Happy New Year!

A happy New Year! Grant that I

May bring no tear to any eye

When this New Year in time shall end

Let it be said I've played the friend,

Have lived and loved and labored here,

And made of it a happy year.

~ Edgar Guest

and be sure to visit oldcrowfarm's shop for the above and other great vintage items.

What's your New Year's Resolution? Mine is Fair Isle knitting

What's your New Year's resolution for 2010?

Last year I decided to learn to knit socks.
And I did!
And I made pedicure socks for lots of women on my Christmas List.

...as I was knitting them, I realized I'd like to learn Fair Isle knitting. That's the one where you knit with multiple colours all at once and end up with a lovely design in your finished item.

Back in November, I found a Knit-A-Long (kal) for Fair Isle knitting and thought I'd join ... even though I'd already decided that learning this would be my 2010 New Years resolution. The photo shows the yarn colours I chose from my stash. I thought I'd learn Fair Isle knitting early. LOL Not so much!


I got side-tracked, so I guess it's still my 2010 New Year's resolution!!

See?

I'm just at the point where I add the new colour.

And I panicked and stopped.

And then I got totally side-tracked by everything else I was working on.

So, this is my New Year's resolution: To learn Fair Isle knitting.

What's your New Year's Resolution for 2010?

Finding Time ... and Making Time

As I rush about trying to get everything done that needs to be done this month, I noticed this on a calendar...

You will never find time for anything.

If you want time, you must make it.

– Charles Bixton

Hope everyone is getting everything done that they want done - and making the time to do it all.

Teams on Tuesday - yes, a few days late! LOL

I missed my Teams on Tuesday post this week!

But, no worries, I'll simply refer you to a post over at (the unofficial) Etsy Business Blog!

A great post about Team ESST, and if you look real hard, you may even find ME since my shop, PatternsAndSuch is a member of that team! :)

Happy Tuesday, er, um, Thursday!

My Ribbons are here!

How fun to come home from vacation and find a box in amongst the bills and sales flyers (and Christmas cards!) in my mail!

It is from one of the weekly giveaways at ctpubblog.com and I'm so excited!

New projects will have to wait until the new year though - a wee bit too much to work on between now and then!!

While you're waiting to see my new creations, why not take at look at those already completed and available at ennadoolf.etsy.com

THANKS to ctpubblog!!!

Wednesday Wonder - a cute knitting comic

Ravelry

Ravelry

I finally joined. Other knitters and those who work with fibre have been talking about it for ages and I held off.
And now I joined.

What is Ravelry?

Here is what the site says:
Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration.

And that is exactly what it is ~ and more! Of course the site description says much more, too! The above is just a short exerpt - read it all here.

To our US neighbours: Happy Thanksgiving!

Make a Smilebox greeting

This slideshow was created by Karen, a member of Team ESST on Etsy - be sure to visit her shop!

The Morgan

The "ennadoolf" purse pattern is now AVAILABLE for sale in my shops!!

Final testing was completed this week - on this new purse - The Morgan

If you'd like to purchase a pdf copy of the "ennadoolf" pattern to make this purse, here it is in my Patterns And Such etsy shop...

Click Here.

Your "ennadoolf" pattern will be emailed to you once your payment clears.

Thanks to my sisters for proofreading the pattern, and to everyone who offered to receive a purse or clutch or handbag so that I could get the pattern details finalized: Jessica, Sarah, Trish, Jenn and now Morgan.

Teams on Tuesday - Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The Vintage Market Team is taking part in Etsy's Black Friday/Cyber Monday Holiday Sale! Loads of goodies will be discounted from November 27th to November 30th. SImply enter the tag "vmteamsale" in the vintage search box to see all the specials!

Check each individual shop owner's page for their specific sale information!

(thanks funretro!)

Got supplies for your holiday crafting needs? If you're missing something, check out the Etsy Supply Street team for your supply needs! With over 25,000 Etsy listings and counting, they're sure to have what you're looking for! Check it out!
Individual shops will have their sale information in their shop announcements.
(thanks suenosdejmi)

Want to shop from that great country north of the USA? Your one-stop spot is at Etsy Canada! Click the link near in the top left corner for the list of Etsy Canada shops that are listed here, and like the other teams, individual shops will have their sale information in their shop announcements.

