SomerKnits

This year I participated in the Cold Hands Warm Hearts Swap hosted by  Much Love, Illy  and  Sandy a la Mode .  It was such fun to shop for my partner, Laura of  Lillypie Accessories .  It was also fun to wait in anticipation of the goodies Laura was sending me.  I love getting mail.  LOVE IT.  If you ever want to just drop me a postcard or anything, message me for my mailing address because mail seriously makes my day.  So here is my spread of goodies.  I should have taken a pic before I unwrapped it all, but I was just so excited, I forgot.  And she had it tied together so cute!!  Anyway, the main attraction is the off-white convertible gloves.  Aren't they awesome?!  I wanted to get a picture of me wearing them but it is hard to take a picture of your own hands.  Just sayin'.  Anyway, they go perfectly with the giant off-white wool coat that I am borrowing from a friend this winter.  That coat ...

 Oh gosh, so much! *Got Maternity pics taken *Worked some time at the Indie Emporium Pop Up Shop downtown *Set up the nursery (yay for the crib getting here FINALLY!!!) *Designed our Christmas cards *Made a photobook of my maternity photos *Knit a little hat for Baby E *Couldn't resist the Black Friday deals on Everything Birth and had waaaay too much fun going through my purchases once they arrived.  Who knew cloth diapering could be so much fun before you even start! *Did some Christmas shopping *Spent some time trying to combat feet swelling.  Eventually gave up.  (Wish I had some shoes that fit) *Drinking hot chocolate now that its cold. (Chocolate is the most caffeine I have these days.) *Started wrapping presents *Failed miserably at cleaning the house tonight. I know there has been a ton more that I have done.  After all, I haven't managed to blog in quite a while. Why is that? Well, first it feels like there is not a single d...

Sorry I have been absent (again).  There is so much going on!  The Jenks Church Fall Craft Show was fantastic, definitely a success and hopefully I will be able to do it again next year.  My next be show is Alliday on December 17th, but in the mean time, check this out: SomerKnits will be participating in the Pop-up Shopping District in Downtown Tulsa via the Indie Emporium Store!! Haven't heard of it?  Check out this article  by the Tulsa World. There is also this great post  on the make:Tulsa blog. And be sure to check out the facebook page ! Basically, a bunch of local businesses will be setting up temporary retail shops around the 5th and Boston area of downtown Tulsa.  The Indie Emporium shop is over near Elote and almost directly across the street from Mod's.  If you have never been to Elote or Mod's then you are totally missing out.  Come shop the cute shops and grab some good eats.  We'll be open November 30th to Decemb...

I am excited for this weekend!  I have been meaning to participate in one of the Jenks Church Craft Shows for a while now, but I have always had conflicts with the dates.  Generally its been that I have already commited to a different show on the day of the Jenks Church Show, but this time it has worked out perfectly!  This will be my last solo show for the year (I still have Alliday with HollyRocks) and I will probably take the spring off of shows unless something super enticing comes up and things are going smoothly with the new baby.  I am excited that this is turning out to be the biggest show that they have done, there will be 50 vendors there (there is a list on facebook) and it looks like a wide variety of products.  If you are in or around the Tulsa/Jenks area Saturday, please stop by and visit me!  And please pass the word on about this show!  The show itself benefits the Jenks Church Youth, so thats just another great reason to come out and ...

Have you heard of Alliday?  If you live in or around Tulsa then I hope so!  But if not, just know that it is going to be a big and awesome event this year!  December 17th out at the fairgrounds you can come and knock all that last minute holiday shopping off your list and simultaneously support your local and handmade community.  There is a huge group of fantastic artists this year, so plan ahead and plan on coming!! Can't wait that long?  Saturday November 5th, a week from tomorrow, a bunch of local crafters and I will be set up at the Jenks Church Fall 2011 Craft Fair.  The Jenks Church is on Elwood between 111th and 121st, just down from Perryman Ranch.  We'll be open 9am - 4pm so definitely try and stop by. This season, no matter where you live or what holidays you celebrate, try and give back to your local and handmade community by shopping shows, etsy, or the mom & pop corner store in your area.  Your support allows them their own ho...

I had a fantastic time this past weekend with Holly at B.A.ZAAR!!  It was so nice to share a booth with one of my favorite people and it was great to see all the people who came out to support this brand new indie craft fair.  I hope that next year it is even bigger and better!    The weather was completely perfect (once the sun came up and it warmed up a bit).  You probably couldn't have picked a better fall day to be outside on.  Our booth was under a pavilion so we weren't having to sit in direct sunlight all day and for the most part the breeze stayed very soft and gentle.  We did occasionally get our signs knocked down by a gust, but thats a hazard of outdoor shows, right?  We decided to split our U shaped booth by each taking a side table and making it our own, then integrating along the connecting table.  That allowed each of us our own branding and a place to put our banners and then allowed us to show a blending in the middle. ...

