Etsy - The World’s Greatest Holiday Shopping List

(shamelessly lifted and reposted from Deb at Fearless Fibers' blog)

Most of you are all familiar with the wonderful world of Etsy and their shops, but I wonder how many of you know about a great Etsy feature that you might just use yourself this holiday season?

I’m talking about the “Favorites” feature on Etsy. Although it’s not meant to be specifically a wish list for holiday shopping, you can easily use it to your advantage that way. It’s simple. Just login to your Etsy account (if you don’t have one, registering is simple and requires no detailed personal information beyond your e-mail address and name), and then browse around to find things you love.

When you come upon an item of interest, within the listing description you’ll see a link on the lower right side that says “Add Item to Favorites.” Just click that link and the item will be marked as a “favorite.”

Now here’s the fun part. When your husband or sister or best friend or mother asks what you might like as a gift this holiday season, you can point them to your list. All they have to do is type your Etsy ID name in their browser, followed by ".etsy.com." (For example, one of my favorite sellers on Etsy is Deb from Fearless Fibers, so her URL is: http://fearlessfibers.etsy.com) Even if you don’t have a shop on Etsy, a page still comes up and on that page there is a link that says, “Favorites.” There, your gift-giving loved ones can find your wish list. How cool is that?!

If you have no shame (I know I don’t!), you can even go to your favorites list when it’s complete, copy the URL and e-mail it to that husband or sister or best friend or mother.

One important thing to note: If you decide to create a holiday wish list this way, be sure to check back every few days. If items on your list are sold or removed from the site by the seller, you may want to remove them from your favorites so that your shopping friends and family won't become frustrated if they find that the items you've marked are unavailable.


And, of course, if you are more of the giving sort and not so interested in your own wish list, you can ask your friends and family to make their own wish lists to help you out with your shopping this holiday season.

Just thought you all might like to know about this feature. It’s much easier to drop a URL than a subtle hint ;)

Decisions

Stash - it doth reproduce. This week I received four new colors. The difficult part will be to choose patterns to bring out the best of the handpainteds and stripeys. Well, actually the stripes won't be too bad as I plan on just doing a plain sock with that. But the others, I may actually Swatch. (E gads!) Just to see what they look like knitted up. I'm recalling what Sandi Wiseheart of Knitting Daily, said:

The Swatch is good. The Swatch is wise. Listen to the Swatch.

Queen of Cups, complete

My regal endeavors have come to a close -- I've finished the Queen of Cups socks, by Nathania Apple. This turned out to be a lace pattern that wasn't too easy or too hard, like Goldilocks, it was Just Right. The lovely tealy green of Fearless Fibers 100% Superwash Merino Wool Sock Yarn in the Prosperity colorway shows the inverted lace cups beautifully.

I need (want!) to get some sock blockers, not only for shaping after the socks are washed, but for getting really decent pictures. It's darn hard to take pictures of socks when they're modelled on your own feet!




Next I want to finish the Mystery Stole and have it ready to block by next week. That will leave me all of November to knit the one other Christmas pressie I have in mind, and also finish up my daughter's Skull Illusion Scarf. I promised it to her before the cold Oklahoma winds come a'sweepin' down the plains. Gotta get with it.

I've got yarn, babe!

I received my yarn from Kris at Sonny and Shear yesterday. Ah, it's beautiful. I think I will love that Zen Garden sock yarn. And don't forget: as well as getting yummy yarn goodness, you can still get it at a discount. Just click the Sonny and Shear button to your right, enter their site, and buy Buy BUY! *smile* Use coupon code KNITMORE and take 20% off all your yarn purchases between now and October 31st.

How cool is that?!

Process vs Product, and Queuing

What knitter hasn't pondered the age old question of Process vs. Product?

Certainly I derive pleasure from the finished product, whether it be a pair of socks, or a sweater.... I want to be able to use the item or gift it to someone who will wear it. I don't think I would take the time to knit something that had no practical purpose, unless it was a wall hanging or something, and then it still is fullfilling a purpose.

The actual process of creating the item -- that is great fun, too. I love how the yarn feels in my hands, and the niftyness of taking sticks and string, dancing them around each other, and viola, having something that doesn't fall apart descend from the needles. I absolutely adore the colors yarn can take --- there is no color that isn't represented in a skein of yarn somewhere. Wouldn't it be so cool to swim through a sea of colorful yarn?!

So, I like creating the knitted item, the process of it, the learning of new stitches, the Ah-Ha! moment that comes when a technique that had been mysterious and strange suddenly makes sense, and I like the finished item, the product, the squishy goodness that I can hold in my hands and toss on my body. I don't know which one I like better, so we'll say I'm Switzerland in this debate, and I remain neutral.

Now we come to the Infamous Queue. I have a big problem with the Queue. I have so many projects that I want to knit, so many techniques to try. Such as stranded knitting, it's beautiful and intricate. I've stranded before, long ago, and I want to again. I've learned how to knit lace, and I love that, too. So into my queue has gone the Stung Honeybee Stole and a vest from Alice Starmore. I want to knit them all NOW. And I've got sock patterns, tam patterns, nordic sweaters, cardigans galore in my queue and the stash to support them, but the time to knit? Where is it???

When I cast on, I find that I become obsessed with finishing THAT ONE project, now. As a result, I become intimidated by the Queue. I feel swamped. No dent is made in the Queue (maybe if I quit adding projects???) And I feel inadequate when I see how many projects other knitters just seem to toss off their needles. How do they do it? How can I develop the ability to multi-task knit without going insane, or hearing one project cry when I pick up another?

