I Wish You A Merry Christmas

The Prayer Shawl roll continues on...I decided I should show you what I've been up to. Five prayer shawls and one more on the needles. The light colored one on the bottom left was made a few weeks ago and is the only triangle one there will be. I used to make the triangle all the time, but I am enamored for the rectangle one. The four rectangles have all been made with a ten day period - told you I was on a tear. I love the colors. And I love how soft they are and they look like a lot more work than they are.

Mr. Honey's sister is getting the triangle one because she canceled Christmas (well, kinda, another post) and his sister-in-law is getting the prayer shawl on the upper right. (I can tell you this cuz they don't read the blog!)

There are more shawls to come in some really lovely colors and I am excited to see them go from skein to shawl.

You know what else I'm excited about? LIsa's Pieces. Lisa is a local artist and she makes jewelry. She's fresh and understated - which means her stuff has a great 'wow' factor.
Take a look at some of the things I love in her shop: Aren't these the cutest earrings? Y'all know since I chopped off the hair that the ears can't go out naked. Earrings have always been one of my favorite accessories and these are just darling!
My other favorite accessories are pendants and these are also quite cute.










She manages to get quite a lot into such a small area. The pieces aren't so big they overwhelm you, but the designs are such they carry themselves very well. I just love her work. She's been doing it for over fifteen years and she even makes guitar picks! Check out her shop on Etsy.com and see if you don't fall in love with it, too!

I'm going to get back to the knitting now. While I do have that prayer shawl on the needles that's about 1/3 done, I will actually be working on some squares. My secondary project is to make 200 squares and I have 3 of them done. I am hoping I can keep myself interested enough to get through them all because they will make about 4 sampler afghans which should look really nice.

I don't know that I will get back here before the holiday so let me take this moment to wish you and your family the best of the holiday season. Whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festival of Lights or whatever the observance of your heart and spirit - I pray that it is everything you wish and need it to be and that it leaves you feeling wonderfully tired and refreshed with the joy of being surrounded by the people you love or being in restful solitude can bring.

My Arms are too tired...

to take a photo of all the prayer shawls I've been making. I've been on a prayer shawl tear for the past few days I've made three in the past week and there's another one on the needles that should be done by the end of the day.

So, what's with the prayer shawls? Couple of things: I sold out at the holiday shop so I don't have any more. Mr. Honey and I decided to give his sister and sister-in-law prayer shawls for Christmas. And if you recall, I started making them for a Prayer Shawl Ministry at my church. I've also decided to put more of them in the online shop and have them available for sale at the craft sales we're pulling together. So I've been making them as fast as I can. I'm using a basic garter stitch pattern but the yarns and colors are so good they do the most of the work. I've discovered I can make one in about 15 hours. Mr. Honey will have the honor of selecting which ones are used as gifts. They've all been prayed over in church and will have a tag with the date on them. And the church will receive money for each one I sell. I am hoping it will help in some small way.

You get so much impact for the effort. They're soft and beautiful and can have such a meaning for people. Prayer shawls are not just to give comfort; they are also a way to spread joy. They can be used for celebrations and observances. I love making them.

Are you all ready for Christmas? It doesn't seem like it should be here. 2010 is two weeks away. Goodness. Didn't 2009 start just last week?

What A Week!

Howdy!
Yes, I know, it's been a while!

Heather and Cici! You won the contest and I need your contact info to send your prizes!

So, what have I been doing for this past week? StitchCraft was participating in the Pleasant Home Holiday Shop for the week. Pleasant Home is a beautiful mansion and for the first week in December, it is turned into a holiday shop with handmade crafts and art from local artisans.

We've had the pleasure and honor of being there for three years and ever since we've been there we've been the top sellers and I think we've probably had that distinction again and keeping that record holds special meaning for me because this is the first year the group isn't with the church. (They had their own space in the shop far away from ours.)

I was worried there wouldn't be enough merchandise to sell so I was furiously knitting up a storm and I ended up with about 100 pieces. I needn't have worried because five others contributed items and we had nearly 200 items to sell.

Everyone had at least one sale - Marion did really, really well with her jewelry and knitted goods. Overall, we made more than we made last year - which was another personal point of success for me.

Melissa took some photos and I'll let you know when she posts them. But our tablescape was really nice. Melissa did the original setup and Marion did some tweaking. We had a great variety.

My task from Mr. Honey was to come home with less than I left with. I left with four big bags and a box. I came home with three bags. I sold a little over 20 things. My goal was 30 but I can live with it since, well, I have to and because I sold an afghan for over $100!! (it was a great week for me on that front as well.)

I saw a couple of folks who have shops on etsy and still haven't managed to make my top ten list (that will return next week, btw!) and I got some ideas from some of the crafters that I will have to make reality.

So, today, I'm a bit tired and I have a meeting at church. I am going to take the rest of the day off and then come back strong tomorrow. I hope you had a great week last week and a great week this week. I cannot tell you how great positive reinforcement is for the soul.

Make it a great day!