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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

WIP Wednesday 1.5

Its Wednesday again! I feel like the days are going by so fast, in 2 days it will be February! Anyway I do have quite a few things to share today. First I want to say that the last update on the 31 days to get organized posts will be next Wednesday instead of today.


My goal for the month was to knit 10 baby bibs to list in my shop. Well I finished 6 and only have 4 more to finish. I'm almost done with three of them. All I have left are the ties which won't take long but I wanted to wait to have all four at that point to work on them. I did cast on for the last one but haven't gotten a chance to work on it yet. They are at the top of my to-do list this week so they should be finished for FO Friday!


Next up I finally started my slugs for the Freshstitches slug-a-long going on now through February 13th. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for mine but yesterday I just started grabbing different shades of a same color and made the first half of three slugs. I stopped because I have to make the eyes and antennas that need to be attached before I continue. I still have plenty of time to work on these so they are not a top priority on my list just yet. Plus they are so small they will get finished in no time. 


The slugs are not the only amigurumi I worked on this week. I also started on a dog. I finished the body but still have everything else to make. This is probably at the bottom of my to-do list so I'm pretty sure it won't be done this Friday but maybe next Friday. 

I also started working on another amigurumi that I can't give too many details about. Its for another swap I joined in for the Freshstitches group on Ravelry. Its supposed to be like a Secret Santa but its called Classified Cupid. I would share more info but I don't know if the person I was assigned to reads my blog so for now I'll keep it a secret. I still have a month to work on it so I'm taking it slow even though I know exactly what I am making and what colors I'm using. I'm planning on finishing it up within the next two weeks so as soon as the person receives it I will share it on here for a FO Friday. 

Weekly WIP's

I mentioned last Wednesday that I was going to start assigning one big project a week and I was going to make some time to work on it each day. Well last week I was working on my Haruni shawl which I finished on Saturday and will be sharing for FO Friday. Its not blocked yet because I won't be buying my blocking mats and pins until March but I want to go ahead and share now. This week I am working on my Ripple Baby Afghan I started last year. I made several attempts to finish it but it never got done so this week I am seriously working toward finishing it. I got an early start since I finished my Haruni shawl a day early, I started working on this Sunday. As of right now I'm estimating that I only need 10-15 more rows to finish. The original pattern doesn't have a border but I might add a little something to the end. If I continue to work on it as much as I have been these last couple of days I may finish it before Sunday. :)


After finishing my Haruni shawl on Saturday I started to think about frogging the shawl I was making my mother with Caron Simply Soft yarn. In the end I decided I will be making her that same shawl but instead of using acrylic yarn that I now know doesn't block well, I will be using Cascade Heritage which is 75% Merino and 25% Nylon. Its also a fingering weight which I think will look better than the worsted weight for a shawl. This will be the project I will be working on next week and if everything goes as planned and I finish the ripple baby afghan before the weekend I will get an early start on it.


Share your works in progress and take a look at what others are working on by checking out Tami's Blog! 

Don't forget to come back for Finished Object Friday!

Friday, January 25, 2013

FO Friday 1.4

It's Friday again and I have a lot of FO's to share today! I had a very productive week. Hopefully I will have a productive weekend as well. So now moving on to share my finished amigurumi of the week. I've added some Valentine Animals to the shop, so far I've made 2 caterpillars and an owl. The two caterpillars are available in the shop now and the owl will be listed later on today. I also got a chance to finish up my Hermit Crab that I started last year and didn't get a chance to finish until now. I also finished a ladybug last Friday that was a custom order.






Which is your favorite?
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Next up are my finished baby bibs! I finished the two I shared on Wednesday and started and finished another one. So I finished 6 of the 10 bibs I need to finish before the end of the month. I'm hoping to work on at least two more this weekend. By the way I listed my first baby bib in my shop today and the rest will be listed in the next couple of days. 




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As of right now this weekend seems like it may be less busy than last weekend which is good because I want to get some time to work on my Haruni shawl. I've been doing pretty good about working on it everyday except for Wednesday. I wanted to finish this week but with only three days left to work on it I'm not too sure that will happen. 

I also want to get started on the current Freshstitches CAL. If you love slugs you should join! There is a great prize. I still need to plan what color I want to use. There is still plenty of time but I want to make sure I'm not rushing at the end.

