Stitches In Time

My Very First Craft Show Is Coming Up Fast

2011-08-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

September 3, 2011 is a day I am both anticipating and dreading. It is the day of the Summer's End Festival in Hagersville, Ontario. My mother, who is also a knitter, and I made the decision last week to sign up for our very first craft show. The table fee was very reasonable so we decided to finally do it. It is something we have talked of and dreamed about for many years but we never got around to making enough inventory to actually sign up and do one. Now that I run Stitches In Time I have some inventory on hand, even though a lot of what I sell is made to order. My mum has been making things in the hope of one day selling them so together we will *hopefully* have enough to run a successful table at the show. I have been knitting like a fiend, staying up late and working till my hands cramp attempting to have a large supply of quality, hand knit goods on hand for the show.

I have been focusing on making small things like slippers, hats and mittens, and a few toys as these are the things I think will sell the best. My mum is also making hats, scarves and some sweaters. I am really excited and I can't believe we are finally doing this. But I am scared too! What if we are there all day and no one buys anything? It would be so embarrassing and disheartening. It is a new festival, so I can't even begin to estimate how many people will even show up.

I have told my husband that he will have to bear with me, the house is a bit of a mess and the laundry isn't done as often, because I am really focused on being ready for this show. I hope that it turns out well and that it is the first of many successful shows Mum and I will do together.

Easy Banana Cream Pie Recipe

2011-08-16T12:53:00.001-07:00

My mum baked stuff for us every week. We always had a fresh supply of homemade cookies, cakes, bread and pies. One of my favourite pies that my mum made was her Banana Cream Pie. I had a craving for it last night so I called her and got her recipe for it. It calls for only 3 ingredients so its as easy as,well.....pie!

All you need is a pie crust, either store bought or home made, 3 bananas and a box of Jello brand Vanilla pudding. Thaw or bake your pie shell and allow to cool.
Prepare the pudding as per the box instructions and set aside to thicken
Thinly slice the banana into the pie shell and layer with the pudding. Smooth the top with the back of a wooden spoon.

Optionally, you can sprinkle the top with some sweetened shredded coconut, or cover with whipped cream. Place in fridge to chill for an hour and serve. Enjoy!!

For more handmade, homemade delights, check out my shop at http://stichesintime.etsy.com

Fingerless Mittens with Cat Paw Print

2011-08-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

I am surprised at how fingerless mittens have caught on with people. They are quite the fashionable accessory now. When I first started seeing them, I didn't really understand the point. Mittens without fingers? Why? I have heard that people, women in particular, like them because they are easy to wear in air conditioned offices.You can be warm and work easily at the same time. People with arthritis in their hands like them as well.

These fingerless mittens are new from Stitches In Time.

On a side note, I will be attending my first craft show as a vendor on Sept 3 2011. It is the Hagersville Lions Summers End Festival in the Lions park in Hagersville, Ontario. Looking forward to it!

Stay "Green" While You Clean

2011-07-28T09:10:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular cleaning tools on the market is the Swiffer Sweeper. These handy mops are useful in lots of ways, but their one downside to the earth aware person is that since the cloths are disposable and made of mostly plastic, they really aren't that good for the planet. Personally I have always felt guilty when throwing a used Swiffer cloth in the garbage. But now there is something different! Reusable Swiffer Sweeper Pads from Stitches In Time. They are the green alternative to disposable plastics. Each package comes with two reusable Swiffer cloths that can be used wet or dry, flipped inside out and used again and then washed with the rest of your laundry. They are made out of 100% natural cotton and can be used again and again and again, keeping lots of plastic out of the landfills. Available at Stitches In Time for $10.50.

I love Pedicures!

2011-07-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

I had the afternoon to myself so I went uptown and got a pedicure. My feet were in rough shape from wearing flip flops all summer and having been bare foot since May. The nail salon is a nice place with massaging chairs and foot baths. I LOVE the massaging chairs! The technician trimmed, filed and massaged my feet and then I got a nice purple nail polish applied.
Flip flops are really hard on your feet and leave them exposed so skin becomes dry and dead skin builds up. For added protection and comfort, try Pedicure Socks. Also known as Yoga socks, they leave your heel and toes bare but cover your ankle and instep. They are great for exercise or dance and are a unique way to show off your beautiful pedicure.

For hand knit Pedicure socks and other hand knit goodies, check out my Etsy shop at Stitches In Time

Blast from the past: What is a handmade lifestyle?

2011-07-24T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm pulling this post from the vault, I wrote it in Sept 09 and it has some good points. I tweaked the SEO in it a bit from the original post.

While the meaning of living a handmade lifestyle can vary wildly from person to person there are generally a few tenets held in common. One is that effort should be applied to reduce the impact we as a modern society make on our environment. Reducing consumption of mass produced goods is a viable way of doing this. Mass produced goods consume vast amounts of resources that their handmade counterparts do not. Handmade items, especially those utilizing materials that are grown or made by hand, create less of an impact on our environment. Mentally compare the carbon footprint of a pair of store bought mass produced mittens against a pair of hand made ones. The commercial mittens are made from industrial grade yarns, produced and dyed with artificial chemicals. The mittens are knitted on machines, each pair exactly the same as the next. They are packaged and shipped out around the world, consuming fossil fuels and creating pollution. The handmade mittens are made out of locally produced wool, handspun and handpainted by independent artisans. The mittens are knitted by hand and each pair will have subtle differences and variations, as this is the nature of hand knitting. Each pair will be a unique creation. These mittens are mailed in small packages, or distributed by person. The cost of handmade mittens, while at times higher than commercial ones, goes to supporting families and small businesses rather than filling the coffers of large corporations. When you limit consumption of goods that are manufactured half a planet away, often times using labour practices that are bad for people and bad for the planet, you not only strike a tiny blow against major chain retailers and manufacturers but you take back your power and your individuality from the mass marketers that want to dictate to us what we must have.

Another common theme to the handmade lifestyle is the desire to support craftspeople and artisans, who make their living creating beautiful and utilitarian items. Not that long ago many people shunned handmade things in favour of the mass produced. There is a movement, identified as "Third Wave Feminism" that is seeking to reclaim the homely arts. Knitting, crochet, felting, spinning and weaving are some of the crafts that fell by the wayside when women began to embrace feminism. Those crafts were considered the realm of the dominated woman who hadn't yet been released from her prison of domesticity. In our age, women are flocking to classes and seminars teaching these crafts and providing modern women with an outlet for creativity and talent. Not to mention that there is now a market thirsting for unique, creative handmade goods. What was once considered passe and antiquated is now providing a living for hundreds of thousands of people, mainly women, all around the world. From the Native women reclaiming their hereditary motifs in hand knitting Cowichan sweaters on the west coast to the stay at home mum making diaper covers and reusable sanitary pads to the retired couple making and selling soaps and candles, people are rediscovering the benefits and satisfactions of living a handmade lifestyle.

Feel like supporting a hand made artisan? Check out my Etsy shop !

Cool new listing!

2011-07-20T17:42:00.000-07:00

So last night I was having all of these crazy dreams and I woke up in the middle of the night with a new product idea. I thought everyone makes coffee cup cozies, but no one makes *sippy cup cozies*!. What a great idea, it would absorb drips and dribbles and condensation. Then I thought "what is the best selling fad on Etsy right now?" Mustaches!!!! So I made a Milk Mustache Sippy Cup Cozy! A crocheted black cozy to fit standard sippy cups with a white crocheted milk mustache attached to the edge and the words "Milk Mustache" embroidered on it. Tres cute!!

I bet you didn't know I could fish?

2011-07-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

Yep that's right. I'm a pretty decent fisherwoman. Not only can I knit and crochet like a fiend, I can bait. cast, catch and clean fish. This past spring I was out on the pier several days a week and had some great catches of large yellow perch. So far perch are my favourite target species, as they are easy to catch and clean and they taste great. I will be brushing up on my bass fishing skills on Soyers Lake, Haliburton during the first week of August and I am really looking forward to it.

I've always been interested in the outdoors, fishing, hunting and camping but no one else around me was. So this spring I decided to stop waiting for someone to teach me and got out there and taught myself. I started out knowing next to nothing, and actually spent a month or so holding my rod upside down, but I made some friends on the pier and online and they have pointed me in the right direction. Now I can catch my own minnows for bait, put them on the hook properly, tie a drop shot rig, unhook a fish, and can scale and fillet them without making too much of a mess.

Since March I've caught Yellow Perch, White Perch, Rock Bass, Sheepshead, Brown Bullhead, Round Goby,Pumpkin Seed and Smallmouth Bass. Not too bad for a beginner, eh?

Sweet Lacey Summer Scarves from Stitches In Time

2011-07-13T15:51:00.000-07:00

I added another scarf to my shop. It's the same Queen Anne's Lace pattern as this one but it is a dusky pink shade that is sure to compliment all skin tones. It is approx 56 inches long, so it can be wrapped and draped in different ways. Completely handmade by myself from 100% natural cotton yarn. I created this item in a non smoking home. The scarf, or any of my other handmade items can be purchased from my shop at Stitches In Time Etsy.

Lovely Lacey Summer Scarves

2011-07-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

Stitches In Time is offering the perfect accessory for your summer outfits. Light and lacy summer scarves will add elegance and style to your look. These scarves are hand crocheted in scenic Port Dover, Ontario and are created with 100% cotton. The lace pattern is called Queen Anne's Lace, and is very open and airy. The scarves are long enough to wrap and tie in many ways, you'll never have to wear it the same way twice!! Check out summer scarves at Stitches In Time

New Girly Baby Products from Stitches In Time

2011-06-05T07:09:00.000-07:00

I am working on a new product line of girly baby products for Stitches In Time. I have been enjoying using the new yarns from Bernat, called Baby Jaquards. The yarn has a dyed in pattern that knits up into floral and stripe motifs. The results are beautiful and I am proud to have them for sale in my Etsy shop.

Floral Print Hand Knit Skirt for Baby Girls. This skirt features an orange floral motif, with shades of blue stripes.

Rosebud Hand Diaper Cover for Baby Girl by Stitches In Time.

