Monet's Garden

New free pattern up as a Ravelry download!
It's nothing really extravagant, just a simple little cowl using awesome yarn. (Artyarns supermerino in "Monet's Garden." Part of the impressionist collection exclusive to the Yarn Market.) If anyone decides to knit it up let me know how it goes and if I made any stupid mistakes in the instructions. Hopefully it's all correct, but I am only human, of course. Anyway, here's a photo:

The Impressionist Cowl

I'm still working on the other design that I have hinted at in past posts. It's going to be sooooo anticlimactic once I post photos. :) Really. The reason it's such a big deal for me is that it's something where 1) gauge really will matter, and 2) I have to make different sizes. From that you should be able to guess that it's a garment. A very simple garment, but a garment nonetheless. And with that..... I'm off to knit on said mystery project!

Mysterious Bumps

I grew a bump! No, that's not really good news. My left middle finger decided, for some unknown reason, to grow a little bumpy lumpy right at the base (palm side). Lovely eh? I guess it's a cyst, but what kind I'm not sure. Annalee had a few on her hand (she's the queen of growing lumps.... head, ears, hands, etc.) and the doc said if it didn't bother her she should just leave it. Obviously the other option would be that if it did hurt she could have it cut out. She says the bumps didn't hurt or get in the way at all, so she chose to leave them be and eventually they went away (and then she promptly grew more). My bump, however, isn't as well behaved as Annalee's. It hurts to knock it or put any pressure on it and if my hand stretches I can feel something pop over the bump. Not sure what that's about. Nerve? Muscle? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it just disappears on it's own because I, the poor starving artist that I am, don't have health insurance. Ah well.... If I did need to have the procedure to cut it out I wonder how long it would be before I could use the hand to fiddle and knit..... Days or weeks? I have no clue. If it's days then fine. If it was weeks than I have a 2 week break from gigs in August, but before that I'd be out of luck.

Sticks and String
I just posted my Whimsical Garden capelet to my Ravelry projects last night. It's meant for sale in my Etsy shop and will be arriving there as soon as I figure out what kind of price to tag it with. I'm so bad with that. I never know how to price what I make. Sometimes I browse through Etsy looking for other knitters and crocheters just to get some idea on their prices. This doesn't really work, though. There are a lot of people out there that are barely selling their goods above what it must have cost them for supplies and then there are others that price their stuff so high I can't imagine what they must have been thinking. I tend to be somewhere in the middle. At least I think so. It's probably better to be on the higher end because then you show that you value your time and skills and I think that does attract people. Of course, there is a limit. Sky high prices.... well, come on!

Catching Up

The past few weeks have been a real blur. On one hand it's great and on the other hand I'm tired as hell. Anyway, so here's what's been going on.....

Lots of the normal stuff, but in higher amounts. Good knitting, music, teaching, and time with Brandon. (Actually, time with Brandon was suffering for a while because of all the music related commitments I had, but things are falling pretty much back into the normal routine for now.) With warmer weather comes more gigs and with more gigs come more practicing. Or it should. Dad's business (a photolab) closed as of February 1st after 21 years open. This means that he's around the house 24/7. I figured, I think we all did, that this would mean increased band rehearsal time. However, at the moment we're practicing less. It's only been a month, so I think eventually that will settle down and we'll fall into a practice schedule that everyone is comfortable with. Right now Dad's big thing is making pewter buttons. They're pretty good. Not perfect and precise, but in my opinion that adds to the charm. I'll definitely be using some on my handknits. When he gets the buttons posted online I'll put links and photos here.

Even though rehearsal for the HGSB has fallen off a little my own practicing and musical life has been in full swing. Phil Minissale, a.k.a "the Long Island Blues Boy, is in the midst of recording his first CD and asked if I would play on a few tracks. That offered something different for me to experiment with. Phil plays finger style blues, so accompanying him is not like what I'm used to with the family. Anyone interested in hearing some of his tunes can visit his MySpace at: www.MySpace.com/PhilMinissaleMusic
Right now what's up there is just his demo recording. I think soon he'll be putting up some tracks from the CD. I know he's also taking pre-orders for signed and numbered copies of the album.

Besides my slight detour into blues I've stuck close to the old time thing and sat in a few times with Free Grass Union. Great people, great musicians. Brandon also has been jamming on a few tunes with Free Grass. He's coming a long way on that banjo. There have been some rough spots as he's feeling out the music and getting to understand it more, but overall he's doing awesome.

Knitting has also been treating me pretty well. I got Wicked on and off my needles in one week and am now finishing 28Thirty (both patterns by Zephyr Style). This one will also be done one week from cast on. With that said, I'm going back to finishing up the sleeve decreases.....

With a Song in Your Heart (PATTERN)

New pattern up and ready to go!

I gave the scarflette a rather long name..... "With a Song in Your Heart." My intention was to name each one made in the pattern after a different song or musical style. The gray scarf in the photo was named "Symphony" and is up in my Etsy shop: The Knitted Fiddle Boutique.


*Ravelry sers get the free pattern HERE

Fiddle Knits

(at left: stitch marker necklace from my shop: Fiddle Knits)

LOTS has been happening! Well, I suppose it's really more of the same as always, but more of it.... If that makes sense even in the slightest lol

I've been on a roll with Etsy. Loading new designs up to my jewelry shop and to my new Fiddle Knits shop. I'm having a blast with the stitch marker jewelry on Fiddle Knits. I've gotten some good feedback on it, although no sales on the shop quite yet...... Still doing a lot of promoting and trying to get the word out to knitters, and maybe more importantly, to the people who buy gifts for knitters. 'Cause ya know, every knitter and crocheter wants stitch marker jewelry for Christmas lol.

With the stitch marker jewelry I'm going to try and see if I can sell to some online shops at wholesale prices. I thought it might be cool to have my own little business going.... Not going to approach too many site, but I have a few in mind. If anyone picks up on it I'll probably stick with just selling there and on my own site. I've got so many things going these days between that jewelry, my regular jewelry, teaching, performing, rehearsing, and attempting to have a social life and not ignore my boyfriend. Oh wow. I never know if I'm coming or going. And to that list of things I do I'm dying to add spinning. Yeah, I'm a crazy person. But ya know what? It's awesome! ;)