Teasers!

Spring always brings me lots of good ideas. Reining them in is a whole other dragon to slay. But that's ok I still have plenty of creative on the way!

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Rosette Bobbies!?

Sneak peak! You'll see these and a few more in a couple weeks. I am pretty excited about them I think they are adorable. Along with these I'll be introducing a few more things.

The last few days have been a hurricane size brainstorm. Out of it I have a hand full of ideas and 2 patterns already on the way (another one rolling around in my head), as well as a fun and easy pattern/tutorial. I hope you look forward to those as much as I do.

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Happy Easter hunting! (No fools about it)

Get your virtual baskets ready! starting this Sunday, April 1st and running through Easter Sunday; my etsy shop will be hosting an Easter egg hunt! Of course it's not your usual mad dash in the tall grass but, I bet it will be just as exciting. And no this isn't really just an big April fools... in case you were wondering.

How it works:
- Each day 1 item in my shop will have an Easter egg somewhere among its photos.
- The picture with the egg will also have a coupon code for you.
- This code is only active for 24 hours and can only be used on that specific item.
- Each day the egg will move and once found/purchased the egg for that day will be gone! So don't forget to check your favorite items!

The coupon code will give you a whopping 30% off AND free shipping! Could it be much better? I'm excited about this and hope to see you all participating. Happy Easter and Happy Hunting!

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Something Old, Something New

Yay! Put up a new background and banner picture! As I am sure you will notice it says "PKmmminty & Sweetee.etsy.com". This is my attempt to combine the two entities into one. I like them both independently and it wouldn't feel right to me to combine them and change to one collective name (maybe later on some time) so for now they will run in tandem on blog and twitter but they will only be in one shop which is sweetee.etsy.com.

I've been thinking about it for a while and I've come up with what I think is a cute idea in honor of breast cancer awareness and research. I am still designing the packaging so pics and information to come because there will be a donation made from the sale of each.

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Renaissance Woman

I have thought long and hard on the subject and decided that I do want to be a renaissance women, I want to do a little but of it all without having to fit into the norm that everyone wants me too.

While reading lots of posts on Etsy and joining live events in the virtual labs. There is plenty of good advice to go around with 80% of that advice being that you should find one niche and stick with it. I find this hard and limiting. Maybe I want my niche to be that I have a little of everything. This may come back to bite me in the ass but I guess that is just something I will have to deal with when I come to it.

So with that in mind I am going to bring my original Etsy shop -Sweetee- back and mold it together with PK.mmminty. This week and next concludes fall semester after which I will have some free time before Christmas to have some photo shoots (I hope). I know I make a lot of pie crust promises but I hope you will look forward to this as much as I am.

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Giveaway Winners!

Are you excited?? I am! Ok so you know the process, i pledge to you honesty. I rechecked my running list to be sure i knew everyone's number of entries. There was a total of 21 Entrants and a total of 42 entries between them all. All names were written in pencil on squares of paper that were all the same size, then balled up and tossed in a jar. They were shaken and stirred. My three year old was the one to reach in and randomly hand me three with no hesitation. The winners are placed by number of entries, so the one with the most will be in 1st place.

Are you ready to see the winners? Ok here there are! In this order.
1st: Turtlevillage 2nd: ItsfromArizona 3rd: CraftyJemima

Yah! Give the winners a round of applause :D Ok winners, feel free to take sometime and browse my shop. You may choose any item you like, either tweet me the item of your choice or leave a comment below. If there is a discrepancy i will let you know and the item will go to the higher rank winner.

Everyone else who participated big thank yous and don't be disappointed your name will remain in the pot for the next giveaway! Show the winners some tweet love?

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Happy Friday!

It's a beautiful Friday morning! I'm sipping an eggnog latte, updating the giveaway entries and looking over my calender. There are 10 more days to enter the giveaway, which means 10 more days to tweet tweet tweet for even MORE entries. I am really excited about it so don't miss out!

I've added a new listing as well. The Ring Around the Posie Hat in Bluebell. So sweet! Love it, love it! The next color in line i am actually almost done with and it is a darker purplie color, i am trying to decide whether to call it plum or fig. Maybe I'll run a poll.

Also I'm offering free shipping this weekend in the shop along with the 10% + $3 sale! Good deals, better jump on it!

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Quick Update!

Hey everyone one! Things are going good so far, trying to spread the word around. Don't forget that every tweet gets you another entry, so far Itsfromarizona has the most. I have a few items that I am finishing up that should be out before the end of the giveaway. If all goes as planned at least.

I am going to amend that you can use whatever message you like for your tweet, i mean word it however you want. Just as long as it has '@peppermintknits' and the bit.ly link so I can keep track.

As always i am here if you have questions, again good luck and thanks for participating!

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Autumn and Posies

Anyone that has known me for any length of time will know that fall is my favorite season and with that a heap of love for the holiday's (which by the way I can't wait until the welcomed cool days of fall). Perhaps that is where my love for knitting comes from. Since deciding to group and release my new projects together I've been making a goal of building stock. The idea of have "stock" was always something that scared me, even if i wouldn't admit it before. Because it meant spending a chunk of money and taking a chance that it would be along time before i made that money back. It was also an excuse for me to tell myself that this wasn't really my "business" but something i did for fun. But the truth is my own business it what i've wanted for a long time. So it's time to invest some money and the extra time to build up that stock. I also took some time this week to explore better ideas for how i'd like to wrap/package my items to ship. A few things i have firmly decided on like investing in some woven labels, the rest still a bit up in the air. Most all of it has to be ordered and put together and i know my customers will appreciate the personal touch.

