I am a “Beader.”

Now, for those of your who are unfamiliar with the term let me explain it’s meaning and how I acquired the moniker.

A couple of years ago my mom, who has always made jewelry for herself and friends, started her own business called “Earth Tones Original Designs.” She began by selling her hand-make jewelry in Lake Geneva at a hotel where my parent’s own a room.

Incidentally her new venture coincided with my moving home from Silver City and looking for a job during the summer of 2008. Since my Mom and I were both home a lot during the day, and I was constantly searching for ways to occupy my time and things to help take my mind of off my job search, I naturally gravitated toward learning about my Mom’s hobby.

On the occasion of her first trip to Lake Geneva she asked me to go with and keep her company. Since my mom had always been exceedingly supportive of my coaching career I jumped at the opportunity be a part of her jewelry endeavor.

I drove her tan Mercury Sable 70 miles each way but otherwise didn’t do very much to be of assistance. Mostly during the day I messed around on the Internet, watched some Futurama DVD’s and chatted with my Mom a bit. The only thing I really did to help was by sorting a tube of small silver and bronze beads.

Nevertheless it still went pretty well, and I enjoyed spending some time with my Mom outside of the house, so I agreed to drive back up with her a few days later. This time however my Mom encouraged me to work with her on a piece of jewelry to take my mind off looking for jobs and help me relax.

We ended up spending the entire afternoon designing a necklace and matching bracelet. During that time my Mom also began to show me how to pair beads of different colors, shapes and sizes as well as teaching me all the different varieties of jewelry that she made and some terminology that would help me understand what she was referring to.

Perhaps surprisingly to some I quickly took to this newfound hobby and night after night would sit with my Mom and fabricate pieces in front of the television or at the dinning room table. When my partner in crime decided to call it a night she would often leave me to string the necklace that we had created since I possess a unique ability to pick up the tiniest of beads called “seed beads” in rapid succession off a mat with a piece of wire.

Even though some of my early designs eventually needed to be taken apart and reworked with different beads to create an overall better aesthetic, my Mom always encouraged me to stick with making jewelry and believed I showed a good eye for design.

When I accepted my job at Dartmouth in late July 2008 everyone, including my Mom, remarked that she would be losing her #1 employee. However, little did I know that I would be back on the proverbial “payroll” 8 months later when I once again moved home from Hanover in late March 2009.

Upon arriving home I immediately went back to work with my Mom, and ended up going with her to Lake Geneva nearly 10 times over the course of the summer months to sell our creations.

After working with her again last summer I am now much better at designing pieces, but I still always insistent that she work with me, or at least oversee my progress since she has a unique ability to know what beads will make a design really pop.

Additionally, while making jewelry is fun and I enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from finishing a piece and selling it, the real enjoyment for me is being able to share something in common with my Mom that we can work on and be excited about together.

Therefore after 2 years of creating jewelry, and countless pieces sold that my Mom and I collaborated on, I think that I need to amend my initial statement at the beginning of this story that, “I am a Beader.”

When I think about it a much more fitting statement would be; “I am a Beader, and a damn proud of it!”

After my last blog post, someone asked an important question and I thought I would try to answer it in a separate post for easier accessibility later.

What Do I Do If My Stitch Count is Fine, But My Row Gauge Isn’t High Enough?

With regard to row counts being skewed, there are three things that come to mind.

1) Since tech editors base the row count on the finished garment gauge and not the actual swatch gauge, there is always the possibility that your row count is fine. It is just that it will take the weight of the garment to show you that it is fine. You see, once you put that extra weight of a project on there, it will change the row gauge.

2) You could try adjusting the height of your stitches by practicing pulling the loop higher when you begin your stitch. This would require time, patience and practice but would eventually become second nature.

3) If you are working toward a schematic, try working to a measurement rather than a definitive number of rows. In this case, always remember to keep the evens with the evens and the odds with the odds. If your row count should have been an odd number, work to your measurement but end with an odd number, and vice versa.

I hope that helps!

This seems to be a question I find all over the internet. So, I thought I would define it, in my own terms.

Gauge Within a Pattern

When you have a pattern, the pattern will usually come with suggested needle/hook sizes. Please remember that it’s a suggestion and a starting point. That’s it.

The gauge is there for one purpose only. It is the designer’s gauge. You’re trying to meet the designer’s gauge, or rather you’re trying to reach the same tension of working the project that the designer had.

Start with the suggested hook/needle size. Check to see whether your swatch is the same, too small or too big, then adjust hook/needle size accordingly.

And, one thing that may interest you is that, if you find a design in which you can easily get gauge for the pattern by meeting the designer’s gauge, you may want to try more patterns from that designer. His/her tension in working is close to yours and chances are that other patterns would give you the same results.

Gauge on a Yarn Wrapper

Again, this is a suggestion. Someone, working for the yarn company, has worked up a swatch on what they feel produces a pleasing fabric. The hook/needle size they used is shown. Does this mean you have to use the same size? Absolutely not!

Use this as your starting point. Try a swatch in the suggested size. Check it. Is it close to the same gauge? Are you pleased with the results? If not, try a different size. It’s not unusual at all to change the size of your hook or needle. And, it’s not unusual at all to discover that, even when you get the gauge shown on the wrapper, you don’t particularly want your results to be the same as the suggested gauge.

Gauge When Substituting Yarns

Now, this gets tricky. I could probably go on and on about it, but I’ll try to keep it brief.

