The Living Room!

No, this has nothing to do with the living room. But what better way to start the week than with piles of yarn? These came Monday and I'm very excited to have a few new skeins of the Foliage - 2 in fingering weight and 2 in worsted weight.

Now, on to the living room! I know y'all have been waiting for this. The pictures aren't great because it's still cloudy and dark, but I did the best I could. I love this weather for knitting, but not so much for taking pictures.

We must start at the beginning of course, so first - The Befores!

I had already started taping off before I remembered to take before pictures.

When we moved in we painted the entire house a pale shade of yellow. It was terrible. Horrible. Gross.

In the store it was a lovely shade. In our house, which gets a LOT of yellow tinted light it was... just not good. While the whole house felt warm, it was a sickly shade of yellow.
 
So, first we did the bedroom. Then I painted the kitchen with the leftovers. And over the past few weeks we did the living room!

It's AMAZING what a little bit of paint and some trim will do. And my mantle. My gorgeous, wonderful, beautiful mantle. (Thanks Dad! :D)

Have I mentioned we love chair rail? We really love chair rail. Especially since our bedroom and living room have vaulted ceilings - it really helps to break up the massive expanses of wall.

I love my living room so much now. I feel so comfortable and relaxed in it.

Eventually we'll be getting a new couch, entertainment center and some tables & lamps. But just the paint makes our existing furniture look a little better than it did. See what I meant by "sexy"?

And in case you're wondering just what that picture over the mantle is...

Sheep!

Of course. ;)

Happy Wednesday,
Meg

Finished Knit: Foliage Mitts

Well, since it's still foggy and the light is terrible thus preventing me from taking decent pictures of our sexy living room... How about a finished knit?

This colorway inspired the thought of leaves, so I tried out a lacy leaf design. I think it turned out rather nicely. I have more ideas for them though and want to add some extra embellishments so this is the prototype.

I did just finish a pair for a customer with a blue/green combo that turned out awesome, and will post that one later.

This pair is in the shop, for anyone who would like to be their new owner. :)

Pattern: Foliage prototype

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in "Foliage Tonal" - 27 grams / 125 yards

Needles: US 2/2.75 mm Harmony wood DPNs

Knitline: November 7th - November 9th

YTD Mileage: 4.65 with these ones - and I have a bunch of other finished knits to go through too!

Happy Knitting,

Meg

Whew, Weekend!

 Happy After Thanksgiving everyone! How were your weekends? I hope you all had a wonderful, food filled holiday.

We were so busy, but it was such a nice FOUR DAY weekend. I haven't had my husband for four days since our vacation in August. Heck, I've barely had him for more than one day aside from the Craft Show. It was WONDERFUL!

We slept in, ate good food, and had way too much turkey (two families and two days of it, but in a good way). We smoked our brisket on Saturday and it was delicious. We'll be having leftovers tonight as sandwiches.

We went yesterday to get base moulding for our living room and Ben spent the day installing it. Our living room/entry/hallway is gorgeous. I'll take pictures when the lighting is better and share the results with you all. I know it was a successful weekend since Ben said he wished he had another day to putter around. I think it was good mental recharge.

I finished an order of ornaments, and started a few more for the boys since they have been asking for them. I can't stop! They're just so easy and quick and cute.

And today... Today is Monday. The devil has possessed my children and my house looked like it threw up on itself. It's been a slow cleaning process, but I'm just about back to some level of sanity.

And this week I don't have to go anywhere! Hallelujah!

28 Days Til Christmas!
Meg

New Pattern: 7 Colorwork Christmas Ornaments

The Christmas Ornament pattern is finally up and ready!

I've knit up so many of these little things to test them out and get them ready for photos and I can't stop... They're just so addicting! Not to mention my kids keep telling me we need more for our tree.

You can find the pattern on both

Ravelry

and

Etsy

Happy Knitting,
Meg

A Few Days Later...

