Roses, blue roses everywhere

I am making roses to give out at Gram's service next Saturday and so far I have 24 done and I need to make a total of at least 100. The good thing is I have all week and since I make my own work hours and can decide what I'm working on I shouldn't have any problem getting them done. The bad thing is that I'm getting tired of blue already, that is grams favorite color, and I still have 76 to go. I'm thinking that I'm going to throw in some pink and maybe purple as she liked both of those colors also. I'm also going to make some butterflies and maybe a few bookmarks for the men. She is here with me all the way and even sent me her pattern for the roses because I couldn't remember the beginning of it.
      I was featured in a treasury on etsy yesterday and have been getting more views over the last week. I think for now I'm going to keep both shops and add things as I get them done.
      I bought a fake American girl doll yesterday to use as a model for clothing that Rosie says I need to make and sell to other little girls like her. I'm also going to get some more dragons and other animals knit and crocheted to post as Isaiah says boys like them, he says dinosaurs and monsters are cool and so do his buddies so that's what I'm going to work on. Of course there are always babies being born so I'm going to continue to make baby afghans and I'm going to add some light weight bonnets and maybe booties. I'm also thinking of another line of knit, crochet but not ready to post that just yet.
      The only thing is to do all of these things I need to start getting up in the morning instead of sleeping until noon or later.This is going to be hard because my time clock is set to nights and when I try to go to bed before 2 or 3 in the morning I just lay there and don't sleep, this wouldn't be a problem except that my eyes get tired and I can't keep working sometimes so it's wasted hours. I will figure this out one way or the other either get stronger glasses or make myself go to bed and get up with Bruce and stay up to get these projects done.
      Oh well off to make a few more roses. Happy Mayday, Happy Beltane

        Goodnight & Blessed Be

Using Gram's crochet thread from my stash

      Got a call this morning that Gram died and I have to say I have mixed feelings about it. She was 102. in pain 24-7, couldn't hear,see or walk any more or do anything for herself. She has wanted to go for the last 3 years and told us all the time that she didn't know why she was being made to stay here on this earth plane while younger people around her that she loved were being taken to the other side to soon.  She outlived Grampa, Uncle Tom, Uncle Ike, Aunt Jackie, my boy Barry, her sisters, brother, friends and many others that she loved.
     I'm going to miss her she was the one who taught me to knit, crochet, sew, love plants, and gave me the encouragement to do things that scared me. When I got married and worried that I didn't know how to cook or do laundry or other things that I thought wives were supposed to know how to do  she told me that I'd learn and it would be okay. When my first son, Adrian was born she just told me to relax that I'd know what to do and that we would learn together how to be good parents.  When we lost our youngest boy she told me he would always be with me and not to let anyone tell us how to grieve for him that there is no right or wrong way or time schedule that you have to follow.
     I inherited all of her knitting and crochet supplies when her eyes and hands got to a point that she could no longer do any of it. That was almost 10 years ago  and I've been using it ever since and still have lots to use. Her favorite color was blue and she loved roses so I'm going to make crocheted rose pins out of blue crochet thread to give to anyone that wants one at the funeral. I'm a lefty as she was and that's why she was the one to teach me as no one else in the family that crocheted or knit  were lefties like us. Even now I think I'm one of the few in the family that knit or crochet. We had that secret language that crafters have  I'd ask what she was working on and she say  a ripple or shell and I knew but others looked like we were speaking a foreign language. Another talent she had that she tried to pass to me was her knack to take a twig and turn it into a beautiful plant, I have a love of plants but can only grow things that let me know when they need water because I just can't tell when they do, my cousin ,mother and son got that from her.
     Well this has gotten long and I could keep writing about her for many more pages so I'll stop for now. She was always proud of me and made me feel special and I'll miss her but I know she is always looking after me and will give me encouragement from the other side just like she did on this side.