The Illusion Skull Scarf I've been trying to finish for my daughter has started muttering and glaring at me everytime I knit on the Queen of Cups socks. "I was here first", it whispers. "Finish me, knit me, don't IGNORE me!!!!"

Knitting and Decorating

I am knitting on the gusset of my second QoC sock. Joy! I actually got to spend the evening knitting and watching some of my favorite shows: Bones, House, and Boston Legal **.

While watching these shows, I got to sit my tush in our new furniture. We went looking for end tables on Sunday, just end tables. Nothing else, nope nada, not going to be seduced. Uh yeah, right! We ended up with a leather sofa and loveseat, and two gorgeous inlay tables. So in reality, we replaced just about everything. The squeaky newness was delivered today, and my oh my, this is a posh place to live now.

**(Well, no BL tonight. It was pre-empted by a special on the California fires. This is horrible: the devastation, the loss of life and property, the pets and wildlife affected, the enormity of it all... It's terribly sad. I live in Tornado Alley, I live with the threat of devastation every spring and summer, but in the overall scheme of things, my threat goes away with the seasons. This fire "entity", just never goes away, it's always there, menacing, and looming. Nature is a powerful force.)

And the Snagging was Good!

I snagged myself some scrumpdillyiscious yarns from Sonny and Shear's yarn sale: ZYG Merino Nylon Sock in Buttercup, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Gold Hill, and Cascade Sassy Stripes in Stephanie.

I do so adore having knitterly goodness come to me in the mail!!!

We sat in our living room last night, catching up on shows we had "tivo-ed", and I knitted on the QoC sock #2. It was luverly.

I'm looking at carpetbags for knitters. This site has carpetbags and I love the choices of tapestry material they come in. I've also been wondering if I could just knit a carpetbag shape and then felt the phoof out of it. The shape of it seems pretty straight forward, so I just might do that.

My friends from Sonny and Shear are having a sale! Kris has lots of yummy yarn from all over, even the highly sought after Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn. Here's a little blurb from them:

Need sock yarn? Been wanting to try a new handpainted yarn (i.e. Zen Yarn Garden, Seacoast, etc)? Got your eye on some Smooshy Sock? Want to take even more money off of our closeout yarns? Our sale yarns? Thinking of buying yourself a
gift? Here's your chance. Use coupon code KNITMORE and take 20% off all your yarn purchases between now and October 31st.

Hop on over to their site and enjoy the sale while you can. *sock yarn - can you ever have too much sock yarn.... NO!*

Downstairs Beautification Project complete....

.... for all intents and purposes. We had some friends over last night to break in the newness and inhale the fresh paint aroma. Even got to hang up some of my dragonny friends. The house is gorgeous, I love it, and we worked very very hard on it. Thank you, Hubby, for all your vision and ability and effort. It was well worth it.

Hubby now wants to replace or cover over the rough dark cedar staircase. It's a wonderful idea, but we'll have to wait a bit until the money tree out back leafs out again. We want to buy two small end tables, just haven't found the right ones yet.

And another benefit of this Project (because an endeavor of this magnitude deserves to be referred to with a "P") being done is that I can get my knitting back out again. I can finish the Mystery Stole 3, Swan Lake!!! *sighing with happiness*

Knitting, I miss you.

I haven't had a chance to do any more knitting on my second QoC sock, but my lack of knitting happiness is okay -- we are so very close to being done with the house renovations. My Hubby is absolutely freaking amazing when it comes to this kind of work.

Cast on for the second QoC sock last night, after helping Hubby to finish the bookcases. (only trim pieces still left now) Managed to get the cuff done, and about seven rows of the lace pattern.

Queen of Cups sock #1 - finished

This pattern has been a joy to knit, and I love how the design hugs your leg gently, it's so elastic-y. That's also due to the wonderful sock yarn, I'm sure. One sock down - I'll cast on for #2 this evening.

I've also been thinking I need to treat myself to a pair of sock blockers made by Fearless Fibers' hubby. Maybe for Christmas.... hmmmm... knitterly goodness under the tree.

Tiling and Painting and More, Oh My!

For about the last four or five weeks, Hubby and I have been doing a major renovation of the downstairs. We completely ripped out the carpet, all the baseboards and door surrounds, and proceeded to blithely begin tiling our little hearts out. Oy. We're still a month from being totally finished with everything, by my estimate.

I love this inlay we did in the entryway (it's pre-grout in this pic):

We lived rather .... simply, at the beginning. Only a recliner, a sofa, and of course, the Big Screen.

I'm pleased to say that we have finally finished the tiling part, we are in the process of painting all the walls and ceilings (and by We, I mean, Hubby), and fashioning built-in bookcases where there were none before.

Some of the completed bits, the lounge and dining room. Need to hang pictures back up though.

Because of all this, my knitting time has been drastically reduced. I had to simply put away my Mystery Stole 3, a mere 26 or 27 rows away from casting off. SOB!!! But I knew better than to risk its wonderful goodness in all this mortar, grout, sawdust, and paint. I will still finish it before Christmas and have it ready to gift out to its intended.

I haven't denied myself totally though -- I've been knitting on the Queen of Cups socks in Fearless Fiber Prosperity colorway, superwash merino sock yarn. It's a lovely pattern and the yarn is dreamy.

Hiya!

My first post! Not quite sure what I want to have here, in this Blog thingy. I find it a bit odd creating and writing on a blog of my own, but have no issue whatsoever commenting on other people's blogs. **shrugs**

I guess I want to use this mostly to track my knitterly adventures and trials, along with the spice that is everyday life. Can I hear a Woo Hoo?!