Thursday Chat: Meet Tracey!

This week, I have the pleasure of interviewing Tracey from Tracey Knits. This is how we got on!

What got you into knitting?

"About 6 years ago my best friend told me she was pregnant. I decided at that moment that I had to give her a handmade gidt as a present. I was already a painter and photographer, but I what I wanted to make was a blanket that the baby and his mother would treasure forever. I learned how to knit just to make that blanket for that baby."

What was the hardest technique for you to learn?

"So far the hardest thing for me to learn has been patience. Any project that takes more than a week or two to complete is a true test. I have completed 2 sweaters and a few blankets, but they have all been done with little interruptions just so I can feel like I have finished something." 

What is your favourite item to knit?

"I would have said in the past that I am a sock knitter, but I am not sure that is true any longer. I really love designing new golf club coves, which I sell the patterns for in my shop." 

Which knitted item that you made, are you most proud of?

"I am most proud of an entrelac blanket that now sits on the couch in my living room. It was a gift I made for my grandmother a few months before she died. It was her favourite colour, grey, and she would use it all the time. I still call it grandma's blanky to my children."

 We hear you have a shop, tell us about it!

"Yes, I do! Tracey Knits sells my hand-knit golf club covers and sports themed items, as well as the patterns to make them yourself. I have been making and selling my knitting online since the summer of 2009 with some unbelievable success. I even had the honour of being  featured in an article on CNBC's website! I started selling the patterns for my items recently so that other knitters could enjoy making my items as much as I do."

Which is your favourite item that you stock?

"My favourite item I have designed has got be Yoda. He has gotten RAVE reviews. He is just so cute and green, and those big ears are adorable!"

What got you into blogging?

"I started blogging as a way to promote my business. I was 'advised' that it was a great way for customers to get to know you and think of you as a friend when they need something that you offer. While I still blog, the subject matter is very different then when I started. I used to write exclusively about Etsy, and now I often share funny stories about personal experiences and advise as well."

What are your blogging goals for 2011?

 "I want to connect with my readers this year. Figure out what makes them tick and keep them laughing and coming back for more. I think I am well on my way to making that happen."

When you're not knitting, how else do you spend your time?

"Most of my non-knitting time is spent with my two young children. Boy, do they require a lot of work! I have taught them how to knit, and during this past Christmas rush they were nice enough to try and help me with some of the simpler parts of my projects. At the very least it kept them out of my hair for an hour or two."

Who or what inspires you in life?

"I find most of my inspiration from necessity. They saying necessity is the mother of invention should be my motto. That necessity generally comes from my friends and family, so I guess I could point to them as well." 

A big thank you to Tracey for letting us find out what makes her tick! Don't forget to pop over to her blog and shop, you won't be disappointed! Tune in next week when I'll be interviewing Jasmine from Jasmine's Crafts.

How Sweet!

Big, Big, Big, Big, thank you to MissHSoo from My Hook & Yarn Adventure for awarding me with the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award! 

I would like to thank MissHSoo for the nomination, my Mother for always being there, Blogger for hosting my blog, my Mum again for just taking the scones out of the oven....

So to officially accept the award, I need to tell you 7 random facts you didn't know about me, and pass this award onto 8 other sweet bloggers. Here goes!

Random Facts

1. I love tennis. My favourite player? Rafael Nadal of course! 
2. I have never travelled outside of the United Kingdom! 
3. I think this advert is the sweetest! 
4. My favourite breed of dog is English Springer Spaniel.
5. Pig Shot is my favourite game on the iTouch! 
6. Abby from Virtual Stitch is my best friend!
7. I can't listen to this song without singing along! 

Sweet Bloggers!

1. Abby from Virtual Stitch
2. Jasmine from Jasmine's Crafts
3. Tami from Tami's Amis and Other Creations
4. Chrissy from Stitched Together 
5. Natalie from Misadventures in Crafts
6. Tink from Master of a Thousand Things
7. Contessa from Writing, Yarn, Pucks & Diapers

Thanks again MissHSoo! See you all tomorrow for WIP Wednesday! :)

H is for... Hairband

If you popped over last Wednesday, you'll have seen the progress I was making on my first ever headband. A few hours later though, I decided that it was too fat for my little head and frogged it.

