Tuesday's Temptation & Final Chance At Give-Away

First, I want to remind everyone that the give-away ends today at noon US eastern time.  To enter you must leave a comment on the Give-Away post before noon, don't wait!  I will announce the winner on the February 1st, 2012 blog post.

Now for my Tuesday's Temptation:

Isn't it gorgeous???  I just love the greens in this skein! This Sock Garden Party Cake is by ArtByAna.  It is 75% superwash merino and 25% nylon; approximately 463 yards in 100 grams.  I can see a shawlette in this skeins future.

You can find several more colorful cakes for you to choose from, along with much more in her shop.  I have a zippered pouch by her in my cart at the moment.  I am trying not to let that pretty green cake jump in there too :)

Happy Creativity to you all!

Tuesday's Temptation

Do you spin?  I do! Check out the spinning supplies at GrandmaVee's.  She has fiber, orifice hooks, and niddy noddys.  There are even some quilts to see.  The orifice hook pictured below is about to become mine!

Check her out and see what needs to come home to you.  If you haven't entered my give-away, you can still enter until Jan. 31, 2012:  Enter Here!  Happy Creativity to you all!

A Rose By Any Other Name...

This beautiful crocheted rose was delivered to me yesterday.  My Aunt Connie made it and sent it to me.  I am waiting (impatiently) for the pattern, so that I can make some too.  I think it is brilliant.  She is making them to sell as a fund raiser to benefit a local organization against domestic abuse.  My Aunt and my Grandmother were my crafting inspirations when I was a child and my Aunt still amazes me with the beautiful creations she makes.

Tuesday's Temptation

Let's take a look at the shop, Sheeps of Egyptian Cotton, home of Isis, Nile, Scrapsody and Sheeps Clothing yarns.  All Isis and Nile yarns are fingering weight cottons.  Yes, they are cottons!  Not everyone can wear wool, unfortunately, nor is it winter year round.

She also creates some lovely items for those who prefer to have others experience the joy of knitting while they get the joy of wearing.  Just look at this lovely, hand-knit, silk lace scarf.

So, head on over to her shop and see what else she has to tempt you.  

Happy Creativity to you all!

Give-Away!

I just realized the the number of followers for this blog has gone over 50!  This amazes me because I find myself to be one of the most boring people in the world.

When I started blogging, it was mostly as a creative journal for myself, as I had not heard of Ravelry and all the ways they provide for recording my creative exploits.  After joining Ravelry, I continued blogging because I found it cathartic in some ways and the occasional comments are so very nice.  Now, my blog has become even more, in that I am able to promote my Etsy site and I can promote other creative people with my Tuesday's Temptation posts.  I do hope that I make a difference.

In celebration of reaching over 50 followers on this blog, I am going to have a give away.  The prize:  a Beverly Is Yarn Crazy tote bag, a skein of Opal fingering weight yarn and a copy of Knitting Circles Around Socks!

How do you enter?  Leave a comment on this blog post before noon eastern time on January 31st, 2012.  Only one entry per person and please include your email for me to contact you.  I will use a random number generator to pick the winner and announce the winner on the February 1st, 2012 blog post.  This give-away is only open to residents of USA and Canada (I'm sorry, but I can't afford to ship elsewhere).  

I hope you will share the news about the give-away with your friends and family so that they can enter too.  Happy Creativity to you all!

Knit and Crochet Magazines...the decision!

Thank you for all the responses, here on the blog, on Facebook and on Plurk!  You have made some interesting suggestions and given a myriad of reasons.  I really do appreciate the time you took to respond!

After reading all of the comments, one in particular stood out to me.  Poppet, had mentioned that she doesn't subscribe to any magazines.  She flips through them before purchasing to make sure she will actually want to make something from the magazine.  Although I like the convenience of subscriptions, I do find that I get the occasional magazine that I don't want to make anything that is in it.  Now, I don't only buy the mags for the pictures (hehehe), I also like the articles.

What I have decided to do is to forego subscribing to anything for about 6 months and only purchase magazines after examining them, so that I can see which ones I tend to gravitate to most.  Then I will decide which 2 magazines to subscribe to, one knitting & one crochet.

Thank you all for taking a little time out of your day to read my blog and respond.  I love hearing from you and hope you will feel free to make suggestions of what you would like to see me post about here.

Happy Creativity to you all!

Tuesday's Temptation

Knitting Geisha is having a sale!  It is for a short time only so rush on over to her shop.  She has the cutest project bags and who doesn't need more of those?  Happy Creativity to you all!

Knit and Crochet Magazines

Suddenly, I realized that all of my magazine subscriptions have expired.  This left me wondering if I should renew what I had before or if I should try some new ones.

What magazines do you subscribe to or purchase on a regular basis?  Why do you like them?  What ones don't you like and why??  Please help me to decide how to best spend my subscription money.

Happy Creativity to you all!