I already said above I'm hoping to work on two more bibs...one of which will be a squirrel! I'm excited about making that one. I'm not sure what the other three will be so maybe it would be good to go ahead and figure that out. 

I think that's about it for what I have on my to-do list. I know I have one post on the 31 days to get organized posts I have to do. I think I will wait until the next WIP Wednesday after this one coming up to have an update on my progress. 

Have a great weekend!

Remember to come back for WIP Wednesday!

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

WIP Wednesday 1.4

I had a really busy weekend/week (for some reason I always think of my weekends as Saturday-Tuesday...lol). I was really behind on the 31 days to get organized because Day 10 tracking your stash took forever (more details below). I also worked on some baby bibs and I'm making some Valentine's Day stuffed animals to add to the shop.

My Wip's for the week are at the bottom if you would like to skip my announcements and 31 days to get organized update! :)
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ANNOUNCEMENTS 
Valentine's Day Animals will be available at the shop starting today Wednesday, January 23rd.

Baby Bibs will be available starting Friday, January 25th. I'll be adding the Heart Bib first. I will be adding a total of 10 bibs through February 3rd. If you are interested in one of the baby bibs but would like it in a different color let me know.

Remember to purchase your stuffed animals by Wednesday, February 6th to get them in time for Valentine's Day!

I send my animals through USPS Priority Mail with delivery confirmation but since some of the smaller animals like the caterpillars are small enough to send through USPS First Class Mail and its cheaper this way, that is how I will be shipping them from now on if you want to upgrade to Priority Mail let me know before purchasing but it will be as expensive as shipping a larger animal. I recently shipped a ladybug and it was $7.05!

USPS will be raising their shipping rates starting January 27th so you might want to consider buying now. I am considering paying for postage online to save on shipping and get free delivery confirmation but I still need to figure out how to work that.
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31 DAYS TO GET ORGANIZED

Tracking your Stash

This one is pretty easy to figure out. Basically the tips in this post are all about how to keep track of what is in your stash. If you have a lot of yarn this will come in handy because you will have a record of every yarn you currently own. Otherwise when you store it there is a chance that you may forget you have it. I have a lot of yarn but not nearly as much as others and another advantage is I tend to buy a lot of the same kind of yarn just in different colorways. So keeping track of what I have isn't hard even without a written list but I thought it would be a good idea to do this anyway. When I started using Ravelry I noticed the stash tab but never got around to adding yarn. This day took me about a week to complete but I finally finished adding all my yarn. I currently have 178 yarns in my stash. It took me longer than I thought because I actually took a picture of my own yarn instead of using those on the yarns website and it didn't help that all of last week it was really cloudy. But I'm happy its done. I will try to update this information every time I buy new yarn so it doesn't accumulate over time. Using ravelry to stash my yarn is also helpful when listing a new project because now I don't have to look around for the labels to know what colorway it was, all I have to do now is add the yarn that is already in my stash with all the information. And every time I finish a project I can keep a record of how much yarn I have left over that way its easier to know if I have enough to use for another project or not.


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Ideas on using Leftover Yarn

In this post several people shared ideas on what they do with leftover yarn. Some of the ideas were interesting but I think I am going to stick to something I make already which is amigurumi. Some of the patterns from Freshstitches don't call for a lot of yarn so I think I may end up using it on that. If  its not enough to make an entire amigurumi then I could use it to make a stripped one. For example these tiny owls below only need 60 yards of yarn total.


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Getting Rid of Unwanted Yarn

This post is another one that doesn't really apply to me since there isn't any unwanted yarn in my stash. But if there ever was something I just didn't want, it did give several ideas on what to do with that yarn. :)

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Identifying Mystery Yarn


I only have one yarn I'm not sure what it is. I bought it some time ago its supposed to be like recycled fibers or something similar. I'm pretty sure its acrylic and its a fingering weight. The pack came with four large skeins so I decided to get it but never found a use for it. Whenever I want to test out a new pattern or need some waste yarn for a project that's what I use it for. So I didn't really bother figuring out anything else about it like the post suggest since I'm pretty sure I won't be using it for an actual project. 

