Scarflettes in the Wild

I have gotten over my etsy rage from yesterday. Sometimes I just get a wild hair and can't help myself. As I replied in my comments I really don't have anything against the gift guides per se. I've been in them twice that I know of and it was great exposure but I just didn't like the idea of people being redirected out of my shop after I've done the work to get them there.

I'm staying home today and tomorrow to get the house ready for Ani's birthday party on Saturday. I'm starting to question my sanity for offering to do this. I still have no idea how many girls are going to show up. I've only had 3 RSVP to me but there could be as many as 9 actually show up for all I know.

I also need to get my inventory lists in order for the next two craft shows coming up. They are both boutique style shows so I don't have to actually be there but I do have to let them know weeks in advance what I will be bringing. I have everything tagged, counted and folded nice and neatly in tubs by type. I need to do the spread sheet and I should be good to go. I think I will focus on getting some more wire wrist cuffs made between now and then since my supply of those is pretty depleted and they go pretty fast.

I thought I would leave you with a few shots of scarflettes growing in the wild. I took these in October on one of the few moments without rain right before all of the leaves turned brown and fell. They were both made with an amazingly soft mercerized cotton that I love from Chili. If you are interested in them let me know as I don't have them listed in my shop.

Displaying My Knitting

A few weeks ago I was getting out the things I used for displays last year in my craft show booth. For the most part they were pretty sad pieces that I had picked up at garage sales and tried to give new life too. They were cheap and they served their purpose for my first real year of doing shows. I had a few wine racks and a coat rack that I'd tried to spray paint a tan color. As long as you didn't look too closely they were fine.

The poor rack I was using to display my scarflettes had to be replaced this year. It was falling apart and just didn't provide enough space to display enough of them at a time. I use quilt racks that are not matching but are very functional to display the majority of my scarves. I have one for $15 scarves and one for $30 scarves on either side of my table. My favorite is the black fold up one that my sister in law found for me at an antique mall in town for $15. It has 3 rows to hang items on and it folds up nicely for travel.

I had bought a shelf unit at an antique mall at some point this year and I got it out in hopes of being able to use it to display my scarflettes. It is not sturdy at all and has very thin rickety legs. Mike told me that it would be falling over whenever someone picked one up to look at it, not a great way to make a good impression. I said that I guess I'd better start hitting the garage sales to find something else. He than said something that I had never thought of before. He said, "Why don't you buy something that is made to display things and will travel easily." It was such a revolutionary idea. Buy something that was made to do what I was buying it to do. I really want to be a DIY person but I unfortunately don't have the skills that some people have to really repurpose things and have them be functional.

I felt like I was taking the easy way out but I decided to at least look and see what was out there for display purposes. I went on-line and found a store display warehouse but their items were almost entirely metal which I didn't think went with the feel of my display. I checked Craigslist and there were a few things I thought might work but I just didn't feel like putting out the effort to track them down. So I did what I usually see as a last resort. I checked Ebay.

I found a seller called blackriverartgallery who had items exactly like what I was looking for. They are fold up shelving units that lock into place and sit on your table top. You can find listings here and here for what I bought. The prices were perfectly reasonable and I actually got free shipping on one of the pieces and the other shipping rate was only $8. They store easily and fit in your car nicely. I will probably only use the larger piece this year that you see above, which I bought an extra shelf for so there will be 3 shelves to display. I think if I put both units on my table it would be too crowded but I'm going to do some experimenting this weekend with my displays to see. I'm glad I have them both since as I grow I will hopefully be expanding my display in the future.

I bought some spray wood stain and a matte finish at Michaels this weekend with a 25% off storewide coupon to make them look more finished. I am also thinking about doing a decoupage on the back panels with some earthy colored paper I have to add some interest. I don't want to go too crazy and distract from my scarflettes but I also want them to be uniquely me.

Scarflettes In Bloom

I hope my last post didn't offend anyone. I normally don't get so personal but I have been more emotional lately than usual and if you can't share with your blog buddies who can you share with. It seems whenever I am feeling vulnerable I always turn to scarflettes. There is something soothing about them to me. I have been popping them out like crazy the past few weeks as you can see in the batch above.

I really hope that they are as popular at Strange Folks as they were last year. They were my hot item there last year and I sold a slew of them. The one big comment that stopped people from buying was that they didn't want something itchy that close to their neck. Most of my really nice ones last year were wool or wool blends. Some people just don't like wool next to skin I have found. I have made them with synthetic blends but I really prefer working with natural fibers. I am so glad that I found the Chilean cotton yarns that I used in the 3 scarflettes in the front row of the top shot. They are kettle dyed and so incredibly soft. I don't normally like working with cotton but these are unlike any other cotton I've ever seen. And they come in a bulkier weight than you normally find with cotton or linen. Most of these non-wool natural fibers just come in sport weight or worsted which really are not ideal for scarflettes. I have been using all kinds of different stitches to keep it interesting too. I've been cabling, lace, and the pink and green is a fun chevron pattern I just discovered. This cotton actually shows the stitch definition really well too.

I have been letting my shop dwindle away again. I am letting most of my winter items expire unless they have some hearts already. I haven't been inspired to take pictures of anything lately either. I have quite a few Spring scarves and whatnot that I really should get listed. Hopefully I will be able to motivate myself this weekend to get some pictures taken.

What's New Wednesday

I haven't taken the time to show off any of my new items lately so please indulge me for a moment while I share some new additions to the shop. It is actually easier for me to promote other etsy sellers than it is for me to toot my own horn. I don't really know why that it, but that is a topic for a whole other session.

Here is my latest listing. I bought a box of lace and buttons at a garage sale a few months back and had fun making some wrist cuffs out of the scraps. I'm calling this one the Bumblebee. I used 2 lace ribbons and knit them using a lace stitch to make lace out of lace.



I got on a kick where I was making what I called Art Scarves by using coordinating yarns in a wild mix of textures. I named this one after Gustaf Klimt since I think the vibrant colors are reminiscent of his work.


I have a number of my knitted necklaces listed now but I have a lot more to get up. I have a lot of fun making them and picking out the beads to use with the yarn. I call this one China Blue and I love the little beads that have a willow ware look to them like the plates I hang in my kitchen.



I have several of my knitted wire bracelets listed now. This is the first one I made with a gold colored wire and I used some lovely looking citrine beads.

I have also been listing a bunch of scarflettes like the Bamboo Blues one above which is a super soft bamboo yarn.