I don't get a response from any of them, I will draw a new winner, and contact them tomorrow.
Congratulations everyone!

 B_Ahoot wins an ad space.

 Aquariann wins an ad space.

 Jenny Chang wins an ad space.

Marija wins a pair of earrings.

 Lisa S wins a pair of earrings

Sarah wins the $25 voucher!

Monday Magic: February 20, 2012, Tophatter edition!

Every Monday, I post about cool things I've happened across on the internet. There isn't any acutal magic going on, I just appreciate alliteration.

Tophatter is my newest obsession! It's Etsy meets eBay, with a much more friendly, social atmosphere than the latter offers. This is what the auction looks like. Each of those avatars represents an actual person attending the auction. I've bid on a few items, won a three pack of mint lip balm, as well as a cute skirt (more on these in a moment), and listed my first item on there. My item didn't sell, but I will relist it and see if it sells another day.

This skirt is amazing! I found the seller through Tophatter. I won a similar skirt, and purchased anotherone from the Etsy shop. Two skirts for an amazing price, I am so incredibly happy. I can't wait to receive them! I'm hoping they don't take too long to get here!

These are the lip balms I won. I loooove mint lip stuff, and I think these are going to be great. The packaging for these is so cute. They're getting shipped to my american mailing address, so it will probably be a couple weeks until I see them, unfortunately.

New Ad Space Available!

I've decided to add a new ad space to my blog for you fine folks! There will be four 125x125 spaces available every month, for FREE! All you have to do is take a look at my advertising page for details. If this sounds like something you are interested in, check out the page, and send me an email!
I can't wait to help you folks out in spreading the word about your blogs!
Also, in March, I will have two 200x200 ad spaces available for the low price of $2 a month. All the information is on the same advertising page.
Go take a look!

Eyelet Neck Warmers

Don't forget about my giveaway! Still a few days to enter.
Last Thursday, I first mentioned the new neck warmers I've been working on. I took a couple photos the other day with Instagram, and I finally have a chance to post them now.
This mustard one is the one I decided to keep for myself. I love this colour, and I haven't knit anything for myself in a while.
There are rows of eyelets, separated by panels of garter stitch. It's a super simple pattern, but I think it looks great. I may write this up as a free pattern to put on Ravelry, depending on the feedback I get.
I've made a total of seven so far. This second photos is only missing the brown one I finished a couple days ago. From top to bottom they are a gorgeous, rich purple (this one isn't quite perfect), snow white, magenta (from this post), variegated emerald-blue, my mustard one, and a really nice dark copper.
I'm currently working on a black one. After this, I am almost out of Homespun. Next time it goes on sale, I will have to stock up again.
What have you been up to lately?

Awesome Thursday: February 16, 2012

Happy Thursday everyone! I'll just jump right into this weeks awesomeness

• Rick finished painting my new knitting studio/entertainment room. I can't wait to move my knitting machines and all my yarn in there. It's going to be such a great space.
• We've started packing slowly. We've moved a few things. Right now, we're just waiting for the drop ceiling to be put up in the studio so we can start moving things in there and not have to worry about having to work around it all.
• I won an auction on TopHatter (more on this another time) and the item is on its way to me!
• My giveaway is getting lots of entries. If you haven't commented yet, be sure to go do that! You can get one entry simply for leaving a comment and following the blog, something you're probably already doing!
• I decided to keep one of the awesome neck warmers I posted about last Thursday. It's the first one I made, in my favourite mustard yellow colour. Since making this one, I think I've made 7 more? I'll post some photos over the weekend.
• I've been working through my to do list, and I actually feel like I've accomplished some things this week.
• I made some polymer clay shapes for earrings the other day. I can't wait to make these into earrings!

What sorts of awesome things have been going on in your lives lately?

Some New Items In The Shop!