I have so many posts bouncing around in my head, but I just didn't get to them this week.  It seems to be like that a lot lately, but perhaps if I was actually free even one evening each week I might actually accomplish some of the things that bounce around in my head. For instance, I still have more vintage brooches to show you! And I want to put away all the summer clothes and figure out what might fit me between now and January. I want to clean up the craft room again, which was destroyed in the process of cleaning out the nursery. I want to clean up and winterize the front flower bed and the garden.  Thankfully I have the world's best husband and he has already started on this process. I want to knit a sleep sack for the baby.  :-) I want to do some Baby E updates about getting ready for our little one.  Hopefully that won't take over the blog, but I tend to write about what is on my mind and I would definitely say that Baby E is on my mind.  If ...

Remember that B.A.zaar I mentioned yesterday?  Here are the details!   A few fellow Tulsa Makers will be there in addition to Holly and I.  You'll be able to catch Bohemian Romance and Plume Perfume as well as our new friend The Peaceful Housewife. Stop by and see us!!

Almost every year, or at least as often as possible, my mom and grandma and I load up in the car and drive out to War Eagle Mill in Arkansas for the War Eagle Craft Fair.  We leave really early, before sun up to get there early, we like to shop while its still cool out and before the mega-crowds start.  It's a fantastic craft fair, although it has gotten smaller in recent years than it was when I was little.  It used to take a good chunk of the day to see all the booths on both sides of the river, but now we seem to be able to get through in a few hours, even stopping to pick through booths of antiques on the Sharp Show side of the river.  This year mom and grandma walked away with a few things but I pretty much only left War Eagle with a full belly of Indian Taco and business cards.   I did manage to change that on the drive back though.  After stopping at our favorite apple stand for our usual bushel of Arkansas Black apples (if you have never had one th...

I'm sad its over until next year.  I had the absolute most wonderful time at Indie Emporium!  The shoppers were great, the fellow vendors were great and I just don't think we could have asked for better. First, I want to say a great big, huge thank you to Thom and Christine and all they do putting on this fantastic event.  I feel so privileged to have gotten to work with them on the planning, decoration making and set up.   In case you missed it, let me take you around a little bit.  First up, here is my booth!  Good or bad, I filled my little space to the max!  I tried to create lots of different levels in my display to add interest and make different pieces stand out.  Everything except the tiny table to the right in my booth was made by me.  That little table is yarn and needles from Africa that I am selling to help support a clinic in Uganda.  I will be sure to tell you more about that soon, as well as get some close ups of the yar...

It has been a really, really busy week.  And next week looks like it will be equally busy.  So while I haven't gotten a whole lot of knitting done, I did take the time to make a first batch of felted wool dryer balls.  Its fun playing with the colors, I definitely think I will keep making them, especially since a number of people have expressed interest. I do plan to go out and get some un-dyed wool for those who prefer the all natural route.  For now though I am making pretty and colorful ones.  :-) Today I get to go to the fair and see my blanket on display!  I'll definitely try and get a picture with it.  I love the fair.  Hopefully my feet can keep up with all the walking today, but Ben is patient and I know he'll let me take a break if I need it.  Can you believe I'm 26 weeks pregnant?  I know I haven't mentioned it on here a ton, so you might have lost track, but it just seems crazy to me.  I think that we are growing a jum...

Wow, what a whirlwind weekend!  Evnetually I will get the pictures off of the camera and give you a recap, but for now just know that Indie Emporium was fan-freaking-tastic!  By the end my feet were so sore and I was soo tired, but I wouldn't have traded it for anything.  I got to hang out with some of the best people and I got to see my new product model hit the runway for one of the designers.  Like I said, it was great! Sunday I barely moved.  I had lofty goals of laundry and cleaning and getting all the show stuff I dumped out of the car organized but none of that really happened.  What did happen was lunch with my mom and sister, visiting some old friends of the family, laziness on the couch and puppy time.  I wish I'd gotten up off the sofa earlier and gone to bed because monday it was back to the grind and back to the craziness.  My weeks have been so booked this fall!  In a good way, but I am in a perpetual state of tired right...