When you substitute a yarn and you have tested different hook/needle sizes and discovered that you have the same gauge recommended, make sure that you understand that the difference in yarn could produce a fabric very much different than the item you are trying to make, even with the gauge spot-on.

The yarn could be bigger or smaller than the one in the pattern. For instance, don’t just try substituting a worsted yarn for a worsted yarn. All worsteds are not created equally!

Or, the properties of the yarn could be producing far different results. You are not going to get the same result from acrylic that you would get from say, bamboo.

If you fall into this situation, it may take a bit of work to use your chosen yarn, but it’s certainly do-able. It may take some trial and error, but it definitely can be done.

Man-made fibers vs. Natural Fibers

This is definitely a tricky thing. You need to be extra careful when substituting a man-made fiber when the pattern calls for a natural fiber and vice versa. Natural fibers will grow at a different rate than man-made. You just have to be careful. And, when swatches are made, make sure that you give them a nice water bath, block and allow to dry. Natural fibers never cease to surprise me.

I am currently working on an afghan of squares which require seaming. Every single time I make a motif afghan, I attempt several different ways of seaming the motifs together before settling on one. Strangely, I gravitate to one method of seaming that looks the best to me almost every single time. I just can’t figure out why I keep trying different ways to manipulate the needle through the fabric when I should already know which one I like best. And, perhaps you will like it too.

Place the motifs flat, side-by-side, with the right side of your fabric up. I’ll call them motif A and motif B. With yarn needle and the same yarn as your final round, insert needle through both loops of stitch of motif A then under both loops of corresponding stitch of motif B. Now, continue seaming by always starting with motif A, then B.

While I certainly like a good join-as-you-go pattern, sometimes a seamed afghan is the way to go. And, this method works really well. It makes a nice, tailored, flat join.

And, for another nice tip, when you cut off the yarn after your final round, leave about 15″ or so. Use that strand for the seaming and you’ll have two less ends to weave in.

This is one of our best website design.  This design is implemented on ZenCart an open source shopping cart.

Gift Site Design

Want to know how to make money on eBay without selling anything? Is it possible?

Yes it is… and depending on what techniques you use you can make some SERIOUS money. Here are 4 potential methods.

METHOD #1) Auctioning other people’s things

True – you technically still are “selling” things… but you don’t have to worry about storing the products yourself. The other great part is that you have very little risk because you didn’t pay for the product in the 1st place.

The problem?

Your income is limited with this option. The reason is that you only have so many hours in a day… and there is a limit on how many auctions per day you can run.

Also you never build up “autopilot” income because you have no consistent source of products.
If you happen to find a profitable product, you have no guarantee of ever being able to find that again unless you get lucky and another customer has the same thing. You basically have a “job”… not a business.

METHOD #2) Dropshipping

The reason this is better than option #1 is that when find one profit stream, you can “set it and forget it” using relisting software-then go on and find another product.

But you might want to think twice before “dropshipping”…

Why? The profit margins are EXTREMELY LOW. Dropshippers always charge more than wholesalers because they store and ship the product themselves.

Since the high competition on eBay drops the price down, you will find it very hard to be profitable using this method.

METHOD #3) eBay affiliate program

This is the HANDS DOWN the best way to make money on eBay with selling anything because the profit potential is SKY HIGH.

All you do for this is build a website… put a piece of code on it… and the auction listings related to your page will appear immediately. When somebody clicks on one of the auctions and buys something, you get a percentage of the sale.

There is just one problem

Typically the percentage of the sale you get is VERY LOW. This means you need to select expensive item in order to make good money.

But the great thing about this method is that you can sell an UNLIMITED number of products because you can build as many pages as you want. Just “rinse and repeat”.

METHOD #4) Refer others to eBay

If you happen to send somebody who becomes a user you get a chunk of change. In theory it sounds good-after all, there are TONS of new users joining the site every day.

But don’t plan on making much money…

Why not? Everybody who comes to your site has already heard of eBay. Therefore if somebody was going to become a user they probably already would have.

Occasionally you will get lucky but overall this won’t make you much money. If you want to know “how to make money on eBay without selling anything” than the affiliate program is BY FAR your best bet.

Affiliate marketing with online products is one way to get started making money on the internet. Even with the new guidelines and restrictions from the Federal Trade Commission, this is a simple way to learn how the best marketers in the world are running their businesses. By watching and learning more about what they are doing, you will have the foundation for your own business once you begin to create products and courses.

I recommend starting with a site called ClickBank. There are more than one hundred thousand digital products for sale there, grouped by categories. Some are sold once and others are part of a recurring or membership program. If you use the ClickBank’s engine you will be able to find exactly what you want. You can search for the types of products you want to promote by searching with the keywords associated with it. For example, if you are looking for a product to promote to pet owners, you may want to search for dog training or cats. This will show everything that has those words in the title or description.

The best way to promote these affiliate products is to write articles and blog. This gives you the opportunity to tell what you know about the product to the person who is reading your article or blog post. If they decide they would like to learn more, they can simply click on the link at the end of your writing. A more advanced strategy is to use an optin page to capture the name and email address of the people who visit your site, allowing you to market to them in the future.

I’m afraid this may turn out to be an enormous blog post, my friends. I simply have too much to tell you. I’ve been a bad blogger lately!

Sale at Kimane Designs

There are currently four pattern sets at Kimane Designs which I will be splitting into individual patterns in 2010. These patterns have been reduced to $5 each. If you prefer the sets, please purchase by January 1, 2010 as they will be discontinued at that time.