If you're looking for the giveaway, it's here!
I was supposed to have a craft show this upcoming Saturday, but it was postponed until further notice. I'm hoping it's really soon! I was really looking forward to it.
So, instead of having a craft show, I decided to list a few items in my shop. So far, it's only hats, but I will probably be adding a few more things later in the week.
These are the first two hats I added. They are both knit in super bulky Wool Ease Thick and Quick. That is one of my favourite yarns to use. It knits up so quickly, and is super, super warm. I really like that the way I knit the hats makes them loosen up slightly over time. You can see that they are slightly slouchy already. After wearing them for about a week, they loosen up to a super comfortable fit.
All of my new photos were taken by my friend Nicki of Nicki Kay Photography. The male model is her boyfriend, and my good friend Richard. The day we took these photos was amazing. All the snow on the ground was the perfect backdrop for my knitted items.
I have a few other items I finished recently that I will be posting soon. One of them is absolutely perfect, I can't wait to share it with you all!

It's My 500th Post, So I'm Doing A Giveaway! GIVEAWAY CLOSED

It's my 500th post!

Wow, 500 posts on this little ol' blog of mine! I'd like to thank every one of you for following me, whether you've been here since the beginning, or this is the first post you're reading, it means a lot!
To celebrate, I am going to giveaway THREE one month long ad spaces to three of you lovely folks. But that's not all, I will also be giving away TWO pairs of earrings to two lucky people. Lastly, one person will win a $25 voucher for the Knit, Nicole, Knit shop! I am working on some new items to put in there, so you'll have an awesome selection. The voucher can be used on the cost of shipping. If you want more than $25 worth of goodies, I will send the winner a paypal invoice for the difference.
There are lots of ways to enter to win, so just take a look! Make sure you leave your email address with your comments so I can get in touch when you win. Also, please note that the voucher and earrings can only be won by US and Canada residents.

• First off, you have to be a follower of the blog. I'll be announcing the winner on here, so you want to make sure you see that! You can follow with an RSS reader, Bloglovin', GFC or any other way. Just leave a comment saying which one you are following with, and that's your first entry!

That is the only mandatory entry, the rest of these are completely optional, but I'd definitely recommend doing as many as possible to up your chances of winning! Make sure you leave one comment for each entry, otherwise they won't be counted.

• You can follow me on twitter.
• Tweet about the contest. Use "Check out @KnitNicoleKnit's giveaway for a chance to win a $25 voucher to her shop!" and include a link to this post. You can do this once a day! Leave a comment each day with a link to your tweet.
• You can "Like" my facebook page.
• Heart my Etsy shop.
• Tell me your favourite item in the shop.
• Follow me on Pinterest.
• Pin one of my items in my etsy shop, and tell me which one you pinned. You can do this once a day! Leave a comment each day with the link to your pin.

There you have it! Lots of ways to enter! The contest will run until noon on February 21, so you have one week to enter. Once again, be sure to leave one comment for each entry. I will be checking to make sure you did what you said you did. If I draw your number, and the task is incomplete, I will draw a new number.

Good luck to you all!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

Monday Magic: February 13, 2012

Hello, Monday! In case you are new to the blog, every Monday, I post something I call Monday Magic. Neither of the Davids (Copperfield or Blaine) are involved, I just appreciate alliteration. What I do is bring together a few interesting things I've found in the week prior and give them a quick shout out. Some weeks it's a bunch of Etsy items, other times, it's new blogs I've happened upon. It could be anything!

I have a habit of finding blogs and reading them in chronological order. I just came across Folklure through a giveaway, and it's my newest obsession. I read it throughout the week, and I really enjoyed it.

These ballet flat moccasins from SoftMoc. I bought these a week and a half ago, and I am in love with them! I've only worn them inside so far, because I'm terrified of ruining them. I still have to weather treat them. Maybe once it gets a little nicer, I'll venture outside in them. Or, I'll just wear them to the mall to go pick up another pair in black! They're seriously that nice and comfortable. Now, should I get the faux fur lined ones, or stick with the all suede?

I absolutely love rough diamonds, and these earrings are perfectly imperfect. I just wish I wore earrings more often, so I could get these. The seller also has rough diamond rings, and other styles of earrings.

Instagram Party, a New Neck Warmer, and Fun Apartment Stuff

Ok, maybe I'm a little late to the Instagram party, but better late than never, right? If you want to follow me, my name on there is knitnicoleknit. Leave a comment with your name so I can follow you!

