I knit faster than I blog

Well, at least this week I do. Instead of uploading progress photos, I kept picking up my loom to *knit, purl, embellish, rep. from *.

I'm in crunch mode for the Threadknits contest. It's that newspaper journalist streak in me. I don't start cranking until I can really feel that deadline breathing down my neck. The adrenaline kicks in. I'll rest after March 1. All knits below will be in my Etsy shop.

RGB hat

I finished the RGB hat in one day. This was my easiest Threadknit. I did learn a key lesson about negative ease though. The 9-inch depth on the loom grew another 2 inches off the loom. But there's nothing wrong with that for people who want a big hat. I have plenty of yarn to make more in other sizes, too! If they do well, some CMYK versions will follow.

Yeah Attitude mittens

The hills are alive with the warmth of mittens! Take 2 of the Yeah Attitude mittens went quite well. I knit in winding roads and learned how to do duplicate stitch for the faces.

Romantic monster hat

This guy is going to need a little TLC before I submit him to the contest. I'm just not 100% happy with his horns or bucktooth. I followed the same pattern for both horns and they turn out different — how mean! As for the tooth, I just think it needs to instead hang down from the hat — easy fix!

Pink monster hat

This wacky children's hat has been in the shop for a lil bit but I haven't blogged about him yet. From the hair of his pompon to the points of his teeth, I love this monster. I'm hoping to borrow a toddler's head to take a model photo soon.

I have two more Threadknits to finish in the last week of February. And I think I'm keeping them to myself for now. Except for this one photo ...

Can you guess the Threadless tee design?

We interrupt this blog to bring you ...

... a shameless self promotion. A post about Threadknits FOs and Olympics WIPs will soon follow.

While this blog will continue to illustrate both my business (Etsy!) and personal (my bunny!) sides, I'm starting to draw a line between the two elsewhere.

I have whipped up a Facebook fan page for Made by Telaine. Now my shop news won't be flanked by Farmville updates. Please "fan me" if you haven't already. Or you can follow my new Twitter account for the same updates.

Exclusive deals will start appearing on both social networks in March.

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In the vein of promotion that isn't about me ... Check out a grotesquely awesome FAWM song by my husband (The Cow Exchange) and Debs! Let's Vomit Exclusively

FAWMville

Welcome to FAWMville. The songs grow in just hours or days here for February Album Writing Month and fawmers only have 28 days to harvest 14.

This season, The Cow Exchange grazes the Wikipedia fields. My husband is gobbling up snippets of articles to write songs. I think this was meant to be an easy way to write lyrics. BUT these one-liners have to fit the topic (kinda), the beat (absolutely) and even rhyme (sometimes). Maybe it's not so easy to master these crops. Just check out all the citations and the resulting lyrics for his first song "It is designed to break your heart."

While you're on the site, you can check out the likes of other veteran fawmers: Charlie Cheney, Errol, John Crossman, Nancy Rost, Debs, Phil Norman, Helen and just tons more. Just keep clicking on names and listening to songs. Some of these talented folks collaborated with The Cow Exchange last year for the SugarKrew's first hit single "Pure Cane Lover."

All of this has left me a FAWMville widow, left to keep up the homestead. Or maybe I'll just go play more of that game of a similar name.

No moo-moos here

Just more than a month ago, I met a gal named Lucie. And my sewing machine met a can of air duster.

This is me, not Lucie. But I am wearing a shirt from her shop.

Lucie was getting ready to launch an online shop for plus-size clothing. My sister was doing some fit-modeling for her and found out that Lucie needed a sewer ASAP. I am no seamstress extraordinaire but the job was simple. Stitch in some labels. And it pays nice, too — just in time for Christmas.

Since the clothing was finished, the labels often had to be sewn over seams. But the raw look worked very well for her designs. The label and lace is soft against the skin, too.

I learned a couple things early on. First, sewing machines work much nicer after getting dusted and oiled. And hey, look at all the different needle sizes for different fabrics! That was pretty nifty. Second, I am a size 1x. I knew I was fitting into women's XL for some brands these days but didn't know that XL often equaled 1x in plus size. The second lesson proved to be a bonus because Lucie needed a fit model for that size. So the hours added up and overflowed into the new year.

I'm no model but that's ok. Fit modeling isn't for the camera. This is how Lucie decides if size labels need to be adjusted and what to write on the descriptions.

Now, let's fast-forward to last week. Lucie has soft-launched her shop. And I've picked up another job. I'm helping her do a little online PR. I would never promote a product on my blog that I didn't believe in. I have so far bought and worn two super-soft, flattering shirts. So here's my pitch:

With 10 years of experience in plus-size fashion, Lucie is opening a new online shop at http://lucielu.com. Her clothes are not the typical frumpy fashion you've seen before for plus sizes. These boutique styles fit all the right curves — and your budget. I recently wore the Romantica tee out and was showered with compliments. It's worth a peek so click the link!