Wednesdays Are For Gratitude: January 30, 2013

It's Richards birthday today! We're keeping it low key tonight, and going possibly going out for dinner tomorrow. We're waiting for his birthday gifts to come in the mail. I got him a computer stand and case for his new computer. One of them is coming directly to us, and the other is at our US shipping address. It's really nice having that, because on that one purchase alone, I saved about $20 on the cost of shipping.
Here is what I'm grateful for this week
Richard and Winston / My friend Tracy / My friend Christine and her not yet arrived bundle of joy / Lisa of Petite Tuques / Shocktop wheat ale / Tumblr / Podcasts / My MacBook / My interchangeable knitting needles / This blog / You!

What are you grateful for this week?

Monday Update: January 28, 2013

The weekend is over, so now I get a couple days off. Working part time means I often work weekends, so I look forward to the start of the normal work week, as it means I get a couple days off. I hope your weekend was awesome, and it wasn't too chilly where you are. It snowed here, and it's beautiful! It's all starting to melt now, but it was nice while it lasted.

The past few days, my project of choice has been the start of my Beekeeper's Quilt. I started getting yarn for this before Christmas, and I am finally getting around to starting it now. I have a loose goal of knitting 365 puffs before the end of 2013, so we'll see how that goes. My first one was the blue in the first photo. I made it on the 23rd, and I decided to photograph all the ones I've finished everyday. It seems like I can comfortably make 2 a day, and sometimes push to make three. I'm also still working on items to sell at the craft shows, so realistically, I could probably be more productive once craft shows wind down.

With the yarn I got from Evermore Studios, I made nine of my first twelve puffs. I somehow missed one ball of their yarn in my stash, so I'll be making the tenth colour at some point in the next couple days. I've been talking with the owner of Evermore Studios about doing a giveaway, so be sure to keep an eye out for that!

The other yarns I used are KnitPicks Felici (the pink and purple one in the first photo) and some Flusi Sock Monster yarn I got from a destash on Etsy (the two multi colour ones in the last photo).

I still have quite a few colours I haven't used yet. I am going to try to make one of each colour before I start duplicating them. I might even assemble these first few, just to see how it will look.

I still don't know how I will weave in the ends on this. I was thinking about assembling the whole thing with the ends, but I'm now leaning towards using one colour for the whole thing. What did you do, or what are you doing for your quilt?

Overall, I am absolutely LOVING this project. I'm shooting to have it done be the end of 2014. The finished size will be for a queen sized bed. I'm struggling to figure our how many puffs I will need for one this size. I'm getting numbers between 250 and 1000. I think what I'll have to do is lay out what I have, calculate the area they cover, and multiply that by how big I want it. It's a lot more math that my poor brain is used to, but it seems like the best way. The other option is to have one of you fine folks tell me exactly how many you used, which would be a whole lot easier. I've had a couple people give me numbers they're shooting for, so I'm likely to head in that direction.
Regardless, I love this project, and I know it will take me a while. I'll take it one puff at a time, and when I have enough, I'll stop. Actually, I might even continue and make a throw to use on the sofa as well. We'll see if I'm tried of them when that time comes!
In other knitting news, I've been making more bows for my two upcoming craft shows. I wanted to have a lot of little items available, because I don't think I'll sell a whole lot of the wintery items. I also assembled some earrings this morning. My dad is building me a display rack for my earrings, and bows. I'm really excited to see how it turns out! I drew up what I wanted, and he seemed pretty confident that he could pull it off. I'm crossing my fingers!

