Auto Racing Sponsorship & the Drama of Pit 18

Last weekend, my husband and I spent the day at Dover Speedway photographing a car in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. The following is an excerpt from the article my husband wrote and a couple of photographs from the day. Please follow the link at the bottom of the excerpt to go to the complete article.

      The story began as a note on Facebook. An old acquaintance contacted the Desk through one of the Desk's former bosses. A sponsor of a Nationwide Series car was looking for a photographer, and the Desk's wife happens to be one (see link to her site at end of part 2). The resulting email exchange involved submitting information to NASCAR for credentials that didn't come through until Friday afternoon for Saturday morning. Something "far beyond" the "last minute", but it worked!

      The primary goal of the mission was to get some good photos of the sponsor's car with their logo on the hood, in action if possible. The second reason is... well, this. The Desk promised the lady at the sponsor that it would write it up as a photoessay and mention the sponsor several times!
      
Well. OK. Here goes.

      The sponsor was RepairableVehicles.com (links at end of part 2 to outside entities and to the Photo Pages).
      RepairableVehicles.com had purchased single event advertising on Jeremy Clements' number 04 Impala in the Nationwide series 200 mile race at Dover from RaceDaySponsor.com, for Jeremy's first run at the Dover track. Did I mention that the sponsor was RepairableVehicles.com?
      The usual sponsor is Boudreaux's Butt Paste who has been in the sport for about five years or so, but for today, and probably at other races as well, they will step back to the associate spot and let RepairableVehicles.com ride on the hood. We'll come back to how this all works and where RaceDaySponsor.com figures in later. (is that enough sponsor plugs for now? if not there's more on photo page 2).
      First things first. Who is Jeremy Clements? (see photo on the photo page as well)
      Well, the twenty-something Jeremy comes to racing naturally. It is, to coin a phrase, in his blood. His grandfather was Crawford Clements who, with his brother Louis, produced racing engines and owned a race team during the Golden Age of NASCAR through the sixties and into the seventies. Later Crawford focused his family business on producing top-flight engines for the various Sportsman's racing series. Which they still do today.

      Today, the family is actively back in racing with a Jeremy as the public face of the effort driving the Zero Four. And it really is still a family business with the Clements name throughout the crew on race day as well as on the driver suit. Team owner Tony Clements is a spotter on race day while Glen Clements is one of the mechanics, both at the track and in the shop.


The rest of the story and more photos can be found on The Media Desk.

Day 7 of 300 Days of Dyeing And FAF

Yes, it happened.  I set a goal. I made a commitment.  I announced it to the world.

And then Life happened.  I got sick.  My mother got sick. My mother-in-law got sick.  There was a race to photograph. There was a Fiber Fest to prepare for (and then cancel-see above.) And right now, I don't even remember what else.  But dyeing has been put on hold - temporarily.  I'm planning to back in full swing soon.  In the meantime, I'm taking it slow and easy and one day at a time.

Today I am dyeing with onion skins.  I don't do this very often,  but it is one of the few 'natural' dyes I use. (I put 'natural' in semi-quotes because most dyes are natural, they are just prepared for us rather than us having to go out to collect the ingredients and prepare them for use. Someone else does that for us and packages them in an easy to use form.)

Dyeing with onion skins is pretty simple.  Collect the skins from yellow onions.  I have about four of the little net bags they come in from the grocery store crammed full of skins.  I have no idea how many onions it took to get them.  And I didn't weigh them.  This is a very non-scientific method.  I boiled the onions in my pot with a strainer insert. After the onion skins boiled a few minutes (a while, again I didn't time anything) and the water had turned a rich red (and smelled delicious like onion soup!), I removed the insert with the bags of onion skins.  I then added my prepared wool.  I generally soak my wool in a little detergent before dyeing.

There are discussions and misconceptions about mordants. My personal experience is that mordants are required to make onion skins permanent.  I generally add a little vinegar (acid) to the pot out of habit, but it's not required.  Time in the post seems to be a bigger factor.  My results have been both light fast and wash fast (though you should always take care when washing and storing hand dyed fibers of any kind). Adding other mordants may change the resulting colors a bit, but aren't necessary.

My wool is in the pot now.  If I remember, I will take photos and add them to this post later. In the meantime, here are a couple of  photos of previously dyed wool.

ETA: It's Fiber Arts Friday! Check out WonderWhyGal's FAF links and feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments here.  There's enough fiber in the world to share the Fiber Arts Friday love!

Do You Know How Difficult It Is To Photograph Socks - While You're Wearing Them?

That's why I don't have good photos of this pair yet.  One day, maybe.  But until then, I'll show you a couple of shots.  The yarn is "Nottingham" from the "If Robin Hood Knit Socks" yarn club.  It's the "Rehoboth" line.  This is suppose to be fingering weight, but it's a little heavier than I'm used to.  It knit up into a nice squishy sock, but just a little on the thick side.  That's ok with me, I just can't wear them with my boots.  The yarn is 100% Merino, 8 ply.  It has very nice stitch definition and was easy to work with.