	Sunday Best Sweater 18 sizes
	Fall Into Fall Vest 18 sizes
	Infant Sizes Child Sizes

Liana

This pattern has been available for about a month or so. But, I was finally able to get some photos on Brianna, instead of the mannequin! Liana is now available at Kimane Designs.

Luna Sweater from Winter 2009 issue of Interweave Crochet

I must say that this has been one of the most difficult designs to keep from you. There are others, though! Just about everything I’ve been working on in the last 4 months has been difficult to keep from you. But this is, by far, Brianna’s all-time favorite. And, I believe I may end up making another one at some point, just for her.

A little preview of this Interweave Crochet was posted yesterday and it took me about two seconds flat to post it on Ravelry!

This is the “Brianna” photo. I’ll be able to post more photos once the official Interweave Crochet preview is available.

Note: I know this is going to confuse some people and I don’t want you to be disappointed either way, so I want to clarify. Yes, this is published in an issue of Interweave Crochet which is heavy in Tunisian crochet (Winter 2009). And, a lot of you know me for my Tunisian crochet work. But, no, this is not Tunisian crochet. This is regular crochet.

“Man-ghan” From Caron International Yarns

We receive many requests for designs that “men will like”. Not lacy, not frilly, not pink, please. Just great design for the man in your life. We give you …The Man-ghan featuring bold manly stripes plus all the softness of Simply Soft®.

Tunisian Crescent Bag

This bag is now available at Kimane Designs. Using a unique short row technique in Tunisian crochet, with three different Tunisian crochet stitches, this bag can be stitched and felted in time for the holidays! More Tunisian crochet designs are also available at Kimane Designs.

Errata: Easy Lace Cowl from Creative Knitting

Just a little bit of errata for this one. The rib pattern was copied incorrectly and should be as follows:

Rib
(multiple of 7 sts)
Rnd 1: P1, * k5, p2, rep from * to last 6 sts, k5, p1.
Rep rnd 1 for pat.

This design would make a terrific holiday gift! It’s quick to make and would be suitable for a first-time knit lace project. I tested it on Brianna as her first lace project and she had it finished in three days.

Errata: St. Petersburg Coat from NaturallyCaron.com

I believe the St. Petersburg Coat pattern will be corrected on the website, but I also wanted to post them here just in case you had printed out the current version. When the pattern was tech edited to the publisher’s style of writing, there were some math errors made.  These things happen. But, thanks to one of my blog readers, it was caught early.

Shape Sides

Rows 9–16 (24, 32): Repeat Rows 1–8 of shaping 1 (2, 3) times—82 (88, 92) sc.

Rows 17 (25, 33)–20 (28, 36): Repeat Rows 1–4 of shaping once more—80 (86, 90) sc.

———–

Well, my friends, if there is anything more (how could there possibly be more?), I’ll post it soon! Just playing a bit of catch-up here!

We’re all searching for sources of high quality incoming links for our websites and blogs (at least I hope you do as well). Of course there are all the common sources like directory listings, link exchanges, article marketing, guest blogging etc.

1 – Speak At Your Local College

Make a few calls to some local colleges and universities and offer to do a free presentation in your area of expertise. If your niche market doesn’t apply, consider giving a presentation on anything web and internet marketing related. These are hot topics and universities and colleges are often looking for qualified speakers and presenters in this area.

Be sure to mention that you would like a short write-up about you and your business including a link to your website on the college website. I suggest you draft this yourself so you can control what anchor text is used to link to your site.

Doing this will result in a nice permanent .edu link that will greatly enhance your sites incoming link profile.

2 – Join A Trade Association

Look around at what trade associations are available for your market and join them. You will almost always receive a link to your main website. Also consider joining the Better Business Bureau. Not only will you get a strong link, you are also able to display the BBB logo on your site which can increase conversion if you’re selling your own products.

Obviously you need to consider the cost of joining any organization against the benefit of getting that link.

3 – Help With The Website Of A Charitable Organization

Do something nice and get a great .org link … that’s what I call a win-win situation. Approach your favorite local charitable organization or church and offer your help in either setting up or improving their web site. Ask for a homepage link in return. This can be something small and inconspicuous like a small link indicating that you set up the website in the footer of the page.

If you can set this up yourself so you have control over the anchor text. Use your strongest home page keyword for this to give you a nice little boost.

Now it’s time to put these strategies to work. Pick one of them and see what you can do this week to bring you one step closer to a new high-quality incoming link.

Link Building is an ongoing effort (in quotes)

Why bother with links? They are a major deciding factor in where each of your pages ranks for a given keyword or keyphrase. Ranking well in the search engines can bring you quite a bit of free traffic.

Here are some tips on how to use deep linking to improve rankings that you can start implementing right away.

Without a doubt, the Internet is the most popular, least inexpensive, and most convenient source for learning almost anything you need to learn that is available today. In fact, many traditional education course creating companies that in the past would mail you video and audio components to instruct you to learn specific material now offer either online learning or instant downloadable items that you can easily access on your home computer.

