5th Saturday = Tons of Yumminess

5th Saturday Sale at Stitches was today! I picked up yarn for the Cabled Wrap Knit-a-long at Stitches in February and yarn for another project I started for myself (that now makes the count 5 for projects for me!) plus yarn for two orders. Marybeth gave me some leftover yarn and I'll be making her a cowl out of that once I finish her wristwarmers. So I think that's also 5 orders that I have lined up. Plus another lady at Stitches might be commissioning me for some orders for her too...Booming little business I have going on now... :)

I'm designing a new pair of wristwarmers, and have almost completed the first one. It'll be nice to get it done and start on the second one. Finally a pair that I designed and knit for myself! :)

Needles are calling...back to my peaceful time...:)

Knit-a-longs, Orders and Designs...

I bought a planner last night just so I can organize my knitting time. How crazy is that? I have a knit-a-long that I want to start for the Lion Brand Saturday Morning Hoodie, an order on needles, 4 more waiting to be started, my wristwarmers that I'm designing, my winter cable sweater that I started before Christmas, my Twilight scarf that is over halfway done, and of course all my Christmas presents that I haven't made yet. Plus I'm fighting off a cold (still...I have a dr. appointment tomorrow where I'll hopefully get an antibiotic to kick it out of my system) and I have far too much work to do at work (this week is crazy busy). Not to mention that there are storms coming in which is going to make my commute crap! I may just stay home for the morning (I brought records home to review so I can work from home) and then go in after my doc appointment.

So I'm not going to write anymore...my fingers are getting itchy to knit so that's what I'm going to do!

Inspiration Right Around the Corner

So tonight I spent some time on the floor at Barnes & Noble looking at Knitting books. I wanted to look at some stitch dictionaries for inspiration. I wound up purchasing "The Stitch Collection" which is a 5-volume collection of over 225 different stitches. I wanted to start designing my own patterns for my business and figured this would be a great start! They're adorable and small, so I don't have to carry a huge volume of knitting stitches with me. I already found a pattern that I want to try out for the wristwarmers that I started last night, definitely a good thing that I don't mind frogging my work! :)

I'm definitely looking forward to tomorrow night and the Knit night at Panera with some of the ladies from Stitches. I wasn't able to make it last week since I was sick so this week I'm hoping that the snow will hold off so I can have a nice night out. The Panera that we meet at isn't far away from me, and my car is pretty good in the snow so I have no worries. :)

Okay, time to get back to knitting! I need to turn the stitch design I found into a circular pattern. I think I know what I'm doing, time to put my skills to use! :)

Ready for the Weekend...

Still no voice...but it'll come back when it wants to so I guess I shouldn't complain, but learn to enjoy the silence...I woke up this morning with a minor sore throat, but nothing painful. I took some Dayquil, nearly froze my fingers off scraping my car, and came in to work. People here either think it's funny, or they whisper along with me, or they're a little bit peeved that I'm not speaking to them like I usually am...well let's see...if I don't have a voice then there's no way that I can answer your questions!

On a brighter note I should be able to get back to working on orders tonight and this weekend...depending on how much I cough by the time I get home tonight that is. I really want to go to Stitches tomorrow, since tomorrow is Knitting for a Cause and I really want to be there the whole day, so I'm planning on getting to bed super early tonight.

Anywho...I did organize most of my stash. It turns out that the tote bins I had originally were only 18 gallon bins, and I wound up buying 15 gallon bins, but it looks so much nicer now that everything is organized and in clear totes. I have one bin left over, so I may use that for sock yarn and my take-a-long bag storage. I'll post a picture once I have all the bins labeled.

I signed up for the Lion Brand Knit-a-Long that is starting next week. I ordered my yarn last night and am looking forward to getting started. I guess I should finish up my scarf soon so I won't feel that bad about starting yet another project for myself. It's a good thing that I'm kind of ADD with my knitting and I like to work on multiple projects at once. :)

Okay, back to work. Hopefully more pics tonight or later on this weekend. :)

Where Should I Be?

One word: BED. That's where I should be. I've been sick for the past few days and have made the hard decision to only work on personal knitting projects. ;) (Seriously though, I don't think my clients would like it if I was coughing all over their orders) My current project "A Little Piece of Twilight" is coming along nicely. I try to get one rectangle done each night.