The pattern is my Bamboo Socks.  The 'bamboo' is the stitch pattern and not the fiber.  If I come up with a really catchy name, I'll change it.  This pattern isn't available to the public yet.  I'm planning to get a pattern page set up so .pdf files can be purchased and downloaded from my website.  But I have so many plans right now, I'm not sure when that one will happen.

Monday: Just Another Day In The Office

Unless you work from home.  Then Monday opens up a whole different world of opportunities.  What to do today?  What to do first?  Well, that's often determined for you.  What has to be done today?  What has to be done first?  For me that involves a cup of coffee and reclining in bed with my laptop.  After I let the dog out.  Twice.  Because he didn't like the back yard this morning. 

Monday mornings in my 'office' also involve researching market trends, developing marketing strategies, and much more.  Like 'Social Networking'.  Yeah, I love my job.  Mainly because I love my colleagues and customers.  It's not a chore to network with you.  It's a joy and I am truly blessed to be able to share what I love with awesome people who want to to know more.  This blog post is dedicated to all of you-friends, colleagues, customers, and just cool people who like to check in to see what's going on in my little world.

If you have ever owned your own business, you fully understand that "a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.."(1)  I am fortunate to have a husband who recognizes the value of my work and my business.  But I understand how rare that is.  Often family members fail to see the value of what we do while 'strangers' encourage and support us.  I sometimes have mixed emotions when I look on Facebook and see the 'Likes' for my posts and comments.  They are, more times than not, 'Liked' by people halfway around the world that I've never met and are likely to never meet.  All the while, my many of my 'friends' and family (who I know visit Facebook because of the games they play) seem to never see a link.  I understand life is busy.  But really.  How long does it really take to click a button? 

And it's not just Facebook. On Ravelry, it only takes a moment to click the 'Love' or 'Agree' buttons. (and I wish more sites had those options. I often 'Agree' on Facebook, though I don't always 'Like'. ) On Twitter, just an occasional response to let me know that someone in my list of 1000+ followers are actually reading an occasional tweet is appreciated.

Do you read my blog? Or did you just click to see if there are any photos and then move on? I didn't realize how often I was doing that to other people till I started keeping track of my own blog statistics. Now I try to make an effort more often to at least leave a short comment to let the writer know I did read the post and I appreciate the efforts they are making, whether to promote their business or the industry in general.

I'm going to wind this up because I really do have work to do this morning – besides laundry. I still have a sock to finish and photograph, patterns to write and format, trying to remember how to list the patterns for sale on my website, a serious website update, soap to be made, new patterns that have been spinning around head to be designed, and the rest of the never ending list of tasks. But I do love doing them all.

(1) Mark 6:4 - New American Standard Bible (©1995)

This One Is For Me!

 

The results of Day 6 of 300 Days of Dyeing:

I over dyed the Day 1 yarn again and I am satisfied.  This is the depth of color that I was seeking.  I don't mean a 'dark' color.  It is many layers, building on one another, achieving an organic character, revealing the life of the yarn that gives it depth.

Though this yarn would show off a lovely lace stitch pattern, I think I'm going to use a simple pattern that will give the layers of color the respect due.

Another Non-Update and Patterns

I'm still not back to dyeing.  Working on getting there, though.  I did over dye a skein of yarn yesterday and will post pics when I get photos of the dry yarn.  That will be Day 6 of 300 Days of Dyeing.

In the meantime, though . . . I'm putting out a call for designers.  I want to offer my customers a complete shopping experience, but sometimes I just have to admit that I can't do it all.  Like design.  I have written a couple of sock patterns.  And have a couple more forming in my mind.  But I know not everyone knits socks.  Believe it or not, not everyone even wants to knit sock.  I know.  Mind boggling, huh?  Well, not really.  Until you do it, knitting socks does seem a little overwhelming.  And some people try it, succeed, but just don't enjoy it.  Anyway.  I know you want more than just socks.  So  . . . . if you or someone you know is a knit or crochet designer and would like to another outlet for offering your patterns to the public, we might be able to work something out.  Contact me and we'll see what we can come up with.  In the meantime, check out the designs from The Pattern Market

EMBROIDERED FELTED BACKPACK, JULIE ARMSTRONG HOLETZ

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A Little Bit of Luxury

Do you deserve a little luxury?  Just for yourself?  Of course, you do! And you know it, too.  But you've probably been denying yourself so you can do something a little extra for someone else. 

I know because everyone does that.  It's just human nature.  Well, everyone does that except me.  I'm not denying myself.  I've found a way to treat myself and someone else, too.  You see, it's this yarn that I ordered. When I was told by the sales rep that it was 'luxury' yarn, I was thinking to myself, "OK.  But it's still yarn." And then it arrived and I knew beyond a doubt  . . . well, after I let my husband cut the box open because he was afraid my shaking hands would cut myself and then I ripped open the bag  . . . then, I knew beyond a doubt that when it came to luxury, this was the real deal!

Since then, I have been treating myself by handling this silky soft, just the right balance of body and drape, I-just-want-to-touch-you yarn every chance I get.  Through every step of the dyeing process, I have caressed this twisted fluff and let it caress me back.  (Am I in love?) And I know that as soon as it's dry I'm going to wind a skein into a ball and cast on.  And I'll treat myself all over again while knitting.  I don't have a clue yet what I'll make.  It will probably become a gift to someone else and they will be treated to luxury for the long life of the item made.

