New year promises here - no doubt soon to be broken lol

Many promises for this year.

• First one is I will re-stock my Etsy shop.  Etsy did particularly well over the Winter months so I want to re-make and re-list all the items that sold 
• New items - never before seen in my shop are promised too (I know I promised that last year) but now I have less outlets to worry about since I will be closing down my Artfire store soon. 
• I will be doing a craft show in Fall/winter of next year so I will be making 3 of my 10" elves per week until then and maybe some hair barrettes and brooches too.
• I have some lovely yarn that I've been given via swaps or presents - many from other countries.  I've been afraid to use them 'cos firstly they are too nice, and secondly I might run out partway through a project and I can't get more -- well, this year, I'm going to man-up and use them on something nice for me - even if I have to buy something similar in UK yarn to finish them off.  

I've even started some of these promises already; 
I made 3 elves last week, 
made a blue sheep as a replacement for the white and lilac ones that sold in my etsy shop 
and made myself a market bag using some "sugar n cream stripes" that I got in a yellow themed swap last year.  Even though I had to finish it off with some British Rico aran cotton.  
So pleased with it that I might make some in entirely British cotton for the Etsy shop.

So things are looking promising for this year's promises 

Merry Christmas Everyone

Oh yes here is Christmas and no matter how much your family drives you nuts, it's the time for getting together again; forgiving and forgetting as we go.  

Nothing beats that feeling of connecting again with those you don't see all year (whether through illness or distance) Skype is nice and helpful but it's not the same as proper face-to-face seeing and talking to each other.  

So just for Christmas day, my kids will not be PISO.  Yes, that's Plugged In (to their devices) and Switched Off (to the real world)
Grumpy, they may be, but they will be totally Christmas Present and correct.  

November

Well, here we are; nearly Christmas again. 
I did manage to get a few new items into my shop this year.
I also sold quite a few items too but by far the most popular so far is the large elves.

They are 18 inches tall and I have sold male ones, female ones and even different coloured ones. 

These are made to order and are found in my Etsy shop as Jingle bell elves  

But that is not all  

I've also made a smaller version - only 10 inches tall - just the right size to sit on your shelf and keep an eye on the childrens' behaviour and then report back to Santa!

 

This is my Christmas Shelf elf  also in my Etsy shop.  Very popular.  You will have to hurry if you want then as they are selling out almost as fast as I can make them

 

Just to prove the size difference

 

 (If you visit my shop and they are sold out; just send me a convo or message telling my what size and what colours you would like and I will get to work on yours as soon as I am able)

Oh dear, oh dear.

Well here we are; halfway through the year, and how am I doing with this year's challenge of make something new every month never seen before in my shops? 
Answer; bad.

I started off well enough with Santa and Mrs Santa for December and a lovely fluffy polar bear for January.  But then.....exactly; not a sausage. 

Time for a restart. 

Same challenge - just starting again in August.  Let us see if I can make something new before the end of August.  I do hope so. 

creative challenge - new item for January - Polar Bear

Well we have some very snowy weather promised on the way to the UK over the next week or so.  As a result I've made a new critter who will feel at home in the snow

He's a happy little Polar bear.  all soft and hand knitted.  He has matching earmuffs and scarf to keep him snuggly in the weather to come.  Also, to stop him getting lost in all that white stuff he has lovely black paws.  He is also a huge 9 inches long and 12 inches tall.

he is part of my "Make something new never seen before in my shops" challenge.  He is available in my artfire and etsy shops and is at a slightly lower price for all of January. 

It's Christmas

Well it looks like the Mayans were way off...all us knitters survived the alpacca-lypse

So I'm celebrating Christmas (always intended to anyway)  
So Happy Christmas to all my friends.  

Promises, promises

Well here we are at that time of year again where folks are thinking about out new year's resolutions.  

I love making new year resoloutions but I'm not brilliant at keeping them.

So this year I will make it simple.

I promise to make at least one new item (never seen before in my shops) every month.

Getting off to a good start, why wait for January?  here is the special new item for DECEMBER

It's a Mrs. Santa to go with my Softie Santa.  She is the same price (32 US dollars) and in the same shops Artifre and Etsy

Well, that was easy; let's see if I can keep up the "new item a month" for a whole year - wish me luck.