Nifty New Site for Teaching, Cool!

I just signed up on Betterfly.com which is a nifty little site I heard about on Facebook today. It allows people who have certain skills, such as mad spinning skills like me, to be found by other people who want to learn said skills. I signed up as a crochet, knitting, and spinning instructor. We'll see how it goes.

When you sign up you can customize your page with as little or as much information as you would like. Decide what you want to teach and then make a class listing with a short description and the price you would like to be paid. Make arrangements for how you would like to be paid and then go to the calendar and set up times you are available. You can upload pictures and other resources for people to look at to help them decide if you are the teacher for them. Pretty nifty right?!

To learn more about Betterfly, click on the Betterfly widget to the right. Now to wait for my first student...maybe it's you?

Am I Really Old Enough to Teach Knitting?

Not that I mind teaching, don't get me wrong...but the knitting stereotype of the old grandmother teaching her grandchildren still sticks in my mind. In fact, I love to knit and most people who have learned from me will tell you that I do pretty well. Most of my students are visual learners, as am I, so we understand each other. This is excellent because most people who know me can relate how I am always trying to make up new words and gesture wildly when I can't think of the words I really want, which is often.

I'm not what most people would consider old, just in my early 30's. Kids call me the "fun Aunt" who likes to sugar them up and send them home. I'm the one who always has time to bake and do creative things, the one who's not burnt out yet because I don't have children of my own. This makes me feel incredibly young, which is why I wonder about the aforementioned anecdote. Why does knitting, something I dearly love, make me think of elderly women? There are countless movements recently that pitch fiber arts in a younger, hipper light. Things such as "Yarn bombing" have even reached little Keokuk, IA. I noticed an elegantly wrapped signpost the other day and wondered if I should covertly add to it or just start my own. Surely I have some old yarn left over from making baby blankets for all my friends that could be sacrificed for such a cause. The whole world should know that knitting is not just for grannys anymore. Sometimes it's for people who will never be grandmas, like me.

To get back to the teaching though, for several months now there have been a small group of women coming over to our house to learn the basics. It's a little daunting coming up with lessons as I never know what they will remember from the class before and if they will be ready to move on. We went from knit and purl stitches in lesson one to binding off and cables in lesson two. For some this might seem to be a jump, but I don't believe in keeping people in potholder stage for very long. Knitting should be fun and experimental and progressive. People in ruts don't have very much fun.

The problem is, there has been so much ice and snow in the past month that we have missed the last few weeks. I'm afraid we may have to go back to potholder stage and refresh before moving on. At least they will already have a feel for it and perhaps it won't take the whole lesson. I don't charge money because these are my friends and the joy I get out of seeing someone "get it" is worth more than anything. Besides, once they love knitting, they will probably love yarn and I can ease them into a spinning addiction as well. Bwahahahaha!

Stocking up for Winter

I promised to share some of the other projects I've been working on with you all, so here's another one. It seems so strange to be knitting things so obviously Winter-ish when it's roasting outside, but that's exactly what's been happening here.


I present to you Exhibit A, the Fuzzy Wuzzy Ear Warmers. They are knit it in four sizes, Large, Medium, Small and child's. They are all knit out of some of my hand spun wool yarn that wasn't selling in my ETSY shop. I didn't use a pattern or anything, but all the same I worry about accidentally being labeled a copycat. Sometimes a design is so straightforward and simple, I'm sure many people have had the same idea before I did. It's a little hard to see in the pictures, but they are just a simple band with a big fat cable in the middle. My dear hubby is the dashing model in these pictures (isn't he a cutie?), but I might see if I can find a different one when I list them in the shop later.


The ear warmers are uber-warm and very comfy, so I do hope that someone sees them and takes advantage of a good deal. Iowa winters can get pretty cold, so I'm keeping one for me too. Yay!

My First Wearable Baby Item

Wow! It has been forever since I updated anything here. I apologize to all my followers for dropping off the face of the planet for a month. During that time I have completed several small fiber projects, which has given me a bit of a sense of accomplishment.

I'll share just one of them with you for now so I have something to talk about for later. Nice strategy huh?

