The Little Black Box

Have you heard of The Little Black Box? If you have a handmade business, samplers like TLBB are terrific ways to advertise your business. Your items are put in the hands of potential customers who are already fans of handmade. It's a win-win!

I have signed up to be the September sponsor for TLBB. Why September?? It'll take me that long to make the samples. :) Actually, I'm exagerrating just a little -- I've already started! Here's what I have so far:

Don't look too closely -- I still have to weave in the ends and sew on the buttons. But at least I've started!

For more information on The Little Black Box or to purchase your own box of goodies, check out their website or Facebook page!

PS I'm on Facebook too! "Like" me here for project updates, discount codes, and other happenings!

Post #101

Today it was so cold here in south Texas -- I spent most of the day working on projects and photographing some new items (it was surprisingly sunny, despite the cold and wind.)

Here's one of the new items I photographed today in 2 different colors:

They are super-soft cuffs or wristlets. They're perfect year 'round because they give a little extra warmth in the winter, and they also look great as bracelets in spring and summer. I used Spa yarn from Caron -- it's a bamboo blend that feels so nice. They'll be listed this week at The Lavender Lizard. (They can be made longer and in other colors, so if you're interested in a custom order, please leave a comment here or click on Request Item at my shop.

Another project I've been working on is FRINGE, which I dread doing and usually put off until the veeeeeerrrrrrry last minute. I fringed these 3 scarves...

...and I still have 2 more to finish. sigh.

Another project is reworking this blanket. That means pulling out all of the stitches and starting over. It's wider now, plus I added the ivory color, which really balances out the bright variegated yarn. I'm much happier with the result:

I just wish I had started over before I had finished 45 rows. For some reason, it photographs better now too! Bonus!

Two New Listings

I've been working a lot lately on some new listings, and I'm excited that I was finally able to post two of them at The Lavender Lizard.

Just in time for Valentines Day, I have a listing of my popular heart scrubbies in really pretty ocean colors:

(Other heart scrubbies are available in this section.)

And I have a new scarf with delicious strawberry pink and apple green colors! It's super soft and thick and cozy!

And a couple more sneak peeks coming soon:

Stay tuned for these and more!

Goals for 2011

It's only taken 15 days to write the first post of 2011. :( I hope this improves. Soon.

I have set some business goals for 2011. I hope to submit more pattern ideas for publication, and I'll be adding new listings (new items, and popular items in new color choices) at The Lavender Lizard. I'm still on the fence about whether or not to close The Lavender Ladybug, but for now it remains open. I'm also still hoping to keep up with this blog a little better.

Here's a couple of sneak peeks of new items coming to The Lavender Lizard real soon:

Happy 2011! Wishing my readers a wonderful, healthy, and prosperous New Year!

The Main Reason I Haven't Been Blogging....

These handsome young men keep me very busy! But I'm thankful and grateful to be their mom! (It only took 69 photos to make this card.....sigh....some people -- DS4! -- were not in the mood for group photos.)

To catch up, here's the finished Pikachu hat:




and the completed Domo hat:

And for good measure, here's a beret I made for a 15-year-old friend with a piggy pin. (She raises pigs, and according to her, the best people are pig people!)

Been working on a lot of hats/beanies lately. Right now I'm working on a dozen to donate to a homeless shelter for pregnant women/mothers here in San Antonio. Gotta keep those little babies warm.

So we say good-bye to 2010 and hello to 2011! I'm hoping that 2011 brings health, happiness, prosperity and love to all! Happy New Year!

Baseball and Why It's So Awesome

I grew up the third daughter of a man who loves sports (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer...), and to say that it rubbed off on me is an understatement. I have memories of running outside on Saturday afternoons to update my dad, who was doing yardwork, on the score of the Saturday afternoon baseball game. When. I. Was. Four.

And the Saturday afternoon baseball game was the only game on television. (Some of you may not realize how hard it was to follow your team back then, before cable and satellite tv, especially if your favorite team was in a different state. We had to make do with reading the box scores in the next day's newspaper. I know. Crazy.) I sometimes think that my father moved us to the Dallas area after retiring from the Air Force, just so he could listen to the Rangers game on the radio every night.

Without a doubt, baseball is my favorite sport. Maybe because I played it myself growing up (not softball, although that's okay too). I practically lived in my Twins cap. First thing I put on in the morning; last thing I took off at night. I remember early one Saturday morning a neighbor came over. I was wearing pajamas, my robe, and my cap. He said, "You really do wear that all of the time." Yup. Sure did.

I still have my cap. The yellow T has faded, the elastic is worn, and it's a pretty sad sight. But I know it's mine (my sisters played on the same team) because it still has my name on the inside.

Here's why baseball is my favorite sport:

1. No better way to spend an afternoon than at a ballpark with a beer and a hotdog.


2. The sound of a baseball hitting a wooden! bat on the sweet spot and knowing the ball is a homerun.


3. Watching that homerun leave the yard in person is an awesome sight.


4. There's no clock in baseball -- a game is 9 innings long and can last 2 hours or 4 hours.


5. It's all about the numbers -- 9 players play 9 innings; 3 strikes and you're out; 4 balls and you get first base; 3 outs and the other team gets to bat.


6. Every player can be referred to, numerically, three different ways: their uniform number, their place in the batting order, and their position on the field. So Josh Hamilton, wearing uniform #32, bats 4th, and plays centerfield (8). See, it is all about the numbers.


7. Baseball's been played since the 1870s. My grandfather, who was born in 1899, played baseball.


8. The managers and coaches wear the same uniform as the players.


9. The uniform includes a belt which, when you think about it, looks oddly formal.


10. "SALTALAMACCHIA" makes a rainbow when it's on the back of a uniform. And that makes me smile every time.





11. You never know what you'll see during a game -- a perfect game, a triple play, a walk-off hit-by-pitch courtesy of Mariano Rivera.


12. Every ballpark is different. There's the Green Monster in Boston, the flagpole hill in Houston, the ivy in Chicago, and McCovey's Cove in San Francisco.


13. Somewhere, for every single major league game that has ever been played, there is a scoresheet. By studying the scoresheet, you can read exactly what happened to each batter as he came up to face the pitcher.


14. It took 50 years but the Texas Rangers have finally, finally, made it to the World Series.


15. And they beat the Yankees to win the American League pennant!

This is dedicated to my father, my grandfather, and every die-hard Texas Rangers fan who waited 50 years. And I hereby predict that Josh Hamilton will hit 2 homeruns into McCovey's Cove. At least.

A Project Update

I made mittens to match the Sock Monkey hat and shipped both the hat and the mittens last week. Here's the complete set:

I'm working on a Pikachu hat for DS4's Halloween costume. The face parts just need to be added to the beanie part. I think it'll be great!

My two youngest sons received an invitation to celebrate the third birthday of a distant cousin, so I made a little beanie as a gift. I love the colors!

A couple of weeks ago, 2 friends and I took our children (12 of them!) to a pumpkin patch in Medina, Texas. Despite a few raindrops, it was a beautiful fall day in the Hill Country, and everyone had a great time!