Priorities

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
When life gives you snow and with it a "snow day" from school, you make snow angels with the kiddo.

This is my fourth winter in Vermont, and I finally have my first real snow bib. It makes laying down in the snow a whole heckuva lot more enjoyable. I used to just be wet and miserable after spending time playing in the snow, but here I am warm and dry after angel-making, sled-pulling and mountain-building. I have now experienced the value of Proper Attire.

Spinning is happening, as usual, but felting is on hold until I get some more nylon tulle in the mail. I cut it all up for the nuno-felt workshop this past weekend at the LYS...
I'm still getting used to this teaching gig...I was all tied up in anxiety knots before class started...I always wonder, will they enjoy the class? will i give them enough to go on so they feel the class was worth it? My process has always been so intuitive, I feel I have difficulty giving guidance on the aspects of design. BUT, for all my worrying, everyone seemed to have a really excellent time, and left with some beautiful pieces of felt. I left the class with a blank "canvas" for a gift wool "painting" and a pair of awesome pulse warmers...pics soon as I sew on the buttons. They are for teeny-tiny wrists, but I'll get them in the shop in the next couple of days. I even updated last night...a couple of things leftover from BBB that won't be on their way to consignment...

like this and this and this

I scored some awesome patterned silks the other day, so there is definitely more felt on the way, a new line of yarns for January and soon, some small-batch handpainted yarns spun from locally, humanely raised corriedale and alpaca at the local Spinnery.
I think I might request a 2-ply worsted weight. I'm not a sock knitter, and I'm pretty sure there are already plenty of folks that provide handpainted sock yarn to those insane people who actually enjoy using those itty-bitty needles. I will admit that I traded for some sock yarn from Woolerina at the BBB, and that it's BEAUTIFUL, and that I will try again to knit a whole pair of socks this time, but I would rather work with the heavier-weight yarn for my own dyeing and usually for my own knitting.

In the meantime, there's this whole holiday thing I'm not ready for, a few custom orders, moving (the day after Christmas) and then a trip to Cali to see family during New Year's week.

Perhaps better to go back out in the snow and think about all that other stuff tomorrow.

*ahem*

I neglected Blogspot for a while, and so just cross-posted a bunch of my latest Livejournal entries. Will try to be better about covering all my blog bases from now on!

Minimalist Report

X-posted from LJ December 8:

Heya, Hiya!

Survived the whirlwind there-and-back-in-one-day trip to Bazaar Bizarre Boston 2008!

I got home at 1am, and the kiddo woke up at 6:30am. I AM TIRED.

I will post pictures, but haven't had a chance to get 'em off the camera yet!

In the meantime, some things:

I loved the venue. It was perfect. My table was close to the door, and it was flippin' cold, but I sell wool, so it didn't really matter. I didn't, however, sell a lot of wool.Sales-wise, it was the worst show I've ever done, just barely breaking even. BUT, I had fun, got to chitty chat and make some awesome trades with LJ friends and spent the day with Stacey, who didn't let me dance all by myself. I would do it all again about a million times.

As far as the sales go...I think my big lesson is that I need to start working on a lower price point line of goodies for my shop. My main focus most of this year has been on luxury items that are very time-consuming for me to make...most of the things at my table (the handmade felt) yesterday cost $50 or more. And while I got so much amazing feedback, oohs and aaahs and folks taking my card, when I said $65, heads nodded and the items were gently put back on the table. People just aren't spending that much on gifts this year...I know I'm certainly not. Correct me if I'm misinterpreting my observations, but I think most of the folks who come to these kinds of events are looking to spend $25 or less on each item they buy.

So, anyway, I'm going to spend the winter working on some things that widen the price range of my offerings...some smaller items and a line of simple, handspun singles and plied yarns that I will kettle-dye or handpaint in batches to keep my overhead down. I really see the value now in having a "basic" line of goods that are less time-consuming to create as a compliment to the one-of-a-kind specialty sort of items.

Yup.

I feel overwhelmingly positive about the BBB adventure. I'm sure I will see some traffic on Etsy, which motivates me to actually update it.
Thoughts from customers:
More armwarmers
More hats

This means more knitting, which I don't mind at all.

Props:

To my fabulous table-neighbor, Emily, her sweet pastry pin cushions and her Ron, who was also fabulous. I think I drooled on some of the buttons.

Tosarahcoyne of egg-a-go-go for the sweetest sheep pillow ever that I love with all my heart. It's sitting on our pew at the dining table, but the Little Guy keeps turning it around to the other side because he "likes the polka dots better."

To Stacey (duh) for being an all around craft-show-helper-goddess and driving my silly car all over Boston.

To misshawklet of Misshawklet, because I love her and she still makes my favorite yarn ever.

To haptotrope of Haptotrope for general gorgeousness and the crazy-wonderful cowl thing that I haven't been able to take off since last night.