 Before anything I want to say thank you to all my wonderful blog friends who were and still are so supportive of my Craft Show experiment. Your encouragement and well wishes and sweet comments are what got me through it (without hiding in a corner) and helped me with the bit of "aww, it bombed" feeling I had Monday.

I have listed some of the ornaments in the shop and I've already sold a few. Yay! I have an order for a pair of mittens, an order for a hat, and an impending order for one, possibly two baby blankets (from one of Ben's co-workers. My husband likes to pimp out my knitting, hehe.)

I'm suddenly becoming very busy for this holiday season as far as knitting. So to anyone who was thinking of ordering something custom.... Now would be the time to get your requests in. Depending on the baby blankets, I should have a few slots left for small-ish things.

In between all that I have two shawls to finish. Heh.

I did order a few extra skeins of that delicious Foliage colorway and got the email that they are on their way! If I get some extra revenue in the next few weeks I will probably buy a few more. Before they are gone forever. Just because I love it. And I want to do so many things with it (scarves!). Or just roll around in it. I like getting big packages of yarn. It makes me giddy. :)

For those who like baby updates - I had a check up yesterday and my doctor uttered my favorite phrase ever: "Low risk pregnancy". Yay! I love hearing those words after having a rocky crash course the first time around. She is more than happy to let me do it all on my own again as long as everything keeps flowing nicely as it has been. I'm 25 weeks now, which makes my head spin. March will be here before we know it and we'll have a new squirming wee one right next to our bed.

Can you believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving? Seems like we just had Easter. And 4th of July. And Halloween. I am looking forward to two days of turkey, but I am looking forward even more to smoked brisket on Saturday. Knowing how delicious Ben's tri tips have turned out, my mouth waters just thinking of this giant hunk of cow. He said he's getting up at 5 to start it. Yum yum yum!

I am also looking forward to that day because I would like to put up the tree and lights and start decorating for Christmas. I'm so excited for Christmas too! Last year was so nice being in our own home with our babies, and this year will be even better!

Time for breakfast!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve,
Meg

Craft Show Recap!

It's over! It's over! It's finally over.

It wasn't a total bust, but it wasn't great either. Let's recap first:

I had packed everything Friday afternoon so Saturday morning was pretty easy by just needing to iron the table cloth and get last minute stuff.

My sister's beautiful photography

We got there at 8 am and were assigned our table... Right next to the entrance! I was very happily surprised! It was a perfect spot in the corner too. Even if the people entering missed us, they did see us when they were leaving.

Saturday morning was exciting when it was all new and fresh. We finished setting up and then walked around to look at the other booths. Family and friends came by to visit and support us. By around 2 on Saturday afternoon we were all very tired of sitting and waiting. It was pretty slow - with only about 30, maybe 40 people who came through the entire 6 hours. I got a TON of knitting done. Finished an ornament, nearly finished a cowl that I had just started, and started another ornament. 6 hours of sitting around becomes very productive when you have hand work!

Swifts make awesome displays!

Ben and the kids stayed with us until nap time at 2.  There is a park right behind the hall, so he would take them out when they got restless and let them run until they got tired or too cold. Then they would come in and sit again until they got restless. It was really nice to have them with me over the weekend.

Sunday was... not so good. We got there at 9 and put everything back up again. It started to rain, which I thought was wonderful but I think it killed any desire to venture out to craft fairs. We saw one couple walk in almost first thing and I thought it would be a good day. And then over the next 3 hours we only saw about 4 more people come through. By noon we were all so tired and restless (my sister and her fiancee, Ben and I and the kids) so we decided that we would wait for the church next store to let out and see if it brought traffic. If not, we would just pack up and leave.

Well, no one else came in so we packed up at 1 and left, even though the show didn't end until 4. I was very grateful that we did. I was able to still have a Sunday afternoon at home with my family.