I'm currently working on an awesome magenta neck warmer for an upcoming craft show. One week from today, I'm taking part in a fund raiser for a local woman with breast cancer. I have a pattern I made up that I am working on, and hopefully I'll be able to get at least five more neck warmers made this week. It's a pretty simple pattern, just a little time consuming. I've made three so far, all a little bit different. I want to get the pattern perfect so I can start streamlining my knitting line. I want to have between 5 and 10 core items in a couple types of yarn to make my knitting life easier.
In other news, Rick and I will likely be going to pick up primer and paint for our new place! We're moving into his old bedroom at his parents house. With that comes another former bedroom in the basement that will be my knitting studio (or sweatshop, if you prefer!) We are going to paint the walls a really nice almost-white, and have a lavender accent wall. We're also going to have a little kitchenette area that is going to be the same almost-white with an aqua accent wall. I'm actually excited to paint. The place we're at currently is "builder beige" with stark white trim. It's poorly painted, and just generally not very nice to look at. Now that we can choose the colours we want, I feel like I will be more relaxed and be more productive.
What is new and exciting with all of you?

Awesome Thursday: February 9, 2012

Happy Thursday! Well, Thursday is almost over, so I hope your day was fantastic! In case you're just joining in, I post every Thursday about the awesome things that have gone on in my life over the past week. It really helps to put things in perspective, especially when you're having a bad day. Studies show that grateful people lead happier, more productive lives.
This is the awesome stuff in my past week:

• We are at Rick's parents for a few days. We will be getting things ready for moving in. Painting, cleaning and that sort of thing
• I've knit the most perfect cowl/neck warmer/infinity scarf. The size is absolutely perfect. Right after casting off, I tried it on, and I am so incredibly happy with it. I'm going to knit a few more in different colours, and I'll have photos of them hopefully next week
• I started a new work out plan that I am quite happy with. It's too soon to notice any kind of results, but I will soon, hopefully!
• My ridiculous back pain is finally starting to subside. I have a chiropractor appointment tomorrow to hopefully kick the rest of it to the curb

What has been awesome for all of you this week?

And Now For Something Completely Different!

On Etsy, and some of the blogs I follow, I've been seeing different cold weather head bands. I decided to try my hand at making some.
I grabbed some basic worsted yarn (which is actually kind of hard to come by in my stash!) and cast on a couple stitches. I made the ties at either end, and increased in the middle. They're long enough to wrap around your head and fit snugly without feeling like it's going to squeeze your brain. I'm going to tie in the ends and bring some into Trinkets, Treasures and the Truly Unique this week or next. I'll see how they are received there, and possibly make some more.
I also want to try some with different stitch patterns. I think they would look great in seed stitch. Or a nice wide cable.
So many possibilities!

Monday Magic: February 6, 2012

It's Monday! Last week, I started a series of posts that I am calling Monday Magic (no magicians involved, I just like alliteration) Every week, I will post a few awesome things I came across during my travels through the internet. They might be Etsy items, recipes, clothing or something else entirely.
I hope you enjoy!

This bag from Marbled. I definitely want one of these bags! The seller makes loads of gorgeous, affordable bags, so I may order more than one!

This print is from Rachael at TreeTalker. She has some phenomenal stuff. I was taking a look through her store, and this painting jumped out at me. I don't know if it's the swirls in the background, or the tiny red leaves, but I really love it!

I love anything that is notebook paper printed. Shirts, bedding, pillows, you name it, those blue and red lines make me want it. I don't know what it is! This pillow is a prime example of that. There are other pillows available in the shop with poetry and prose screened on them. Those are great and all, but this plain one is calling my name. (plus, it's organic cotton!!!)

Welcome Back, Robyn!

What is your most exciting project this week?
This week I'm working on a giant puff knitted up for a blog friend!

What are you top 5 favourite recording artists?
Is it bad if I admit I don't really listen to all that much music?!

How do you get out of a creative slump?
I just ride through it. I figure when it's time for me to start creating again, I will.

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?
I love Valentine's Day, but then we celebrate super chill; usually it's just pizza and a movie.

