etsy friday

I'm a big big fan of finding etsy goods thru word of mouth from my friends-- they're always right on with what they think is cool :) So when I found Jelby thru Jen of piddleloop, I couldn't help but ask for a few custom stitch marker holders... you know how many stitch markers I have around here, eh? :)

I asked for an orange sheep...

felted stitch marker holder from Jelby.etsy.com
(pictured with stacked freshwater pearl stitch markers from zero.etsy.com)

...and an amanita mushroom (the mycophile in me still burns)...


felted stitch marker holder from Jelby.etsy.com
(pictured with pale cape amethyst stitch markers from zero.etsy.com)

They are SO COOL. Cary even included a tiny felted mushroom stitch marker-- it's awesome! The felted beads are very light and I could see how well these would work as stitch markers-- not heavy like glass, but so unusual and all handmade using a combination of wet and needle felting to capture the effect. VERY high up on my admiration list. Cary is also really great to work with for custom orders-- both the orange sheep and mushroom were special requests, and they are spot on to what I wanted. You can always convo Jelby to make you something special easy peasy, too! :)

Of course, Jen is a trickster and asked Cary to send me some squid love on a stitch holder... and Cary added her own touch on the other side...


(pictured with oval amethyst stitch markers from zero.etsy.com)

...a FELTED SPACE INVADER. Holy crap on a cracker but this had me squealing when I opened my mail this morning!!!! Jen also included some glass mushroom stitch markers-- I'm wearing one as a pendant today :)

So happy!!!

Further on the happy tip...


Blue faced leicester roving from pigeonroofstudios.etsy.com -- Loganberry

I don't know if you know (but judging from the speed at which her updates sell out, probably!) but Krista from Pigeonroof Studios is taking her shop on as her fulltime work-- a big leap of faith that I'm so excited about! There have been updates almost every day, and with the help of her new Schacht she's also updating her handspun yarns every Saturday. This is definitely the best time to add her shop to your rss feed, or get onto her email list for a headsup on her updates :)

One more shop I visited before the holidays...


Card case by sweetheartsinner.etsy.com

SweetheartSinner makes lots of things using kitsch, pop, punk, robot, pulp, and traditional images-- including this card case I bought for mom for the holidays. My mom had been carrying her essentials (id, cards, cash, etc.) in an ancient metal Camel case I'd given her back from when I was in undergrad (ages ago ;)) and it was literally held together with a rubberband and a prayer. SweetheartSinner's shop to the rescue-- she has over 70 (!!) pages of card cases and such to choose from, and this Hokusai print was perfect for mom. (Another Hokusai dream print would have my choice, but it can't always be about me ;))

The card case is really quite deep, made for holding cigarettes on each side...



...and the hinges inside are perfect for that, and for holding cards and cash securely.



Another etsy hit for the handmade holidays :)

Ah, I'm running out of time, so more next week!! Have a good one, I will ;)

etsy friday

I missed sharing etsy fridays! :)


Merino/cashmere/nylon sock yarn from PigeonroofStudios.etsy.com
Harvest colorway

I've had this Pigeonroof Studios yarn for a while (relatively!) now... I loved it before both in skein and knit up, and Krista's new batches have more cashmere than before! Her etsy updates can still be hard to jump on but she does maintain a mailing list-- you may want to contact her thru etsy to get on it and get a jump on being ready in front of your computer when she updates. (Or, subscribe to her shop's rss feed!)

Normally I don't ball my wool til I'm ready to knit with it, and have tipped my hand here. I've been knitting with this new formulation, the dread secret knitting, and it's wonderful stuff and really does look great worked up-- no pooling. I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to make my next pattern for sale (one of the samples is knit in this yarn) thru Ravelry's pdf pattern delivery service when it goes live. A good friend, Jen from piddleloop, has a secret identity as a pdf pattern designer extraordinaire and I'm trying to convince her to make her services widely available to other designers like me who are all thumbs when it comes to things like that... I'm sure you'll hear more in the coming weeks on all points :)

Speaking of designing, a lot of my holiday gifts were handmade (purchased)-- including this beauty from a famous designer:


Designs By Romi sterling silver shawl pin

You guys know the giant brain behind Muir and Ice Queen (and an upcoming BOOK about beads and fiber and yarn oh my!) also has a shop selling handmade shawl pins, yeah? (Just checking!) Rosemary's not an etsy vendor but I can't keep this one hidden for any longer :) It was a gift for mom along with the Hanami stole and the red glass shawl pin from TexturedTurtle-- and I had a *hard* time giving it away!

