Our First Giveaway!!!

We're kicking off our "new" and definitely much improved blog with some giveaways! That's right... we have bunches of freebies coming so keep checking back. This first one is awesome... a matching hat and bowl-style cocoon made with love by a very good friend, Ellen Tietke, also known as The Crochet Nanny! (*Please keep in mind that the cocoon is a photo prop only*)

What do you need to do for a chance to win? Just leave us some love (comments) here on the blog, and "fan" us on Facebook! Everyone who does will be entered to win the set and the winner will be drawn totally at random next week. Please be sure to leave your full name with your comment so we can identify you! Results will be announced here on the blog next week so be sure to check back!

First... a little interview with "The Crochet Nanny"...

Q. When did you first pick up a crochet needle?

Probably about 35 years ago, as a new bride! My husband's grandmother crocheted all the time and tried many many times to teach me. I was all thumbs, I just couldn't get it, but she was very patient and finally it all came together! I always made the ripple afghan, but after my grandson was born seven years ago, I taught myself to read patterns and attempted little hats, and sweaters, and it just grew.

Q. What do you love most about what you do?

I love learning to make something new and giving things I have made to people as gifts! I love when people like what I make.

Q. We love your biz name! Where did the name "Crochet Nanny" come from?

Well, actually, when my grandson Damien started talking he would identify his grandfathers by what they did! He calls one grandfather Red PopPop because he wore a red shirt for work all the time and called my husband Garage PopPop because he was always in the garage smoking! My grandsons call me Nanny, and in my family grandmothers were always known as Nanny, with an adjective! So we had Fat Nanny, Old Nanny, etc., so I thought Crochet Nanny fits me and thought it would be a cool name for my shop. (And I thought I better grab it before I became Fat Nanny or Old Nanny II!)

Q. Vanilla or Chocolate?

Vanilla

Q. What is your secret indulgence?

Obviously yarn, I cant get enough of it, I have bins and bins and still keep stopping in at AC Moore and Michaels to buy more. Its an obsession.

Q. Favorite movie?

I love movies, it is great to sit on the couch, crochet and watch a movie! One of my favorite pastimes and very relaxing! I think one of my favorites was Between Heaven and Earth with Tommy Lee Jones, Amadeus I loved, but it changes often. Anything that is a good dramatic hearwrenching tale with a moral to it, and anything on Masterpiece Theatre!

Q. What do you do when you're not crocheting?

Cruising the computer, Facebook, blogging, playing games, Bejeweled Blitz, Hidden Object games. This week I'm hooked on Mahjong, and most often I am looking for new crochet patterns or ideas for crocheting. I have a whole box of patterns I have printed off the internet!

Q. If you could go anywhere in the world for a month long vacation ( money is no object here) where would you go and who would you want with you?

I always dreamed of going to Ireland, but lately I have been thinking of seeing the western United States, Grand Canyon, all that kind of stuff and I would love to take my whole family, children, spouses and grandchildren. However, since one son in law is from Romania and one from Portugal, I would also like to visit those countries as well with the whole crew of course! I think I need more than a month!

Q. What is the best advice you've ever been given?

I remember my mother always saying "a day doesnt a week make" and "this too shall pass" - which didnt make sense until lately. My three favorites that I really try to live by are Kill Em with Kindness (from my Uncle Ed O'Brien) and Live in the Moment (which is a variation of something my father used to say all the time), and happiness is a choice I make everyday (I made that one up, I think!) Something I read on a day by day calendar once that I repeat often to others is "the door to happiness opens out"!

Q. What do you most want people to know about you and your products?

Hmmmm... I think that people should know that I put a lot of love into everything I stitch, I think of the person who will be wearing or using it and try to put good thoughts and karma into them. I have a lot of respect for my husbands grandmother and my own aunts who were avid crocheters and feel honored to have many of the things they made. I hope that people will appreciate the time and skill it takes and that perhaps they will be encouraged to learn a craft that they can enjoy and create heirlooms for their own families.

We truly, truly want to thank Ellen for her joining with us for this "grand opening" of sorts. Ellen has lovingly made and donated several more items for future giveaways here on the blog as well. Be sure to check out all the wonderful goodies in Ellen's Etsy store or her 1000 Markets shop! Tell her the Pixel Chick's sent ya!!!

Now get busy - drop those comments and become a Facebook Fan!