A Debt Update

After some incredibly rude comments the last time I updated about my debt, I decided I'm not going to let assholes get me down, and I'm going to keep updating about this. As a side bar, if you have a problem with me, or anything I blog about, you don't have to follow me. You also don't need to comment anonymously on this or any of my other blogs.
Anyway! Now that that's off my chest, here goes! I bought Rick's birthday gift partially on my credit card, because it was an online purchase. The other portion used up some Amazon gift cards I had saved up from SwagBucks. Some people might suggest skipping buying gifts because I am pretty broke, but that's just something I won't do. He got me an incredible birthday gift this month, and I feel the need to return the favour. His gifts were something he specifically asked for, and he was with me when I ordered them.
Without getting into anything too specific, my debt is now around $1475. I'd purchased some earring supplies a little while ago that weren't charged to my card right away, and I had kind of forgotten about them.
I decided I'm going to use a part of what I make at my two upcoming craft shows to pay down some of my credit card. Normally, I use it for rent, and treat Rick and I to a nice meal at a restaurant, but I'm going to be a little more responsible this time around. With work hours being what they are, I need to make this money work!

My Week In Instagrams: January 25, 2013

This past week hasn't been too exciting. I knit quite a bit, but I don't have many pictures of what I've done. I'll be posting some of those next week, though. This is what I've been up to.
-Rick and I ate some red gummy candies while watching movies. I love Hot Lips and Big Foots. We also had some Swedish Berries, but those didn't make it into the picture. I can't remember what we watched while eating these. I think I was on my computer for part of it anyway.
-Winston has been pretty good this week. He spends a lot of time napping on his bed while Rick and I hang out. He used to sleep in the bed with us, but since his attitude became an issue a little while back, he's been banished to the floor. It's helped quite a bit from what we can tell. He very, very rarely gets up onto our bed anymore, even when we tell him he can. This is a good thing, because we were able to take off the protective blankets we had on the bed to keep all his dirt and grime from getting on our nice bedding.
-One business related thing I did do this past week was add earrings to my Etsy shop. I didn't add too many, but I plan on adding more. Some of them are in multi packs that I think would be great for Valentine's Day. My next craft show is February 2, so I'm hoping to sell a few of those there.
I did sell two pairs this week, one to someone in California, and one to Greece! I thought that was pretty cool. Now I've sold to Canada, the US, Australia and Greece. I'm thinking about getting a map to put pins in with all the places my items have gone. Kind of silly, but it would be really neat to see!
-I finished knitting a neck warmer while watching some Round The Twist on my iPad. I am fully caught up with Carin's podcast, and I've started watching The Knit Girllls. I love watching videos while knitting. It makes the time pass, and I hardly notice how long I've actually been knititng, until I look down and see half a scarf/neck warmer/whatever hanging from my needles. I'll do up a post this week with pictures of all the items I've knit so far this year.
-I washed and blocked the baby gift. If you couldn't tell from this photo, it's a baby blanket. I also blocked Rick's lopi neck warmer, his alpaca blend scarf, and my neck warmer. I used some Soak in the Aquae scent, and it's absolutely lovely. The smell is subtle, but fresh and clean smelling. I will definitely be buying some of this. I also have a small pack of the Celebration scent, and I'm curious to see what that is like.
I still have to weave in the ends on the baby blanket, but I'm not in a big rush to do that. I'll probably do a few a night this week.
-On Wednesday, I went to the dentist to get my broken tooth fixed as well has have a cavity filled. It took some time to get those both done, and my jaw was getting sore and tired from being wide open. The dentist gave me a break for a while, so the hygienist brought me my knitting. We chatted for a little while about what I was making, and she thought it was pretty neat. I'll be posting photos of what these are this week as well.
-The very last photo is of something for myself. Something new that I've only done once before (the same as what I was knitting at the dentist)
It's made of Bernat Satin Sparkle in Platinum. I'm loving this yarn. Super soft, just the right amount of sparkle, and the perfect shade of grey. I went to Zellers yesterday to see if I could find more of it. They only had this yarn in ugly colours that I didn't  care for. With Zellers closing, I'm really losing out on a place to buy inexpensive yarn. The only other place is Walmart, and all they sell is crap. I'll have to start venturing into Windsor more often to hit up Michael's and get some stuff there. I could order online, but I'm hesitant to do so for the mass produced synthetics because of the cost of shipping versus the cost of just going to get it myself. Something to really think about.
This week has been pretty solid. I've been pretty productive as far as knitting goes, which is a good thing. I have two craft shows coming up that I am trying to prepare for. Work hasn't been too exciting, but that's not surprising considering the lack of hours I have. I'm averaging 8 hours a week currently.
How are all of you fine folks doing?