Finally Finished

As some of you may recall, last spring I had 2 hip replacement surgeries and spent a significant amount of time rehabbing in a local nursing home.  My sister worked at the nursing home and helped to cheer me up, watch out for my best interests and wouldn't let me get away with anything.  She also spent a lot of her own money in making me feel as comfortable as possible. 

When I would offer to pay her back she would just shrug it off, but eventually, she told me that I could make her a pair of socks as repayment.  Well, I have been slow about it, but I have finally finished a pair of socks for her.  They are not perfect, but neither am I.  They do express my gratitude and love for her.  I hope she will like them.

The pattern is Be Mine, designed by Melissa Morgan-Oakes.  It is published in her  book, 2-at-a-time Socks.  The yarn is Knit Picks Gloss fingering weight in the Doe colorway.  I love this yarn!  It is 70% wool/30% silk and 100% lovely.

Now I need to get ready to leave as today is my family's belated Christmas party.  I hope you all have a great weekend!  Happy Creativity to you all!

Jan. 8, 2012 ETA:  My sister has informed me that the socks fit perfectly :)

Crocheting with Cotton

I was checking out a new shop in my little town that has a very eclectic stock and found some Red Heart yarn hidden around a corner and one lonely cone of Peaches & Creme double worsted cotton.  I had never heard of double worsted cotton so I just had to buy it. (Through Ravelry I found that it has been discontinued)

Once I got it home, it seemed to be too heavy for dishcloths so I just started swatching with it to see what size hook I liked with it and what I might dream up.  This Easter-like basket is it.  I think the color may have influenced me.  I knit it quite tightly on a J-hook so that it would stand up on its own.  I believe I have enough yarn left on the cone to make another basket.  I will write the pattern down this time so I can share it with you. (Peeking out from the basket is my current sock project, but my sister might read this so I won't say any more about it).

Last night mamaslittlemonkeys (from plurk) posted a link to a dishcloth KAL/CAL that she hosts each month on Ravelry.   I had been working on the socks in the basket above and the chart was messing with my head, so a dishcloth sounded wonderfully relaxing to me.  I joined her KAL/CAL, and the picture to the left is this afternoons result.  It is Peaches & Creme Stripes in the Stars and Stripes forever colorway.

I almost exclusively reserve cotton for dishcloths, but the basket has got me thinking of other things to do with it.  What do you make with cotton?

Happy creativity to you all!

Cabled Hat Pattern in Progress

So, I have this hat that I made and I have written up the pattern, but I am not completely happy with the plaited cable.  I think I need to tighten it up by reducing the number of rows between the twists.  On the plus side, I am very pleased with the way the decreases on the crown appear.  What do you all think?

Happy creativity to you all!

Tuesday's Temptation

I just stumbled upon an amazing designer while browsing around Etsy.  Denizgunes Knitting has unique and fabulous designs that bowled me over.   I really wish she sold her patterns, because I would love to make what she makes!  Please take a moment to check out what she has to offer.  

Happy creativity to you all!

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the new year, a time to reflect on the past year and a time for new beginnings.  I want to remember and be grateful for the good in the past year, let go of the bad, and make plans for the new.

Overall, 2011 was a very good year for me!  I had my left hip replaced in March and my right hip replaced in May.  That may not seem like cause for celebration to many people, but my life is so much better for it.  I have so much less pain and I get around  much better now (not perfect, but better).  Also, 2011 is the year that I finally took the step to start selling some of my handmade items and original pattern designs!  I won't be making it to the pages of Forbes anytime soon, but I am enjoying the experience, and that counts for a lot to me.

As for the not so good things that I will be leaving in the past year, there is the very slow and painful recovery of the 2 surgeries.  I have to give credit to the Angels of Hibard Nursing Home, who did their best to give me comfort and encouragement as I healed.  I can't really think of anything else bad to try to get over, so I will again state that it must have been a very good year!

Moving on, I have very high expectations for 2012.  I am working with a vocational rehab program to try to get back to working.  I am desperately looking for a car that is reliable, safe and within my meager price range.  I want to keep selling on Etsy and see what else I can learn or develop in my crafting repertoire.  Also, I want to go back to school.  Going back to school is probably a long shot since I don't have transportation or money, but it doesn't cost anything to dream!

Now, you may have been expecting a list of resolutions in this blog, so I will try not to disappoint you.  I really dislike that I usually fail at these, so I am going to try to make them "reasonable" resolutions.

1. Lose 25 more pounds. (I'm trying to be reasonable here)
2. Blog at least 3 times per week. (realistically, once per week would be an improvement)
3. Learn to steek! (it scares me)
4. Complete my SIL's afghan that I started around 3 years ago.

I guess that is as much as I am willing to list and possibly publicly fail at.  So, how was the past year for you?  What are you hoping for in the new year?  Please leave me a comment so that we can all work together toward our goals!  Happy Creativity to you all.