new endeavors

So I have renovated my blog. When I started Knits ‘n Pieces nearly 3 years ago, I never imagined that I might want to blog about anything other than knitting. Turns out, I do. I want to keep track of everything from my jewelry work to…well, paper deer heads (for example), so I’ve moved. And here we are. Welcome.

For months I’ve been knitting nothing but baby items, and my knitting mojo is on the skids. I’ll get it back, but I don’t even care to post progress photos of what I’ve been working on because it seems so painfully dull to me right now. There are several projects on the sticks, and I’m still plugging away, but I’ll save that for another post. In the meantime, I am all excited about a couple of new crafty endeavors! I feel like learning how to sew properly is long overdue. I can get the machine loaded up and head in a straight line, but that’s where it ends. I want to know all the little stuff that I don’t know, so I signed up for a sewing class. I went to the craft store to get my materials the other night, and just wandered aimlessly for what felt like hours. No kidding, it really may have been hours. I didn’t bother checking the time. And I don’t even know if I got the right materials. Which confirmed that some basic sewing instruction would indeed be beneficial.

I’m not sure where the urge to embroider came from, exactly, but I have a feeling that Cauchy may have had a lot to do with it. I ordered a couple books (Doodle Stitching and The New Crewel), but I’ve only gotten as far as winding my embroidery floss. I have to find some time to sit down and teach myself. Hopefully that will happen soon. Still, I’m looking forward to make some pretty, delicate, kitschy little things. I think they will make me quite happy.

And in the “kinda new, but not really” category, I have a new sea glass ring in the shop! Some of my Twitter friends helped me critique a white sea glass ring some time ago, but it just didn’t captivate me the way the green one did. Or does. I found some rare lavender sea glass (the history of which is really interesting!) and sort of had a feeling that it would give me the look and feel I was going for.  And I think I sort of love it.

After leaving Etsy, I wondered how I would be able to get my work “out there” for people who weren’t already familiar with me. I made a Facebook page, but I’m not so good at playing Facebook, so I don’t know how much good it’s done. What has seemed to make more of a difference was participating in a couple of online marketplaces. In a previous post, I mentioned that I was part of the Paper ‘n Stitch exhibition, and I decided to stick around for another month! This month, you can also find me at the Poppytalk Green Pop Handmade Marketplace, as well as a whole bunch of other fabulous indie shops. Both of these sites are great places to find new handmade shops that may or may not be on Etsy, so be sure to check them out!

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