On Friday night, while waiting for The Kennedy's to start, I decided to make my own hairband pattern. And here, just for you, is my second ever pattern!

Little Miss Hair Band 

Click for bigger picture!

You Will Need:

Small skein of DK Yarn

Size 4mm Knitting Needles

Scissors

Darning Needle

Instructions for Hair Band:

1. Cast on 7 stitches
2. Moss Stitch (K1,P1) until work measures 50cm, or desired length
3. Cast Off
4. Sew ends together using Whip Stitch 
5. Weave in left over ends

For the Bow:

1. Cast on 11 stitches
2. Moss Stitch (K1, P1) until work measures 5 1/2 - 6 centimetres. 
3. Cast off, leaving a long end (about 10cm)
4. Weave in ends
5. Fold work in half
6. Sew up all sides with matching yarn using Whip Stitch, so you are left with a long rectangle
7. Take your darning needle and matching yarn, and run the yarn through the centre of the rectangle from side to side. 
8. Gather up the knitting to form the bow. (You may need to run the yarn back and forth several times to get a good shape)
9. Sew onto your hair band.
10. Pop it on and strut your stuff! 

So there you have it! The pattern can be found here on Ravelry, if you want to add it to your queue etc! I am trying to uploading a PDF as we speak so you can easily download and print it off! 

Check out more 'H is for...' posts by clicking the links below! =)

100 Words 100 Days

While on my blogging break, I found this great meme called 100 Words, 100 Days. The basic idea behind this meme is that you make a list of 100 words (quickly, without much, or no thought - sounds easy but is actually quite difficult!), then for the next 100 blog posts, whether it be daily, weekly, monthly or sporadically (I'll be trying to do this every Saturday!) you take the next word from the list and write about it (e.g, pizza, write about your favourite flavour, best place to get it etc).

Simples!

Or at least it sounds it, in practice it may prove difficult, especially since the words I've chosen are very.... random. (I can only take about 31% of the credit for these words, Katy, my wonderfully random sister, came up with the rest!)

I worked out that if I did one word a week, I'll be finished by 2013. Yikes. And I thought a Year of Projects would be difficult! (Check back on July 1st to find out what I'm talking about!) Once I've written a post, I'll check back here and pop the link by the word, for easy access!

Here are my list of words I'll be writing about from July 2nd 2011 - Sometime in 2013

1. Cupcake
2. Clock
3. Teddy Bear
4. Yarn
5. TV
6. Nail Varnish
7. Buttons
8. Pillows
9. Board Games
10. Trees
11. Lavender
12. Shakespeare
13. Stationary
14. Procrastination
15. Lilo
16. Books
17. Socks
18. Storage
19. Dispraised
20. Holiday
21. Make-Up
22. Needles
23. Whimsical
24. Rain
25. Banana
26. Polish
27. Canary
28. Sienna
29. Deckchair
30. Music
31. Hot Chocolate
32. Fluff
33. Evil
34. Crazed
35. White
36. Black
37. Cheese
38. Guacamole
39. Fringe
40. Fierce
41. Tango
42. Orange
43. Reflection
44. Sugar
45. Banoffee
46. Smell
47. Freaky Friday
48. Breakfast
49. Biscuits
50. Cake
51. Scrabble
52. Hilarious
53. Outspoken
54. Leap
55. Faith
56. Strength
57. Hope
58. Stone
59. Cross Stitch
60. Shadow
61. Nutmeg
62. Jelly Beans
63. Failure
64. Lemon Meringue Pie
65. Knitting
66. Cheeseburgers
67. Car
68. Buzz Lightyear
69. Carrier Bag
70. Doodle
71. Embroidery
72. Titanic
73. Crying
74. Forest
75. Glasses
76. Cupids Arrow
77. Uneven
78. Annoying
79. Crochet
80. Walking
81. Fruit
82. Interesting
83. Lush
84. Ninety-Nine
85. Frogs
86. Ribbon
87. Despicable
88. Bread
89. Curls 
90. Dazzling
91. Forever
92. Ice Cream
93. Leaving
94. Bliss
95. Chocolate
96. Love
97. Century
98. Evidence
99. Outift
100. Experience

FO Friday: Aneeta Patel Fever!