Tons of Tips

SEO training is available in many forms on the Internet. There are hundreds of online forums where people like you can ask a question that is answered by people like you who have already discovered how or what to do in the subject you pose. Additionally, there are plenty of informative articles throughout the Internet that deal with comprehensive study of SEO as well as quick learning tips that may solve one particular source of inexperience or confusion you may possess. However, many of the articles that you find on the Internet are designed to lead you to a website where you can either purchase SEO services or in enroll in an online course or download a component that will teach you the necessary techniques. Depending upon your present level of knowledge, a fact sheet already tips article might fit your necessary education needs. Obviously, seeking free reports and articles is the least expensive way toward gaining search engine optimization knowledge, however, this may be a cumbersome, tedious and long drawn out process.

Take the Course

The best recommendation to anyone seeking to learn search engine optimization techniques is to either enroll in a complete online course or to download one. The free reports, tips articles, and participation in specific search engine optimization online forums may help augment the information you learn from participating in a complete course. This participation in SEO training will not only allow you a complete knowledge base for search engine optimization techniques, but through purchase, membership or registration you will more than likely gain after course access to any updates or changing information. SEO techniques can be quite complex and are ever-changing. Therefore, before you select to pay for any course whether downloadable or online, make sure there is ample and competent follow-up to the learning process. The heralded SEO practices used five years ago are not necessarily the most effective practices that will be used five years from now, or presently. Therefore, make sure you get the best bang for your buck through an education course feature that allows you access to continuous learning.

Learn at your own pace

Be wary of webinars where you have to participate at a specific time and place for the SEO training. Although these online learning opportunities may afford you the correct and proper amount of information, the lack of convenience may outweigh the content of the course. One important aspect about downloadable material is even if it is designed in multiple chapters you can access these whenever you want at whatever time you desire.

There are several ways to access SEO training that will provide you with the necessary education to meet your financial goals. The recommendation remains to use the Internet to either participate online or download an education course that you can follow at your own pace.

If you have ever been awake late and night and watching t.v. you have seen the infomercials of someone promising to teach you how to make millions online. All you have to do is play them a few thousand dollars and they will teach you how to do it. How will they teach you? Well, you will have someone explaining it to you on the phone. Now if that person is explaining to you how you can make millions online why are they working at a place where they talk to people on the phone for 12 dollars an hour?

They obviously don’t make millions online and they are your teacher. So right there you know that you got scammed. The truth is that you can make a lot of money on the Internet but it takes time and effort just like all things in life do. You can’t simply put up a site and then make money tomorrow from that site. Well, you might be able to make 20 cents but that won’t support you.

Let me save you tons of money and time by telling you that you will learn more than 99% of internet marketers by trying things on your own and running your own experiments. Granted the first website is the hardest because you have to go through setting up a hosting account and buying the domains but once you do it you will see that it isn’t too hard at all. Look at the bottom of this article for a link that will help you set up your first website.

The one thing that you will notice is that content is king, which means your site needs to have good content. Once you have some good content on your site you will then need to start making links to your site.

It is a great sadness today that more people have to choose if they should let the bank foreclose on their home. Today, this decision is happening at all income levels, and homeowners and investment property owners decide sometimes to simply walk away and let the bank foreclose, thinking that it is the easier choice.

The truth is that unless you are wealthy, and plan on paying for everything in the future with cash, you should avoid foreclosure if at all possible. And if you’re that wealthy, you ought to pay your debt anyway.

This article describes general factors that I have uncovered in working through attorneys and brokers in my real estate business, which may give you some idea of important differences between a foreclosure and a short sale. Standard warnings apply here – seek the advice of an attorney who understands your specific situation before making your decisions.

First, let’s understand that foreclosure is the bank’s way of satisfying their financial claim against the property when the homeowner fails to pay per the note terms. They have that claim because when buying the house, the homeowner gave them a mortgage to secure the loan the homeowner took out. Every state has in place its own laws for this process, so it’s best to check with the state that you are in for details that affect you.

A short sale is actually a pre-foreclosure process that allows the homeowner to sell the property with the bank’s approval, for less than what is owed to the bank. After a short sale, depending on the financial situation of the owner, and their policies, the bank will either seek a judgment against the owner for the balance, or not. If they do not pursue a judgment, the homeowner will still have to face the IRS, who views the forgiven mortgage balance as phantom income.

So, if someone, either the bank, or the IRS is going to come after the balance, or the taxes, why would anyone want to do a short sale? Why not just walk away and let the bank foreclose? Because in most states, the bank has the same rights – they can still seek a judgment against the homeowner after foreclosure.

Here are some other considerations that figure into this decision:

* With a foreclosure, your credit score may be lowered by 250 to 300 points. Typically they affect your score for over 3 years. In a short sale, the credit score is lowered by 50 points and the mortgage will be reported as paid or negotiated, while affecting your score for 12 to 18 months.
* A foreclosure remains on the credit history for 10 years or more. A short sale is not reported on a credit history. It is usually reported as “settled for less than the full amount”.
* A foreclosure in many cases is grounds for immediate reassignment or termination. A short sale is not a challenge to employment.
* A foreclosure is a serious challenge to a security clearance, in almost all cases resulting in a denial or revocation of a security clearance. A short sale is not a challenge to a security clearance.
* A foreclosure takes much longer to process than does a short sale, resulting in a higher amount of the deficiency judgment for additional taxes, maintenance, and interest costs. A short sale will usually have a much smaller judgment associated with it.
* A homeowner who loses a home to foreclosure is ineligible for a Fannie Mae mortgage for five years. A short sale homeowner is eligible for a Fannie Mae backed mortgage after only two years.

No one I am sure, wanted to be in a situation to have to make this choice. It is best of course to seek as much help as possible to avoid either one, but if forced to choose, the short sale route is truly the lesser of two evils.

