So get on it! A is for Ampersand’s October sponsor giveaway is ending today at midnight, so today is your last day to enter to win some awesome prizes, including:
One lucky reader will win all of these prizes, and there are eight ways to enter.
I don’t know if you guys already know how awesome Knitter’s Pride needles are, but if you don’t, let me promise you. They are incredible. And you can win a set of interchangeable needles (squee!) over at Knit Purl Gurl right now! Seriously, go check it out. A good set of interchangeable needles is priceless.
Alright, so I’m a little obsessed with this hat.
Isn’t it lovely? This was my first time doing traditional fair isle with self-striping yarn, and it was just as rewarding as I imagined it would be. Well, maybe there was a little frustration; See that olive-green-ish section in the middle of the decreases? The design there was particularly lovely, but the color blends in a bit more than I would like it to. Because of that, it’s pretty likely that I will make another hat from this pattern with different yarns soon. Because I really enjoyed making it.
Project details:
Pattern: Frances Beret
Designer: Fiona Morris
Yarn: MC was a Cascade DK alpaca blend, CC was Noro Chirimen
Time spent: Maybe 4 days, with not a lot of knitting time.
Modifications: None!
The only odd thing about this pattern was the means by which I attained it. I’ve never seen anything like it before; the pattern was free, and available online, but only if you e-mailed the designer directly. So I e-mailed her and three days later, the pattern was in my inbox. But this lovely design was definitely worth the wait.
Coming up soon:
Also, check out this amazing giveaway from Sometimes Sweet! She’s giving away a pair of shoes each day this week, and you know I’m going to blog about it every day for that extra entry. After all, I am the world’s best giveaway hound. Today the shoes are these gorgeous yellow platforms.
I loved this post over* on HelloGiggles. This is kind of sappy, but I think it’s a great practice to focus on what we are super excellent at. So I’m going to copy their “I’m the world’s best …” idea and I really hope you do too.
Here’s the premise:
In my daydreams, I am the World’s Best. I do everything better than anyone. The Guiness Book of World Records is 250 pages of 8 X 10 photos of me, and when you thumb through them quickly, you create a flip book of me winking at you while shooting duel finger-pistols.
Here are some ways I could improve this world:
1. World’s best at-home mixologist
It might be kind of sad/embarassing/TOTALLY AWESOME to list something booze-related first, but man. I can make an excellent extra-large mason-jar-full of boozy goodness. I’m especially happy about this because I’ve never before had any good intuition when it comes to making food; as soon as I stray from the recipe things catch fire and become completely inedible. But, it appears I have great instincts when modifying cocktails. (In part thanks to the advice of a certain group of friends**.) Clarification: I am by no means a drunkard. It’s just nice to have a little something relaxing to sip on at the end of the day. Next up: More spiked from-scratch horchata and then this with whiskey & club soda.
2. World’s best gardening student
I may not be that great at gardening, but I sure am great at learning about it.
3. World’s best baby-tickler
I can pretty easily reduce Grady to a smiling wiggling pile of uncontrollable giggles just by waving my fingers at her. It’s pretty impressive. While I’m on the subject of the Kraken*** …
4. World’s best baby-translator
There are few things I like more than when Grady talks to someone else and they give me a look of utter confusion. And then I’m able to tell them what she just said. I guess it’s kind of silly; I mean naturally I’d be better at understanding what she says than anyone else. I’m with her all the time. But still, it makes me feel like a pretty cool mama.
5. World’s best giveaway-hound
I loooooove a good giveaway. I enter every giveaway I’ve come across, and won quite a few. (Examples: A Wii(!) from Ev’Yan, and free ad space from A Piece of Lisa and Nifty Thrifty Things.) The giveaway that I’m most excited about right now is this incredible one from A is for Ampersand (pictured below) – that purse! Those shoes! Giveaways are just an awesome part of the blogging community; it’s a literal gift in return for page hits, and I love that.
6. World’s best outdoor laundress
I adore drying my clothes on the line and washing my delicates outside in a basin. There is just nothing that says “summer” more to me than the crispness of line-dried clothing and linens. Which reminds me, I have a load to take out!
7. World’s best editress
I’ve got to say, I was pretty good at my editing job. I really enjoyed watching my writers improve under my tutelage, and I had a really excellent grasp on the specific style we were aiming for. (A collision of AP accuracy & magazine flair.) I haven’t written a thing but tweets, blog posts and journal entries in months, though, so I’m a little out of practice.
8. World’s best footnote-employer****
What are you the best at? I’d love to know!
*While I’m thinking of it, is using unnecessary words to indicate place like “over on HelloGiggles,” “up in Salt Lake,” or “down in Moab” just a Utah thing? I catch myself doing it all the time and hate it.
