Back To School, Time To Do Some Work

Here we are, September started and I must really, really, get to grips with the fact that I must stop blaming my kids for my not knitting enough items for my Etsy shop.

They are now both back in school and even though afternoons are touch and go for knitting: my eldest one started secondary school, so I have my youngest coming home at 2.30 pm, then there's the talking and snack eating, kitchen table cleaning and homework help (yesterday, she couldn't remember how to do long multiplication, and apparently they learn it slightly differently than I did, so my help may have resulted in even more confusion!). Then she's just settled and finally motivated to do her homework when the eldest one walks in and proceeds to making herself a snack: well at least she doesn't need to big a push before going upstairs to do her own homework (I had to insist on looking at her French homework yersterday, with me being French she will have no excuses for falling behind in this subject;), and then the time comes for preparing dinner, so I guess the 2.15pm to 8.00pm will have to be the time when I do things that don't need too much focus (Hello Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter).

The problem is that I still haven't learned out to stay off Facebook for long periods of time, so I need to steady on and work out a schedule (schedule? What's that? Didn't I used to have some kind of schedule which I didn't stick to and anyway I can't remember where it is?).

So, anyway, in the last few weeks since I last wrote a blog post, I finished the blanket for my daughter, knitted and published another knitting pattern for another pair of fingerless gloves, and I'm knitting an infinity scarf which I should finish today (yes, I know, it's not much, but the pattern publishing seems to take a lot out of me). Oh, and I sold a cowl yesterday (Yesssssss!)

I'm also in the process of trying to improve my shop photos and working on the SEO of all my existing shop items (or in plain English carefully choosing the right words to describe and tag my items in the hope they will be easier to find by online shoppers - do you know that if you enter "knitted scarf" today in Google, you get over 12 million results? Makes me tired just thinking about it!).

I guess it's time to get to work, so I will leave you with the pictures of my knitted and crocheted work:

The crochet blanket is a good hiding place;)

Another pair of merino gloves

Infinity scarf in progress

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Getting Up To Speed

I've been working hard on publishing (at last!) my knitting pattern for the Chain Cable Fingerless Gloves. The knitting pattern is on Ravelry and Craftsy as well as Etsy.

It seems a bit pathetic to have it finished 2 months after I started working on this mitten pattern (you would think it was an intricate design sweater I was knitting), but I have my 3 week-long holiday as attenuating circumstances. Also, to make me feel less guilty of a 3 week holiday, I kept my hands and needles busy with my knitted summer top.

I knitted a lot of wrist warmers before being happy with the pattern, and even then I decided to knit three pairs of these mittens: one with a long wrist, one with a shorter wrist (to try and see if one ball of the merino wool I was using would be enough - it wasn't), and the last in another yarn (a wool / acrylic mix that worked well and only took one ball, even in the long wristed version).

I struggled with the thumb gusset and ended up with 2 pairs of knitted gloves that are not fit to be sold - I would have ripped them and reused the wool if I hadn't been such a dork weaving in the ends so securely - Ripping them may prove nearly as difficult as breaking out from Alcatraz but I'm not giving up on that yet, my priorities are elsewhere right now.

What am I working on now?

This is a crochet Corner to Corner (C2C) blanket I've started doing for my youngest daughter for 3 reasons:
1- She had bought a pack of 2 balls of that wool nearly a year ago and only used a small bit for making crochet chain bracelets; since she tends to get easily distracted and had no idea what else to do with it, she gave it to me as a late birthday gift.
2- She lost her crochet cushion on the ferry between Ireland and France (she just forgot she had brought it in the cabin and realised when it was too late to get it back that she had left it under her pillow - which is probably why we didn't spot it when we were packing our stuff before leaving the ferry). That crochet cushion had been made by her sister and she had paid her for it out of her hard earned pocket money. I could have made another one for her for free but she wanted it made by her sister, and her sister being tired of making crochet cushions, she wasn't willing, so I had to somehow find a way to make her forget her beloved yellow and red cushion.
3- I've wanted to try the C2C pattern for a while, and I thought that was a good opportunity (yes I know that's selfish of me, but you'll just have to forgive me for being human).

At the same time, I'm working on stocking my Etsy shop with more hand knit fingerless gloves and knitting patterns, so here is a preview of my current knitting WIP, which of course is about to be ripped as I made it a bit too small (I think I have knitting OCD):

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Easing Slowly Back To Work

I've been back from my holiday since last Thursday and after spending a few days getting rid of the jungle my garden had become and cleaning up the house it's time to get back to doing a bit of work, so I'm on a "the kids are home and I don't have a clue what my work routine is but I'll try spending some time with them and doing some work anyway" kind of work schedule.

The first thing I'll share with you is the summer top I managed to finish knitting while at my parents' house. In the Drops pattern books my sister brought me for my birthday, I found this pattern that I thought would look great in my Tussah Silk yarn. I'd started making a crochet top without a pattern that wasn't going anywhere fast, so off I went ripping that top, and I used the yarn for my favourite kind of knitting pattern: the kind of top made in one piece on circular needles and without any sewing at all, not even sleeves!

While I was in France I visited the local yarn stores and look what I found in one of them:

I'll use the big pack of thinner blue wool to knit another pattern that I eyeballed, still in the Drops pattern books, but this time it will have sleeves as it will be for autumn/winter.

With the thick wool (I got 3 balls of each colour), I'll knit or crochet (or both:) some winter accessories for my Etsy shop.

I can't wait to get started on these but first I'm making some more of my cable mittens and trying to publish that knitting pattern I've been slaving on since June.

