Spring Has Sprung

I've finally gotten out of my winter, non sewing rut.

Boutique Girl Gifts inventory has been multiplying by leaps and bounds over the past few weeks. 

Here are some of the latest goodies.

Packing and tagging

Stop by and check out our latest goodies http://www.boutiquegirl.etsy.com/.

Time to plan the rest of this year's craft shows...or at least the next couple of months anyway.

New Etsy Team

Check out Team hartbeat, CT's newest Etsy team located in the capitol city (and surrounding areas).

I LOVE that they are planning a team craft meet up!  Fun times!

http://teamhartbeat.blogspot.com/

Blocking Makes Everything Better

Behold, my first official knitted project which required blocking.

Op Art baby blanket in black and white CotLin yarn by Knit Picks.

 It was a fun, but long knit.  With a lot of ends to weave in.

I suggest making a cute tag to complete your gift.  It will distract the recipient from the flaws in your knitting.

Giving

I've been thinking about giving today.

It's no secret I love to give gifts...even more than I love receiving them.  Seeing the joy in the recipients eye is priceless, and does a body good.  Giving for no reason, other than "I'm thinking of you" is often the most rewarding.

But not all gifts have anything to do with money.  The gift of time can be the most precious gift of all.  Giving your time to help another, is not a favor that needs to be repaid, but can be a gift that you give yourself.  The feeling you have giving to another, whether a friend or stranger, is it's own reward.

Find a cause or a friend that could benefit from your gift of time, and give your time freely.  Trust me, you'll feel fantastic.

Ahead of Schedule

I've been working on a special knitty gift for a new little gal that I'm going to meet this weekend.  She was born a few weeks early--totally healthy, but this necessitated increased knitting time.  STAT!

This morning I figured out I had 30 rows to go...and that each row was taking me over 20 minutes to complete.  So I ambitiously decided that I had about 10 hours of knitting left to complete this gift.  Where was I going to get 10 hrs?  PLUS I need to block this gift and since this will be my first knitted item that requires blocking, who knows how long it will take to dry?  Nevermind.  I put aside the daunting time commitment, and was determined to finish knitting between tonight and tomorrow night.

I'm knitting along tonight and quickly realized that I would run out of my black yarn before completing the final 18 black rows...I got 12 completed.  I hopped on ravelry to see if anyone else had this problem.  I mean, I know I didn't check my gague (No chastizing, Katie!), but I shouldn't be out of yarn?!?!?  After searching many forum posts I finally click on the link for the pattern.

Way at the bottom I find this:

Errata from Designer: Errata:
The smaller size blanket should end after the line:
Work 16 rounds B. 552 sts
working the additional 2 stripes results in running out of yarn.

No kidding.

I've cast off, so instead of knitting for hours tomorrow night, I'll be weaving in ends, and researching wet blocking.  It feels great to be ahead of schedule!

JOY!

Ever since I put this together on my coffee table Sunday afternoon I have had such joy fill my heart.

I just love it.

The ornaments came from my mother's basement last Christmas.  I can't say I remember having them on our tree going up, but I will happily pretend that we did.  The are some of my "new" favorite ornaments from my childhood.  And in their original Shiney Brite box to boot! 

JOY!

Thrifty Finds

Holiday shopping this weekend took me to a couple of my favorite thrifty spots. 

I can't show you all my thrifty treasures, as two are gifts...yes, that's right.  Gifts.  I love giving gifts which are something that was no longer wanted by the original owner and will be the loved by the recipient.  Hopefully both gifts will be "on the mark".

Otherwise, I found these lovelies.

I'd been on the lookout for the small pyrex dishes.  I have always liked them (they remind me of my grandmother), but never thought I had a reason for having them.  And since storage is at a premium in our kitchen, I always left these lovely little bowls behind.  Until a week or so ago when I needed to melt just a little bit of butter, and had nothing but a large soup bowl to melt it in.  I instantly had a reason for owning these tiny bowls.  And I figured out a spot to store them.  So the hunt began.  I was thrilled to find these on Friday night.  And I left at least three others behind for the next lucky soul.

The tin and the pear I don't have definate plans for.  I'd like to incorporate both into this year's holiday decorating.  We'll see how that goes.  All the boxes are in the living room, and the tree is up.  Decorating has begun!

In Boutique Girl Gift news, I also found this at Marshalls.

Pretty cute...and I think might just work for displaying bibs.  The question is, should it stay pink, or should I spray pain it red.  Or maybe white?  Let me know what you think!