What I learned:

- Be a little more picky about the venue and find out more before hand. I was talking to one of the ladies who was working in the kitchen and we were both surprised (and disappointed) how very few booths consisted of hand made work. She said she had asked the coordinator if she was going to close it off to commercial things, but she did not. While the stuff in the other booths was nice, I think it hurt our chances since it was mostly commercial/retail/franchise/premade things and the whole show didn't have a "hand made" feel.

- I'm not sure how well this was advertised, considering the lack of traffic. It could also have been that EVERYONE was having a craft show/fair on Saturday and we were just too far out of the circle. The weather on Sunday probably did not help either.

- I was priced a little high. I value my work. I know I put a lot of effort into it. I consider it to be quality work. I am comfortable with my prices for selling online. And everyone that came through would say how lovely and nice and beautiful my work was, but I would catch the looks once they looked at the price tags. Which is OK, I figured I would be a little high for the venue anyways. I decided Sunday morning to drop my prices a bit to try to move inventory, but since no one came through it didn't work so well. I know I can do better in a market that caters to people looking for specifically hand made (like my Etsy shop).

- I did hand out a few business cards. There were quite a few people that asked if I had things in a different color, or were looking for something different, and when I told them I did custom orders they were very happy to take a business card. Which made my day!

- Those little stuffed ornaments drew a LOT of attention. :)

All in all, it wasn't too bad. I proved to myself I could do it, I learned a few things, and I got my name out to a few people. Thank you to all our family and friends who came out to show support and see us. If it weren't for you.... we wouldn't have sold anything. LOL!

Would I do it again? Mmm.... Probably not this venue. Perhaps I will try another one at a different time. One more focused on hand made. But right now, I think I will stick to online.

I will be spending the next few days adding my remaining inventory to the shop. I have quite a few ornaments left, as well as fingerless gloves and scarves.

And for anyone else who loved that orange "Foliage" colorway as much as I do - they're discontinuing it! Boo! So I will be buying up a few extra skeins to have on hand, but if you have anything you'd like in that color you should speak up now! :)

Happy Monday everyone!
Meg

The Day Before

 Oh, what a beautiful Friday! It's overcast and slightly fogging and wonderfully crisp outside. Our fireplace is burning away and the kids are all snuggled up in the living room and...

Wait. It's Friday. Tomorrow is Craft Show Day 1.

Did someone hit the fast forward button and not tell me?

I was just sitting here thinking that I had a whole week left! Well, I think I'm just about ready. Things are washed and blocked. Tags are upon items. I need to finish pricing and do inventory. Print patterns. Take pictures of the finished things I haven't snapped yet. And put ribbons on ornaments.

Is it sad that I realized one of the things I need to do for this weekend is tweeze my eyebrows? The things you start to worry about at the last minute...

I really wish I had more to take with me. I need another week or 5! What I do have will just have to be enough. I am thankful that my sister will be with me selling her photography, so the table won't look so sparse!

On another note, I watched that same baby sister get proposed to last night! It was very sweet but all I kept thinking was "Oh, I'm so excited, but... She's my baby sister!!" It's weird watching her grow up.

So I get to pop out a kid in early March and then be in her wedding in April. Ha. I told her I better have a dress that doesn't hug my extra "curves".


I hope you all have a wonderful, amazing weekend!
Meg

Finished Knit: Emilie Mitts in Foliage

I made a pair of fingerless mittens to try out a design, and had a ton of this yarn leftover. When I asked Ben if I should make a pair of Templetons, or a pair of Emilies, he said I should make Emilies. So I did! These will be on the table this weekend, and if they don't sell there, they're going in the shop!

I LOVE this colorway. Love, love, love. It's Knit Picks Stroll in "Foliage Tonal". I have enough for one more pair of fingerless mittens, but I don't think that will satisfy my need for this yarn. I can't get enough of it. It just breathes fall and it's gorgeous. I want to do a scarf in it, too. Maybe I should go place an order for more...

