Christmas in July (starts today)!

Now through 7/6 I'll be participating in Etsy's holiday weekend deals promotion. The Etsy promo actually starts on July 2, but I thought why not just start now?

I'm calling my sale "Christmas in July" and will include a free set of six holiday gift tags with the purchase of a cold-weather item (all my knit hats and knit scarves). Please see the Christmas in July Sale section of my shop for these items. All other items in my shop will have free U.S. shipping and discounted international shipping! I think this is going to be a lot of fun!

Summer fun!

I just snagged a Treasury! I'm calling it "Hey! Hula!" and, if I may be so bold, I suggest you check it out whilst listening to The Honeybees' "Hip Shakin' Baby" (it's the last track here).

Yes, I am looking forward to the upcoming three-day weekend; can you tell?

What a nice surprise!

My Lemon Lime Fuzzy Popcorn Scarf has been featured in bytheway's new Treasury West called 'Softly Summer'! How awesome is that?!

In other news, C. had her baby, and I went to see them last night. Talk about cute! I can't wait to knit a little hat or something for her... but not in June; it's just too hot.

Speaking of the heat, Merino and I were thinking of going out and about somewhere for 'date day,' but we've decided to go to a movie instead. Popcorn and my sweetheart in air-conditioned comfort sounds perfect to me.

Big day!

C. might be having a baby right now, and all I'm doing is sitting here, waiting for S. to get out of a meeting so we can go have sushi for lunch.

I'm trying to figure out the most appealing main photo setup for my gift tags. I listed one new set of cat gift tags this morning, and a different one just now. Also, I just checked my shop hearts, and I have 94! I'm thinking of sending my 100th heart a "thanks for being my 100th heart - you get [either 25 % off... or ... free shipping on] an item from my shop" message, to celebrate. Thoughts?

New listing!

As I am painfully aware, not many people are buying knit items in June (did you hear the heat index near here is supposed to get up around 100 degrees today?), so I've been making gift tags out of old greeting cards (this latest batch is thanks to my best friend Kevin), and listing them on Etsy, just in case people would love to buy something from me but do not need to be warming themselves up! Here's my latest. It took every ounce of restraint I had not to title the set and this blog entry Let's Hear It For the Boy!

Pretty cool, even if I do say so myself.

My new Etsy Treasury is called comic superhero zine and I am loving it. Coincidentally, we watched part of Hellboy II: The Golden Army last night (but I've had the Treasury ready to go for several days now).

Tag - you're it!

Okay, I just wanted a catchy little title for when I give you a sneak peek of the gift tags I'm listing on Etsy tomorrow (plus a cute-but-unused shot of one of the birthday tags I put up yesterday).

Stay tuned, darlings! Coming soon: tag sets featuring men, cats, dogs, flowers, and more!

My new Treasury West!

It's called "It's Bedtime!" and all items, including alternates, are from the INCrowdteam, Etsy's Indiana Street Team.

I'm getting sleepy all of the sudden... go see why!

Why am I up at 7:30???

Could it be that I am excited about showing the world some awesome jewelry? Check out this morning's INCrowdteam Interview with CASEmethod! I can hardly wait for you to see her beautiful work!

I'm going to go make coffee while I wait for the comments to pour in on the Team blog.

In other news, more darling recycled/upcycled gift tags are in the works here. I've just got to scan/photograph and list 'em!

Edited to add: here's a link to the first new set of tags.

This is it.

No more FSA (as I like to refer to my First Sweater Anxiety); this one's got my name on it already!

Edited 6/19/09 to add that thanks to 'Merino's' two brothers getting me Knit Picks gift certificates for my birthday (yeah, I know, they rock!), I'm doing the sweater in Swish DK. Color: "coal," which is apparently not black; it's "a very very very dark grey" according to the customer service girl on the phone.

Oh, and several of the Bravo Whores will be knitting their own Annettes right along with me - wheeee!

Bravely into the weekend, I say!

I've had a pretty exciting (exciting for me, anyway) day! First, I didn't go to work. Then the letter carrier brought me a check from taking surveys. So I left this morning to deposit the check, and I went by the Harrison Center to get photos of the rest of the Yarnburners' stuff that got put up after I left that day. Then, since I just happened to have leftover sock yarn (no, silly, I still don't know how to make socks - I make HATS with it) and my size 3 double-pointed needles in my bag, I headed on down to Mass. Ave. Knit Shop to see if Susan could help me get up to speed on the sock yarn mitered blanket - yes, the perfect thing for me to do with all the little odds and ends left over when I am done with my hats! There's a knit-along, or a group or whatever you call it, that just started meeting in June, the first Tuesday of each month. So, I spent a couple of hours sitting in the Shop and knitting, and got a square done! Imagine, if you will a bunch of these, in all different colors, stitched together to form some sort of useful, delightful item! I'm told it can be done!

