Last week, I made a lot of stitch markers. Like, really lots. As I posted on Twitter, 200+ stitch markers over the course of a couple days! My fingers are just now recovering.

Here’s just a few of them being packaged up before being sent off to The Knitting Nest in Austin, Texas. This is the second order I’ve sent out there, so I’m very excited! Thank you, Texas!

I use that turquoise Scor-Pal mat a lot on my desk, and not just for paper crafts. I have a glass-topped desk (Vika Gruvan, from Ikea), and I shove store stuff in the space underneath. Sometimes that gets distracting, and I “lose” stitch markers (especially the wire ones) because they blend in to whatever is underneath.

I designed myself new business cards for the new year, you can see them there. It’s the same design I threw together for Sock Summit, tweaked and professionally printed, instead of printed on my home printer.

And the hero of my “store” packaging (I do less on my Etsy orders, to save the world a few extra plastic bags) is my lovely green Swingline.

My stapler. While I wouldn’t burn down a building for it, it is very helpful.

New business cards for my Etsy store arrived yesterday, which meant I could finish packaging up this bulk order!

It’s going in the mail on Monday, so if you’re in Austin, check in at the Knitting Nest in a couple weeks to see if you can spot them in the wild!

Now you can!

Everyone knows that things with flames on them go much faster than things that don’t have flames. Why not light a fire under your knitting, and finish that pesky afgan in a matter of hours? Rycrafty (TM) Stitch Markers are Guaranteed to make you knit faster!*

*Okay,  not really. Wouldn’t it be cool if it worked though?

In all seriousness (and less ad-like-ness), these markers are one of the two cool new stitch marker designs I’ve been hinting about. These ones are my standard snag-free stitch markers with beads I custom ordered from another etsy seller. One who is actually in the same city as me! I do have to give credit for the idea, and the whole ‘KNIT FASTER!’ thing to my boyfriend though, it’s all based off something he said about flames making everything go faster, even knitting.

I made the markers up with silvery wire (middle pic), and goldy wire (top pic). The goldy looks good with the flames, but I tend to default to silver. Any preferences out there? Should I give up on the silver with this? Go for the gold?

Cool design #2 will be going live on my etsy site this weekend. The stitch marker revolution is coming. Will you be a part of it? I love these new markers I’m making so much, I think the knitting world will too. I was so enthusiastic I actually made up a little ‘press release’ today, just to write it all down, so I don’t leave out any of my ideas in the listings. I haven’t been this excited about something I’ve made in ages!

Speaking of things I’ve made, I’m knitting the world’s most gorgeous scarf right now. Unfortunately I’ve taken so many stitch marker pictures in the past few days I ran the camera’s battery down to nothing. It’s charging tonight, hopefully I’ll get some pictures tomorrow.

Finally, I have time off, for the first time since the end of September. Today was my first day of 2.5 off in a row, and I’ve been enjoying it.

I went out for brunch with my boyfriend, then he went to work, and I came back here to play with beads and make stitch markers. I got the greatest beads the other day, and just had to buy them. I think they’re quite appropriate:

They come in sets of five, so you get two yarn balls, two ‘I <3 2 Knit’ rounds, and one knitter. So cute!

Funny story: I went to my etsy store to get the link to these markers, and someone had bought them! I last looked at my storefront about half an hour ago, so it was quite odd. But very exciting. Don’t worry, I have some more beads.

Thinking of more beads, I actually commissioned some from a bead maker I found on etsy who actually lives in the same city I do! I’ll definitely post about those, because they are going to be super-cool.

I haven’t used any of today to knit yet, because there was also some major cleaning to be done, but I’m excited to pick up the needles later this week!

I was looking at the Sock Summit page just now. I really want to go. But I don’t think I’d be able to afford it. sigh. But that’s nothing new, so I’ll live.

I did buy a new coat yesterday, and is it terrible to say I love it because knits of all colours will look good with it? Here is a picture of it, and it was 40% off! My other coat is a green and white check, so I can’t wear all my knits with it, if I don’t want to clash. Sometimes I do want to clash, but not always.

Lately I’ve been trying to make concious decisions to shop at smaller stores, rather than big ones. We’ve all heard the ‘recession, blah, blah, blah, job loss, blahblahblah’ but I think that my part in the times to come is to continue to spend. Not huge amounts of money, not more than I can afford, or for stuff I don’t need, but if I go out looking to buy a dress (which is what I was doing when I accidentally bought that coat) I now go to the small boutiques first, rather than somewhere huge like Old Navy or The Gap. I’ll probably end up paying more, but I feel good for supporting a small business. I’ve also tried to move my shopping habits to etsy too.

After a string of unexpected expenses (4 new car tires, tow truck fees) I am amping up my etsy store. It’s something I wanted to do this year, and my car has been so kind as to give me a kick in the pants to get going.

All through February, I will be updating daily (or more!) with new stitch markers, and possibly a few new products I have running through my head. Don’t worry, the main focus of the store will stay as stitch markers.

I’m very excited because come Valentine’s Day, I will have more than one day off a week (and will be working less than 50+ hours a week) for the first time since October. I’m not sure I’ll know what to do with myself. No, that’s a lie. I will be sitting, knitting, cooking, baking, and CRAFTING. It’ll be heaven.

A friend of mine is doing a couple craft fairs this weekend, and has kindly agreed to sell my iCozies at her booth! I went out to Value Village the other day to find a nice basket to put them in, and came back with a better display than I ever imagined.

It is a wicker mail organizer, and is just perfect for a nice, compact display. And it was all of $3.99. The compartments are all different depths, as they all go right down to the bottom, so I stuffed them all with plastic shopping bags, then started arranging the iCozies.

There’s even a little business card-sized compartment!

I had printed the iCozy labels ages ago, and had been sticking them to (recycled) cardboard as I sold iCozies on Etsy, but now I needed to get them all out. I went to my building’s recycling room, and lo and behold I found a white cardboard box, which was just perfect for labels. I did run out of that though, and had to do a couple brown ones too.

I think it looks great, and it also won’t take up too much room on my friend’s table. I’m heading out there at some ungodly hour in the morning to help her set up, and then I have to work, so I won’t be there for the whole thing.

I’ve also had an amazing inspiration for next year’s craft fairs. I’m not sure if I can pull it off yet, and November-December can be very busy months for me, but we’ll see. I’ve got cunning plans aplenty.

Want an iCozy for yourself or a loved one, and can’t get out the the Braeside Community centre in Calgary tomorrow (Saturday the 6th)? I still have some in my Etsy store!

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.