Progress and Kitchener Stitch

I decided to go with Kitchener Stitch for the shoulder seams, since this is a baby sweater and the shoulders won't have to support a lot of weight, and Kitchener Stitch makes the seam look so nice and neat. Here is a close up of the shoulder. Kitchener Stitch is so great because it looks like it was knit in one piece!
Here the whole sweater so far. I have completed the body and started on the sleeves. I'm really liking how quick my progress is on this project!I've noticed that a lot of directions for Kitchener stitch only explain it for stockinette. In that case, with the purl sides together, you want to use your sewing needle to go through the stitches as if to knit the first stitch and purl the second, and for the back needle, purl the first stitch and knit the second. As you go push the first stitch of each set off the working needles. Remember: knit, purl, then purl knit.

For garter stitch it is: knit purl, knit purl - the same thing for the front and back needles. Just make sure the two pieces are facing the right way before you start so you don't end up with two knit rows and two purl rows together.

It's fine if its loose you can go back and neaten up the stitches.

Favorite Food Blog Carnival

There are sooo many yummy foods out there, but I think I'm going to go with sushi as my favorite. Ok, now I want some sushi. ^_^
Why? because it tastes so good!
In fact, I want to go here! The last time I was there was a really great night, but its been too long. It's time to go again. It sure would be easier if my favorite restaurant wasn't about 2,000 miles away...

Anyway, here are some sushi related items to look at since I don't get to eat any right now. ;_;

Crab, Avocado and Tempura Sushi Felt Roll Pin by Sypria

Ocean Floor by Glassprimitif

Kawaii huge sushi necklace by honeypopjewellery

I HEART SUSHI bracelet by insanejellyfish

On the Bobbin: Stormy Seas

I started with this lovely hand dyed merino top. I was trying to make a really huge skein, but I just had to see what it looked like when I plied it! This is about half of top I have.


It's already off the bobbin, twist set, and hanging to dry.

The Downside of Knitting in Public

Some people say the craziest things. The other day SEVERAL people said something that really surprised me. I won't name names here because I don't want to embarrass anyone. I was working on the baby jacket in the previous post but hadn't knitted far enough for someone to tell what it was. Maybe it was the light pink yarn that caused such a fuss.

I was asked if I was pregnant, not once, but multiple times! Now, for some unknown reason these people thought that was an acceptable thing to ask. They are probably not the ones reading this blog but I wanted to clarify. Asking someone if they are pregnant is inappropriate and very rude. It doesn't matter how excited you are to talk about little ones. Did she tell you she is pregnant? No? Then don't say anything about that subject.

There are many reasons to not ask this question:
If she's not pregnant, you just called her fat. Maybe she wants to have a baby, but is having difficulty, you just brought up an unpleasant topic. Maybe she had a miscarriage, again with the unpleasant topic.
If she is pregnant, maybe she doesn't want to announce it to the whole group; maybe you're the 15th person to bring it up today and she tired of talking about it; maybe she has medical problems that she doesn't want to talk about.

Now about my situation. I'm guessing that they said that because of the knitting and not because they think I look fat (hoping anyway). How did you come up with the idea that knitting baby things equals pregnant? And why did you wait until I was knitting a pink sweater and not ask when I was knitting a tiny blue hat? And you asked this knowing that I knit a lot of gifts and things to sell... I'm far too logical to ever figure out what they were thinking.

I've been knitting since I was 12, statistically, the answer to that question is: go away, and next time be polite.

On the Neeldles: Baby Hooded Jacket

It's been a while since I knitted a sweater. I usually like to complete things quickly, and this is a sweater that fits in that category, as its for a 6 month old baby! It is the very first baby item that I have knitted. I've been loosely following the Hooded Sweatshirt Jacket pattern at http://www.cutiepiefashions.com/originaldesignpatterns.htm.
You may recognize the yarn from a few posts back. The first picture shows the front right of the jacket. The top is on a holder waiting for me to finish the back. the pattern says to do a three needle bind off. I'm still deciding between that and kitchener stitch.
I've changed the pattern around a bit. Instead of knitting each piece, front right, front left, and back, I'm knitting them all together (and leaving an opening for the sleeves). This way I don't have to sew the side seems later. You can see my sleeve hole best in the first picture.Here is a picture of the back. I've made a lot of progress so far. That's good, because I want to be done with the sweater in time for her to wear it! I picked a size a few months out, so it should be good.

