Mmmm... coffee...

I just listed 6 new items to my Folksy shop, and it feels good! After the mad rush of Xmas orders (not to mention my own last minute present making!) I needed a bit of a rest from knitting, then the rest of my life got in the way (as you'll know if you read my previous blog) so it's great to be back in the swing of things.

I've also been a bit frustrated lately as my flat can be a bit gloomy if there's no bright sunshine, so it's tricky to get decent photo's of my items. But I had a bit of a break through today, and managed to set up a mock studio for myself. My brother would be proud! The cat was very curious too, so he was banished from the room for a few hours. What a huff he's been in since!

Anyway, here are some links to the new stock. Hand knitted takeaway coffee cup sleeves. I'm doing my bit to save the world, one coffee at a time!

Time Flies

Jings crivvens!

How did it get to be March?! I'm pretty ashamed that I only managed four blogs then abandoned the idea for 6 months... But it's not that I didn't want to blog. Believe me, I've composed at least one a week in my head since September. I just haven't had a minute to sit down and actually write them.

So I do apologise, and hope that you'll stick by my blog, even though I've ignored you for so long. Do you forgive me?! Here's a quick round-up of what I've been up to since I last blogged:

September - I went back to uni. HUUUUGE shock to the system, but definitely a good thing to do... and next thing I know, it's

December - And I was home to my folks for Christmas, then to Pitlochry for a few days while the Drummer played in Pitlochry Festival Theatre's panto.

No wait, hang on... there must have been other stuff that happened in the middle... Let's try that again.

Ok.

September
Yes, I started my Masters and dusted off the old brain. Pretty significant, but I also had a lovely few days in Rannoch with the Canadian. She's been living in Edinburgh for about 4 years, doing a PhD, and I'd been promising her a trip to my favourite hideaway in Scotland all that time. And three months before she returned to Canada, we finally made it! This is the view along the loch that weekend...



The trip was also a chance for me to meet up with some of the locals involved in starting up the Rannoch & Tummel Tourist Association, which I've offered to help out with because Rannoch is a beautiful place and not enough people know about it. And maybe they'll let me put on some events in the area... one day! This is their new website, which is still under construction, but will be finished soon, and if you're on Facebook, you can 'like' Rannoch & Tummel there.

There were also quite a few tie commissions to get through that month too!

October was mostly spent ploughing through the uni assignments, but also, as usual, it was dedicated to Mamie Martin Fund AGM preparations. Fun stuff like doing the accounts, and putting annual reports together... but also getting these gift cards made, which went down a storm at the AGM in November!

November began, as I've said, with the Mamie Martin Fund AGM, which was a really positive day. We had Olivia Giles from 500Miles as a guest speaker. A truly inspirational woman. And it was great to hear news of one of the girls MMF has supported in secondary school now going on to study Prosthetics in Tanzania with a 500Miles scholarship.

There were a lot of cosy commissions to make in November too, as well as mug cosies flying off the Folksy shelves. I'm thanking the snow for that!



Then we got to December. Which I've already mentioned, was topped off with Christmas at home, and a few days in Pitlochry. First uni trimester completed and passed (phew!), and a few more Folksy sales.

January was January. I think I'm probably the same as most... couldn't wait for it to be over! Although I did help the Magpie Market find a new home!

I found a new musical project to get involved with in February. I'm replacing one of the flautists in the Water of Leith Trio and getting ready for our first gig in April! It's good to have something new to work towards, and they're forcing me to play Lady Gaga and such like which I'm sure must be good for my street cred...

The Alevare Duo hasn't been forgotten about though. Don't worry! We're working on some new stuff too, and hope to be gigging again soon.

And now we're in March. My knitting nights at Sofi's Bar in Leith have been going well. Last week we had 13 enthusiastic knitters which was great! All different levels too, so I'm kept on my toes, one minute explaining how to cast-on, the next deciphering complicated patterns! It's good inspiration tho, and as I've not really been doing much knitting yet this year, has got me churning out some new stock for the poor wee, almost empty, shop. So watch this space!

September Stars

Over on Folksy there are a bunch of sellers who join a listing club each month, headed up by the super duper and wonderfully talented Natalie, of NOfkantsCurios. This month they're called the September Stars, and I have (perhaps over-ambitiously) joined them... with the intention of listing a new item in our shops each day. So far, I've been doing ok. 5 new items listed, and 2 sold! But today has been one of those days where nothing has gone to plan, and the ideas that I thought were great, have turned out to be not so great. Soooo, rather than list a not-quite-up-to-scratch item today, I've decided to hold off till tomorrow and list two. Cos the September Stars team let you do that. Natalie doesn't shout at you if you miss a day, or fall off the wagon for a week or so, then hop back on. In fact, she celebrates every single sale with a happy dance, and everyone is totally supportive of each other. It's great!

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Here are five items that have been listed so far in September, from five of my favourite Stars! (And the sixth one at the end is one of my own...)

1. Crinoid Fossil Jasper Gemstone Pendant from NOfkantsCurios
2. Woodland Noro Hat from Jojasca
3. Tightrope Walker Purse from The Glass Mountain
4. Time for Tea photographic print from Gail Griggs
5. 'Barbara' Apron from Audreys Cat
6. Hot water bottle cover from me!

Folksy Friday

Oooh, my first Folksy Friday! I only just found out what a Folksy Friday is a few weeks ago, and since then have been busy on Fridays, with weddings and things. So, today is my first!I haven't yet managed to post links/photo's to my blog yet, so this may turn out to be a bit of a disaster, but I'll give it a go.

I seem to have been incredibly lucky lately, winning not one, but two prizedraws in the past month! And since it's Friday the 13th, apparently an unlucky day, I thought I'd choose items from Folksy sellers who are currently doing, or have recently done, giveaways... so hopefully some of my luck will rub off!

