I'm featured

My new listing, fingerless mitts with attitude, are featured in an Etsy treasury:

Wordless Wednesday

Hats!

I've made four of these hats, think I'm done!

New Today

Here are my newly finished fingerless mitts. This time I left off the bobbles and modified the pattern a bit:


and here is a new treasury my neck warmer is featured in:

Wordless Wednesday

Be SQUARE

I'm so excited about the new toy I received in the mail yesterday. It's a little credit/debit card reader that works with an Android phone (or an IPAD) and plugs into the headphone jack. I've resisted taking credit cards at shows in the past due to the costs associated with most options (Propay and others). This seems perfect for me...no charges at all unless I make a sale and then it is 2.75% of the cost of the sale (slightly more if no card is present as in if you make a phone or internet sale).

My neckwarmer is featured

April's Featured Blogger

is.....lindab142

Linda is a member of the Etsy Bloggers who designs "handmade beaded wire kippot, beaded and wire wrapped gemstone and glass judaica and secular jewelry, magnets, beaded bookmarks and accessories for purses, zippers and other fashion accessories."

Her Etsy shop is here. the bracelet shown above has different types of yellow glass, acrylic, glass and yellow jasper gemstone beads
Her blog is here. Every week on her blog she does an Etsy top finds feature that I really like.
She also has her own website.

Comfort slippers for Japan

I wanted to share this with my readers. Reiko Arato is a knitter on Ravelry who is selling this cute slipper pattern to raise funds for the victims in Japan. The pattern is only $2.50 and you can purchase it here. Below is Reiko's message about her effort:

2011.3.19
Dear knitters,

I was born and grow up in Sendai, Japan, and have lived in Shanghai, China since last year.
My parents live in Sendai. Many friends also live there.
For my hometown and Japan which had suffered serious tsunami damage, I had thought what I was able to do from Shanghai.
Then, I decided to sell my pattern and to contribute the total amounts I received for Japan to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

The pattern consists of one page.

In the stricken area, hygiene, food, information, and all other things are insufficient.
I hope you will cooperate with me.

Sincerely yours,
Reiko Arato

Catty Fingerless Mitts

Well, they are actually called "Catty Bitch Mitts" and hopefully that won't offend any of my readers. I didn't name them, I just knit them, and knit them, and knit them. It's a fun, free pattern you can find here on Ravelry. The pattern creator is Bev of MyLittleRoomintheCorner
With 4 colors of Cascade 220 Sport you can make at least 4-5 pairs of these lovelies.

Smile, It's the Law

It's about time I participated in the Etsy Bloggers Blog Carnival. I've been a slacker of late.

This week's topic:
The first Public Library (in the US) opened on April 9th, 1833 in New Hampshire
Peterborough is the town where the first library opened. What's your town known for? Show us around!

My town, Pocatello, Idaho, is known as the "Smile capital". Here's the information on how this came to be from the City's home page:

In 1948, the Mayor of the City of Pocatello, George Phillips, passed an ordinance making it illegal not to smile in Pocatello. The "Smile Ordinance" was passed tongue in cheek as a result of an exceptionally severe winter, which had dampened the spirit of city employees and citizens alike.

The ordinance unintentionally remained on the books and was discovered by staff and later by a local reporter who wrote an article appearing in 1987 in the Idaho State Journal. The American Bankers Association chose our outdated ordinance to use in their national advertising campaign, emphasizing the theme of outdated laws to convince the United States Congress to modernize banking laws.

On December 10, 1987, in response to an invitation from Pocatello's Mayor, representatives from the American Bankers Association visited Pocatello and declared our community the “U.S. Smile Capital.”

Pocatello received a great deal of national and international media attention for the “Smile Ordinance,” and in the spirit of fun, the event was perpetuated by making “Smile Days” an annual event.

Traditionally, our status as the U.S. Smile Capital is celebrated with a poster contest for elementary school children; a smile contest; “arrests” of those who do not smile; and a community celebration at the end of the week.

Join the fun and help us celebrate the universal language of a smile!

Keep Smiling!

Note: This post was written as part of a blog carnival by my EtsyBloggers Team. If you're a lover of books and libraries, you might want to read how Etsy shop owners are influenced by Public Libraries while others give you a glimpse into their home towns, like this post.

In Memoriam

Farewell to my special kitty, Snickers, who was with me for about nine years. She was the only cat I've known who would do "rollovers" on command. In the summer, she liked to sleep in the sink. She liked to cuddle on the couch when we watched tv. She had a unique personality and I will miss her.

Springtime Baby Cardi

This is my most recently completed project: Springtime Baby Cardi for my newest Grand daughter. It was a fun knit, you work from bottom up, over shoulders and down the back, then pick up stitches to add sleeves and seed stitch border around front. The pattern calls for buttons but I didn't have access to any when I finished this, so I just made a tie by braiding some of the yarn and attaching to the front. It's a free pattern available for sizes 3 mos, 6 mos, or 12 mos. I knit with Berrocco Weekend.