Greg Jordan is an agent for the Keller Williams Company. He has been a businessman, an entrepreneur and an investor, who has been involved in real estate transactions for over 20 years.

Often, when delinquent on your mortgage payments, you are already behind on your credit card payments. On top of your foreclosure worries you get many threatening calls from your credit card companies. It is their specialty. The violent credit card industry wants you to be afraid. When they call, they talk two minutes to themselves – reading their message to you. If you really listen and believe what they say, you are in trouble. You feel desperate and helpless. You even think that they are going to get your house or put you in jail.

The question arises if those credit card companies can file a judgment lien against your home, which is your primary residence. Let me explain further, but the straight answer is NO. There is nothing they can do to affect your home.

I was determined to learn how this is supported by my state judicial system. I started by calling one of the local debt consolidation companies. I asked them if credit card companies can put a lien on my home and they said: “Yes, of course”. My next question was where I could read about that. You guessed – no answer. This company did not have anybody who was qualified to answer the question! Then I called several real estate attorneys. The answer was that I had to schedule an appointment and then ask the question. The cheapest office charged $100 per hour.

Then I called the circuit court of my county – the recording office (Official Records). The lady was very polite and knowledgeable. She explained in depth what had to be done in order to avoid this kind of lien. She referred me to the exact chapter of my state statutes. But, I wonder, why this is not advertised on TV?

The credit card company can still try to put a lien on the property for non-payment of bills. The court issues the judgment and notifies the homeowner. Then, if it is your primary residence you file a notice of homestead. I live in Florida and according to Florida statutes Title XV, Chapter 222.01 (Designation of homestead by owner before levy), part 2 this lien can be removed by filing this notice of homestead. Credit card companies know it and rarely try to file any judgment against a homestead property (primary residence). To learn how it works in your state, check your state statutes. If you don’t know how, call the courthouse. I repeat this throughout my articles all the time – ASK is the golden key to success.

If it is not your primary residence, the credit card company can put a lien against your property. In this case, for example, if you already have two mortgages, this new lien will take third position. If you initiate a short sale, they will be lucky if they can get 5% of the balance. Remember, the first mortgage is in charge. I like it, because there is no arguing with the lower position lenders. In my article about the sales contract I explained that on the second page it has to be explicitly written “Subject to Bank approval”. At a foreclosure sale, all of the liens after the first are wiped out. If there is something left over, which I doubt in this market, the second mortgage will take it. So, even if you get a lien attached by your credit card company, it is still good.

When foreclosure happens, many homeowners simply go into hiding for months at a time. A few weeks before the property is auctioned off by the county, they decide to look into options to save the home. But by this time, unfortunately, it may be far too late, or the only good option presented to the borrowers comes from a foreclosure rescue scam. In the end, the borrowers lose even more money.

Thus, it is almost always better to begin fighting foreclosure as early in the process as possible. Even before they have missed a monthly payment, homeowners should contact the bank and inform it of any pending financial hardship. Forbearance plans may be available to lower the mortgage bill, while other monthly expenses can also be negotiated down or eliminated completely. Timing is the most important factor in preventing foreclosure.

But for the borrowers who are already in foreclosure, the further along in the process it gets, the fewer options will be available. A repayment plan may be feasible if only a few payments are missed, but can be too expensive otherwise. A loan modification may be an option early in the delinquency, but after numerous payments have gone delinquent, the chances of obtaining an affordable plan begin to drop dramatically.

Even defending the foreclosure in court presents problems for the homeowners. What, exactly, are they looking for from the court process? If the goal is to save the home, any defense should take into account a reasonable solution to foreclosure that will give the homeowners an affordable payment. Without an affordable payment plan, there is little reason to attempt to keep the property.

This is the case for homeowners defending a foreclosure case or attempting to fight a foreclosure scam company. If there is no reasonable plan to save the home and make payments to the appropriate party, then there is little reason to attempt to hold onto it. There are other goals that may be pursued in the courts in order to fight a wrongful foreclosure or hold a scam operation accountable.

Another reason to bring such a case into court is for the homeowners to obtain money they lost due to a breach of some duty or violation of a law by the lender, servicer, or foreclosure rescue operation. Money damages may be awarded for such violations, and money and equity lost due to a scam can often be won through a judgment in the courts. Numerous courts have awarded homeowners significant damages from foreclosure scams.

Finally, another good reason to resolve foreclosure issues in court is to deter abuse and fraud. Companies that take advantage of homeowners by providing false or blank documents or changing terms at the last second without the borrowers’ knowledge should be taken out of business. While the courts are not always the best forum in which to hold banks or politically-connected companies accountable, they do offer one more option for homeowners.

It is vitally important for homeowners to keep in mind their goals when they defend a foreclosure in court or bring a case against a lender or scam company. Without doing this, they can find themselves back in a bad situation, agreeing to make payments on a plan that they simply can not afford. This is another reason borrowers should carefully evaluate their financial situations before moving ahead with any plan to stop foreclosure.

It’s well into the busy time for fiber enthusiasts. The weather is getting colder, so we knit bits of warmth for ourselves and our loved ones.  The gift giving season is upon us, so we knit for others. This year, I’ve had so many huge projects on my plate that my “for warmth” knitting and my “for gifts” knitting have both lagged frighteningly far behind. It’s so bad that I actually just bought 2 sweaters (Don’t tell Grammy)! I haven’t gotten so hard up as to purchase a scarf or hat yet; I think I would sooner just wrap the yarn around my head (OK, maybe I would do that anyway).

