Groundhog Weekend 2013

Groundhog Day is not usually a holiday I celebrate very much, but last year we had the opportunity to visit Punxsutawney, PA for their big holiday at the beginning of February.   A friend of ours is from Punxsutawney and invited us to join him and his wife for the road trip weekend.  So of course I had to keep busy during the drive...

I brought my remaining stash of thick, wool-ease yarn to see what I could come up with.  I even surprised myself how quickly they whipped up!

Even though I haven't posted many of these hats in the shop, they sell quite well at all the shows I've done.  I even had a custom order for a pure orange one at the 2013 Make It Indie fair.

What do you think of these thick, wooly unique beanies??  Do you love the one-of-a-kind look or do you prefer to design your hat yourself?

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First Towel Set!

It's finally here!  A kitchen towel set in the shop!

I've made many sets, but never had the time or motivation to make a set "just because" (even if it is for the shop).  It seems like I needed more motivation and a little extra inspiration for a specific someone to push me through the marathon of knitting a whole towel set versus a fun sprint of dishcloth-ing. ....

I'm especially in love with this color palette.  Yay for cool spring colors!  :]

Goals for 2013 - New Items

Continuing my goals for 2013, I have a few new items I'd love to add to the shop:

Longies & short-leg soakers (What do you think about these?  Do you think they would sell well?  Do you know someone looking for these?)

More Baby Blankets/ Lap Blankets.  Maybe even some Chevron that's been taking off on Pinterest and in Etsy shops.

Socks - this would be the first made-to-order item in the shop.  

Baby clothes (booties, hats, sweaters) & toys - these are still on the back burner.

And then there's this crocheted flower bouquet that has me scratching my head...

Is there something else you'd like to see?  Please post it in the comments :)

Socks - Completed!

Lynn contacted me at the end of November to knit up some socks for her two grandkids and herself, two pairs each.

Six pairs, that is!

little girl's pair #1

little girl's pair #2

boy's pair #1

boy's pair #2

Lynn's brown & pink stripe pair

Lynn's oatmeal pair

And I'm happy to say I now have my basic sock pattern memorized!  Maybe there will be socks for the shop in the near future...

It's One of Those Days

The ones that are too-few coming in 2012 but have hit me like an Energizer-Bunny tonight :]

The beautiful productivity of constant-motivation (still going strong for over 4 hours!!).  Almost seems like one of those new 5-hour-energy commercials.  Anyway, check out all the progress!

I have photographed & drafted 6+ listings today; including a new cowl with my cousin modeling!

I will be staggering the dishcloth listings over the weekend, but you can enjoy the new cowls tonight!

My Autumn earwarmer was featured in a treasury today!

See it?  Bottom-right corner.

Did I blow up your Newsfeed today?  I apologize; some sort of creative bug grabbed hold of me this afternoon and I couldn't help feeling the need to share those stories with my followers.  Did you find any inspiration?  Or should I stop sharing others' posts/pictures and keep it to just Etsy shop-related stories?

I have more to share but I guess I ought to save some for another post and that energy is finally starting to slow (after 6+ hours!).  Anyone else excited for the new year?

Lake Michigan

Taking a little vacation time to regroup, clean out email inboxes (I have 3, each over stuffed), and find inspiration.

I'm excited to say inspiration has already started whispering in my ear once more and I can't wait to get started on fall items for the shop.  (Not to mention a giveaway is planned for September on a friend's blog!)  I'm so excited to get things kicked off for cooler weather.  What are you looking forward to in the near future?

First Hot Mits in the Shop

These have been a while in the making.

I love the final product of my hot mits but they are tedious (to me) to sew the insulating denim, so they take a while to make (or for me to work up the motivation, hehe).

Thus, I'm very excited to introduce the first set for sale.  I've given many as housewarming gifts to friends & I've even made up entire towel sets (matching finger towel, dish cloths & hot mits) for some of my friends when they have moved away.

Wouldn't these make great gifts?  I promise to have many more color options in the shop soon!

Strawberry Patch Shell Hat + Ear Warmer

I couldn’t get enough of this cute little hat after I posted about it here.  And I thought this yarn would be a perfect shell hat for those that want a little more color than just white. 

Next on the list for this yarn: an ear warmer.  I think I might have to get more of this yarn to make more items out of it for the shop.  I just love how optimistic & bright this yarn is.  

Or maybe I should try it in a few granny squares for the afghan.

Photo Shoot!

It’s been needed for a long time.  I finally found a free Saturday to get a sunny day for photos and even a friend to volunteer modeling :)  fun!

Of course, I wasn’t planning to have a snowy-white background but Mother Nature had other ideas.  She decided to drop a few inches on us at the end of last week so I guess a winter wonderland was the look of the shoot.

At least it made for some nice seasonal pictures.  

*Psst - don't forget to enter the last Ear Warmer Giveaway.

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!