As I eagerly await Mr.Postman to deliver my soft and squishy parcel, here are my Finished Objects of the week! Alright so I'm cheating, I didn't finish them this week, they were finished about 2 weeks ago when I fled the blogging scene.

Enough with the chit chat, here they are! (The pictures are really bad today, sorry. Camera was being a naughty boy)

First up is a pair of Liquorice Alsorts Baby Mitts. The pattern is by Aneeta Patel, although she just does plain mittens, I decided to spice it up my doing two! They don't look that great in the photograph, but they are very cute in real life.

Next up is another pair of mitts from the same pattern, but this time in plain red! 

I decided to make a matching pair of booties! The pattern is by Aneeta Patel, and she has the pattern for free here if you'd like to give it a bash! I decided to do the last few rows in stocking stitch, for a cute rolled edge! 

And the last FO from when I was sick with Aneeta Patel fever is my Phone Cover, which she calls a Phone Home. Although I like to call it my iTee! I'm not that pleased with it, but it does what its meant to so I can't really complain.

Want to thank you all for the lovely comments you left me on Wednesday, I'm very pleased so many people share the Moss Stitch love! I did finish my headband, but if you want to see that one and others I've been working on, you'll have to pop over on Monday, when H is for... Headbands! I'll be posting again tomorrow with a brand new meme I'm taking part in, so don't forget to come and pay a visit!

For now though, go get your weekly FO fix over at Tami's Amis! 

Thursday Chat: Meet Natalie!

This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Natalie from Misadventures in Craft. Here is how we got on!

What got you into knitting?

"It was a bit of a whim really! I was in Edinburgh while my boyfriend was at a conference. It started to rain so shopping became less fun and I decided to head back to the hotel until he got back. I stumbled across a 'how to knit this scarf' kit and decided that would kill some time! I made the scarf, which I don't actually like, and decided that this was something I could really get in to. One of the reasons I carried on was so that I could knit a Christmas present for my Mum. I always make things for people's presents, and used to make a food hamper with handmade chutneys, truffles, all sorts of things, that my parents looked forward to all year. After my Dad passed away, it wasn't the same and Mum didn't want to be opening the same type of present that they used to have. But I couldn't not make something, so I knitted instead!"

What is your favourite item to knit?

"Hmmm, interesting question... I haven't been knitting long enough to have favourites yet I don't think!  started less than a year ago, and haven't made many of the same types of things (you can see my finished item list here). I loved making my first pair of socks, I am working on my second pair and have yarn for at least 4 pairs waiting in my stash, so I may have to say socks! I have so many more plans, and so many patterns to try out (I mean, I haven't even knitted a hat yet!) so I have plenty of time to start developing favourites"

Is there anything you've sworn never to knit again?

"Well, I keep cursing my Clapotis but that probably has more to do with the fact that I'm knitting it on a deadline than anything else! The scarf I made for my Mum was the second thing I cast on, and I didn't have any experience of different yarns or anything like that, so I picked up something that I thought looked lovely in the ball. The colours were great, it felt nice and soft... it just so happened to be eyelash yarn. Yeah, never again! It took forever, was very unpleasant to knit with and I didn't enjoy it one bit. On the plus side, it was very forgiving - the yarn covers up all of the twisted stitches, unintentional yarn overs and variations in gauge! So, anything in eyelash yarn is in my 'never again' list."  

Is there any item you'd love to be able to knit, but currently can't?

"I don't know if I'd say can't (at infant school I was always told 'there's no such thing as can't, you just haven't tried hard enough yet!') but I'm not good at lace. At all! I tried making a Wisp, which went badly wrong, and I'm not patient enough to do it all properly. Having said that, the bottom of my hooded cardigan is fir cone lace, which worked out well (with only one rogue yarn over!) but that was in Aran (worsted) weight, I'm not up to trying teeny lace on teeny needles with teeny thin yarn again just yet!"

Ever attempted crochet? If so, how did you get on?

"I haven't, although I'm sure I should at least get some of the basics down - lots of patterns seem to call for crochet edging. I do have one hook - which is currently exclusively used for picking up dropped stitches!"

How would you sum up your blog in two words?

"2 words?! That's not a lot at all...