With all I have to do, I have actually gotten very little knitting done (for me).  This is worrisome because I am not only trying to develop several patterns at the moment and trying to fulfill all my knitting obligatoins (as in, I promised someone a garment and have yet to deliver), but mostly because knitting equals sanity, as I’m sure you all know. I have found that the amount of knitting I do on a daily basis is closely linked to my problem solving skills and ability to cope with stressers in my environment.   In the absence of actual knitting, I have had to find other little things to help me maintain my overall optimistic and happy nature and prevent me from prevent me from downward spiralling into new and frightening depths of crazy.  Here are some of the things that have made me particularly happy in the last couple of weeks and for which I am very thankful:

Of course, Ice cream. This, however is not just any ice cream; these are perhaps the two best flavors of ice cream ever. On the right, we have Bone Chunks: Lemon ice cream with chunks of chortbread and white chocolate and chocolate covered sunflower seeds. It’s as bright and happy in your mouth as it is in the bowl.  On the left is Circus. I love this ice cream because it is thematically consitent. Cotton Candy ice cream with Mother’s Circus cookies (the white and pink one with the sprinkles). You might go into a little bit of sugar shock eating it, but it’s well worth it. They come from a local creamery in Spokane (Brain Freeze) and can be purchased, among other places, at The Scoop, my new local ice creamery.

Sloot Prototype

Some of the knitting I did manage to get done turned into a prototype for my new favorite garment, the Sloot – that is, Slipper Boot.  This is a child’s size and I have already cast on for the big one (my size!).  The ripple pattern makes this extra comfy and cushy. Doing the prototype gave me some very useful insight into changes I will have to make for the full sized version.

Sloot Side view- Have to change the increases

For one thing, I will do the calf increases along the center back, rather than on the sides, which will give it a less drastic increase while still being symmestrical. Other than that. I am thrilled.

Kitty may be less impressed.
At the risk of seeming like more of a crazy cat lady than I really am, here is something Saffron (aka, kitty) wanted to add to the “Makes me happy” list.

Saffy's recipe for Happy

This consists of a soft place to sleep, a sunbeam, and something lacey to sink the claws into.  Coincidentally, this picture also makes me very happy. I distract her with curtains so she stays away from the knitting.

Lacking much knitting time myself, I was thankful to find a willing knitter to finally finish my second cabled fingerless mitt. While I’ve had this pattern written up for awhile, I have just never gotten around to knitting the second mitt.

If I do say so myself, I am quite pleased with these mitts. They are simple, but have nice little touches, like symetrical, off-center cables.  As of a day or so ago, they also have…

An afterthought thumb gusset.

This makes me soooooo happy. Many people who knit these fingerless mitts when I first printed up the patter didn’t care for how wide the thumb hole is. Admittedly, it is very wide, but I was aiming for maximum maneuverability. Now, everyone is happy. I have revamped the pattern, added directions for the thumb, and put up on the website for free download. I’m hoping people will take advantage of this; they’re really a ridiculously quick knit and perfect for the season (being both warm and good gifts).

Click on the following picture to go to the download page. Enjoy!

Finally, when I don’t have time to knit, the next best thing is to look at pretty yarn. So here we go (with commentary, since all the people in the room with me now are not yarnies and look at me funny when I talk to the pretties, but I have to let it out somehow.)

Meet Mericash.  This yarn is almost at odds with itself; so light and ephemeral it’s hardly there at all, but with colors so vibrant they seem to fill all the space around them.

Look at this.

It’s like “POW” right in the eyes, but the most refreshing, beautiful pow ever and I just keep going back for more.  It makes my hands itch. I’m feeling major cast on urges!

Some yarns, I’m sure you have noticed, have real personalities.

Pearl is a total Diva. Look at her, all dressed up and ready to go out. She’s sultry and elegant, and colors always look better on her. She’s almost a little too perfect.

At the store, we had completely sold out of our Pearl, and I have to admit that I was feeling a bit safer not having that kind of  temptation.Then we got in these new colors.

I just want to scrunch my fingers in them!

"I'm Ready For My Closeup..."

Some people who have spent time with me while I was talking about yarn (hmm, redundant maybe)  may have heard words to the effect of “my favorite yarn” escape my lips. These words, I’m a little ashamed to say, could have referred to any number of yarns of which I was enamoured at the time. Now, I’m not fickle, I just have much love to give. When it comes down to it, though, there is one yarn that I have stashed more often than any other, and from which I have made more items. And…we got in new colors. Please welcome Lorna’s Shepherd Worsted.

Observe it’s suppleness.

Note the delicate transitions from one shade to the next, the colors that evoke serenity and peace.

There are just too many beautiful colors from Lorna’s.  They have to be stopped. It’s not fair to us knitters; how can we possibly knit all the beautiful colors.

OK. I have to go knit now.

Next time …

Scenes from the Lorna’s Shepherd Sock photo shoot! (about 60 colors in stock- I just counted).

I am ready to begin sewing tomorrow. However, I will not be sewing shoe totes, but pillows. Pillows with fringe around the edges and down and feather inserts. This change of plans is related to my job. I made a hurried trip to the fabric shop today that is further away, but with a larger showroom and more stock. Most fabrics needed to be ordered and unfortunately I need the pillows today (but tomorrow is better than never). After much soul searching and extensive browsing and questioning I selected a fabric and was then persuaded to try the trim. It is really quite gorgeous, actually. Professional pictures will be made, so you will eventually see these pictures. In the midst of all this mayhem, I forgot my tassels.

