To Do this week -

Finally started delivering the Prayer Shawls this past week!

Couldn't wait to get started, but we had a few small delays. The lady that is making our gift labels ready kept telling me that they were ready to go, but I don't have Microsoft Publisher to print them out. She was going to work something out at the church office, but I haven't heard anything about it in weeks. Perhaps she was otherwise occupied...

Last week I worked up a new label and got them ready to go, picked up about half of what needed to go out, and began giving them out at church. We'd decided against this originally, and the group wanted to go out two by two to deliver them at home.

At the last meeting, I had no one interested in going out to make the deliveries (only 3 other members were attending.) Of two other people I asked last week, one is now not feeling well enough to do it and the other wasn't sure about her schedule this week. I gave up asking after that. I probably could've found someone else, but by the time I lined up everyone's schedule with everyone else's we wouldn't have made a dent in the number that need to be delivered. (Since this is the first delivery, it would've been over 25 deliveries.)

I've lined up 5 so far for today, and will call a few more this afternoon if I can squeeze them in. 5 were delivered Sunday at church. I think that's a good beginning! Friday is designated for another delivery day for me. Ideally, all will be delivered by Saturday evening, as I'll be out of town next week.

Lesson - It's ok to depend on others, but when they don't follow through, it's no reason for you not to. Making tons of items to give out and never giving them is the same as never making them at all!

Mondays with Etsy

We have another yarn "find" this week!

Atlantis Roving

SolsticeSupplies shop provides fiber from locally (Canada) raised animals. At Solstice Studios and Farm they raise llamas and angora rabbits for their fiber, along with dairy goats and chickens. They're working towards building a eco-community or village "where happy people and animals can exist in harmony together." How sweet!

Playground Roving

Solstice Supplies also buys fleeces and roving from local fibre farms. Their selection appears to all be dyed and ready for spinning. This is a perfect shop for those of you that already know how to spin or are looking to delve into this area.

Not into spinning and have no aspirations for it? I have located a two sites that have free project patterns for crocheting & knitting with this unspun roving! Or, you can try your hand at Needle Felting...

Pufpaff's has a pattern for crocheting rugs with roving. This would be perfect for the kitchen or tossing in front of the fireplace. This link provides a great knitted scarf pattern from Painted Ewe Rovings. It's a PDF file, so you can print it out immediately!

Jungle Drums

The listings state that they can work with you on quantities and dye lots. Fantastic!

All photographic material is property of SolsticeSupplies.

The Kreativ Blogger Award

Dear, sweet WarPony, whom I've come to know through blogging gave me an award!!! She has three blogs, but the main one is centered around horses. I know, what does that have to do with knitting??? Nothing. Which is why I'm even more honored to receive this award! Thank you, WarPony!

It seems the tradition is to list 7 of your favorite things and then pass the award to seven blogs who you think deserve it. This isn't an obligation but I definitely wanted to pay it forward!

So here are my favorite things:

1. My faith

2. My family, actual and church - they're the best!

3. My garden

4. Creating with my hands

5. Learning new things - especially having to do with creating new things and learning more about other cultures

6. Fresh, straight-from-the-oven bread - yummy! Especially with a slab of butter on top!

7. Making new friends and getting to know them.

Kreativ Blog Awards I'm giving away:

1. To Miss Jen at Blessed Femina - I ALWAYS enjoy reading her posts! They're inspirational, enticing, and the photos are lovely. You know it's a good blog when you feel better after reading it! (By the way, she has a giveaway going right now...) AND, yes, I know her blog is award and tag free but, I love it and I'm saying it!

2. Cheap Healthy Good - I enjoy the recipes, creativity, and experimentation that goes on here! Enjoy!

3. Dave and Brit Plus One - They've shared the journey to becoming new parents. They already have one of these awards but, it's a great site.... Congrats, guys! She's lovely!

4. JadieLady - She keeps it short and sweet, shares lots of photos, and is very witty!

5. Anne Marie at Married to the Empire - Her posts are cute, thoughtful, and really invite you into her life, in snippets, of course! Best part, her hubby dresses like a storm trooper, and who doesn't love Star Wars????

6. Joy of Frugal Living - It appears that she has few followers. I don't know why... I enjoy her posts. She shares, is thoughtful, inspiring (they live debt free!) and seems super sweet.