Creative and Impatient"

Who is your favourite blogger, and why?

"I don't know if I can answer that! There are loads of blogs that I read and enjoy, for many different reasons, so I don't know if I could pick just one. I do like Ysolda's blog, her post about what's included in Little Red in the City made me buy the book! I never really got into reading the Yarn Harlot blog (shhh!), but that's probably because I like lots of pictures to go with the words usually." 

We all have a post we are particularly proud of, which is yours and why?

"Oooooh, good question! I really like re-reading my archives (wow, that makes me sound conceited doesn't it!) and there are quite a few posts that I particularly like, for different reasons. The day 5 post for Knitting and Crochet Blog Week (2011) was a big success, the title of the topic was 'And Now For Something Completely Different' with the aim of blogging in a different way to normal. My post was simply a selection of images that I represent me; some photos that I've taken, some that boyfriend had taken and some random images that said what I wanted them to say. I really enjoyed putting the post together, and it is my second highest viewed page ever.

My highest viewed post, is surprisingly a sewing project rather than a knitting one, my little notions bag. And my highest ever commented post (I really do love comments!) was a work in progress Wednesday, and I'm sure it was the colour of my sock yarn that got everyone talking!"

What inspires you to write?

"I've always loved to write, and have made up stories in my head for as long as I can remember. I started my blog because I live over 2 hours away from my Mum and wanted to keep her up to date with what I was making! Some days I'm inspired by what I'm working on, other days it's by what I've bought/done recently and sometimes I just have a bunch of thoughts in my head to get down on paper. Boyfriend always encourages me to write and was so pleased when I started a blog because it meant I'd be writing regularly. I've written 2 children's stories, for his kids, and I also have ideas for 2 novels stored in my head - but then, doesn't everybody?!"

 If you could live in any other time, when would it be and why? (E.g Ancient Egypt, Tudor times etc)

"It's funny that you put Ancient Egypt in the question, because that is exactly what I'd choose. I am fascinated by Egyptology (nearly did a degree in it fact!). I've been to Egypt 4 times, visited the pyramids and sphinx, cruised down the Nile, visited the temples, the Valley of the Kings, the incredible Abu Simbel...

There are other time periodss that I'd love to see too (not sure about living in any of them though) but I think it depends on which social class I could be in. Lower social classes had a pretty rough time throughout history, and women didn't fare particularly well. We have things pretty good now, in terms of our rights and freedoms, so I think I'm better off where I am now!"

Well, I hope you enjoyed the interview with Natalie, because I certainly did! (and I'm sure like me you're very jealous of all those wonderful trips to Egypt!) Don't forget to visit her blog, and don't forget to come back next Thursday, for your weekly interview fix!

WIP Wednesday: Moss Stitch Madness!

I have 40 followers. WOOOOOOOOO!

Ahem.

This week it's all about moss stitch. That lovely technique which you don't see enough of around the knitting community! 

While I was on my blogging break I decided to knit something nice and easy, something that requires no thought whatsoever. It took me a while to find a pattern that fulfilled all my needs, but I finally chose The Hot Water Bottle Cover by Aneeta Patel. I decided to use the Wisteria DK yarn I have in my yarn box, as I doubt I'll use it for anything else!

Yes I know what your thinking. "Knitting a hot water bottle cover in June, madness!"


Well I tell you what's madness. The English weather at the moment. One minute its absoloutely chucking it down with rain, with talk of a thunder storm, 20 minutes later the sun is shining. Despite the sunshine though, it's freezing.Which means this weeks knit is going to come in very handy.

It's a lovely, relaxing knit and it's perfect knit for watching Wimbledon! It's coming along well, just have 30cm of Stocking Stitch do to (what joy!) some more Moss Stitch, and then I'm done! I'm hoping I'll get it finished by Friday :)

My other WIP for this week is a a headband! While I was interview Jasmine from Jasmine's crafts (you'll be able to read that in a few weeks time!) she was telling me about knitted headbands. I always have my hair up in a ponytail, so a knitted hairband would be perfect for me, why didn't I think of it before?!

I flicked through my knitting magazines (I normally don't like them, but have recently found Let's Knit and Let's Get Crafting, which I adore!) and I found a knitted headband in the June issue of Let's Get Crafting!

