Holidays are over, what are you knitting?

The holiday season is over and what are you knitting? Usually around this time, I'm taking stock of my inventory, but since I didn't do any production knitting last year I really don't have much stock to inventory.

A few weeks before Christmas, I sent out an email letting friends and family know that I had product that I wanted to let go of and so I let them pick through the items I still had on hand and let them take whatever they wanted so they could give them as gifts to their friends and family. Whatever was left over, I decided I would give to charity. I spent a few hours scouring the web to find charities that would take hats and cowls that I didn't sell. I found one on twitter that actually contacted me last year, called Emily's Hats for Hope. Emily is trying to reach a goal of 25,000 hats this year and I am happy to help her with her goal.

Now I'm starting fresh with my inventory and I've already began stocking up again with new items:

Hat/Cowl 2-in-1. Made using Lion Brand Heartland
in colorway called 126 Sequoia

Malabrigo Neck Thingie and Malabrigo Hand Thingies by
Anne Sahakian. Made using Lion Brand Landscapes

Baby Set (0-3 mos.) Apple Blossom Cardigan by Sarah Franklin,
Fleegle's Seamless Saartje Booties by SusanGlinert Stevens,
and Eyelet Baby Hat, by Brigitte Lang

These are few of the types of new items I will have available in my Etsy store. I'm looking forward to this coming year because I am also gearing back up to get into some new shows. I have been checking online to find local shows that I can sign up for. Once I have my applications submitted I will announce here and on my Facebook page where I will be for 2015.

Leave a comment to tell me what you are working on now that the holidays are behind us. And here's wishing you a happy new year and happy knitting!

Updates from Knitter Mama

So again, I've been neglectful with keeping up my blog. When you are a busy knitter, it's hard to take time out to write and keep you all updated. I apologize for that and will strive to do better in the future.

Some things that you may or may not know, I created a website that I attempted to keep up to date with information about Knitter Mama, my shop, and dates and locations of where I would be during the summer months, but I fell short. Again, it is a full-time job to keep a website up-to-date with information as well as creating an online shop on the website, time that I was taking away from my knitting. It's a great plan to have a website, but if I don't knit then I don't have product to place on my website, which kind of defeats the purpose of the website. It's this catch-22 for small business owners like myself. I work full-time, knit part-time and where do I find the time to also keep up with the digital world? With social media, websites, blogs, forums, etc...the list goes on and on. So, I decided it wasn't cost effective or a good investment at this time for me to pay for a website that wasn't accentuating my business because it wasn't being kept up-to-date. I may give it another try either later on this year or early next year.

Instead, I am going to work harder on getting my name out there through social media and learning to drive people to my existing online shop on Etsy and my new shop on Zibbet. As well as taking the time to keep up with my blog.

Speaking of my blog, you will note that I've made some visual changes to my blog and I will be making more as time goes on. But again, sitting down and deciding on what I want my blog to look like takes away from my knitting time and I tend to get anxious and frustrated because let's face it I'm not a website designer, even with the content managers that have boiler-plate designs, I struggle with color, content and overall design. But this year I've decided that if I'm going to really make my business work, I have to start working my business the way that I should.

I also will post here my locations during the summer so that if want to come by and say "Hi" to Knitter Mama you can at one of the famers' markets I like to participate in. I would like to also remind everyone that you can also follow me on Pinterest and Facebook. I look forward to a prosperous year and happy knitting!

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Jenny Wilson whose name was drawn to receive the Vanilla and Chocolate personal spa set.

Thank you all who have "liked" Knitter Mama so far and keep checking in on Facebook for monthly drawings.

September's drawing is for a cabled cowl. I've knitted three of them so far and one has already sold at the Kent Farmers Market on Saturday, September 1. I'm going to hold on to the winter white and charcoal colored ones for the winner of September's drawing.

Denim Cabled Cowl - sold at Kent Farmers Market
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Design: Quick Cabled Cowl - Gabrielle O'Leary

All you have to do to get your name in the drawing leave a comment on Knitter Mama's Facebook page of what the next team ear flap hat design I'm making - *hint* - scroll down to August 9 on the timeline.