First up, here's what I won from Bizzy Beads last night when she reached 150 fans on Facebook! Buttons and books combined... amazing! She's going to do another giveaway when she reaches 200 fans, so you should definitely join in...

Yellow Squirrel are also doing a Facebook giveaway at the moment, but I just love this necklace over on their Folksy shop. I found an ancient Singer in a charity shop last year, so think this is great... and apparently the scissors actually work!
And isn't this just lovely?! Made by Laura's Little Lovelies who had a giveaway last week.










Jesselu's Craft Corner won Laura's Little Lovelies giveaway, and has her own giveaways from time to time too. She makes fab jewellery, but I spotted this cheeky bag in her shop today and think it's ace!
Little Wren Pottery had a giveaway earlier this week, which I was really hoping I'd win... but I didn't, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed for next time. Here's one of her items from Folksy which I think looks delicious... even tho there's no custard in it yet!













And last but not least, here's what I gave away to the winner of my prizedraw last week...










Happy Friday the 13th!

Hereditary?!

I've just been chatting to my Granny on the phone. The baker, not the tea drinker. (Well, she does drink tea... but not THAT Granny...) Anyway, I haven't spoken to her for a while, so we were catching up on all sorts, including news of my Folksy store and this blog. She's a pretty keen writer is my Granny, having kept a journal pretty much all her life, and is also a published author (ooooh!), but doesn't really get the whole 'blogging' thing. To be honest tho, until very recently, neither did I, and she's 55 years older than me!

I tried my best to explain my personal reasons for starting this blog to her, and she became more intrigued about Folksy and my attempts at online knitted sales. My knitting is a relatively new pursuit really, music having been my main thing for quite a while, so Granny hasn't really seen much of what I've made. Apart from a pair of Eco Mittens I made her last Xmas (the Eco bit coming from the untreated wool I used... they don't really save the world or anything... as far as I know...) and a bunch of phone covers I did for other presents.

The best way I could describe what Folksy is to her, was "It's kind of like eBay... except everything is handmade and sold by the makers themselves... and you can chat to the other sellers through Facebook*. And everyone is really lovely and supportive... but it's all virtual and online, so you don't actually meet them. And hopefully, come winter, I'll sell loads of wonderful woolly things. So that when I go back to uni, to learn how to organise events properly so I can then run my own event management business, I'll have some extra beer money!!"

(*My Granny is actual really hi-tech for a Granny so already knows what Facebook is, therefore, I didn't need to explain this one. Not sure if we'll ever convince her to set up a FB page... but still. Pretty impressive, eh?!)

To this my Granny replied, "Phew, I wonder where you get all these entrepreneurial skills from? It's definitely not from either myself or your Grandad. And nor your Mum or Dad. How strange..."

This made me think. Ok, so my Grandad was a school teacher and headmaster. My Granny was a social worker. Mum and Dad are both vets. And on the other side of the family, there haven't really been any business ventures...

But hang on a minute! My mum and dad run their own veterinary practice. That's a business. They could have just worked for other vets and had a much easier life! And Grandad was a pretty awesome photographer who did weddings and stuff on the side... and his genes have been passed down the line to my brother, who is now building up his own wedding photography business. And Granny! Like I said earlier, she's always been scribbling away in her journals, writing bits and bobs about the family and her life. And she had one of her books published!

AND, as well as the photography and writing, my Grandparents also squeezed founding a charity, to support girls education in Malawi, into their lives. Sixteen-odd years on and it's still going strong.

My point here?! It's not that I've got magical entrepreneurial skills from some unknown source. (My Dad is definitely my Dad! There's no mistaking it... I look just like him.) And I'm pretty sure the definition of an entrepreneur is something about someone who takes risks in business and comes up with new initiatives. I hardly think teaching the flute and knitting mittens and stuff is a new idea... I think it's just more likely that I've got the 'must keep busy and do lots of different things to keep my mind and fingers active' gene, passed down from my Grandad, my Granny, my Dad and my Mum! I can't help it.

One thing I don't know though... where did my ability to knit come from?! None of the women in my family are owning up to that one... tis a mystery!

Introduction

A knitter, a musician, a tea drinker, a cake baker, and a soon-to-be student (again)... that's me.

I've been a cake baker and tea drinker most of my life, thanks to one Granny teaching me to bake, and the other Granny encouraging me to drink. Tea, that is. I've been a musician since I was a teenager, but a professional one for the last 6 years. My instrument is the flute, and I also teach it to sprogs and grownups. I organise concerts occasionally, and in a bid to boost my esteem with regards to the event management, I'm starting a Masters in the art of doing it properly in September.

The knitting obsession began about 3 years ago. I was starting out on the self-employed career ladder so my brother bought me a knit-a-monkey kit, in case I got bored/stuck for something to do! Little did he know that this cute little monkey would lead to a wool addiction. In fact, neither did I. It took me a few months to get started on the wee critter, since I hadn't held a knitting needle for about 10 years. Then I remembered you need two knitting needles for it to work, enlisted the help of a visiting friend and knitting extraordinaire, et voila, the monkey was unleashed!! Since then I've been knitting pretty much constantly and now have an online shop at http://www.folksy.com/shops/easyosy where I'm attempting to sell some of my wares.

And that's what has prompted me to start this blog. When I knit, I think... sometimes about what to knit next, but more often about life, the future, the past, blah blah. I read some fellow Folksy sellers blogs recently and thought that it looks like a good way of noting some of my ideas that I have when I'm knitting. And who knows, now I might actually get round to doing some of the great things I come up with!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy following my blog. Please feel free to get in touch, and don't forget to visit my Folksy store and Facebook page too! x