Rosebud Hand Knit Baby Leggings for Baby Girls

Sweet Strawberry Baby Booties

2011-03-30T10:08:00.000-07:00

Its Spring and I'm back to working in my shop and producing new items as fast as I can. These darling little baby booties are styled like fresh, ripe strawberries . These booties would make for a very unique and spring themed baby shower gift. I hand knit them on 4 needles and grafted all of the seams instead of sewing them, so there are no bumpy seams to irritate tender little feet. A crocheted blossom adorns each bootie, along with hand embroidered strawberry seeds.

For more information, or to purchase Sweet Strawberry Baby Booties, visit me on Etsy at Stitches In Time

Offering Custom Hand Knitting Services

2010-11-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

Stitches In Time has branched out and is now offering custom hand knitting services. Perhaps there is a pattern you would like made up to your specifications, or an idea you have that you would like to bring to life. I can follow just about any pattern, from antique and vintage to modern or online patterns. I am adept at the techniques of intarsia (colour work) and cables and I can customize patterns to suit your tastes. I have some experience in cobbling several patterns together to create something entirely unique.
For all of your custom hand knitting projects, remember Stitches In Time!

You can contact me through the comment section on this blog or through either of my shops. Stitches In Time Etsy or Stitches In Time Artfire

I received some sad news

2010-10-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am in a bit of a blur right now. I received news on Monday morning that my uncle had suffered a heart attack at his home in Hawaii. Initially the damage was assumed to be stemming from one totally blocked artery and one partially blocked one. He was put into a medically induced coma to await double bypass surgery but he died unexpectedly on Tuesday night. I am heartbroken and in shock. He was a healthy man, only 62 and this had been very hard for everyone to process. He was my father's eldest brother and my dad is taking it hard.
I will be flying to Hawaii for the funeral on the 21st and returning on the 26th. I may not blog again before I return, I will try to catch up with it afterwards.

Flowers and Chains Crocheted Scarf

2010-10-05T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's not a very inspiring name, I know, but that is what I am calling my new listing on Stitches In Time Etsy and StitchesInTimeArtFire.

The scarf is created from dusty pink alpaca yarn. It consists of a large flower on one end and long strings of chain stitches. When wrapped around the neck the strings are pulled through the center of the flower to create a stylish and unique accessory. Available at both of my shops and in custom colours as well. I intend to list some more scarves like this in the near future, in different colours.

Etsy vs Artfire

2010-10-04T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have been selling my hand knit items on Etsy for a little over a year. I have 29 sales under my belt, which is not too bad considering all the months I took "off" in the winter when I was very sick, when I went on vacation, and then again this summer while we moved. I have been at times both enamored and infuriated with the vast marketplace that is Etsy. I love the opportunity Etsy provides for my items to be seen worldwide. I like the community of crafters that mix and meld on Etsy and I have learned an enormous amount of information from the Etsy Virtual Labs, blog posts, admin posts and posts from other sellers in the forum. I joined several teams, had my work featured on the Front Page and in the Etsy Finds email. Yet, I have opened a shop on the ArtFire venue and am contemplating letting my Etsy shop die a natural death. Why? Because for as much as I love Etsy, I kind of hate it too. The site is rigged, to put it honestly. For the most part, sellers are vying to attract other Etsians to buy their wares. I don't have specific numbers to work with, but my hunch is that the majority of sales on Etsy are to other sellers. Etsy doesn't advertise for buyers because it makes its money off of its sellers. The only way to be seen on Etsy is to renew and relist. Sellers are encouraged to keep hitting that relist button as much as possible to stay on top of the heap. Etsy runs on a recency search module, where the most recently listed items turn up in the searches. If you list and leave, your item will quickly be relegated to the -nth page....and what shopper is going to search more than 5 or 6 pages? So sellers keep popping dimes into the Etsy maw to keep their wares visible. That business model can only prove profitable for those businesses logging hundreds of sales per year. Eventually, I tired of the renewing game and have decided to quit renewing completely.
Artfire recently ran a promotion offering Pro seller status for $5.95 a month. That works out to $0.20 a day, the cost of one Etsy listing. I jumped at the chance to have unlimited listing, immediate Google submission, awesome seller tools and no final value fees. That means for $5.95 a month I can list as much as I want, know that I am being picked up by Google and I won't have to pay any further fees. And best of all, NO RENEWING!!! Artfire has a relevancy based search module, similar to Google's algorithm. It doesn't matter WHEN you listed your item, if it matches a search term it will be shown. And since there are fewer sellers on ArtFire, (for now) items show up in fewer result pages than on Etsy. Now, views are slower on Artfire, as they are cumulative. Listing an item won't get you a ton of views like it does on Etsy, but you will get more views in the long run because your listing doesn't lose recency like it will on Etsy.
For the meantime I will try to run both shops. As tired as I am of the Etsy run around, I just am not sure that great as it is, if Artfire can provide enough traffic to sustain the recent influx of shops. Currently, I am infatuated with Artfire and it remains to be seen whether or not this will be a productive partnership.

Paypal Lets You Know Where Your Customers Are Finding You

2010-09-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

   For the entire time I have been selling online I have wondered how people find me. What channels do they go through before they enter my shop? Knowing this would let me know what kind of exposure helps draw customers and and what doesn't. I would like to focus my efforts on what is working and scrap that which never gets seen. Etsy doesn't give any insight in to where your customers come from, and neither does ArtFire for that matter. Google Analytics lets you know where your shop visitors are coming from but doesn't filter out those who actually become customers from those who are just browsing.
   Today, while I was browsing the ArtFire forums I stumbled across a post by a seller asking the same questions. SeaDayDesigns posted an answer that everyone found vastly helpful. PayPal lets you tack a customer survey onto the payment process and you can directly ask your customer how they found you! Now there is no guarantee that your customers will answer the survey, so perhaps it would be a good idea to offer an incentive. Give a discount for returning customers who fill out the survey, or a free gift. The survey is short and sweet, only one question with a field to enter multiple answers so your customer only needs to click the one that is relevant to them.

   To set up your customer service survey you need to log into your PayPal account.
   Click on "Profile"
   Under the Selling Preferences column, click on Custom Payment Pages
   Select the "Options" Tab
Click "Customer Survey"
    Then enter your question
     Fill in your answers

Simple as that! Now you have a method of learning where at least some of your customers are coming from, and you will know which promotional activities to focus on.

I love LOLCATS!!!

2010-09-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

Moving In The Right Direction

2010-09-25T15:58:00.000-07:00

Hi! It's been awhile, I know. I haven't posted since early spring, but there has been a lot going on. First, we put our house up for sale and then we bought a new house in a different town. Between showing the old house, packing, a vacation to the cottage, moving and renovating, it has been a crazy busy summer! My brother and his family came to visit from Edmonton and my husband's little sister got married. Now we are moved in and settled and my eldest son is back in school and I have more time to dedicate to Stitches In Time.

Sales were good over the summer, averaging about 1 a week, which is what I aim for. But I left my shop unattended for too long and now it seems Google has forgotten all about me. All across Etsy people are complaining of low views and sales. No one knows if it is seasonal or what. It's feeling a bit reminiscent of the Dopple mess of the spring!

It seemed a good idea, in view of the unpredictability of Etsy views, to spread myself around a bit. I opened a shop at Zibbet in Dec of 09 but haven't had any luck there. Which is entirely my own fault, I think, since I haven't promoted it at all and just let it sit there. Yesterday I opted in to the awesome deal ArtFire has going on. If you sign up before Oct 1 2010, you can get a Pro account for only $5.95 a month. That works out to .20 a day! Unbeatable, considering the amount of money most sellers have to spend renewing just to be seen on Etsy. I think Artfire, now that it is out of Beta, has a good thing going and will continue to grow. Artfire is very customer service oriented, and Etsy is not. Artfire has NO renewing, which is very appealing and they don't take a final sale value cut either. So Stitches In Time is now on Artfire! The Etsy shop will continue to be my primary shop simply because all of my SEO is geared to that shop. That will likely change in the coming months and hopefully my Artfire shop will take off.

So I moved around a lot in the last few months but now I am back and ready to get to work!

Remember that I am always looking for custom knitting or crochet work, let me know if you have something you would like me to make for you!

How To Build A Rustic Twig Trellis

2010-04-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

On the weekend my husband cut down some dead branches from our willow tree (the kind that has pussy willows) in the back yard. He also cut down a birch tree in the side yard as it was dying at the top. A man drove by and asked for the wood, which we gladly gave him. That however left us with several piles of brush. While waiting for a friend to come pick them up for his burn pile I had an idea.
I have been greatly inspired lately by Gayla Trail's book "Grow Great Grub:Organic Food From Small Spaces", where she outlines how it is possible to grow your own food in your backyard or on your deck or balcony, no matter how small of an area you have. She uses found materials to build supports for her climbing peas and beans and I intended to do the same with some of the branches. However, upon looking at the branches I realized that many of them were quite straight and sturdy, and I remembered having seen a trellis built out of similar materials in a magazine. I had time, tools, and materials so I went to it and built a lovely rustic trellis for my pea vines.

To make your own trellis you will need:
Several straight sturdy branches, about 4 inches around.
Several thinner, more flexible twigs and branches for weaving
Hammer
Nails long enough to hold both sizes of twigs together
Utility knife
Step 1 was to sort through the brush and pick out the straightest and sturdiest branches, along with thinner more flexible ones. My pile of branches included both green and dead wood and I used the dead wood for the supports and the green wood for weaving as it is more flexible and will dry and hold its shape.

Step 2. Using the knife, remove side twigs, loose bark and leaves from all branches

Step 3. Lay out your support branches on the ground, 5 or 6 inches apart

Step 4. Taking one of the slimmer twigs, start at one side and weave the twig over and under the support branches. At this point you can begin nailing your weaving twigs to the support branches, or you can complete your weaving and then do all the of the nailing. I prefer to weave and then nail, so as to easily correct any mistakes.

Step 5. Starting at the bottom of your trellis, nail the weaving twigs to the support branches. If your nail goes all the way through both branches, be sure to bend it down on the back side for safety's sake. You don't need to nail the branches every time they cross, two or three nails per row is fine.

Step 6. Continue weaving and nailing until your trellis is filled in and your are happy with the way it looks. Add even smaller twigs or some dried grapevine to fill in any large gaps, or leave it as is.

Step 7. Carefully lift your trellis into an upright position and make sure no nails are sticking out in the back. Carry your trellis and place in your garden wherever you want your climbing plants to be. Train your plants to climb the trellis as they grow.