The new items are due to be released the last week of August or the first week of September depending how things go. My favorite is a hat I've decided to call Posie. I am super excited about this one, it is just too cute. I will post some teasers this week. I will also be bringing out some arm warmers to match the luxury neck warmer, can I tell you this yarn is just delicious. I'll also have a few simple scarves.

On a random tangent, I found (quite accidentally) one day while having a Nutella craving that a smear of it between 2 vanilla wafers tastes amazingly like a Pepperidge Farm Milano cookie. Then I got this crazy idea that we should put together a bunch and dip them in white chocolate. Talk about creating a new weakness! When i get around to putting those together I'll let you know how they turned out.

UPDATE! Sept 20, 2009: The Posie hat is finally out! Sorry it took so long, my timeline got thrown off with all my school stuff. Without further delay here it is!

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I'd like Neapolitan please!

It's a little overdue and a lot of cuteness. This might just be my personal favorite so far. Ok enough talking here it is!



The baby version will be discounted because I was experimenting with the colors and it's not exactly how I will be making them in the future. I've also decided to change the ribbing a little and make the hat a little more like a tam. My plan is to work on a whole troop of Bee My Honey hats with the changes I've made to the pattern. Then some time near the end of the summer have a sale on the old style just in time to post all the new ones for Fall.

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Making the Switch

I have been an avid firefox user for quite some time but lately i've been having a few technical issues with it that I haven't been able to correct. Even by reinstalling so i decided to look into and try out some other browsers. Right now I'm using Flock (2.5 Beta) It's also powered by Mozilla and works very similarly, though it has add-ons that allow you to see whats happening on facebook or twitter (and others) while you're browsing. So we'll see how it goes.

In other news I've had to put the lacy gloves on hold. I found out that the cashmere blend yarn I've been using (love) has been discontinued. So the search is on for a comparable yarn. I already have a couple ideas, may just have to buy a couple different skeins and swatch in pattern. In the mean time I am reworking a neapolitan version of the Bee My Honey hat. I know I'm bad about updating but look for pictures soon!

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SEO for Etsy

I've been reading a fair amount lately on marketing, advertising and other things to help build my {tiny} business. I love my Etsy shop, truthfully I just love Etsy. I love all it has to offer as well as the standard to which it is run. Not to say that other sites in the same category are bad or not doing it right. They all have their own method, I simply prefer Etsy's method. Since opening my shop I can't tell you how valuable the emails are, especially to new sellers. I've spent this afternoon reading about SEO (search engine optimization - makes it easier for google, yahoo and other search engines to find you). I knew some about SEO previously but I hadn't realized the steps Etsy had taken to allow it's members to take full advantage of it. Tonight and tomorrow I plan to finish up tweaking in my shop. If you are interested here is the Etsy article on SEO.

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Rain and Lace

Working on these couple of projects is becoming frustrating. Possibly because of the perfectionist in me, the little critic in my head that is always most critical of the creative works I allow to come out of me. I find myself continuously frogging and starting over. As a result I feel that I can't effectively empty my soul of this creative energy, it's starting to run rampant and become destructive.

In other news I did finish the lace hand warmers I was working on. It is has been raining almost everyday here. I love rain, but it makes me quiet and thoughtful. Then I get a fair amount of static from friends about it, I can't help it if I'm an ambivert. I also decided to give ArtFire a try. I have only ever known Etsy until now, I would like to try artfire on and see how it feels, how it flows and where it takes me. I will most likely keep both however I am not completely sure I will be able to maintain both in the long run. However I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

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Plenty To Follow

Lately I've been trying to work out the kinks with the appearance of my blog and shop. I am probably shooting myself in the foot by doing that instead of concentrating more time on creating new items. There is always a wealth of creative ideas flurrying around in my head, which I am sure is common among most of us crafty types.

In honor of spring I am working on a couple lighter pieces.



Both are lacy and made with light breathable yarns rather than a heat holding wool. The first is a twist on a vine lace pattern, my dilemma with this one is whether to make it a cowl, shawl or scarf. I think that I will make it a long cowl that can be pulled down over the arm and shoulder to show off the detail.

The second is a fingerless glove. I've chosen a soft blue yarn that I love and is actually a cashmere blend. This one is taking shape as it grows on the needles and I've still not decided how I will finish off the cuff and how long it should be.

In among these I still have winter ideas popping up that I am trying to take in stride. Though winter is over I want to bring these ideas up and keep track of them. That way once fall rolls in again I'll be ready with fresh ideas.

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Update for Spring!

So I've done a good amount of flopping around in the name and location of the etsy shop and blog. However I feel confident now that this will be our home. So my first priority is to get everything connected and running. Then hopefully posting items within the next couple days. Thanks to anyone, if there is anyone... for sticking with me. I look forward to great things in the future. So here we go!

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