A New Direction

Hello to my faithful followers!  If you're still following me, you've probably come to realize just as I have that selling hand-knits isn't my passion.  :)

For a long time I've been wanting to work more on designing hand-knits. And that includes writing patterns for the items I design. Well, I've started! And along with this new direction I've started a new blog.  In a month or two I plan to delete this blog. So if you want to continue following me and my adventures in knitting, please stop by my new blog:  http://perfectioknits.com

Blessings,
Stephanie

P.S. Right now I'm holding a blog launch...with a giveaway from now until May 2! Come check it out!

December: update, news, and a question for you!

I've been busy getting ready for Christmas! Six days to go and I'm not done with all my gift shopping yet, but I will be! I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and celebrating the birth of Jesus, my Savior.

For those of you who follow my Facebook page, my sister-in-law's sale at the end of November went well. I sold a few things and got to see which of my items sold best. I had considered reopening my Etsy shop right away after we got back home--to try and sell the rest of my ready-made items so folks could give them as gifts--but it didn't work out due to my very busy homeschooling schedule.

Since then I've had an idea work its way into my brain...to do an "occasional sale" with my Etsy shop. {I got the idea from a little home decor shop I know of that is only open for a day or two every few months.}

How it might work: when I have ready-made items to sell, I send out advance notice on Facebook and here on the blog stating the dates for the sale. I would open shop for a weekend and sell what I can in that time. I'd ship all the items out on the Monday after the sale and close shop until the next sale. So instead of having to watch my shop like a hawk--which is a huge distraction to me, I could just take one weekend every so often to focus on selling the items I've made.


So....what do you think of the idea?
Is it pure genius? Or just plain crazy?

Leave me comment here or on my Facebook page to let me know...yay or nay?

ravellenic games 2012: final events

The Summer Olympics are officially done.  A final congrats to all the Olympic athletes who did their very best!  Whether they brought home a medal or not, they are all winners in my mind.  Super job!

We watched the Closing Ceremony live online {this afternoon here in the Midwest}, so we would be able to all go to bed at a more normal time.  Tomorrow is a big day for the kids and I, so we definitely need a good night's rest!  Do you know I homeschool my kiddos?  Is that crazy?  Sometimes I think so!  It's most definitely a lot of work, but I know in the end it's worth it! 

Tomorrow is the first day of Kindergarten for my youngest, Caleb.  The first day of Seventh Grade for my eldest, Thomas.  And of course, the first day of teaching for me. Yikes!  But I'm ready--at least I think I am! 

I decided to go ahead and make a couple more of my crochet baby hats for the Ravellenic Games.  The photos are again not very good quality (especially the coloring) since I took these with the iPad with poor lighting, but you can sort of see what they look like:

 

I did not quite finish the lace scarf, but I have a great start on it and should be able to get it done this week if I have time to work on it. Here it is at the end of the Games:

Here are my "medals" from Ravelry:

Earned for finishing my Swift Sak

Earned for making my Sweet Little Shrug

Earned 3 times for making my crochet baby hats:  one,  two,  three

Also earned 3 times for making my crochet baby hats:  one,  two,  three

That's a total of 8 medals!  Hip hip hooray! I feel like I've accomplished something in the past couple weeks!

As you might have noticed, some items can be entered into more than one category!  Thus, my hats each gave me two medals.  <insert cheesy grin>

If you are a knitter or crocheter and aren't on Ravelry yet, I highly recommend you do so!  It's a fabulous site:  lots of great patterns to browse, people to "meet", and I especially love that I can post photos and info from the projects I make.  It helps me keep track of what I've done and when, and what yarns and needles I used too!  So helpful!

And now, I must get myself to bed.  I need a good night's rest so I can be a happy teacher tomorrow.
Good night and thanks for stopping by!

ravellenic games 2012: 3rd event

Are you enjoying the London Summer Olympics as much as I am?  My favorite sport to watch has been fencing!  I also love watching gymnastics, swimming, diving, volleyball, track and field, and equestrian events!  Do you have a favorite Summer Olympics sport?  

Last night I finished another project. This time it was a crocheted baby hat.  And yes, this is one that will find itself in my Etsy shop someday soon!  I want to make some interchangeable/removable flowers for it first though.  

I also have been working on a knitted scarf the past few days. It's going to take me a bit longer to finish since 1) it's a scarf, 2) I'm using lace weight yarn (skinnier yarns tend to take longer to knit), and 3) I need to follow the lace pattern which takes a bit more concentration.

