Fall knitty, q stockings and a contest

q stockings, my new pattern :)
published in fall knitty 2007
additional q stocking pics here in my flickr stream

Yall have no idea how hard it was to keep quiet about this pair of stockings! I breaknecked to get the second done recently (8 days), and liked the completed pair so much I actually bought a skirt (!!!) to wear them with :)

So, let's keep the happiness rolling...

Since contests make me happy, and etsy makes me happy... time for another etsy contest! For those of you who are new to my blog, Etsy is an online marketplace where crafters and artists can sell their handmade work. I try to feature various etsy artists I've purchased from every week here on my blog for "etsy fridays," and have picked a small sampling of favorite stores to give gifts and gift certificates from.

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$27 gift certificate to LORiOLA.etsy.com

There is a lot of beautiful jewelry on Etsy, but I am just smitten when it comes to LORiOLA's work. She is a glass artist with a great eye for color, a sense of humor about her art and a steady hand when it comes to creating scrollwork in molten glass. I truly believe each of her pieces is a work of art and I'm thrilled to own several different types.

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$20 gift certificate to pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com

I go on and on about Pigeonroof Studios, but it's not without good reason. She hand dyes yarn and roving for spinning in some of the most exciting colors I've seen on etsy (outside as well), and sells a good variety of handspun yarn for those wanting to try to knit with handspun. I am *captivated* by her eye for and application of color across fiber mediums.

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$18.50 gift certificate to frostfishcovesoaps.etsy.com

I have bought pounds of handmade soap from etsy for myself and loved ones, and Frost Fish Cove Soaps is my favorite vendor. Their molded, cold process soaps come in a wide variety of scents and ingredients that are foamy, cleansing and a luxury to use. I never thought I could be so excited about soap until finding handmade soaps, but I am and Frost Fish has made me a convert.

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3 sets to 3 winners: tissue cozy and keyfob set by piddleee.etsy.com
donated by Jen and Wendy of Piddleloop :)

You guys know how I feel about Piddleloop's fabric bags for storing my knitting projects, but did you know they make other awesome fabric creations as well? I didn't until Jen sent me this tissue cozy and keychain set; turns out the Piddleloop team makes lots of things for their local retail markets they we don't see in their etsy store. Here's your chance to see for yourself the excellent handwork that goes into all of their products-- and really, I didn't know I needed to carry kleenex with me til I started, and now I can't stop. It makes me feel like supermom.

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custom made Chrysanthemums on Black pouch by JapaneseHandmadeEtc.etsy.com
donated by Satomi of JapaneseHandmadeEtc, photo courtesy of her store

You know how much I love my Japanese Handmade Etc box bag pouches for sock knitting (see all SIX of mine here, here and here)... they are the perfect travel size for a sock, hang lightly on the wrist for walking and knitting, are heavily interfaced and reversible so no wayward dpns can poke thru, and really just seem made for housing small knitting projects. They are perfect for non-knitters as well (my son uses his for carrying important toddler boy treasures in, mom likes hers for carrying small essentials like a wallet and keys), and I'm still amazed at how well and with what detail they are put together.

Sorry for leaving this off my original post! :(

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$10 gift certificate to creativeapples.etsy.com

Creative Apples, by sheer volume alone, is my favorite greeting card seller on etsy. She is a photographer with a huge range, and her work looks awesome mounted on the large blank cards I buy hand over fist. Her shop is full of subject matter (superhero toys, foliage and flowers, cupcakes, robots...) and she will make any image from her flickr stream into a card or print. The choices there are huge and even more varied, so it's no wonder why I have and send so many.

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$10 gift certificate to time2cre8.etsy.com

I have been a fan of time2cre8 ever since opening up my own etsy store. I buy all of the recycled atlas/comic book handmade business card envelopes for my packages from her, and she constantly amazes me with what she can do with paper-- handmade envelopes, printed tags, aceos and cards. I love the variety of her art and talent across all sorts of media.

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$10 gift certificate to zero.etsy.com

The best knitting stitch markers on etsy.

:)

Seriously though, this is my little corner of etsy-- I have a shop selling knitting stitch markers made from freshwater pearls, semiprecious stones, and other handmade goods that do well as markers (being light, being unusual and being handmade). As much as I love glass jewelry, I am a big fan of abandoning glass for natural stones for my stitch markers. Freshwater pearls are incredibly light on the needles, much lighter than glass while still a beauty and joy to use. zeromarkers will also custom size your stitch marker rings for free-- you have a choice of US 2, US 4, US 9 and US 13 rings that nearly all sets can be fit with, depending on your knitting poison.

I also, occasionally, sell superwash merino roving for spinning dyed in 4 oz braids when I need a little color outlet.

zero.etsy.com - zerOmarkers

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photo courtesy of EtsyLabs.etsy.com

Each winner will also receive a 1" button made by at Etsy Labs-- the "gooey nougat center of the Etsy Executive Offices" where lucky NYC artists and crafters can hang out and expand their craft muscles by learning something new and soaking up the etsyness.

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All of the certificates should be enough to cover at least one item in the above shops with shipping, so no worries about needing alternate payment methods (unless you want to stock up, which my fellow vendors and I fully endorse ;)).



"How can I win something etsy-fabulous?"

By submitting a couplet to the world's longest poem at Choka On It and copy/pasting your couplet in the comments to *this* post. I reserve the right to disqualify you if you don't follow their (simple) submission requirements... I'm mean like that, ask around ;) Any doubts, check my past choka contests here, here, and here for more info. You must leave me either a link to your blog or a valid email address with your comment, no anonymous entries (so the vendors and I can contact you if you win!)

Contest will run til Friday, Sept 28 at 12pm PST (the next Etsy Friday for me, I'm taking a few weeks off!)... and winners will be chosen *at random* (one entry per person), so no worries about your poetry skilz or lack thereof.

Good luck! Keep on stranding on!