Thankful Thursdays

I read that a good blog topic is Thankful Thursdays. I'm only doing it because I've been complaining a lot in my blogs and I need to remind myself to stop sometimes. I am thankful that today my husband and I were able to open a savings and a checking account at a credit union. I like the idea of becoming a member of an organization that is not concerned solely with profits. Don't get me wrong; I am obviously a capitalist. However, a system based on human nature reveals the nature of humanity. Organizing for the greater good is also human nature, of which there are many aspects. I like capitalism, but I like other things too.

I am also grateful that I made four swiffer socks, three of which I got posted up on etsy. The other one I forgot about because I'm absent minded that way. I'll do it tomorrow. (One mountain at a time.)

Remember they are reversible, and washable. Good for the land fills and your pocket book.

I am thankful to my friend Lisa who asked me to make them in the first place.

I am thankful of course to my friends and family for all they do, my sister-in-law for helping me promote my products.

I am the most thankful for my husband and my daughter, although I forget sometimes, like when I'm at Wal-mart and Molly keeps running around and climbing on the racks after I specifically asked her not to. (Did that sound more like a complaint?) Without them I'd be a completely different person, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it would be a very lonely person.

It is now time to make some laundry soap, because I've run out clean pants.

Geez!

I can't seem to catch a break. I had a nasty fever yesterday. I'm feeling much better after twelve hours of sleep, but Molly cried because I put the garlic salt on her toast before I cooked it this morning. I think she's next. She usually doesn't cry about stuff that easily.

Anyway, I've got to play catchup on my to do list today and get what I can done. My sister-in-law Beth is promoting my swiffer socks on the Facebook, so I need to make a few more. I made one yesterday, but it was really hard to concentrate on account of the fever. I would have liked to have made two or three.

I also made a receiving blanket, burp cloth, and bib for someone my husband works with. I meant to take a picture but I forgot. He took them this morning. I've been thinking about making some to sell though. But summer is coming; maybe I should think of a lighter fabric to use than flannel.

I think blogging everyday is going to be too much, but I will try harder.

Monday again!

It happened so fast. My to do list is very long. My mother-in-law wants two swiffer socks and a couple washrags. That puts me behind on my plans for posting more on etsy. I know there is no big rush. One mountain at a time, but if I'm going to do this, it'll probably get hectic from time to time. I need to learn to how juggle everything now. I still don't have the blog or the etsy shop the way I want them on account of my techno-anxiety. That's fine though, because I've gotten so much farther than I ever imagined, and I don't feel like giving up. I know I'm doing good.

Hopefully I can get it together to do a more creative blog tomorrow.
Thanks for reading!

Vacation Mode

There is this thing on etsy that is called vacation mode. I haven't checked out the logistics, but I assume it is so that you can get caught up on orders and/or go on vacation, etc. The words "vacation mode" just stuck in my head until today when I decided (although the etsy shop is NOT in vacation mode) that I am going to be, if in my mind alone, in vacation mode. On Monday, I will get back on it like Shaun White gets on a half pipe. In other words, I'm not going to blog or think about making things until Monday and just take a mental breather. So I will write a few things and move on to "vacation mode."

I still have a lot to do. My friend Lisa who wanted me to make the Swiffer sock, decided she needed two of them. She purchased them today. That makes 4 sales. Yay!

I thought I should put up a picture of one my daughter's art projects just for fun. She got it for her birthday from my aunt Lisa (not the same Lisa as above.) I finally let her paint it a couple weeks ago. She started to run out of paint because she was covering the whole surface of each dish with paint, and it was almost time for dinner so her father did the lines on the cups. Sometimes I am overwhelmed with a feeling of tenderness towards them both. I will refrain from further sentimentality.

Will write more on Monday!
Have a good weekend!

Hump Day!

I am writing this at 11:55PM on Tuesday night. After a rough day with my four year old who really needs to go to school and/or get the chance to play outside, I decided that I am exhausted and I need to spend more time with my girl. I think we might do something fun tomorrow. It depends on how cold it is as to what we do.

Thank you to my sister-in-law who gave me my first three sales on etsy. Yay! Twenty dollars richer. I have made some bookmark/business card to start handing out to people, so I am excited to get started making some more exciting items.

Valentine's Day

My husband and I don't get too crazy about Valentine's Day. We just get silly things things for each other. This year Mike out did himself with the air fresheners that he got from BlueQ.com. On the back of the Nelson Mandela one, there is an explanation that includes the sentence: "World-Renowned peacemaker, Nelson has captured his natural essence-cookies-and wants to share it with you."

The fresh vanilla scent of Obamarama is guaranteed to remove Republican odors or your money back.

Mike also got me a zippered pouch.

I checked out the website and they have lots of cool stuff and not too expensive. One of my favorite items was the Cat Butt Chewing Gum.