Etsy vs Google...What went wrong?

2010-03-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

If you've spent any time in the Etsy forums within the last week you will likely have noticed that there is a huge uproar amongst a sizeable segment of the seller community. It seems that as of March 8 2010 many shops noticed a sudden and drastic drop in both sales and views. At first many, including myself, attributed the drop to the regular ups and down of selling on Etsy. But then the forum posts started. Namely this one, started by peaseblossomstudios. Suddenly sellers were coming out of the woodwork with concerns about low views and stagnant sales. What was very concerning to many was that these weren't novice sellers, these were big time veteran Etsians with hundreds and even thousands of sales under their belts. People were listing and relisting and getting 1 or 2 views in 24 hours. Absolutely abnormal for sellers of this calibre. What is more, people couldn't find their shops or items on Google. Where sellers were once easily found on page 1 or 2 of Google search results, they were unable to be found anywhere on Google! Some sellers panicked and began a mass exodus, opening shops on Etsy's newest competitor Zibbet causing that site to crash under the influx of new traffic. As I write this, Zibbet is still inaccessible due to technical maintenance.
After several days of silence on the part of Etsy Admin they tossed us a bone and indicated that there may have been a problem caused by the third party tracking program, Dopple, that had been installed earlier in the year when Etsy co-founder Rob Kalin returned to Etsy. Dopple is his latest project and was part of the package deal of him returning to Etsy as CEO. Dopple is a program similar to Google Analytics in that it runs in the background of the site and tracks traffic and site usage. Ordinarily, this would be fine but it appears as though the program was improperly installed, or buggy, and this caused problems with Google. Google does not like third party programs that aren't installed properly and will penalize the site using them in search results. According to Indec, an engineer at Etsy the problem was with a bug in Dopple

"We just made a code change to fully remove the Dopple Analytics code from the site.

We had the code "switched off", but a bug in that switch-off logic meant that Dopple was still being included on about 1% of requests for pages (at random across all pages and all users).

Thanks to the members who reported the problem - especially cindylouwho2 for a useful screenshot. It was a rather obscure and frustrating problem, and it took us rather longer to track it down that we'd have liked, for which we aologize. "

Why so many shops noticed the dramatic decline in traffic on the 8th of March is still a question that remains unanswered, as Etsy contends that the bug in Dopple shouldn't have interfered with Google search results, and insists that Google traffic to the site has remained steady. This statement is hard to reconcile with the data sellers are seeing in their personal Analytics. It remains to be seen whether or not there is more to this story.

Business is booming!

2009-12-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

Well, sort of. I opened a new shop at Zibbet.com. Listing is free there and they don't take a cut of your sales either. I set up a few listings there and I'm waiting to see how it works out. The link is http://www.zibbet.com/StitchesInTime .

Of course my main shop and my main focus is my Etsy shop (http://stichesintime.etsy.com/). Today I reached my year end goal of 10 sales. I sold my Sexy Slouchy Beret Tam Hat ( http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=22792414) this morning and relisted it and it sold again!!! This is the very first time I've had two sales in one day and I am so pleased!! I hope things continue to improve like this!

Vintage Knitting Patterns

2009-12-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned before, I come from a family of locally renowned artists. My great grandmother had a prodigious collection of knitting patterns spanning the decades of the 1940's, 50's,60's, 70's,80's and 90's. Upon her death in 2005, her collection was dispersed amongst her daughters and granddaughters. I am in possesion of several of these books. Many of them are long out of print, the patterns within them long forgotten. Several of the books had patterns earmarked as ones my great grandmother made for each of her 8 children. It is almost eerie to own the patterns for the dresses and hats my grandmother wore when she was a small child. To be able to recreate a bit of family history brings me great satisfaction. To that end, the idea behind my shop on Etsy, Stitches In Time, was to provide a venue to share these family treasures with the world. I fully recognise that many of the patterns are commercially useless for the time being, as the world has had its fill of poodle tissue roll covers and Barbie doll bed ornaments. However there are some viable patterns to be found in my collection. Several of the books I received are for Bazaar items that women used to knit to raise money for good causes. Some of the fashions have come back into style, such as the cloche hat and berets. Adding a modern twist by changing the colours or tweaking the shaping allows these items to enjoy a place in the modern market.

Yesterday I listed this toy lamb. The pattern came from a book of Bazaar items from the 1960's. I had to use a different yarn than the one called for, as I doubt it even exits anymore but otherwise it is the same lamb that could have been sold at various craft sales throught the intervening decades. I look forward to adding more vintage inspired pieces to my shop in the near future.

So I joined Weight Watchers

2009-11-30T07:07:00.000-08:00

I want to go on a beach vacation this winter and I don't want to have to wear cover ups and sarongs to hide my cottage cheese thighs and jiggly belly. I'm 28, I ought to be wearing sexy bikini's and not camoflauging myself in "skirt-ini's".
I wasn't always big, I was a skinny, gangly child. But upon my diagnosis of epilepsy I gained *a lot* of weight whilst bouncing from one medication to another. Eventually I just went off all my anti-convulsants as they caused so many side effects and I was still having seizures. Once I went off the meds, my weight dropped significantly. Then I started having babies. I gained a tremendous amount of weight with my first baby because I developed pre-eclampsia. After having my son, I lost some weight, mostly fluid, but gained more when I developed a severe case of post-partum depression. Food was a solace for me and I developed several bad food habits and an addiction to Coke. I got pregnant again and miscarried, furthering my depression. A few months later I got pregnant yet again, this time going on to deliver a healthy boy. My bad food habits continued through out this period and I gained several pounds. My worst habit was bingeing on chips and junk food in the afternoons while my kids were napping. I could polish off a large bag of chips all by myself in one sitting. It was embarrassing and I would try to hide the fact by buying more chips so that my husband wouldn't notice that I had ate a whole bag in one afternoon. Coke was pretty much all I ever drank. Otherwise, I cooked and ate healthily for the most part and portion control was never a problem for me. I don't like to sit down and eat a large meal, I prefer to nibble and graze throughout the day. Which would be fine if it weren't for the bad foods I nibbled on.
I lost 10 lbs and 16 inches in the spring of 09 using the free diet program found at Sparkpeople.com. I really like this program and it was very easy to follow. Then we went on a family vacation to the cottage and I totally let go and ate whatever I wanted and didn't work out at all. I gained 5 lbs in a week!! When we got back home, I gave up the whole diet and and exercise regime and went back to my old habits. Over the course of the summer and fall I gained back 9 lbs and several inches and outgrew some of my clothes. I decided to use the money I made in my online business to buy a three month subscription to Weight Watchers, figuring that if I paid for it I'd stick to it.
So far I have lost 4 pounds and several inches and I'm starting to see some muscle definition in my upper arms. I have 24 Weight Watchers points to spend throughout the day and 35 to use to splurge on a treat during the week. I can earn more points by exercising. I have quit my Coke habit, at GREAT difficulty and have been sticking to the diet. I do dislike exercise, but have found that taking my dog for long walks in the evening and doing some Tae Bo videos aren't so bad. Weight Watchers also encourages me to have a goal weight in mind to work towards, whereas before I just wanted to play it by ear and see how much I could lose before I got tired of it. I would like to lose 30 lbs, putting me at about 155. According to the BMI charts, at my height (5'3") I shouldn't be more than 141 but I really don't think that is realistic. I don't want to lose all my curves and I come from a family of curvy women. I like having a womanly figure and I think that at 141 pounds I would look like a teenage boy! I am also aiming at becoming a size 10. I am a 12/14 now and I would really like to be a 10 again.
I watch shows like "X-Weighted" ,"You Are What You Eat" and "Eat Yourself Sexy" to maintain motivation, and I love hearing my husband tell me that I look like I've lost weight. On Saturday I found that some of my clothes were fitting much better and I've started needing to wear a belt on my jeans that were snug when I bought them. I am surprised at the difference only 4 pound can make. Although the scale is being very stubborn at going down, the inches are melting off at a satisfying rate. I don't really understand how I can lose inches yet not pounds but whatever...as long as I'm seeing results!!!

The Muppets Do Queen!

2009-11-26T06:23:00.000-08:00

The Muppets do a sanitized version of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Its pretty cute!!

I've been sick!!

2009-11-19T07:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not posting, I have a sinus infection and haven't been feeling very inspired lately. I hope to get back on track shortly!!

In the meantime I have had two sales!! This sold this morning and I am working on a large custom order and I hope to have that finished by Monday.

Hand Knit Reuseable Shopping Bag in Strawberry Swirl Cotton

2009-11-09T10:51:00.000-08:00

Newly listed in my shop is this hand knit reusable shopping bag. It is knit in a basketweave pattern from a pink and white swirled cotton. It fold up small, but stretches easily to hold the bulkiest items. 100% cotton provides strength, softness and is easy to care for. Machine wash and dry. For ordering information see my shop at here.

Local TV Matters

2009-11-02T14:54:00.000-08:00

Anyone who watches TV in Ontario will have doubtless seen the ads being run on Canadian channels. One being produced by the local TV channels (Achannel, CTV, Global etc) and the other being run by the cable networks, predominately Shaw. Local stations claim they are losing money and the money being paid for local TV by cable subscribers is not being given to the, cable is keeping it all. Cable claims that local TV has run itself into the ground and if they can't run a profitable business, they should go under. Cable also claims that that the local stations are just begging for a government bail out.

Like most viewers, I don't doubt, I initally ignored the ads. Until one day I was bored and I looked up the website for Local TV Matters. This site is run by Canadian broadcasters who are petioning the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commission) to force cable companies to hand over the money being paid to them by subscribers for local TV. The cable companies claim that if they are forced to do so, they will pass the buck onto subscribers in the form of a monthly $10 "tv tax". This irritates me. I am a cable customer but I like my local tv too. I am already paying for local tv and the cable company is keeping that money and threatening me that they may make me pay more for services that I'm already paying for!! Since the inception of satellite and cable service, local broadcast signals have been accessible to the cable companies. The cable companies demand payment for passing these signals on to customers, but don't remit any of that payment to local stations. The local stations are simply asking to be paid for their services, which makes perfect sense. The CRTC will be making a decision this fall about what to do about this situation . I am writing this blog post to show my support for local tv and I will forward this post to the CRTC via the Local TV Matters website. I urge all of my Canadian readers to write to the CRTC to offer their support as well.