Results Are In: August 14th Blog Carnival

Planning or Playing

http://www.storybeader.com/2009/08/etsybloggers-carnival-august-14-2009_17.html

Michigan Fiber Festival

I got to go to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan on Saturday. It was pretty hot out but a fun day. We saw the sheep dog demonstration, and lots of very cute angora rabbits. Every time I see those cute critters I want one! They are so adorable and I'd love to be able to spin and sell their fiber.

There was a skein competition and we saw some of the judging. I wish I could have entered a skein.

Here's the website http://www.michiganfiberfestival.info/ You might want to turn off your sound before you visit though.

There were also three buildings full of vendors. Pretty much everything fiber related was there, and lots and lots of spinning fiber and yarn. It was fun shopping but at times a little frustrating too. I was quite surprised by how many vendors didn't label their items with fiber content and price.

I ended up buying a little Merino and a little Alpaca spinning fiber.

August 14th Blog Carnival: Planning Ahead

Here's the question: In a few months, the holiday season will be in full swing. What are you planning for: increasing your inventory, festival hopping, networking?

This isn't specifically for the holiday season, but I've been trying to increase my inventory. I'm hoping that that will help lead to more sales. I'm not sure about festivals. I've had mixed results. I would like to find some good indoor shows to do, since I don't have a tent right now.

I'm thinking about the kinds of advertising I want to do in the future. You may have noticed the ad box on the right side of the page (or not if you're blocking them). I've started using Project Wonderful which is a way to buy and sell ads, but its an auction system where you bid on the ad space you want. If its available for the price you want, you get the spot, if someone else wants to pay more for the spot, they get it. You can set a minimum bid if you want to, but I didn't, so the first few people who bid on my spot actually got their ad up for free, until someone else bit 1 cent. As I write this, the spot is going for 2 cents. I was also able to put my ad up for free on a few sites.

I still have big plans in the works for my soap, and generally want to grow my shop.

Featured Etsy Blogger For August: Memoriesforlifesb!

Each month the Etsy Bloggers choose a member to feature. The featured Etsy Blogger for August is ... Memoriesforlifesb!

Memoriesforlifesb has lots of cool scrap book albums


You can find her blog here http://memoriesforlifescrapbooks.blogspot.com/
and her Etsy shop is here http://memoriesforlifesb.etsy.com



This shows a few of the things that are in her shop!

Etsy Bloggers Anniversary Giveaway!!!

The Etsy Bloggers are celebrating their 2nd anniversary by giving away 25 really cool prizes.

I'm participating in this giveaway with one of my felted soaps!

Head on over to http://etsybloggers.blogspot.com/2009/08/etsybloggers-mega-giveaway.html to enter to win!

The prize that I'm giving away is this lavender oatmeal felted soap!
(If this particular soap sells before the end of the giveaway, the prize will be your choice of any of my lavender oatmeal felted soaps, or if you really want a different color just say so.)

New Felted Soaps

These are my latest felted soaps, all in vanilla. Very yum! Vanilla is one of my favorites!

Yay ArtFire!

Not that long ago, I participated in an ArtFire contest on Twitter. I didn't know how many people entered, but I thought my odds of winning were pretty low. To my surprise I won! The prize was to shop in ArtFire shops doing the Christmas in July sale, all on ArtFire! This is such a cool prize because even more people win! I won this cool stuff and got to choose my prize and the sellers won because me and the two other winners are buying things in their shops!

The first thing to arrive was this card holder from madbird.
It is constructed very well and has three different fabric patterns.

This very pretty Merino Top is from FiberCycle. I can't wait to spin this!

This handmade soap and recycled yarn is from happyearthsoaps.
How did she know what my favorites are?


beSPAlicious had this cute lavendar sachet that I couldn't pass up.
Gotta protect my stach you know!

Thank you Artfire and thank you madbird, FiberCycle, happyearthsoaps, and beSPAlicious!