One of my oldest and dearest friends recently told me she is successfully pregnant and into her 25th week. She's had several miscarriages in the past, so I am wildly thrilled for her and her hubby. Here's the thing, they are not finding out the sex of the baby until it gets here in August. This presents a bit of a challenge for those of us who want to make gifts for the little one.

I've made plenty of baby afghans in the past, but this time I want to make something different. I looked around for useful baby items and ran across the idea for wool knit soakers. (For the childless out there, like me, a soaker is just another name for diaper cover.) It just so happens that I was plying up a gender neutral yarn off my wheel the other day and when I swatched it out, the gauge perfectly matched that needed for the Curly Purly Soaker Pattern by Marnie Ann Joyce.

It's knit in the round using 3 different needle sizes instead of increases for shaping and is really a very easy pattern to make. It is written with the assumption that you already know how to make short rows and indicates where to insert them if you choose to. They just add a bit of fullness through the seat. If you have a thin child or one in trainers, you may choose to opt out of the short rows. I had it knitted up in one afternoon with no problems at all.


There is one place which might cause a bit of confusion, so I'll just tell you now so you can breeze right over it. Right after the last set of short rows you actually start knitting flat to form the flap for between the legs. Just knit flat and do what the pattern says and it should turn out fine. Instead of grafting at the end, I just knitted the 2 rows together to form a secure seam, invisible from the outside. Around the leg holes I did 7 rows of 1x1 ribbing, but now I kind of wish I would have done more so she could fold it up or leave it down. Well, there is always the next one, right?

I'm planning on making her several soakers in different patterns so she can find out which kind she likes best. Every baby is different, so what works for some might not work for others. I found a helpful group on Yahoo for wool soakers. If you are interested in more soaker patterns and expertise, it's a good place to go.

Well, that's all for now. Check back soon because I'll be telling you all about the other stuff I've been up to soon. Have a lovely day!

My Very First Lace Blocking Ever!

It's hard to believe that in all my 20 plus years of crocheting and 6 years of knitting, I have never once blocked any of my projects. Yes, I know, it's a bit of a secret shame really, but up until now I've never really needed to.

I made a sample of yarn for my sister's wedding shawl and I needed to know how it would knit up. So I took it and just knit a very simple lace pattern scarf. Of course, then I had to figure out how to open it all up. A little research and a little cash later resulted in a package arriving from Knitpicks yesterday. It contained foam interconnecting blocking boards, lace blocking pins in a nifty little case and corrosive resistant lace blocking wires. It's an investment I have been pondering for quite some time now, so it wasn't exactly an impulse buy, but it was close.

It took about half an hour to soak the scarf in lukewarm water to make the fibers slide past each other when blocked. Then the "real work" started. It took another 15 minutes to slip the blocking wires in all the outside stitches of the scarf. Here's where it got really cool though. I laid out as many foam board pieces as I needed and put them together just like big puzzle bits. It took 2 minutes to completely pin and stretch and re-pin the wires to the board. Voila! Done! Perfectly stretched lace. How awesome is that!?

I do have to note that not until I was finished did I realize that the textured side of the blocking boards is supposed to be in contact with the yarn. I really don't think it was meant to keep them from sliding around on the table. I also realize that one end of the scarf is much skinnier than the other end, and I think it has a lot to do with binding off too tightly. Well, there's always next time, right? Chalk it all up to experience.

I wish I would have taken pictures of all the steps from start to finish, but as you can see, it's pretty easy work. These items will more than pay for themselves in saved time and effort. My sanity will be a rest too, which is priceless.

Peanut and Tommy - Cute and Cuddly Crafts

Have I ever got a treat for you wonderful crafters this week! We get to meet the energetic and vivacious crocheter Debi, who is one of the creative geniuses behind Peanut and Tommy on Etsy. Let's start with a little insight into her shop.

Peanut and Tommy is made up of things Debi makes and things her mom knits. “My mom lives alone in a retirement community two hours away from me and doesn’t drive anymore. She’s pretty much home-bound and loves to knit toys.” she says. “I originally opened the shop to give her a job—a reason to get up in the morning. She loves the idea of sending out her toys to live with children all over the world. She has sent a knitted snake to Australia, an elephant to Germany, a set of turtles to Florida, a bear to California, and that’s just to mention a few. It gives her great joy and keeps her busy.”

