Wow, this has been a crazy wonderful week! So I last blogged about the craft show, and since then, I’ve had a lovely flurry of custom orders and Etsy orders and nice messages. The best was from a woman who bought one of the button slouch hats at the show. I attach a tag to all my items with my website, etsy shop, etc, and she actually took the time to find me online and found the blog post where I wrote about making her hat. She loved getting the backstory, and asked me to make her another hat. How cool is that?? I swear, I had a smile for hours from that, just that my hat and I made that good an impression on her. Even better, I had the perfect yarn for the second hat she wanted, my last skein of this purple/red/black/gray Borealis. 
But before I could do that, I had another special order to finish. My Yoda hats are my most popular items on Etsy, and someone who’d bought one messaged me after receiving it. She loved it, and since I’d done such nice work and was so quick and friendly, could I make a Princess Leia headband for her daughter? Well, of course I could! I could and did, and though it wasn’t as easy as Yoda, I liked how it turned out and I really hope she was pleased too. 
Then another message from a satisfied craft show customer: she loves her hat, can I make her a Where’s Waldo hat? Oh yes, that sounds fun! That’s on my needles right now, actually. 
And during all this, my Etsy app kept dinging at me: Ding, a hat sold! Ding, a hat sold! Ding, a scarf sold! Oh my stars! It’s been SO MUCH FUN. I wish it could always be like this, but I know it won’t. Still, I’m going to keep doing craft shows and getting my name out there, and I’m going to keep making fun, unusual stuff for my Etsy shop, and maybe someday I’ll get back to knitting things for myself. As I sit here typing, I keep glancing at these skeins of Chateau, which have been wound for several days waiting to be knit into a cushy cowl. Don’t worry, little yarns, I’ll get to you soon enough. 
Tag Archive | crafting
Craft Show Results
This show freaked me out. Big time. I showed up to set up and it was in this BIG pavilion, and there were all these vendors with fancy displays and tons of product, people who clearly did this all the time. And then there was little old me, with my styrofoam heads and makeshift thrift-store displays and a wide variety of products. I was paralyzed for a little while, with no idea how I was going to do this. Thank goodness, my Knitting SIL showed up to help and jump-started my competitive nature. Between the two of us, we set up a professional, attractive display. 
The first day was disappointing. Big crowds for the first three hours or so, but over the course of the 8-hour day, I made less than $100. Plenty of people stopped and admired, but no one was buying. I was discouraged but still hoped the second day would be better, and it was! The crowds weren’t as big but I made some sales, enough to sell twice what the booth space cost me. Great? Nope, but good. The Royals hats didn’t sell as quickly as I expected but I sold four of the six button slouch hats I just made last week, so I’ll be making more of those.
Here’s the highlight of the entire show: mid-afternoon on Saturday, two women stopped by my booth and admired several of the hats. The older woman tried on a red slouch hat and liked it, the younger woman tried on a few, then they said they still needed to look around. About half an hour later, they were back. They’d seen everything, trying to decide what their ONE purchase would be…and out of 100 or so vendors, I’d won their business! That made the whole experience worth it to me. Two hats, not a huge sale, but it said huge things to me: they appreciated the work I’d done, they liked it enough to spend their money on it. THAT is why I do this. THAT is why I price my items as fairly as I can. I’m not in this to get rich. I’m in this to do what I love and share it with others.
It wasn’t just them, either. I got so many compliments about my display, my products, my fiber choices, my workmanship. People stopped and really looked at my pieces, felt them, and told me I did very nice work. No, most of them didn’t buy, but that’s ok. It was enough to tell me that I’m on the right track with what I’m doing. Enough people get it, get that my goal is to take a beautiful yarn and find the right pattern to show it off, and do it in a high-quality way to produce something that’s better than you can buy at Target or Kohl’s. I did have one person ask me if I’d take $10 on a $15 acrylic hat (I said no) but only one. That person is not my target. My target is the person who appreciates beauty and quality and is willing to pay what those things are worth.
So now I have to figure out how to reach my target. I’m not sure this show was worth doing again. I had a wonderful time, but the profit wasn’t huge. Am I better off doing smaller, less expensive shows? In the past, I’ve made almost the same amount of money at them while paying smaller booth fees. Do I search for shows in areas that are typically more oriented toward handmade/artisan/independent sellers? Areas that are higher income? Or do I just keep doing a variety? I’m not sure. I’m pondering while I start looking around for some more shows to do.