New listing for Heirloom Hooded Baby Blanket

2009-10-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

I just finished this blanket for a friend and it is available to custom order through my shop on Etsy. This blanket is lovingly crafted from 100% cotton and can also be used as a hooded towel. Cotton becomes softer with use and this blanket is sure to be loved for many years by that special baby. I can't wait to see my friend's newborn son swaddled in this cozy blanket. For ordering information, contact me through my shop at http://stichesintime.etsy.com/

Wild Food

2009-10-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

I live close to the area settled by my ancestors nearly 200 years ago. They were granted land by the Crown for services performed in the War of 1812. In that amount of time, my family lore has become replete with the ways to identify, harvest and prepare food found in the wild. Much of Southern Ontario is contained within the Carolinian Forest zone where one can find numerous types of plants that do not grow anywhere else in Canada. Many of these plants can provide sumptous foods if one knows where and when to look. The following paragraphs will outline some of the wild plants that can be found and harvested for food in Southern Ontario.

One of the first green sprouts in spring is the ostrich fern. The tightly curled fronds that emerge from the soil in early spring are called "fiddleheads" and are a highly sought delicacy. Fiddleheads can be found in much of the temperate areas of Canada. They are harvested when they are still tightly curled and have a papery sheath covering them. They are very nutritious, just the tonic the settlers would have needed after a long winter of salted and preserved food. Fiddleheads can be prepared by removing the papery covering and boiling, and changing the water twice or steaming.

Watercress is another green that appears in the spring and can be easily harvested along the shores of lakes and streams. It is a member of the cabbage family and can be used as any other salad greens. It can be found worldwide and is one of the oldest plants known to be consumed by humans.

Morels are a delicacy my mother and aunt will fight over!! The light brown, cone shaped mushroom has a cap that appears honeycombed. It typically grows in cool damp soils that are slightly acidic. One of the favourite hiding places of the morel is in or near rotting logs, especially cedar. They appear after the first warm spell of the spring, usually mid-MayUnfortunately, the morel is becoming harder and harder to find as the years pass. My great grandfather could pick them by the bushel full and now it is more likely that only a couple will be found in any given year. Fried in butter they are meaty and smell a bit like steak.

As the season progresses, more and more wild food appears in the fields and hedgerows. The Ojibwa people called June the "Strawberry Moon" as this is when the first wild strawberries ripen. The wild strawberry is tiny, much smaller than its domesticated counterpart. It is usually the size of a large rasin. Don't let its small size deceive you, for the wild strawberry packs a flavour filled punch. Sweeter and much more strawberry tasting than commercial berries, the wild strawberry is abundant and easily spotted with its three sided leaves on roadsides and sometimes even in urban backyards. Eat wild strawberries as you pick them at the peak of ripness and you'll never again be satisfied with the watery blandness of imported domestic strawberries.

Blackberry and raspberry thickets abound wherever land is left fallow. The wild blackberry is something entirely different than the blackberry found in grocery stores. Often berries sold commercially as blackberries are actually mulberries or thimbleberries, which have nothing in common with genuine blackberries (also called "black raspberries"). The berries grow on thorn covered canes, not unlike the canes of its cousin the wild rose. The canes are sometimes green or sometimes have a dusty purple colour. The leaf looks very similar to a rose leaf. Blackberries and raspberries ripen in mid July, and the wetter the weather the bigger the berry. But in my opinion, the best berries are the smaller ones that grow in drier, hotter years. The sweetness is more concentrated that way. To gather wild berries you simply must wear long sleeves and long pants to protect your skin not only from the razor sharp thorns but the insects as well. July is also peak mosquito season! Once gathered the berries can be (and usally are) eaten with cream and sugar or are baked into pies, muffins and other goods. They also make excellent jam and they freeze well too. Other berries that can be gathered in the summer are mulberries, gooseberries, thimble berries and elderberries. All of which played an integral part of the settler diet, and can still be enjoyed today.

In the fall, Ontario provides a large selection of nuts to be foraged for. Walnuts, butternuts, chestnuts and hickory nuts are some of the most common. Just last week I took my children with me as we picked basket after basket of hickory nuts. The hickory is a relative of the pecan, found in the American south. It looks quite a bit like a pecan but has a distinct maple taste. The hickory is a tough nut to crack, literally, and usually only a hammer or a vise will do the trick. Once the nut is cracked, use a pick to pry the nut meat out. The meats can be used anywhere pecans are called for and make excellent cookies and tarts.

I will strive to pass down my knowledge of local wild food to my children, as it was passed down to me. Too many people today have no idea of the existance of God's bounty that is literally in their own backyards. I hope you too will be inspired to hunt out the local delicacies of your region!

Breastfed Baby Cot Card

2009-10-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

I created this to address the concerns that some new and or soon to be mums have in regards to their newborns being given bottles or pacifiers whilst in the hospital nursery. Many people believe that introduction of formula or pacifiers in the hospital can lead to breastfeeding difficulties later on. In some cases, well meaning nurses have given babies bottles of formula or sugar water, or pacifiers without parental consent or knowledge. Hanging a sign like this from your newborn's cot can help prevent any confusion about what your wishes are. Customizable and ships internationally. Makes a great shower gift!

Kiva: Loans That Change Lives

2009-10-21T06:09:00.000-07:00

Having experienced some small success with my Etsy business, I found I had a bit of money in my PayPal account. I thought I should buy a pretty little something for myself, or invest in some advertising for my shop. But then I thought that since this was the first amount of money I had earned for myself in many a year, I wanted to do something special with it. I remembered that a few years ago I read a magazine article about a new area of finance called "microloans". The article detailed how people with small amounts of money can help fund entrepreneurs in third world countries by making loansof money to be repaid in a specified amount of time. These loans frequently go towards helping women start businesses and by doing so, improve their living conditions and their status in their families and communities. The effect a successful business in an impoverished community has is rippling. A businesswoman can afford clean water and food, she can send her children to school and she can build a safe home for her family. She can afford medical care. She has power and respect, and has the ability to leave situations of domestic violence. At the time I read this I thought it was a wonderful idea and it was something that I would do if I ever had a bit of spare money of my own.

Yesterday I went online to search for a means to do this. I couldn't remember the name of the company that the magazine article was about, but I found Kiva instead. Kiva is a person to person lending website that allows people to lend money to people who need small amounts to start or expand their businesses. You can make loans of as little as $25. When that money has been repaid, you can reinvest it in another business or you can put it back in your PayPal account.

I decided to loan money to a woman living in Nigeria. She sells "fufu", a food made from fermented cassava. She needed a loan to buy more cassava so she could sell more fufu and make more profit. By the time I got up this morning, she had the full amount of her requested loan. Lenders from all over the world have given small amounts of money to equal the amount she needed and now she has enough to buy her cassava. In three months time, she will begin her repayments. Kiva has an excellent repayment record, so lenders money is safe.

I am so happy that Kiva supplies a way for people to help one another in this way. It warms me to think that the money I earned through my small business is now helping another woman on the other side of the world with her business.

How To Bake Your Own Bread Part 2

2009-10-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I introduced you to the ingredients used to make bread at home. You now know what each ingredient does to produce lofty, fragrant, scrumptious loaves of bread in your own kitchen. Now I will discuss the technical aspects of bread baking, from mixing ingredients to baking the loaves.

Once you have assembled your ingredients, remembering to bring everything to at least room temperature, you will begin your bread baking by proofing your yeast in your liquid in a large bowl. Once the yeast bubbles, you know it is active. Add the sugar, fat and start adding the flour one cup at a time. Mix thoroughly between each addition. When your dough becomes less sticky and more elastic, roll it out onto a floured surface. Keep mixing in the flour until you have all the flour the recipe called for mixed in.

Now comes the fun part, kneading. Kneading dough is the process by which the gluten strands are stretched and air is worked into the dough. Starting with your dough in a ball, place the heels of both hands in the center of the the ball of dough. Push away from you as far as the dough will easily stretch. move your hands to the near edge of the dough(closest to you) and fold it over the stretched part. Keep stretching and folding, turning your dough a quarter turn between each fold. This will become rhythmic and is quite a nice workout for your arms. It is also and awesome stress reliever! Keep this up for about 8 minutes. When your dough is finished being kneaded, it will have a smooth slightly shiny appearance, looking a bit like a woman's breast to be totally honest.

When you are finished kneading you will need to place your dough in a warm, moist place to rise. There are many different ways to rise bread and I will outline some of the more common ones. The purpose of rising is to allow the yeast to grow and feed on the sugar in the dough. Doing so will cause the yeast to produce carbon dioxide, which is the gas that makes the bread rise. Dough can become sticky when it rises in a moist place so it is helpful to use some cooking spray to coat the bowl you use to rise your dough. Place the dough in the coated bowl and turn it a few times to coat the dough. Drape a clean tea towel over the bowl to prevent the dough from drying out. I find the easiest way to rise dough is to turn your oven on to the lowest setting for about 10 minutes(before putting your dough in!!) and then turn it off. Place your oven rack in the middle of the oven and a bowl of steaming hot water on the bottom of your oven. Put your bowl of dough on the oven rack and close the oven door. You can also rig up a setting to rise dough in your sink. Fill the sink about a quarter full of steaming hot water and place a shallow bowl upside down in the water forming a platform for your bowl of dough to sit on. Place several tea towels over the bowl and sink, forming a tent for your dough. Alternately, you can leave your dough in the fridge overnight. The yeast will rise, but much much slower than in the presence of warmth. I've never tried this method, so I can not attest to its efficacy.

You will be advised in your recipe to allow the dough to rise for about 60 minutes. One way to test if the dough is fully risen is to insert your finger in the dough leaving an indent. Leave the dough for 5 minutes or so and check back to see if your indent is still there. If its not, your dough is still rising. Leave it a bit longer. When your dough is risen, you will need to "punch it down". It is what it sounds like: punch the dough in the bowl until it deflates. Roll it out on to a lightly floured surface and knead it lightly until it doesn't shrink anymore. This is how to remove all of the carbon dioxide that has built up in the dough. If you pull a piece of dough off the ball, you will see that it now has a pattern of tiny holes formed by the bubbles of carbon dioxide. This is the texture your baked bread will have.