7. TECHknitting - Hey, this IS a knitting blog! TECHknitting has wonderful photos, easy to follow ideas, and has helped me several times with confusing items. Can't say thanks enough for all of the hard work that goes into these posts...

Thanks again, War Pony! I've enjoyed getting to know you and wish you the best with your knitting.

Mondays with Etsy

It's Ok We're Still Home

Today's find is BarbraJoan. Yes, it's another visual artist...


Barbra Joan is an artist living in Central Florida. She works in many mediums but enjoys watercolor and pencil/graphite the most. Her favorite subjects are flowers, women, nature and animals and she enjoys "bringing as much beauty to this world as I (she) can." Barbra Joan was honored with the Artist of the Year Award 2005-06 for her watercolor and pencil work!

Flower Pots

Sunflower

These designs come in different sizes, some are matted and some aren't. All would be beautiful to display in your home...

Her listings state that she is currently selling original works of art and may move into prints in the near future. Snag an original while you can!

All photographic rights are held by BarbraJoan.

Knitting errors...

It's inevitable. You're going to have knitting errors, some small and some large. If you're like me almost every project will contain an error of some sort. I've found that some are much less noticeable than others and a few are major errors that results in unwinding the entire project.

Whatever the case, don't give up! Errors are common occurrences. Tell yourself it's okay to have them. They make your item unique. Heck, at times you can even discover a stitch you've never made before.

When all else fails, find humor in your errors. This family made a film as proof of their mom's error...poor lady was aiming for a scarf with 35 stitches and ended up in the 200's! Can't you just imagine her being enthralled in a TV show and ending up with a sweater instead of a scarf?



Aren't children lovely????

How to increases your sales!

For many years I've heard that your sales technique is everything. You have to skill yourself on how to interpret the needs of others and listen when they speak.

Mastering the art of the sale is another bullet on my list of things to do. If it's on yours I recommend that you take a look at this passage...

The Art of Salesmanship

A young man from Wisconsin moved to Florida and applied for a job at a huge everything-under-one-roof department store. During the brief interview the store manager asked, "Do you have any sales experience?" The young man replied, "Yeah, I was a salesman back in Wisconsin. I worked at a car dealership, a general department store and I also sold real estate."

The manager took a liking to the young man and gave him a job saying, "You can start tomorrow. Be here by 9:00 in the morning and ask to speak with Tom Barnes. He is the assistant store manager and he will show you what you need to do. I'll come down after we close and see how you did." With that they shook hands and parted ways.

After the store closed and the doors were locked up , the boss went to see how the young man's first day had gone. After looking all over the store, the manager finally found the young man sitting on a box in the stockroom, hunched over and looking exhausted.

"How was your first day, son?" he asked.

"It was difficult learning about all the departments and products you sell here sir," The young man replied.

Then the manager asked, "How many sales did you make today, son?"

The young man replied, "Only one."

The manager then asked, "Well, how many customers did you talk to?"

Once again, he replied, "Only one."

The manager responded, "Just one? Our sales people average 20 to 30 customers a day! How much was the sale for?"

"$101,237.65," he replied.

"$101,237.65!" exclaimed the manager. "What the heck did you sell?"

The young man responded, "First, I sold the man a small fishhook. Then I sold him a medium fishhook. Then I sold him a larger fishhook. Then I sold him a new fishing rod, reel and a whole tackle box full of lures and stuff. Then, I asked him where he was going fishing, and he said he was going down the coast. I explained to him that if he was going to the coast, he was going to need a boat. We went down to the boat department and I sold him a twin engine fishing boat. After that, he said he didn't think his Honda Civic could pull it, so I took him down to the automotive department and sold him a 4x4 Expedition."

The store manager, with a look of astonishment on his face proclaimed, "A guy came in here to buy a fish hook, and you sold him a BOAT and a TRUCK?"

"No sir!" The young man said. "He came in to buy tampons for his wife. While I was showing him where the tampons were, I said, "Dude, your weekend's shot. You should go fishing."


Folks, that is a GREAT salesman! Hope I never run into him...

Another knitting video...

I was visiting JadieLady's blog today and she had the cutest Fraggle Rock knitting video. I don't know about ya'll but I loved watching Fraggle Rock on HBO growing up. I remember coming home every day from school and watching it.

I can't remember ever seeing those Doozers sing this song though... Oh well, enjoy!