And The winner is...

So I had all my girls together today for Jess's birthday party and we drew the winners for the contest. Because Jess was the birthday girl she got to draw the big winner and it is (drum roll please) Mariposa Farm Alpacas! She actually completed all 5 steps of the contest and won with her 9th entry. I'm really excited that a fellow St. Louisian and fiber friend won. I have never met her in real life but have "known" her from her blog for a little while.

The two overachiever gift certificates go to Valerie2350 from Sweeps4Bloggers. She is a giveaway pro and if you want to learn a thing or two about contests you should totally check out her blogs. And the 2nd winner is Donna of Donna's World. She was the very last entry into the contest and walked away with a prize! I'll be e-mailing directions for how to redeem the gift certificates.

I also wanted to post a few more pictures of the girls and their finger knitting exploits. I think they may have recruited another set of hands to their project today. This is the first time that they really got to hang out with Anh since she is on my husband's side but they became quick partners in industry. I brought them some more yarn to keep them occupied for awhile.

The last one is of Savannah with her cheesy grin. She's probably about to get her sticky fingers all over her sister's new headband.

Overachiever Awards

So I didn't win the custom bag prize from Solsisters Studio, but I did win the second best thing. A $10 gift certificate and free shipping for being an overachiever in her contest. I used it towards buying the gorgeous bag above, which will be perfect for Spring. I liked her idea so much that I stole it, with her permission of course.

Anyone who has at least 5 out of 9 entries in my contest will go into a second drawing. I will draw 2 names to win a $10 gift certificate to my shop and free shipping! There are many items in my shop that are under $10 or close to it, or you can use it towards a scarf for next year. I will also be adding a number of spring items this week that you can wait to check out.

If you have already entered the contest but have under 5 entries you can still complete one more of the steps to get into this second drawing. As a reminder these are the ways to qualify:


1. For one easy entry just visit my Etsy shop, Lenox Knits, and tell me what your favorite item is.
2. For another easy entry follow me on Twitter and Tweet to all your followers about the Beating the Blues Contest.
3. Because it involves more effort on your part I will give you 2 entries for blogging about this Contest.
4. If you add my lovely new blog widget to your blog or myspace page, there is code for each, you will get an additional 2 entries.
5. And finally I would be thrilled if you signed up for my new newsletter and will give 3 entries for following through with the steps to submit your e-mail address. I promise not to spam you and you can unsubscribe any time. I will be e-mailing specials and deals seasonally.



Just let me know when you comment how many entries you had before. I'm going to extend the contest until 12:00 Sunday afternoon, Central time, March 8th. I counted up my totals so far and as of this afternoon I had 181 entries and there were 14 people qualified for the overachievers prizes. They are:

1. Sherry
2. Joy
3. Kristin at My Art and the Mom in Me
4. CB
5. Mariposa Farm Alpacas
6. LadyErlynne
7. Jo Hoffacker
8. Debbie
9. Charlene S Noto
10. TiLT
11. cdziuba
    
12. Cheryl F. (The Lucky Ladybug)
13. valerie2350
14. Christa
    

If you think you qualify and I missed you please let me know.

I also wanted to share my other winning from this week. I won this gorgeous button pendant from Alterity! It is absolutely stunning in person and I love how she sets the mood in her photos. She does amazing things with vintage buttons and I'm thrilled to have one of her creations for myself.

Lose The Winter Blues Treasury

I totally stalked the treasuries today and managed to snag the first one I've had in months. I, of course, named it in honor of the contest and included all the people who've entered that I could easily find their Etsy shop. If I missed anyone please let me know so I can rotate you in. Be sure to give it some clicks if you have time. Here it is, I tried to get it to copy with the alternates but it wouldn't let me. I used a great new site I just discovered called thumbalizr to capture the entire page:

StL Handmade

I'm really happy for my sister in law of Gray Eyed Scorpio on Etsy, for the great feature on StL Handmade. She is married to my husband's twin and actually introduced me to my husband. Her blog is called Fabric Addict. She sells everything from fabric headbands, purses, key fobs and her newest creations are her upcycled appliqued jackets and shirts. She is reclaiming thrift store items and giving them a new life with her designs. You can find lots of different sizes and patterns in her etsy shop now and she's adding more and more all the time.