Blog ~ Shop ~ Twitter ~ Facebook

Hello again, Eslin!

What is your most exciting project this week?
My exciting project: a full male size zipped raglan cardingan
This is a long overdue gift with a year + in the making and not half-way there yet.
Cardigans and sweaters are such an intimidating project!

What are you top 5 favourite recording artists?
In no particular order:
Civil Wars
Leonard Cohen
Joaquin Sabina
Chico Buarque
Caetano Veloso

How do you get out of a creative slump?
I eat chocolate while rearranging my supplies: yarn, hooks, books and needles. Getting to see what I have, what I have left half way done gets me started. Sketching is always a good thing.
I think I'll need to try the chocolate trick!

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?
Ever since we live our life dictated by an agenda and a calendar, is always good and neccesary to have a day marked for love too!!

Etsy ~ Artesanio ~ Twitter ~ Newsletter ~ Blog

Hello, Rachael!

A big hello to Rachael of TreeTalker, back for another month of sponsoring!
What is your most exciting project this week?
I've currently started making hats for a children's hospital. The hats are for children who are battling cancer. They had a need for adorable boy hats, since most people make cute little girl hats with flowers. I'm excited to send the boys bunches of monkey and bear hats!
Making baby hats feels so fulfilling. I knit for a local hospital, as well, and there is a shortage of boys hats there, as well. Babies in monkey and bear hats will be adorable!

What are you top 5 favourite recording artists?
Stars, Ingrid Michaelson, The Weepies, Sufjan Stevens, and Azure Ray.

How do you get out of a creative slump?
Whenever I'm in a creative slump.. I know I need to focus on something else. I normally take the doggies on an adventure to the canyons and play a game of fetch. I also bring my camera around and take lots of inspiring photos of nature!
I wish my dog was as interested in adventures as Charlie and Wicket are! He's happy just lounging all day!

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?
I'm excited for it! It will be my second Valentine's Day with my boyfriend. I don't know what our plans are quite yet.. I've got to think of something!!

Blog ~ Art Shop ~ Knitwear Shop ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Tumblr 

Thanks Rachael! We will be seeing you again soon!

I'm On The Picket Fence!

I just came across this awesome site on one of the blogs I started following recently. If you click on this button, I get a vote to raise me up in rank in the directory. If you have a blog, you should add yourself to the directory!

Putting Items In The Etsy Shop!

I just got the photos from the photographer, and I'm listing stuff in the shop! Check it out!

Awesome Thursday: February 2, 2012

I can't believe it's February! January passed by so quickly. This is what has been awesome this week:

• I was Rick's birthday on the 30th. We went out for Red Lobster, Vietnamese and Sushi on different days to celebrate
• I started working on a brand new knitting project. I'm still trying to work out the sizing, but I'm loving it already! Once I get things figured out, I will show pictures. I may even write up a pattern.
• We gave notice at our apartment. In 60 days, we will no longer be living here! I almost can't believe it
• I got a couple sales in the Etsy shop this week

How has your week been?

Welcome Jessyz!

A warm welcome to Jessyz of Chocolate Mints In A Jar! She has some gorgeous patterns, let's see what she has to say!

What is your most exciting project this week?
I am working on a kindle fire sleeve. I made one but not thrilled with the results so I am reworking the design and will knit it up and see how that goes.
I love gadget sleeves! They're always so much nicer than the mass produced ones you can get in a store.

What are you top 5 favourite recording artists?
This one is really hard
Tracy chapman, Sade, Bob Dylan, An Egyptian band called Wust el Balad and an Algerian singer called Souad Massi.

How do you get out of a creative slump?
I read dr seuss books, talk to my friends, go for a walk or listen to music. Basically I walk away from it all, recharge my batteries and try again. I actually Blogged about my creative process here.
Dr. Seuss seems like a great way to inspire!

How do you feel about Valentine's Day?
Not really into it, but hey if my husband decides to buy flowers and candy I totally wouldn't mind. Not that he ever would :-)

Thanks Jessyz!

Etsy ~ Ravelry ~ Blog ~ Twitter ~ Pinterest ~ Facebook