Today was Yarn Day! I placed a Knit Picks order recently for the yarn I need for the mermaid blanket order, and of course I needed to get free shipping plus there was a discount, so I ordered a few things for myself. And today I found it on my porch…as I was leaving to go to Costco!! Argh. I had to WAIT to open it, but finally the moment arrived. 
It just never gets old, diving into a box of yarn.
This is Brava Worsted, and it will become the crocheted Mermaid Blanket. It might be a challenge for me, but I’m looking forward to doing some crochet again. I get awfully knitting-centered sometimes. I absolutely love these colors.
This was my splurge: six skeins of Preciosa Tonal. Pretty, eh? I love the subtle color variations. They feel more…roving-esque? than I expected–I think I was expecting something similar to a MadTosh feel–but I really like them. Very soft, should be marvelous to knit with. My goal is for them to become more slouch beanies; I think I can get two hats from each skein. But sadly these little beauties will have to wait. First I need to finish some orders. I got one pair of KC Royals fingerless gloves done this morning, and during this afternoon’s game I aim to knit the earwarmer. Tomorrow is empty right now, so maybe I can get the other pair of fingerless gloves done. Here’s hoping! 
These gloves were a fantastic knit, extremely fast and I love how the ribbing keeps them nice and snug. Now if I could just keep track of how many rows I do in the first mitt so I can replicate it more easily for the second! The pattern is called 220 Fingerless Mitts.
Tag Archive | crochet
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. 
More Rehab on the House
My weekend was not knitting related at all. When we bought this big old house that needs all this work, I guess we resigned ourselves to weekends of manual labor for the rest of time. We’re still working on the fence. It’s slow going when you can only work one to two days a week, but I keep reminding myself of how much money we’re saving by doing it ourselves. And we’re getting SO close! I spent early Saturday digging up weed roots along the fence line, and took great joy in knocking down this stupid rickety old trellis.
That afternoon, we strung the line and measured for fence posts.
Sunday morning, we went to work with the rented auger and it went much more smoothly than I anticipated. We have a huge yard, around 300 square feet, and with mostly 8′ sections, that’s a lot of post holes. 
There were maybe four or five where we hit root, and we’ll have to go back and dig by hand. The rest we got done in half a day. The worst were the ones were we’d get down maybe two feet and then hit the thick, dense clay. We’d have to pull the auger out, clean off the mud, and try again, and several of them took four tries before we got down to 30 inches. But we did it, and I’m encouraged! We might actually get a fence this fall. The best part was when one of the neighbors stopped and told us how nice it was to see us working on this house. It’s been neglected for a long time, and I’m loving the fact that making it pretty again will bring joy to the neighborhood, not just us.
I also moved my daughter’s desk down from the attic into the sitting room. She’s been doing her homework at the kitchen table, which isn’t ideal for any of us. Plus this desk, which my fantastically talented husband built, is gorgeous and I wanted to be able to see it. I love it here in front of the window. 
(Side note: I cannot WAIT to refinish these floors. I know the water damage won’t go away completely, but man, this wood will be gorgeous after being sanded and refinished. I’m just not brave enough to do it by myself.) Anyway, yes, love the desk here and am in fact sitting here as I write this, loving the view and being downstairs with the puppies. And the girl seemed to appreciate it last night. It’s much more comfortable than the attic room, and she doesn’t have to move everything when it’s time for dinner.
I haven’t completely neglected my yarn. I did manage to get another Yoda hat knit, so I have five hats done. Last night I got three sets of ears knit. Just a couple more hours and they’ll be ready to go, either to sell on Etsy or for my craft show next month. And I do have a finished object to share, even if it is from last week. This is the Bit of Lace Hemp Triangle, and I used some shimmery purple Merletto. I love this project. I love the big hook and the skinny yarn. I love the loose lacy fabric it creates. I love how fast it works up. I love the versatility of the finished piece, how it can be a shawlette or a scarf. I’ve got enough left to make another one just like this, so I’ll be able to keep one and sell one. 
I should be able to get some knitting done later today, but first I get to have lunch with two wonderful ladies from my Coldwater Creek days. Should be a good day all around!
What’s the Next Step?
I love my blog. I love being a small part of this really cool community. I love all you readers, those who comment and those who don’t. I love sharing photos of what I’m working on and what the puppies are destroying. It’s been over a year now, and I’ve been on the free WordPress plan the whole time. Well, it’s time to think about the next step. I’m at 75% capacity for storage, which I think means eventually I won’t be able to post new photos. That’s not okay, not for a knitting blog. So I’m asking you, fellow WordPress users, what do you do? Do you upgrade? Do you delete old photos to make room?