It's a very simple patter, cast on 15 stitches then moss stitch until its 50cm or as long as you want it, then sew it up!

The only problem I had in the pattern, was that the flowers for the headband were all crocheted. And I am an absolute FAIL when it comes to crochet, (I did try at the weekend, didn't go so well!) so I had to again flick through the magazine to see if they had a knitted flower! After much searching I finally found what I was looking for!

The next big question was, what yarn to use?!

After a long search in my Yarn Box, I found a small skein of Turquoise Summer yarn which came free with the magazine, I decided to use that for the headband. For the flower, I chose to use a small skein of White Summer yarn (from the same mag) and a small ball of Turquoise DK yarn I had lying around from the Baby Knits I did a while ago.

For the cast on, I decided to use the Old Norwegian method I learnt at the weekend, as its a strong, flexible cast on, which will make it perfect for all the pulling and tugging it'll go through. It looks like so:

I sat and knitted while listening to the wonderful BBC Radio One, Chris Moyles show, which was hilarious as usual. And this is where I am thus far:

I'm pretty confident of getting it finished today, I've already got plans on how to design my second one!
Head on over the WIP Party over at Tami's to check out more lovely posts!

Tunes on Tuesday: Fear

People say I'm brave, but I'm not really. If I was brave I wouldn't feel nauseous every time I hold a sewing needle or make excuses when someone dares me to climb a tree. Sure I put up with a lot of pain, but that's not bravery, it's dealing with it. 

So when Bertie chucked out the song Fear by OneRepublic at me, I knew that I had to tell you all about my knitting fears and anxieties.

I think my biggest fear of all when it comes to knitting, is learning to knit with DPNs. I've watched countless amounts of cast-on videos, plus I have the book Getting Started Knitting Socks and the Big Book of Knitted Monsters, which also teach you how to use DPNs and circular needles.

Despite having all the materials and knowledge I need, when I actually take the time to sit down and attempt to knit in the round, my heart starts thumping, my palms become sweaty and I forget everything I've learned. My yarn ends up in knots as I try and cast on for the millionth time and with each attempt I get more and more frustrated. The heated session finally ends with me saying 'I hate knitting'.

So question to you, my dear, oh knowledgable readers, is, what is the secret to mastering this terrifying technique of awesomeness? Must you be born with this god-given ability, or is just plain perseverance?

G is for... Gardening

I'm hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooome!

I have good news! First of all, as you can probably tell, I am feeling so much better. It was nice just to take two weeks off and not have to worry about posts and comments, interviews and the like. It gave me time to just rest, which I did, and it has paid off. Thank goodness. 

Before I start todays blog though, I need to give a shout out to the wonderful Natalie over at Misadventures in Craft for hosting Learn Your ABC while I was away, it was really kind of her and amazingly helpful.

So today, I decided that G is for Gardening. 

I like gardening. I'm no good at it, but I like it. I love the final result more than anything, just to be able to sit in the back garden with my knitting and say 'look at what I made'. 

My favourite thing about gardens, ultimately, is flowers. And what I love more than sitting and looking at flowers, is photographing them. And over the years, in my opinion anyway, I've managed to get some nice shots! So today I thought I would share them with you, enjoy!

I took a snap of this daffodil down at Cotehele house in Cornwall. It is apart of the National Trust, so everything there is kept in tip-top condition, and the flowers there are absolutely gorgeous!

The next few are ones I snapped while at the Eden Project (again in) Cornwall. The Eden Project is a global garden inside and out of these amazing domes. Which look a little something like this:

I highly recommend visiting if you're in the area, and make sure you go for the entire day as a couple hours will fly by! Here are a few of the flowers I snapped while there!

This photograph was taken down at Buckland Abbey in Devon, which was home to Sir Francis Drake! It was amazing walking through both the house and the gardens, my friends and I even got to dress up, and of course I was stuck as the blind peasant, (they made me take my glasses of, there argument being 'they didn't have them in the olden days')

So there you have it. If you'd like to find out what others reckon G is for, click the links in the Mr.Linky below! 

I am stopping blogging until further notice, as my M.E has grown worse, and to be honest I no longer enjoy blogging. I started to blog because I wanted to share my knitting with friends and family around the world, now it has turned into people constantly emailing me, claming they have the rights to ideas I personally came up with, ya da ya da.

