Awesome Thursday: January 26, 2012

Happy Thursday, everyone! This is what's awesome in my life this past week:

• I've been watching Dirty Jobs, which always entertains
• I finished knitting two orders for a friend of a friend
• We bought a half dozen avocados last time we went grocery shopping, and I've been eating them pretty regularly
• I bought an ad on Etsy, and I've gotten a bit more traffic than usual
• I busted my butt yesterday at the gym, and I am really happy with what I accomplished
• I got a new blog sponsor that will start advertising in February, and will be sticking around for a few months

Life is good! How are things with all of you?

Check out my post on N. Fallon Design Studio!

I'm sponsoring Nancy, and she did a sponsor spotlight on me.
Go take a look!

One of My New Projects!

Lately, I've been thinking more and more about the need to diversify my crafting repertoire to sell at craft shows and in my Etsy shop. As much as I love knitting, I don't sell much between the end of January, until September or October. That just won't do when I have bills to pay. I thought about doing summery, non-clothing knits, but I just couldn't get into the few different items I tried. So, I tried a few completely different things.
I started with the earrings. I bought loads of supplies over a year ago, and I am still working through that stash. This basket is only a portion of those available at Trinkets, Treasures and The Truly Unique. I really enjoy making earrings. It can be a little tedious, but I can listen to podcasts while I do it.

At the beginning of January, I bought a heart shaped paper punch from the scrap booking section at Michael's. I am very, very rarely in that part of the store; I usually just beeline to the back where the yarn is. I've seen several Etsy shops selling different themed garlands and buntings, and I absolutely love them. I wish I had a place in my apartment where I could display a whole pile of them. Or, a few at a time, and rotate them with the seasons and holidays. (the next place we move, I want to have my own office/crafting space that I can decorate how I want, and I would definitely have garland/bunting) I decided I would try my hand making garlands, starting with a Valentine theme. I punched and punched and punched hearts in pink and red, and also from the pages of a trashy romance novel. I combined them in a few different ways, varying the space between the hearts, as well as the order of the colours. I sewed them up on Rick's sewing machine in a fun couple hours. I brought all of them into the shop last week. I was just tagged in this photo on Facebook, because the garlands are on display in the window. It's not the greatest photo, but it definitely does the job of showing them off. Once I sell a few of these, I plan on getting a few other punch shapes and do them for other holidays.
Have you diversified lately? I know a few of you are more seasonal crafters, what do you do in the off season?

Advertiser Round Up! January 2012

Eslin of DualChocolate has listed some beautiful accessories in her shop. And she is offering 10% off in using the code XOCO101! 








Nancy of N.Fallon Design Studio is knitting away on some gorgeous heart brooches. We are members of Blogging Business Artisans, and have been giving each other encouraging words all month.








Kathryn is busy planning her wedding, and keeping her Etsy Shop stocked.









Rachael from TreeTalker has listed some GORGEOUS paintings in her shop. She's also knitted some lovely scarves and added them to her other shop.







Robyn from Minimalist Knitter is spending time with her adorable son Owen, and putting some beautiful accessories in her shop.

Awesome Thursday: January 19, 2012

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.

• I've made quite a few pairs of earrings today. Tomorrow, I will check them for sturdiness, and then photograph them and list some in my shop
• Winston is currently being adorable, pushing his toy into my lap so I will play with him
• I've made some good progress on many of my 101 goals
• I added a new goal, which is really good: #75 "Spend no money for a week"
• Rick and I have been making delicious food the past couple days
• I have a job interview tomorrow
• I put a good chunk of money on my credit card this week to work towards paying it off
• I got an order from Rick's mom's friend. I finished making almost all of it already. I amy need to go pick up more yarn, though...
• I am going to start getting changed out of my pyjamas more often. I did that today on Rick's insistence, and I feel like I've been really productive.

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

Some Of The New Earrings

I ordered some earring making supplies a couple weeks ago from Motto Miquette. First off, I am so incredibly happy with what she sent me! High quality, exactly what I wanted. She also customized listings for me, so that I would have even numbers to make into earrings. I will definitely be ordering from her again.

I have gotten a great response to the new items in my shop. The really great thing about these is that I have several of each style, so I don't have to photograph as many items! I can take two photos of each item, and just swap the main one for the different listings. It's great!

A LeeLee Hats Donation

Yesterday, Tracy from LeeLee Hats and I taught a group of Brownies how to use knitting looms. That was an adventure, let me tell you. At their age, between 6 and 9 years old, many of them don't have the attention span to make one of the hats. In the end, we had to restart most of the hats. We said we'd bring them back today for a group photo, so it was a mad hustle last night fixing them all up.
This was what was next to me for most of the night. We went assembly line style for the most part. I undid all that needed undoing and wrapped all the yarn into balls to keep them from tangling. Then I made all the hats. That's where this pile comes from. Believe it or not, this is only about halfway through. Tracy and her sister Kim kept making more hats when I started sewing the hats up.
Once they were all sewn up, I counted how many I had made from the beginning, and I was really surprised to see twelve whole hats. In just a few hours! We are definitely considering making hats like this more often.
I'm really happy with the progress I've made on my 101 project. In addition to these 12, I made another three at home in the last couple days.

More About my 101 List

The 101 list I am working on is also known as a Day Zero project. You set yourself 101 goals to accomplish in 1001 days. These goals are to challenge you, and to improve yourself.
I only went to the gym once this week, but I will be working out at home tonight, so I am counting that as a pass.
I made a few dozen pairs of earrings yesterday. Not sure on the exact count, but I will be updating that goal once I count them.
These tiny hearts are my new favourite earrings. They're only 5mm across!!
Not much else to report in my life. Oh wait! It finally snowed today. Not a whole lot, but enough to make me happy. And I bought shorts today. I figured snow, sure, why not buy shorts! They are wool, though, if that's any consolation!

Awesome Thursday: January 12, 2012

If you're new to the blog, my Awesome Thursday posts are a weekly reminder of the great things happening in my life. Studies show that grateful people lead happier, more productive lives.

• I've been making great progress on my 101 list
• My friend Crissi released her phenomenal music video, in which I make a couple appearances
• I've made quite a few sales at Phog. I am not quite at my "This is amazing!" threshold yet, but I'm getting close
• I am planning on doing some yarn sorting, so hopefully I can find some of the yarns I've been looking for
• I think I'm finally getting over this cold

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

Four Finished Scarves

Since I started my 101 list, I've started and finished four scarves and two dishcloths.

These are the four scarves. The green and black is a cone of green acrylic blend and a chunky black acrylic. The creamy, hard to see one is a skein of Wool Ease Thick and Quick in "Wheat" all done in seed stitch. The next one is the same yarn in "Charcoal" also in seed stitch. The last one is the same chunky black acrylic as the first, with a ball of awesome vintage Italian wool/acrylic blend that I've had in my stash for a while. It's quite long, and very warm.
As you can see, I still have ends to weave in. I will hopefully get those done today to bring them down to Phog. I haven't checked my sales there since my actual birthday. I'm 80% of the way to my low balling goal, and about a third of the way to my "wouldn't it be awesome if I sold this much!?" goal.

I am really happy with my progress on the "Knit 5 miles of yarn" goal. I am at just over 1400 feet, which is about a quarter of a mile. Not bad at all, considering this is only one week of knitting.

I have lots of project ideas. The one major thing stopping me is that my yarn stash is a complete mess. I know certain yarn exists, but I have no idea where to find it! I have sorted out a couple drawers in my storage area for yarn for charity knitting. Most of the stuff I do is for Lee Lee hats, so it's mostly baby yarns and small balls of various colours, too small to do anything else with.