Members of Etsy FAST (Fiber Arts Street Team) are a collective of sellers on Etsy working together to promote all aspects of the fiber arts: spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, felting, sewing and more!
Individual shops will have their sale information in their shop announcements.

A team of Etsy sellers who are Wild, Wise Witty and are grandparents = the WWWG team (Wild Wise and Witty Grandmamas!).

A range of creations are represented in this group and all have active ETSY shops.

Visit our team page on facebook and be sure to become a fan!

Team members taking part in Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales promotions will have details in their individual shop announcements.

EtsyKnitters is a group of knitters from around the whole globe.

We are a cyber stitch'n'bitch, so grab your needles, yarn and pull up a chair.

We must all be smiling KNIT-friends!
Individual shops will have their sale information in their shop announcements.

The Jenn

No time to work on the pattern lately.

argh.

But I did finish one more purse!

Here it is:

The Jenn

Named for another one of my nieces, who now owns it.

Yes, I have a lot of nieces!

Once the pattern is available for purchase in my Etsy shops, Patterns And Such and ennadoolf, I'll be sure to let you all know!

Teams on Tuesday - (the unofficial) Etsy Business Blog

Cool new blog alert!

(The Unofficial) Etsy Business Blog


...and if you are looking for one place that has everything you ever needed to know about Etsy, this is it.



Once you're at her blog, click on About to learn who Justine is and why she created this wonderful resource.

Be sure to check it out!

Thanks Justine!

Amazing New Stuff!

Amazing New Stuff!

Need to get ready for the cold weather?

What about a grey scarf?

Do you spell it grey or gray?



And this violet scarf looks like it has bits of candy embedded in it!

It will be added to my shop shortly!

The bright colours will surely brighten up the dreary winter days ahead.




And speaking of brightening up the winter ~ what about simply adding bright new dishcloths to your kitchen!

These are being added to my shop and I do have several of each colour available.

And remember, you can find me on facebook too!

They're here!

These lovely lotions arrived this week!

It was a blog giveaway from Darcy's Knotty Knitter!

and I won!

and they are "a delicious mini-sampler set of the four newest Happy Hands Hand Cremes for fall, enclosed in a festive bright orange organza bag" especially for knitters from Local Gringos on Etsy!

I can't wait to try them all!

Thank you to both Darcy's Knotty Knitter and Local Gringos

Lest We Forget

Teams on Tuesday - Knit a Poem Finished!

The poem is completed!

The poem is In My Craft or Sullen Art by Dylan Thomas

I'm late reporting it - Click Here to read about the project at the Poetry Society's website.

and Click Here to read the poem.

KAL - Knit-a-long

I am taking part in a KAL (knit-a-long).

I've wanted to learn fair isle knitting for a while and had decided, that with all my other projects on the go, this would be my new year's resolution for 2010. To learn fair isle knitting.

And then along came this KAL.

So, I am learning now.

So these are my colours - pulled from my stash.

And I've cast on and knit the ribbing so far, as well as a few rows. I'm at the point where I'm supposed to add the first colour.

So now I will pause! I've never done this before, and the KAL hasn't officially started yet while everyone is choosing their colours. But I wanted to get this far, so that if I got busy I'd at least have this much done and could learn how to do the next part.

I'll keep you updated!

I'll also be updating my progress on facebook - at my business page for ennadoolf.etsy.com - become a fan and watch me learn!

The Trish

The pattern is done, but when I converted it to a pdf it was over 10Mb in size!

... because the photos were too big.

So I got it down to 3Mb but that can still be reduced, so the pattern is back in revisions to reduce it.

In the meantime, here is ...

the Trish

Named for another one of my nieces, who now owns it.

It's one of a kind (OOAK).

Once the pattern is available for purchase in my Etsy shops, Patterns And Such and ennadoolf, I'll be sure to let you all know!

Teams on Tuesday - Forest City Crafters - Gillianbeads

I met Gillian of Gillianbeads this past Saturday when we both took part in the craft show held at Chateau Gardens.

Our tables weren't close to each other so we didn't have too much time to chat but we sure hope we'll have more opportunities in the future, now that we have an Etsy team for London Etsy shop owners ~ the Forest City Crafters.

Be sure to visit Gillian's shop on etsy for handmade lampwork glass beads and artisan jewelry.

...and doesn't she have the nicest wine bottle stoppers?

I love them!

Barbie Turns 50 ! !