Next you will shape your dough. Depending on what recipe you are using you will need to either form the dough into a given shape, like a round loaf or braid or you will place the dough into lightly greased loaf pans. You will then need to cover them and return them to the place you use to rise for another 40 minutes. This is the final rise, where the dough takes on the proportions of the final result.

Now we come to the end of your labours. Once your dough has finished it's final rise you can brush the surface with either milk or egg white and apply seasame seeds or poppy seeds if you desire. The milk or egg white coating creates a beautiful brown finish on the loaf. Place your loaves in the oven and then heat it to the required temperature, usually 425 degrees. By placing your loaves in a cool oven, you allow just a few extra minutes for the bread to rise a little bit more before the heat kills off the yeast. Bake your bread for about 30 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when sharply tapped. Be sure to take a moment to savour the fragrance wafting from your kitchen!! When your bread is finished baking remove it from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. After it cools for about 10 minutes, turn out your loaves from the pans. You may need to run the edge of a butter knife around the rim of the pan to loosen it and it should slide right out.

There, that's it!! You have successfully made your own bread. Now sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labours, preferably with some fresh butter or homemade jam!! Never again will squishy store bought bread satisfy you!

How To Make Your Own Bread Part 1

2009-10-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time you would be hard pressed to find an average woman who couldn't make bread for her family. It was a required skill for women and it was taught to girls at a young age. I learned to make bread as a young girl also and while I don't do it on a regular basis anymore, it is something that I enjoy and I honestly feel that there is no better fragrance in the world than that of a loaf of bread baking in your own oven. Crack open a window and let the scent waft out, your home will be the envy of the neighbourhood!

Making bread can seem daunting and there are few things that you really need to know about the nature of yeast breads. Once you have this knowledge, bread baking becomes a simple and enjoyable task. All risen breads require a leavening agent. In the case of white bread, yeast is used. Yeast is a single cell fungus that is present in the environment. One method of bread baking requires harnessing wild yeast from the air and growing it. This produces a tangy bread called sourdough. For now we will focus on the use of commercially grown and packaged yeast. Understanding that yeast is a living organism that requires certain conditions to grow dispels some of the mystery of bread baking. Yeast can be a bit temperamental. It likes to be warm and moist and dislikes cold. It won't grow in the cold, which is why all of your ingredients need to be at least room temperature or warmer. As much as yeast dislikes cold, it also dislikes too much heat. When using liquids in a bread recipe it is best to have them heated to a temperature in which you can insert your baby finger and hold it comfortably for ten seconds. This is the ideal temperature in which to grow yeast, not too hot and not too cold. Yeast should be dissolved in the warm liquid that your recipe calls for. This is called "proofing". If the yeast starts to produce bubbles, it is working. Some of the newer brands of yeast say that you don't need to proof, but I feel that it is best to do it anyway to avoid potential disappointment later. Yeast is called "leavening" because it is the agent that causes bread to rise. Yeast activates in a warm moist environment and it feeds on sugars. As the yeast feeds, it produces carbon dioxide (the bubbles you see when proofing) which will cause the dough to rise. This is what gives bread its lift and texture. Yeast can be purchased in individual packets or in bulk. I prefer the packets myself, as it is premeasured and easy to use and store. I also prefer storing yeast in the refrigerator, as this keeps it in a dormant state.

The second most important part of your bread recipe is the flour. Wheat flour makes the best bread because it contains the most gluten. Gluten is the protein found in most grains. It forms stretchy strands that give bread dough its elastic texture and allows it to rise. Bread flour contains more gluten than regular all purpose flour, but all purpose flour works just fine for making bread. Atmospheric conditions can alter exactly how much flour your dough will need. A typical two loaf recipe will call for about 6-61/2 cups of flour but humidity in the air can cause the dough to soak up more flour so don't be afraid to add a bit more if you find your dough too sticky. Baking is a very inexact craft, you needn't be concerned about tweaking recipes to suit your situation.

The next ingredient you need to know about it sugar. As I pointed out before, yeast is a living organism that feeds on sugars. A bread recipe will call for sugar in any of the following forms: white table sugar, honey, molasses or milk. Milk contains lactose, which is also a sugar. I prefer to use honey as a sugar because it seems to help preserve the bread. In my experience, bread made with white sugar will go stale and grow mold much faster than bread made with honey. Molasses is used to turn white bread into brown bread. It is called for in Boston Brown Bread and some unscrupulous bakeries will use it to make pumpernickel or rye breads darker than they should be(making them appear more wholesome) or they will market molasses bread as "brown bread" intending to fool consumers into believing the loaf is made from whole wheat flour. Always check the ingredients list on commercial brown breads to be sure that the loaf is made of whole wheat and isn't just white bread in disguise.

Your bread recipe will also call for fat in some form. Butter,margarine, lard or oil may be called for. Each type of fat will produce different results. Oil, for instance, produces a denser, chewier texture than butter. French and Italian breads are made with oil, where your typical everyday white bread uses butter or lard.

Those are the basic ingredients required for every loaf of risen bread. Once you know what they are and what they do, bread baking starts to seem very simple. And it is! My next post will deal with the technical aspects of baking bread.

The mittens his mother made him

2009-10-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my husband took my oldest son, who is 4, to the county fair. It was quite chilly out and in the process of bundling my son up I noticed that I couldn't find his mittens from last year. I searched everywhere but there were none to be found. I improvised with a pair of those "magic" one-size-fits-all gloves that I had lying around. He wore those....barely. His hands were so tiny and the glove fingers were sticking out every which way. I told him that while he was at the fair I would knit him some mittens. I found some navy blue acrylic and started stitching. By the time he came home I had one mitten nearly finished and by bed time my son had brand new mittens!

There was something so satisfying about being able to create an item that was needed from scratch. My son needed mittens and I was able to fill that need with my skill. I don't doubt that that kind of satisfaction was easy to come by in years past when women possessed the skill and materials to fill their families needs with their handiwork. Women clothed and fed their families with their skills. Gardening, dairying, weaving, knitting, sewing, canning, preserving...these were all crucial yet common skills that women handed down to one another for countless generations. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution these skills were increasingly seen as outdated and unneeded and were gradually lost to the masses. Only a very few people kept many of the old skills from being entirely lost. How many people today know how to make their own soap? How to grow and preserve their own food? Make and mend their own clothes? Precious few. Not only have the skills been lost to many people but the entire process of making one's one things has become economically unfeasible in many cases. One can easily buy mass produced items for less than it would cost to make a similar one. Unfortunately, mass produced items often don't have the quality or appreciation that a handmade item would have. If the sweater you bought at Wal Mart wears out or tears you don't have any incentive to repair it. You throw it away and buy a new one. If the sweater you spent weeks knitting starts to show wear or you snag it, you are more inclined to want to fix it than to throw it away because it has more meaning to you than a mass produced sweater knit on a machine in China does. In making a pair of mittens for my son I felt linked to a vast sisterhood of women who throughout the ages have supplied handmade items for every need their families had. I hope my son gets much warmth and enjoyment from the mittens his mother made him.

Concerned with PayPal

2009-10-09T08:01:00.000-07:00

It has come to my attention lately in the Etsy forums that some less-than-scrupulous buyers have found a loophole in the PayPal system and are utilising it to rip off Etsy sellers. The scam is basically the following: A seller completes an order and ships it out after recieving payment through PayPal. A day or so later they are contacted by PayPal and told that the funds are being frozen because the buyer has filed a non-delivery complaint. PayPal will automatically take the side of the buyer and freeze the funds in the sellers account until the matter can be resolved. Unfortunately the only way to resolve the matter in the sellers favour is for the seller to provide online evidence of shipping. That is tracking information or delivery confirmation provided to the seller at the time of shipping. In order to have tracking information in Canada, the seller must purchase a more expensive form of shipping. It goes without saying that higher shipping costs are not appealing to honest customers!!

It seems to me that PayPal has an easy way to resolve some of these disputes.Non-delivery complaints filed by buyers less than 2 weeks after the sale is completed should be automatically red flagged. It is utterly unreasonable for PayPal to take these complaints seriously as it is totally impossible to ship an item internationally or even domestically in less than a day!!

Other than using the higher priced shipping options that can offer sellers some protection from these scammers, online sellers using PayPal are taking a gamble with their money. There really isn't much one can do to protect oneself from thieves being aided and abetted by PayPal. One suggestion I have made in the forums is for sellers to mark items as shipped a day or so before actually sending them out. Then if this scam is perpetrated the seller at least maintains the item and can cancel and flag the sale through Etsy. It is shameful that sellers would have to go to these lengths to protect themselves not only from thieves but from PayPal as well!

You can follow me on Twitter

2009-10-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

I have fallen prey to the Twitter madness and signed up for an account. I don't fully understand how it works, but I got 10 followers in about an hour so I guess I am doing something right!!! If you like you can follow me at http://twitter.com/stitchesntime.

My Letter to Ebay

2009-10-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Ebay

I liked your site. You had a great idea and you capitalized on it and created a great product. You took the world by storm and you were king of online shopping. I have bought many things from you and have sung your praises to all my friends. You were my fallback site that I went to every time I needed to order something that I couldn't find locally. I was so happy with our relationship.

Yes you read that right. I am speaking in the past tense of how much I loved you. Because you see, in the last year or so something changed. You became mercenary. You stopped caring about offering a unique product to the public and you only care about making more money. The funny thing is, you are being cheated and we both know it. You have been allowing sellers to charge exorbiant amounts for shipping while charging minimal amounts for the product. This is called fee avoidance and it is rampant on your site. I refuse to believe that it costs anyone $18 to ship a DVD to Canada from the U.S. Unless the seller is wrapping it in gold leaf and having it hand delivered by courier, there is no way that it costs more than$8-$10 to send light packets to Canada. It's very likely that it only costs $4 and I am being extremely generous about packing and handling charges in my estimate. And it's not just DVD sellers. Vendors of pet medicine, small car parts, clothing, shoes and many other catagories are also doing this. It has been going on for a long time now and you must be well aware of it. You are losing money and customers by allowing this to continue and I don't understand why you allow it. Do you not want to expend time and energy policing these sellers? Do you only care about collecting listing fees from these sellers and forgoing your percentage fees in favour of allowing these sellers to list more and more items? I just don't understand your reasoning. Because of this ongoing issue, I have stopped buying from Ebay. That's right dear Ebay, it is time we parted company. It is very difficult for me, as I loved you dearly. But I just cannot support you or your sellers by participating in this scam.

