Brr! Winter’s chill is in the air even here in Atlanta, and that means getting out the warm toasty goodness of my fav pair of fingerless gloves. It also means its time to pay a visit to Jusshar Designs. This snuggly Etsy shop is brimful of hats, scarves, fingerless gloves, shrugs and more, all designed with enough flair to keep winter’s worst at bay in style.

Owner Beth Newbern-Hallam loves the satisfaction of taking a “skein or two of yarn and creating something from it. I’m also really beginning to appreciate the process of making yarn. I’ve been slowly starting to take raw fleece and spin it into yarn. I haven’t done enough to actually make something with it because there is so much involved. I have a new respect for spinners!”

Beth gathers inspiration from everywhere. “Every time I see a show, movie, or commercial with fiber creations in it, I think to myself….”bookmark that idea for later”. Sometimes I can’t sit back and enjoy the movie for all the fiber seeking I’m doing.
Mainly, though, I knit and crochet because I absolutely love to do it. It’s almost like I HAVE to do it to feel right with the world.”

A growing fondness for the warm beauty of Icelandic wool is fueling Beth’s newest interest in working with raw fleece.

“Icelandic sheep are gorgeous animals, and their wool is so incredibly soft. I haven’t dyed any of it yet, because I really like the earthy tones …reds, browns, and blacks are my favorites.”

Jusshar Designs is happy to ship internationally as well as create custom items. “I absolutely adore making the sweater shrugs that I have listed as a custom item in my shop! I was surprised at how popular they are with brides.”

Beautiful handknits and crocheted pieces make fabulous gifts, so now’s the time to take advantage of the discount below:

10% off For Fans of Jusshar on Facebook, With

Visit JusShar Designs: http://jusshar.etsy.com/

Follow Jusshar on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jusShar

Fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jusshardesigns

Exquisitely knitted creations take center stage in YarnCoture. The shop is filled with amazing pieces that will have you looking forward to weather cold enough to wear them!
Owner Maryum Karim says, “I try to offer a wide variety of designs to appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers. I love to create custom designs as well as OOAK (one-of-a-kind) items in order to provide a personal shopping experience for my customers. Every item is made with great care and will not bear the Yarncoture name until I feel that it’s just right. I am constantly educating myself on new knitting and crocheting techniques to improve my craft. ”

In addition to scarves, shawls, and fingerless gloves, Maryum also offers vintage inspired designs. “My favorite pieces that I make are my Vintage Inspired Ascot neckties… I just love the simplicity of the design! ”

Maryum admits that inspirations for her stylish creations come from everywhere. “I can have a dream about a design and then wake up and create it that same day. On the other hand, a set of beautiful vintage buttons or really funky novelty yarn may inspire me to make something new. A medley of my vintage patterns collection or just a simple knit or crochet pattern coupled with my special touch will sometimes do the trick. It all depends on what mood I’m in!”

A self-taught knitter, Maryum’s passion for her craft is another source of inspiration. “there’s always a new technique, stitch pattern, a new yarn fiber, or design to try or learn. I love the way the yarn feels as it glides off my knitting needles or how quickly I can crochet a beautiful flower. I also love the fact that I have been teaching my 2 daughters to knit and crochet, and have even featured some of their finished pieces in my shop! Being able to pass these ancient crafts down to my daughers has truly been a joy! ”

Maryum admits that its sometimes difficult to balance all the areas of her busy life, so her favorite twitter trick is using her shop Facebook Page to update twitter as well. ” I love to tweet, however lately I have been swamped preparing for an upcoming craft show as well as custom orders. Tweeting through my Facebook fan page saves me a lot of time and enables me to allow my fans as well as fellow “Twitteroos” to sneak a first peek at new items in my shop. I usually tweet about my day and sometimes ask fellow Twitterers about theirs. Watching what others are saying also helps me to get a feel for my audience and what a potential buyer may be looking for. ”

YarnCoture offers unique gift ideas for everyone on your gift list, including great accessories for those hard-to buy-for men on your list, and ships both domestic and international.

Free standard worldwide shipping for every item in my shop. This special offer will be available through December. Priority Mail and Express mail services will be available for an additional charge.

Follow YarnCoture:

http://www.facebook.com/yarncoture

http://www.twitter.com/yarncoture

Hopefully, pretty soon there will be some actual blogging and knitting content here! The semester is coming to an end. Actually, my last class is on the 30^th, so stay tuned!