I am getting down to the wire getting ready for Indie Emporium!  I'm so excited and nervous!  I get nervous before craft shows a lot.  I hope I remember everything.  I hope my booth display is as attractive as I want it to be.  I hope people like my stuff!  I've put a lot of work in to this year's inventory and so I think I am even more nervous than usual.  I have spent the last couple of days making lists, tagging more items, cutting all the extra tags, stocking my new little check out stand (which is going to make my life so much easier at shows!), making more lists, contemplating the booth display, and thinking of all kinds of last minute things I would have loved to have gotten made but just won't have the time to get to. It would be nice if all I had to do was knit and then show up at the show and all of the organizational stuff would just take care of itself.  Its a nice fantasy, isn't it?  I love the knitting part and the talking ...

Yesterday I had a quick and fun photo shoot with my new model, the fabulous Ashten.  I was getting down to the wire on getting photos of all my new inventory that I will be taking to Indie Emporium next weekend, so we really packed it all in yesterday.  Once we got her to loosen up I think she had some fun with the whole process.  And I very much hope she agrees to do it again, don't you?  The cowl above is a mohair and wool blend hand dyed yarn from Angora Jane, a local spinner and dyer.  The pattern is my one Illy Cowl pattern (Free pattern over on the right hand side bar).  This yarn + this pattern came out beautifully.  Ashten is going hollywood in this oversized cowl made of another merino wool and mohair blend, this time hand dyed by Dawning Dreams.  The linen stitch always makes a beautiful and complex looking fabric.  The drape of this chunky weight yarn is fantastic and this cowl will definitely keep you warm all winter.  Man...

I didn't get a whole lot of new inventory knit over the early or middle part of the summer.  But I have a really good reason.   You see, when I first found out I was pregnant the most important thing in the world to me (other than sharing my joy with my wonderful husband) was to find the PERFECT baby blanket pattern.  First I picked out the yarn.  I know most people pick out the pattern first, but I wanted to start RIGHT NOW so I sat down and went through my entire stash.  It happens that I had 11 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran sitting around.  They had planned on becoming a sweater, but it hadn't happened yet and I decided the light grey/almost silverish color was a perfect unisex baby blanket color.  And I still think that.  You see, we are waiting to find out if its a boy or a girl until it is born, so there was no reason to wait to start the blanket.  So what qualified as a "perfect" baby blanket pattern in my mind?  #1 - It ...

Today I posted over at make:Tulsa about all the great swag people have been making for the Indie Emporium Swag Bags.  You can check out the full post here . With the help of my friend Shannon, I got all of my swag done and ready to turn in.  Here's the sneak peek I posted on facebook yesterday: These swag bags are filled with goodies from many of the vendors and are only given to the first 50 people in the door on Friday night September 30th.  If you are in or around the Tulsa area, make sure to stop by.

I don't think I can thoroughly explain the concept of Iron Crafter to you, so you really need to watch this short video.  Its totally worth it, I promise. See, its Iron Chef meets the crafting world.  And its the newest addition to Indie Emporium.  If you are in or around Tulsa, you are really going to want to come see the hilarity that is sure to ensue from this.  Its looking like I'll be up there for the Prairie Hive Vrs. make:Tulsa part of the competition.  I'm sure there are bound to be glue guns and pom poms and who knows what else. I know that many of you probably think I have a one track mind right now, but when you spend every free moment prepping for a show, it really is all you can think about.  Besides, I have a 2 track mind right now, I just don't want to inundate you with baby stuff.  Once we start getting the nursery put together, I'll probably talk a little more about that.  The room is almost cleaned out and I have started so...

I had a fantastic weekend with some fantastic people.  I definitely made the most of my three days off in a row.  Our many adventures included knitting, movie watching, pedicures, italian cream sodas, baby shower (not for me, for my friend), baby clothes sorting, more movies, raiding the Carters 50% off sale, Trader Joes (oh how I miss thee), Melting Pot, and so much more.   This is my friend Kate and I at her baby shower.  We are kind of orange because the walls and the ceiling were all totally orange, but what ya gonna do?  It was a fun shower and she got many thoughtful gifts from friends and family. The weather also took a dramatic turn and suddenly became beautiful.  It was so nice we took multiple walks to take advantage of it. In the world of knitting to prep for Indie Emporium, I got a wonderfully luxurious merino and cashmere cowl knit up and I have a hat going that will match.  It is a wonderful deep green and I can't wait to get picture...