What’s my takeaway from this show? I need more depth in my kid hat inventory. People wanted them. They loved my Yoda hat, but since I only had maybe five kid hats available, they didn’t sell well. I need more colors, more styles, more sizes. And the button slouch hats will definitely be a staple. They’re quick to make, stylish, and the buttons add great flair. I want to have some chemo caps too, soft and snug acrylic beanies. I had a request for them and hated that I didn’t have anything that was just right. (Of course I also had a request for camo alpaca beanies/gloves marketed as “Hunters’ Special” but I don’t think I’ll go that route.)
I’m never going to be the both with tons of colors in only three or four styles. That’s just not me. But I think I can find a way to meet the customers’ needs and still make what I love. They want kid hats? I love making hats. Having a variety of colors and sizes is all I need; they don’t have to be the same pattern. They want slouch hats? Man, the possibilities are endless. I’ll be making slouchy beanies forever and be happy doing it.
Making money from yarn is hard. It definitely takes time and effort and patience. In the last month or so, I’ve been posting more frequently on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and it’s helping. I’m nowhere near a rockstar but I’m engaging with more people, and I think my visibility is slowing growing bit by bit. Now I need to to take the next step and be more present in person; i.e. do more shows/fairs. I’m looking at this as a job, but I’m still loving it. How lucky am I? Very! Especially since I had so much time to knit the last two days that I finished three hats, including this one. 
Just a few photos today
I’m not feeling very wordy today and I’ve got a lot to do, so today’s post will be mostly photos.
Location of this morning’s newspaper. Yep, that’s the street.
Grace’s new favorite thing is lounging in the greenery to watch the street.
Tubs are packed with inventory and props for today’s craft show set-up.
Included are these 4 new Royal blue hats to celebrate my KC Royals in the post-season!
I managed to make not one but TWO super bulky striped hats yesterday! That was fun. Don’t know that I’ll get much knitting time today, what with setting up my booth, stopping at Costco for dog food, and the boy’s choir concert tonight. But I’ll be sure to post photos of the craft show once it’s all done!
Craft Show Madness
It’s setting in, the frenzy of an upcoming craft show. I feel the urge to MAKE ALL THE THINGS that I think will sell because I’m convinced the stuff I’ve already made is not good enough. I know I won’t be able to put up an attractive display by myself so I’m crossing my fingers that my knitting SIL will help me out. I’m fretting about how to take essential breaks when I’m working my table by myself. So yeah, normal pre-craft show jitters.
All the broken-rib hats have buttons attached and yesterday I cast on for a new hat. It’s a simple slouch hat in stockinette but I’m doing red and white, a candy cane look for early holiday shoppers. I like it so far, and it’s going quickly. 
But this morning it hit me: WHY am I not doing blue and white?? My Kansas City Royals are heading into postseason baseball, and KC is baseball crazy this year. I’d be silly to not have some blue in my inventory this weekend, so I’m setting aside the red and white for now. Good thing I have extra circular needles!
The most exciting progress from the weekend comes from the husband. 
He got 36 of 41 fence posts installed! I am SO excited to see this taking shape. It’s going to look fantastic. Plus we’re all ready to retire these stupid chains for the dogs. The lack of running-around time is making Grace crazy, so that when I take them for a walk in the evening, she’s uncontrollable with energy. It makes walks miserable for both me and Jack, who gets tired of being pulled around when they’re on the double leash. So if the rain holds off, I’m going to see if I can handle taking both pups to the dog park to run off some of the crazy. Wish me luck!
Back to the Fun Yarny Stuff
I am so humbled by the responses I’ve gotten to my last post about my fight with depression. So many people have thanked me and shared similar experiences, and though it saddens me to know that it affects so so many people, I’m encouraged that the more we talk about it, the more we heal and the stigma grows weaker. Thank you to all who liked and commented. You made my heart a little fuller and stronger.
But now I want to go back to a happier topic. I have lots of little knitty things to share. First of all, I’ve got FIVE new hats for my craft show! 
I’ve decided to add buttons to all of them. I was undecided at first, thinking they might discourage someone from buying one. But as my wise daughter pointed out, there might be someone who would be more inclined to buy it with buttons. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t looked at it that way, but it seems so true to me. The buttons make them stand out, make them more unusual. Sure, my button choice might not be what they would pick, but that’s okay. I only need one person who likes my choice. So now I have lots of buttons to sew on before Friday. Yikes! Friday. I’m a little nervous about this craft show. It’s a bigger two-day show at a popular venue. It should be well-attended, which is great…as long as I can put up an attractive display and a few people like what I’ve made.