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Organize your Yarn Stash


I mentioned before that I use this system to store my yarn and will continue to do so but this post did help me with some ideas. I store my yarns by brand and now also by color. KnitPicks yarns are in the top left separated by brand like Comfy, Shine and Brava. The top right stores my Berroco Vintage which I separated by color family. One has warm colors, the second cool colors and the third neutrals. The middle row stores most of my acrylic like Bernat, Loops & Thread and Lion Brand. I have three bins for my Bernat Softee Baby which store the boy colors like blues & greens in one, girly colors like pinks & purples in another and the last one, colors that could go work for both. The bottom left has one bin where I store my Joann acrylic yarn and the other two store cotton yarns from Bernat, Hobby Lobby and Lily. I recently bought these two new storage units below at Michael's. They are meant for storing scrapbook materials but I decided to use the for my yarn. The one on the left stores my crochet thread and the one on the right the rest of my acrylic yarn from Caron and Hobby Lobby. I placed them under my desk since there was no more room for them anywhere else and I also used the top as my book shelf to store my pattern binders and craft books.


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Protecting your Yarn from Moths

I've never had a problem with moths getting to my yarn. I didn't even know of the damages it could do until I saw it online so I've never done anything to prevent it from happening. This post will definitely come in handy. I think I will need to do something to protect my yarn before its too late.

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Organizing Craft Books, Magazines, & Pattern Books

This post tells you to decide which books to keep, give away, or toss just like the de-stashing yarn post. I actually don't have a lot of craft books. Most of them are stitch dictionaries and I try to get ones that don't have the same stitches in them. There are a lot of books that I want to get eventually but just haven't. So for now I don't really have a lot of organizing to do. My craft books are organized by craft under my desk. I didn't have anywhere else to put them so I put them on top of the new storage drawers I mentioned above. I also store my binders with individual patterns with the books that are in the same category. As you can see below after my knitting binder I have all my knitting books to go with it. So if I am ever looking for a book from a certain category its already there and I don't have to do any searching. I don't buy magazines so that's not something I have to worry about. Most of the patterns I own are in binders and I know I need some help organizing those but that will be in another post.


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Day 16
Organizing Single Patterns

I currently store my patterns in sheet protectors and put them in binders according to category. In the picture above you can see I store my binders with my books. I currently have seven categories: Jewelry Making, Cross Stitch, Knitting, Baby Knitting(only patterns for baby items), Crochet, Freshstitches( I have so many of her patterns they need a binder to themselves), and Tatting. All the binders except the Freshstitches one are seperated into sub-categories. For example my knitting one has sections for shawls, hats, scarves, socks, etc. I really like this way of storing them at least its working for me. :)

The two patterns shown above are free at www.freshstitches.com. I tried making them small enough that you can't see what the writing is. :)
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Day 17
Using & Reorganizing you Ravelry Queue

I've never really used the Ravelry Queue so this was another day I didn't need to do anything for. But after reading the post I think I decided to give it a try. I currently only have four projects I am really interested in.


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Day 18
Organizing Digital Patterns

It took me less than 20 minutes to organize my digital patterns. I took some time to organize them last year so all I had to do now was organize the most recent I had downloaded which were not many since I started using Ravelry I don't really download that many anymore unless its something I am going to work on. Below is a picture of the different folders that I use to store what I have downloaded. Some are by designer and others are general crafts.


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Day 19
Keeping Track of your Patterns Library

I don't think that I really need to do anything for this day either. My patterns downloaded to my computer are organized. I've been using Ravelry for storing most of the other ones and the ones in my binder are organized. So if I need to find a certain pattern I'm sure I won't have a hard time doing so.


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Day 20
Sort your Knitting Needles & Crochet Hooks

This day was also a fast one. I did some cleaning and organizing over the weekend so I had already stored my needles and hooks in a drawer. I don't have too many of them so I don't really need to get rid of any of them. I do have several duplicates of size 5 needles because it tends to be the size I use most for my baby blankets so I bought plenty to have in case I got bored with one blanket and wanted to start another. I have an idea of what I want to use to store them in but I haven't gotten it yet. That's what the next post is about but I will save that for next week.


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WIP's

This week I have been working on some Valentine's Day stuffed animals for the shop.
I currently have 2 caterpillars which mom actually helped me crochet all I have to do it sew the pieces since she doesn't like sewing them. I also made a Valentine Owl that I will be sharing for FO Friday! 