So the other day when I posted about working my fingers to the bone getting ready for Indie Emporium, I was in a total hurry and left out all of the funny and entertaining things I was going to talk about.  See, my blog posts are often much better in my head when I am in the shower than they are once I sit down to actually start typing and run out of time or just completely forget all of the stuff I told myself that I would mention.  For instance, I was going to tell you all how I have been knitting every single spare moment I have, which includes somewhat normal times, like any time Ben is driving and I get to be the passenger, and other not so normal times, like sitting in the dark little room at the eye doctor waiting for my eyes to dilate, knitting with them closed because it becomes too hard to focus on anything to have them opened.  I knit through the wait at every prenatal appointment (baby is doing great, by the way) and someone always asks what I am knitting. ...

I have been working my fingers to the bone recently getting read for my favorite show of the year.  Thats right, Indie Emporium is coming up! I am so excited to be doing a full booth solo this year and  I am working hard to ensure I have a great selection of hand knit goodies for all the shoppers to peruse.  So many factors make this my favorite show of the year, but one if them is that so many of my make:Tulsa friends will also be vending there.  Speaking of make:Tulsa, did you see the new button on the left?  I'm very excited about this fall and everything that make:Tulsa and Indie Emporium will have to offer.  Be sure to come out and see us all at Indie Emporium and don't forget about the fashion show on Saturday evening the 1st.  For the full schedule of events, including things like bands, craft demos, etc, go check out  Indieemporium.com .  And if you are one of the first 50 people in the door friday evening September 30th you will...

Getting back to more of that new inventory for the upcoming fall shows.  This is still all stuff I finished week before last, I just haven't gotten to photograph any of the stuff from this week yet.  Besides, I didn't want to skip these goodies.  This hat is wonderfully soft and squishy.  I'm thinking it might need a small brooch or little bit of sparkle  right at the pinch.  The picture doesn't do the richness of the purple shade justice, it is really a lovely shade.  This bright blue gem is bouncy, squishy, soft and fun all rolled in to one.  The basic spiral lets the lovely color of the yarn take center stage.  This cowl is long enough to wrap twice, as shown below.  Even though it s a wool blend, it is soft enough to go against the delicate bare skin of your neck. I really can't wait to get modeled pictures of both of these items as well as all the new pieces from this week.  I have 2 more cowls and 3 more hats that I need to...

This morning I ran over to Loops South on my way to work and snatched up a bunch of great deals on lovely yarns.  I like hitting sales because it means I can try knitting with things I normally can't afford and I can bring a wider range to my customers without charging an arm and a leg.  Sure, most of these yarns would still be considered "expensive" compared to if you hit up a Hobby Lobby or a Michaels, but the quality 100% worth it.  I grabbed some really good deals today and I can't wait to get them knit up!  I have plans for some cowls that I would normally have to charge $80 or more for just based on yarn cost, but I think I can get them down to $50!  That is excellent savings for you, so be on the lookout this fall for some great deals on luxury knits.  If I remember to, I will photograph my haul before I start playing with it so you can see the amount of awesomeness I snagged.  :-)  I'm almost giddy with it and I wish I didn't have to work,...

Its not that I haven't been knitting at all.  In fact, eventually I will show you the baby blanket that I spent most of the summer working on.  Its just that one day at the end of July I woke up are realized I barely had more than 2 months until my first fall show and I hadn't made any new inventory on the knit side in quite some time.  Luckily, just a day or so after this some yarns jumped out at me and I found some inspiration and things took off from there.  I had an ends-weaving party for myself on Saturday after I finished cleaning the craft room, if I would be more disciplined about doing it right away when I finished a project then I wouldn't have to spend hours on it later, but oh well.  This wool blend seed stitch cowl is amazingly soft and fluffy.  This was one of the yarns that told me what it wanted to be the minute I saw it.  There were no models around on Saturday, so I got out the stand I use at shows and took some quick pictures. ...

In preparation for our little one, we have been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing recently.  I can tend to be a bit messy and a bit of a pack rat, so I have been attempting to declutter as I clean.  It has been a lengthy process, going through every scrap of paper in every folder and drawer, but in the end it will be so worth it.  To fuel this cleaning frenzy on Saturday I armed myself with a wonderful smoothie of 2 cups of spinach, 1/2 cup not fat greek yogurt, 1 1/2 cups of mixed blackberries, raspberries and cranberries, and 3/4 cup dark sweet cherries.  All of that toped with a dollup of light whipped cream.  The spinach is especially important because ever since I got pregnant a lot of vegetables taste funny to me and I have been having to find clever ways to hide them in things.  It really did help me power through the morning and end up with these fantastic results. This (slightly backlit) picture is my craft table.  It sits on one end of...