Pattern: Emilie Mitts (with a few extra repeats before the gusset)

Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll in "Foliage Tonal" - 37 grams/171 yards

Needles: US 2/2.75 mm Harmony wood dpns

Knitline: November 10th - November 13th

YTD Mileage: 4.52 miles so far!

Happy Knitting,

Meg

Randomosity on a Monday

I feel like this today!

- It's Craft Show Prep Week! This week will be full of washing, blocking, tagging, labeling, printing, gathering, etc. And ornament knitting. Lots of ornament knitting.

- Our "dry run" was done on Saturday. We marked off a 10 x 10 area and used the picnic table that's probably close to the same size as our craft table will be. I think we're ready. But no telling until we actually get there and see all the variables.

- I am going with the expectation to bomb horribly and not sell a single thing. But at least recouping my vendor's fee would be cool.

- Our living room is (re)painted and (mostly) done! We just have to put some finishing touches, and do the hallway. The reveal will be... later! :)

- It makes me want to get new furniture. 

- I am so ready for Christmas. I just want to skip over Thanksgiving and get straight to Christmas. Is that bad? Decorating, and the tree, and giving people presents, and cooking and baking...

- Speaking of Thanksgiving, we're forgoing turkey this year (gasp!) and Ben is going to smoke a brisket. A whole stinkin' brisket. It's like half a cow. I am very excited about this.

- It's wonderfully brisk and chilly and we have the BEST tree across the street that shouts fall with it's color and immense blanket of fallen leaves. The poor neighbor's kid has got a heck of a rake job ahead of him.

- I think I'm using this blog post as a procrastination tool to avoid the craft show prep I need to get started on. But the laundry is started!

- Today seems like a good day to bake cookies. (More procrastination?)

If I don't talk to you before then, wish my luck this weekend! I'll post pictures of it all when I can. Have a lovely week, my friends.

Over and Out,
Meg

Finished Knit: Fingerless Mitts

Just a wee pair of fingerless mittens that found a new home on Saturday.

Pattern: No pattern!

Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (now Stroll) in "Carnation" - 23 grams/106 yards

Needles: US 2/2.75mm Harmony wood dpns

Knitline: October 25th - October 28th

YTD Mileage: 4.58

Happy Knitting,

Meg

A Plethora of Stuff

Good Morning! It's a beautiful Tuesday here in the neighborhood. We've had a storm over the weekend, which was wonderful. And now it is blue and sunny but a bit chilly outside. We're supposed to get another storm this weekend, which makes me terribly excited.

Today is a random post - Hope you don't mind! :)

The box above has a wonderful story to go along with it. Last Thursday my sister texted me saying she had a present for me and could she come over. When she got here she handed me this box. I asked what it was and she said it was a present for me!

Now, a little background before I show you what's inside. My sister is pretty good friends with her boyfriend's family. Somewhere a long the line a link to my blog came to his mom, who apparently spent a night reading through my blog. Later she asked my sister if I still do embroidery, and my sister, not thinking anything of it said yes, she thought so. (I do, when I'm not craft show prepping.)

Well a few days later his mom handed Rachel (my sister) this box, for me!

Can you BELIEVE it?! A whole stinkin' box just full of beautiful embroidery floss. And it's the nice stuff too! Apparently she found it at a yard sale and thought of me and decided to pick it up for me. This is the sweetest present I've ever received, especially considering I've only seen his mom twice. If you're reading this Sandra - Thank you so much! I love it, and I was so excited and I can't wait to get back to embroidery after the craft show is over.

Speaking of craft show - It's all knitting all the time! But it's good.

Here is just a small handful of the stuff that's going. I have a big box in the closet that just about doubles that amount. I have another Pointed Garter Scarf on the needles, and pair of fingerless mittens I'm designing that I'm absolutely in love with. I'm not sure if it's the design or the completely gorgeous colorway (Knit Picks Stroll in "Foliage Tonal").