Next I worked on finishing up my Hermit Crab which I had to put on hold because I ran out of red yarn. Well it almost happened again because I was using the red yarn for the Valentine Owl but luckily I still have enough to finish the Hermit Crab and I will share him on Friday also.


I'm still working on my Baby Bibs. I've completely finished 3, I'm currently working on 2, and I need to start and finish another 5 by February 3rd. I still believe that I can get it done. It's at the top of my list for the rest of the week. 



The last thing I have to share today is that I started the Haruni Shawl using the Candy Skein Yummy Fingering yarn I bought a couple months ago. I really love how its looking. The yarn is very pretty and the pattern is easy to follow. I'm following the written directions since I'm not that confident in my chart reading skills and I don't want to mess up and have to start over. The  provisional cast on took me a while because I had never used it before but after a couple of tries I think I finally got it. I know I will need to block it which is something I have never done so I am already making a list of blocking materials I will need. I'm thinking of buying the blocking mats, lace blocking wires and blocking t-pins at KnitPicks but would like to hear from anyone who has purchases them how they like them so please let me know. Also if anyone has any good blocking tutorial links or tips those will be greatly appreciated. :)



I finally figured out how to add progress bars to my blog. So I added my WIP's progress bars to the left. They are linked to my ravelry page for each project. Most of them are projects from last year that I never finished and want to this year. I've made a plan that I will assign one UFO each week and I will schedule some time each day of that week to work on that one project. I can only work on that project for that week so any extra time I have to work on something that will be it. Of course I will continue to make items for my shop, swaps, and cal's as usual. This week my project will be the Haruni Shawl since I'm really excited about working on it. If I happen to finish the project before the week ends then I can start working on whatever the next week's project is. I've already added a timeline below my progress bars to keep my on track.
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Friday, January 18, 2013

FO Friday 1.3

Today I have 2 baby bibs to share. I would have liked to finish more items but my days haven't been as productive as they used to be. 

The first is red with hearts perfect for a baby to wear for Valentine's Day! This one will be the first one listed next week. I'm still not sure which day that will be but it will definitely be next week. I still need to take pictures and this past week we had really bad weather but its supposed to be sunny these next couple of days so hopefully I can get the pictures taken. Plus this baby bib is going to be a little difficult to photograph its true color since its red. 



This second one is a bunny. I'm thinking ahead for Easter but it doesn't necessarily have to be for Easter. Bunnies are cute and the bib can be used throughout the year. I still have to weave in the ends but the main part is done. I actually changed the way I did the ties which made it faster to finish the item. This one also needs its pictures taken.  



Above is a picture of the two different ties. The one to the left is a knitted I-cord tie. I love how it looks but I don't know why it takes me so long to make them. For the dog baby bib I finished last week I used this method. The one on the right is crocheted and much faster. Basically what I did was crochet a chain of about 85 stitches then I went back and slip stitched in each one. It is about the same thickness as the i-cord and I think it looks good so its the method I used for the heart and bunny bibs. I will probably continue to use this method for the next couple of bibs I make. I still have 7 more to go and only 17 days to finish them. :)


So here is a picture of the three I finished so far. I'm hoping to finish at least one more this weekend and maybe even start the 5th one. But I am going to have a busy weekend. I need to take pictures of all three of these for the shop listings. I need to prepare the listings, take measurements, figure out shipping cost, etc. 

Like I said before its supposed to be sunny this weekend but this past week the weather has been crazy. It was rainy and cloudy for the past couple of days, then yesterday it was snowing and thundering at the same time. Snow in NC was shocking to me! I don't really watch the weather channel so I had no idea and since it doesn't really snow a lot around here anymore at least not how it used to when I was younger, it was unexpected. Anyway I have my fingers crossed that it will be sunny enough for me to take pictures. 

I also started adding my stash to ravelry and need to take pictures of every single yarn in my stash. By the way I will have an update on my progress in the 31 days to get organized post on Wednesday. 

And if that wasn't enough I also have to finish a ladybug that is a custom order from my shop. This is actually at the top of my list since I want to mail it out on Saturday. Luckily I finished crocheted all the parts and all I have left is attach them and prepare the package. 