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Cable Mittens Indecision

I probably don't deserve this as I have been more than slacking lately but the trip has been booked for the last few months and my parents need to see their granddaughters so here we go, heading on the Ferry to France tomorrow!

I thought I would have the pattern for my cabled mittens well published by now, but of course since I'm never happy with "just OK", I've been wasting time (hence the slacking I was referring to in the 1st paragraph) knitting up a few pairs of fingerless gloves trying to make them perfect... And perfect they would be, only for the amount of wool they are using, or perhaps for the yarn I chose to knit the mittens with.

At first I wanted to make some really stylish long wristed fingerless gloves with a chain cable running over the back of the hand: my first mistake was to start with an already opened ball of wool, so of course I needed a second ball to finish the second mitten, and I thought I might get both done with only one ball if I had started with a brand new ball of wool.

Long wristed cable mitten

So I knitted another pair of mittens in a different colour and starting with a new ball of the same brand of wool, this time trying to get the gusset to run over the whole thumb, unlike the first pair where the gusset only appears on the first 8 rows of the thumb, which doesn't look bad, but it could improved; the hand part is a little longer too. Of course I ran out of wool again towards the top of the second mitten. That and the fact that my decreases on the visible part of the thumb may look like a pattern feature, but actually do not look that good.

Long wristed mitten, funky looking thumb (not in a good way)

So I had to try another pair of mittens, making the wrist a little shorter with a long hand (maybe I should have made it a little shorter like for the first mitten?) but not too short so they still look stylish, and this time with a proper professional-looking gusset: this time I think my mittens look good, but guess what? One ball still wasn't enough, even though I only need a little extra. 

Medium wrist cable mitten (not as nice as the long wrist and still using too much of that wool!)

So am I going to ask pattern purchasers to buy 2 balls of wool (which I think is being discontinued anyway) when they'll hardly use any of their second ball for the pattern? I would hate to buy a pattern like this, so I don't think so!

I can still sell my mittens in my Etsy shop, but for the pattern, I'll have to knit up a pair of long wristed cable mittens in a wool with more yardage to get less waste (or 2 balls with less as long as it's an affordable one and very soft): and here goes to once again making changes to my cable mittens knitting pattern!

I'd like to get a second opinion so please let me know which one you prefer: long wrist/medium wrist? Long hand/short hand? (the wool is 100% merino and a dream to work with, a pity it's being discontinued).


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People Make Etsy: Etsy UK TV Ad

Have you seen the Etsy ad on UK TV?

I'm hoping this will increase awareness on the great marketplace that is Etsy, where you can find beautiful handmade products made by people like you and me, with real people in mind.

Etsy was good enough to let sellers have their own personalized version of the ad, so here is mine, enjoy!


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Etsy Shop Feature: Monofaces

In my last blog post I mentioned that I had been partnered with another Irish Etsy shop for the SEO course so today I wanted to write a little bit about Monofaces.

I was lucky to have such a nice shop to work with and a bit worried when having to do their critique because I didn't think my humble little knitting self had much advice to give a team of talented artists like Edita and Mel!

Quoting Monofaces About page: "Our mission is to give visual pleasure, original presents & striking interior detail. MONOFACES unique paintings range from legends of the past to people of today".

The paintings and apparel that can be found in Monofaces feature mainly people, you can see a lot of celebrities and legends of the past being represented in their art but they also do customised paintings using photographs: great idea for a gift or if you want a beautiful painting of your children to feature on your wall.

Monofaces's style can be described as Art-deco, Pop Art, and mainly black and white stencil monochrome art, they paint on various surfaces such as wood or canvas and have their art reproductions available for people on a tight budget. For wearables they also do tote bags, T-shirts, they have recently started doing phone cases and even rugs!

I've tried picking my favourite item from their shop but it's really hard to choose just one so here are a few of my favourite items from Monofaces:

First up is this beautiful painting of Audrey Hepburn on canvas:

Because I'm a child of the 80's (born in the 70's but too young to appreciate good music then;), I also love this painting of Morrissey on wood:

To finish, I think I would look very cool sporting this Walter White from Breaking Bad tote bag (for carrying my laundered money, erm...knitting WIPs, perhaps?):

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Learning SEO and a Bit of Knitting and Crochet

It's been nearly 10 days since my last post: so much for the 2 posts a week I had been aiming for!

All this month I have been following an Etsy course on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), which in plain English is the science of getting found on the Internet.

I've learned some new things and worked on some things I already knew but there is more structure learning from a course than trying to gather bits of information here and there, which doesn't always work, as it inevitably ends with information overload (and in some cases misinformation).

For this SEO course, I've been partnered with another Etsy seller based in Ireland: I think if I didn't have a partner I probably wouldn't bother with half of the things I'm supposed to do for the course, because I don't like to let anyone down, and I think whoever thinks up these Etsy courses knows that, which is why we are being teamed up. Ultimately, Etsy gains in helping their individual sellers, since we are their bread and butter.

In between working on the SEO course, I have been crocheting 8 coffee cup cosies that would make great Father's day gifts and that are now available from Sophie's Knit Stuff on Etsy, drove myself half crazy trying to think of different keywords to describe them with as part of the SEO course, and trying to take better pictures (do you like my little coffee bean shapes?):

 

 

 I have also managed to knit a wonderfully soft blue cabled tube cowl and matching fingerless gloves with my Merino wool which should be ready for the shop next week as they are at the blocking stage and I'm taking the week end off:

 This weekend in Ireland is a long one, due to the June Bank holiday on Monday (don't ask me what that is for, I'm just glad it's there!), so whether you have a long or regular weekend, enjoy it and make the most of the sunshine if you're lucky enough to get some!





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