Long Eared Bats

Yesterday, I sat down and made my first embroidery (pattern and stitching), only to find that it was surprisingly soothing and easy. This is my Long-Eared Bat, in progress (not quite finished yet!)

I've finally finished my first sweater. After many false starts and attempts on various sweaters, it is Coraline who earned the honor of first completed sweater. Or, cardigan, should you prefer. 

I don't usually wear very many pullovers - I prefer cardigans, since they're more versatile - and I can tell already that once blocked and washed, this cardigan will be one of my favorites. It's made with Malabrigo Silky Merino, a dk-weight yarn that comes in a brilliant array of colors. This colorway is called 'Sand', but I personally think that it looks like spun gold, and it certainly felt like something luxurious, slipping through my hands while I knitted. 

A modeled photo should be coming soon! The weather has been rainy today and Coraline has not been blocked.

Pocket Pocket

My sister and I have been wanting to start a joint venture on Etsy for some time now, and the day is finally here! Introducing, Pocket Pocket! Although there are just a few things in the shop right now, we're expecting to make a major update towards the end of the month. Eventually, our lineup will include everything from yarn, roving, and accessories, right up to jewelry, housewares and clothing. I'm really excited about it!

One of the things that I wanted to have in the shop was a 'different' variety of yarn pouch. There are a lot of neat bags out there already, but I wanted something lined, and a little bit of a different shape, with cute buttons and fabric. The shop is named Pocket Pocket, so these knitting bags were naturally.... YarnPockets!

Please, check out the shop and tell your friends!

In Preperation

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm working on starting a store on Etsy - all of that will be revealed shortly - however, my room and workspace needed some serious updating and organization before I could even get started.

I had a pincushion, one of the little red tomato ones with a strawberry (who originally decided that generic pincushions would be tomatoes? And why is the needle-sharpener a strawberry? I'm not complaining, mind you.) The thing is, they just aren't big enough to hold all the pins I've been using, nor are they big enough to hold the new heart and leaf corsage pins I picked up for 50¢ apiece at the local Ben Franklin's going out of business sale.

So I wandered aimlessly through the binder of to-be-done sewing patterns I have at my house, and rediscovered Anna Maria Horner's Wildflower Pincushion Pattern, which is pretty darn huge. Like, three inches across at the top and up to five or six near the middle. Yeah. It'll hold whatever I need. Now, to find a spare strawberry....