Hiatus coming to an end

So, my move to the mitten has severely crippled knitting production at La Femme Monkita world headquarters, now housed in a 2-bedroom bungalow in Ferndale, Mich. I'm hoping by week's end, if not the night's end, to have things at The Manor in some kind of semi-functional state of order. At that point, I think I'll allow myself to pull out my knitting needles once again. I've sold the majority of my coffee cozies (and sadly, I haven't yet made one for myself! What kind of saleswoman am I????)



However, in my breaks from packing (which, according to
Dan took place a little too often) I was able to almost finish Cousin Ryan's Irish colored scarf, made from wool dyed by myself and Jay of Jennifer Joy Creative.


Before the moving chaos began, I was able to finish a scarf for Uncle Scott, whose generosity enabled me to venture into this whole hand dyeing business in the first place. I custom dyed some bulky Blue Faced Leicester wool in shades of chocolate brown, avocado green and mustard yellow, then knit it up in a single rib for him.



I'm ended up really happy with how the colors turned out, as I'm continuing to understand more and more about dye saturation and shades of dyes. I also like how it looks knitted up and it got the seal of approval from Scott, so I guess I can't ask for more than that.



I've got a custom order for a baby blanket for Texas friends and Monkita customers' soon-to-arrive daughter (finally! A girl!), and the colors are such that it may require some more dyeing experiments, so we'll see what happens there! I've got a niece or nephew set to arrive in about 10 weeks as well so I better dust off my needles and get crackin'!

Our inspiration snatches us up...

A few months back, I got an e-mail from my friend Natasha who had an idea...knitted coffee cozies! Clearly, I ran with it, but I still hadn't made one for her. It's been hanging over my head and I've been wanting to, I just haven't done it yet.



Dan keeps an eye on my site for me, since I'm not online very much. I get a text from him yesterday morning, telling me someone bought the black and watermelon coffee cozy.

Our conversation during a call shortly after that went something like this:

K: I wonder who bought it.

D: Oh, you don't know?

K: No. I still need to make Natasha one.

D: Why don't you just give her one you've already made.

K: No, I want to make one special for her...

I packed up the cozy and go to Argo to check online to see who bought it and ship it out. But it was Natasha! Damn! She beat me too it. She said she got antsy and couldn't wait anymore. She lost her old wristband (which gave her the idea) and felt bad using the cardboard sleeves.

So, I've vowed still to make one special for her. In a different style and she can tell me which one works better. Yeah, that's what I'll do. She can be La Femme Monkita's official coffee cozy test monkey.

Find us at The Find.

I have Google Alerts set up to tell me when La Femme Monkita is mentioned anywhere on the Web, which on the surface, sounds pretty cool. However, usually it alerts me to my own Myspace profile, this blog or to a person on some book club Website who has the username LaFemmeMonkita.

I was surprised to find today that I was actually alerted to something new and about this La Femme Monkita. Apparently, you can find La Femme Monkita scarves -- or one at least -- on TheFind.com. I've never heard of it before and I have no idea how my Rainbow Swirl Girls Scarf, modeled by my new roommate, Claire, made it on there and I have no idea if anyone ever goes to TheFind.com, but I still think it's pretty cool!

La Femme Monkita featured in Etsy Treasury!

One of La Femme Monkita's vegan coffee cozies is featured in a Treasury of eco-friend goods on Etsy.com. You can check it out HERE.

The Treasury was posted by La Femme friend Jennifer Joy Creative who creates amazing hemp (and other kinds of eco-friendly and colorful) clothing and handspun yarn.

There are some really amazing other artists/crafters in the Treasury as well. Check us out!

Kirsten
La Femme Monkita

Cozying up

I know I've written about the advent of the coffee cozy in my La Femme life. Quite frankly, I was starting to question whether it was a good idea gone bad or just plain not executed correctly or any number of doubts that have crossed my mind.

While I had, in fact, sold one to a Japanese woman who bought some hand dyed yarn, it still didn't strengthen the faith I had in my design and execution. Then, on the same day, two women, in two different cities and states bought one!

Alicia in Springfield, IL bought my yellow one.



And Beth from Canton, MI bought the coral one for her sister-in-law.



La Femme's squeeze, Daniel, got a black one with two bronze buttons on it, and has put it to the test several times. It passed with flying colors.

So, I guess I'll keep making them and see if they catch on!

I've tried out some new designs and colors so look for new varieties soon!

It's called a scarflette

La Femme Monkita's main squeeze, Daniel, posted a blog about La Femme's scarflettes on his blog Fone Culture back in January.

You can check out "It's called a scarflette" HERE.

A popular little guy

So, I keep making these knitted coffee cozies, even though I've only sold one. I think they're a good idea and the one person I've given one too uses it daily and loves it (or so she says). I love the instant gratification I get, being able to complete one in a short amount of time and I continue to experiment with colors and styles.

But one, my first, seems to be the most popular, though not yet purchased. My terra cotta colored one, with bronze snap closure, has been viewed more than any other on my Etsy shop.

Because this week refuses to be easy, I still don't have a replacement for my dead laptop and my travel drive isn't being recognized by the computer I'm using. So, I can't even show you a picture of it. But you can find it in my shop HERE (or by scrolling down to my previous post about them...).

I've since bought some cool buttons, I'm still using some of my vintage buttons, and I've done stripes and other things. Why is this one so popular? It had nearly 200 views, then the views got wiped out due to an Etsy server crash a week ago and it's already up to more than 100 views.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not complaining, but why is it that this one gets viewed the most? Just wondering...