I'm also going to be working on some Valentine amigurumi to add to the shop. I've already started on an owl but I want to make several animals. So I am going to try to fit in some time to do that as well. 

I think that's it for the plans for my weekend! :)
Have a great weekend!

Remember to come back for WIP Wednesday!

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

WIP Wednesday 1.3

First off I want to mention that since Friday's post my blog had a lot of views and we pasted the 10,000 views! Yay! I was very excited about that. :)

Last Wednesday I had a really long blog with details on what I did for everyday of the 31 days to get organized blog post from Webs Yarn store's blog. I had planned to continue to do the next couple of blogs during the weekend but didn't so I'll try to do some of them this week and hopefully get caught up by next Wednesday.  
My goal for this month is to make a total of 10 baby bibs and start listing them in my shop. Well I started 4 so far and have only finished 1. Above are the two I started during the last 2 days. I am thinking ahead and made one for Valentine's Day and another which is going to be for Easter. I will hopefully start listing them next week and if everything goes as planned these two will be finished Friday.
The second thing I was working on was this baby shoe. I am planning to start adding baby shoes to the shop next month so I wanted to start testing out some patterns. I've made a couple of pairs from this pattern in the past but I need to adjust it to the sizes I am going to be selling. I used KnitPicks Shine and I love how they look. 
The third thing I started yesterday was a Ladybug. I had someone ask if I could make one for a friend so this is my third sale on Etsy! I still have a lot to do but its a start. I will be finishing this by Friday and shipping it out on Monday. I think I may even make another to add to the shop later on.

Don't forget to come back for Finished Object Friday!

Friday, January 11, 2013

FO Friday 1.2

Announcements

Valentine's Day is coming up and if you want to receive your stuffed animal in time order by February 6th! 

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31 days to get organized

I mentioned before that I have been following the Webs yarn store blog about getting organized in 31 days. Well I'm caught up through Day 8 and I go into detail of what I did for each day in my WIP Wednesday post if you want to check it out. I also shared a picture of my yarn stash!


I feel like the post on deciding whether to keep or frog your UFO's was extremely helpful. I decided to frog many of the projects I just didn't really care to work on any more. The picture above is of some yarn from frogged projects. I finished frogging over half of the projects yesterday and I'm hopping to finish the rest over the weekend. There was no blog post Wednesday so I'm only behind by one. Thursdays post was about keeping track of your stash which I plan to do this weekend. Meaning I will be taking out all my yarn again. I will probably wait to do this until after I finish frogging all my other projects so I can take another picture of my stash this time including the yarn from the projects I frogged. 

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FO's

I finished two items this week. 


I finished 1 of the 10 baby bibs I want to finish before February 4th. So I have 24 days left to finish 9 more. I really like how it turned out. I used KnitPicks Comfy and the pattern is from downcloverlaine.blogspot.com


I also finally got around to finishing my Freshsitiches square swap cowl. I never got around to finishing my square so I just attached the squares I had and added the border in the color my square was supposed to be. 


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Remember to come back for WIP Wednesday!



Wednesday, January 9, 2013

WIP Wednesday 1.2

The past weekend was super busy for me. I was trying to finish up some amigurumi to list in my shop before Monday's post. Which I accomplished and I also wanted to get started on the 31 days to get organized tips on the Webs Yarn Store blog. I added a link to each individual day. To get to the blog post of a specific day click on the Day you are interested in. The WIP's I worked on this week are at the bottom if you want to skip to them!

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Announcements

Today is the last day to use coupon code NEWYEAR13 to get 13% off your purchase in my etsy shop! 

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31 days to get Organized

Make a list of what's working for you and a list of what you want to improve!

Things Working:
1) I think my yarn storage is working pretty good. I reorganized each bin last month and now each one has a different brand of yarn. I also use the bottom row to store my UFO's. On the top I display all of my Freshstitches amigurumi I made last year (my personal collection not the ones for sale). I think this is the only thing that is working for me.


Things I want to improve:
1) I want to stop leaving things unfinished for so long. I tend to finish projects to the point where all I have left to do is add a border or some detail. For example on the dress below all I need to do is add some ribbon and maybe a little flower and the sleeves and it would be finished. Yet its been in my UFO's for over a year. 