Molly and I bought Mike a t-shirt that has picture of all the Sesame Street Cast from Target. The caption says, "All my Homies are from the street." We've wanted to get it for him for a long time, but they never had the right size.


Of course, we also made him a cake.

All in all a good day. Hope everyone else had a good day too!

Mondays

Mondays are catchall days, but today I have a bunch to do. My friend that asked me to make the Swiffer sock wants two of them so I had to make another one today. It's already 2:30. There are Legos all over the floor. Ugh!
Anyway, the good new is I will have one sale soon. Yay!
Tomorrow I will post a couple pictures of the Valentine's Day presents I got.
Until then!

Here are a couple pictures!

This is the Swiffer sock I was telling you about. It's made of acrylic yarn and works great on the wood floors. I also made a cotton one that I like for the tile floor.







And here is the crown of my ribbon yarn hat. I
should be able to post a finished hat by Monday. I think it's going to be a little big for me, so I may need to tighten up my stitches. Whenever I crochet something for the first time, it's always a bit loose. You should see the first Swiffer sock I
did.
Thus ends my second week of blogging. I wish I hadn't had computer problems. I have lots of blogging ideas. My new quote is: One mountain at time.

Thursday

I'm still having technical difficulties. I don't have Photoshop on my cleaned computer right now, and I can't put the pictures up that I was going to put up. I apologize. I will fix it tonight when Mike gets home and can help me a bit. I know it seems like I'm incompetent in the computer area, and well I am. It's one of the last areas with which I still have confidence problems.

I joined Twitter today. I am following Dr. Oz, so I'm excited about that. At least I can still join stuff.

My ribbon hat is progressing nicely. I took a picture of it, but well, you know.

My username on Twitter is Priscaknits. Or you can type my name in: Heather Meyers.

Clean Computer

My computer is cleaned and everything is saved on an external harddrive. That was a hundred bucks down the drain just because some a-hole has to use his technological genius power for evil rather than good. I'm not sure where my pictures are, so this is another short and sweet blog.

I got on Facebook today, so I got my fix. :) I joined a group that was something like : Excuse me, but don't you realize Sarah Palin is insane? It made me laugh. She has a million fans on Facebook, wouldn't it be great if that site could get more fans? I try not to let that stuff get to me, but they keep talking about her on the news and stuff. I just want to scream, "If you'd stop doing stories on her, people would forget about her!"

I'm still working on my husband's sock, but I've started a crotchet hat with ribbon yarn. I'm very excited about it. I finished the Swiffer sock, so I'll have to post it on Facebook and see if my friend still wants it. If not, I'm sure I can use it. I made a cotton one too and tried it out. It works as good as the disposable ones at least.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a better post.

Tuesday

My computer has a nasty virus, so today's blog will be short and sweet. I'm working off my husband's laptop and I don't like it because it has no mouse. I'm having Facebook withdrawal because I know that's where the virus came from and I don't want to infect the laptop. Hopefully Mike can get it worked out.

I'm working on his sock and I've gotten to the heel part and I just don't get it. I wonder if I could use some other yarn and do a practice run but with only two needles. I think Ill try that. Sorry no pictures today. I'm rather grumpy about the whole computer thing.

Have a good day anyway!

Mondays

I have decided to designate Mondays as catchall days on my blog. I will do updates on the sales of my products and my projects. I will also add in anything that I haven't already fit in anywhere else, like links and such. My friend Jamie wants one of my scrubbie 2pks, so that is sale #1 although it is not through etsy or shophandmade. I still need to develop a banner and an avatar for etsy. I also want to do some more fancy stuff with the blog, but I'm not sure how to do all that. I'll have to experiment with different stuff.

A friend of mine wanted a reusable Swiffer sock, of which she showed me two different patterns. I am currently working on this project. I think one acrylic (for the dry Swiffer) and one cotton (for the wet Swiffer) will make for a great combo. (craftstylish.com/item/44816/how-to-make-a-reversible-swiffer-sock) The other project I'm working on is my husband's socks. Hopefully, I'll get them done by Valentine's Day.

An added note to yesterday's post: My grandmother got wind of my sock making and sent me her grandmother's double point needles. My grandmother hasn't used them, so she's kept them all these years in the same envelope that she received them in. I don't know my great-great grandmother's name at this time or what side the needles came from, but I'm very excited about it. The name on the envelope is my great-great grandmother's sister, I think my mother said. I need to find out about it. The needles are a bit dirty and rusty so I haven't used them yet. I'm fascinated though by the fact that they were used in 1942. I'll have to clean them up and use them.

Socks!

I made socks for my husband's nieces for Christmas this year. I went to Michael's with my forty percent coupons, proud of my thriftiness, and bought the Patons Stretch Socks yarn. I decided to do this the week of Thanksgiving, thinking surely I had enough time to make three pairs of socks. I'd never made socks before, but I knew with each sock it would go faster and faster. I spent whole days yelling at my daughter to leave me alone while I knitted feverishly. By the time the day after Christmas came and we headed to my sister-in-law's house for the family get together, I was sick of socks, and I still had two of them left to make. I vowed I would mail them in a couple weeks feeling a bit of a failure.