To Ben (maisonwares please pass along my thanks!) for being awesome Man-Help at the end of the night when we parked too far away for carrying heavy things.

To suncloudedover for general awesomeness and for indirectly encouraging me to buy a pear from Glitterlimes.

To the Woolarina gals for the sweet trade...I can't wait to knit up some socks!

To viva_death of In Hope for bringing that fabulous blue and yellow number and making me wish I knew someone who wore ties.

To Mr. Puppovich's for bringing many press pots full of chai. Chai = did not fall asleep on the drive home.

And to absolutely everyone for bringing all your top-notch selves to the event. I was so impressed with the consistently amazing quality of all the vendors at the event. Can't wait until next year!

T minus slightly less than 2 days....wheeeee!

X-posted from December 5:

Okay, so I was able to cross a few things off the list...not all things, but I'm pretty pleased with what I've been able to get done whilst also being Mama all week to an insane *ahem* angelic 3-year old...

It really was a little too ambitious, but I like it that way.

Here is what I worked on this morning:

Forgive the bad lighting in the studio, but here's what to look for in front of my table. I'm not done with it, and I'm not entirely sure it will dry by Sunday, but I'll put it by the wood stove (but not too close!) and hope for the best. I forgot how much fun oil pastels are. And hooray for canvas!

I'm about to tackle this:

This is how I need to protect my felt works in progress, as the boy likes to run squealing through the studio...really quite disastrous for pieces that are laid out but not already felted. These stools slide under a little table...back in the BC* days, we used to have dinner and tea on the low table in our tiny apartment. Sigh.

Well, tomorrow I will, weather permitting, get some sneak-preview photographs up...

( New List! )

Okay, felting now.
OMG, DAY AND A HALF!!!

In between...

X-posted from LJ December 2:

...rounds of soaking yarn and knit pieces to set their sweet little twists and stitches.
I should be felting, but there is always the wee hours.
Thought I would procrastinate a little further in my pre-BBB activities to finally do the 7 Things meme that the fabulous Steph of Rivulette
tagged me for ages ago... (edit: oops, now that I've x-posted this, I realize it was supposed to be 6 things, rather than 7, but oh, well...you get a bonus! and, I was supposed to tag people, but I dropped the ball since I was insanely prepping for BBB)

1. I used to be a Certified Spinning Instructor and worked at the best rock gym ever, The Berkeley Iron Works. And no, I didn't have one of those cheesy, new-fangled mic things or fancy mirrors and flashy bikes...we just shouted at our students the old-fashioned way and were seriously hardcore cyclists when we were out on the road. "And we're gonna sprint! In ONE, TWO, THREE...GO!!!!"

2. I am hopelessly in love with Horatio Hornblower of the series of historical fiction by CS Forester. I never pegged myself for a fan of Napoleonic era seafaring tales, but C started reading them aloud to me a couple years ago and I was utterly ensnared. Fortunately for C, he and Horatio are so alike it's uncanny. Hee. I think there are 11 books, and we've made it through 8 of them...he reads while I'm spinning. We've taken a break from Hornblower for the Space Trilogy by CS Lewis.

3. I avoid chores that involve water. Give me a broom or a vacuum, folding/ironing clothes, general straightening up, anything rhythmic and dry and I will do it all happily. Ask me to wash dishes, mop (ugh) or clean the bathroom and I'll probably grumble at you.

4. Yosemite is probably my favorite place on the whole planet. I used to rock climb there and really miss it, but I have plans to bring climbing back into my life in the Spring. Apparently there are a few little bouldering spots around here and I just need to ask the right folks where to find them...

5. I have recently become addicted to black tea with honey and milk. I honestly have no idea how I got so far in life without it.

6. I almost went to culinary school...in between when i was a theatre major and finally settling on photography for my BA. I have a fierce passion for baking, especially, and love to tweak recipes over and over again to make them my own. Makes me feel like I'm conjuring love spells...nothing says "I Love You" like a cocoa spice muffin infused with joy.

7. I gave birth to my son at home, in Ashland, OR, with the help of a midwife. 7 months later, we moved to southern Vermont. The little guy's placenta is in a freezer in California, and I have yet to write the story of our journey and plant a tree...

Okay!

I feel like I need a list ala the super-duper sarahcoyne to help keep me focused for the rest of the week (and this time I really will come back to it and check my progress):

( Listy! )

The Good, The Bad, and The Freak Out

X-posted from LJ November 30:

The Good:

Spectrum Shift (props go to Banadura for the awesome squishy-soft handspun)
Love these.
I love them for myself, but will be selling them at BBB, anyway.
Will make more.