Charcoal colored cabled cowl with dazzling black buttons

close-up of cable

Winter white cabled cowl without buttons

close-up of cable


So, please stay tuned for more drawings. And don't forget to leave your guess as a comment on Facebook for September's drawing. Happy knitting!

It's time for a drawing

Yes, you heard right, Knitter Mama is going to have a drawing. "Like" Handmade Knits by Knitter Mama on Facebook and your name will be entered to win a personal spa set, which includes: 20" wide x 36" long bathroom rug, wash cloth, face towel, bath scrub mitt, and soap saver/pocket in two shades of brown and off-white, pictured below.

A name will be drawn randomly at the end of August and that person will be notified via facebook email.  So click the "Like" button or the Handmade Knits by Knitter Mama link above and like Knitter Mama.  Good luck and have a wonderful summer.

On another note, I'm happy to announce that I am confirmed to participate in my first Farmers Market in downtown Kent, Washington. So if you live in the local area, come visit Knitter Mama in downtown Kent on August 11, 18 or September 1.

Click on the map below to get directions to the Kent Farmers Market located along Second Avenue N between W Smith Street and W Meeker Street.

Only 157 more days until Christmas!

Are you counting down the days?  I don't like to but as a knitter who likes to give handmade items to family and friends during the holidays, I have to, I gotta set deadlines so I get all my handmade gifts done! Because, of course I'm thinking in my head I have plenty of time to get all done, but when October starts creeping closer, I realize I haven't started any of my holiday knitting and I'm in a state of panic, thinking "oh no, I'm so behind!"

So this year, like Santa, I'm making my list, checking it twice, trying to figure out which projects to start and which to put off til later! My goal this year is to try to finish at least one gift item between after every summer item I complete.  And this goal actually kills two birds with one stone, because I can dig into my WIP bag and finish gift items I didn't get done last year and give them as gifts this year.

This year's list includes: 

For my brother, I'd like to make him this really cool hat that I found on Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation website of free patterns called New York State of Mind, its so appropriate for him, since he lives in upstate New York.  He is one of the only members of my family who has not been a recipient of my handmade items and I think I need to remedy that this year.  

Photo courtesy of Debbie Stoller's
Stitch Nation Free Patterns

For my nieces, the slouchy hats seem to be very popular. So I've chosen two different patterns and they include, another free pattern from Debbie Stoller's Stitch Nation website, the All-Day Beret and from the Knitty, Spring 2009 edition, the Reverie beret by Amy Swenson. For which I have already completed two, see my previous post Thinking about my holiday knitting already or my hats page for pictures of my finished objects.

For my five nephews I'm leaning toward hat and scarf sets, but haven't found any that have caught my eye yet.  I really should finish the Basketcase Jacket by Tara Jon Manning I started last November for the NaKniSweMo [National Knit a Sweater in a Month]  that was supposed to go to one of them last year for Christmas. But it is still in WIP bag. I think it may be time to pull it back out and finally finish it.



Photo courtesy of my November 2010 post:
NaKniSweMo - Knit a Sweater in a Month! 

Or I could finish the crew neck pullover that I also started last November for my littlest nephew who was turning four at that time. I am already at the separation for the sleeves and working the back of the sweater back and forth and then do the same for the front. But I'm thinking this might be too small for my almost five year old nephew. I had already modified the design to make it smaller for a child size but now I'm not sure. And I would really hate to frog this and have to start all over.

Men's Crew Kneck Pullover (Rav Link) by Kris Percival
published in Speed Knitting: 24 Quick and Easy Projects (Rav link)

In my queue, on Ravelry, I have Buddy Bear by Lion Brand a softie toy that I want to make for my grandniece. It is a crochet pattern, sometimes its nice to change up in my fiber crafting, just so I don't get too bored.  And this guy looks like he will be fun to make.

