Attack!

It's time to attack! The following shops have been chosen for today's attack:

RoseHips - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5922732

artrepublik - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5056766

Don't forget that the attack runs all night. So if you don't get to the website right away, you can still participate. Visit the Handmade Movement website for more information on Sneak Attacks.

For Today Only: Sneak Attack Central

Phippsart, the papa of Sneak Attacks, will be away today for the holiday. Since I'm hosting the attack today, I'll be posting the shops here at 7:00 pm EDT.

For more information visit The Handmade Movement website, chat on the Etsy forum beforehand, and stay tuned....

RAK-a-Day

I'm taking part in a very fun swap -- perform one or more RAKs (Random Act of Kindness) per day for a week then write to your partner to let her know about your week.

Most of the RAKs will be quiet ones. You don't need to know. It's more fun that way.

But one of the things I'll be doing this week is listing one or more PIF items in my Etsy shop per day. PIF stands for Pay It Forward. Sellers list an item for 20 cents (the cost of the listing). The buyer is supposted to continue the movement -- list something in their shop as a PIF or perform sort other sort of RAK.

I did a seach for PIFs yesterday and discovered that (as is the case with most things) some sellers are using the PIF listing as a selling tool. They tag something PIF but charge a huge shipping charge (often the actual price of the item plus shipping). Really bad karma, I'd say.

These PIFs are real. The cost is 20 cents (because Etsy won't let you list something for free). I'm paying the shipping charges.

Be on the lookout this week!

EtsyBlogger of the Month: CreateAThought

"There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes. ~William Makepeace Thackeray"

This quote, in the Shop Annoucement of CREATEaTHOUGHT's shop, is a wonderful invitation the world of journaling and creative writing. The artist behind CREATEaTHOUGHT offers journals and journal kits in all sorts of designs to spur your creativity.

In her profile, she writes, "everyday you are creating thoughts. Thoughts that are interesting and beautiful, profound and deep, silly and funny. Whatever your thought style is, they should be recorded. CREATEaTHOUGHT's mission is to help you do just that."

In addition to journals, she also sells handmade buttons, rings, magnets, and cards. Check it out!

EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival: Summer Shop Show & Tell

The current Blog Carnival theme for EtsyBloggers*:
Show & tell: Summer line - what you will be making/showing in your shop this summer...

I've been wanting to introduce some new items to my shop for a while now. But RL work has been keeping me very, very busy. And sales in the shop have picked up just enough (during this otherwise busy time) to give me pretty much no spare time.

Here's to hoping I can get to some new things soon!

I want to add a line of decorated cotton twill tape (similar to the commercial tapes you can get from Japan). The materials are sitting in my studio waiting for me. Look for them soon (I hope!).

And my hand-carved rubber stamps are doing well in the shop. I want to continue to expand my offerings. As you can see, I've got a sketch of a gnome ready to go.

Look for the new offerings soon. I hope. :)

*EtsyBloggers, I apologize for not fulfilling my April blog obligations. So sorry!

Bad Blogger

I should probably realize that every year at this time, things (like this blog) suffer because work gets so busy. You wouldn't think the winery biz would be so busy in April and May, but the public/PR side is just as busy now as we are in September and October.

April is "Michigan Wine Month" so there are lots of events planned to coincide. I've been running all over the state for the past 6 weeks or so, attending various winetasting fundraisers and other events.

It's great for the business, but I'm hoping my life will calm down a little bit at this point....

Plurk-Along

You know what a Knit-Along (KAL) is, correct?

For those non-knitters out there, a KAL is a group of knitters who knit a specific pattern together. The KAL can be physically together or it can take place on the Internet. My recent Yoga swap partner, velostricken/Larissa wrote the definitive book on KALs, Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together.

I'm taking part in a fun Knit-Along on Plurk. Don't know Plurk? It's a new fun social networking site -- I like it better than Twitter. My friend Tamsie (otherwise know as my spoiler, Ruby Colorway) invited me to take part.

We're beginning tomorrow night. The pattern in the Todos Scarf from The Unique Sheep. My yarn collection from them is in their "shadow dance" colorway -- a lovely mixture of blue, violet, and turquoise.

It should be fun!

Giveaway on the PhatFiber blog!

Head on over to the PhatFiber blog right n0w! They're running a giveaway for one of my celtic heart rubber stamps.

All you need to do to enter is to visit my shop and then post a comment about your favorite item(s). If you blog, twitter, etc about it, you're entered twice!

Good luck... and keep your eyes on the PhatFiber blog, there's always lots of great giveaways.

Warm Ewe Up: Blog Question #5

I've been slacking on my blog entries for the "Warm Ewe Up" swap. Here's the current topic: What knitting/crochet pattern have you worked that you could see yourself making over and over and never get tired of?

I'm someone who doesn't tire of doing things over and over if I enjoy them. I find them comforting, I guess.

I'm happy to eat the same thing for several days in a row. I can make a big pan of veggie lasagne and eat it for days.

When I used to do the Ann Arbor Art Fair, I always read Pride and Prejudice while I sat in my booth. Every year.