So I’m browsing through my Twitter, when suddenly I see one that totally catches my eye.

“Where are all the Harry Connick Jr Fans? http://bit.ly/10csTz Win his NEW CD! #vtechtoys #giveaway“

Curiosity kicks in because, well, it’s Harry Connick Jr.  Check the picture!  Dreamy to the max, no?  Anyways, so I go on over to the link and over at One Bored Mommy, they are giving away his new album!!!!

Sounds like a serious win to me!  I love Harry Connick Jr, besides the dreaminess, he is uber talented, in my opinion, and I really dig the type of jazz he sings.  The practically big band, but not type of jazz.  Best of all though, check out the tracklist for this album below.  Basically it’s the best, all time love songs from the past 60 some years?  How could I not blog about this giveaway!

“Your Songs”

• All The Way (Frank Sinatra)
• Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)
• Can’t Help Falling In Love With You (Elvis Presley)
• And I Love Her (The Beatles)
• (They Long To Be) Close To You (The Carpenters)
• Besame Mucho
• The Way You Look Tonight
• First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Roberta Flack)
• Your Song (Elton John)
• Some Enchanted Evening
• And I Love You So (Don McLean)
• Who Can I Turn To? (Tony Bennett)
• Smile (Charlie Chaplin)
• Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole)

Wanna win this CD? Head on over to One Bored Mommy and enter to win!

Without divulging any personal details, Miss Violet, aka Elli, of the famous Lime and Violet podcast, Happy Housewife Sundries, Oak River Township, and many more lovely yarny things really needs to escape her current living situation, and needs legal help to evacuate from her toxic marriage.
As a way to thank her for being a wonderfully creative, inspiring, and fantastically interesting person, several of us have decided to donate some or all of our profits to her cause.
This list will probably grow as the days progress, and I will try to keep it current with how long everyone is in for!

Sand and Silk Designs – all profits until 9/30 at sandandsilk.artfire.com

FiddleKnits – 100% of the $$ from any pattern purchased made 9/23/09 at my Rav Shop (FiddleKnits1984) or website (www.FiddleKnits.com)

Liberty Yarns – 100% of profits until Friday 9/25 at www.libertysyarn.com

Fuzzy Peach – www.thefuzzypeach.etsy.com

This sock pattern

These two patterns

Spinners’ World – 1/2 of all sales made 9/23/09

And of course, there are a few excellent fragrances available at Oak River Township. I have Cowgirl and September Princess and they’re both wonderful!

Additionally, for every $5 donated here will get you one raffle ticket for a skein of the highly coveted Wollmeise!

Please, if you can give a little, or a lot, she could really use the help. Thank you all!

(Originally posted at Sand and Silk Designs)

UPDATE: Lawrence from Lawrenceknits.blogspot.com is having a Malabrigo raffle for $3!!!

Also, there’s a ChipIn Campaign.

Help out a knitter and enter the raffle Miss Violet is having. All you need to do is donate $5 and you can win 2 skeins of Wollmeise!

Check out the Treasury I’m in!  My yarn is the one on the top left, Summer Leaves, and I think that eiriene put in a lot of great looking yarn with this treasury.  Check out all these great yarns!

I’m looking also to update the shop this weekend with two new handspun yarns that I worked on last weekend, and hopefully more that I’ve been working on lately.  We’ll see how much time I have to get it all spun up and listed.  Watch the Etsy site or sign up for my newsletter to get the latest updates in your mailbox.
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Now playing: Pati Yang – Soul For Me
via FoxyTunes

34-year-old artist Vickie Porter, owner of InMyHeadStudios, has a passion for paper. “I love everything about paper-the way it feels, the sounds it makes, the colors and textures. It has dimension, and I try to use that in my work.”

In addition to working fulltime as an artist in her home studio, Vickie is also leader of the 175-member Etsy Twitter Team. “Running the team is truly a joy and a blessing to be part of! The members have created such a close community-I’m really proud of that.” Recently, she made the decision to help start up and run the Facebook Fans of Etsy Street Team (FFEST) with several other women. “They are all very talented and I am really excited about this new venture!”

I just got my blocking board in from Knit Picks (it’s fabulous by the way; highly suggest it to anyone) and I now have Sleepy Monkey blocking.  Once I pinned it all down, the pattern and the colors really popped!

Never mind the mess around it.  I have to do it in the office so I could close the door and keep the kitten out because she’ll destroy it and it’s really cramped in there.