      Goodnight & Goddess Bless

Ostare also known as Easter

      Today was Ostare the original pagan name for Easter. Most of the rituals that go on now are a complete rip off of the pagan rituals just given different meanings to make them acceptable by the majority of people, ie Christians. Dying eggs and putting them out in the bushes etc. were to welcome the fertility of the new season. There are other traditions that the different pagans used that have also been incorporated into the modern traditions chocolate bunnies were not one of them though. The day is actually over but just wanted to say Happy Ostare to you all.
      We went to my Mom's today to visit with her and my brother's family. She has to have anew oil tank put in so we had to go down cellar and move some of my Dad's tools and things that were in front of it. We all laughed at some of the things that have been saved for all these years, wires that go to nothing, old car radios, and other strange things that only he knows why they were saved. We can't ask him as hes been gone for almost 10 years and Mom doesn't have a clue so its one of those silly mysteries that will never have an answer. After that we had homemade meatloaf with red potatoes, corn and broccoli cauliflower mixed veggies along with chocolate cake for dessert.
     I stopped at one of my favorite craft stores on the way down to Dover and got some yarn and safety eyes so I can get a few more dragons done. The eyes were a suggestion from my great nephew as he says that only babies need the sewn on eyes bigger kids like the cool eyes so I'm going to make some with cool eyes.  He also wants me to make some other cool creatures that bigger kids would like. So I'm going to try to work out some " cool creatures " as he calls them of course he didn't give me any ideas of what these may be so I'm flying by the seat of my pants. I like a challenge so I'll keep you posted with pictures as I get things made.
     I need to get the afghan done for our new grandson that will be here soon. I'm working on a knit blanket in a denim blue that Katie wants to bring to the hospital to bring him home in so I'm going to be knitting my little fingers off for the next few days so I can get it in the mail by the end of the week.
     There are finally buds on the trees and soon we will have leaves and more flowers. I can't wait to be able to go out and work in the yard and do my crafting out sitting in my new lawn chair with Mother Nature all around me.
      Well this sure has gone from one thing to another tonight I hope my ramblings make sense to anyone that's following this. You see this is how my brain works and to me this all makes perfect sense to all be together in one blog.
        Goodnight & Goddess Bless

Knit, knit, knitting away

       It was snowing earlier today. The poor flowers and trees don't know if they should be blooming or still be in hibernation. The animals are confused also, one day its warm and sunny then the next its snowing. Mother Nature is just having to much fun messing with us!!!
       Today I hung with Heather and we both just sort of did our own thing she worked on puzzles and I worked on the afghan that I'm knitting for our new grandson. We both had to keep from falling to sleep as the gray skies and wood stove relaxed us both I caught myself at least twice nodding off. Came home and burned the bacon I was fixing for dinner, well only half of it the first batch came out great. Bacon & popcorn dinner of champions!!
      Well still no sales on Zibbet and nothing since the three sales that I got on Etsy but I'm going to keep plugging away and making more stuff. I got the stuff to do some bookmarks when I was out on Thursday and I'm going to do a few on Monday and hopefully photogragh them and post them on Tuesday. I'm going to use knit, crochet & tatted flowers and other shapes for the designs and put them onto cardstock so they will holdup to being put in and out of books.
       Nothing more tonight going to go knit, knit, knit away!!!
Goodnight & Blessed be

Faster computers & new listing

       I've been without my laptop for the last few days as my wonderful husband took the time to do a full back up and removed a bunch of unneeded programs from it. It is now working much faster and is a happy laptop again.

      Last time I wrote I titled it squirrels but never put anything about them in it so I'm going to do so now. We have a squirrel that has been living in our cellar all winter and now that it's warmer I want it to go outside to live. I think it has other ideas! It has had the good life eating our dogs food, sleeping by the stove, and all in all having an easy time of it. This thing runs up & down the stairs all night, it is very heavy footed, takes the dogs food and most of the time hides it in strange places around the house like behind books, on high shelves in closets, neatly placed on a dish near the plant table, etc. So as you can see it has no incentive to leave. My biggest fear is that its a female and has a way to get out and back in and will go get preggers and then we'll have a whole houseful that we'll be feeding. I can't afford to feed this one squirrel let alone a whole bunch of them   

  I posted a new baby blanket today both on Zibbet and on Etsy. Tomorrow I'm planning on posting another one. Here are pictures of both of them.

     I'm going to be spending tomorrow with my friend Heather so I'll get quite a bit of the afghan done that I'm working on for my grandson that is arriving in about 5 weeks. They are naming him after our Barry and I'm so happy. Just wish they lived closer Texas is so far away.