Apparently my stress about the craft show is dissipating. I feel more relaxed now, I took a few more steps to getting ready, the letter with times and particulars came, we're set for a dry run this Saturday, I have a logo stamp ordered for the price tags and just the fact that I can keep designing is a good sign (or a crazy sign, not sure). Things are coming along nicely.

I have an "official" domain name for the shop now - www.bitofknittery.com

This will take you to the Etsy shop. I wanted to have a more professional looking web address for my business cards, and this also gives me the opportunity to move away from Etsy in the future if I want to, but still have people go to the same address.

In other news - Ben got a truck full of compost on Saturday! I've never been so excited for dirt. And it's beautiful. Piles of Black Gold. It's the most gorgeous chocolate brown color and it smells wonderful in a wow-this-stinks-but-our-plants-will-be-so-happy sort of way. He got the front and back lawns scalped and reseeded for the winter with a covering of compost, and the rest of the compost will get tilled/mixed into the flower and garden beds. I think we might try for a winter garden if it's not too later to get started!

Well, I think that's all for now. I really just wanted to share my box of precious goodies and post something other than "It's 2 weeks to the craft show and I'm gonna diiiiiie". ;)

Have a wonderful day,
Meg

P.S. - Thank you all for all the encouragement and well wishes and "You can do it, you'll be fine!" It's such a blessing to have so many people who really don't even know me that have my back and are cheering me on. My blog friends are wonderful, wonderful people. *hugs*

T-Minus Two Weeks

Carnage

Well my darlings, it is now exactly 2 weeks until the Craft Fair and I am just left with one question...

What on earth was I thinking?!

I have SO MUCH to do. I am knitting Christmas Ornaments like a madwoman (pattern to come.. uh.. at some point before Christmas. It's really cute. You'll like it). 

I am trying to crank out a few more scarfs and small things.

I'm debating if I have time to finish the green Anniversary mystery shawl.

I feel like I don't have nearly enough finished things to take.

I think I will stop/slow down the knitting the week before in order to do the prep that needs to be done like:

-Putting sewn-in labels on the things that require it.

-Put price tags and info on everything.

-Catalog/Inventory everything that is going.

-Work on displays and gather all the things I'll need (like business cards, calculator, receipt books, etc.)

-Pick up something for table cloths. I'm thinking large sheets, so they will cover the tables, be finished, and I can use them later. They're also a heck of a lot cheaper than actual table cloths.

-Take pictures of everything for the blog (of course) and an order book.

I found out last week that we are not getting just a table, but a full 10' x 10' booth which TOTALLY screwed up my plans for layout. I'm happy about it, yes, but now I have to rework everything in my head. I do believe this will give my sister and I a good opportunity to lay out better. For example, I am thinking of taking our small round table and dedicating it to shawls since I will have the space, and we'll be borrowing some stand-up panels from my dad to display Rachel's pictures.

We'll be doing a "dry run" here in the next week or so, so we can layout before we get there.

I am supposed to be receiving a letter with all the important information like load in times, etc. but it hasn't arrived yet and for someone who likes to have particulars WAY in advance, it's a little frustrating. But I will just be as prepared as I can so that it won't matter.

I have so many finished things to show you all! You'll wish you had never hit the "follow" button. ;)

Well, off to more knitting! Just wanted to let y'all know what's going on around here.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Meg

Pronunciation, According To a 2 Year Old

Since the "According to 4 year olds" was so popular, it's time for another addition!

"Gacos"

"Go"

 "Woks"

"Happy Cake" (Because that's how it makes you feel, right?)

Happy Almost Friday!

Meg

P.S. - We're still here, still alive. I have been so busy alternately knitting and stressing/panicking for the craft show (unfortunately not at the same time, and the stressing is becoming more predominant). We've also started to redo the living room. After a "oh, well that color just isn't going to work" paint fail on Monday, we're going try yet another color this weekend and hopefully the whole thing will be revealed sometime before Christmas. Heh.