**Speaking of which, one of these dear friends is very sick right now, and if you have any good vibes/extra cash/meditative good energy/anything-but-prayers-because-that-would-probably-make-him-angry-but-thanks-anyway to send his way, that would be incredible.
***Her latest nickname. Because when she first wakes up she’s like a grumpy sleepy monster arising from a black and stormy sea. In, you know, the most adorable way possible.
****Obviously.
I finally started Janeal‘s giveaway present. I grappled with what exactly to make for ages, obviously, but I’m pretty excited about my final design, and if it goes well I might use the idea as a “custom item” option in the shop.
Anyway, there’s something really delicious about laying out a meticulous grid like this one before starting a project. I generally won’t do it for cross-stitch projects, but this design will be particularly difficult to execute, so I’m taking every possible precaution. I took this picture last night, and in the last 24 hours have spent every spare moment (between emergency trips to the chiropractor and cleaning toddler puke off of, well, every surface in my home*. sigh.) stitching tiny little exes, slowly making progress. I’m about 70% sure that the idea will work.
And no, I’m not telling you what the idea is yet. Not because I want to create any sort of anticipation, but because while I want to share my creative process, I can’t really allow any possible negative feedback while I’m in the middle of it. The smallest comment can shatter my confidence, and once that’s happened I just can’t stitch. So that’s where this teasing is coming from.
(Janeal, obviously you are exempt from this rule if you want to know what I’m doing.)
Sigh. Anyway, cross-stitching always makes me think of my mom. I guess I’ll talk more about that when I can share the finished product. (Which, if I maintain my current rate of stitching, may be in about two weeks. If we’re lucky.)
*W/r/t the puke: Grady’s been having a bit of a gastronomic episode this week. But, knock on wood**, she appears to be returning to her happy, healthy self.
**This and throwing salt are two superstitions I cannot exorcise, even though I do not believe in their supposed power.
So, I’ve really actually actively finally started working on opening an Etsy shop. There has been less blogging because I’m devoting all of my free time to building stock and reading about online business and marketing. Anyway, I’m having doubts about the name of the store. Ideally, it would be the same name as this blog, but that’s just not going to happen yet. “Thrifted” as a shop name is taken.
So, here are my ideas. Anyone who leaves a comment in this post voting for one of the potential shop names will be entered in a giveaway for a 25% off coupon for one item in the store PLUS a custom embroidery. The coupon will never expire, but can only be used on items priced under $75. I’m planning on selling crocheted garlands, baby and toddler tights, embroidered pieces, embroidery kits, and more.
(Yup, the ideas pretty much all came from Shakespeare, Millay, Firefly and Bowie. Big surprise.)
It’s embarrassing how far behind I am in posting about this. This photo was taken almost a month ago, which is about when I painted the frame (which used to be a hideous terra cotta thing) and gave it to Shea, the first giveaway winner.
What’s even more embarrassing is that this unicorn (Shea is obsessed with unicorns and irony and sarcasm) sat on my desk for at least a month before I got the frame. I went searching for the perfect frame a few times, but was really lazy about it.
And what’s the most embarrassing is that I’m in the exact same place with the final two giveaway pieces – those belonging to Jack and Dani. They are both currently finished, sitting on my desk. In need of a good ironing session and a frame.
Also, I’m considering doing another giveaway after I frame those two. It was good practice for me, to have to plan and embroider things that I’d never do on my own.
Anyway, I love how this turned out. It was my first time working on evenweave (which sucks balls, in my opinion), my first time buying thread specifically for a project (as opposed to winging it with whatever I already had), and definitely my first time embroidering a unicorn.
Lessons learned:
Written Jan. 12.
**CONTEST CLOSED**
If you’re interested in getting a custom embroidered thing from me via swap or purchase, e-mail me at melsundquist (at) gmail (dot) com.
Okay, so I’m getting new glasses. And after years of unsuccessful attempts to feel good about how I look in glasses, I realize that I’ll probably never feel like I look good, so I might as well feel like I look cool. And/or badass. So I’ve been a-searching for vintage cateye frames, and this is what I’ve narrowed it down to.
And now for the giveaway part: I want you to vote for your favorite 1 to 3 frames. After midnight on Friday, November 12, I’ll use a random number generator to determine which commenter wins the contest. One comment per person, please. And what will you win? A custom embroidered item! You can either tell me what you want, or I’ll surprise you. You can see the cool stuff I’ve done here, here, here, here, here, here, here … and I’m sure other places that I’m to lazy to dig up. And I most likely can’t afford international shipping, so let’s keep it in the states/Canada. Remember to include your e-mail address in the comment form so I can contact you.
So! Tell me which you like! (And forgive my lazy cut-outs)
Creepiest pose ever 
. These frames are the only ones I actually own, the rest are from the internets. Also, I apologize for how many pictures of my face there are in this post.
I’m excited to hear what you think!