Photo courtesy of Lion Brand
Buddy Bear crochet pattern

Isn't he just adorable? I think he will be cherished and loved for a very long time and hopefully saved to pass on to her little one some day.

For my four sisters, I think I may make them one of my market bags. I know they really liked them when I posted them on Facebook. Or I could make them spa sets, I know two of my sisters really enjoyed receiving these as birthday gifts last year.

Whew, so many projects and so little time to do them all! When do you start making your list for your handmade gift items?  Love to hear from all you fiber artists out there, come on over and leave me a comment.

What's on my needles, you ask?

What's on my needles - geez I have so many WIP's that I don't even know where to begin.  Honestly I guess it would depend on which needles you were looking at because there's a little of this and a little of that and a whole lot of yarn! And this weekend was another knit-a-thon weekend!  My goal though was to get as many of my unfinished projects done as possible.  There are so many, even I was a little intimidated by how many projects I started and didn't finish.  When I started pulling them from my knitting bag I almost decided to pretend they didn't exist and just start something new.  But alas, I'm a bit anal when it comes to having something unfinished laying around - so I got to work on getting some needles cleared off.

It began on Thursday evening - sorting through all the projects and checking the stage of development for each one, and figuring out how long each one would take to complete.  Luckily I work a flexible schedule at my regular 9-5 job, where I work eight 9 hour days, one 8 hour day and get every other Friday off.  And this Friday (November 5th) was one of my off days so I of course what did I do? I knitted until my hands cramped and then I knitted some more. I fell asleep watching the SciFi channel with knitting needles still in my hands on Thursday night which is scarier than anything you would ever see on the SciFi channel - me sleeping upright in front of the t.v. with my hair sticking up all over - not a pretty picture!  I'm very glad my son didn't have a camera on hand when he found me the next morning.

Aiden, my son who also had the day off from school, came downstairs at 8:30 Friday morning to find me asleep on the loveseat buried in needles, patterns and yarn - lots and lots of yarn.  He says I turned our living room into a knitting/yarn shop with all the yarn, patterns, needles, and did I say yarn? Piled all over the place. When I have a chance I will post a picture of my loveseat and coffee table where I'm surrounded by my work.  I love it, but it is very messy and I've tried to organize it many times, but I always end up pulling out yarn, or searching for a paticular pattern and/or needle and it all ends up all over the place again - so now I've given up and leave it strewn all over the floor next to my seat, on the loveseat, on the back of the loveseat and of course all over the cofee table.

As Aiden put it I was a "knitting fool" this weekend. He couldn't believe that I had finished so many projects in only a couple of days.  He was very impressed with the end product and he decided to try on several of the items and I got a real kick out of seeing him model them - unfortunately he wouldn't let me take any pictures - he didn't want to see them posted on Facebook (he knows me so well!).

So some of the WIP's I completed this weekend included a pair of socks - one at a time pair that were on dpns that I started 3 months ago (man I'm so glad I now know how to do two socks at the same time - no more one-at-a-time socks on dpns for me!), a drawstring backpack that I started last week, and I worked a little on my NaKniSweMo project that I began last week - I've gotten as far as the armholes on the backside.  And after putting in a good effort (good effort being the key words here folks!) on finishing up some unfinished projects (I didn't dare look in the closet upstairs where there is another bag full of unfinished WIP's) I started and finished a few new projects that include a pair of fingerless gloves and a bath set that has a face towel, washcloth, and soap pocket. I like to pair my bathsets with this really great handmade soap and bathsalt that I get from the Pink Sugar Shop, which I discovered at my local Farmer's Market.  I've given these as gifts to family and they absolutely love them.

And below you can see some of the finished projects, enjoy!





Personal Bath Set - made with 100%
mercerized cotton by Saucy paired with handmade apricot
scented soap &  mango madness scented bathsalt

  


Front view of drawstring backpack
made with Lion Cotton in Seaspray. You can find the pattern at:
Super Summer Backpack pattern #80401AD

Side view

Back view

Fingerless gloves made from Lion Brand
Jiffy in Fisherman & Fun Fur in Ivory