Etsy Sale

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This week I'm holding a Spring Cleaning Sale in my Etsy Shop! Use the Coupon Code "SPRING" to get 25% off everything in the shop! Here are a few samples...





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Heart-Balming

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It was Valentine's Day Eve, and not being very good at planning ahead for holidays, I had a sudden urge to crochet some hearts to share with the world. I made six of them while binge-watching MadMen (I can't explain), and a few more the next morning, with a vague plan to give them to random strangers throughout the day.


Two days earlier, I had a knock at the door, and there was a total stranger, a neighbor from a block or so up the street, holding two packages of mine that I'd assumed were missing forever. This made three rather important items our new mail delivery person had dropped off at the wrong address. One was our rent deposit check. I was getting grumpy.

I checked into filing an official complaint with the USPS, and then considered calling or visiting the local post office to grumble in person. And then, while working on a nice pink heart on Valentine's Day morning, it occurred to me to try being nice first.

I pulled out my good thank you notes, handmade by my…
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fear of thumbs

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I've been knitting fingerless gloves for years. Completely fingerless - as in no little thumb-sleeve either, although I would have liked having the thumbs. Truth is, I was afraid of thumbs, or the making of them in gloves. For some silly reason, I didn't think I could do it. Sheesh. Maybe I should have tried...

Well, a new year is a good time to banish old fears. I finally decided it was time to tackle my thumbophobia, and went in search of an easy pattern, which I quickly found at Hand Made Rukodelky. (Thank you!!!) I printed the pattern, gathered my yarn and needles, and had these beauties finished in just a few hours.


The pattern was so easy to follow, I actually worked on them mostly in public, and at one point, with beer in the mix too. No problem.


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cats are not dogs, and how tangling string untangles frustration

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As Airbnb hosts, we have lots of lovely interactions with guests while they're here, and with potential guests making inquiries before they book. I try to be really clear in our listing, about the house, amenities, and rules. The trouble is, some people would rather not actually read the listing, or if they do, they just ignore the parts they don't like. Oy. I mean really, who thinks cats and dogs are the same thing?

Today I got a booking for two nights in March, from a very nice-sounding couple coming down from Canada. They were very excited to stay here at Mermaid's Nest, and everything was great... until I got to the part in their message about bringing their cat...

Ruh roh...

I had stated very clearly in our listing that we allow small dogs. Cats were not mentioned. Neither were goats, snakes, skunks, or rhinos, because I figured people would see that part about dogs, and at least ask before assuming all other animals were welcome. Oh, silly me. Apparently these nice p…
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yarn that speaks for itself

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I've had this amazing ball of hand-dyed-and-spun yarn for months. It was made, and given to me, by my friend Valerie, which makes it even more special. I've moved it around the house, looked at it, held it, and asked it what it wanted to be, but it's been very quiet. I've loved it so much just as a ball of yarn, I was in no hurry to knit it into something else. Here it is with my great-grandmother's hand carved crochet hook. So much wonderfulness. Maybe sometimes yarn can just be yarn, at least for a while.


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my big reader's wrap

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The Oregon Coast is chilly in winter (and much of the rest of the year), and I wanted to knit something I could snuggle up in rather than turning the heat up, up, up. A wrap seemed good. And I wanted pockets too, because they're useful, and because women have historically been deprived of pockets. True story. Look it up.

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