Seeking 44 sales in my etsy shop

I want to reach 200 sales in my etsy shop this month. I just got one sale this morning, 44 to go to reach 200!

I'm having a "buy anything from my etsy shop, get 2 free knitting patterns free" (pdf delivery, excluding the shop keepers Knit Stitch Graph Paper bundle).

http://www.etsy.com/shop/garilynn

My Knit Stitch Graph Paper product is something my husband & I worked on together. I wanted graph paper that looked like a knit stitch. I scanned a stockingette stitch scarf and gave him a print of the image. He created the final product. Here the logo:

Here's some pictures of my 6 section hats:

Game Winning Home Run:

 Hyacinth Bucket Hat:

 Elementary Deerstalker hat, one in safety orange and camo, the other in brown, the last in green:

What is Skein Snake?

Several years ago, I invented Skein Snake:



It's a zippered skein jacket that you place around a skein of yarn. Why would you want to do that, you ask. Well, at the time, I was working with a lot of linen and hemp. I kept hearing that these fibers soften with washing. I wanted them soft while I was working with them. I have heard of the usual method of washing a skein, a million safety pin in a pillowcase, which did not appeal to me. The lightbulb of inspiration clicked on and I sewed up a prototype, zipped it around a skein of linen, tossed it in the washer, then the dryer and PRESTO - soft linen yarn. AND pre-shrunk!

I thought this would take the Knitting & Crocheting world by storm. Thus far, it has been more of a couple of sprinkles. I plan to put the pattern on Ravelry in the coming weeks and see if there is more interest in folks trying to make it themselves. Here is a slideshow of how it works:








 

Patterns to make Skein Snake yourself as well as finished, ready to use Skein Snakes for sale at garilynn.etsy.com

The colors I made the Skein Snakes with came about because of a favorite song from my childhood:

Where have you been all day, Henry my son
Where have you been all day, my beloved one
Woods, dear mother, woods, dear mother
Oh mother come quick 'cos I feel very sick
And I want to lay down and die, die, die, die
Die, die, die, die

What did you do there, Henry my son
What did you do there, my beloved one
Eat, dear mother, eat, dear mother

What did you eat there, Henry my son
What did you eat there, my beloved one
Eels, dear mother, eels, dear mother

What colour were they, Henry my son
What colour were they, my beloved one
Green and yellow, green and yellow

Those eels were snakes, Henry my son
Those eels were snakes, my beloved one
Yuck, dear mother, Yuck, dear mother

What colour flowers d'you want, Henry my son
What colour flowers d'you want, my beloved one
Green and yellow, Green and yellow

Oh mother come quick 'cos I feel very sick
And I want to lay down and die

The Skein Snake logo was designed by DH, based on an oroboros and snakes that were in "Ouran High Host Club", a japanese anime.

Pivoting I cord stitches

I am very fond of the finished look of garter stitch edged with I cord. I think it is the influence of my Home Ec teacher, Mrs. Ashlock. She graded on the outside & inside of the finished garment. I learned to love finished edges in sewing and carried that over to my knitting.

Many of my garter stitch patterns have a method that I call "pivoting". This is necessary for the I cord edge to flow along all edges of the finished item. Simply put, you are reversing the order of the first and second stitch. The first stitch will become the second and the second will become the first. Pivoting is the method I have found easiest to accomplish this. Here is a photo tutorial:

In this photo, the I cord stitches are slipped purl wise to the right double pointed needle. You can also use a cable needle.


In this  photo, the 2 I cord stitches on the right DPN or cable needle are halfway through the pivoting. Pivoting is done clockwise.
 

Here the stitches are pivoted around, the order is reversed. In most cases, you will put the yarn back, slip the 2 stitches back to the Left needle and continue as instructed


One of my free patterns, Giving Heart   http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/giving-heart , is a free download that uses this technique, if you want to practice it. I would love to see more projects of this pattern on Ravelry!

Take care and keep your yarn dry.

Butterfly Silk

This is the larger of the two butterflies in my pattern "Butterfly Motif". It is knit of 2 ply Bulky Silk yarn from White Rabbit Fibers (www.whiterabbitfibers.com) , custom dyed by Fun House Fibers (www.funhousefibers.com).

For fun, I added a bead. I am new to beading and found that if one does not have adequate lighting and magnification, one should not try to work with thin black thread.

The pattern is available at  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/butterfly-motif-2 for $1. I also have a kit with the pattern, yarn for one butterfly of both sizes and some beads for embellishments at garilynn.etsy.com.

Almost finished with "Stone River Shawl". Pictures soon.Lots of blocking in my future!

Take care and keep your yarn dry.

See the dog and butterflies

I've been working on my July "Art Nouveau" Phat Fiber Sampler Box pattern, having finally settled on a butterfly theme. The song from Heart "Dog and Butterfly" kept running through my head. I liked this version on youtube:

Here is DD's dog, ears in flight, seeming ready to take off:



And finally, some knitting:



DH made the suggestion that transformed this pattern from moth-like to a lacey butterfly. He is so smart.

The Dorable KAL is entering week 3. Giveaways continue.



Take care and keep your yarn dry.

Durable Pattern is ready

Durable is a garter stitch variation on Dorable, replacing the mesh, lacey center with garter stitch. The eyelet and garter stitch borders are the same for both patterns.








Durable is available on Ravelry for $3:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/durable-in-diamond-triangle-and-hexagon--shawl-scarf-prayer-shawl-stole-head-wrap



Take care and keep your yarn dry.

A short pause in knitting for some cooking content

Surprise - This is not baked beans!

I love to cook and come up with my own recipes. DH loves boiled in the shell peanuts. I had not encountered this delicacy until we went on a trip to Florida soon after our wedding. There were boiled peanuts stands everywhere once we reached Louisiana. I did not care for them and he got to enjoy them all.

Because his enjoyment of meals drives me to create new and different things as well as old favorites, I was always on the lookout for a way to make boiled peanuts a dish the entire family could enjoy.

Watching Korean dramas had opened a door to a cuisine I had only experienced through kimchi previously. I started buying gochujang (fermented red pepper paste) by the 3 kilo tub (that's over 6 pounds!) and using it whenever I wanted some spice on anything - eggs, pizza, cheese sandwiches.

Mulling over the boiled peanut question, one day I decided to try to boil shelled peanuts (the kind you might use for peanut brittle) with gochujang. About 1/2 cups or so to 1/2 pound of peanuts with enough water to cover the peanuts, brown sugar is optional, if you want it, add about 1/4 cup. The salt content of the gochujang kept the peanuts from becoming too mushy, I cooked until the peanuts were done and the sauce was reduced to a nice thick sauce, not quite a paste.

This is now DH's favorite banchan (side dish). I like it in bibimpap as well as alone. I've even reduced it down, adding double the sugar and made a spicy peanut cluster candy. Dipped in dark chocolate, it is yummy!

If you're looking for authentic Korean recipes, check out http://www.maangchi.com/. Her videos and cookbooks are great!

Back to our regularly scheduled knitting. Check out my group on Ravelry and join the Dorable KAL - you could win the giveaway on June 8:

Dorable KAL

Take care and keep your yarn dry.