Anyway, I may be back in a few weeks, but for now it is farewell.

Thursday Chat: Meet Tami!

Welcome to Thursday Chat, a brand new feature on An Accidental Knitter! For all those who don't already know, Thursday Chat is where every week (on Thursday!) I interview a knitting or crochet blogger/designer/yarn shop owner. I'm full booked for the next 3 months, but if you are interested in being interviewed and you meet the above criteria, drop me a message either on Ravelry, or email me at: memyselfandknitting@rocketmail.com

So to kick start the proceedings, I managed to get an interview with Tami Klockau from Tami's Amis & Other Creations. Here is how we got on!

What made you learn to knit and crochet?

"I tried to learn how to crochet from my Mom years ago (around 2002-2003), but ended up just getting frustrated. I'm left handed, and she's right handed, so I was never able to watch her and mimic her movements. I gave up and didn't give it another thought. In December of 2009, I just woke up one day  with the urge to make something. I'm an artist, but put down the pencil and paints for writing several years back. I guess my love of color was what spurred me on to try again. I asked around the workplace to see if anyone knew how to crochet, but working in a male dominated industry (make video games), everyone looked at me with a blank stare. The next weekend, determined to learn, I bought a skein of Red Heart Super Saver yarn, a size J hook and sat down to YouTube. Luckily, I found videos on how to crochet left handed. 

As far as knitting, I just started in November 2010 (as some of you know). I wanted to learn how to knit for a few reasons. One, I was sick of going into LYS (Local Yarn Stores) and having people ask how long I'd been knitting for. I hated the way crocheters were looked down upon. I felt out of place not knowing how to knit, or not welcomed. I also wanted to make garments like swearers and socks. I know you can crochet those items as well, but knitting just feels more store bought of real. Since then, I haven't been able to put the hook (and now needles) down."

 What is your favourite item to make?

"This a hard question. I LOVE making amigurumis (which is one of the reasons I wanted to learn how to crochet), but right now I'd say socks. I just finished my first sock and loved the process. It almost seems like magic knitting the heel flap, heel turn and gusset. The great thing is now that I know how to knit socks, I can finally use the large amount of sock yarn I have in my stash!"

What has been your biggest success?

"At this point, I'd have to say the amazing community built through Work In Progress Wednesday (WIPW) and FO Friday.  If we're talking about skills, I think how fast I've generally picked up knitting has been a big success. I surprise myself whenever I finished a knitting project and it actually looks good with pretty even stitches. And for projects? I'd say Roger, my Rebecca Danger knitting monster. I had to learn so many different knitting skills to finish him, and even put it down for several months due to frustration. I'm proud that I picked it up again and kept going."

 Not everything turns out as we hoped, tell us about some of your disasters!

"Like everyone, I've had my fair share. You're really going to make me relive them? LOL."

"When I first started crocheting, I wanted to make amigurumis like I mentions. For some reason, I crochet CRAZY tight, so tight that sometimes it's hard to put the hook into the stitches. I started making a Tortoro with a grey Red Hear Super Save yarn that I had to search all over for. For some reason, none of the stores I looked in had this particular grey and when I finally found it, I started right away. I ended up trying to crochet the poor thing SO tight, that it was taking me hours just to make a little progress, and my hands ached like no other. Seriously, it was so tight, the thing could stand on its own before even finishing or stuffing him. It was like a sculpture. Funny enough, I just frogged it the other day when I was re-organizing my stash. It was crocheted so tight, I had to just cut off the yarn I had crocheted with from the rest of the ball because it was way too crinkled to do anything with."

"As far as knitting, since I'm a fairly new knitting I've had a few. I bought this chunky wool yarn to make a scarf with. it was a basic ribbed  pattern, but considering it was pretty much the first thing I'd ever knitting, it didn't go well. After 3 froggings, I gave up. I was using terrible Clover bamboo needles I bought at a box store that had no point, and the yearn was way too fuzzy. It probably would have helped too, if I were to realize that I had to bring the yarn forward to do a purl stitch and bring it back to knit." Shakes head.

How did you get into dyeing?