I finally finished the last pair last Thursday (That's February 4). I took a couple pictures, thinking it would make a good blog subject, because I thought the socks turned out quite nice. I used a free pattern from Patons that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. This tube sock pattern was easy too, as I didn't have to make a heel.

I have the socks all boxed up and I only have to take them to the post office. I hope the girls like them. I still feel bad, mostly for starting a project I couldn't finish in time. We got them a little something else for Christmas, so they weren't present-less or anything. I underestimated the power of the socks!
On the plus side I have enough yarn left that I think I could make some newborn socks out of it. I also started a pair of socks for my husband. This pair will have heels. So, while I may have had a setback with the socks, I have not been defeated!

Friday

Thus concludes my first week of blogging. I started it on Tuesday, because I thought I would start next week and get more organized. However on Tuesday, I thought I should just do it. I'm actually enjoying it. I am still a bit disorganized, but I think that just might be the plight of motherhood. I feel like I have ADD sometimes. I have decided it's all the noise. The television, PBSKIDS.ORG, (both going at the same time) the questions, oh the questions that four year olds ask, and of course the requests for help with butt wiping. The funny thing is I only have the one kid. I can't imagine what it would be like if we have another.
I hearted a couple of etsy shops the other day. Cute coffee cup sleeves at CafeBoulet.etsy.com. I don't use disposable coffee cups myself, but I thought these were cute anyhow. If I should get pregnant and have another child, I will definitely consider getting a couple organic hemp and/or wool diaper covers at TurnANewLeafInc.etsy.com.

Another Avenue

Because I have not made a sale over at etsy yet, I thought I would give shophandmade.com a try. After all they claim not to have a fee, which is sort of true. But I have chosen to pay one anyway. It's a bit confusing. (But then I've always been a technophobe too, and this stuff is often confusing for me.) I posted up the one item for now. I also didn't get a website address directly to my shop like I did at etsy, so I'll have to figure that out.

The fact is there are so many people on etsy, that it can be a bit overwhelming. I also haven't found my niche yet, and I have various technical issues that make my shop a little less professional looking. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of what I've done so far, but there is definitely room for improvement. I am happy to take constructive criticisms if anyone has any ideas. I am planning on doing some work on the blog this weekend. Any suggestions?

A Few Links of Interest

I was watching Oprah the other day and they showed what the mass produced chickens looked like. They can't stand up for very long because they get so big from all the growth hormones that their bones can't hold them up. I found it depressing. I need to watch that Food Inc. movie.

I did a little surfing on the Oklahoma Food Co-op website the other day. I haven't joined yet because I don't have the $51.75 to join, but I'm going to save up for it. I really want to buy some plum jelly that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup. If you are interested in grass fed beef and free range chicken, it's a good place to go, although again, I can't afford to buy a $15 chicken at this time. I know it's worth the money; I just don't have it right now. I would love to order some organic whole wheat flour as well.

Anyway, if organic food is something you are interested in, I recommend you check out the Food Coop website. If you don't live in Oklahoma I'm sure there is a similar place to buy organic food. Remember, also that the more local your source of groceries the smaller your carbon footprint.

Also of local interest is Sealed With a Kiss. I really like this yarn store. There are so many colors of wool at lots of different prices. There is one located in downtown Gutherie (109 e. Oklahoma) and one shop in Oklahoma City, the one I go to. It's at 31st and Classen. If you are unable to get to those locations you can shop online at swakknit.com. One of their featured items is Llama Cotton Worsted that looks wonderful. Again, when I get some extra money, I'll have to go and feel it. I love cotton yarn so much.

On a lighter note, as with most fads, I'm always a few steps behind. Some of my hipper friends on Facebook, introduced me to urbandictionary.com. It can be very raunchy, but if you can stomach it and not be offended by such disrespectful humor, it's hilarious. (For Adults Only).

Also, don't forget my own website knittingbyheather.etsy.com.

Blog #1

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to finally get it together and open up my shop on etsy. I spent all of January doing this. I made several quick and easy objects to get started. I plan on starting some more complicated projects soon.
Here are a couple of items that I have up so far.




For descriptions check out my store. :)

I learned to knit three years ago. I have learned a lot since then, but there are still projects that seem rather daunting, such as sweaters, socks with heels, mittens and gloves. I hope that I can find some kind of niche, and that people will be interested in purchasing things from me. I have yet to make a sale at this point.

It is hard to put yourself out there. I take it bit by bit, moving slowly away from my comfort zone. However, after years of hiding behind a sarcastic, sometimes drunken, facade, I know this is something I have to do. I hope you can join me in my struggle.