Living in Cal in the rainy season

We have just been hit by the third crazy storm to hit in as many days. Today we had torrential downpours and hail. I'm not sure the rainfall total, but the water was up to the first third of my tire in our street.

Apparently it was too much for the hillside above our house. (Thankfully, the mud chose a route other than towards our house.) The street above us is closed so now all the traffic including the bus is going down our street.

Eeek winter in Northern Cal.

Ernesto Neto Sculpture

We just got back from a museum crawl in San Francisco. I was dual purposing. I wanted to see if any of the museum shops might be a good fit for my felted items.

We checked out the Museum of Craft and Folk Art. They had a show called Open Source Embroidery.

It was an interesting idea the intersection of coding and data and craft. Unfortunately, I was a little underwhelmed. It seemed like a show that was curated for a different context.

We then proceeded to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and saw a fabulous show called. When lives become form Brazilian Art from the 60's to present. Interestingly enough it had been curated by (I think) the Museum of contemporary Art Tokyo. Apparently there is a very large population of Japanese who migrated to Brazil.

My favorite of the day was a huge (almost obscene) soft sculpture by Ernesto Neto Shown above.

Mustached Owl

Dear Blog,

I'm so sorry I've ignored you over the holidays. I really meant to come visit you, but what with trying to keep cat hats in the shop and preparing for the family festivities I just couldn't find the time.

I'm making this special hat just for you. As you might know, Owls and Mustaches are all the rage on etsy. I thought if I made a mustached owl it would be twice as hip. As you can see I'm trying out different mustaches at the moment. I'm thinking I might go with a handlebar.

Please accept my apologies for not stopping by sooner. I promise to visit more often.

Sincerely,

Fiberpuppy

New Question of the Day

Hi folks,

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry got really busy with custom orders etc. So without further ado onto the Question of the Day

What are your phobias/hangups. Snakes? Fingernails on Chalkboard?

I actually have 2 weird ones but they stem from actual experiences. I am definitely freaked out by birds flying around my head. I'm a mess in the city with all the pigeons. I have trained most of my friends to walk in front of me if there is a flock ahead. This actually stems from the fact that we had bats (which turned out to have rabies) in our 150 year old house that I grew up in.

My other weird hangup is cotton. I cannot stand the feel of raw cotton. I'm ok with cotton clothing, but I have to get tweezers or help to get the cotton out of asprin bottles etc. Cotton balls will not be found in my house. I think this weird one comes from the fact that I broke my leg and was in a cast lined with cotton for 3 months. If you have ever had a cast you know how itchy and annoying it is.

I'll share my husbands too because I find it funny. He loves the taste of peaches but cannot handle a fuzzy peach. He can't even watch me bite into one.

What's yours?

Starting to think about Christmas

It's funny getting into retail selling has definitely had me more focused on Christmas in terms of sales. Sadly with the extra work, I haven't really focused on getting our home part of the Christmas equation into the works.

Today I was starting to feel that sniggle of Christmas hope and whistfulness. This year we are hosting Christmas and my neice will be here. This is a big deal as we don't have any children. The idea of having a child opening presents under the Christmas tree has got even the bah-humbugs in our family excited. My mother in law (who was a teacher) is picking out books and games to keep little Sierra busy.

Even I (professed tomboy) gave in to Sierra's fashion taste and had a pink and purple tutu made for her. Well I guess I'm starting to feel it.

So here's a virtual christmas card for you. A couple years back, my dog gully sported this fabulously holiday inspired outfit. And remember it's not all about the sales. Gotta remember to stop and smell the mistletoe.

Stay home if you're sick

Gonna have me a little rant here. Please bear with me.

So as we enter the Christmas holiday, those of us who sell items know that this is kind of the Superbowl. Gotta have your A game going and all.

Well yesterday at the vet, I was helped by this lady who was very obviously sick. Sniffling sneezing etc. She processed my credit card and got my pooch prescription filled. I wanted nothing to do with her (well she was nice enough) but I had to pay and Mr. dog needed his meds. When I got home I immediately washed my hand.

Unfortunately today I started sneezing and coughing. Sure enough I have a cold at the worst time ever. I guess there is a slight possibility that I'm allergic to my new wool delivery that arrived today but I think not.

Here's the rant. If you are sick, please please please stay home. If you have to go out be considerate of the rest of us. I know you are miserable but that doesn't mean I have to be too. And those of us who aren't sick should remember WASH YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY!! A trick I heard is to sing the alphabet song while washing. That's the amount of time you should be scrubbing.

Anyway rant over. Got dayquil on board and still working. Off to knit.

Fiberpuppy was featured on the Front Page

Well amidst all the chaos of black friday /cyber monday prep, I neglected to check out the front page. Well apparently my owl hat was featured on Friday. After desparately trying to keep some items in stock I took a break and checked out our dteam thread. Well sure enough someone else had seen it and gave me a shout out. I guess I know why I was so busy.

The theme of the page seemed to be geek chic. Should I be offended? Only kidding, it's certainly better than regretsy. Oddly enough the actual owl hat did not sell. Any takers? Oh well, I now now how hot a commodity the cats are.

Wondering if I am now target fodder for all the owl and cowl haters in the etsy forums. Maybe I should make a cowl. If you can't beat em join em.