For what it is worth, I really thought you had it in you to take care of this problem. But it seems that I misread you and you really don't care about your customers. Good bye Ebay, it was great while it lasted and I will miss you greatly.

Yours,
Stitches

Entrelac

2009-10-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting for nearly as long as I can remember, at least 20 years if not slightly more. I have been tried several different methods and techniques, but I've never tried Entrelac. In fact I hadn't even heard of it till recently. It is a technique that creates what looks to be basketwoven squares, yet it is all done in one piece. From what I've read, it is considered an easy technique to learn and I am interested in adding this kind of knitting to my repertoire. Some examples of entrelac can be found here: http://knittyotter.typepad.com/otterknits/2007/03/entrelac_scarf_.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrelac
http://www.digitalthreads.com/knitting/entech/index.html

No one I know of knits entrelac so I will have to depend on the internet to learn it. I think it produces a very unique fabric, one that could be commercially viable due to it's rarity. Now I just need to find the time to sit down and study it further!! In between filling my shop, filling orders and taking care of my home and family it seems as though I will have to stay up late at night just to have time to learn it!

My blog looks different!

2009-10-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

I have been playing around with different templates since I started this blog. There are soooo many to choose from and I just can't settle on any one. I like the one I had previously, called "Kalidescope" but it developed a bug and all my posts were duplicating and no one in Internet Land knew how to fix it. Alas, I had to pick a new one, no easy chore when there are so many that I like. So welcome to my blog makeover! This template is called "Craftwork" and it really suits the theme of my blog, I think. I will be back to posting as usual on Monday. Thanks for you patience :)

How To Get Noticed By Google

2009-09-29T09:48:00.000-07:00

There are several threads a week on the Etsy forums started by sellers wanting to know how to get Google to crawl their shops. When I started my shop on Etsy 2 months ago, I was on of those sellers. I had no clue about anything search engine related and was flying by the seat of my pants. Then I attended a Virtual Lab hosted by Etsy about Search Engine Optimization featuring Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEO.moz a consultancy firm used by Etsy. The whole conference was a series of "Ah-ha!" moments for me. I had never put much thought into how search engines work. They just did. Type in a search term and get a result, right? I really had no idea what happened behind the scenes or how to go about harnessing the power of Google to benefit my site.

I have learned that in a way Google is a popularity contest. The more people you have searching for you, the more "rank" you have with Google. Better still if you have popular, creditable sites hosting links to your site. This again increases your ranking with Google. Google also like sites that are easy to find and contain numerous keywords. A key word is a word that people will likely use to search for your site. So since I feature hand knits and crochet in my shop, it behooves me to use the words "hand knit" and "crochet" as much as possible. There is a fine line though, between keyword optimization and the point of sounding incoherent and spammy. You must be judicious in your use of keywords. It takes some experimenting to find the sweet spot, the amount of keywords needed to draw in customers without losing the cohesive feel of your text. This is why it is important to use your Shop Title and Shop Announcement, along with your Section titles. These are prime real estate for keywords, the first 160 characters are what Google is interested in. I have seen many struggling sellers that have low views are also the sellers that neglect to post meaningful content in their shop announcement.

Etsy recently unveiled a new tool for sellers. When listing or editing your items, you can now preview what the listing will look like on a Google search. This helps you to place your keywords and in exactly the right spot and you can know what customers see when you come up in a search. Again, it is the first 160 characters (letters) that Google is most interested in, so use them wisely!

You can also point Google in the right direction by manually uploading your URL to Google's data base. Go to www.Google.com/addurl and type in your site address. This is like adding your name to a phone book, Google won't guarantee that it will call on you, but at least it knows where you are.

Google Analytics is a free program that measures traffic on your site and gives you daily reports. Using this tool you can learn where your visitors are coming from, how many come from searches and what keywords are used to find you. There is also a map overlay that shows you how many hits come from different countries. Google Analytics will show you what your bounce rate is,that is how many people enter your site and "bounce" out in less than 30 seconds. A good bounce rate is anything below 60%. Your bounce rate is likely to improve if you frequently update your site with new content, causing visitors to stay longer to admire your work.

Frequent updates are vital for SEO. Google likes to offer fresh content to searchers so keep your site current. My site gets crawled roughly twice a week, and knowing when to expect a Google spider to crawl your site helps you know when to update your content for maximum exposure.

The above paragraphs outline what I have learned to be true about Google. I hope by reading this you are able to maximize your site's efficiency and get the exposure you want!

Trio of hand knit stash bowls for sale on Etsy

2009-09-28T14:26:00.000-07:00

The newest listing in my Etsy shop is a set of hand knit stash bowls. These are so cute and you can use them to store any odds or ends and they will suit almost any decor. Made with 100% American grown cotton, they have a nubby, tweedy texture that gives them a woven look. Available in custom colours upon request. 5inches across and 3 inches deep.
Please visit my Etsy shop at http://stichesintime.etsy.com/ to order.

Nine Sites I Like And Why

2009-09-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

As a car free stay at home mum in a small town the Internet has increasingly become my portal to the world. When I need information, recreation, inspiration or conversation I turn to the Internet to fill my needs. My Internet routine often includes the following sites because they are current, helpful and user friendly.

Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.org/) Containing user submitted content about everything from A to Z and then some, Wikipedia is my first stop for information. If I have a question about a country, religion, culture, person or object, Wikipedia invariably has an answer for me. I am the type of person who would read a hard copy encyclopedia just for fun, so Wikipedia is a frequent stop on my Internet journeys.

WebMD (http://www.webmd.com/) As any parent knows, kids can come up with a lot of different symptoms: rashes, sore throats, funny looking bruises, bumps, lumps and fevers. WebMD is a great place to find general medical information to educate yourself about the possible causes. It has a handy symptom checker and can make educated suggestion about what the problem might be and has a checklist of topics to ask your doctor about.

iVillage (http://www.ivillage.com/) My favourite online hangout, iVillage offers message boards for any topic from parenting to love and relationships to TV and books. It also hosts blogs from female writers on Blogher and offers articles on style and fashion, decorating, health and wellness and child raising.

Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/) Who doesn't love Facebook? It is such an easy way to keep in touch with family and friends and it allows you to upload and share photos in a quick and easy manner. I also have a Facebook Fan Page for my business(http://www.facebook.com/inbox/readmessage.php?t=1241726846480#/pages/Stitches-In-Time/286863745144?ref=ts) so I can contact and inform potential customers. Facebook also has a lot of fun applications that are great for killing time. Want to be a Mafia Boss, own a farm or make the top score in Bejewelled? They are all available for free on Facebook!

Etsy (http://www.Etsy.com) A marketplace featuring handmade and vintage items from independent vendors. Sometime compared to Ebay, but not an auction site, Etsy allows people to run home based businesses and buy and sell unique handmade items from around the world. Free to sign up and it only costs $0.20 to list an item, Etsy is very reasonable and extremely user friendly. No computer genius required!

The Weather Network (http://www.theweathernetwork.com) Up to the minute weather forecasts and weather news, this site allows you to place a cookie on your home town's weather page so you can always access the latest weather data at the click of your mouse.

Surf The Channel (http://www.surfthechannel.com) This site is a cache of links to online videos. Catch all your favourite TV shows and movies and upload your own videos. I like to use this site to watch TV shows from Britain that are hard to find here.

Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com) Detailed movie reviews from published critics, I always check this site before choosing a movie to go see. It features a "Tomatometer" that indicates the "freshness" of a movie based on reviews. I've never been disappointed with a review from Rotten Tomatoes, they are always spot on!

Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com) This site is a free online photo editor. Upload your photos and get links to share them with your friends or turn them into signatures for your email or your favourite message boards. Free photo editing is included.

New SEO information for Etsy sellers from SEOmoz.org

2009-09-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Etsy has implemented several changes in the last few weeks for the benefit of its sellers. The new Search Engine Optimization(SEO) changes are going to be particularly helpful, especially with new sellers like myself struggling to get noticed. In the time it took me to read the PDF document I downloaded this morning I realized that there were several crucial changes I needed to make in my shop.

The article highlighted a technique I was previously unaware of called Keyword Researching. There are several applications online, such as Google's Adwords Keywords Estimator Tool, to help you find out which search terms, or keywords, are most likely to be searched on Google by using data from the last 12 months. This tool will be of inestimable value to newbie Etsians, I can't wait to try it out!

Another piece of information that I was unaware of was how exactly search engines find and rank a page. They search for the pages that have the most relevant keywords and rank them by how many keywords are on the page. Shop titles and shop announcements are prime targets for the search engines, so we need to try to squeeze in as many relevant words as possible, while maintaining the sense of the title and text and without sounding spammy. There are only so many times you can use the words "hand knit" for example, without losing the sense of what you are trying to convey. Wise use and placement of key search terms will make all the difference in how your customers find you.

I also didn't know that linking to your site via other sites increases your page's ranking in the search engine. The amount of influence your link gets depends on the source of the link. A link on a popular, well known site will carry more weight with the engines than a link from your best friends blog. You Etsy Mini is an excellent way to link traffic to your site from other sites, while also giving customers a foretaste of what you have to offer.

I offer my heartfelt thanks to SEOmoz and Etsy for giving us this information in such a user friendly manner. Way to go Etsy!

Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

2009-09-24T14:00:00.000-07:00

I couldn't think of anything more interesting to blog about today so I will write the recipe I am using for tonight's dinner. I created this one myself!

Easy Slow Cooker/Crock Pot Chicken Stew

4 medium potatoes

2 stalks celery (include leaves if desired)

1 carrot

1 small can corn niblets

1 small onion

1 packet Knorr's Cream of Leek soup mix

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into cubes (or use leftover roast chicken, shredded)

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

3-4 cups of hot water*

Chop potatoes into bite size cubes, slice celery and carrot, mince onion and drain corn. Place in crockery. Add soup mix and 3 cups of water(use 4 cups if you are going to leave the soup to cook all day on low). Add chicken and mix well. Add seasonings and cover. Cook on High for 4+ hours or on low for 6+hours.

*Hot water allows the soup mix to dissolve easier and starts warming the pot.

Makes about 6 servings.

Goes well with homemade biscuits or corn bread.