I’ve been watching Property Brothers while I knit, and it’s making me want to do more to fix/decorate my new house. So yesterday I hit the thrift store and found an awesome zebra print bag (Not for the house. Whatever. A bargain is a bargain), new curtains for the door in the bedroom, a new curtain for the kitchen window, and some frames for my favorite kids’ artwork. I’ve been saving these for ages and I’m glad I finally can hang them up. This is the one I like the best. 
Time for Some Crochet
Crochet came first for me, but after I learned to knit, knitting because my primary passion. I love the fabric it creates, the rhythm of my hands, hearing that little click of the needles every so often. But I still enjoy crochet too, and lately I’ve been feeling the urge. Yesterday I gave in to the urge. It was time to take a break on the blanket and I don’t have any outstanding orders to finish, so I perused Ravelry until I found a pattern that spoke to me. Now, you’ll have to be patient with me. This will be a gift for someone who I think reads my blog, so I don’t want to share the full details just yet. But here’s a little peek: 
I think it looks a bit like chainmail. I’m using a DK weight (a little thinner than I usually use) yarn called Merletto from Louisa Harding. It’s called Sage but to me it’s more of a silver, and it even has a lovely shimmer. I’m quite excited about this project, and in fact I’ll be going back to it once I’m done writing to you lovely people.
The girl had her second football game yesterday (reminder: she’s marching band, not football team). I think the team lost, but the band was wonderful of course. And right after the halftime show, there was lightning and then some rain and the band was sent home and I didn’t have to sit through a whole football game! Yahoo! Anyway, we came home. To the puppies. Yes, THOSE puppies. The ones who are naughty sometimes. I’d gotten a package in the mail yesterday and included was a small gauzy pouch containing a birthday present. I had set it aside to open on the actual day. Well, you can guess what happened. Grace decided she wanted it open NOW. She’s very good at opening presents. Thankfully, the present was nothing she deemed edible, so it survived. And it’s beautiful too, see: 
This is from Kind Spirit Jewelry. She makes pretty things. I will wear it today when my mommy takes me out for a celebratory lunch. And the weather is supposed to be sunny and slightly cooler, so I think it will be a good day. Happy Friday and enjoy your weekend!
Oy, What a Day I Had
Yesterday was not a good day. Yesterday was pretty close to a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. It was the last day of school so it was going to be my last day of peace and quiet, and I had high hopes which were quickly dashed. I woke up to find the 2-day-old $30 dog bed now had half its insides on the outside. Not only that, the charming dogs had also chewed up one of my smaller tote bags. Thankfully, it was a $2 bag from Goodwill, but still.
After breakfast, I had to cancel an Etsy order. I messed up when I created the listing, which was for multiple sizes, and I had no idea which size the customer wanted. Three emails had gone unanswered, so I refunded her money and fixed the listing. Maybe she’ll reorder. I hope so. Until then, there went that money.
I didn’t have time to sit around with tea and yarn, because I had an errand to run and I wanted to get it out of the way. The boy’s school said he still owed money on lost library books, and I had proof I’d paid for them a year ago. I get to the school…nope, I need to go to the elementary school since that’s where the fine was accrued. Fine. I went to the pet store and spent $60 on new puppy toys to hopefully discourage the darn dogs from chewing on inappropriate things. I went to the grocery store to get milk and bread for the mother, and discovered it was the day for everyone and their grandmother to shop. Seriously, so crowded, and they all moved SO SLOWLY. Plus, they didn’t have the exact bread the mother wanted, and she’s picky about her bread. One phone call later, bread was selected and I was on my way. I dropped off the milk and bread and got my first pick-me-up of the day: she’d made No Bake Cookies! Whew. One was consumed quickly and several were packed away for later. Off again, this time to the elementary school. Thankfully, they were very nice and took care of the problem quickly.
After that, the day improved for a good long bit. We had a nice dinner, started watching Shrek, then discovered one of the pups had an upset tummy and had been eating A LOT of grass. A fight ensued over which puppy would get to re-ingest said grass before we ushered them outside so we could clean up. Two more small puddles and a movie later, we went to the kitchen to get ready for bed and discovered the one remaining dog bed had a very large puddle/pile of…unpleasantness on it and next to it. I swear, what the heck was wrong with these dogs?? I was pretty sure it was Jack, since he was the one looking sad and pathetic. Dog bed cover was thrown in the washer, towels were laid down for them to sleep on, and off to bed we went, with hopes that surely things would look better in the morning.
Well. I certainly didn’t mean at 4:45, but that’s what the puppies thought. I really think it was Jack. He was probably starving after emptying the contents of his stomach last night. But, at least they hadn’t chewed up anything overnight. Small victories, right? Sigh. I am discouraged. Discouraged and frustrated. I’m trying to tell myself that I survived small children, so I can survive this. I’m trying to remember that my pups bring me lots of joy and love, they really do. I mean, look at this sweet guy. 
