windsor blue, linen, and frosty green

afghans made in the past two years

I've started a new afghan.

Yippee!!

It's for one of my dear friends. She got married in June, and at the time that I heard about her upcoming wedding, I was up to my ears in orders for the etsy shop, and didn't have time to finish an afghan for the big day. So, I e-mailed her, asked her to tell me her favorite afghan colors, and promised to make her one soon. On Monday I bought the yarn (sage, denim blue and tan), and on Tuesday I started the afghan. I'd like to post pictures here, but the friend in question bops over here from time to time, and while I don't care about letting her know that I've actually started the afghan that I promised so long ago, I would just as soon wait for her to actually see it until it's done in all its beautiful yarn-ey glory. (that last sentence might be a record for most words between periods.)

I used to make afghans all the time. I would finish one, and almost immediately start another. I generally had at least one afghan made and in the closet, waiting for one of my close friends or relatives to get married, and if that took long enough that I got two or three there, I'd donate one or more to LDS Humanitarian aid, or some charity auction or something. I rarely made the same pattern twice, just because I like variety, and I love watching something new come out of my fingers. If I did the same pattern over and over again, I think I would get bored silly.

Then I started into this etsy phase (Is it a phase though? Or is is a new component of life? I guess only time will tell). I perfected my beanie-making skills, and learned how to make fingerless gloves, and cowls, and newsboy caps, and headbands, and slippers, and I'm hoping to start on bags/purses soon. It's been great fun and a great adventure (if you can call crocheting an adventure, which really, I don't think you can). From time to time though, I miss my days of afghan-ing. Afghans don't sell all that well on etsy (at least, not for me), and they are waaaaay more expensive to ship than hats and gloves. So, I don't make them as much anymore.

But they're still my absolute favorite.

Luckily, I still have lots and lots of yet-to-be married friends.

brag, brag, brag

(Hey, at least I'm honest!)

Etsy has changed things up a bit recently.

Ever since I joined (and long before that), there was the Etsy Treasury--an area where members could curate their own collections of items that are available on Etsy. The treasury was kind of a big deal, because there were only so many slots available, and the actual collections expired within three days of the time that they were curated. So, anytime any one of my items was featured, I was absolutely thrilled.

Now, Etsy still has the treasury, (actually they have three, but that's nothing we really need to go into right now) but it's unending and unlimited. So, anyone can make a treasury anytime they want to, and the collections don't expire. That makes it not as big of a deal to be featured in a treasury of course, (since there are about a million of them), but the upside is that I've found that I'm featured in more of them, and more often. So, that's kind of fun.

Anyway, just for fun, I thought I'd post links to three of my favorite treasuries that include my work. One is themed around rainy days, another around romantic evenings, and the most recent deals with the changing of the leaves.

Someday, when I have money coming out of my ears, I'll just spend the days looking at collections like these, and buying, buying, buying. For now though, window(monitor) shopping works pretty well for me.

Here are screenshots, with the links underneath:




A Romantic Evening Outside




Rainy Day





Why do the leaves turn orange and maroon in the fall?

this is crackin' me up

Today I learned a new phrase: Yarn Bombing

Here's the definition from wikipedia:

Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, graffiti knitting or yarnstorming is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colorful displays of knitted or crocheted cloth rather than paint or chalk. While yarn installations – called yarn bombs or knit bombs – may last for years, they are considered non-permanent, and, unlike graffiti, can be easily removed if necessary. The practice is believed to have originated in the U.S. with Texas knitters trying to find a creative way to use their leftover and unfinished knitting projects, but it has since spread worldwide.

Wild.

I did a google search, and found some fun images, and this blog, which could provide hours of fascination for me, if I had hours to spend being fascinated.



For me personally, I get too much satisfaction out of giving or selling my yarned goods to other people to make me want to get involved in this kind of thing, but I am loving the fact that others are involved with it, and I'm especially loving being able to see all the awesome/hilarious/crazy/entertaining work that is popping up all over the world.

Nice.

IMAGES:
Chick on a sea of knitting here
Mustache Statue here
The Lone Yarn-er here

This is pretty much a commercial interruption. If you're feeling even the slightest bit spammed, please Please PLEASE feel absolutely free to skip it.

But, if you're not, you can head over to Jessie Mac Creations, where much to my surprise, I find that my Etsy shop is the "Wow Factor Wednesday" feature over there.

How fun is that?

(Well, let's be honest, it's not all that fun for you. For me though? Super Super fun.)

For those of you who have read this far, I thank you for indulging me. Please feel free to go about the rest of your day as usual now, with my sincere gratitude. 

"hot sweaty dudes with their shirts off"

I'm in the middle of another trade event over at Etsy. My inventory has been depleted considerably, particularly the inventory that's selling right now (i.e.--not hats or sweaters).

So, I'm heading to the couch to crochet for two hours and ten minutes.

New Moon came via Netflix today.

(The title of this post comes to you courtesy of Eric, who has not yet seen the film.)


(I'm not a rabid fan of the Twilight Series, but I'm definitely not above watching it from time to time.)


(Of course, I'll take Matt Damon or Ben Affleck over Taylor L. and Cedric Diggory (Robert? Is his acting name Robert?) any day.)


That's enough random for the moment.

Off to the couch!

Dishcloths, Dishcloths, Dishcloths

So, this isn't really par for the course for a Sunday post, but I've had an awesome Etsy weekend, and I'm going to exult a little bit.

First, I've decided that I want to be better about acknowledging the birthdays of my friends & family again. To that end, Friday and Saturday I sent messages to several Etsy card shops that I knew were open to trading, and asked them if they wanted to trade with me. Four shop owners replied in the affirmative, and so within the next week or so, I should have a fun little collection of handmade birthday cards to begin my quest. Wa-hoo!

Second, I finished up some more dishcloth sets and listed them in my shop in Friday evening. They had not been listed for more than twelve hours when I got an actual cash sale (not a trade mind you, but a sale for eighteen dollars of cold hard paypal cash) for two sets, from a brand new customer! How fun!

Third, yesterday I received notice that one of my dishcloth sets was featured in an curated collection (a/k/a Etsy Treasury). Today I got notice that yet another set was featured in another curated collection. Yippee! If you want to see those collections, you can click on this link and this link. The collections both expire Tuesday morning though, so if you're reading this after then, the links won't go anywhere.

And then fourth, and perhaps the most exciting of all, I just received word that this woman named Ruby hast featured my brand new bright and colorful quirky over-the-top rastafarian fiesta dishcloths on her blog. What a fun surprise!



Yup, things are good in salutations land today. Here's hoping your weekend was fabulous as well.

Green, Green, Green

In honor of the beginning of March, and St. Patrick's Day, and the hope of imminent spring . . .

I changed our bathroom decor.


Welcome to my favorite month of the year.
(Happy (early) Birthday, Dad)



(only a few shopping days left until Charlotta-Day 2010)

Other people of note with March Birthdays:
President Spencer W. Kimball
My Mom
CJane
My Cousin Jeff Scott

And, I think that's definitely enough randomness and font size changes and alignment changes for one day.