Giveaway Palooza!

I am so excited to announce my very first giveaway! I am collaborating with many other fabulous designers in a giant, wonderful, and fantastic giveaway, graciously hosted by Jaelynn of pardon my ffrench.

6 artists, 6 prizes, 1 winner! The rules are simple: visit each of the featured artists' blog and shop and leave a comment with your favorite thing about what you've seen. Blog about the entry and earn an extra entry! Giveaway ends on Sunday, 2/21. Click here to enter!

Check out the other delightful trinkets you can win!

Create your own buttoned gloves // K.M. Knits

Vintage mug, heart pendant, and notebook // Vintage, Etc.

Embroidered felt case // Biscuit Boxx

Copper white pearl open hoops // Karen Van Doren Studio

Upcycled love ring // Found and Made

Vintage owl salt & pepper shakers // Edward Farms

Numb Hands, Warm Heart!

I received an e-mail from my sister over coffee this morning -- it was a forward from her friend who saw my gloves featured on today's Etsy Finds ("80 Gifts Under $25"). I felt really proud to be included in this list. I'm so grateful to be recognized for providing a handmade product that can be cute and affordable, but can allow me to make some semblance of a living wage. Although selling on Etsy competes with my full-time day job and doesn't get nearly enough of my time as I wish it could, I still get those Etsy-butterflies every time an order confirmation or conversation pops up in my inbox. I got many-a-butterfly today. I worked 11 A.M. - 9 P.M. and it seemed that every time I checked my phone to get the time, I had a new order confirmation. It was terrifying and amazing. And being surrounded by yarn, but unable to start on these orders was completely maddening. :)

With every blessing comes a curse I suppose. As most of my items are made to order, I have a LOT of work ahead of me. I'm still not 100% confident I can get these people their gifts in time, but I'm planning to do everything in my power to make it work. Numb hands are the non-negotiable.

(And on another note, I finally figured out what "Bronto" was on my Google Analytics page. I love learning.)

Show Me Your Knits!

The "Show Me Your Knits!" promotion I ran a couple of years back was one of my favorite Etsy experiences to date. Since there is probably nothing I love more about seeing my knits out and about in the real world, these pictures still bring a smile to my face. I think it's time to revisit some of the great pictures I received. Thanks again to all who participated, you are awesome!

Howard in her dark teal (iPod friendly) mitts

Tory looking lovely in a ruby red diamond brocade slouch

Darcie keeping warm in a Lake Street Cowl and matching buttoned gloves

Grace sporting custom two-toned mitts is a thumbs-up situation indeed

The fabulous Eve in her navy buttoned gloves!

Miss Eve is back! This time in mint green gloves and a mint chocolate scarflette

Mia modeling her made-to-order gloves and scarflette

Kelly in her creamsicle gloves -- I forgot how much I loved this color combo!

Dana in navy, Amanda in aqua, and my fancy sister Ashley in purple! <3

Lake Street Cowl

Although we're still creeping toward Thanksgiving, it's never too early to start thinking about gifts for the holidays, especially if you are a knitter. Typically taking only one skein of yarn and one evening to work up, I can't think of a better gift idea than a cozy, adorable, and easy little cowl. Plus, it's a great way to sample those beautiful, luxurious yarns that you could only justify purchasing one of any way.

This cowl uses one hank of Misti Alpaca Chunky Hand Paint -- a 100% alpaca yarn that is beautifully hand painted in a dozen gorgeous colorways. The result is a lightweight, but incredibly warm, cowl. Easy to gift, but easier to keep for yourself.

Lake Street Cowl

Materials:
1 skein of Misti Alpaca Chunky Hand Paint (color: granite) or approximately 110 yards of chunky-weight alpaca
16 inch or 24 inch circulars, size 11
Stitch marker

Gauge:
3 stitches/inch in garter stitch

Abbreviations:
CO: Cast on
st: Stitch(es)
K: Knit
P: Purl
K2tog: Knit 2 stitches together
BO: Bind off

CO 72 stitches. Since this pattern requires the entire skein, make sure you don’t leave a cast on tail of more than 4 inches. Being careful not to twist stitches, place marker and join in round.

Work garter stitch as follows:
Row 1: Knit all stitches
Row 2: Purl all stitches

Repeat last 2 rows 7 times more (16 rows total from beginning).

Decrease Row 1: *K10, K2tog*, repeat from * around. (66 st.)
Continue in garter stitch for 9 rows, starting with a purl row.
Decrease Row 2: *K9, K2tog*, repeat from * around. (60 st.)
Continue in garter stitch for 11 rows, starting with a purl row.

