Etsy Shameless Self-Promotion: New Autumn - Winter Items in Store

It's starting to get cold around here so before going back to my needles, I want to let everybody know that I have at last added my first autumn and winter accessories in my Etsy shop.

There are 3 warm and cosy hats, 3 pairs of matching fingerless gloves and 3 matching headbands; here's a picture of one of each item and there is one of each color:

I have added an Etsy Shop page to this blog also so you can see what's in store so far in Sophie's Knit Stuff.

If you haven't already, don't forget to like Sophie's Knit Stuff on Facebook and share it with your friends for more knitting and shop news!

Knitwits is the New Yarn Shop in Galway: Christmas Came Early!

My closest yarn supply stores are in Galway, but unfortunately they love stocking mostly overpriced luxury yarns or cheaper yarns that remind me of the scratchy and brightly coloured jumpers my granny used to knit and that I only wore on the days I went to visit her.

 Luckily when I went to my local craft and chat group last Wednesday, someone mentioned Knitwits & Crafty Stitchers, a new yarn store in Galway, so I thought I'd pay a visit during the week.

When I saw the wool in there, I thought I was in heaven: beautiful colors and excellent quality yarns! Of course they have their share of luxury yarns (Bergere de France) and also the authentic Donegal Studio (not for me, as this kind of wool feels scratchy and I can nearly feel my childhood skin allergies coming back when I touch it), but I was pleased to see that that they stock a wide variety of premium quality and affordable King Cole yarn, which I had been buying online as I couldn't find it locally: I spotted my latest favourite King Cole Riot chunky at €5.20 for a 100g ball (I had previously bought it online for €5.69!).

 To add to this, the shop owner is a very nice lady who says in her website's blog that she set up her store after being made redundant so I want to support her business, and although I think I have enough yarn to last me until Christmas, I think I will return there soon.

While I was in the shop looking at all the lovey yarns, I decided it was time for me to start knitting Christmas items for my family members, so I got 2 balls of 400g of King Cole Aran Fashion for €13 each, one in brown and one in black: I am thinking hats, trying to create a pattern for a man cowl, and maybe also fingerless gloves for my Dad and my little brother (who's not so little!):

Preview of my New Knitted Winter Hats and Fingerless Gloves

I have been very busy lately, with my kids going back to school and the start of Etsy Ireland Mentor Month. So far this is going well as I am getting a lot of great advice, and by looking at my mentor's shop, it looks like she knows what she is talking about.

Since my last blog post I managed to knit a few items with the lovely King Cole Riot chunky yarn: 3 hats, 1 fingerless glove (I am finishing the second one this evening), and I am planning to use the leftover yarn for maybe another hat or each colour and some headbands.

I just love the feel and warmth of this yarn, pity I can't keep all of these for myself, hopefully they will find a good home!

Here is the picture I took this morning; I am waiting to have more finished before I can add them to my Etsy shop:

My New Snood (Just for me!)

Just a quick post to share the snood I just finished.

This one is just for me and made in King Cole Riot Chunky yarn. It is very soft and contains 30% wool AND is machine washable (will still go on the wool cycle if I put it in my machine, though).

I am waiting for a delivery so I can make a matching hat and mittens (all for me too). My excuse for being selfish is: if I don't show off my work, who will (other than my 2 daughters who are waiting for the first chance of stealing it;)?

Back to School Knitted Lunch Bags

I spent the last few days designing and knitting two lunch bags for my daughters. I think these are great for carrying a school or work lunch, especially when made with a yarn that can be machine washed.

I included cables, as I think it's giving the bags a bit more hold than if there were simply knitted.

I knitted the first one flat (green), but as the finishing required quite a bit of sewing, I decided to try the second one (maroon) on circular needles, so this one is knitted as a tube and I have added a rectangular piece for the bottom (still some sewing to do, but much less than for the first one).

I also added zippers to the top and as this was my first time working with those, I am relieved to say that it didn't go as bad as I expected.

I will try and publish a pattern for these, including instructions for flat knitting and for circular knitting, as soon as I figure out how to make a downloadable PDF (Bear with me as I'm still on a learning curve!)

Here they are now:

Knit a Birthday Badge

I love the idea of knitting with more than one colour at a time, it just multiplies the possibilities!

Here is a birthday badge I made a few weeks ago for my youngest daughter's 9th birthday:

For this, I knitted 2 pieces, the second piece a plain pink circle, sewed them together adding some cotton wool to give it the required thickness, and attached a safety pins at the back to be able to pin the badge to my daughter's clothes.

I think I'll make a few more for my Etsy shop, with different colours and ages, as it's the ideal project for someone like me who wants to be able to produce a bigger quantity in less time.

I'd like to hear your ideas in the comments section, do you like/hate it, do you like the idea of a handmade item rather than a cheap plastic birthday badge?

My Etsy Shop

I opened my Etsy shop a few weeks ago; guess the name: Sophie's Knit Stuff!

I only have a few items on there for now, but planning on adding many more in a few weeks' time, since I'm giving up my customer care job at last (as can be witnessed by my colleagues/neighbours, I'm not a people person, I would much rather write than interact with people on the phone).

What I am planning to do is looking after my children, knit, knit and knit some more; and if I can earn some income from this, there won't be a happier person in the world than me!

What I have in my Etsy store right now is not much, but it's a start; ideas of new things I could knit are flying around in my head, and I need to write them all down before I forget.

I have also created a Facebook page for all my knitting related business, and I would be really grateful for any Likes and Shares that you can spare for Sophie's Knit Stuff.

To visit my store on Etsy, go to Sophie's Knit Stuff.

I will now leave you with a few pictures of a goodbye gift I've made this week-end for one of my colleagues at the call centre, to apologize for all my violent mood swings - never at her expense - as I have to admit there's been an awful lot of swearing/ranting/wanting to hit my head off my computer mouse.... on my part after finishing some calls (anyone working in a call centre will understand):