It is supercool though-- the spiral is slightly raised so you can actually draw your knitted fabric in without having to dig down with the stickpin to secure the knitting; a really spectacular detail only a knitter could think of. It's also heavier/sturdier than I thought it would be, but in a good way-- not heavy enough to drag down your knitting, but enough so you don't feel like you're going to bend it out of shape using it.

It really is breathtaking.

(And I really did give it away!)

:)

Another holiday gift...


Handdipped incense from FooberryIncense.etsy.com

My mom has been on a huge incense kick lately, which is funny since she always accused me of ulterior motives when I burned it as a teenager :) Water under the bridge, I'm all about the watching the gap-- which is the reason I chose to buy a grip of incense from Fooberry Incense for mom this year.

This is the freshest incense I've ever experienced, leaning more to the blue boxed dry as a bone Nag Champa for my fix. Since Julie makes your order when you place it, the sticks are just heavy with scent. Not only heavy but varied-- Fooberry has over 200 items/scents for sale including unusual ones like BACON and TOMATO as well as standards like dragon's blood and patchouli. Being made to order, it does take a bit to receive but FooberryIncense was sure to let me know each step from creation to shipping so I didn't worry about it arriving in time.

One other custom holiday gift from an etsy vendor was for my son...


Child's vinyl and fabric apron from DesignsByNanaHome.etsy.com

My blurry child :) Seriously though, he WANTED this-- he's been on a "helping" kick in the kitchen lately, washing dishes and "cooking" alongside me, and we have had a throwdown or two over who got to wear (MY) red apron... so I searched etsy for his own. I knew exactly what I wanted (vinyl coated, for wipedowns-- we're messy round here!; not feminine looking; something size and age appropriate) and DesignsByNanaHome had this perfect one! :) Actually, she custom makes these aprons from several different fabrics, all sandwiched with vinyl-- I picked the perfect surfer one for my crazy haired kid :)

I have to say how impressed I was not only with the apron (it has a toggle at the neck so it'll fit as he gets older and taller, the pockets are a really nice touch), but with the packaging. I don't really go for a lot of fancy packing stuff since it just hits the recycle bin, but DesignsByNanaHome *flatpacked* this so the vinyl wouldn't get creased during transit-- and I was just thrilled with that minor detail. The fact I don't have to share my apron anymore is a plus, too :)

Good to be back :) I'll be back next week with new FOs and some pics of dyed rovings I'll list in my etsy shop (I have a new blend of superwash merino/cashmere/nylon, along with sw merino/seacell and my standard superwash merino to dye... wish me luck!)

etsy friday

late start today! :)



Alyson's to blame for this one. She's the one who pointed out the awesomeness that is this bag, which somehow escaped my attentions but not for long :) Really though, the brown handle, the brown zipper, orange flowers... a non-knitter even commented on its super radness, and as a Girl Who Is Not Into Bags, I was way impressed with that.


Piddleloop Small Project bag, from piddleee.etsy.com

Like I went on (and on, and on) about before, I love my piddleloop bag. (If you haven't heard about pid bags before, check out my older review, much more thorough than today.) I may even love this one more than my loteria bag (shh!), but maybe that's just the negative connotation I have for the neverending blanket inside.

Reminder: If you have a piddleloop, stuff it to its gills and join us in the "how much (and what?!) can you stuff in your piddleloop contest" in the Friends of P forum at Ravelry by Nov 12th (Monday!) I'm donating a set of stacked pearl stitch markers (my latest favorites), and there's also other great stuff to be had for admitting how much you can abuse these things.

My new one isn't overly stuffed this time...



My knitspot cable rib scarf, hanging out next to the new knit and destroy button Jen slipped inside. It rocks, but not nearly as much as *her* new button sets here and here, I have a serious weak in the knees feeling for *yo!!!

More weak in the knees stuff...


4x6 prints by swirlingthoughts.etsy.com

I said a while back that I was in love with SwirlingThoughts' shop, and I meant it. I love her photography; fascinating and somewhat disturbing and confusing... just like love, eh? :) She doesn't sell cards (which is what I usually buy), but I'm going to take these and mount them as postcards to mail and share the love. So awesome.

