Have arrived, staying with some wonderful family friends, only the wireless doesn’t work.

We’re going to try to fix that sometime.

And, I can read on the bus! This must mean I can knit!

As I said in the last post, I am going to Vancouver for a month, to work out there. I will be working with the Opera, and will be out in BC until the beginning of April. Sadly, my wonderful boyfriend will be staying here. *sniff*

Because of that though, I am expecting to end up with more knitting (and reading) time than normal, as well as all my bus time. What projects am I taking, I hear you asking? Here are your answers.

• Definitely Cara’s Socks. I plan to finish them out there.
• My Millicent Socks. I also plan to finish these out there (I only need to knit a foot for crying out loud, how long should that take?)
• The Eyelet Rib Bandeau from the Spring 07 IK.

That last one needs some explaining!

I’ve had the yarn for it for almost a year now (I did a huge Webs order last May, and have barely knit any of it up). It is the same yarn listed in the pattern, even in the same colour. I love the way it looks on the model, and the way she is wearing it over a t-shirt. I thought it’d be a good, smaller project to have with me. I’d love to finish up some UFOs, but those take up so much suitcase space. I may take the $1.50 cardi if there is room, but I doubt there will be room.

I will continue to update my Etsy store while I’m away. I do intend to stick to my goal of listing one item per day for the whole of this month, so keep checking back to see when these sneak peeks get posted!

I’ve finally taken pictures of Cara’s first finished sock! It is currently unblocked, as I’ve only just started sock #2. I know they are going to need it eventually, but I’m not sure what to do. If we had the same size feet, I could justify buying sock blockers, but Cara has teeny size 5s, and I have whopping size 8s. Any small-footed knitters want to lend me some blockers some time in March?

I had fun taking photos, because I finally got around to making a little light tent out of a cardboard box and some tracing paper. Opening my Etsy store was the big nudge I needed. But now I can take fancy sock pictures! I do some adjusting in Photoshop, but I did nothing at all to the photo above.

That’s my hand, pretending to be a foot. It makes me think of a cobra or something.

Sock #2 for Cara has almost reached the end of the top ribbing, so I’m not too far along on that. Once again, I blame Etsy. I’m sure if my work really knew what I did most of the day, they’d blame Etsy too. But they don’t know, and they all say I’ll be missed when I leave this Friday (who are they kidding, I’m just one in a long line of temps).

I’m leaving on Friday because on the following Wednesday, I’m flying out to Vancouver for work! I’ll be out there until probably the first week in April. I’m taking the Etsy stock (it all fits into a shoe box), and more importantly, I taking my Knitting!

I’ll be staying with a friend of my mum’s for most of it, and I’ll have about a 45 minute commute each way between her house and work. And we all know what car-less commutes mean… knitting time! And reading time! The thing is, I need some advice.

I was a car-sick kid (never seasick though). This was not fun on the journey between our house at the time, and my grandparents in Vancouver (but there were two ferries between all the twisty driving, so at least my parents had a respite on the boat). I’m not that bad any more, but I can’t read in a moving vehicle, I start to feel gross, and like I’m going to barf. I’m extrapolating this to mean that knitting on the bus may do the same thing to me. Any tips to help me, so I don’t go mad on the rides? Any way to combat knitting-induced bus-sickness? I’ve never really had to bus anywhere regularly, so I haven’t had the time to build up an immunity.

So I’ve been spending a lot of time on Etsy recently, and have found so many cool and interesting artists. I’ve been spending time on the boards at work too (shh), reading about promoting your shop and things like that. And I have this blog, and, well, 17 subscribers in bloglines (I feel like that has gone down…). Between 200-400 individual hits per month. I felt like giving back to Etsy, helping out some newbies like myself, in the hope that good things come back.

And, let me tell you, I think it is working, I made my first 3 sales in the past 2 days!

So all that is a long and rambly way of saying that I want to feature other Etsy sellers on this blog. I don’t know how often, maybe weekly, maybe less frequent, but I will work out some sort of schedule for myself.