Wednesdays are for Gratitude: January 23, 2013

Halfway through the work week for most of you, and I haven't worked since Saturday! I'm back tomorrow, though.
Here is what I'm grateful for this week:
Having dental coverage to get my busted tooth, and a cavity fixed / Podcasts / My family / Richard and Winston / Having a place to call home in these bitter cold days / Etsy / Clementines / Hexipuffs / My yarn stash
What are you grateful for this week?

Monday Update: January 21, 2013

It's the start of a new work week for most, but I don't work till Thursday. This past week, I haven't been super productive as far as knitting goes. I had a couple rough days mentally, and I just didn't want to knit. Yeah, you read it: I didn't want to knit. Most of the time, knitting helps me relax. Well, this week that just wasn't enough. I cried for a good long while one night. Okay, I can't write about this anymore, it's making me misty eyed. I feel a lot better now, which is a good thing.

I finished knitting another neck warmer this week. Very similar to the other ones I've made, just slightly different numbers, because I was using a different yarn. I really like the way this one knit up. The yarn is Loops & Threads "Country Loom" which is available exclusively at Michael's. My mom got me two skeins of this in the Landscape colourway, which is shades brown and blue. I will probably get more of this yarn once my stash diet is over. I definitely won't be replacing Homespun, but this is a nice alternative.



The other things I've been working on are bows. I shared them on Friday, but here is another little peek at one of them. They turned out really good, I think. I tried puling them off the ring base, and they're stuck on there pretty firmly. This was a concern I had when I started making them. I knew the adhesive I had was good on non porous surfaces, but I wasn't sure how it would work on the porous yarn. Well, it works! I have to decide on a colour to keep for myself. I'm a fan of the red, but it won't match most of the stuff I wear to craft shows (where I will likely be wearing it the most) so I might just go with white or black.
I'm sending a couple of these to a photographer friend of mine so I can get some really nice photos up in my Etsy shop. I'll have these listed as soon as I get the photos from her.
In other news, I've been listing earrings in my shop! I used my iPad to take the photos, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The photos aren't stellar, but they are definitely pretty darn good. I just have to work on my editing skills in Camera+ and I'll be set!

I haven't made any progress on eliminating skeins of yarn. Most of the knitting I have done has been on the baby gift, and that's not much. I'm going to start finishing off the little balls of yarn again so I can start counting some numbers!

What new projects have you been working on?

My Week In Instagrams: January 18, 2013

This past week has been up and down for me. Some of the low points include: I'm no longer going to Guatemala, which is a bummer, but the timing for it just isn't going to work for me. My hours at work have all but disappeared. They messed us around and I am now going to be getting one shift a week. I'm going to have to find some other income stream to pay for my necessities, and delay paying off my credit card even more. I knocked my forehead off some metal shelving at work today, and now I have a goose egg, and a headache. I also had a bit of a breakdown today. I don't really know what happened, but I just snapped and cried for a good long while.
Some of the better things are included in this collage.

