Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

This week the coldest November temperatures ever in Wales were recorded in Powys (Mid Wales up in the Mountains...) minus 18 degrees Celsius (-18C!!!) - that's about 0 degrees in Fahrenheit I think... Either way it was VERY VERY Cold!

Being in the City meant that it only dropped to -6C, but it was still cold enough to experience a decent amount of snow and ice. Saturday I went for a walk with Stew my husband to get some supplies, and walked through one of our local parks, Victoria Park. It looks pretty all covered in ice and snow

To warm up, we called into our local cafe called Waffles - it is a great little place (you can tell it's good as it was packed when we got there!) - they serve all sorts of baked delights, which included waffles! Even better, they do a gluten free option (I've got coeliacs disease which is a wheat and gluten intolerance) so I munched through 2 big hot chocolates with mini marshmallows, and waffles with cheese, mushrooms and bacon - SO yummy! Stew had apple, raisins, cinnamon and cream on his - it looked lovely apart from the icky raisins...

It was a lovely little walk - this weather is here to stay me thinks, so I've ordered in some more yarn so that I can make some knitted goodies to keep me warm! The first thing I worked on is this gorgeous slouch hat made of cream roving 100% wool yarn (it feels like wearing candy floss!)

Anyone following me on Twitter has witness the anguish this hat has put me through - this was attempt 15 (yes - 15) to get it right - the ribbing is simple, but the spiral lacy pattern involves a sequence of knits, yarn overs and slip slip knit wise - sounds fine, but if you mess it up even a little bit there is no way back - you've got to start it over. PAIN! It look 2 hours of talking through the stitches out loud one by one, sitting in my lounge on my own and missing my fave TV show just to get it right. I'm glad I persevered - it looks gorgeous! (the pic isn't great, but on it is FAB)


I'm thinking I need to get better at getting this pattern right before this one gets put in my shop, and it works best with chunkier weight yarn in simple unpatterned colours, but it's getting lots and lots of compliments already!


Debs

Black Friday is upon us...

So it's getting darker, snow has been forecast here in Wales and the Christmas lights are up in the city centre - this can only mean one thing - the holiday season is fast approaching!

Check out Stew in a custom knitted Santa Hat!

 Black Friday - Wikipedia describes it as:

Black Friday (sometimes Green Friday) is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

As we don't have Thanksgiving here in the UK, this kind of went unnoticed by me here - blissfully knitting through my orders ticking down the time down to Christmas - then I hit the online shops to stock up on presents - and there it is - Black Friday!

In store, I'm utilising the new Coupon facility that Etsy have launched - I'm offering a Black Friday promotion offering 10% off to all customers in store for Blog readers and Facebook  fans - a little Christmas gift from me to you all!

Enter the discount code BLACKFRIDAY10 between now and 23.00 GMT on Monday 29th December 2010 - and let me know your feedback on how you found the process!

Another cool new feature just launched on Etsy is being able to list and being paid in your own currency. I'm intrigued to find out opinions on this one - I'd find it SO much easier to list and sell in £ pounds, but I'm not sure if it would put off my large international fan base... mmm... 

Let me know your thoughts on this too!

Debs

Feature: Shawl Pins from WireDreamsDesign

I was browsing on Etsy recently and stumbled across  these gorgeous handmade shawl pins by WireDreamsDesign. 

Amy lives in the Orlando, FL area but used to live in Texas and hopes to one day move back there. This is her story:

"I'm a cartographer (map maker) by day and artisan by night with a 4 year old and a totally supportive husband that does what he can to help out when I need it. I'm a music and somewhat of a techie geek. 

I'm not sure what I would do without my Pandora app when I'm at work. I do a lot of knitting and crocheting but apparently not enough finishing. We won't discuss how many unfinished, ongoing, projects I have right now..."
 
"I do most of my work on the a section of countertop that I have set up sepcifcially for as my workspace. Each one is rolled out individually, cut out and any additional pices that are needed are also cut out. I usually bake all of the pieces individually and assemble after. Just in case something happens during the baking process I only have to remake one part instead of the whole piece. After they are assembled they are glazed and left to dry.

I started making pins because I got tired of all the wooden ones at the time that were at the yarn shop I frequent the most. To me, they were boring and didn't add anything to the shawl. I started off making just plain shaped pins and from there the sun, turtle and lady bug were the first "themed" pins I made. They sort of happened by accident by just playing with the clay and shapes. I get requests now and then for different animals or things which is where the cat came from and usually will spark some other animal or pin idea."

"While I consider myself a bit of a techie I just can't get into the social networking thing. I do have a website that I use somewhat of a gallery":

http://www.wiredreamsdesign.com

Amy also have a personal blog which usually deals more with knitting things and general things going on:

http://girl-wrapped-in-wire.blogspot.com/


Aren't these pins fantastic! I think they make brilliant presents for the knitter or fashion adict who has everything - they come in lots of different shapes and designs, so there is one for everyone, no matter your tastes. This one is my fave - it's so cute!

Take a look in Amy's shop to find more cool pins!


Debs!

Celebrate!!

Wow!!

What a FANTASTIC giveaway! This has been the best one so far - well over 100 entries!!

Thank you for all your entries - The winner was picked by a random number generator at 3pm GMT. Our winner is....

Damla! (Sweepstake Lover)

Congratulations - your prize will be making its way out to you soon.

As a big thank you to everyone who entered, all entrants will receive FREE shipping in store from today (14th November) until 1st December 2010  - Quote BLOGNOV10 on ordering along with your blog ID so I can check your entry.

This month I am celebrating too - it has been 1 year of my store being open, and 6 months since I started my blog.

Over the last year I've had over 80 sales, met some great fellow crafters, had a great time, and taken one step closer towards knitted world domination!

Check out this super cool map showing all the cities and countries where my knitted creations now call home - that's 9 countries, 4 continents and 25 states in all and counting! (Don't worry - no addresses, just nearest cities/towns)

As you can see, I'm doing pretty OK for one year of sales - but there are quite a few gaps on the map. I'm offering an ongoing promotion, where buyers from states, provinces or cities not yet flagged up on the map will receive 10% off on their order! Quote MAPGAP when ordering to receive the discount.

Finally, check out Christmas posting deadlines for shopping in store on my Facebook Fan Page

Debs!