Today’s Etsy Interviewee is Clear Pink.

ClearPink makes these gorgeous cards (I love this bubble print!). What I love about them is the attention to detail. The inter-office envelope style closure is just so cute. I know I’ve seen too many of those plain, worn-out, manila envelopes with the fraying red string, yet there is something so fun about opening and closing them. These cards have all the fun of winding up the string, and none of the worry about what you’ll find inside.

I came up with a few questions to ask people when I do this. Let me know if there’s another question you want added to the roster.

When did you start crafting?

My first memory of doing something “crafty” was when I was about 6. My grandmother came to visit for the summer and taught me how to knit. I worked on the knit and purl stitches for a few weeks. She left before I learned how to bind off, so for years I had my long multi blue scarf in my dresser. Right after college my boyfriend’s (now husband) mother was going through a knitting spurt. I asked her to re-show me how to knit. I have been knitting avidly since then.

In high school I took some art classes at the local college and decided to go to art school for my undergraduate. After college I worked for a graphic design firm. One of my favorite parts of the design process was working with paper and color.

Right before my first son was born my sister-in-law and I started a small business. We sold handmade baby/children’s items. We did that for several years. Her children were getting older so she decided to go back to work and I did not want to continue the business on my own.

I have always loved making cards. I remember making them for my husband when we were in high school. I made all of our children’s birth announcements and have made our Christmas cards for the past 3 years. After the first Christmas card I made for us, I began to make them for friends. The notecards just recently evolved. It seems like a natural thing for me. A love of good aper has always been a contant for me. Selling the cards is a great way for me to support my paper habit.

Why do you craft?

I craft because I like to be visually stimulated and to keep busy. Also, I spend most of my day caring for my four young children, which even on good days is draining. Working on the cards is a great break from the kids. It is something that I can just sit and do by myself after I put the kids to bed.

Whether it is with yarn, paper, fabric, food or in the garden, I always like to be doing something creative.

Anything you want people to know about your work?

I would like people to enjoy the cards. Paper is a great form of self expression.

What is your favourite dessert?

My favorite dessert is chocolate chip ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.

Well I’ve been busy, and I haven’t been knitting! (Although I do have one finished sock… photos the next time I’m home in daylight).

I’ve been getting things ready for my Etsy Store! Right now I have mainly iPod cozies (I made them a while ago, so they were good test subjects for the photographing and listing process) and now I am starting to load up my stitch markers! Here’s a little look at what I’ll be uploading over the next few days:

I really love making them, and I love that I have an excuse to buy beads! Actually, a lot of this first batch are from way back in October when I first got the idea of making stitch markers this way: without jump ring or solid loops of any kind. At that point, I just grabbed whatever supplies I had on hand, so some are made of genuine Rycrafty stash that I’ve been carting around. It’s nice to use it up at last.

I am not using jump rings or split rings or rigid rings of any kind, because I’ve found that ladders can form at the stitch marker when you are using that style. My stitch markers are smooth, flexible, and have nothing that could snag even the finest of yarn. You could even use my largest set on a lace project, and because of the way they hang, and the way they are constructed you won’t get those ladders. I also find them easier to slip to the next needle, because their shape is so similar to that of a loop of yarn. And what is knitting but moving loops of yarn from one needle to another?

I think I’m going to focus on smaller sizes, for socks and things like that. While you can use the biggest set on tiny needles, the big loops do make them longer, and I also find too-long stitch markers a bother.

It’s been great fun making them, and I’m hoping to do well. I’ve had my shop open for about a week now, and I’m planning on listing at least one item each day for the next month, to slowly introduce myself into the Etsy world.

Last night I was making some at the coffee table, and my boyfriend came out of the computer room and started helping me! He’s just wonderful. You never know, one or two in your set could have been made by him! He also had a few very good ideas for making things easier and faster. I love him.