It's great to see that Debi comes from a crafty family. “My mom knit all my sweaters when I was a child. My parents were always pretty thrifty—many of our Christmas or birthday gifts were handmade. If I wanted to buy fabric to sew an outfit, mom was always willing to pay for that. I sewed most of my clothes for many years. Although Mom tried to teach me to knit, I didn’t learn knitting or crochet until I went away to college.

Years of thrifty craftiness has molded Debi's persona. “I love to make things for other people. To me, a handmade gift is a gift from the heart. I have two girls (teenagers now, one is in college). I make the kind of goodies that they would have loved as children. I love to make cuddly cute things like my cupcake bags and the caterpillar in my shop. My mom made the three dinosaurs and all the teddy bears. She loves the cuddly cute things too! I guess we’re related!” she laughs.

“I love making the cupcake bags that turn into a doll cradle. I crochet the bags, sew a cotton lining for them, and then knit the little dolls to go inside. I really enjoy finding beautiful yarn and fabric that coordinate. They take a while to make, which is why I only have one or two in my shop at a time!”

She also takes great joy in helping out in the community. “I started a knitting guild at my daughter’s school where we knit for charity. We’ve made a ton of chemo caps, made up personal care bags (each with a hand knit washcloth) for the women’s shelter, knit a million teddy bears, made blankets for Project Linus, you name it. We’re really quite active!”

Debi is also in to crafting with recycled materials. She makes a cute little Eco-friendly crocheted frog out of cotton yarn that is made from leftovers from t-shirt manufacturing. In addition to that, “I am knitting a market bag with “Plarn” which is yarn that I’ve made out of used plastic bags. The plarn is tiring to knit with, but the bag is really quite beautiful. However, I made it so BIG, that it’s taking me forever to finish it!” So maybe someday we'll see one of those in her shop too!


She has a second shop on Etsy, Peanut and Tommy Too that she has just started up for vintage finds. Recently she has been helping out on the CreateCrochet Etsy Team Blog with the shop of the week and introductions of new members and does a very nice job even if I do say so myself. If you are interested in following her day to day exploits you can find her on Twitter as PeanutandTommy.

As everyone has a dream to work towards, I asked Debi where she would like to be if she could be anywhere. Her reply, “Greece, living in a little house in a small town overlooking the blue sea. Poli Kala! (My husband is Greek).” It sounds wonderful! May all your dreams come true Debi.

Caffeinated Frenzy - A Creative "Buzz"

Knitters are a notoriously curious bunch and being one, I know what we like. What we like is to hear about other knitters. Well, have I got a treat for you! Today we get to peek into the crafting life of the vibrant young woman who brings us Caffeinated Frenzy on Etsy.com. She is a fellow “yarnie” like me and loves to be creative and spontaneous. Let's sit back and let her tell us about it in her own words.

“Before I injured my knee, I was a dancer. I tend to be quite an ambitious person. I love to move, enjoy working and if I'm not busy, I don't know what to do with myself. I have two jobs in addition to selling my knits, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I was somewhere around ten when my mother first showed me how to knit. I knew she used to be a knitter, and I wanted to learn how. She didn't remember much, but she was able to show me how to cast on and how to do the knit stitch. After that, I taught myself the rest of the basics. From there I went on to learning how to knit in the round, follow charts, create cables, etc. It was a lot of trial and error, but now I completely understand why each stitch looks the way it does. It's helped me figure out design as well.” I'm here to tell you all, learning to knit mostly by yourself takes a lot of talent, and this girl's got it.

“Whether it's a personality quirk or just too much coffee, I can never sit still. When I have short bursts of energy where I want to focus on one thing, that's when I'm able to come up with new designs. I definitely still consider myself a kid (I'm 19), and probably still have a bit of that "look at me!" screaming for attention teenager attitude left. I love bright colors and acting on impulse, but it's fun.

I want people to feel inspired and independent when they see my work. The yarn seems to figure out what it wants to be for itself. The color and texture put an image in my mind and I work towards that. I like to finish things quickly, so that I don't lose interest. I work when I'm inspired to. whether that's when I'm excited over making a sale, have an idea in my head to create, or have pretty new yarn to play with.”

