Sewing

I know this is supposed to be about knitting & sometimes crocheting, but I just HAD to mention this blog.  This last month I've started really thinking about picking up sewing again.  True, I only ever did VERY simple patterns in high school, but the magic that is sewing your own clothes would be very fun to experience again.  Plus, it would help me get closer to my goal of having all my clothes made by *me*.

Here is what I've bookmarked from her blog for future reference:
The first being Pattern Cutting 101.  I don't think I've really paid attention to cutting patterns since I was learning from a friend back in high school.  Shame on me.

This post is about putting pockets in a circle skirt, a skill I never learned.  But she is so straightforward and illustrates the steps so well (and on such a simple skirt that I want to make anyway...) I feel like I could finally learn this.

What an adorable dress!  I wish she mentioned the pattern in this post.  I could see it being a very cute adult pattern too...

Ah-ha! So this is where she gets all her darling patterns.  I must try this sometime.  And etsy of course.  :)

Now to find the little nuggets of time to try these things. .... and the materials, I suppose :)

Taxes

I know this isn't the prettiest of hobby-selling aspects, but I just wondered how others handle this?  I read somewhere (and I need to track it down) that Paypal will be reporting income statements to the IRS per person with an account of what funds they've acquired?  Has anyone else heard this rumor?  This (rumor) is what has gotten my butt into gear to look at reporting income for this tiny hobby of mine.

I would like to see Knitted Home become sustainable, yes, but I don't feel ready or knowledgeable enough to take on income tax reporting, LLC, etc.  Does anyone out there have any experience with this?  Please feel free to take up as much space as you like in the comment section or email me (knittedhome[at]gmail[dot]com).  With it being the end of the year, this has started to surface on my mind since the beginning of the year (when I was doing my own personal taxes).  Perhaps I will talk to a tax specialist and get their opinion, but I was hoping for some advice from those who are already selling on etsy or as a hobby.

Thanks, friends :)

First Time Felting

Finally on to step 2.  Felting the slippers.  

.... in a bucket in the sink.  I tried the washing machine but it didn't seem long enough (though that's my fault for putting it on short cycle after reading that it's not supposed to take very long "so be vigilant" pretty much).

And since the trick is in friction, it was rub scrub rub.  Then rinse in cold water to stop the felting process.  Squeeze out excess water (don't wring-out).  It's pretty cool to watch the process happen.

Last night they hung dry & hopefully on to step 3 later this week.  I'm a little nervous about the "body" fabric not felting enough but my arms were tired and, through the suds, it looked like it was.... good enough.... :-]  Let's hope it works *cross fingers*

A Double-Take

Liesl included ME in her blog!  ME!!  I've always looked up to LieslMade because she makes such cute items & is always on top of posting to her blog.  These are qualities I aspire to with my etsy shop.  So image my surprise when....

Picture Collage by Lieslmade; Sources:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

I pop up in one of her posts!  Do you see that ^^?  (Excuse me as I have a star-struck moment..... I just feel so honored that out of all the blogs & sites I'm sure she looks at, she picks ME out of it all)

I haven't been reading her blog too long, but it is one of my favorite ones that I'm always checking when I sign online.  So thank you to LieslMade for making my week!

New-to-Me Typewriter

 

I found this mechanical typewriter on the side of the road about 3 or 4 months ago, next to a house I was babysitting for.  Well, it's taken a while, but I was finally able to break it out of its case & sit down to type something.  I found extra recipe cards while cleaning & unpacking the kitchen & decided to type up some of my regular recipes to go in my new recipe box, a shower gift from my sister.

 

I probably would have typed all night but I ran out of recipe cards.  And you can see from the first picture I have quite a lot more than just 5 recipes that need typing up nicely.

 

So the next thing to do is take some of my stashed cardstock and cut it up into 3x5 recipe cards. ... I'm thinking of decorating them with little doodles by colored pencils... if I can find the craft supplies box I usually keep them in...

 

Send your snail-mail address to knittedhome[at]gmail[dot]com and I'll enclose one of my typed recipes in a Christmas card for you to enjoy.  Merry Christmas!

Organizing the Inventory

Well, I don't really have that much, like it would seem a lot of shops have on etsy.  But it sure is enough to take up space and need an organized home of its own.

I mentioned the new little corner, and after I organized that, I went on to take inventory of what I had from the previous winter before I started listing more things in the shop.  Well, I realized with a lot of similar colored dishcloths, I couldn't always remember which went with which listing.

So I came up with this fun idea the week before Thanksgiving.  Even though it's not very unique in its "tag-the-item-with-info" way, it is unique for me because I rarely ever tag an item.  If anything, I usually post a sign that says, "All 'x' is $x" and leave it at that.  So this was kind of fun to tag each item with their name and a safety pin.

Ok, I'll stop my geekiness now before everyone runs away.  Just wanted to share a fun little way to organize the inventory in case anyone else was looking for a quick & cheap idea.

Happy Holidays!

Teal Cowl

Remember this cowl?  Well, after going through inventory, I found it and decided it's the season to get it out again & list it.

I tried to get some good pictures of it after inventory. Though it's a little hard to find a white wall in this house.  .... Maybe it's something I should add to the little studio corner?

The first picture is closer to the cool, green undertones in this teal color.  I love how full & luxurious this cowl feels around one's neck when it's double wrapped.  No cold's getting through these stitches!

Rust Orange

The newest addition to the shop.

This little headband, ear warmers are so quick & fun to knit!  I had no idea they would take off so nicely in the shop.

So far I receive a new favorite on one of the three ear warmers every day!  Love it :)  Now if we could just make those into sales....

More Fun Finds

Since I haven't had a whole lot to blog about (at least, not a lot with pictures) here are some more fun finds from yesterday.

I need to find a simple pattern to make this sweater.  What a classic!

Isn't it terrible that I'm already looking at children's clothes?  Or rather, patterns.

Thanks to LieslMade, I've finally decided to get on Pinterest.  A few people have recommended it to me but until last week, I hadn't really wanted to join *another* website.  But I love the idea of being able to save one's favorites to a wall in a pretty collage of pictures :)  So I guess I'll have to give it a try.

While waiting for my "invite" to join, I've bookmarked a few pictures I'll be "pinning" first.

Like this embroidery how-to and this embroidered shirt.  I think this would be fun to do to some of my current shirts to update them.
Also this granny square afghan goes along with the other one I bookmarked.
And this is an interesting off-shoulder knitted sweater.  I couldn't seem to find a good link to its original (if there was a pattern), but maybe it'll find me down the road.

Busy Again, I Guess

Though I haven't stopped crafting, happily.  We had a little open house over the weekend to show off our new home to nearby family & friends so that ate up most of our weekend.  Though Sunday I was able to steal a little time to watch BBC's Pride & Prejudice and work on some knitted slippers.

Image is taken from the book cover.

I've been needing some since my last pair had to be thrown out.  I had worn holes through to the floor :(  So far I have the first cable knitted up and am currently working on the body.  Then I'll have one more cable to knit up before I can try felting the pieces.  As I continued to read the pattern (after starting), I realize it is a little more involved than just knitting, which I would have preferred.  But I suppose I will finally try felting now!  I'll keep you posted as to how it turns out.

Other than that, I have a few gifts on my list to start, but most I do not have the yarn yet or haven't found the right combinations.  I'm still on a yarn-diet so I hate to buy new colors when I still have so many baskets full of yarn.  Hopefully I can get those gifts started this week as we only have a couple left before Christmas.  :)