Every year I resolve to start my holiday knitting early….Like summertime early. Every year I’m rushing last minute in December to finish gifts because of course my good intentions never materialized. This year…it’s going to be different. I’m galvanized to mend my ways and actually get a jump-start holiday gifts knitting.
In upcoming weeks we’re putting together great gift kits to start making now…not later….but now. Before it’s a mad dash to the Dec 24th deadline (she says full well knowing she’ll be up late weaving ends and wrapping presents the night before…)
holiday kit parade
Let’s officially launch the maisieblue’s Holiday Jump-Start Kits Parade. We’re putting some of my favorites gift projects into kits available on a new retail website (more details further below about the site)!! Now you too can make a dent in your Holiday Shopping list early. Click through to order up a kit and get crackin’!
Once again big, long, scrunchy cowls or infinity scarves are popular this season. This Dovetail pattern is not only stylishly warm but it is written for multiple yarn sizes: bulky, worsted, sock, and lace. Talk about a perfect stash-bustin’ pattern! It’s super easy to knit up. Knit in the round in “reverse stockinette” (a fancy way to say knit few rounds then purl few rounds).
We’ve paired the pattern with Berroco’s Boboli yarn, a gorgeous multicolor worsted weight yarn perfect for this pattern.
I love Berroco’s description: “enchanting mix of shifting colors” and “glimmering,” which sounds odd for yarn but is so true! It has a wonderful sheen and soft hand making the cowl a lofty, snuggly bit of warmth for cold winter mornings. I love this yarn. And I’m not a big variegated/multicolor gal. I usually gravitate towards solids or tweeds…but this Boboli just makes me want to cast on more, more, more!, along with craving a big hot slice of pizza.
Easy-peasy lemon squeezy! Dig out some 24” circulars and dive in. You’ll have beautifully snuggly cowls perfect for gift-giving in no time.
Kits contain pattern, yarn and a nifty project bag. Two sizes available: small & large. Click over to the website for more details & colors. Need needles? We’ll have those and an option to buy just the pattern so you can start bustin’ some stash.
our new websites: the lowdown
We’re launching two websites: one for books, the other for everything else.
our “books and more” website:
Our book distributor, Baker & Taylor hosts the site and does the fulfillment. Anything they stock can be ordered (books, audio books, cds, dvds, music). Shipping rates are reasonable and you can even preorder titles before they’re released! (I love that).
While we can’t ever compete with the big discounters…for those who like to try to shop local, this is an option. There are small discounts (shown on the site) which help to offset shipping. At $60 order will ship free.
One big reason we decided to launch this particular website: ebooks. Thanks to Baker and Taylor we’ll be able to sell ebooks to our customers.(Sorry Kindle owners; those are still a proprietary Amazon-only ebooks).
The ebooks are powered by Blio and support windows, android, and iphone/pad/pod platforms, and the XPS and ePub ebook formats. (That last bit of techy info for those who know what it means because I’m not exactly sure yet myself…I’m still reading those paper “antique” books!)
Baker&Taylor is a great company to work with and we’re happy to partner with them. They are supportive of small indie retailers and our sales rep, Lori is simply amazing. We’re excited to finally get this website up and running. My love of books fuels my passion to share them with our customers and now we can reach out further afield than just our little bricks-n-mortar shop.
When I talk about great books in newsletters you can now pop over and place an order to ship right to your door. Be it the old-fashioned paper book, ebook or audio book/cd - we’ve got you covered. Perfect for our lovely customers that can’t easily pop into Murphys to shop, or those who can but need something we don’t have on the shelf right then and there.
our “everything else” big cartel website
Finally after a couple of years, various attempts and endless tweeking, we’re unveiling our website. It’ll start small and build from there; kits first then gradually adding other products.
Be sure to bookmark the site…notice I had to use “maisieblu…” because it won’t let me use our full name for some reason…. Or just go to the our main blog site: www.maisieblue.com for links to both shops from there.
Gradually we’ll add other items but starting with these kits help ease me into the big bad cyber-retailing world. Then I’m not like a deer-frozen-in-the-headlights, trying to build a full-on website that never gets done because I’m so overwhelmed. And end up just casting on another project as a way to avoid the question “how’s the website coming along ?” see…it’s a vicious cycle with me…
If you hit a snag or see something odd just let me know. Couple of points:
1. below product photos click the arrows to see additional photos & color choices.
2. important coupons: use these during checkout :freeship60 = free shipping at $60+order; storepickup = no shipping charge to pick up at the murphys shop.
Learning the basic tweeks and techy bits of starting this site takes some doing so it’s not exactly how I want it to look…but that’s okay. It’s a beginning. And we all know how I love starting things!
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