So are the felt pincushions from What Lola Wants...


handfelted pincushion by whatlolawants.etsy.com

I found What Lola Wants' shop thru the etsyFAST trunk show sale, so not only did she take 15% off of the price, she sent it in the lovely gift box for free! (You can find links to all of the participating etsyFAST members' shops holding their sales til Nov 15th here.) I think this will make an awesome gift this holiday season.

And one early present for me...



My zero stitch marker shop was on the front page this morning!! Yay! :)

Have a good one, miss you!

etsy friday

First, thanks for all the compliments on the hamminess of my son and his new sweater jacket. He thinks he's adorable, too... my downfall (and others in his future!) I'm sure :)


tissue cozys and keyfobs from piddleee.etsy.com

I finally manage to take pics of the beaaautiful tisszue cozys and keyfobs donated by Jen and Wendy of Piddleloop for my contest and I end up with this crazy miscolored photo... Jen has a much more color correct one on her blog :) They should really sell these in their etsy store, so simple but so nice.

Speaking of the Piddleloop team, they just started a mailing list to keep people up to speed with their new bag listings on etsy... they did a large update this morning and I am THIS CLOSE to buying this green and orange one before its snapped up (isn't it awesome?! such a sucker for orange it's ridiculous, and the brown zipper gets my toes curling...)

Along with the cozys, fobs and a special treat for the three winners of the Piddleloop prizes (I'm keeping them secret, it's a nice surprise), Jen sent me another grip of cards and buttons to send with orders from zeromarkers, my etsy store... yay! I run thru these buttons like water, but if you're an etsy yarn/related seller looking to swap promos, Jen has *awesome* ones.

...another etsy friday, another loriola pendant...

:)


Flat glass scrollwork pendant from LORiOLA.etsy.com

I wish I could tell yall how much I like this piece. You could go to the original uncut pic in my flickr album and really look at all of the beautiful detail of breaking teal blues into brown and the heartdrops of orange and maybe get it. You could also check me out wearing it like, every day (alternating with this orange bone, another LORiOLA piece, a gift from a *rockstar* friend)... but I feel like I'm grasping at straws trying to get out how I really feel.

Maybe that's enough, saying I can't and letting sleeping dogs lie, figure it out for themselves.

:)


Superwash merino and tencel roving from tisjewelart.etsy.com, "sun dappled vineyard"

I almost came back to blogging just to write about spinning this fiber from Flawful Fibers-- SO nice!! I really liked the softness and the shine of it, and was really surprised at the drape that the tencel gave the yarn. I was going to save this for myself to make into socks, but really was hesitant thinking the shine and the drape would be better suited to another project... listed the finished yarn in my etsy store and it's already on its way to a new home (though there are a few more skeins in the shop) :)

This was the first time I thought about how the colors would line up when spinning-- I usually just pull a roving into fourths and grab the nearest strip to spin. This time I took the time to tear sections and separate them into lighter and darker sections...


(love this photo, you can really see all the colors this way)

...and purposely spun one dark single and one lighter one to be plied together for a hopefully overally cohesive color. Just lovely-- I've already purchased some more sw merino/tencel from another (non-etsy) seller since I liked it so much. More on that later though, colorwork is calling! :)

Have a good one, miss you!!

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.

***


$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.

***


$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.

***


$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.

***


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.

***


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! :(

***


$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.

***


$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.

***


$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

***


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.

***

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!

etsy friday

Usually my posts on etsy friday consist of a picture (maybe two) and a little bit of my impression of an item I've bought on etsy. Today'll be a little more picture intense, but you'll see why I couldn't just stop at one.


Small project pouch set from piddleee.etsy.com

Next time you see me, just tell me I'm not a tomboy anymore :) I just absolutely love using handmade bags to house my current knitting projects, and the bags from piddleloop are just awesome and feed that need in me. Bags keep everything together (yarn, needles, patterns, notions), help keep center pull balls from falling apart, and just look better stacked on my desk than 4 wips with needles and patterns everywhere.