So let me end on a high note. My collection of chair socks has grown significantly. 
18 made, only 14 to go! My sister’s project bag has been knitted and has handles attached. I bought the fabric for the lining and it’s GORGEOUS so now I only need to line the bag and it will be done and I can show it to you! And best of all, yesterday I booked a room for a short getaway next month. I get to go meet a dear Facebook friend who I’ve never met in person and I can’t wait! It’s only one night but it’s better than nothing and I think we will have a marvelous time.
Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to go find a quiet place to play with yarn. I need to restore some sanity.
Crochet Chair Socks
Yarn and I had some good quality time together yesterday. This time it was crochet, not knitting. My MIL requested some chair socks and even provided the yarn, so I’m providing the manual labor. I’ve got eight socks done…only 24 more to go! 
I’m using this pattern but doing variations on the stripes to keep it interesting. I’ll do two in each stripe pattern, and I’ll probably end up repeating more. The yarn is Red Heart, sturdy and washable. They’re super fast to make and make for great TV crocheting.
And here’s today’s puppy pic. Every morning they need to spend about an hour outside running around, then they come in and nap wherever I am. They don’t always nap together but I love it when they do. 
Thank Goodness for Grandmas
Not my grandmas, though. Mine both died when I was quite young, so I don’t remember them very well. And I don’t think either of them were knitting grandmas, either. No, I’m talking about benefiting from other people’s grandmas. When I first started knitting, my Crochet SIL shared some of the metal needles she’d inherited from her grandmother, and it was a wonderful way to start my collection. Then yesterday, a friend of mine is preparing to move and is cleaning out her stash, all needles and yarn she got from HER grandma that she doesn’t need. These weren’t free, but the price I paid was ridiculously cheap very fair. How lucky am I? I snatched up this collection of circular needles.
I counted 20 circs in there, including 8 Clover bamboo and even one Knitter’s Pride Nova! The rest are vintage plastic (I’m guessing that’s what they are. Or resin??) and Bernat aluminum-nylon. Those I won’t use as often, but they’re there if I need them. Plus I got that nifty case! Maybe not the fabric I would have chosen, but I do appreciate functionality as well as appearance. With all these needles, only two were duplicates, and they’ll go to my Knitting SIL. She’ll also get these two skeins of sock yarn, which I don’t use. 
10 BALLS of Rowan Biggy! Craziness! Hello, my new fall blanket project.
And 10 balls of Berroco Chinchilla in this bright purple. I typically don’t care for the fuzzy, textured yarns like this; I find them hard to work with. But they are so soft, and this was purple! So now I have over 700 yards of it. What the heck am I going to make with it? Teddy bears? Chemo caps? I could knit it with another strand and make a wonderfully soft, dense blanket. Hmmm, that’s tempting.
I didn’t get a bit of knitting done yesterday so that’s first on my agenda today. I did manage to make my homemade bitter apple spray. I used apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, and a touch of cayenne pepper. Then I coated my kitchen chairs with them, and we all turned up our noses at the horrible smell permeating our house for the day. And after I did that, my Knitting SIL came to borrow our kitchen table (long story) so the chairs will be put away for a while and I didn’t even need to spray them. Sigh. The puppies now have a little bedroom of their own.
Of course, that’s only for nighttime. During the day, puppies must sleep where mom is, right? 
Yarn Shop Day
First, let me say this: sadly, I do not live in the UK. Here in the states, or at least in my neck of the woods, we don’t celebrate May 2nd as Yarn Shop Day. That’s a darn shame in my book. Around here, May 2nd is Free Comic Book Day. But the comic book store my husband and son wanted to go to just happens to be near two LYS, so I decided I would celebrate all by myself. As you will see, I should not be allowed to go yarn shopping alone. Restraint is not my strong suit. Here’s what I got at the first shop. 
This yummy purple Simpliworsted will be something for me, a cowl I think. I love this yarn, this is the only local store that carries it, and it was the only skein in this color. Fate!
The white is for a slouchy hat for the girl, the gray is for….I don’t know. Something. I love gray. I love gray enough that I bought a pale silvery gray of this yarn and immediately wound it so it could go the baseball game with me last night. 
This will grow up to become a mesh scarf for me. I need something to wear when I do craft shows, and since I don’t wear hats, this neutral scarf should come in handy.
That first store didn’t take long. The yarn selection is a bit limited and I was the only customer, so I was out of that store within 20 minutes. The second yarn store was much better, and much busier. Lots, lots more yarn. More brands, more variety, and just more yarn! Shelves lining the store, reaching up above my head. Mmmm. Heavenly. I browsed for a quite a while, petting skeins here and there and pondering. I picked up three, then I found the winners and the first three went back on the shelf. Here’s what I couldn’t resist. 