I’m having problems with my computer at home, so I decided I was just going to have to use the Google Documents thing to make a .pdf file of the pattern. Enh, it’s okay. I’d rather have used a different font, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Anyway, here it is! download “I Do Not Drink . . . Wine!” now!

Luxury brand Christian Lacroix is to cut most of its staff and close its main clothing design unit after a restructuring plan is approved…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: fashion dress. The blog is also related to: fashion review.

Blogs can be entertaining, but only if other people are looking at them. This is why you should follow the six ways to bring traffic to your blog to get people interested in your thoughts and comments.

1) Twitter is the hot, new website on the internet where people can post text-like messages. So once you register on Twitter, include the URL of your blog, and become a follower of the fans who seem interested in your blog’s subject. More times than not, people you follow will return the favor. After you get a decent following, you can notify them about each new post.

2) Digg is a wonderful way to advertise your blog. One you sign-up, you can post about your blog as often as you want, as long as each post in original. People who like what they read on Digg will read your blog posts.

3) YouTube is another great outlet that will get your blog noticed. Make a short video clip and put it on YouTube for all of the world to see. As time goes on, more people will look at it, and you can make your video available for viewing as long as you like.

4) Forums related to your blog topic are places where you can get the word out about your website. However, stay active on whatever forum you choose to join. This means posting a comment several times per week. The bigger presence you have on a forum, the more visitors you will have on your blog.

5) Answers.com as well as Yahoo Answers are both sites that give people answers to questions, and they are both also highly popular. What you should do is look for a question that deals with the subject matter of your blog. One you find one, supply a thoughtful, thorough answer. If you appear knowledgeable, people will flock to your blog.

6) Facebook is arguably the most popular social networking site on the internet right now. There you can post information, videos, and pictures for your “friends” to see, no matter what part of the world they live in. Make sure you put up your blog’s link and communicate with others several times during the week to stay active.

There are so many rules to follow to make money online by blogging. However there is one basic and simple rule that if you follow you will quit your day job if you want to, because the amount of money you will be making monthly will be more than what you earn from your day job.

So what is this one rule that you need to follow?

You Need To Gauge What the Market Wants

That financial security you are looking for by wanting to establish an online business through the use of blogs will never come to a reality if you don’t gauge what the market wants. In other words you need to focus with laser beam precision where the demand is. Once you have done this you will then need to make sure that the market you choose is related to what you like doing most.

What this means is that whatever topic it is that you will be blogging about, it must be something that you are very much familiar with or are passionate about.

This is very important because it will always show in your writing and the way you handle your blog that you are very knowledgeable about the topic or not.

An easy way to find where the demand is is to simply use a key word research tool. This tool is a very powerful tool and it will reveal much different valuable information to you.

Your job will now be to put all the valuable information that you get into good use.

For example a keyword research tool will show you how many people have requested or used a key word phrase in a previous or present. This is golden information for you because you can use this to determine if there is demand for your topic or not.

Let me give you a real life example. Let us suppose that upon using a key word research tool you find that 20,000 people have requested for the key phrase do-it-yourself car repair.

This means that there is a huge demand for the topic and all you need to do is simply create a blog around that topic and focus on providing the very best information on that topic.

As long as you focus on where the demand is you will find it very easy to make money online by blogging.

Ever stop and wonder if there was a legitimate way to earn an income online? Whether it be a just a few dollars, part-time wages, full-time wages, or even as much as being financially free? How to blog your way to happiness? I know that before today, I was sure asking that. I was also asking if there was a way I could make at least a small dribble of money online, by investing under $100 – if that.

Well my search for the answer lead me to exactly that – a way to make as much money online as I wanted with investing only a small amount into it. Blog your way to happiness you say? Yes! It is absolutely possible and anyone can easily do it. Even if your thinking “Oh I cannot write about myself – I can hardly even type,” that does not matter!!

Blogs do not always have to be about the person writing them, you could start a blog over anything in life that strikes your fancy. Ironically enough, people are always interested in hearing the opinion of other people if they are well informed and interesting. As for the typing goes, you can still blog your way to happiness because as with anything, your skills and knowledge will improve the more practice and comfort you gain from the entire experience.

Imagine – your sitting out back on your porch after one month of posting in your blog daily. You have just earned enough money from it to purchase your own laptop that you can take with you anywhere. Your office, more or less, sitting right there on your lap while you enjoy the fresh breeze on a beautiful morning.

Or, you have taken your laptop with you to the coffee shop while you order a mocha latte. You sit there for only a few hours and make a post in your blog on whichever topic your currently discussing while you watch everyone else hurry in and out; rushing to get to the jobs they hate and would prefer to leave if only they did not have the responsibility to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

Live near a beach? Take your work with you while you absorb the sun, or sit on a blanket in the park while you type away; knowing with each post that your making anywhere from $250,000 or more each and every year! Literally blog your way to happiness!

Nowadays – the 20th century, the Internet is getting more advanced with each and every year. Millions of people are turning to it for information and to make a purchase. The Internet Market is a billion if not trillion dollar market! Don’t you want a slice of this money pie? Well you can, and you can start to make money as quick and as easy as you would like it to be. There truly is a way to blog your way to happiness and it comes in the form of a program known as Blog Mastermind.