Etsy "D Listers" have united!

2009-09-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

HippyChicBoutique and Soulstone321 (http://hippychicboutique.etsy.com and http://soulstone321.etsy.com ) put out the call on the Etsy forums for all sellers struggling with little or no sales to form a team to support and encourage one another. Within a few hours they had over one hundred responders! The team list has been submitted to Etsy for approval and a blog and message board have been started at, respectively, http://etsydlist.blogspot.com and http://etsydlist.boardhost.com. The more people we get interested in this, the better it is for everyone!

Lots of new Etsians find the Etsy universe difficult to understand and navigate. There is A LOT of info out there and it can be really daunting for beginners. The D list team and the D list blog and messageboard will be a repository of knowledge catering especially to Etsy newcomers. That first sale can be the hardest, and most awaited sale to get. Etsy has a feature that helps bring new and not so new sellers with no sales to the attention of shoppers, but once you have that first sale Pounce is no longer useful and getting a subsequent sales can be challenging. The D List team leaders propose to start Treasuries to feature fellow team mates to boost their views and sales.

I am looking forward with optimism to being a member of this new team and I hope success finds all of my new team mates!!

Good to know!!

2009-09-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

You know when you hear a word and recognize it but have no idea what it means? Or think you do, but really you don't? I am going to compile a list of commonly misunderstood, misused and just weird words. Bear with me, it's probably going to be a work in progress :0)

1. Pied a terre: This one is so cool, I had to look it up myself because I've heard it over and over and had no clue what it was. A pied-a-terre is a french term that means, literally, "foot on the ground". In English it refers to a small living space that is not your primary residence, like an apartment a commuter keeps in the city.

2. Facetious: Pronounced "FAH-see-SHUS". It means trying to be funny or jocular at an inappropriate time.

3. Hyperbole: Pronounced "High-per-bow-LEE", its a figure of speech that intentionally uses exaggeration for effect, like "I could eat a horse" or "You owe me a million bucks"

4. Segue: Pronounced "SEG-way" it means to deliberately transition from one thing to another, "the conversation segued to politics" "dusk segued to night"

5. Euphemism: Pronounced "YOU-fem-is-UM" it is when you substitute a mild term for a vulgar or offensive one. Sometimes called "doublespeak" one speaks around a term or word, implying it without actually saying it.

6. Exacerbate : I am guilty of mispronouncing this one about 99.9% of the time. I just can't get my tongue around it. It means to aggravate or increase in bitterness or violence.

7. Et cetera : This, I think, must be one of the most frequently mispronounced words I come across. It is two Latin words meaning "and other things" or "so on". It is not pronounced "Exe-cetera!!!!! It's "Et"!! Thank you.

8. Raspberry: Yes, raspberry. Everyone says "razz-berry" and looks at me funnily when I say it properly. It's RASP-berry. K?

9. Et al: Pronounced the way it looks, it means "and everything else" like “She was accompanied by the vice president, the secretary of state, et al.”

10. Hors D'Oeuvres: Pronounced "OR-duh-ERV-s, this is a French term meaning "outside the main course". As in all French words, the "H" is silent and it confuses many people, along with the onslaught of vowels that are difficult to string together. Basically, hors d'oeuvres are appetizers.

11. Ambiguous: Pronounced "AM-big-you-US it refers to being capable of being understood in more than one way, or currently, being unable to discern male from female "the person was dressed in an ambiguous manner, we couldn't tell if it was a he or a she"

This was fun, I'll likely add more as I think of them. Feel free to submit some in the comments!!

Suo Gan

2009-09-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

I watched "Empire Of The Sun" yesterday afternoon and have had "Suo Gan" playing in my head ever since. I don't speak Welsh so I had no idea what the words were so I looked it up on Wikipedia. The haunting melody is perfectly suited for a song about a mother's love, a child's mother watching her baby sleep in her arms.

The English Translation:

Sleep my baby, at my breast,
’Tis a mother’s arms round you.
Make yourself a snug, warm nest.
Feel my love forever new.
Harm will not meet you in sleep,
Hurt will always pass you by.
Child beloved, always you’ll keep,
In sleep gentle, mother’s breast nigh.
Sleep in peace tonight, sleep,
O sleep gently, what a sight.
A smile I see in slumber deep,
What visions make your face bright?
Are the angels above smiling,
At you in your peaceful rest?
Are you beaming back while in
Peaceful slumber on mother’s breast?
Do not fear the sound, it’s a breeze
Brushing leaves against the door.
Do not dread the murmuring seas,
Lonely waves washing the shore.
Sleep child mine, there’s nothing here,
While in slumber at my breast,
Angels smiling, have no fear,
Holy angels guard your rest

This song is particularly poignant when sung by a boys choir as it was in the movie.

All About Me

2009-09-18T12:58:00.000-07:00

I was brainstorming for blog topics and couldn't think of anything I felt like writing about this afternoon. It occurred to me that everyone likes to talk about themselves so I figured I may as well flesh out my profile a bit.

My name is Rachel and I was born in a small city in Ontario in 1981. I had a fairly typical childhood up to the point where my parents divorced and my dad took off for a couple of years. My mum took custody of my brother and I and we lived in various small apartments while my mum made a living working retail and cleaning homes. My dad came back on the scene, but was never good for much. My mum remarried in 1991 and moved us to a dairy farm out in the country. Our little step family was less than harmonious and in the years to follow it became clear that my mum was suffering from mental illness and alcoholism. At one point she was diagnosed as a major depressive,but that eventually segued into full blown bipolar disorder. In my early teens I myself was diagnosed with clinical depression. At the age of 16 I was diagnosed with Complete Partial Epilepsy. This diagnosis finally answered questions that had been plaguing my family and I for many years as to the odd symptoms I had as a child and the delay the the development of my fine motor skills. No one can ever be 100% certain as to why a person develops epilepsy but the theory for me is three fold. Number 1 is that my great grandmother suffered from Grand Mal epilepsy and there may be a genetic link. Number two was the way I was born, my mother needed an emergency C-section to deliver me as I was stuck with the cord wrapped around my neck and my oxygen levels dropped very low, possibly causing brain damage that manifests as epilepsy. Number 3 is that I have a condition where my red blood cells are covered in a spiky membrane instead of a smooth one. The condition has a long name that I just can't remember. All three issues combine to form a perfect storm, really.
My teenage years were typically rebellious and angst filled. I fancied myself a poet and dressed in black and smoked pot and listened to grunge and punk music. Looking back now, I see that I was fighting tooth and nail to get away from my mothers influence, I wanted to be nothing like her. I despised her for allowing herself to be trapped in two different unhappy marriages and for allowing us to live in conditions I felt at the time to be primitive and embarrassing. I hated men and hated my mother and hated myself. I experimented with drugs and various forms of self mutilation. The years passed in a blur, and I don't have too many clear memories of those times. When I turned 18 I met my future husband and we began to date. My mum disapproved of this and she kicked me out. I moved in with a cousin and continued to see my boyfriend. After a few months of that, I became very ill with a chest infection and my mum relented and let me come home.
Around this time I developed a keen interest in midwifery and made plans to pursue schooling in that field. I was accepted to college to begin my training. Then, my epilepsy became very severe and I was having several seizures a day. I ended up being hospitalized due to the form they were taking. Not all seizures leave you twitching on the ground. Mine took a psychological form, and I would hallucinate and see and hear things that weren't there. My mum threw herself in to finding treatment for me and I went through a long period of trial and error to find a drug that worked for me. During this time, schooling was put on the back burner while we searched for an effective treatment for my epilepsy. I was on such high doses of medication that I became immune to them and had to keep trying new ones. They all had horrific side effects and I gained a lot of weight on some of them, lost a lot of weight on another and suffered vision problems with another.
When I was 20 years old, my father made contact with me again. Unfortunately it didn't go well. Things were said and things were done that left me shattered. I spun out of control. I dumped my boyfriend, left home and took up with a much much older man. He was a bad man and I did stupid things. For a year I lived in dire poverty and in unspeakable conditions. I finally came to my senses and patched things up with my mother and my boyfriend. He and I became engaged to marry. I moved into a small apartment near my mother and stepfather and things were normal for awhile. Then my seizures started again, with another round of hospitalization. An effective drug was found and it seemed as though my life would be somewhat normal again. I accepted the fact that I would never be able to drive, even when on medications and this put my midwifery training almost out of reach, as the training required a lot of travelling to several campuses across the province. My fiance and I decided to go ahead and get married as soon as he finished his college education. We were married on October 26, 2002.
We moved to Brampton, Ontario where he worked for a security company and I worked in retail at a mall. Even with our combined incomes, life in the Greater Toronto Area was expensive and we struggled for a year before deciding to move back home. My husband began working for his father's tire recovery company and he works there now. After a year of marriage my desire to have a baby became very strong. After consulting my doctors, who said the risks of pregnancy were low, we decided to go ahead and have a baby. My eldest son was born on July 13, 2005. I stopped taking my seizure medications during my third trimester as the "low risk" they presented for my baby was something I wasn't comfortable with. Turns out, my seizures were no worse off the meds then they were on them. Nothing had ever totally controlled them and they were manageable when I was unmedicated so I decided to forgo medication and just control what factors I could. By trying to remain as stress free as possible, getting enough rest and trying to stay healthy I can avoid stresses to my body that seem to trigger seizures. For the past 4 years I have been seizure med free. I gave birth to my second son on Jan 31 2008 and life has been very good to my family. I started my business on Etsy in order to give me something non-housewife related to think about, something to use my natural talents for, and I needed a creative outlet. All of which is served by Stitches In Time.
If you made it this far, I give you my hearty congratulations. I didn't intend this to be so long...I didn't think I had that much to write about. Anyway, thanks again dear reader. It's rather cathartic to see ones life story summed up in several paragraphs. I highly recommend doing it!!

Free Worldwide Shipping!!!

2009-09-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

For the time being I am offering free worldwide shipping on selected items in my Etsy shop!! Yey!!! My overhead and material costs are very low so I can take the $6-$7 punch at the post office without too much pain. I intially raised the prices by a dollar or so to suck up some of the impact, but I rethought that as perhaps being unfair. Unfortunately I can't offer it on all items but I will for a few for as long as I can.

