Write (a blog)

Small shop update tonight. More bags coming asap!

CLICK HERE!

Oh! My very first professional sock pattern, aka “Dream Socks”, aka Carassius Socks, are now available to the public!

You can purchase them via Three Irish Girls, and I hope you will.

They’ve been available for a couple weeks now, but I forgot to blog it. OMG. How did I *forget* that?

You people rock. Thank you for commenting. It’s good to know someone is out there reading me even if I don’t blog all too often. I will try to post more, I promise. I appreciate your visits.

I admit, Plurking (which I do almost daily) has taken away a lot of the things I would normally blog about. It’s a lot quicker to just write a quick plurk than to write out a whole blog entry. Seriously, if something pops into my head, I can just text it to Plurk! (And I admit I may be a little lazy.)

Anyway, since you’re here,  this is whats up. I’m still making bags! Today I made two prototype bags for a custom order. They’re larger than the regular bags. The regulars are 6″ in diameter, these are 8″. They’re taller too, and have a larger outside pocket and a 4th pocket inside. The matching mini notions bag is a little bit bigger too.

I like how it turned out, but I’m not sure if I’m going to make them regularly or not. With the larger size, you can put more in it obviously. But that poses a potential problem with the usefulness of the strap. If it’s too heavy, it defeats the purpose of the quick snap and go strap, which is intended to go on your wrist, belt loop or purse strap. Plus the whole point of my bags is to be able to take a *small* project with you, like socks or a hat. I never intended to make a bag for a sweater in progress, even if I have lots of feedback from people wanting such a creation. I teach people to knit socks, and my knitting bag is intended for carrying your sock in progress. Knitting socks is good. All you need are socks.

So if the demand is there, why don’t I fulfill it? Simply put, TIME. The small bags alone take several hours to make. On a good productive day, I’ll make 4 bags. On a crazy busy day, with nary a potty break, I can make 6. But that kind of work is not really what I *want* to do day in and day out. I still enjoy making my bags, because I do it on my pace. Two here, two there, sometimes 4. Sometimes I take a week or month off. Or several months off. I don’t want to find myself in a place where I feel like I’m required, pressured, or obligated to make them, because I know me. I would end up hating it.

I’ve even turned down a few wholesale offers. I’m just one person, and I don’t even have a craft room. My “office” is what should be our family dining room. I can’t commit to a certain kind of production. Not yet.. not till I have a real craft space. *eyes the husband*

What about minions? I’d love help, but I’m pretty particular about how they’re made. Maybe even a control freak. I don’t think I could hire someone else to sew for me. And I don’t think they’d appreciate my leaning over their shoulder and the constant nit-picking. And the kids wouldn’t do it for what I’d be willing to pay.

Remember when you could pay a kid a quarter and they’d do almost anything?

*sigh* Good times. Good times.

Til next time… xoxo

How about a show of hands. Who still reads my blog? I need some incentive to start posting again…

Is anyone out there?

Oh, and Happy New Year!

I’m back at it, making my On The Town Knitting Bags in my one woman sweat shop. I have a lot of fabric cut and ready to be sewn. 80% of that is brocade and satin.

Once all the brocade and satin has be used up, the brocade bags will be no more. They’re retiring. All good things must come to an end.

I will try to get them ALL made, or at least a lot of them made, and then open the shop. I anticipate that they will go rather quickly as a lot of people have been waiting for more bags to be available. If you want to be notified when the shop opens, go and get on the list. It will be at least a week before the shop opens. Maybe two. The bags take a fair bit of time to make, so please continue to be patient. But if you’re waiting, get on the list now.

Don’t worry, I will continue to make the casual version, the denim & cotton bags. I will also be working on a new all cotton version as well, and some completely new bags.

And a little sneak preview for you blog readers, there will possibly… maybe… be a PDF pattern (and/or kit) in the future so you crafty people can make your own On The Town Knitting Bags. Maybe. Just maybe. Lots of work to do before that’s a go yet, it looks very likely, but don’t hold your breath.

Unless you can hold it for a verrrrrry. loooooong. time.

My boy is 18 years old today. The baby that I was carrying when I graduated high school in 1991. The little something that scared me more than anything, and made me so happy at the same time.

He is 18. A man. As tall as his dad and all grown up. Where does the time go?

Eighteen years ago, at my baby shower, guests brought a little something to go into a box. A box that would not be opened until the year 2009, Taylor’s Time Capsule. All these years, it’s been tucked away, and never mentioned to the boy. Until now. We let him open it last night.

Inside was a trip back to 1991. The baby shower invitation, with instructions for this very box. Photos of family and friends and notes to baby. Newspapers from 1991, The Wall Street Journal, and memorabilia. Baseball cards, a mint set of 1991 coins. Pictures of mom and dad as teenagers, dad with long hair and the actual ponytail he cut off. Pix of dad’s old motorcycle and a “baby biker” outfit that says “PooPoo Happens”. The shirt Taylor wore home from the hospital and a tiny baby sleeper. Ornaments and a sprig from his first Christmas tree. Taylor’s handprints when he was 8 months old. A drawing I did in high school, and the t-shirt I wore as a member of the school newspaper committee. A family tree with photos from my dad’s mom, Taylor’s only remaining great-grandparent. A postcard written to a man in the future.

Taylor thoroughly enjoyed going through the box. There are things in there he’ll treasure, things he can laugh at, and things he may never touch again. Maybe he’ll place the Christmas ornament that says “Baby’s First Christmas” on his own tree to commemorate his own child’s first Christmas. Maybe he’ll put the pictures in a box marked for his own son. Maybe…

He has his whole life ahead of him. Now as a man, but forever that little blond boy that still scares me, yet makes me so happy at the same time.

I love you boy. Happy Birthday.

Yeah. So I haven’t blogged in a while. Things have been busy (that’s the standard excuse.) But since the last blog entry, I went on a trip with my mom to St Louis, Springfield and Chicago. The kids started school again, and perhaps what has been keeping me the most busy, I’m working on my very first contracted sock design to be published by Three Irish Girls. Squee!

A few months ago, Sharon at Three Irish Girls (3IG) contacted me and asked if I would like to design a sock pattern for their sock club. Yeah, she contacted me. *blink* I, of course, said yes yes yes!! It will be an exclusive design for the club for 6 months, then sold on the 3IG website for a minimum of 18 months, and I get royalties. Wee!

When I first accepted, I immediately started trying to come up with a great design. Without much success. This one was too complicated, this one was not fun to knit, this one didn’t look good.. ugh. I was going nuts. Then one night I had a dream. I dreamt that was out with my knitting friends and one of the ladies had gotten up to get coffee and had left a sock that she was designing behind on the table. I picked it up and loved it. I wished that I had thought of that… Then I woke up. And I practically yelled, I DID think of that! And started sketching.

The design is finished, and I’ve knit one sock. It is nearly exactly what I remember in my dream. The pattern is all written and has been delivered to my test knitters. It will be submitted to 3IG in November. I can not wait. It is quite literally a dream. Even if it isn’t a huge hit, I’m so excited to have my first pattern published! (Can you see me doing the happy dance over here?)

I really loved writing that pattern and will be writing more. My head is swimming with ideas. Pierre is in love with the idea of me writing and selling knitting patterns. Because once the work is done, it’s done. And that’s good. Maybe he has visions of grandeur, I don’t think I’ll get rich off this, but I love that he’s so encouraging.

And I love that I can sit on the sofa and knit and honestly say “I’m WORKING here!”