St Louis Handmade is a fairly new website devoted to getting the word out about handmade in this area. They do features of local artisans every week. It is a very professional and well designed site that has tons of useful information for St. Louis folks. I will probably try to get a feature set up for early next fall at the start of my season. I want to work on my pictures to make sure I get the most out of the exposure.

Debi and I have different approaches to crafting and life in general but I think this interview really captured her well. She is super organized and practical. I'm pretty chaotic and whatever the opposite of practical is! Here are some of her answers that express her creative approach:

How would you describe your art or your style?
I’m a practical person, and I think that people can better justify spending their money on arts that are practical. My work reflects that perspective. I sew everything from headbands, bags, and purses to clothing embellishments. “Practical” does not have to mean “bland”.

What is your artistic background?

Although my parents taught me sewing and building skills, my artistic side emerged first in writing. The imaginative aspects of writing translate well to tangible arts…and it’s much quicker and easier to share and sell sewing projects than to publish writing!

.What inspires you?

If I’m looking for a spark, I’ll browse photos on Flickr. It’s remarkable to see the range of possibilities that stem from one similar idea. Looking at art quilts, for example, motivates me to try more complicated or risky ideas.

.When do you feel your most creative?

Paradoxically, I have the most ideas when I have the least time to create!

.How does creating make you feel?
Creating makes me feel simultaneously calm and revved up.

What is your studio or work space like?

My husband calls our basement “Debi’s World” because it’s where I spend so much time. My space is not remotely fancy, but I’ve got ample tables, shelving, and storage, as well as my music library, fitness equipment, and photography area. There are some pictures of it on my Flickr account.

.When you aren’t creating, how do you like to spend your time?
I enjoy yard work, home improvement projects, cooking, thrift shopping, and reading. I also try to spend as much time as possible out of doors–especially hiking, running, and cycling.

Random Blog Updates

I am thrilled with how well the contest has taken off. There is still time if you haven't gotten entered yet. I'll be choosing the winner this Sunday. I wanted to give you a close up of the headband and wristcuff. I really like how the headband came out. I'll be using this pattern with some more I'll be listing for the Spring. The wristcuff is very similar to several that are in the shop now, one in silver and the one in gold colored wire shown here. I love the paper beads that I got from Jessprkle. They are so organic and natural looking.

I have 22 signed up for the newsletter and 6 pending confirmation. I plan on sending out a newsletter 4 times a year. I will give some specials, probably free shipping and who knows what else. I will also use it to let locals know where I'll be available in person including any craft shows or what not. I plan on trying to get people to sign up at my shows this Fall for the newsletter. There are always people at the show that stand around and talk to you for awhile, whether they buy something or not. I always give them my card but I think enticing them to sign up for the newsletter will be a great way to bring them into the fold so to speak. It's not just our scarves or jewelry or artwork that we are selling but it can and should be a way of life and/or personality.

I'm also intrigued with all the tools that Bravenet has to offer. They have free ad sponsored web hosting and domain names which I guess means that your blog would be home to their sponsors. This is not something I'm looking to pursue right now but it is something to think about. If anyone has any strong opinions on why I should have my own domain I'd love to hear them. Right now I don't think I see the need. If you are so inclined you can get signed up for a 5 year plan for $4.99 a month and get up to 10 domains and 600 GB Bandwidth with no sponsors. I haven't done any comparing but that sounds like a good deal to me. They have some other free tools I'll probably be adding as I go along like Visitor Guestbook, Site search, a public online calender for upcoming events, e-cards, and live chat rooms.