Did you know that Barbie is 50 this year?

I didn't realize it until I was walking down the street on my lunch hour and saw Barbies in a ceramics studio!

Yes, Jonathons had Barbie ~ wearing designer Bob Mackie dresses ~ on display.

I actually stopped in my tracks. lol

Then I went inside to see why these beautiful designer Barbies were in the window.

And it turns out the Barbies were part of a local collector's private collection and she was selling some of them and a portion of the sales was to go to a charity.

So of course I bought a ticket to the opening of the show! And here are some of the Barbies that were there.

The 2 I might have been interested in purchasing - Barbie as Sandy in Grease (in black 'leather') and one of the Harley Davidson Barbies - were unfortunately not part of this collection.

...that's okay, it means I can keep dreaming of finding them for a very reasonable bargain-basement price!

Teams on Tuesday - OOOH LA LA ... HATS ! ! !

This past weekend I created a Treasury on Etsy. It has expired now, but while creating it, I found SO many GREAT hats that I just had to share a few more with you today.

These hats come from the EtsyFAST team and you'll find many more if you click here.

Enjoy these great hats! and keep warm this winter!

Ignore the engine light?

I was told by many to ignore it

That it didn't mean a thing

And when the engine light is lit

Just to carry on my driving

But the engine light glowed on

So to the dealership I went

They'd switch it off - done!

And came back when they said it can't!

Sigh, a lemon's what I had

And Meringue's the name I gave

Not angry or mad

But would prefer the pie to have!

(okay, not quite a rhyme, but pretty close ... now let's continue ...)

A happy ending has been found

Her name is not deserved

The engine light's been doused

A new sensor switch installed

...you're right, that last one has no rhyming - but that's the end of the tale, so deal with it. :)

Someone thought my last post should be a poem and requested one, so this is it. The one and only poem I'm going to attempt!

♥ ♥ ♥

Frost on the Windshield and NO Furnace

I posted this photo in a blog post in the spring.

And we haven't seen the chipmunk all summer.

Sadly, we thought a hawk had found him for dinner.

We were wrong.

We found the chipmunk on Saturday.

He'd made his way into our furnace and expired. He got stuck in a small hole and that caused the furnace to not work. So, when troubleshooting the furnace, we found the little guy.

Well, at least we don't have to replace the furnace.

Wednesday Wonder - travel

This was the traffic we found on Hwy 400 heading north this past Saturday of the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. We should have expected it, yet were still somewhat surprised when we hit the slowdown. When I saw the tents and things on top of that car on the left, though, I hoped they had warm sleeping bags! The temperature at night is pretty chilly!

I thought of those tents and the traffic this morning while I was ~ ugh ~ scraping the frost off my car windows. Soon enough the roads will be slippery, so drive safe everyone!

Teams on Tuesday - WWWG Team and Free Shipping too!

These items came up when I searched Etsy for "wwwg team free shipping".

So if you're looking for free shipping - and want to see what the Wild Wise and Witty Grandmamas of Etsy have in their shops, here's a sampling!

Click here to see more!

The items above are: Symphony Opus 61 from ErikaPrice; Baby Bootie Pattern 1 from Lilbabythangs; Clown Sweater Pattern from PatternsAndSuch; Vintage Big Purple Crystal Beads from vickisvintagelane; Hello Kitty Craft Smock/Top from twogirlsandamom; California Poppy Needle Felted Brooch from nansglam; Celebration Time Gemstone Earrings from eversoDear; A Heart for Turquoise from TheEarringLady; and Sterling Silver Patterned Hoop Earrings from bschrag

Thanksgiving in Canada

Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada.

I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.
~William Shakespeare

An Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Harry & Joan.

Teams on Tuesday - Knit a Poem TEASER

Here is a teaser of the poem being constructed!

Remember I told you I knitted a square for a poem?

For the Poetry Society in the UK?

Of course you remember! :) Here's the link - click here.

And for more info, check out the Prick Your Finger blog.

Calendar Quote - Life

Life is ten percent what happens to you

and

ninety percent how you respond to it.
Lou Holtz

FABRIC SALE! October 3rd and 4th only!

ALL FABRIC in my Etsy Shop PatternsAndSuch will be 20% off listed price (not including shipping) on Saturday October 3rd and Sunday October 4th.

I am taking part in the Team ESST October Weekend Shopping Extravaganza.