I have 5 days to finish!  Hopefully, I can get it done!  And I may take a few knitting breaks to make another baby hat or two as well.  

Well, that's my update for now...

Go Team USA!

ravellenic games 2012: 2nd event

This morning I finished my second project:

Pattern: Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet by Julia Allen
Yarn:  Cascade 128 Superwash (2 skeins)
Needles: US 11

It just needs to be blocked so the front doesn't roll back.

I love that this little shrug is reversible!  So cute and a quick knit too!

ravellenic games 2012: 1st event

As I promised in my last post, here's an update on my "events" for the 2012 Ravellenic Games!

My first project to cross the finish line is my Swift Sak!  

Entered in the event WIPS WRESTLING (WIP is the acronym for Work In Progress), I finally finished this project last night at 11:25pm.  The main rule for this event is to work on and finish a project already started, but it must be something that you haven't worked on since May 15, 2012.  I dug out a project that has been hibernating for over a year!  

You can see I left a stitch marker there...that's approximately the point where I had originally stopped working on it.  I really didn't have all that much left to go on the bag itself, but the 54" i-cord was rather tedious to knit!  Despite that, I persevered and got it done! Once the knitting was finished, I just had a few ends to weave in and the i-cord needed to be sewn to the bottom of the bag.  Seeing the end in sight, I kept working last night until it was done! It's a nifty design and I'm thankful to Kris Carlson who designed and shared her pattern. Thanks, Kris!

It's all done now and I'm happy to be using my Swift Sak!  My yarn swift is happy to have it's own little storage/carry bag now too!  Yay!  

So I have finished my first event for the 2012 Ravellenic Games!

Now which project/event to do next?

summer update

Greetings! How's your summer going? Mine has been going WAY TOO FAST! I can hardly believe July is almost gone! How about you? Is your summer flying away from you as well?

Here in Northern Minnesota we've been having a hot and dry summer. Something we're not really all that accustomed to, I might add. I love the warm days and lack of mosquitoes, but 90 plus degrees is a bit much for even me. Today is finally a bit more normal and a blessed relief. Now, if only we'd get a little rain too. We really need it.

Tomorrow! the London Olympics begin and my family is excitedly anticipating the kick off! We even signed up for Satellite TV (after many years with just a few local channels) so we can watch as many events as possible!  As a knitter, I'm pleased that Ravelry (despite needing to make a few minor changes because of this) is once again holding their Ravelympics.  Renamed the Ravellenic Games for 2012 (see above link to learn why), I see this as an opportunity to set myself some knitting (and/or crocheting) goals and then see whether I can accomplish the goal(s) during the time frame of the Olympic games.  There are even some Teams set up that, like Olympic Teams, work together and/or cheer each other on to accomplish their goals. So far, I have chosen not to join a team, since working on one's own is fine too, but perhaps I'll consider joining one next time around just to see what it's like.  It might be fun!  Either way, it's wonderful to challenge oneself and to have a plethora of possible projects to pursue while watching and cheering on athletes from all over the world as they challenge themselves to do their very best and maybe even bring home a medal or two.

I have quite a few projects (Events, that is) that I'm already planning to work on and can't wait until I get to cast on tomorrow (at 3 pm here in the Central time zone which = 9 pm London time)!  I intend to share my Ravellenic Games accomplishments with you so be watching for updates on all the things I make/do.  I might even find a little time for designing something new too!

So as we watch the Olympic athletes as they compete, I'll be knitting as I cheer "GO TEAM USA!"

As for my perfectioKnits business, I'm seriously struggling with procrastination issues. {Anyone out there a procrastinator too?  Perhaps you'll understand.} If you follow me on Facebook, then you may have seen my posting--back in May--about my plans to work this summer on getting some patterns ready to sell instead of reopening my shop right away.  I must confess, I haven't even started!  I still have hopes and dreams of getting myself in gear and getting some patterns finished before we start homeschooling again in just a couple short weeks (and this year I have to get to teach both boys--a Kindergartener and a 7th Grader!), but if I don't get make time to write up my patterns at this point in time, I hope you won't give up on me and know that I will get to it...eventually!  I do have a few fall-to-winter items that are ready-to-sell and will get those listed in my Etsy shop as soon as I can get some good photos of them! 

Thanks for being loyal "fans" and sticking with me!