Etsy-fied

I've been Etsyfied! I had my first sale last week through my Etsy shop, Ellie Thouret Designs and I've been very excited about it. It's even kicked me into gear to take some decent photos of my designs to upload.

Here's a selection, let me know what you think!

I am a really big fan of websites like Etsy that encourage independent designers to share their work. I have a raft of designs to make up in the next few weeks and I hope I'll be blogging about more sales in future!

Shh! It's a secret (scarf)

Secrets are great fun, aren't they? And I've discovered that they're even more fun when you get a gift at the end! I'm talking about secret swaps of course, as I've just participated in the first round of the great 2010 Ravelry secret (and not-so-secret) scarf swap.

The basic premise is that you join the group on Ravelry, send details of your likes/dislikes (colours, styles etc.) and the moderator gives you a partner. From that point on, you know who you are knitting for, but not who is knitting for you.

Participating in this swap was an interesting exercise in choosing a style and colours for someone that I didn't know at all. All I had to go on was basic information, so it really encouraged me to be creative. I looked at a load of patterns before I found one that I thought my scarfee would like, as well as considering the right level of difficulty - after all, I've only been knitting seriously for 3 months.

Once I had settled on my pattern - the gorgeous Flame Chevron Scarf - I had so much fun picking out the yarn. I decided to go with the yarn that the pattern calls for, as I wanted the FO to resemble the photo as closely as possible, but choosing the colours was an adventure! My partner said that she liked bright colours, nothing boring, so I went for a mix of purples, blues and greens. The colours that Araucania Ranco Multy comes in are amazing and the yarn is lovely. I highly recommend it, especially as it is very affordable.

Then came the knitting, which was challenging enough to teach me new skills, but easy to memorise. I enjoyed it although it became a little repetive towards the end. I was worried that the scarf would be too short, but I needn't have been because after blocking it really grew and showed off the beautiful lace texture.

I packaged the scarf up with some Cadbury's chocolate and sent it off to my partner.

 

Then I went away for work for a week, and when I got home, this was waiting for me!

The second round kicks off on March 12 with the theme 'A Sense of Whimsy'. I have a good idea of what to make but am waiting until I get my partner before I cast on in case they hate the colour I've chosen!