New Stuff in my Etsy Store

Please come and Visit Me!

I am going to be phasing my "good stuff" -- i.e., anything I have hand-processed in any way and made into skeins -- out of eBay and on to Etsy. EBay is turning into a real rip-off for small vendors who don't do high-volume sales, and recently I have had a couple of icky transactions with other buyers/sellers. After three years of mostly positive experiences, it's discouraging to have business slow down as much as it has, and then to have more of what little business there is be unpleasant. I'll give it time, but I think my "art" needs to be in a more conducive venue.

People who hang around Etsy seem to be friendly, and generally appreciate and desire quality products, so I'll try a little harder there. I'm hoping it's just a matter of getting noticed, which takes time, but I have plenty of that, and a part-time job to keep finances ship-shape (if I don't venture into any yarny/fibery places, that is).

On the needles now is a UFO from approximately 2001. It's Marianne Kinzel's Thistle Shawl in a handpainted Shetland jumper weight I bought from Pam Grob in 2001. I think the last time I worked on it was while I was trying to rehab the broken elbow the doctor refused to set. I put it aside and started a heavyweight chunky Shetland sweater instead -- guess the shawl was too lightweight to be of much rehab use, or perhaps it was too complicated for a knitter so distracted by PAIN. (I can't remember. I've blocked it. The memory, that is. Not the shawl.)

Of course, if I knew THEN what I know NOW, I would have made notes regarding where I left off, but...it took me a dang long time to figure that out on Friday night, but I did get there and resume knitting. And yes, THIS time I'm keeping track.

My reward for finishing this, besides the obvious one of getting to wear the thing at long last, will be to choose one of Alison Hyde's patterns from her wonderful book, Wrapped in Comfort. I have been perusing this book since August, and the patterns are all so splendid, it's hard to choose which one I will try first. Eeny-meeny-miny-moe!

Best news of all for me right now is, I have a Room of My Own. I haven't had one of those since about 1987. This one is still waiting for light-switch plates and vent covers, but otherwise it is pleasantly habitable. And I can lock the doors if I have to. I spin, I knit, I compose Etsy listings...maybe sometime this year I will be legit as a business of some sort?

Well, at least it LOOKS official....
And yes, that's St. Cecilia above my head, and Rory Gallagher next to my elbow. It wouldn't be Home without both of them. St John the Evangelist, patron saint of writers, will join them, albeit on a different wall, as soon as I can get a decent color scan of his page in my book about the Book of Kells.