Yesterday I got to have breakfast with my sister and nephew, which was delightful, and then we hit the thrift store to see what treasures we could find. I did well: I found a big stash of circular needles for only $2 each. I resisted the urge to BUY ALL THE NEEDLES and just came home with 5 sets. Sadly, in my frenzy I picked up two of the same, so I’ll probably just pass the extra on to my Knitting SIL. No, I probably didn’t NEED any of these, but they’re different lengths and it’s always handy to have a good variety of circs.
I also found this gorgeous tote bag that looks kind of like silk. I have a serious tote bag addiction. I tried to resist but my sister encouraged me. “But it’s so pretty!” Yes, yes it is.
See, look at that hot pink lining! How could I resist? Definitely worth the $5.
Later, the husband took the afternoon off so we hit a really cool vintage store downtown. I found another big stash of needles, both circs and straights, but this time I was strong and resisted. It helped that they were $4.50. Not a bad price, just not as cheap as $2. The only one I couldn’t resist was a fantastic set of bone knitting needles, hand carved in Nepal.
It’s a more unusual size but seriously, how cool are they? They even have their own fabric zip-up pouch. The needles are a bit heavy but I’ll still be on the lookout for a project I can make with them soon.
So there you go, all the knitting stuff that’s made me happy the last couple of days! Now I need the time to actually KNIT.
A Literary Evening, and a Hat
So last night, I got to hang out with a best-selling author. No biggie, right? Ha! Many years ago, my mom started writing to Nancy Thayer, who writes women’s fiction and has now written more than 20 books and whose latest, The Guest Cottage, was one of Huffington Post’s favorite beach books. Well, through those letters, a friendship grew. It helps that Nancy has some family locally, so she comes through our area periodically. A while back, she invited my mom to come to an alumni event at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and since Mom doesn’t drive and I love Nancy’s books too, I got to tag along.
The reception was first, full of people who already seemed to know each other. Nancy recognized Mom immediately and gave her a big hug; I got a hug too, after a quick, awkward “do we shake hands or do we hug” moment. We chatted for a few minutes, then left so she could work the room. After that, we moved to the auditorium to listen to a conversation with Nancy and a local journalist/writer. That was fun too, but the best part came after. Nancy had invited us to join her afterward for drinks, so we got to party with the author! We were with one of her old friends, who was delightful, and another couple who had driven five hours to meet Nancy. Nancy’s nephew joined us too, and I found out he’s a musician, working with a band and recording an EP. His name is Andrew Foshee and he’s a singer/songwriter with a great folky sound. He’s got a few songs on iTunes now, and I’m looking forward to hearing his new music.
It was just a really fun night talking with smart, interesting people about books and music and life, and I realized I don’t do that very often. And I think I should. Maybe not every weekend, but more than I do right now.
And in between, I’ll keep knitting. I worked on this hat last night during the reception and finished it this morning. Funny story about this one: I got carried away last night and just kept knitting, so the body of the hat was 7″ instead of 6″, which meant that this morning I played a scary game of Yarn Chicken. I won, but it was too close for comfort! I won’t try to repeat that. 
One of the cool things about this pattern is that it’s reversible. The “wrong” side looks like a nifty seed stitch pattern.
But I still prefer the “right” side.
This is the Slouchy Broken Rib Hat and it’s one of my favorites.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go shelve my newly-signed Nancy Thayer books!
Two Finished Hats
“I like big sticks, and I cannot lie.” 
The puppies discovered they can reach the pile of sticks we made during our yard work and they’ve been having a marvelous time pulling them out one by one and fighting over them. Because as you know, just like with children, you can’t simply give each puppy a stick and call it good. No, one stick is clearly better than the other, and both must fight for the right to gnaw on it. Jack won this time.
In between taking the dogs outside in the gorgeous almost-fall weather, I managed to finish two hats. One is the Lunar Eclipse hat, which is even getting button accents. 
The other is a basic pink. It’s not quite as bright as it looks in this photo; it’s more of a dark raspberry pink. I’ll leave off buttons on this one.
What color next: purple, teal, or green?
I also got to take the girl shopping for a Homecoming dress yesterday. The dance is this Saturday and the rest of the week is pretty full, so last night was basically our only opportunity. We found three great options. Two were full-length, gorgeous but more formal, more Prom-ish. One was shorter, with a swirly skirt, beaded waist and gathered bodice. It’s lovely, looked gorgeous on her, very feminine without being overly revealing. She wasn’t sure any of them were “the One” but with limited time, she had to pick. She picked the shorter one and by the time we got home and she modeled it for her dad, she was really excited about it, liked it better than she did in the store. So she had him take a photo and she texted it to some of her friends. Two of the three were supportive and encouraging, they loved it, so cute, she looked great. But the other one? She decided to tell my girl she looked like one of the Golden Girls, that the dress was pretty but it made her look older. Seriously?? If you’re shopping for a dress with a girlfriend and ask for opinions, I get it, this would have been acceptable. (Depending on the friendship. I definitely have people who could say this to me without fear of retribution.) But once the dress is purchased with no other options? That’s just mean, I think. Or thoughtless, I’m not sure which. Either way, my daughter was hurt, and I hope she’s able to set that comment aside and remember how she felt in the dress before. It’s just one more example of why it’s best to think before you speak!