BO all stitches. If you don’t have enough yarn to bind off, you can use a crochet bind off (see below).

Weave in ends. Slip this beauty over your head and look effortlessly put together.

Crochet bind off:
This bind off is worked starting with the stitches furthest from the working yarn. Slip the first 2 stitches from that needle onto a crochet hook (1 to 2 sizes smaller than your needle size is best). Bring the second (top) stitch through the first (bottom) stitch. Slip another stitch onto the crochet hook and repeat until you reach the last stitch. Bring the working yarn through the live stitch to tie off.

The Experts Agree

Since I let my phone charge by my bed, one of the first things I do when I wake up is check my e-mail. I hope that doesn't sound too pathetic. If it does, at least it's not as pathetic as admitting that 85% of the time, the only new messages I get in the morning are from Netflix or Groupon's Deal of the Day. On the odd chance that I get an order/conversation notification from Etsy (or Facebook, let's be honest), I get pretty excited. The other morning I saw that I had received a conversation from Samantha of desTroy letting me know that my Morning Fog Mitts had been featured in her blog, The Experts Agree. As a fellow San Franciscan, she obviously values the importance of portable layering pieces all year round, but gals all over the place are finally finding themselves in prime mitt-wearing-weather.

Despite today's gorgeous, no-gloves-needed, autumn weather, I'll be spending the rest of my day off cranking out gloves for a bulk holiday order, doing laundry, and of course, a lengthy catch-up call with Mom.

7x7

I've been tied up lately with work and settling in to the new apartment, but I'm looking forward to my third holiday season with K.M. Knits. Thinking that 1) I'm going on my third holiday season with Etsy and 2) how I'm lucky enough to be going on my third holiday season with Etsy is really a wonderful thing. Earlier this week, I was thrilled to learn I was being featured in San Francisco's 7x7 in their Glamwatch section. This article included local artists that were offering unique, but still inexpensive pieces.


Although my one-year anniversary of moving to San Francisco came and went over a month ago, there was something amazing and humbling about being recognized as a local artist. To think that some spur-of-the-moment gloves I came up with using some random scrap yarn while watching The Office reruns and drinking Flavia instant coffee in my friend's dorm room would ever go on to in any remote way be connected to San Francisco's 7x7 magazine is mind-boggling. I feel honored, lucky, and very thankful.

Moving Sale!

In honor of my sister and I (hopefully!) moving out of our apartment in the lovely yet very foggy Richmond/Seacliff district come October 1st, I have decided to put my entire stock of Morning Fog Mitts on sale. Get ready for winter and save a few bucks in the meantime! (But feel free to send good thoughts our way as our apartment hunt continues...)

morning fog mitts // gray and navy

morning fog mitts // lettuce green and cream morning fog mitts // emerald blue and gray

When I'm Not Making Gloves...

Occasionally I manage to actually start and finish a project for myself entirely outside of the world of Etsy. It's rare, but I think it's something worth celebrating. I've come to the conclusion that I am a hat/gloves/cowl making girl at heart (thanks, in part, to my terrible habit of never finishing large projects), but here's a peek of some of the projects from 2009 that have actually completed their cast-on to cast-off life cycles.

Jasmine

pattern: Jasmine by Kim Hargreaves, from Nectar

yarn: 5 balls Rowan 4-Ply Cotton, color 121 (Ripple)

needles: sizes 2 and 3 circulars

notes/modifications: It's no secret that I love Kim Hargreaves designs, but I have very little patience for the pointless and tortuous seaming that all Rowan patterns demand. I decided to modify the pattern so I would have to do little to no seaming. Not did I get away with it, but I was also able to basically avoid do any purling. No wonder I actually finished this sweater. Instructions on how to work this sweater seamlessly are detailed on my Ravelry page.

Kate's Cate

pattern: Cate by Kim Hargreaves, from Thrown Together

yarn: 6 skeins of Malabrigo Merino, color Polar Morn

needles: sizes 6 and 8 circulars

notes/modifications: I let this sweater hibernate for many months before picking it up and finishing it. Despite my hatred for seaming, I actually knit this sweater in pieces as the pattern called for (with the exception of the sleeves). I even knit a good chunk of this toasty merino wool sweater in the sweltering heat of North Carolina. That coupled with seaming set-in sleeves on reverse stockinette...? It really is a miracle I'm able to call this project a finished object. And if you can believe it, sleepy Chihuahuas don't help matters much.