Just when I thought I couldn't take any more excitement, on my way home I saw the Pride floats lined up along Mass. Ave., in preparation for tomorrow's parade! Did you know that the cast (well, at least some of the cast) of Wicked are going to be the Grand Marshals? True story.

But wait, darling reader - there's more! I got home to find that someone had purchased my blue glass vase (thank you, Etsy Yart Sale)! They've already paid, too, so I sealed up the box and raced on down to the post office, arriving with mere moments to spare. That's right, people: same-day service! I will miss that vase a little; it really is sparkly! For some reason, I'm picturing it heading east on an adventure, its carton sealed with tiki tape and adorned with fragile stamps.

WHY isn't THIS in YOUR REGISTRY?

My new Etsy Treasury was inspired by being saddened by the generic nature of (and horrified by the completely outrageous prices of) the items on a very dear couple's wedding registry lists.

Etsy Yart Sale - I'm in!

There's a fun promo running June 10 - 14, and I decided to go for it! For the duration of the Yart Sale, I have a special sale section in my Etsy shop. There's free shipping on the notecards and the Hopeful Hat, and if you buy the Vase, you'll get 25% off any other item in my shop; enjoy! Yart, Yart, Yart - it's even fun to say!

Hit me with your best shot...

I have no idea why that song suddenly came to mind. I'm posting about my new Etsy Treasury. I'm trying to hone in on the things that make people click, comment and buy, but who knows. I've got a kicky title, "wanna make it with..." , a fairly cohesive color theme, and all the items are things that one could use to create something. All INCrowdteam, except for one darling Ravelry friend who's in the Bravo Whores Ravelry group where I post the most. Yes, that's right, there's an entire group on Ravelry where we throw around phrases like hot tranny mess, fierce, and suck it as often as possible. Love it.

More pics from yesterday!

Treats for pets and their people...

That's the title of my newest Treasury!

Now, if I could just decide what to start knitting today, I'd be all set.

Woot woot!

Guess what I did this evening? Yup! It was really fun! Something's up with flickr; I'll upload more photos when I can.

Well, I did it.

I took some of my profit from the scarf sale and put it right back into the EtsyKarmaUniverse. Yep; same-day service! I bet you think I bought yarn, huh? Nope. I bought a print of a cyclops using yarn! It's called Gary Takes Up Knitting, and it's the non-yarn thing I have coveted the longest since starting my shop. I know y'all are jealous that I snatched up Gary before you could, and you should be! I kid; you can come visit him at our place in a week or so. Or perhaps you should obtain one of Gary's compatriots for yourself.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go sweep the feather boa shrapnel up off the living room floor. What? I just finished my second piece for Friday night's knit graffiti install.

Fans of Mass. Ave. Knit Shop

Darling readers, you know how I love my local yarn shop, Mass. Ave. Knit Shop. I asked the owner if it was okay if I started a Facebook fan group, and she said yes... now several people have emailed me, "What about Ravelry? We need a Mass. Ave Knit Shop fan group on Ravelry!" So, since the FB group has 28 members, that seemed like a pretty good sign, so I went to the shop this afternoon and said, "Can I start a group on Ravelry?" and the rest is history! As of today you can support your local yarn shop on FB by typing "mass ave knit shop" in the search box, and on Ravelry by clicking here.

It's turning out to be a pretty big week, with my first INCrowdteam Interview that published on Saturday, the Indianapolis Monthly article which I shared with the knittaplease group on FB and suddenly I'm tweeting with people in the U.K., my first ever reserved listing on Etsy, the knit graffiti installation at the Harrison Center for the Arts coming up on Friday night and oh, have I mentioned the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival? Yeah, going to that on Saturday, provided there is no flooding of epic proportions this year.

For those of you who do not feel compelled to buy a copy to send to your momma, like I did.

Here is a link to Indianapolis Monthly's mention of our knit graffiti crew, although if you don't go purchase the actual magazine, you'll miss out on the fun of trying to read my photo credit in the teeny-tiny print in the gutter (crack) of the magazine.

My new INCrowdteam Treasury on Etsy

Spooky scary stuff plainly not inspired by that rotten (not in a good way) movie Drag Me to Hell that The Boys made me go see on Saturday.

By the way, I'm getting mammogrammed today and starting the mohair mammogram scarf, which will somehow or other benefit a cancer or mammogram charity. Lovely readers, get 'em checked. This ends today's public service announcement.