The Bad:

This is the bulky flyer for my Lendrum.
This is what happens when you've done something really horrible in a past life and the Craft Gods want you to suffer.
Chronology of Disaster of Epic Proportions:
-Happily finish up a bobbinful that I've spun on the bulky flyer.
-Remove flyer assembly and place in basket on the floor.
-Basket tips over just enough to topple out said flyer assembly.
-BULKY FLYER BREAKS IN TWO PIECES. A week before BBB! It fell less than a foot!

Turns out, the flyer is made up of two perpendicular pieces GLUED together. No dowels, no rods...nada. How much did I pay for this? So, it went into traction, after the husband drilled and added dowels for stability. Brilliant, no? Yes. BUT, there's no way to really "true" it up at home. It will get me through the week now, but there is a slight wobble and I will need to order a new part tomorrow. And I think I will also have to purchase the damned expensive special carry bag for my wheel and it's accoutrements, since I suppose the lesson learned is that you don't carry around specialized pieces of equipment in a woven basket. The thing must have been ready to go for a while if it broke so easily. Totally my fault, methinks, but seriously...only glue?
So, anyway, yeah...take care of your tools or stupid things like this happen at really inconvenient moments.

The Freak Out:

You-Know-What is in one week!
I'm in pretty good shape, I think. Lots of scarves, lots of yarn, but I still feel like I need to work on lots more of everything. There are about 30 ornaments that are cut out and embellished...just waiting to be sewn and stuffed. I would like to take photos of my favorite pieces...just because, but I may not get to that. Especially if we try to move this week. We were going to try to do it last week...ha, ha, HA!

In other news, we had snow today:

I'm making a funny face, but ignore that and notice the yummy Wooldancer yarn in my scarf. I was saving this swap yarn for a blankie project, but now the amazing natural fiber fabric store in town is selling gorgeous wool...as in, I can just buy a length of woven wool fabric and have a pretty inexpensive, incrediby warm and beautiful blanket. No knitting required. So, now I can knit up some things for sale with my formerly-hoarded-for-blankie-project indie-spinner stash.

Shortly after the above picture was taken, our snow turned into RAIN. Awful, awful stuff. Now we will have a nice sheet of super-dangerous ice to drive on in the morning.
I want my snow to stick!

Ooooh...the power just flickered off...yikes! weather! Must be time for bed.

Points

X-posted from LJ November 24:

It's snowing.

I prefer this, because if it's going to be so damn cold, there might as well be something to show for it.

Cranberries sauteed in butter + honey + yogurt = mmmmmmmmmmm.

Have discovered a brand new level of stress. Moving plus preparing for craft shows = panic attack. I have managed to squeeze in dyeing and felting here and there, but feel woefully unprepared for BBB. Hope to make up for it this week. Really, though, I think I will have a ton more product than I did for last year's SFBB, so panic probably unwarranted.

Have learned that the barn/studio I will have available to me has a moth problem due to previous improper storage of wool/clothing/books. Am NOT bringing my wool in the first wave of moving, but rather will leave it in my current studio until problem is resolved. Thinking about trying to work through a good deal of my stash and storing the rest in those vacuum seal "space bags" or whatever they're called, so that I can keep them in our part of the house without taking up too much room until eradication is completed in the studio area. It is simply not worth the risk of contamination. Otherwise, the studio space is beautiful, so I'm hoping it's cool with my friends to turn off the heat and let the place freeze for a week. That would off the bastards. Any input in regards to those hateful creatures is appreciated!

Am excited to have a show-buddy accompanying me to BBB who knows her way around the area (and who is generally awesome). Am no longer terrified of making the drive to the big city. Hooray!

Wow. It's really snowing.

Pictures! From the felting workshop!


Odd-sized pics, yes...I stole them from the Knit or Dye website.

( meme... )

Am really tempted to just not sleep tonight and spin 500 yarns instead.
But, will be a good girl and go to bed.
Night night!

biiiiiiiiiiizy...

X-posted from LJ November 16:

...preparing for craft shows and what-not.
Alas, have not had time to think or upload photos of my recent work. Pretty holiday yarns in progress! I am muchly off the radar as the next four weekends in a row have a craft show involved.

BUT, today I have something to report: I taught an awesome class today...my first felting class, and it was so much fun. I wasn't sure how I would enjoy teaching, but I had such eager felters-to-be that any reservations quickly dissolved. This was an Introduction to Felting workshop, and we started with solid-color wet-felted round beads. After we had completed our first bead, my original intention was to work on a multi-colored bead, but I realized we might not get to the fun part, so we jumped right into the swirl or "sushi" beads. It was an hour before our logs were ready to slice, and it was well worth the effort. We anticipated the first slice of each log as if we were cracking open a geode. Indeed, each of us had created a lovely little pile of treasures. Pictures do exist, but they are not on my camera. I will post when I get them!