You may also have noticed the Paypal Gift Certificate tool in the top corner. I thought I would go ahead and add that option. I have seen others adding direct check out to their blogs which is something I will be considering also. It might make it easier for those who don't want to have to sign up with Etsy to check out. I have made a few sales to people who found me on my blog by just sending them a Paypal invoice but if the option was there to just check out it would eliminate some steps. Has anyone gotten any direct sales from a checkout box on their blog yet?

I really don't want to get my blog too cluttered, but there are so many options available. I have to weigh the benefits of each new addition with the clutter factor. Eventually I may be looking for a 3 column blog template that would allow me to spread out more. I have been using this standard template from blogger since I started and I like it's clean look still but I may have outgrown it's functionality I'm afraid.

Color Inspirations and Color Quiz

I thought it was time to shake things up a bit and bring some color back into the blog. If you haven't noticed I love bold color choices and mixing things together in unique ways. I spent some time going through my favorites on Etsy this cold morning looking for vibrant color pairings and I thought I would share. I am in love with the Art Quilt Wallhanging Stitched up by Spiralsun65. It was just the burst of color I needed to get my energy up this morning. I love how she shows her knowledge of color theory in a playful way.

I also discovered a fun color quiz on a blog that tests your ability to distinguish color hues and shades. It took me less than 10 minutes to take and I found the results very interesting. You may have to click on your country but it will then take you to the quiz page. The closer you score to 0 the better your score and it looks like the highest score so far was a 1450, which means you would probably have to miss every single one. I got an 11, which I was excited about, and that is on my fairly dark hued computer monitor. I'll probably try it again at home to see if I can improve any.

It's a great test for artists or designers to see what you need to work on in recognizing colors and their relationships. I actually was perfect on everything but the blues and greens which is interesting since those are generally not my favorites to work with. I would love to hear how you do on the quiz!

I adore the wearable art vest by stormeejean. She combines African fabric scraps in a wild and unique way to create a one of a kind creation. You should also check out her blog, The Sewing World of Stormee, where she talks about her adventures in sewing and creating.

How cool would it be to have a custom coat made for you in your own favorite color palette. Katwise makes these unique creations out of reclaimed sweaters with many different colors and textures in each. They are each totally one of a kind and absolutely fabulous.

I have been working with a lot of teal and pink lately for some reason. Feel free to share your own color inspirations with me. What color combinations do you think will be big this Spring?

Proud Aunt

Yesterday morning I got an urgent call from one of my nieces. She asked, "Can you please come over, and bring your yarn too." They had been to girl scout's camp the day before and learned how to do finger knitting. They had used up all the yarn they had been given and were in desperate need of reinforcements. Luckily they have an aunt that has more yarn than she could possibly use in this lifetime. I came over with a mini stash to get them started and had fun watching them focus on their new passion.

While I was there a plan was hatched to build up an inventory of belts and headbands and sell their goods to their friends and classmates. It was so cute to see them develop their business plan. Jess, the older one, was much more focused on getting things done and making a profit. Kate was more into the process of making and enjoying them. She made a headband that she really liked and was wearing it around when Jess told her to take it off or they wouldn't be able to sell it. I told her that they needed to have ones they kept and wore for advertising. Kate liked that idea but Jess was dubious. I thought this was funny since I so often have to force myself to keep things that I like for this same reason. It is important to wear our work but my first impulse is to think about how much I could make from it.

I will be bringing some more yarn over next week and hopefully they will stay into it. Needless to say I was a very proud aunt and would love to have one of my girls develop into a real knitter soon.

UPDATE: I had a few people asking what in the world finger knitting is. It is actually more like weaving, but you wrap the yarn in and around your fingers and create stitches that way. It creates a very loose fabric in a tube. Knitty had an article with directions and pictures if you want to check it out. It is actually easier to do with little hands and is very repetitive. I'll post some pictures next week of what they get finished this week.