I Gots Me a Flicka

Although it was a long time coming, I expect I have still have a long way to go. I'm not entirely sure what people do on Flickr necessarily, but I'm excited to be a part of it all. For now, I'm using my new Flickr account to provide customers looking to build their own gloves a way to view color swatches, button choices, and samples.

Watching slideshows of all those cute little circles make me glad I spent many delirious hours creating them and them editing them to make their colors look as true to life as possible.

Prepare to get your mind blown. Click here to see my Flickr page!

Introducing... Alpaca

I posted two new items in the shop today which I'm excited to say fall under a brand new sub-category of gloves: alpaca!

.
LUXURY line // alpaca gloves (red and plum) $32

My love of alpaca dates back to what I consider to be my first legitimate and break-through knitting project (following 2+ years of dicking around making up scarves and ridiculous hats). It was a gigantic triangle shawl from Greetings from Knit Cafe, made from Blue Sky Sport Baby Alpaca. Although it was incredibly tedious and took months to finish, I love, love, loved it and I still do. It was the first project that required me to turn my back on Michael's and shop at a real big girl knit shop. I was instantly hooked on alpaca's incredible softness, warmth, and drape. Working with such a luxurious fabric made for an entirely different knitting experience. There was no going back!

Anxious to do something with some alpaca I had stashed, I worked up a variation on my traditional fingerless mitts one evening while watching some undoubtedly terrible TV. After several tries, I came up with a picot edging in scraps of merino wool that I was happy with. There they were, my brand new sub-category.

Welcome to K.M. Knits, little glovelettes.

"Summer" Promotion!

Since the promotion I ran last summer with the lovely Kim of At Sea Level was such a success, I was excited at the prospect of another run this summer. Her incredible coin purses and clutches made from 100% recycled plastic bags became free goodies for K.M. Knit's customers. It was a way for me to help myself get through the slower summer season while at the same time promoting another seller (who I came to know and love!) and getting her name out to a different group of Etsy buyers.

Kim also runs an Etsy shop under the name Midnight Design Studio.

I scoured Etsy one afternoon in hopes of finding another potential seller to collaborate with and thankfully I lucked out! I came upon a shop called Ornametal, and fell particularly in love with Lauren's Rubber and Silver Bangles. She was able to turn around an order of 15 for me within a couple weeks and I am finally prepared to offer them away! As long as I keep my promise not to steal any for myself. I may have overshot my "summer" promotion deadline thanks to my work overload and vacay time, so "farewell to summer" promotion it is!

One bracelet free to the first 15 customers who purchase 2 or more items from my shop. Those who participate will also receive unique Ornametal coupons available only to K.M. Knits customers!

Farewell Renegade!

After two 8 hour days, the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco is over. Following a month or so of cranking out gloves, freaking out at least once a day, but mostly getting excited, the fair seemed to come and go in a flash. It was my first experience as a vendor and hopefully not my last. It was wonderful to hear direct feedback from shoppers and get insight into what types of items they were (and weren't) looking for. But nothing made my heart swell more than seeing people try on gloves.

Although my shopping time was limited, I was able to find a few new favorite spots in the sea of boundless talent and cuteness. This list could not be complete without featuring my very lovely coworkers and boothmates.

New Leaf Knits features pendants and earrings hand knit with fine materials and ultra thin stainless steel. Along with a variety of designs and colors, New Leaf Knits offers the choice between sterling silver or gold fill.

Red Red Leaf Earrings, $24

You will find plenty of innovative crocheted accessories at Michelle McCoskey's Alligator Factory. She is most known for her line of alligator scarves, which will soon be available through her Etsy store. In the meantime, check out her website here.

Alligator scarf, $75

Adorable hand printed, eco-friendly tees from Mary Ink. Clean and cute designs, super soft and comfy tees, and friendly service. Browse Mary Ink's selection of tees and pick your size!

Organic T-Shirt in Bottle Print, $28

Yokomono Studio

offers an array of handcrafted goodies, including totes, lunch bags, wine carriers, and tissue paper cozies. They are so beautiful and well made that I'm convinced it will make you wonder how you ever lived without that hand sewn tissue box cover.

poipoi Big Tote - Yellow Mustard, $88

I had the fortune of being neighbors with Big Stone Head, two lovely gents who are happy to sell you any number of funny shirts, minibooks, silk screened pillows, and cards. Great ideas for gifts or treats for yourself. I promise they will make you popular (much unlike BSH's Avery Monsen and Jory John).

All My Friends Are Dead Shirt, $20