1. Rick and I went to Tacos Tony for dinner a few days ago. I got a shrimp tostada, Rick got shrimp soup, and we split a large order of nachos supreme. Seriously delicious food. I could eat a tostada everyday for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. I might try the chicken or beef one next time we go.
2. Rick and I rented some movies the same night we went for Mexican food. He got a bag of Sour Patch Kids, and I got some pop rocks. They were pretty darn good. Not as poppy as I remember them being, but I won't complain at all. Some of the movies we got were Frankenweenie, 13, Yellow, Bigger Stronger Faster, and Paranorman. (I think we got one more, but I honestly can't remember) I have the last one left to watch, and I can't wait. I'll probably watch it tonight.
3. I worked a fair bit this past week. Not nearly as much as I used to, but enough to get by. I took a photo of a bag of the empty cans a customer brought back, praising the way he did it, because I usually post pictured of what not to do. I got a pretty good response to this on Facebook.
4. Winston has been pretty good this week. We had him upstairs playing with the other dogs, and racing around, being his normal self. He disappeared for a little bit, and when he came back, he had Whitney's stuffed duck. He liked playing with it for a while. Rick also washed all of Winston's toys, and our crazy pup went bonkers and played with every single toy for a little while. He's funny like that. He'll play with one toy for a while, then go get another one and switch back and forth so they each have their turn.
5. Yesterday, we went to Colasanti's to drop off my registration stuff for a craft show they're having in February. We decided to make an afternoon of it, and grabbed lunch. This photo is of some of the pretty citrus trees that grow in and around the seating in the restaurant. I've loved this ever since I was a little kid. I had a fish burger and a poutine, and Rick had a cheeseburger and poutine. It was pretty tasty.
6. Colasanti's also has a petting zoo. (Seriously, if you are ever in Essex County, you need to make a trip here!) The goats have been a long time favourite of mine. This little lady was loving the head scratches, and didn't try to run me over in hopes of getting some food. I have a couple photos on my Instagram page of other animals I petted.
7. In addition to the petting zoo, they have some other animals on display. There was a little pot bellied pig named Stinker whom I fell in love with, and had the cutest little snorts and tail wags for me. He was adorable. Rick really enjoys the birds. He was talking with them for ages. He'd say something to them, and they'd either bob their heads in agreement, say "Hello" or raise their head feathers. The macaws weren't as responsive, staying a little farther back from the cage walls. We also saw some fruit bats, tortoises and ducks.
8. When we got home from our "date" I made some earrings with some of the newer supplies I got over the past month. I made 72 pairs, from beginning to end, including packaging and pricing. I was super happy about that! I'm going to try to take some photos of them tomorrow with my iPad, and try out the Etsy app for creating listings. I've browsed with it, and checked stuff in my shop, but have yet to actually create any listings. I'm hoping it's easy enough to use, because I would love to have another task to do on the iPad instead of the computer. (I'm thinking about going 100% iPad, and selling my computer)
9. The other awesome fun thing I made were some knitted bow rings! I've been posting about these lately, without giving away too much. But here they are! You can get an idea of size from this photo, and these are all the colours I currently have made. I'm selling them for $6, just like the brooches and hair pins, but this might go up a wee bit. So, if you like them, and want to get one before I increase the price, let me know!

I have a flash sale going on in my shop right now. If you use the code "Flash20" you can save 20% off your entire purchase. I'm not sure how long I'll offer this, so you should really jump on it!
What sorts of fun things have you fine folks been up to?

Come Check Out my First RTS!

Some of you may have heard of RTS sales before. If not, it stands for Ready To Ship, meaning all the times are already made, the only waiting you have to do is the shipping time.
I'm taking part in one that is going on RIGHT NOW over on the Petite Tuques Facebook page. Head over there and take a look at the awesome Petite Tuques and Knit, Nicole, Knit! items that you can get!

Wednesdays Are For Gratitude: January 16, 2013

This past week has been a roller coaster of emotions for me. From being stoked about going to Guatemala, to announcing that it won't happen, it's been pretty crazy.
Here are a few things I am grateful for this week:
Rick being amazing and driving me where I need to be, in addition to being his normal awesome self / Winston finally seeming to have snapped out of his grumpy habits / The Bleubird Vintage blog (which I've been reading incessantly since Rick shared it with me) / My iPad / My computer / Delicious food from Tacos Tony / LeeLee Hats / Phog Lounge for hosting an event I'm setting up / New clothes / Pretty manicures that lasted WAY longer than I expected / My yarn stash / My ability to knit

What sorts of things are you grateful for this week?

Sad News

Unfortunately, due to some circumstances beyond my control, I won't be making the trip to Guatemala at this time. It's a long boring story that I'd rather keep private.
There is nothing wrong with the group I was going to travel with, just some miscommunications.
It may happen in the future, but nothing will happen any time soon.
Thank you for understanding.