Dogs and Squirrels

      It's been a long day but I'm still up at 2:30 AM instead of going to bed. I'm feeling like a major funk is coming on and I need to find a way to keep it at bay. Its been over a year since I saw my head doctor and it might be time to find someone new but I really want to try to keep doing it on my own with the help of my friends and family.
     My thoughts are going faster everyday and I have about 50 or more craft ideas in my mind that I want to do. My fear is that I'm going to all of a sudden hit a wall and fall into a spiral of not being able to do anything except stay in bed for days on end. The dreary weather has a lot to do with my mood these days and its going to be this way for the next 2 or 3 days.
      I'm getting discouraged with both of my shops as I haven't had any sales on zibbet and only the 3 that I had over a month ago on Etsy. I've been promoting on fb,twitter, here on my blog and telling people about both sites but still nothing. I'm going to give them both more time and keep making things and hoping for the best. I know that if I keep positive thoughts and tell myself that sales will come that they will but sometimes its hard not to get down when you put your best into your work and it doesn't do anything.
     Okay pity party over on to something else that I just realized last night about most of my work.
     I was starting a new afghan and settled on the pattern when I came to the realization that all of my afghans , toys, and bookmarks and other crafts all in one way or the other are based on the number three. All of the afghans either are a stitch that is divisible by 3 or the rows are a 3 repeat. The toys also have either a row count or stitch count that is divisible by 3. This is interesting to me as the number 3 is very spiritual to just about all religions or nature paths known. Pagans have the Power of Three in the Maiden, Mother, Crone aspect of the Goddess, Christians have the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and if I were to do more research I'm sure there are others that I'm unaware of.  This is something that just has happened with my work, not anything that I have consciously done so it must be that its in me to work that spiritual meaning into my work. I have always taken time to come up with a chant to go with every item that I make to put intention into the project but until last night never knew that I did the power of three in my work.  I find this an interesting realization about things.
     I added the 3 bookmarks yesterday and took pictures of the latest 2 baby afghans. I'm going to post the afghans tomorrow, well later today, and I'm going to do a few more bookmarks and get them posted. I got some different things to try as noise makers inside of baby rattles when we went shopping and I;m going to play around with them over the next few days, I have another baby afghan half done and a handbag that I started while I was at the movies the other night to finish so these things should keep me busy for the rest of the week and hopefully will help to keep me out of the doldrums.
     Goodnight & Goddess Bless

Slow computers...... ANNOYING

      My computer has locked up twice tonight and is running slower than mollasses. I think I'm going to ask the hubby to do a defrag and back up of it over the weekend. Hopefully that will help a little also have him remove a few things that are just taking up space.

     I made a crochet mouse today, took pictures of Fred to monster, Rollo, Pinky the pig, and better ones of the camouflage dragon. I finished making 3 bookmarks and they are now in the stiffening stage so tomorrow I can take pictures of them and after I have the kids help me with the discription I'll get them posted. 

First I make a mixture of Elmer's or anyother white glue and water, about an 80 to 20 ratio. Then you get to get messy, wet the item or items ring out and put into the plastic bag, mush them around until saturated and  now the fun part. Reach into the bag and pull one of the items almost all the way out of the bag, as you are lifting it sgueeze the extra glue mixture out of it. Now take it either over to the bucket or over a bowl with either newspaper or paper towels in it and squeeze until all of the excess is out of it. You may want to wash your hands at this point because they will start to be sticky and you are going to be playing with the item some more. Now you are going to be arranging it on something that you can stick pins into, a heavy cardboard box works, I use a cutting board that is padded on one side for ironing. Cover it with wax paper to protect the surface and to keep things from sticking to your surface. Put the item onto the wax paper and start to get it into the shape that you want, you can do this with your fingers or use a pin so you don't get all yucky. Using pins to keep it in place when you get it all pinned and are happy with the results you walk away and leave it to dry. Usually it takes about 24 hours to dry then you take out the pins and use it for whatever it is for. You can add ribbon ot whatever at this point. And now you get to clean any glue off your hands and anywhere else it may have gotten, you can keep any leftover mixture in the ziploc bag until the next time you want to stiffen something.

