Just for fun...

It's actually not too far off...! Go figure.

What Nicole Means

You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are very open. You communicate well, and you connect with other people easily. You are a naturally creative person. Ideas just flow from your mind. A true chameleon, you are many things at different points in your life. You are very adaptable. You are well rounded, with a complete perspective on life. You are solid and dependable. You are loyal, and people can count on you. At times, you can be a bit too serious. You tend to put too much pressure on yourself. You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Knitting a square for an ill stranger

I was browsing knitty today and came across this post.
Ok, so I can't find it anymore - not even a search worked, but this is the original post on Dame Wendy's blog, and this is the one with more details.

Her friend's mom, Carrie, an avid knitter, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and can no longer knit, so she has decided to make her a blanket out of 9x9 squares. In order to get this done quickly, and to show Carrie some of the love and support that abounds in the knitting community, she's asked for volunteers to help her out by making a 9x9 square and sending it to her.
My Grandma, also an avid knitter, passed away from pancreatic cancer a number of years ago, and I've decided to make a 9x9 square in her honour. (Ok mom, you can dry your eyes now...lol)
As of now, Dame Wendy has about half of the squares spoken for, and I'm sure that she'd appreciate any and all of the knitterly love that she can get!

If anyone else wants to do this, and is local to me, we can arrange to put our squares together to mail to her in one package...

Check out what I've been up to!

I've been busy!

I made a storage bag for my yarn swift, complete with a little mini baggie for all the little parts (centre dowel, yarn post dowels, pipe and washers):


I reorganized my gift wrap, because I finally got the gift wrap organizer that has been backordered since before Christmas! (And I loooove it!!!)











And I made my first project bag! I still have to get a toggle thing to attach to the cord, but I love it! I'm going to add it to the things I'm selling at the craft show at the end of June, and if the girls at my SnB like it, I may just add it to my Etsy store, too!











I also managed to get a lot of laundry done this weekend, including all of my curtains, which, while they were down, I actually finished hemming (they've only been hanging on my windows for 4 years...)! Plus, I vacuumed out my car and armor-all'd it and windexed the windows.
All in all, it was a great long weekend!

Change of Name

So, I've thought long and hard about it, and I've decided to put all of my crafty business endeavours under one name:
Nicole Jeanette Creations.
This won't affect my knitting accessories, because they're already being sold under the Nicole Jeanette name, but it will affect my invitations and greeting cards, which I had been selling under "NJL Custom Papercrafts". I won't be retiring that name completely, as people already know me under that name, but I will be switching everything over from now on!
It just makes more sense, that everything I sell be under one name, and it will make the accounting/nitty gritty side of things easier in the long run!

Now to update/change the website!

Ram Wools too!

My Pattern Magnets and selected stitch markers are now available at Ram Wools!!! (1266 Fife Street)
They're going to be putting them for sale up on their website, too, so here's hoping they do well!
Woohooo!

Swift Details...as promised

Here's how I made my swift (photos in previous post):

Supplies:
- Two 4' lengths of 1"x2" (I used poplar)
- One 4' length of 7/16" dowel
- One 4' length of 5/16" dowel
- A short length of copper pipe (I used 4")
- Two washers with a centre hole of 7/16" (mine are 1/2", because those are the ones my dad had on hand)
- a Clamp
- a chisel
- a drill with 7/16" and 5/16" drill bits

1. Cut your 1x2 into the following lengths: Two 2' pieces for the arms and two 18" pieces for the feet
2. Mark the centres of each of those pieces and drill a 7/16" hole all the way through the 1x2 pieces. (We didn't have a 7/16" bit, so we used one smaller and wiggled the drill then used a file to enlarge the hole. It worked, but there are easier ways...)
3. Align the centre holes of the 2' pieces with the dowel, and square off the arms (the way the finished swift should be). Mark the 1x2's where the other piece sits, so that you know where to saw out the notch to fit the 2 pieces together.
4. Repeat step 3 with the 18" pieces.
5. Mark the vertical centre of all four 1x2 pieces between the marks made in step 3 (i.e. the 1/2" mark on the 1" side)
6. Cut out your centre notch using a saw on the two marks you made, and a chisel to remove the wood.
7. Mark out the holes for your yarn-support dowel (the 5/16") on the 2' pieces. I made mine 1" from the edge and 1 1/2" apart, four on each arm
8. Drill holes 3/4 of the way through the 2' pieces, on the 2" side.
9. Cut your 7/16" dowel to the length you'd like your swift to be high. I did mine 6.5", so that there is 1" of dowel sticking out the top of the arms.
10. Cut your copper pipe to the length you'd like between your swift feet and arms (mine is 4").
11. Cut the 5/16" dowel into 3" lengths. You'll need 4 pieces, but I cut 6, just in case I lose one along the way.