"As I mentioned before, I gave up painting (and drawing) several years ago. I have an art degree and even taught art at a studio for a few years to all ages. I think I missed the act of mixing paints, and just the beautiful colors I could create in a painting. I guess you can say I now use yarn as my canvas. I started simple, using a few colors here and there with Fisherman's wool. I was hooked! I went and bought every Kool-aid color I could find and the 12 color Wilton's Icing Dye set. I started reading all about different ways to dye. I'm lucky that all the years of color theory have come in use!"

What inspired you to start blogging?

 "I had a writing blog at the time, but it was with a few other writers, so I felt like I needed another blog to share the other creative side of me. I seem to always jump into something with both feet. LOL! I got the idea for the blog well before actually launching it. I just felt like I needed to to get a little better at crocheting before showing anything off. My first blog post was August 2, 2010. I got a few comments, which made me SO excited. We had a lot of readers/followers for the writing blog I was involved in, but not many seemed to comment on our posts. I loved how responsive the crochet/knitting community was and how quick they were to take in a new blog into their daily or weekly routine."

How did the ideas for WIP Wednesday and FO Friday come about?

"I originally started WIPW because my friend and I thought it would be fun to share what we were working on and it would spur us on to actually feeling guilty when we stopped working on a project. I never dreamt WIPW and now FO Friday would grow the way it has. Once WIPW took off, it seemed like we needed an outlet to share the projects that we had finished. I posted a poll on my blog asking if anyone would participate in a FO Friday, even though they were already committing to doing WIPW. A few people said yes, so FO Friday was born . I look forward each week to sharing my projects and being able to share in the fun (stress, frustration, elation) of other people's projects. I feel like I know most of the participants and like I have friends across the world now. I also love that we have new people sharing their links each week. It's a great way to find new projects to add to your queue, and like I said, I feel pressured (in a good way) to have new projects (and finished projects) each week."

We hear you have a shop, tell us about it, and how it got started!

"I do! It's called Candy Skein  and I officially opened the virtual doors May 3, 2011. Right now I sell all weights of yarn, in fun colorways inspired by both candy and drinks, but hope to expand to handmade stitch markers and other items. I try to come up with colorways that I love (which is hard to then sell them since I'd kill to keep most of them) and use all techniques (kettle dyed, hand painted, self striping). I also have a section on the Candy Skein site where customers can view all colorways that exist in all weights, so if you see a color you'd love in lace weight, for example, that isn't available at that time you can just contact me and I can custom dye it for you. I plan to continue to release new colorways in all weights (especially in the coming weeks) and I also just got the tools to do larger batches of dye lots for those of you who want to make bigger items like sweaters. If there is a color you'd like in larger dye lot quantities, please let me know! I ship domestic and international!"

"To be honest, I would have never dreamt I would be opening a yarn store a year ago. As I mentioned above, I started dyeing yarn just for fun, needing an outlet to use my love of color. There was such a great response on my blog, and I started dyeing way too much yarn to keep (is there such a thing? If you live in a small place like I do, there is!) I got the idea to try to sell a few skeins. I didn't seriously start thinking of opening the shop until around the holidays last year. I'll never forget, my husband and I took a trip up the California coast the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve to visit the tiki bars and LYS that area has to offer. We were playing around with different names, as I sat with my phone typing our ideas into Google to see if someone had already come up with the same name. It was a cold, rainy afternoon (is there any other kind in San Francisco during the winter?) and we were having lunch at Trader Vic's (we're HUGE into tiki) and my husband got the idea to call the shop Candy Skein. I knew I wanted the word skein in the name, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE candy (seriously, if I could live on one thing in this world it would be candy and cake). It seemed like a perfect fit. It gave me a chance to have colorway ideas built into the name, and using bright fun colors. The name wasn't taken, so as soon as we got home, I made sure to grab it on any site I could think of to make sure it wasn't taken from under my nose. I built the website and my amazing husband did all the graphics (it pays off to be married to an artist!) that you seen on my business cards/yarn tags. The rest is history as they say."

A big thank you to Tami for allowing us to find out a little bit more about her. If you have any questions for Tami, about her shop etc please email her at: candyskein@gmail.com

Tune in next week when I'll be interviewing Natalie from Misadventures in Craft.