Chaos and Mini crisis averted

Had a small crisis today that worked itself out. I had pre-made some replacement cat hats so I could relist if they sold. Well sure enough they did and then one of the relisted ones sold.

So in the midst of my busy weekend, my husband decides to be "helpful" and redo my entire office for more storage. (I'm sure its because my sweat shop migrates to the living room often). Anyway we certainly tore the house apart but never quite got it back together as of this morning.

In any case, I'm putting together shipments and I cannot find one of the gray cat hats. I thought I looked everywhere, but at this point the entire house is in chaos. I'm freaking out here (already stressed can't plug computer in etc) . So I decide I'll make another one and I'm off to Joann for more yarn. Well Joann doesn't have the color. Neither does Michaels or my other local yarn store.

Well now I'm in panic mode. I figure I'll eat the cost and get some fedexed. Still couldn't find the darn yarn online. At this point, I start piecing together the very end of balls of yarn in the correct color. Not the same dye lot and still not enough but I'm thinking I'll just lightly felt it then stretch it a bit.

As I'm putting the hat into the washing machine, my husband walks in toting said missing cat hat. Apparently in all the chaos it had fallen on the floor.

Wheeeew,

Anyway needless to say if I find that darn yarn I'm buying a boatload.

But the hat I made I think I will donate. I am so grateful to have found the original and realized I could have such worse things to worry about.

I just joined an etsy team called host that helps folks in need. They have a store to generate money and people can post things they need (like presents for christmas ). Well I think someone is getting a gray cat hat for Christmas.

Bags Glorious Bags

No Imelda Marcos am I. I do not collect shoes. (well that would be a fruitless venture as my size 11 huge feet preclude that) What I do collect is bags. It's definitely verging on obsession. I don't even always wear them, but I just gotta have them. And for me, I want a bag that no one else has so Gucci is out (even if I could afford it). I may not be able to buy all the bags I love, but I've collected a few in my favorites. So I thought I would share.




Picnic Tote by Avrilloreti. What a cool iconic picture. Love it.


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Hobo Shoulder Bag by CreativeChics. I love the colors on this.




Tethy's interchangable wristlet and shoulderbag by FuchstBags. I love that it can be worn a number of ways.



Michelle Light Brown Soft Leather Handbag by Artoncrafts. Soo classy! I really want to touch this one. Yummy

Teal Aran Knit Shrug Modeled by Elle

I gave my mannequin Zelda the day off. Instead my very good friend (and the person who taught me to knit) Elle graciously agreed to model the latest addition to my store.

I originally knit this for myself. I really wanted to play with putting different cable patterns together. I found that I'm really a sweatshirt kind of girl and the bell sleeves kind of drove me crazy. (great advertisement huh). But it is truly one of a kind and took me about a month to knit. Thus the ridiculously high price. Elle said she would buy it, but being a knitter herself, she was inspired to go create her own version.

In any case, it's the only non-felted item in my shop.

Enjoy.

New Question of the Day

We are entering the holiday season and I have been pondering gift ideas. My 5 year old niece will be here for Christmas morning, so I've been scheming about toys. I thought it might be useful (and insightful) to ask the following.

What was your favorite toy as a child?

My absolutely favorite toy was a pogo stick. I could literally hop for hours on end. I have the distinct memory of hopping about on my squeeky pogo stick. Apparently my mom was trying to nap and she came running out of the house with butter in hand. She proceeded to grease my pogo stick with butter and silently return to the house. LOL She was definitely the kind of lady who would fix anything with duct tape.

Anyway, what was yours?

Everyone's got one even the dog

I have a friend who is what the world would call a "real artist". He makes metal sculptures that sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Right about the time I was thinking of selling my felted items he gave me a couple great nuggets of advise.

The first thing he told me is that it is never a rational business decision to sell your craft. Next he asked me if I'd gotten to the point that I couldn't give my art away as gifts as everyone already had at least one already. I laughed and agreed that everyone had at least one felted item. He told me well then you have to take the leap. You're going to be doing your art anyway so you might as well sell it.

I thought that was a great way to look at it. The work involved in selling one's craft is the selling not the making. I, at least, am compelled to create regardless of whether it sells. The hard part is putting it out there.

And, as you can see from the photo. Even my dog has a scarf.

New Question of the Day

I wanted to start a weekly Question of the Day post.

So here's the first question.

What three items are always in your fridge?

Ok for me;

1. Ketchup always always always. We go to code red when we start to get low.

2. Pickles and usually more than one kind cornichons, dills, half sours we love them all.(are you sensing a hamburger theme here).

3. Sriracha hot sauce. This is mostly for my husband. Where I put ketchup he adds Sriracha.

I was going to say 4. mold. But really my husband is the ultimate fridge sniffer so that's not true. He's constantly asking me to smell stuff to see if its bad. I mean really if it smells bad why do I have to smell it? I guess he want's to share the pain.

Anyway, I'd love to hear anyone's answers to this. Please post below. You blog but have no idea who's reading. I think a fridge is a unique insight into a persons personality.

