At the start of the month, I launched my new Etsy shop. So far I've managed to get fibre and stitch markers up. I need to add the jewellery and buttons next. I'm advertising with Ravelry and even managed to get a spot in the 'Big 6' ads for November but I don't have one for next month.
As well as the standard style stitch markers made with jump rings I've also made some chunky markers for use with big needles. These have soft loops and can fit up to at least 20mm needles. I've not really seen anything similar so I hope that they'll fill a niche.
So far, I've listed BFL, Wensleydale and Merino tops but I plan to add tussah silk and mohair in next week as I'm hoping to have a dye session in the weekend.
My main difficulty with the jewellery is that I can't find a reasonably priced source for chains for the pendants here in France. I also want to upgrade to silver findings generally but again it's a question of finding a good supplier. I also need to sell some first to be able to make that investment. It's going to be really hard to compete with sellers from the US as well as supplies there are just so much cheaper.
I'm also hoping to post here more often with shop updates and news.
On a More Personal Note...
Pregnancy progress is good so far and I'm 18 weeks as counted in the UK and US (16 in France). I had the nuchal fold scan a few weeks back and the results from that were very good. I've also had the Triple Test blood test but I've not had the results back for that yet. Hopefully those will be good too and I can avoid having an amnio as I really don't want one. Apparently, at 37 I'm considered a 'mature mother' even though I dont feel as if I am! The abnormalities scan is done much later here at 22 plus weeks so my appointment for that is at the end of December. That will also be the scan at which we find out the sex. It's kind of a magic date for me, as I'm waiting until then to do any shopping, start knitting and of course Rob and I will have the all-important name discussion.
I've already drawn up a shortlist for both sexes - doing the girls names was much harder this time around because we went through them all for Rhianwen. I can tell you though that the first name will, once again, be Welsh. It also won't start with 'R' because there are already too many people with 'R' names in the family. We also have other rules such as no 'll' or 'ch' because those are far too difficult for those unlucky enough to not be Welsh to pronounce :) We may allow 'dd' because there are a few names that I really love that include that letter (yes, it's a single letter in Welsh) but even that is unlikely. There is one name that I like that if put with my grandmother's maiden name would form the name of a very famous Welsh politician! It's also the name of an ancient Welsh poet.
Last week was a rather eventful week here. It was definitely one of those weeks where everything went wrong. It even included a trip to 'Urgences' (A&E) for Meleri. She managed to get her hand caught in the electric whisk while making a cake at my Mum's. She's 14, has used that whisk many, many times and we really don't know how she managed it! It's like something you read in a newspaper article about most accidents happening in the home. Anyway, she's fine, no serious damage was done, she had some bruising and that was it.
We still don't have broadcast TV so we end up watching a whole series over the space of a week or so with the help of the internet. Most recently, we were watching the second series of Torchwood. Now, it's been interesting for me to spot various places but not that easy as Cardiff has changed so much since I left South Wales. It was very easy to spot a certain place in the second series though as one episode featured a wedding. All the interior shots of the ceremony and the reception plus some exterior shots were filmed in Margam Orangery which is where Rob and I were married! I think most of the other exterior shots were filmed in Dyffryn Gardens as I'm sure I recognised one of the gardens but it's been a long time since I visited. Knowing that also made it very interesting as the two locations are so far apart yet the transitions were absolutely seamless.