2) I want to organize my patterns. I have some patterns in binders, others in my ravelry library, and others on my computer that I have already downloaded but when I want to start a new project I can never decide what to do. Or I'll remember I had a pattern but can't find it. 

3) Bring down the number of UFO's I have.

4) Use up my yarn stash. 

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Pull out all your WIP's and decide whether to finish or to frog!

Here are all my UFO's. Well my knit and crochet ones anyway. There are several I know I want to frog and have already taken out the needles. Now I just have to frog them. Some I'm undecided about. While others I know I want to finish eventually. There are several that all I have left to do is sew or add borders. The bag on the top right corner for example is full of Ipod cases I made that I need to sew up. 


After about an hour I decided to frog these below. I put them into baskets so that I can frog them in the living room while watching TV. It will be easier to just take the basket then have to carry them in something else. I have a lot more than I thought but the good thing is that many of them are pretty small projects. 
(A picture of the ones I have decided to keep will be shown in the next section)


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Organize the WIP's you decided to keep!

Here are all the projects I am keeping. Many of them have very little left to do. Several of them are baby sweaters that I need to sew up the sleeves and add buttons. I also have a pile of Ipod/Camera cases at the top left corner that I need to sew and add buttons. Some baby bibs that I need to finish the I-cord. A couple baby blankets that need borders. And another handful of baby shoes that need buttons, pom poms and need to be sewn.  There are about  2 projects that I need to figure out what size hook I was using but other than that I know the pattern and what tools all the others need. 


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Store your WIPs!

I stored my UFO's in the bins I showed above. All of the projects that only need to be sewn were put into this NY&Company bag (its a clothing store). I really like their bags because they are much sturdier than other plastic bags so I like to keep them. The smaller project bags my mom made me are used for my current WIP's. I may need her to make me a larger one that I can use to store my baby blankets and larger projects in. 


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Keep up to date notes for your WIP's!

I'm not the best at keeping good notes about my projects. I usually carry around this little pad where I write down my own patterns and changes to patterns I downloaded. I never thought to add these notes to ravelry as I posted the project so I might attempt to do this next time.

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Flash your Stash!

This task was not as easy as it seemed. At least it wasn't for me. I admit I have a problem when it comes to yarn. I know I may not need it and I may not have an idea of what I will use it on but in the end I will buy it. Just yesterday I got eight skeins of Berroco Vintage in the mail (just in time to make it into the picture)! But I have decided that this month I will not buy anymore yarn. I think I've come to my limit. I have no more space for it and so I will need to use up some before I can think to get more. Plus I need to save money for other things. Just in the last two months I know I've spent close to $500 on yarn! Which is way too much!


(Just in case anyone is wondering: Most of the yarn on the left side is from Knit Picks, the middle section towards the front is Berroco Vintage, some Cascade,and Bernat Softee Baby towards the back, to the right I have Caron Simply Soft at the front, more Bernat Softee Baby in the middle and some cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby and Bernat towards the back. I have a lot Bernat Softee Baby from years ago that I haven't used. I was obsessed with making baby blankets and that's mostly what I use it on.)

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Get rid of the yarn you don't love or won't use!

I'm a firm believer that if I spent the money on something I have to use it. I think I'm going to skip this idea. All of this yarn can be used and will. I may end up making things to give away but I'm going to be the one to knit or crochet with it. :) 

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Recycle yarn from your WIP's!

This post is a tip of how to get the yarn from a project you frog back into good shape to be used on another project!  I have yet to frog my projects so I don't have much to say for this day.

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WIP's

I currently have 29 stuffed animals in my shop so I've decided its time to start adding new products. I've been wanting to add Baby Bibs since the beginning but decided to stock up on stuffed animals first. Well I think its time so these past two days I was working on a couple baby bibs. I have a goal to finish 10 baby bibs and list them before February 4th which will be the first Monday of next month meaning its the day of the Merchandise Monday post. Here is what I've been working on. Three baby bibs so far. It takes me about a day to knit up the bib up to the point where the i-cord starts. So accomplishing my goal shouldn't be too difficult. I like using my KnitPicks chart keeper to help me keep my place even if it isn't a chart. 


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Share your works in progress and take a look at what others are working on by checking out Tami's Blog! 

Don't forget to come back for Finished Object Friday!