Little Sidekick Giveaway Winner!

And the winner is.... Cavan A!
Congratulations!
Winner has 72 hours to claim their prize, or a new winner will be chosen.

If you would like to see a public record of this drawing click here.

Thank you to all who participated! I will be having more giveaways in the future, so check in soon!

Featured Etsy Artisan - Lovely Gifts

Linda from Lovely Gifts was kind enough to grant us an interview. I learned a few new terms browsing around her shop; among them, fascinator, pomander and kissing ball, terms I may have been familiar with had I planned a wedding in the recent past.

Lovely Gifts specializes in bridal accessories, though I can easily picture her gorgeous pillows and baskets as home decor. Someone else's home, that is. Mine has children in it. Children and dogs and cats.

Can you tell us a little about yourself, and how you got started making bridal accessories?

I am married with a wonderful husband and daughter. I started making pillows after I saw a beautiful one at a store that was extremely expensive. I thought to myself, " I can do that", and my first one was so beautiful I kept going. First I made the larger ones for home decor, then the ringbearer pillows. I realized there was a market out there for unique bridal accessories. I started to sell them in boutiques and bridal salons.
I have always been creative, and once you start making things with success, you start to evolve into other areas; hence, the hair accessories.

Can you tell us a little about your creative process, and where you get your inspiration?

My creative process starts with me browsing around craft stores, picking out beautiful flowers, and thinking about what I can do with them. I have to be in that creative mood in order to make something beautiful. My favorite flowers to work with are roses and orchids. I am always trying to find the most beautiful flowers.



Do you try and stay abreast of the latest trends in the bridal world, or do you just go where your creative eye takes you? Do you find yourself browsing through the bridal magazines while in line at the grocery store or anything like that?

I do try and stay abreat of the latest trends in the bridal world. Right now fascinators are the latest rage. So I currently have a large amount of eclectic hair accessories. Whenever I have the luxury to hang out at a Barnes & Noble, I grab a couple of bridal magazines to see what the latest trends are and become inspired. Sometimes just flipping through magazines will give me an idea, coupled with some great finds, and a new item is created.

Do you still sell your items through boutiques and bridal salons, or has Etsy become an exclusive venue for your items?

I don't currently sell to bridal salons and boutiques. Shortly after I had started doing this, I moved from the East Coast to the Midwest. It took me awhile to get back into the swing of things as I was not happy with the move. When things got back to normal, I found that I was too far from any of the bridal salons and boutiques that may have been interested. That's when I discovered Etsy!


How do you promote your work?

It took some time before I realized you had to list items frequently in order to get noticed. I try to participate in the blogs and forums as much as possible and make use of Twitter to help promote my shop. It is not near enough, but it has helped a lot since I have started doing these things. In addition, I am always making new items. I have been dragging my feet regarding other social networks like facebook, and I know having a blogspot seems to help a lot of sellers. Twitter is short and sweet and I find I do seem to drum up a lot of interest there.

Apart from your creative endeavors, what do you enjoy doing?

What I enjoy the most is hanging out with my wonderful husband and daughter. They are very supportive and helpful.

Oooh! Pretty!

I can't quite recall how I stumbled upon jriede's Etsy shop, but these lovely knit stocking patterns were one of the first things to go into my favorites. Aren't they gorgeous?

So, in the first of a series of interviews with Etsy artisans that I admire, below are a few questions that jriede was kind enough to answer for me. Be sure and visit her store, and if you knit, I'd love these for Christmas!

(Photos are courtesy of Jen Wang.)

I see your location as Vienna. Are you from there originally?

No, I'm from Upper Austria originally. I came to Vienna to attend university and stayed.

You must be an accomplished knitter to have designed these lovely patterns; how long have you been knitting, and what inspired you to learn?

I learned to knit at the age of 5 and have not stopped ever since, except for a phase between 13 and 14 where I considered knitting to be rather uncool. :)

Do you remember the first thing you knitted? How did it turn out?

I think it was a scarf. It turned out ok but I have got no idea where it could be now.

What other creative endeavors do you enjoy?

I love to sew and to spin.

Assuming that knitting or pattern design isn't a full time job, what do you do professionally?

I'm a nuclear physicist working for the Austrian Armed Forces. Knitting and designing knitwear is recreation for me - together with sports.

I crochet, but have yet to learn how to knit. I so admire your patterns, but am I correct to assume they are for an advanced knitter, and not appropriate for the beginner? How would you describe the difficulty of your patterns?

It depends. As long as you are able to follow instructions and (in most cases) charts it should be no problem for an advanced beginner to work one of my patterns. I try to be as clear as possible in my instructions and have to say thank you to my test knitters for many good suggestions here. They are of great help.

I've noticed you don't have a lot of finished items for sale; do you not have a lot of time to knit these days, or do most of your finished products end up in your own closet or those of friends?

I just have one finished item for sale, a knitted lace shawl made from a gorgeous cashmere/silk blend laceweight yarn made by Posh Yarn (UK). I just loved knitting this item but am sure I will never ever wear it because it just does not fit my wardrobe. I therefor decided to sell it because actually there is no one I'd want to gift it to.

Usually my finished items get worn by me or my family. I knit gifts for friends seldomly (and am a proud member of the Selfish Knitters group on Ravelry ;)

If you could give one bit of advise to a beginning knitter, what would it be?

I'd say try to enjoy what you do. Knitting is supposed to be relaxing, not stressful!