So I think I could handle making one pattern over and over. Probably a felted bag. When I participated in The Big Bag swap, I made the first bag and then right away made another for a swapper who didn't get her package. I didn't mind it, but I wasn't in love with the pattern so I probably won't make more. But if I found a pattern I absolutely loved, I suspect I could make many of the same bags.

And then there's the Kringle hat from Hip Knit Hats. I've made 7 -- 5 for nieces, 1 for a swap partner, and 1 for Warm Woolies. I could make more if I had more victims. :) They're easy, colorful, and awfully adorable!

PhatFiber

Have you heard about PhatFiber?

It's a new venture begun by partners Jessie and Marcus. Each month they solicit samples from independent fiber shops, then package those samples into PhatFiber boxes. Each box contains a minimum of 20 samples.

The first round of PhatFiber packages was sold in January. I heard about it shortly after they were sold and decided to take part in the February boxes. If the sample contributors send a minimum number of samples, they receive a box for themselves!

The photos you're looking at are my sampler box from February. What a wonderful array of goodies! Raw fiber, roving, handspun, hand dyed yarn, stitch markers, patterns.... Enough to make me want to purchase indie fibers from a whole lot of sellers! And I suspect it'll be the reason I start spinning again (I haven't spun since I was in my mid-20s).

For March, I made up samples with a Celtic knot and a kelly green Czech glass stitch marker. And I was able to finish the April samples and send them with the March ones. Little gift tags suitable for fiber artists -- stamped with a leaping lamb on paper embedded with wildflower seeds and packaged in a woven box made with recycled materials.

Are you interested in purchasing a PhatFiber box? They've grown to be such a phenomenon that the March boxes sold out in less than 2 minutes. How to get one? Register with the PhatFiber folks -- they'll send you an email letting you know when the boxes go on sale in April. Then visit the Etsy shop and start refreshing your browser as quickly as you can to catch a box as it's listed. Good luck!

Sheepshape

Meet my new Etsy Shop Buddy, Sheepshape!

Elizabeth, a fiber artist from London, has a wonderful shop filled with hand-dyed roving and handspun yarn, along with the most adorable, huggable knitted animal friends.

We both recently took the Stone Soup Challenge, decided that our shops compliment each other well, and declared ourselves Shop Buddies. What a great way to extend the Stone Soup idea even further.... to promote each other's shops!

Take a look at Elizabeth's shop. Luscious colors, gorgeous textures... traditional crafts with innovative techniques.

Everything in the shop is lovely (and highly covet-able) but the items that stand out from other Etsy sellers are her glow-in-the-dark fibers. Do you know a child who would love to see his or her blankie or stuffed animal in the dark? What an amazing idea! You can purchase handspun yarn made with glow-in-the-dark fibers to knit or crochet a very special blanket for a very special child. Or lovely huggable animals knitted with glow-in-the-dark yarn.

EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival: The 3rd Month

Here's the current topic for EtsyBloggers Blog Carnival:
Month 3 - We are already on March!! What have you accomplished this year in real life or on Etsy?? Have you followed your New Year's resolutions? What are your plans for the rest of 2009?

I've been thinking about this topic and planned to blog about it on my own. Even better that it's a Blog Carnival topic.

Ok. Let's go back and look at what I promised two months ago (how soon I forget!):

*Make more stuff.
I've been doing pretty well with this. Keep on going.

*Expand the line of items I make for knitters.
Good so far. I created a line of knitting-related rubber stamps. Still need to do more. What's on the drawing board? Covered tape measures, circular needle holders, more stitch markers, a few more rubber stamps.

*Once I have the knitting items added to the shop, maybe do a little advertising on Ravelry?
Not yet for Ravelry. However I did a different kind of advertising to knitters. I contributed to the PhatFibers boxes for February and will send in my March & April contributions on Monday. So I guess I've done this... or a variation of this.

*Oh, and start donating $1 from each set of stitch markers that I sell to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.
Done. Haven't sent out my first donation but I'm planning to do it at the end of each quarter.

*Keep expanding the line of hand-carved rubber stamps.
I have made more in addition to the knitting stamps. And I need to keep on going. They're very popular and fun to make!

*Now that Etsy has finally connected up with Google Analytics, I need to take advantage of that information.
I've been checking it regularly.

*Try to add more items made with upcycled materials.
I've made a few. I want to make more.

*I'm making a limited-edition 'zine for a swap and will have some for sale in the shop.
This is almost done. I expect to list it sometime next week or maybe the week after.
*Redo my "Categories."
I added a "Goods for Knitters" category but decided not to mix it up more than that. I took an informal survey and discovered that folks like straight-forward categories and are irked by squishy ones. So no squishy categories for me!

*Change up my banner and avatar regularly.
I've been doing this.
*Keep up with LinkReferral.
I've not been doing this on a regular basis. Bad Etsian.

*I'm thinking of trying 1000Markets, ArtFire, and FunkyFinds.
I haven't gotten very far except to buy a shop on ArtFire. Perhaps my biggest failing on the resolution list.

*My art/craft room desperately needs cleaning and reorganization.
Also not done. But needed. Sometime soon, I promise.