When asked about what she loves to make the most she said, “I'm really happy with my Darling Cloche. A blue one was my first sale on Etsy. I like it's simplicity, it's just a fun little hat.” She points out that anything on her site can be made in any color or size, all anyone has to do is ask and she would be more than happy to knit something special just for you. “I try to use natural materials. I do use a fair amount of acrylics, but a lot of my more "luxurious" things are made with merino wool, silk, angora, alpaca, natural fibers.”

She's also been making some things to help others cut down on the amount of trash they throw away. “Lately I've been knitting reusable coffee sleeves, fun little gifts that are a much better alternative to disposable ones. I also use them as promotional giveaways because I like to throw extra little things in when I send out packages.”

With this much enthusiasm and zest for life, she's sure to make all of her goals realities. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of her in the future. So where does a young successful entrepreneur dream of going to get away from it all after another busy day with her shop? Well, let's see what she has planned. “I don't think I could ever pick one place, but I do have a long list of places I eventually plan to end up. Los Angeles, Chicago, India, Italy, London, and Socotra Island. I absolutely love cities and plan to see a lot more of them.”

If you're looking to connect with Caffeinated Frenzy on the Internet, she has many different ways for you to find her. Besides Etsy, she also sells on Artfire and 1000 Markets. She's got an awesome Facebook setup which she is really trying to promote right now so go check it out and support a fellow crafter. To see some of her other work check out her Flickr page or to read the latest and greatest happenings follow her blog at http://caffeinatedfrenzy.blogspot.com

Living the Dream - Katy of Urban Eagle

It's not every day that one gets to meet a woman who is truly a treasure. Today we all get to look into the wonder that is Katy of Urban Eagle Designs. Her shop has been open a little over a month now, so she is still “undiscovered”, but she should be right up there on everyone's go-to list for something extra-special. After I read her questions I just wanted to get on a plane and fly out to New Mexico to meet her in person...she's just that awesome.

First off, she's a wife, a mother and a grandmother. In a former life she was graphic designer for almost thirty years. She even had her own business in San Diego for twenty years. After doing her time in the corporate world, she went after her dream and moved out of the city on to 56 acres in northern New Mexico with her husband and two dogs. They live completely “off grid” which means all their electricity comes from photovoltaics. For all you novices like me photovoltanics is the application of solar cells for energy by converting sunlight directly into electricity. This spring they hope to build their own straw bale and adobe home. They have a lovely patch of land to work with.













Katy is currently a student working on her certification in herbs. Not only does she grow herbs, but also natural dye plants and most of the food her family eats. That's right, she buys her fibers from local growers and then dyes them using plants she herself grew and then spins her own yarn. She's all about being organic and non harmful to the environment. I told you she was awesome didn't I? Somehow she finds time to knit all her efforts up into wonderful offerings for her shop. Oh and she keeps bees...as if she wasn't busy enough.

She has been working with fiber since she learned to knit at the age of 14 back in nineteen mumble mumble. She started designing her own patterns in 1992 and was even a featured artist in "Knitting in America". Soon after that she learned how to spin and then to dye with natural dyes. She is most certainly in love with her craft because she has such wonderful attention to detail. Most of the inspiration for her designs comes from Native American Art. “I have a library of over 70 books of all sorts of Native American art from rock art to bead work to weaving to pottery. You name it, I've probably got a book about it! I also get inspiration from the spiritual world. Each of my garments have "totems" attached to them in some way.”

In Urban Eagle you can find high quality, labor intensive craftsmanship. Her favorite things to make are her vests, which are gorgeous. “I make my pieces for "real" people to be worn frequently.” she says and wear them they do.

“Most of my day-time hours (except for the dead of winter) are spent outside in my gardens and greenhouse. I like to do my dyeing, spinning and fiber prep in the afternoon and early evening. I knit at night after dinner. If the weather is bad I will knit during the day.” She is living a fiber dream come true. Even though the thought of Katy sitting and peacefully knitting is a tempting one, we now know that a lot of work goes on before she can ever sit down and rest.

