Ever have one of those weeks???

Well I guess it's my turn this week.   It seems like everything is breaking around me.  Monday my car decided to stop running well... It's now parked in the driveway waiting for repair.  Great.

Yesterday the air conditioning upstairs would go on but blew warm air and my compressor was not running... Seriously!!!  I am having company on Thursday and they will be bunking upstairs.  It's about 89 degrees up there.

Then I wake up this morning and there is water all over my kitchen floor.  I cleaned it up & continued rushing around my house trying to get it all clean in time for our company.  So, I went to the sink to put some dishes in it and there was another HUGE puddle of water on the floor and at the same time I feel a drop of water on my head.   I look up and there is water leaking from my recessed lights!!!

This is totally NOT COOL....   I mean three serious repairs three days in a row!!   Seriously, this can NOT be happening..

The one bright spot is that my brother is a plumber and an HVAC guy.  However, he is SOOOO busy tying up his own ends and is leaving for a much deserved and much needed vacation.  He's leaving on Thursday night....

I can't wait to see what Thursday brings....  

Please o please house stop breaking around me!!!!

Looking for Knit Christmas Stockings??

Well you've come to the right place.  I will be releasing all of my new Christmas items over the next couple of weeks.  I am so excited to share them with all of you!  Many of the items are made with recycled sweaters and are available in limited quantities.  Don't wait because your favorites might be gone.

A little information about my recycling process.  I shop for sweaters year round from some of my favorite thrift stores.  Each sweater is carefully chosen avoiding stains, holes and hard use.  Each sweater is then taken apart one stitch at a time, wound into skeins, washed with eco-friendly detergent and allowed to dry in the sun.  Each skein is them rewound into a ball which I can then use to knit all my goodies.

All of my stockings will last and be enjoyed for years to come.  I use a button loop so the height of each stocking is adjustable.

Gearing up for Christmas in July

This year I decided to participate in Etsy's Christmas in July & I have been working hard getting all the stockings ready.  Yesterday, I spent a very frustrating day trying to photograph many new designs with limited success.  So, I decided today is another day and I am ready to buck up and try again.

I am really excited about CIJ and I will be having a sale for the first time ever!  I will be tweeting, posting to Facebook and blogging the sale info.  If you would like to be notified of this event, please sign up for my Newsletter, Twitter, blog or facebook.

I hope you'll stop my my Etsy store to see all the new Christmas goodies.  It's a great time to start your Christmas shopping and get ahead of it for this year's Holiday Season.

Craft Room Organization

I don't know about you but my craft room is always in some sort of disarray.  I try to keep it neat and tidy but that lasts for like 3 days.  I'm always in and out quickly throughout the day picking up yarn, needles, or packaging my items for shipping.   It's too easy to just toss the left over yarn on my table to deal with at a later time (which doesn't happen for a while).

I was searching for some creative ideas for craft room organization on Pinterest and found a many great ideas.  Here are some of my favorite:

Beautiful creative way to organize your embroidery floss

myhoneysplace.com

I'm a HUGE fan of these old vintage spools.  However, they are getting hard to find and the prices are always on the rise.  This is a great tutorial how to make your own.  Brilliant!

Chic Cheap Home Tutorial

If you have a handy hubby these are fabulous for yarn storage.  I'd paint mine white.

Lost Button Studio

Ribbon Storage.  Why didn't I think of this???

Loving the bright colors in the drawers.  It's like a hidden surprise of color!

Better Homes & Gardens Craft Room Ideas

DIY Recycling plain glass jars into colorful jars for your odds n' ends!

Tutorial from Kootut Murut

Do you want to see more ideas that I've found?  Folling my craft room room idea board on Pinterest here PreciousKnits Craft Room on Pinterst

What are some of your favorite craft room organizational ideas?  I'd love to hear them! 

Google analytics makes my head hurt

I came across this video on You Tube today in my epic journey to learn and conquer Google Analytics. I found it so helpful that I thought I'd share it with all of you. 

I am not, by any means, a master of computers as I often get lost in all the techie jargon and GA makes my head not only spin but hurt. Really. I don't like it.

In an effort to make some good use of my slow season I looked once again for helpful info and this is what I found:

youtu.be/mm78xlsADgc

While he is using his blog as an example it didn't matter and I had no problem following along with him step by step. I was easily able to make useful comparisons to my etsy store. He explained what the heck I am looking at, where my views are coming from or not, where my customers went next, what they were looking at and so on. I would recommend doing it when you have time to concentrate (again, GA makes my head hurt) and have a pen and paper handy.

I know it only scratches the surface of what GA can tell us about our shops but it's a start for those who have yet to figure out what the heck all that info is showing us.

Please, if you have any other helpful videos or links that you found helpful do share. I have a lot to learn