     Well this has gotten long and it's late so Goodnight & Goddess Bless

     

Bookmarks & Peepers

      Last night I heard the first peepers of the season. That means it really is spring and soon there will be leaves on the trees and all the smells that the season brings. The colors are starting to come alive and soon I'll be able to be out barefoot. Oh to be out and stand on Mother Earth with nothing between me and her, to feel her warmth and then to take a step and feel the coolness of the earth in a shady spot I can hardly wait and it won't be long I know.
     I spent over an hour today looking for 2 craft books that I knew were in the room I was in but were nowhere to be found. I discovered other things that have been missing but no books. Brought at least 30 skeins of yarn into the other room to be brought up to the room that they belong in. I'm going to take the time to make an inventory of all of the whole skeins that I have so I won't go out and get more of a color that I already have in stock. Then I'm going to go through all of the other yarn that I have stored away and get a better inventory of what I have so I can make some decisions as to what I want to make with what I have. I shouldn't need to get any yarn for making small stuff for at least a year with all of Gram's and Aunt Jacky's yarn that I have. Today I've been working on a bookmark using size 10 thread, I have enough of that to make over 1000 bookmarks without even making a dent in it. So I need to stay off the computer for at least a day and get busy so I can get some stuff made to put in my shop.
     The kids are coming up for the weekend and we are going to go hiking if the weather is good. So I won't get much done because I'll be busy visiting and playing dolls with my Rosie. Can't wait!!!!
     Need to get back on my low carb diet just a few days off it and my fingers and legs are swollen and retaining fluids. Tomorrow I'm going to have steak and salad no carbs at all or anyway very few.
    Goodnight & Goddess Bless

New item posted on zibbet

      I posted a new item in my zibbet shop tonight. A rust red baby afghan. I don't know how to bring it from the shop to here yet but here is a picture of it. You can go check it out at www.zibbet.com/NancesKniftyKnits along with the other things that I have there . I also still have my etsy shop so check it out also. If you se something you like but would like a different color let me know and I'd love to work with you to see what we can do.

      I'm going to take tomorrow off from crafting and go shopping with friends. I'm sure I'll end up in at least one craft store and also a book store. They are my weakness and I could spend hours in either just browsing and getting ideas for my next project. I've been into making small animals lately and other toys that my grand daughters would like.I had boys so I like to make things that they would like such as the dragons and I'm thinking of trying to either knit or crochet a car.

  Well I'm off to bed getting up early and it's already 3AM.

Goodnight & Goddess Bless

Twitter and other things

     I'm going to sign up for twitter tomorrow now that I understand it more. I always thought you had to have a fancy phone with all the bells and whistles to be on twitter. Wasn't I surprised when I found out that it's online and free. I guess I've been living under a rock:) So when I'm more awake I'm going to set it up and I hope to get a few followers from zibbet.

     I took some things out of my etsy store today and I'm going to post them on zibbet tomorrow. It just feels right to me. No circles or treasuries or relisting( at .20 cents an item) just to keep your stuff up in the listings. I like the warm camaraderie that I feel on zibbet that I don't really feel on etsy. I've made a few good contacts there and hope to keep up with them if I do completely leave etsy but for the most it just seems like high school cliques and if your not in the right one then you are not going to get anywhere. I don't feel like I'm the right type of person on there. Oh well it will work itself out and I will make a decision as to if I'm going to keep both or go all onto zibbet.

    I finished Fred lastnight. Here's a pic of him sitting on my computer. I also made another little creature that told me his name is Rollo, here's a pic of him, well I can't seem to get my computer to cooperate and add another one so I'll post him tomorrow.

     It's finally beginning to feel like spring around here.There are a few crocuses blooming on my neighbore lawn and some daffodils almost ready to bloom. Some of the trees have buds on them so it won't be much longer and we'll have greem leaves again and then the scents of flowers, trees, etc will be around. The birds and other animals are coming back and new life is soon to be everywhere. I can't wait until I can put my shoes away unless I have to wear them to the store or somewhere that they make you wear them. My feet are just itching to be back on Mother Earth wiggling in the dirt and grass and feeling all of the energy that comes from her. I'm itching to be able to go out in a chair and do my crafting outside  listening to the birds and buzzing bugs while I work. This time of year makes me feel alive like I'm coming out of hibernation like so many other beings. My work is taking on brighter colors and airier stitches in my afghans and I have new ideas in my mind that I'm hoping to start working on soon.