I See a Red Moon Rising
Busy busy weekend! Does everyone else have weekends like this, where it’s pretty much GO GO GO from Saturday morning until Sunday night? I’m ready for a boring weekend. Someday. Instead, we started off with a parade, and I do love parades. Especially ones with my daughter’s band playing! They were fantastic, of course. After that she had time for a quick lunch, then she was off for a day-long band competition…where her band got FIRST PLACE in their division! See, I told you they were fantastic! I wasn’t able to go to this one, though I would have liked to, because we’re still trying to make progress on the fence.
We’re at the heavy labor part of the process: digging by hand the post holes with roots/rocks. Then the husband went and bought fence posts, gravel and concrete, but we just didn’t have time to get as much done as I’d hoped. That’s okay, it’s still forward progress. Just no fun photos yet. The fun photos come later. We went to the local Fall Festival that night, a fun craft show/carnival/fair kind of thing, and had a blast. I found treats for the puppies… 
and treats for me!
I was also on the lookout for a new collar for Grace, since the buckle snapped on hers. We use martingale collars because they’re both pretty squirrely and like to wriggle out of regular ones. The first booth I tried had really cute ones, but the martingales had no buckle, and when I asked, the lady treated me like I was an idiot. “They don’t come like that. This is how the martingale works,” she told me, demonstrating how the loop tightens. Well yes, I understand that part, but the dogs go outside on chains and if it’s loose enough to put on and take off, it’s loose enough for her to slip out of, and that’s not okay. This lady clearly thought I had no idea what I was talking about so I moved on, and glad I did, because I found a booth selling Slik Hound collars. We’d bought collars from them before and they really are high-quality. I just wish we’d bought martingales at the time. Fortunately, the kind woman at this booth knew about martingales with buckles and didn’t think I was crazy and helped me order one for Grace. I can’t wait until I get it!
I ended the weekend on a good note: I sat outside last night and watched the eclipse and did some knitting in the dark. With two craft fairs looming, I’ve decided to focus on making more basic slouch hats, since they always sell well and I’ve got great yarn in my stash. That’s what I was making while I sat in my backyard with the puppies frolicking around me. It was lovely to see the moon and sit outside where it was so quiet and peaceful…for the most part. The dogs heard an owl next door and went a little nuts since that was a new sound to them. We made it to about ten, the moon was fully eclipsed and gorgeous, and though part of me wanted to stay up and watch the whole thing, the rest of me was tired. So here’s my Lunar Eclipse hat: 
It’s a simple broken rib pattern and I did really well for a long time. Then came a row where my k1,p1 pattern was wrong at the end, and I had to tink (in the dark!). I’m pretty sure the error is right here; I’m just not sure how to fix it. So I might tink back another row or two. Even doing that, I should be able to finish this hat today.
Adventures in Chart Knitting
I cast on for a new cowl yesterday. I had that lovely Mochi Plus in shades of blue and found this perfect wave cowl pattern called Clemence. I downloaded it and cast on, and then realized the stitch pattern was in a chart. See, sometimes knitting patterns use charts with little symbols to represent a stitch, like shorthand or something. And sometimes they write out each line. It’s just personal preference. I suppose charts take up less space or something, which is especially important in complicated lace patterns. In any case, I prefer written patterns. It’s hard for me to remember what each little symbol means, so I’m always looking down at the key to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing. But I love this cowl and it was just right for this yarn, so I did the first row without problems.
At least I thought I did. Then I re-read the instructions and realized the chart is meant to be read bottom to top and right to left. What is this craziness? I texted my knitting SIL to vent and she pointed out that you knit bottom to top and right to left. Stumped, I had to agree she was right. But still, I said, I read left to right. Her response? “Pretend you’re Hebrew.” All righty then.
I ignored that first (wrong) row and just started the next row doing the chart properly. And once I figured out how simple the pattern really is, it was fine. I even took it with me for car knitting during the girl’s flute lesson and worked without the chart and didn’t mess it up (I don’t think.) And I’m glad I kept going because I think it’s going to be gorgeous. 
It’s knitting up quickly and I’ll have enough yarn left over to do matching fingerless gloves and a hat.