I have another class scheduled in December that will explore flat felt. If my next group is even half as enthusiastic as today's group was, we'll have a grand time of it. We won't have enough space to lay out entire scarves, so I'm trying to decide between nuno wrist warmers or sewn treasure boxes for our class project.

Here is the line-up:
Saturday, November 22nd: Brattleboro Farmer's Market Annual Thanksgiving Market, 10am-1pm at the Rte. 9 location.
Friday, November 28th: Annual Holiday Craft Fair for the Green Valley School, 10am-4pm at the River Garden on Main St.
Sunday, December 7th: Bazaar Bizarre Boston, Noon-7pm at the Castle at Park Plaza in Boston.
Saturday, December 13th: Brattleboro Farmer's Market Annual Holiday Fair, um...10am-??? at the River Garden on Main St.
Sunday, December 14th: Nuno Felting Workshop, 1pm-4pm at Knit or Dye on Main St. 802-258-9100

To doooooooooo:
( LIST MADNESS! )

mmmmmmmmm....

X-posted from LJ November 10:

Good morning!

This weekend, we turned these: into these:

Candy Cap mushrooms are my new best friend. We were gifted some by C's mom earlier this year, and we bust them out for only the most special experiments. Like a batch of Saturday morning pancakes. We only needed two of these babies to add an incredible earthy sweetness to a very basic pancake recipe. The flavor is very strongly maple, perhaps the only way to get a truly natural maple flavor on the West Coast. I'm not sure these can be found here in the Northeast. Anyway, they might as well be pure gold for the price, but the teeniest bit goes a long way. If you come across any, you'll get the fullest flavor by grinding them up (we used the coffee grinder) and drawing the flavor out with fat. Our pancake recipe uses melted butter, so we just sauteed the pulverized mushrooms in it while the butter was melting, then dumped that into the rest of the batter.
Next experiment most likely will be shortbread.

And, since the camera is being totally wonky, and I'm not updating my shop until AFTER the BBB, I have no yarn to share. I do, however, have some knitting progress:

The sweater for the little guy. It's so....BOY. Not sure I like the stripes so much, but said boy seems to think they're grand. I had half a sleeve done, but noticed that I was using two different sized needles, which made the fabric ripple a bit. Oops. So I'm starting fresh on the sleeves and I really hope I get through them quickly because I'm so bored with a sweater project by the time I get to the arms. I have a sweater for myself all done except for the arms and I almost would rather stab myself in the eye with a double-point needle than to actually start knitting a sleeve with it.

Tonight we have a sweet little event at school called Lantern Walk. We made paper lanterns with tissue paper "stained glass" windows. We will walk through the woods with our lanters and share a meal around the fire when it gets dark to celebrate Martinmas. From Wikipedia:

Historical meaning of Mardipäev

Originating in France, the tradition of celebrating Martinmas spread to Germany in the 16th century and later to Scandinavia and the Baltics. In Estonia, Martinmas signifies the merging of Western European customs with the local Balto-Finnic pagan traditions, it also contains elements of earlier worship of the dead as well as certain year-end celebration that predate Christianity.

Martinmas actually has two meanings: in the agricultural calendar it marks the beginning of the natural winter, but in the economic calendar it is seen as the end of autumn. Among Estonians, Martinmas also marks the end of the period of all souls, as well as the autumn period in the Estonian popular calendar when the souls of the ancestors were worshiped that lasted from November 1 to Martinmas.

Like St. Michael's Day, celebrated on September 29, Martinmas is also known as the celebration that marks the end of field work and the beginning of the harvesting period. Following these holidays, women traditionally moved their work indoors for the winter, while men would proceed to work in the forests.

And there you have it.

...because I need An Outlet

From LJ November 6th...

Oh, nevermind. I was going to rant.
But I'm just too tired.
And I'm really excited about this new thing I'm embracing called Optimism.

Onto Other Matters of Grave Importance:

I think this week may be Autumn's Last Hurrah. It's waaaaaaaarm...like upper 50s. Balmy! But, it's going to get cold over the weekend, and then colder. I really think this might be it...the air is just damp and heavy...it will rain this weekend, but it turns to snow next week. I'm ready, though. Excited, even.
When there's a fire in the wood stove, I get a lot more spinning done. Though, I'm a little spaced out about show prep right now...the usual kick in the arse that a deadline gives me is failing me at the moment. I'm inspired, and have a TON of projects on the brain, but the motivation to manifest them is just not there.
I have finally found a few sources of next-to-the-skin soft wool in my neck of the woods...it will take some time, probably several months for it to be processed at the local mill. In the meantime, I have some fancy organic merino coming my way from across the sea for this season's felting and spinning adventures, plus some local wool blend from New Hampshire, domestic rescue wools, and local Vermont alpaca.

I think I'm trying to inspire myself.

And here, I will joyfully say farewell to Autumn with, what else but a yarn shot:

Mabon

Three words, King Winter: BRING IT ON!