Ahrrrrrgh

I was having one of those days where nothing really works out. My calculations on a purse were off and when I took the item out of the washer it resembled a wine bottle cozy. I had no inspiration to go back and re-knit it.

So I took out a felted black scarf to work on that instead. I've been trying to come up with men's items somewhat unsuccessfully. Everything is just a little to feminine. I decided I would try my hand at a jolly roger. I mean even grown up boys want to be pirates deep down inside. And hey even my husband would wear black.

So here it is. The white felt I cut the skull out of is a bit tricky. If I do another, I may have to knit up thinner wool.

I guess it goes to show that sometimes the best inspiration comes when give up and try something new.

A Harold and Maude kind of afternoon.

You are either going to get the idea of this post or think I'm a total weirdo, but so be it.

Today we visited our local graveyard, not because we knew anyone there, but just because.

It's actually a really beautiful site with gorgeous views of the San Francisco Bay. I brought along my camera and thought I'd share some photos.

I took a couple pictures of old graves from the 20s that had photographs. The portraits are so stylized.


There were also a number of unique things that people had left as offerings. There was a huge pomello which struck me as odd. Well I guess I might like oreos left on my grave who knows. And a little boy's grave that had a toy car someone left.


We also played a game to choose the our favorite unique name. Believe it or not a cemetary is actually a good place to find unique names. And the winner is

Work in Progress Octopus Scarf

I figured I would share this scarf since it won't be seeing etsy. I sold a similar scarf to a local shop. The shopowner called to say that after it sold someone came in looking to buy it. She asked if I would make another.

So off I set to exactly recreate the prior scarf. It definitely isn't exactly the same that would be impossible. In fact I think it's turning out better.

In any case Enjoy!!

Oh Oh and tomorrow is Felty Friday on http://shessocraftygoods.blogspot.com Can you guess who the featured artist is???

Dogs greeting their homecoming soldiers

A friend passed a link to this on to me and I am still teary eyed. These videos really show the sacrifices both our soldiers and their families make.

If this doesn't get ya, then nothing will. Happy Veterans Day and Thank you all those who have made such sacrifices to keep me safe.



http://mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324

The hat with the cat is back

Well last week I sold three hats to one person. I was so excited until I realized that they were in California and I had neglected to charge sales tax. Obviously a newbie mistake. I posted in the forums and discovered that you can set up paypal to automatically charge sales tax. Well live and learn. I ate the sales tax on that sale.

After coming down from the "I made a sale" high, I realized that I had no critters in my shop. I kind of consider them my signature (If I even have such a thing). So I was off to critter creation mode.

I am happy to announce that the critters are back. Black and gray cats. The dog hat is currently setting on the hat stand and will join the cats shortly.

Grocery Store Embarrassment

We had a skunk that began prowling our yard. This of course led to some unhappy interactions with my dog. After the second time in a month he had been sprayed I asked our neighbor who is a dog groomer what she recommends. She sort of chuckled and gave me the name of a particular brand of feminine douche.

Well about a week later I (stupidly) opened the door for the dog in the middle of the night. And pow!! Right outside the door was a skunk who sprayed not only the dog but got me as well.

After coughing and crying and washing my face (and of course locking the dog outside) I figured no time like the present to try out the new supercure. So off I went to the all night Safeway.

I wasn't sure how much I needed so I figured I'd get about 8 boxes. So as I am unloading my 8 (yes 8) boxes of douche at 3 a.m still smelling awful I look up at the checkers face. She was horrified. I started laughing so hard I almost couldn't explain what the douche was for. I can just imagine what kind of horrible medical problem she thought I was having.

In any case, I have since learned that it is the baking soda and vinegar in the douche that is key. So no more awkward moments at the grocery store.

Weekend of Food Food Food

We had houseguests this weekend. My good friend Jenn (we went to law school together) and our friend Ruth who flew in from Germany. They arrived safely and soon a feeding frenzy ensued.

They had both been away from the Bay Area for awhile, so they were dying for a number of local things. On Friday, they barted into the city to have Pho. For those of you who do not know Pho, it is vietnamese noodle soup. Friday night I made spaghetti and meatballs from the tomatoes in the garden. Saturday Latin food was in order. We absolutely pigged out at a El Salvadorian restaurant in Richmond.

After that we were stuffed, but Jenn wanted to get some Japanese spices that she can't get up in Arcata, so we rolled into Ranch 99, which is an Asian Grocery the size of Walmart. Jenn and I somehow convinced each other we needed lobster, which is funny because neither my husband nor Ruth would eat it. So late that night, I cooked and cleaned (yes I'm from Boston) a Lobstah for Jenn and I.

Saturday, I sent Jenn and Ruth off to Thai Temple for breakfast. It's a Buddist temple that raises money by serving food on Sun. Meanwhile I cooked up a Ragout of Beef for dinner. We had another law school buddy over and made a party of it.

Well they just left this morning and I think I need to go on a diet. But it did make me appreciate the wonderful food I have locally.