Tomorrow after work I was planning on going to the mall to get my nails done and maybe just spend some time at Barnes & Noble reading and knitting. But as of right now I have no voice...I can barely whisper. My throat really doesn't hurt however (not like it did on Monday night) so I'm hoping that my voice comes back super soon. I have another knitting class on Saturday and I can't be mute!! LOL

So I guess it's off to bed I go...

Babies!

My Coworker is having a baby (hopefully tomorrow!) so I quick whipped up some baby items last week. Nothing major, just a blanket, booties and hat so the baby has some warm things to come home from the hospital in. She loved them, and I can't wait to see pictures of the baby in all of his/her new cuddly things!

A Little Taste of Twilight

No, I'm not a crazy Twilight fan. Yes, I love the books and the movies, love the whole vampire, werewolf, love story aspect of it all, but I don't own t-shirts or posters or anything outside of the actual books and movies (and just for clarification, I read Twilight LONG before it was a total craze...one of the perks of when I worked in a library I suppose). So ever since I watched the original movie I loved the scarf that Bella wore during the baseball game. I found a pattern for it on Ravelry, and with some of the money left on my Christmas Visa Gift Card, I went to both JoAnn's and Michael's just to find all the yarn I needed. I also picked up yarn to make Bella's Mittens, but that'll be a future project, and I may also try to turn them in to actual gloves, so who knows. Anyway, I started working on it last night...


Yarn for my project:

One of the first rectangles I'm currently working on:

Pretty Horseshoe Cables:

Organization...Is It Possible?

So this is my yarn stash...well...most of it. Two 30-gallon bins and boxes and bags all brimming with yarn...I do love the storage capacities of the gray bins, but finding the yarn that I need is ridiculous. I wind up pulling all of it out just to find one skein. So I found some bins on Walmart online and I'll be running over there after work tomorrow to pick some up so I can organize. They're clear...perfect for organizing but still being able to see what yarn you have. This way I won't be digging everything out for one project. Plus my yarn will be protected (I thought about a shelving or cube system but I don't want my yarn getting dust all over it. So bins are the perfect solution) and I'm pretty sure that my roomie will appreciate me getting that stuff all organized. She's never said anything about the mess (I'm paying enough in rent so she kinda doesn't have that right anyway) but I'm sure it'll definitely help regardless.

I'll post pics when it's all done...I'm definitely excited to get it organized. (Plus, the more room I have left over, the more yarn I can add to my stash!!) ;)

Yummy Yummy Yumminess...

Spent today at Stitches and it was a great day getting my New Year's Resolutions started off right! I met some wonderful ladies and got some work done, plus picked up some yummy yarn that will "hopefully" make it to friends as presents...but maybe they won't... ;)

I'm also going to be starting to meet up with a group of knitters that meet in downtown Newark once a week. Sometimes I'm a little nervous about meeting new people, but knitters are a different kind of people. I've never walked in to Stitches without getting a chorus of hello's from the ladies that are there knitting, and as I learned today, they are incredibly helpful and so nice to talk to!

On the small business front things are going well. I have 4 current orders that I'm working through and have a few more on the way. Handing out business cards left and right! :) It makes me feel good to make something for people, but I still get nervous when I deliver an order or when I give a gift to a friend that I've made. Sometimes I think that they're just not as happy to receive as I am to give. Oh well, what else can I do. I'll try to update later with maybe some pics of my new yarns and some recent completed projects. :)

New Year, New Goals

Well it's now 2011 and I have more projects than ever going on...one of the biggest reasons for the increase? I started my own side business. Handmade by Bekah. I've been making tons of things since I was younger, and started my Handmade by Bekah business by making greeting cards in college. Now it's mainly knitting, but I can do all sorts of handmade crafts.

So since the start of my business, I've made 4 orders for coworkers, and have 3 more projects that I need to work on...looks like my own personal knitting projects will be put on hold...yet again!

Christmas was a wash, only one person got a homemade Christmas present...Amy. And her present was what started the entire business venture of mine...

So who knows what's going to happen with Handmade by Bekah. If I only do a few things a year then that'll work for me...I'm enjoying what I do, what else can I ask for?