Here’s a fun puppy photo from the other day. We took them to the dog park on Sunday and they wore themselves out big-time. That night Grace crashed on the couch and the kids thought it would be fun to wrap her up in the blanket. She didn’t care a bit. 
She looks like she belongs in Star Wars, like she’s Obi Wan Kenobi or something. Funny dog.
My New Local Yarn Store
People, yesterday was a big day for me. You remember I recently moved to a new city, and the only crafty store I could find was Michaels? And that the yarn selection at Michaels is, well, it’s kind of crap? I mean, there’s some okay stuff, but it’s just a really small selection, and…it’s not GOOD yarn. Well! I have found salvation.
I had lunch with two long-time friends yesterday. They came to see my new house and then we went to Rock & Run Brewery, a locally owned pub. Great drinks, great food, great atmosphere. I loved it. Then one of my friends asked if I’d been to Corbin Mill yet. (It’s an old mill with several crafty shops in there; I thought there was quilting and beading and antiques.) I said no, not yet, hadn’t had the time. “Did you know there’s yarn there?” she asked me casually. Nonchalantly, like it was no big deal. Are you kidding me?? Six weeks I’ve lived here and had no idea I was two minutes away from a yarn store?? It was decided: after lunch we were going to the mill.
So we did and it was marvelous! It’s called the Old Mill Stitchery (see, that doesn’t scream yarn. No wonder I was confused.) The yarn section wasn’t huge but it was fantastic. Lots of Classic Elite Yarns, Berroco, some Shibui, and more that were new to me. Even the Berroco, which you can find in most LYSs, was really well-represented, with yarns I hadn’t seen before. There were samples hanging up everywhere, gorgeous complicated knits. As I wandered through petting the yarns, I chatted with the lady working there. Apparently the store has been there for 20 years or so, though I’m not sure if it’s always had the yarn. She was the needlepoint lady; the knitting lady would be in the next day, as would a knitting group. Oh, and get this: I had JUST missed a yarn tasting by a day or so. And the next one won’t be until spring. Argh. You can bet I signed up for their mailing list immediately.
The hard part was that my friends are not knitters. One is a rug hooker, so she appreciated the large section of dyed wool. The other is not crafty. As she said, we can make it and she can buy it. So I didn’t want to torture them too long. We browsed through the yarn, the wool, the little antique store section, and saved the bead store for last. Lots and lots of pretties! I can’t wait to go back and look for materials for some new stitch markers. I didn’t wait long for the yarn. As soon as my friends dropped me off, I let the puppies outside for a few minutes, then drove right back up to the yarn store. I even had some birthday money to spend! An hour later, it was gone, but my arms were full of these luscious treasures. 
Araucania Ruca Solid. This is 100% Sugar Cane. What?? I didn’t know such a thing existed. I don’t usually buy much brown yarn, but this one reminded me of milk chocolate. It’s also extremely soft but what made me buy it was the drape. It feels very elegant, and I think this will become a gorgeous shawl. Bonus: it was 50% off!
Classic Elite Yarns Chateau. I’ve played with this yarn before and it’s heavenly. It’s so lightweight and soft, it’s cloud-like. It’s mostly baby alpaca with a bit of bamboo, so of course I love it. Alpaca is my favorite. This is going to become some kind of striped scarf for me. 
I’m a fan of sparkle so this Ava by CEY caught my eye, and I snagged the last two skeins of silver. I haven’t decided if this will become a project by itself, or if I’ll use it as an accent on other projects.
More sale yarn! This is Kodiak by Berroco, another new yarn for me. Another bulky, super-soft alpaca blend; this is obviously the type of yarn that speaks to me more than any others. It was all 50% off, I loved all the colors and I couldn’t decide which one to get. I also couldn’t afford to buy as much as I wanted, so I got a pink, a cream and two dark grey, and I’m pretty sure they’ll play together to become some kind of cowl/scarf thing.
It was such a fun day, and it pleased me so much to find such a wonderful creative haven so close to me. I’m not normally a very out-going, social person, but I do think I’ll go up there one day and check out the knitting group. It might be neat to have some new yarny buddies.
Here’s the downside: I came home and started putting my new yarns away, and looking at my gorgeous gorgeous stash actually made me sad! I have so much beautiful yarn, and I’m afraid now that I’ve got SABLE (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy) and that’s not okay, because I want to have time to use all these fantastic yarns I’ve collected. Does anyone else ever feel like that? I either need to knit more often and faster, or I need to stop buying yarn, and not buying yarn isn’t going to happen, so I better stop typing now and start knitting.
Except I’m tired of all my WIPs. Time to cast on for something new?
bonnyknits 