I've known of Jen and Wendy's store for a long time-- piddleloop attaches stitchmarkers from "local" (etsy) stores on their bags' zippers, including stitch markers from my store, zeromarkers. It isn't to say I give them to the piddleloop team, or that I even sell them at a discount-- Jen quietly buys markers from my shop like everyone else, and sends them along with her bag orders without really advertising (before you buy a bag) that she does-- one of the little surprises from the piddleloop sewing team. You can check out the post about stitch marker and etsy love on the piddleloop blog (yes, I'm biased... you can see some of mine there :))

Their blog was the thing that had me all crazy about this particular bag-- Jen had posted a cryptic shot of a finished bag and I near on lost my mind with want (story of my recent life). Jen had no more of the loteria fabric, but went on some crazy manhunt and found fellow etsyhead azaleaSTUDIO with a single yard for sale, snapped it up and made this bag set custom for crazy me.

The end.*

Well, aside from the set! :) Let's just sift on thru the pics I've taken of the bag, eh?



You can order your bag with a grommet at no extra charge. I have to admit I bothered Jen via email no less than five times "reminding" her I'd really, really like a grommet... the idea with it is you can knit without unzipping the bag if you like by threading the start of your work thru the hole. You can't remove it (and say, put another project inside) by "tying" it to the bag, but it's just a really interesting idea. For as much as I begged for it, I haven't used the grommet yet :)



Piddleloop hooked me up with this sweet ribbon handle, knitting hands silkscreened on the light blue satin. I haven't seen this ribbon on their bags for sale (yes Virginia, I subscribe to their rss feed)... but in any case its a little hint as to what's inside.

Speaking of inside, let's go!



It's hard to capture, but the amount the bag can hold is surprisingly large. (That's my unfinished Everlasting Bagstopper inside-- a 100gm skein's worth of Euroflax Linen knit into a loose fabric and not even taking up half the space inside). The bag is lined with a coordinating fabric and has interfacing between the layers, same with the 4x6 pouch.

Deeper down the rabbit hole...



Pocket on one side, and...



...elastic needle/hook holder on the other. The little extra details inside make me think this would work well not just as a project bag, but say a notions or a knitting accessory bag as well. I have more than one set of needles for the elastic holder, but the few crochet hooks I have would slip in nicely there while my needle box and roll could hang out in the main body of the bag... my notions box in the pocket. Just thinking out loud, no bad ideas here ;)

edit, 7/27: Sherry W let me know in the comments that her double pointed holders work well in conjunction with the elastic needle holder-- slip needles in and pop the holders over. Really good idea, since I have several of her dpn protectors and just the other day was wishing I'd carried a spare set of needles with me, losing one needle forever on transit and not having enough to keep knitting. (The horror!) Thanks Sherry :)

Since we're already inside and you know you like the up the skirt shots...



...pictures of finishing and grommet from the inside. I don't sew but with anything handmade (like, 99% of what I buy on etsy!) I always am super critical looking at the finishing touches on an item. I don't know what's right, but I can see if it's wrong. The attention to detail and finishing is awesome to my eye.

For those of you curious about the size, a size comparison shot of the piddleloop bag next to the JapaneseHandmadeEtc bag (my son really wanted me to take a pic of *his*)...



They're both great. I can't wait to sew the (bad choice of) ribbon onto my everlasting bagstopper so Hanami can sit in my new loteria bag instead of being shoved unceremoniously on the side of my desk. :)

Besides the super great stitch markers attached to the bags, piddleloop also includes really sweet little surprises with each bag they sell. Also, notice the adorable sheep and horse (?) buttons above from my inside pics? Jen sent me a bunch of these as promos for her store on top of the ones that adorn the inside, so I'll be sending them along with new orders from my store til they run out. (They're all handmade as well, buttons and handstamped promos).

I really love connecting with people who appreciate and "practice" handmade-- piddleloop sources many things from other etsy sellers, writes about etsy and handmade on their blog, and practice it in their products and even their promos. I dig it a lot, and it makes me love my bag even more.

They will do custom work, so you can contact them thru etsy for more info on their sold items or if you have an idea in mind. Very easy to work with-- I appreciate how up front they were about the custom process and how it all came together, just as I'd hoped. Yay :)

You know, I didn't mean for this to be a one-item etsy friday, but it feels this is a good place to wind down. So there you go, have a good weekend! :)



* edit, 7/30: jen let me know that she's scored 4 more yards of the loteria fabric from etsy and can take custom orders for bags in it, and will have some for sale in their shop eventually. woo!