Within this program you will learn the exact procedure to live the lifestyle you deserve, not only for you but for the ones you love as well! With Blog Mastermind you will learn how to:

1. Create Blog Rich Content That Magically Attracts Devoted Readers. 2. Super Advanced Traffic Techniques That Enables Your Blog To Attract Anywhere From 0-5,000 Readers Daily. 3. How To Make Real Money With Your Blog As Well As Monetization Secrets. 4. How To Turn Your Blog Into A Real Business – Or/Also – How To Work Less & Earn More!

PLUS: Tons More!!

Such as: Videos With Other Professional Bloggers, Testimonials, Forums, Membership To An Exclusive Social Traffic Club, An Iron-Clad 60 Day Money Back Guarantee (That You Won’t Need:P)

And So Much More…

There truly is no better way to blog your way to happiness and to actually live your entire life – your way! Not half of it your way, and the other half ran by some ‘company’ or ‘business’ until you retire. This is it!

If you would like to learn how to begin your journey to success today through the free use of blogging then Click Here Now!

**The above link will take you to a related article – Scan to the bottom and click on the link at the bottom of that page to be taken to the Blog MasterMind main page!:)

Yours In Success!

Using a blog to start making money online is probably the easiest possible way for anyone to get started online. It does not matter what qualifications you have – you can start your own blog today. Blogging enables most people to earn money very quickly, and some even go on to become high-earners from what started out as a simple blog.

By following a few simple steps, you can create a successful blog.

1. Blog Networks
Blog monetization is simple with this method. Get paid to make posts on other people’s blogs. The amount paid is usually dependent on number of pages views. You normally receive a percentage of the blogs ad revenue which is calculated from the number of page views of your posts.

2. Niche Content Blogs
Produce rich content-packed blogs targeting specific keywords in a number of niches. Google Adsense, or other similar advertising networks, will provide you with an easy way to monetize this sort of blog. You will get return visitors and soon build a good following for your blog, if the content is good and regularly updated. You can reduce the workload involved in making posts by using automated posting and RSS feeds.

3. Use Sponsored Posts
You can find many advertisers who are will to pay for blog posts. Because you get paid for each blog post, by having several blogs targeting the same niche, you can multiply your earnings. This can be a very lucrative way to monetize your blogs, as you can earn anywhere from $1 to $1000 per blog post.

4. Produce A Review Blog
For a review style blog, you write reviews of products which will be of interest to your readers. Put a purchase link in each review that you post on your blog. You will be paid a commission each time someone follows the link and purchases a product – provided you have used your affiliate link in the post.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. Blogging does not purely consist of making blog posts. The topics that you plan to write about in your blog need proper research.

However, using a blog to create an online income can be very easy. You can easily build up an online business that provides you with a regular monthly income, just by spending a few minutes every day making a few posts to your blogs.

To become successful online can be a time-consuming process, and one of the best ways to reduce your workload, become more productive and successful, is to use the latest and most effective tools available. Building your blog using automated blogging software to assist to get more backlinks to your website can speed up the process considerably.

Create a blog today, and start on the path to a successful online business. It can be a very simple and straightforward process.

Do you publish a blog for your business? If you do…..I’d like to talk about some humiliating mistakes you should actively avoid, especially if you are trying to position yourself as an expert. As someone who helps maintain, publish and promote the business’s of others, I’ve learned the HARD way that it’s often MUCH easier to embarrass yourself (or your clients) if you aren’t careful.

(And I’m NOT talking about the pictures of myself drinking a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 out of a beer funnel from 1995 that were circulating around my Facebook friends list last year). I’m talking PROFESSIONAL embarrassment. And the kind of things, that if you’re maintaining and publishing blogs for traffic, publicity and profit, you MUST avoid to keep your sites ranking well, and raking in the cash.

- Check Your Blog Settings Before You Publish Your Very First Post: Depending on what platform you are using (I exclusively use WordPress and recommend you do, too) and what version you are running, you MUST check to make sure you’re blog is set to be “public”. Want an example of why? I was working on a campaign for a client a few months back and we had created all sorts of killer content to promote their newest offer. Articles, press releases, social strategies, link building techniques, you name it, we did it.

Yet, a few weeks later, the client emailed me to tell me that their site STILL wasn’t indexed in the search engines. And when I checked, he was right….all of the STATIC HTML pages were up and ranking, but all of the work MY team did, wasn’t showing up at all. Anywhere. Guess what? I totally forgot to change the initial setting that even ALLOWED the engines to “crawl” the blog. I had it set on “make this blog private”. Not good, right? Thank god I’ve got caller id, because I was able to avoid getting screamed at for a few days until we got the whole thing straightened out…:-) Don’t make this mistake if you are a professional blog consultant – it IS embarrassing!

- Respond to Your Comments! I think this is embarrassing. Maybe you don’t…but I was sort of taught at a young age that when people ask you questions, or say nice things about you, or compliment your work, it’s polite to respond! It amazes me how many people don’t….or how many “gurus” will tell you that they don’t even read their blog comments. (after asking people to leave them for the latest “launch” nonsense) I’ll tell you what: Last night?

I listened to an hour long interview with Seth Godin, the marketing genius behind the “Purple Cow” and “IdeaVirus” theology – and he said he gets 5-600 emails a day. And responds to each personally. That’s what being “remarkable” is all about…and while we all may not get there, taking the time to interact with people who care enough to comment is a GREAT way of saving face, making friends…and BUILDING a business blog that people truly love.