Birthday Girl

It's my birthday today.....32. My honey took me out for dinner to a chinese restaurant and bought me some dishes that I have wanted for a long time. He's so sweet :) I had an awesome day :)

Etsy Advice?

I have been thinking about the possibility of selling my crafts for a long time now. Since I started knitting again, I have been building up a huge amount of random finished objects, and I can't possibly use them all or give all away to friends/family. There is a large outdoor craft market here in Oregon, The Saturday Market, and I thought about selling there. There is a membership fee and a selling fee, but they are both pretty reasonable. But since the fee is annual and runs March to March, I don't think I want to even try it until next Spring. That brings me to Etsy. I hear a lot about Etsy on the blogs I read and on Craftster and Ravelry. I even found this cool advice book, The Etsy Seller's Handbook, which is a little overwhelming because it has so much information (found on Sew You Want To's blog). I just don't know if Etsy is for me. What I really want to know is this: Is Etsy worth it? Can you sell items at a price that is fair to the crafter? Do you have to put more money in than you get back? Does updating your Etsy page become like a second job? Any help or advice is welcome.

2 Bags and a Snake

Here is some of my latest work. I have been busy :) First, my market bag. I crochetd this bag using used plastic grocery bags. I cut the bags into strips and then crocheted them together. I based the bag shape on a paper grocery bag shape. It really does not photograph well, unfortunately.
Here is another shot, filled with groceries. Still did not photograph well :) I do like the colors that came through from the different grocery bags. I will definitely do this again, but will try a different bag shape.
Here is my progress on my granny square purse. I call it autumn sunflowers. This is most of one side of the bag, all sewn together. I am about halfway through the other side and am excited to see how it all turns out when finished.
I am also working on a stuffed rainbow snake. It started out as a skinny scarf with a ruffle on the end. I started knitting with an unidentified yarn that I inherited from a friend of a friend's grandma's stash. Whooh, that's a mouthful :) The yarn didn't look great as a scarf, and my fiancee suggested that I try making it into a snake. So I extended the ruffle to become the head, and I decreased the other end to become the tail. I started stuffing it with polyfil, but it doesn't have the feel that I want, so I think I will add some beans?
Anyway, what do you think of my creations??

Yippee!

I was chosen as one of the winners in the Oddballs' sock challenge on Ravelry. I'm not sure what my prize will be or when it will arrive (its coming all the way from Australia), but I am very excited and proud :)