   One of the projects that I have in my mind is doing some more wall hangings and opening another shop on zibbet to have them and some of my pagan prayer beads and other pagan things in. I'm trying to come up with a good name for it that will bring pagans and other earth based folks to it but that will also bring others also. I don't want to scare anyone away with the name so I'm going to really think before I just jump in, I have a few ideas but need to do some more work on it and design a banner before I start this one.

    Oh well that's all I have for tonight back to knitting fir a little longer before it's time to go to sleep.

Goodnight & Goddess Bless

Making monsters

     Today I took pictures of my latest creation, a doll that I crocheted a dress for and I got it listed on my zibbet page. Here's a picture of her with a link so anyone that reads this can go check her out. I started to put up a red dragon but the computer locked up and I just wasn't in the mood to retype all of it in again so I'll do it tomorrow.www.zibbet.com/NancesKniftyKnits

Finding my way around new venues and things

        I spent about 3 or 4 hours on the computer today reading threads on etsy about changes going on in the feedback and the lack of viewers that people are having. Then I went onto Zibbet and read threads about how it's growing and people are getting more viewers to their shops and getting sales as more people find out about the site.
       Since I've only had 3 sales and haven't really done a lot of promoting of my etsy shop I'm in a quandry as to if I should stay with that shop or close it and have one shop on zibbet.  I need to sit down and make a list of pros and cons about both before I make any final decisions. I'm still trying to figure out how to do things on both sites so that makes it hard to know what to do. I need to do more figuring out on zibbet as to how to do things in my shop like add some of the cool things that I see on other pages.
      I'm feel a little overwhelmed and frustrated as to what I should do about the whole thing. I almost want to give up and go back into my cocoon of just making things for my friends and family but they are the ones that encouraged me to do this in the first place. Okay tomorrow I'll do some more soul searching while I work on some stuff to put in one or the other shop.
      Now to knit for a little longer and then off to bed.
Goodnight and Blessed Be

New shop on new site

      The last few days have been busy. I opened a new shop on a fairly new online selling venue called Zibbet, and think it's going to be a good fit for me. I only have 3 things posted on it so far but hope to have more in the next few days. The atmosphere is very welcoming and I don't feel as if my shop will get lost as easily as it does on Etsy. For the time being I'm going to keep my etsy shop opened but I'm going to concentrate on the zibbet shop more. The appeal of Zibbet is that you don't have to pay to list or to re list like you do on etsy and they don't take a percentage of your sales. They have different plans that you can decide which works best for you, one is totally free, a monthly fee or a yearly fee, you get more if you do the pay plan but it's really reasonable.  Go check it out at   http/zibbet.com/NancesKniftyKnits 
     I spent today designing and making a dress for a doll that I'm hoping to post tomorrow. I need to make a hat for her and put a ribbon around her waist also put a strap on the dress to tie around the neck to keep the dress from trying to fall off her boobs. Oh yeah I also need to decide what to use to close the back of the dress I'm leaning towards pearl beads or snaps haven't decided which yet.
     Yesterday I went through all of my knitting needles and crochet hooks and made a list of what sizes I was missing than we went to Keene and I started to get some of the ones that were missing couldn't afford to get them all at once so I just got the ones that I use the most that I didn't have. I'm going to continue to get the others that I'm missing as I can afford to. Not missing to many but it was interesting to go through and see just what I have after all the years of knitting and crocheting that I've been doing. I discovered that a few sizes I have like 3 or 4 of the same, some of it is that I most likely couldn't find what I was looking for and just bought a new one , and then of course there are the ones that I inherited from Gram and Aunt Jackie. I behaved myself when I got what I did becuase I really wanted bamboo but I got the cheaper metal ones instead. Someday I will replace all of my metal hooks and needles with bamboo for now they are on my wish list.
     I didn't write for a few days as I had a little pity party on Thursday as it was my Bear's 30th birthday and I had to imagine what his life would be like now if he was still alive. Would he be happy, married, have a kid or 2, be around here or living somewhere far away? These things he will never have cuase his life ended to soon and he will be forever 22. It gets a little easier each year but this was a biggy so it hit me hard. I spent most of the day in bed but finally decided that it was doing no good so I at least moved to the couch and worked on a new afghan that I should have done by Tuesday.
     Well thats all for tonight. Please check out my new shop and the website in general.
http/zibbet.com/NancesKniftyKnits
http/zibbet.com
Goodnight & Goddess Bless