If I haven't missed anything, you should be ready to assemble your swift!
Fit the feet together, put your 7/16" dowel through the hole in the feet, and fit one of your washers on the dowel. Place your length of copper pipe on the dowel and fit your second washer on the dowel so that it sits on the top of the pipe. Now fit your arms on to the top of the centre dowel. Fit your 3" pieces of dowel into the holes along the arms, according to the width of the hank of yarn you have.

Ta-da!!!

Check out the yarn swift I made last night!

For $12 CDN!!





General idea was borrowed from Crafty Diversions. Thanks!!!

Display

Look at the display of my stitch markers at the store!!!
It looks so good!!!!!




And I went to the other LYS today at lunch, to pick up some yarn, and I got stopped by the owner, who asked me about the stitch markers, too! She asked me if I happened to have any samples on me, and when I said no, that I'd sold everything to the other store just yesterday, she seemed a little disappointed. She said that she would like to sit down with me sometime next week and work out an order!
I'm so pumped!!!

She bought them all!!!

I took my stitch markers to the LYS today at lunch, and sat down to go through them with the owner, Mona. I fully expected her to pick and choose from among them, and maybe take 1/3 or 1/2 of my stock.
Nope.
She bought them all! Every. Last. One. WOW!!!
She was even worried that she'd be taking all of my stock, but I told her that I'd be more than happy to sell them all to her - I can always make more!
She also bought 14 of my pattern magnets, which is all of the ones that I brought, too!
I can't believe it!

I'm super excited!!!
I hope that they sell well for her and that this is the beginning of something great!

On another note, this is the weather here today:



Don't the tulips just look sad, all buried in snow?



I took a walk this afternoon, and it's already beginning to melt, but still. What a way to end April. (Almost, anyway.)

Some knitting, for a change

I keep forgetting to post updates of my knitting here, because I keep thinking that if you want to see my knitting, you could just click on the Ravelry progress bar links on the right and see it all for yourself.
Silly me, I should remember that not all of you are on Ravelry!
And so, for your viewing pleasure, here is a photo of my Ribbon Scarf that I'm working on right now.



It's about 2/3 of the way done, and I can't wait to have it finished! It'll be done just in time for summer. Good timing. Although, if things keep on going the way they seem to be going, we're going to have scarf weather for a week or so to come. Apparently, we might even get up to 20cm of snow tonight!!!
It's the pattern from Knitty, but I'm making it out of Manos del Uruguay, and I'm only doing 2 pattern repeats instead of, what, 5 or 6 in the original pattern. I really like the way it's turning out!
I tried getting a better photo, one that would show the pattern off a little more, but it's really curling up, and I can't get it to lay flat enough to see the pattern without having both of my hands on it, stretching it out. I promise better photos once it's finished and blocked.

I've also cast on for Rogue, but I'm not working on that very much right now. I think it may go dormant while I finish my Ribbon Scarf, and while I cast on and knit a cotton tank top for the summer. Rogue can wait a few months; I just want to have it finished for August/September, when the weather starts turning again.

And in other news, I'm organizing a field trip for the girls in our local SnB! We started as a facebook group, and meet on Wednesday nights at a local pub. I was at a local conservation area a few weekends ago, and they had an "artisan and craft show" in their interpretive centre. One of the artisans was a lady who was spinning her own yarn, and selling roving, yarn and knitted/felted garments. I bought some yarn from her, and asked about spinning lessons and farm tours. Well, we're going to be going as a group on June 7th!! We'll car pool out there (it's about 2 hours from the city), have a tour of the farm, pet the sheep, have lunch, and then have a 3 or 4 hour spinning lesson. We'll be mainly working with drop spindles, but she'll have 3 wheels for us to share and try out. I really want to learn how to spin, and don't mind spending $20 on a drop spindle, but I can't see myself spending $1000 (or even just $500, which she says she could get us a wheel for) on a spinning wheel. Not unless I got really good, and could see myself being able to make some kind of money at it. Or got to the point where I really really enjoyed it, and had the room to store it. In a 1-bedroom apartment, it would have to become part of the decor!