Besides selling on Etsy and running her family place, she keeps herself busy with several other pursuits. She belongs to the Espanola Valley Fiber Arts Center and just recently signed up on Ravelry, although she admits she doesn't quite know what to do with it yet. I'm sure a few of us wouldn't mind reaching out to her as I have a feeling most of us are already floating around somewhere on Ravelry.
“I do at least two art tours here in northern NM - the Abiquiu Studio Tour and the Pedernal Arts Tour. I have had VERY bad luck with consignment so I don't do that anymore. Most of my sales, outside of the tours, are by word of mouth. I am also a stop on the New Mexico Fiber Trails.

Her hopes are that someday the revenue from her fiber (and herbs) will grow to be a good “supplement for my Social Security...when I'm eligible for it,” she giggles. You're only as old as you act, and as far as I can tell, Katy is one young spring chicken.

Etsy, Ravelry, Twitter and Me

For months now my dear hubby has suggested I start one of these blog things about my fiber projects. More specifically, my spinning of yarn, which I am currently obsessed with. These suggestions were normally put off with, "I'm too busy right now, what would I write about anyway?" Hmm. Apparently the "powers that be" were listening and I find myself with quite a bit of time lately due to losing my job. Sigh...no really, it's OK. Here's why.

Since September I've been spinning yarn on a Babe Double Treadle Spinning Wheel I picked up secondhand at a fiber festival. It's great, and I'm "in love" with it, but now there is a small mountain of fiber and fiber projects in my minuscule living room with nowhere to go. So what is a hot young fiber-holic to do? Why turn some of that effort into cash of course! Not to support the family you see, but to fund the addiction. Off to find some fiber-challenged enablers!

A friend suggested that I check out Etsy.com, which I did and subsequently spent two full weeks submerged in "research" of other people's shops. Several hundred dollars later and in danger of having to go without clean clothes, I finally opened my own little shop called Handmade Sunshine. So far in a month I've managed to have 2 sales and about 300 views. Not too bad for a first month.


I joined a few fiber-related teams on Etsy that keep blogs as well. A new fledgling team is Create Crochet! and is headed by a real sweetheart named Kristen. She is always looking for new ideas by people who are passionate about crochet and crochet supplies. She also makes some pretty amazing greeting cards which you should really check out.

Etsy FAST which stands for Fiber Arts Street Team, is a more established group interested in the promotion of fiber arts of all kinds from paper to yarn and everything in between. They have monthly challenges where fiber artists compete to create an item that best embodies the current theme. For instance, February the topic is "emotions" and several people have already listed their item in their shops. One example is the "That Warm and Fuzzy Feeling Scarflette"

Etsy has some amazing articles on how to promote a shop and that's how I found out about Twitter.com and got addicted to a brand new thing. Well, at least for me micro-blogging is new. So far I've been on for almost a week and have 39 followers. Not that I ever say much on there that is enlightening, but the voyeurism is rather fun. Usually the background is set to show off a new yarn listed in my shop. My hubby now teases me about being "such a geek" which I take in stride since he's an even bigger one. It's the whole, "it takes one to know one" kind of mentality that we have come to expect in our relationship. (Contented sigh, giggle, "I love him")

Earlier this year one of my friends had told me about Ravelry.com which is an wonderful reference tool for knitters and crocheters and unfortunately requires an invitation to log on. It's still in the Beta testing phase and so you submit a request for an invite and the moderator sends one out easy-peasy in about 4 days. Hey, they're young, they're hip, and extremely cool so it's totally worth the wait. Even bunny-loving spinners like me can find a niche on there. They have places to keep track of yarns, projects and books that you have pileing up around the house, forums where you can find the answere to every fiber question imagineable, and a nifty message center to keep track of new friends. Sweet!

So where does that leave little ole yours truely? Glued to the computer between spinning up batches of yarn and trying to maintain basic physical hygine requirements, that's where. I think I'm busier now than I ever was when employed. Every-once-in-a-while the bunnies come by and sit on my feet to remind me to feed them; either that or they're busy plotting the demise of my computer again. I should have never passed up that stock with the electrical tape company.

Here's to wishing all of you a happy and productive weekend! I've got some yarn to spin.