Items with free worldwide shipping are listed below:

Hand Knit Childrens Mittens

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30915928

Hand Knit Alpaca Blend Fingerless Mittens

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=30483401

Hand Crocheted 1912 Replica Centerpiece

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29932820

Baby Bib to Embroider

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29931869

Natural Homemade Cleaners

2009-09-16T11:14:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite topics is cleaning your home with ingredients you most likely already have in your cupboards. I dislike using industrial chemicals on a regular basis in my home. I say industrial chemicals, because all matter is chemical in nature and I prefer to use natural, safe and often edible, chemicals to tackle daily cleaning. One of the most effective and inexpensive cleaners is bicarbonate of soda, also known as baking soda. Other equally useful cleaning ingredients are lemon juice (fresh or bottled) ammonia, white vinegar and salt. Read on for my favourite natural cleaning ideas.

Shoe scuffs and marks on linoleum, wallpaper and scrubbable paint: Make a paste of baking soda and a small amount of water. Rub on mark till the mark is gone. Rinse with clear water.

Clogged drains: Pour one cup of boiling water down blocked drains. Then pour 1/2 cup of baking soda into drain and allow to sit for AT LEAST 30 minutes. Follow with 1/2 cup white vinegar and more hot water. Repeat until drain runs freely.

Smelly carpets or upholstery: Liberally sprinkle baking soda on carpets or upholstered furniture and allow to sit for 30 mins. Vacuum as normal.

Pet stains: Remove as much of the mess as possible. Mix a solution of equal parts water and white vinegar and liberally apply to soiled area. Allow to sit for a few minutes. Soak up solution, allow spot to dry. When dry, liberally apply baking soda and allow to sit for 10 to 15 mins. Vacuum. This can be especially effective for repeat offenders because baking soda and vinegar both naturally neutralize odours, so animals are less likely to re offend in the same spot.

Stains in pots and pans: Scrape off as much burned material as possible. Apply a paste of baking soda and water. Allow to sit for a few minutes and then scrub. Repeat with fresh paste until stain is gone. Alternatively, for burned on foods, apply straight ammonia to the stain and add some hot water. Let sit overnight and by morning the burn will wipe off.

Laundry booster: Add a scoop of baking soda to your wash to boost detergent and remove stains. Add vinegar to your rinse cycle to soften clothes and remove soap residue. Especially useful for washing cloth diapers and reusable menstrual pads. You can use vinegar instead of bleach to remove stains and kill bacteria and it won't leave a residue to irritate sensitive skin.

Fabric Softener substitute: If you prefer to line dry your clothes but miss using fabric softener, try using a cup of vinegar in your rinse cycle. This naturally softens clothes.

Soap scum on shower doors and tub surround: Use straight lemon juice to cut through soap scum and disinfect you shower. Will also polish chrome taps.

Stains on table linens: If you have a stubborn stain on a fabric you don't want to bleach try lemon juice. I highly recommend testing in an inconspicuous place first!!! Apply fresh lemon juice to stain and place dampened area in the direct sunlight. Repeat daily until stain fades. Using a clothesline is probably easiest.

Remove product buildup from your hair: This is my favourite remedy!!! My grandmother got this remedy from her mother. Wash hair as normal. Have ready a mixture of half water and half white vinegar. Pour over hair, being sure to saturate thoroughly. Let stand 5 minutes and then rinse with clear water. Hair will be soft and manageable.

Litter box deodourizer: Mix baking soda in with your fresh litter to neutralize odours.

Polish metals: Soak metal in white vinegar or sponge onto metal and allow to sit for a few minutes. Polish with soft cloth.

Remove limescale and hard water buildup: This remedy works best when used regularly. Apply lemon juice to soiled area. Allow to sit a few minutes and then sprinkle with table salt. Scrub scrub scrub!!! Repeat as required.

As with all cleaning remedies, it is best to test in an inconspicuous place first. The beauty of natural cleaners is that they can do very little damage!!

What is a Handmade Lifestyle?

2009-09-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

First Day of J.K

2009-09-13T17:43:00.000-07:00

Since I'm pretty much the only one who reads this blog I can feel free to indulge my pre-occupation with my eldest son starting school tomorrow. I don't know how to feel about this, as I am partly dismissive towards any inclination to become emotional about it since the term "school" is used loosely here. He is 4 years old and is starting Junior Kindergarten, which to my mind is just a glorified daycare. Yet, he is taking the very first baby step towards a 20+ year period of his life. Just think, when he is completely finished his schooling he will be an adult!! This is his very first day of two decades of education!! It is mind boggling. He is still so little and so innocent.
I was hesitant to enroll him in JK to begin with. I don't like the idea of children being in school before the age of 6, but in this area most children start day care at a year old or younger so I didn't want him to be the only one with limited social skill and no classroom experience. I felt that he needed the socialization that a J.K class can give him, despite my concerns about him being away from home so much when he is still so very young. I am looking forward to some down time with my youngest, lately things have been very chaotic and dramatic with both of them home and me trying to start up my business. I am anticipating some peace and quiet!! But it will be tinged with regret. The school is only two blocks away, he will be near and I will drop him off and pick him up. The hours between will go quickly I think.
Lord help me if I cry tomorrow. I will be so embarassed!!! It is an unlikely event....I will update with photos tomorrow.

Farmers Market Thursday's

2009-09-10T09:55:00.001-07:00

The town I live in hosts a farmers market every Thursday of the year (excluding the week of the County Fair and any holidays falling on or near a Thursday). I have been attending the market since I was about 5 years old, the year it opened. Local farmers and crafters gather to sell their wares to appreciative crowds. One can get farm fresh eggs, cider, apples, cheese, gourmet popcorn, vegetables, meats, Watkins products, crafts, handmade soap, organic garlic and lavender, handmade bird houses, fresh and smoked fish, garden plants, hand thrown pottery and in the summer, gelato. The local Association for Community Living hosts a lunch counter where one can get a refreshing drink and a quick bite to eat. Every month, patrons can enter in to a draw to win a hamper of fresh market produce. I hope this is my month to win!!

The vendors are always friendly and greet customers with genuine smiles. They often know their regulars by name and know what you want before you ask! My favourite butcher always has a free piece of bologna for my son, who looks forward to his treat all week. This is the kind of thing that makes a farmers market so special. Instead of simple commerce, each transaction is part of an ongoing relationship that benefits everyone. I am proud to support the farmers market and would much rather that my food dollar go to a local business and enrich the local economy, than add to the coffers of Big Agribusiness. I know these people and I know their products. I don't need to worry about continent wide recalls when I buy from my local butcher!

This morning I bought 5 smoked bones for my dog, a half pound of bologna, a pound of peameal bacon and a large sweet potato. It totaled less than $18!! What a value!! Tonight for dinner we will be having peameal on a bun and sweet potato fries. (See recipe below)

The one thing that bothers me about the farmers market is the advancing age of many of the customers. In larger cities it has become trendy to shop at farmers markets, but I don't feel that the trend has caught on so much here. Very few of the customers are people shopping for a family. From my own observation I perceive them to be either elderly people who were once farmers themselves, or wealthy baby boomers. I feel that families could save a lot of money on their food bill, get better quality food and benefit the local economy if more of the family's food came directly from the farmer rather than the grocery store. It would be interesting to do a comparison shop, to see what a family's groceries would cost at the market vs the grocery store. An idea for a later time I think....

Sweet Potato Oven Fries

sweet potatoes

olive oil

salt

pepper

Preheat oven to 400*

Cut potato into thin slices and brush with olive oil. Arrange on cookie sheet or in a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, or I like to use seasoned salt, or you can use the seasoning of your choice. Bake in oven for about 10 mins, turn, and bake until wedges are tender.

Pushing On The Pull Door

2009-09-09T16:24:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those cloudy, dull, throbbing headache kind of days that make getting out of bed seem like a really bad idea. One of those days where you walk around in a daze and find yourself literally pushing on the pull door and wondering what the heck is wrong with the damn door! It was on this day that I realized how Sisyphus must have felt looking up that hill, the realization of how steep it was dawning on him. I spent the last month in a gloried rush, starting up my Etsy business, reading every business related article and blurb I could find, researching, studiying market trends, scoping out the competition and researching some more. And knitting till my fingers were numb in between all the rest. Don't be mistaken, I got A LOT accomplished in the space of thirty days, and I am so proud of myself, but it has occured to me that if I really want to commit to this and really make a go of it, it is going to take an enormous amount of work and dedication and probably a lot of disappointment too. Committing to this, to really putting my best effort and work into this suddenly seems daunting and well, scary. What if I fail? What if I make a huge mistake and people lose faith in me? What if my friends and family are just humouring me, what if they don't really think I can do this? I would feel like such a loser and the disappointment and disillusionment would be crushing. I am the kind of person that is really good at starting things, but not so good with following through. But if I am going to succeed on Etsy I am going to have to commit time, energy and money and that is really scary for me. But I intend to succeed and the only way to truly fail is to stop trying. So I am going to keep putting one metaphorical foot in front of the other, keep slugging away at this and hopefully one day I will look back on my labours and find them all to have been very worthwhile.

Hello World!

2009-09-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

A blinking cursor on a blank field is so intimidating. There are so many ideas bouncing around in my head and I've lots of interesting things to say(I hope!!) yet the endless possiblities of a blank page are stifling. This blog is a new direction for me. I have tossed the idea of starting one around for a few weeks, being encouraged to do so by my fellow Etsians. I am a crafter starting up an Etsy business from scratch, working 'round the clock trying to get it off the ground. It kinda feels like shouting at the moon though, one tiny speck trying to get noticed amidst countless other tiny specks. So how do I make myself noticable? Blogging of course!
This past month on Etsy has gone by in such a whirlwind of new information, new contacts, new ideas and new prospects. I feel like I have taken a crash course in marketing, web design, graphic design and business management!! I am leap years ahead of where I was last month, I just can't grasp how much I have grown and developed in the space of thirty days. Even if I never sell another thing on Etsy, this experience has granted me a new vision of myself and my life. I went from a house bound bordem stricken stay at home mum to an entreprenurial business owner and there is no going back!! I am so proud of myself for what I have accomplished this month and it has really given me a much needed boost of self esteem and self confidence. I can do this!! I can market myself and my skills and I can be successful!! Watch out world, Stitches In Time is here! (cliche I know, but c'mon, I'm on a roll here!!)