I have a bit of a Malabrigo obsession. This color is called Lettuce. Don’t you just want to eat it up? Yum! This will be a hat. I think Barley.
But that’s not the best thing. I splurged a bit. This might be my Mother’s Day present. I kept picking up these skeins that were so gorgeously rich and vivid, and each time I did, they were this brand called Baah, which makes hand-painted yarn. Yes, they’re as beautiful as you can imagine. But they’re also as pricey as you can imagine. I could resist, with a soft, wistful sigh…until I found this. 
You can’t really tell from this photo, but the colors are a bit darker, a true red with darker variations. It’s called Chocolate Cherries. My dad absolutely loved chocolate covered cherries, so of course this makes me think of him. I will have a scarf made from this, hopefully with a pretty lace pattern, maybe something with circles that evoke cherries? This will probably be the most expensive scarf I ever make but I will love it.
So that was Yarn Shop Day for me. I can’t wait to see what all my UK people got to do. Maybe when I grow up and open a yarn store, I’ll start a US Yarn Shop Day too!
The puppies are still being much like toddlers. They’re great one minute and monsters the next. This is what I got up to the other morning. 
Yep. Banana bowl bit the dust. And they got a nice snack of three bananas. All that was left was one slimy brown stem. This is why I can’t have nice things. But then they go and do something like this and I remember why I think they’re cute. 
Somehow Jack ended up on the wrong side of the gate. “Hey, uh, Grace, can you help me out here?” He tried to jump over and of course that didn’t work. So he just gave me his charming little puppy grin until I took pity on him. Silly dogs!
Today I’m going to try making my own batch of bitter apple spray to deter the monsters from completely destroying my kitchen chairs. Here’s hoping. And maybe some knitting? If I’m lucky!
Time for a Break
Saturday was craft show day. It was from 10-4 and it was in a more affluent part of town, with the promise of lots of shopping moms. I had a friend with me and she helped me create a more compelling table display than I’d done the last couple of shows. My hopes were high. 
Oh, and did you notice, I played with my hair again? Apparently I’m no longer a natural blond (I know, who knew?) so I’m trying to grow out all the processed stuff and find my real color. I had some leftover bleached blonde, so my fabulous hairdresser MIL gave me teal tips. Love them! Of course, my own mother’s reaction was different: “What happened to your hair??” LOL. Can’t win ’em all, right?
Anyway, yeah, I thought the table looked good. I had a selection of bags and lightweight spring hats, as well as spring mesh scarves and some cute baby hats. Too bad people decided they didn’t want to attend this show. It was slow all day long. I had three super wonderful friends from my old Coldwater Creek days show up, and that was such a treat. Plus they bought a couple of things! Other than that, I had ONE sale. Sigh. There just wasn’t much traffic. One vendor packed up and left at 1:30. But I did make table, and I had fun with my friends, so it wasn’t a complete loss.
It also clarified something for me: I’m slowing down on shows for now. It seems clear that spring/summer months are not good for the kind of things I love to make, and I don’t want to completely change my crafting outlook to cater to that. Plus, I was stressed out before these last two shows. I was worried about whether I’d have enough stuff, or whether it was the “right” stuff, and I felt guilty working on anything for myself or my family. That’s not what I want my knitting life to be, and I’m so grateful that I have the ability to step back. So for now, I’ll be knitting for fun. I’m still going to work on my Etsy shop, and I’ll still do the Etsy at the Exchange events when I can, but no more paid craft shows for now. I’m signed up for a big one in October and I might just let that be the next one.
I had another epiphany of sorts over the weekend, too. Another Creek friend, Terri, invited me to a dinner theater show, and we had a marvelous time catching up. We hadn’t talked one on one in ages, but she said she loves to follow along with what I write on Facebook so she felt like we were still close. At one point she asked me about the retail memoir I’d been working on. I’ve been working on that thing for that last four years, I think, and I keep working and leaving it and coming back and leaving again. But Terri’s question, and the fact that she’s not the only one who’s said they’d love to read it, made me realize that I’ve got something going on with this writing thing. No, I’m no literary genius. But I do love it, and I think I do connect with readers sometimes. So I’m bringing writing back into my life, more than just this blog, and I’m going to do my best to finish revising my manuscript. Maybe then I’ll be brave enough to start querying agents, or maybe I’ll just share it with friends and family. Who knows. I think for me, the process is the most important part.
Thanks for listening, friends. I know this was a more introspective post, less fun knitting talk, but I promise, there will be fun stuff in days to come. Still yarn, always yarn, but writing talk too, maybe even manuscript excerpts. And puppy photos, too. Today is Captain Jack, my furry little baseball fan. 
bonnyknits 