Do you want to see what I'm making such a fuss about? Well, you'll have to wait, like everyone else, for the big reveal. To be one of the very first to see this yarn, sign up for my email newsletter before September 2.  Just to make sure you get signed up, go ahead and do it now. 

Now, for 300 Days of Dyeing . . . Days 4 and 5 have been spent dyeing my new yarn line, so I can't post photos now.  Just rest assured that I'm (mostly) keeping up and I only have 295 Days to go. At this rate, I'll be finished by this time next year.

The green/gray/brown in the lower right was the color of the shawl.

Since I can't give you a peek at the new yarn, I'll show you a photo of one my current projects.  Last year I knit a shawl in a colorway that I simply loved.  I used worsted weight yarn.  Though it knit up quickly (which was good), I never wore it (which was bad.)  The shawl ended up across the end of my bed one cold night and I tucked my feet up underneath it.  It was so warm, I decided to use the same yarn base to knit an afghan for the bed.  Then I decided that since I loved the colorway and it was just sitting there, I would unravel it and add (many) more colors.

It is a simple mitered square pattern.  I'm not sure how large I'll make it. Right now it covers my legs without much left over.  But my husband felt it and decided we should keep it for our bed (my plans all along!), so I'll need to keep knitting.  Speaking of which, I think I'll watch a movie now and work on it little more tonight.

Until tomorrow,
Enjoy!

300 Days of Dyeing - Day 3

Well, I made it to day three.  Let's see if I can come up with something for Day 4 before it's over.

Day 3's experiment turned out quite nice, I think.  It is a fat quarter of 100% Cotton print, suggested use: quilting. For those of you not into quilting, a fat quarter is a quarter of a yard of fabric in which the yard was cut or torn in half in one direction and then the halves were cut or torn in half in the other direction.  Instead of having a quarter of yard that measures 9" X 44" (that's one quarter length X the typical width of quilting cotton), you have a rectangle that is 18" X 22".  This is a good size for quilters who need just a small amount of a particular color or pattern. Some quilters will use a lot of different fat quarters to make a quilt with a 'scrappy' personality.

Anyway. This is what I started with:

And this is what I finished with:

The white printed hearts did not take the dye, just as I suspected.  (Did you notice that they were photographed right side up this time? Woohoo! ) The shading is irregular.  It almost seems that the brown dye 'split'.  Most dyes are made up of mixtures of primary color dyes.  Depending on many factors (insert lots of chemistry here), the dye may split or break and the results are unpredictable.  I rather like the variation in this and changing from one shade to another. This could be very useful in an applique application. The changing shades could give dimension and life to quilt or mixed media art ware instead of a flat monotone image.

I've been on the computer a lot today.  I'm still trying to learn as much as I can about the business side of an art oriented business.  There is a vast amount of information out on the internet, but only a small part of it is directly applicable to me.  Some is more general in nature and some information can be skewed to apply to me.  So I'm slowly sifting through it, trying to find the gems among the stones.

One gem I've already found is "The Creative Empire."  If you have your own creative business or you are contemplating beginning one, I highly recommend The Creative Empire as a place to connect with other similar to you and who are willing to share ideas and information. It's a great group of small business owners who are there to motivate and support one another.


Now, I think I'm going to throw another piece of cotton fabric in the dye pot (or baggie) and see what comes out tomorrow. Y'all take care and enjoy!

300 Days of Dyeing - Day 1

I have joined The Creative Empire. I'm quite excited about it.  I keep a tab in my browser open all the time to check the forum and activities.  I want to learn every bit I can about building my Creative Empire.  When you get a group of entrepreneurs in one place, you there has to be some good stuff shared between them. I'm not sure I've contributed anything.  But I'm soaking up everything I can.

One of the activities on the worksheet for the first seminar pertained to finding your creative voice.  Now, I feel like I already have a pretty good understanding of my creative voice.  If not, I don't think I would have taken the step to participate in The Creative Empire.  But it still got me to thinking.  That along with a couple of twitter posts that I stumbled across.  I don't remember the exact words, but the essence of both were as follows: "If you want to be a writer, practice writing.  If you want to be a painter, practice painting."

All of these together got me thinking.  Yes, I am a Dyer.  Am I a good Dyer? Yes.  Could I be a better Dyer?  Well, probably.  I hope.  I mean, I know I'm good.  But am I excellent?  On occasion, yes. Can I be an excellent Dyer every time I put the dye pot on the stove? I'm not sure.  But I want to be.  I want to be the Master Dyer.  I want to be the one that others look to as an example of what they want to do. But how can I get there.  If I want to be an excellent dyer, then practice excellent dyeing.


That's when I decided to challenge myself.  I've seen other challenges that involved doing something every day for a year.  There are quite a few 365 day challenges out there.  The most popular is 365 Days of Photos - or whatever the actual name is.  If you Google that, you will find it.  I'm thinking that making a commitment to dye something every day for a year is a little ridiculous, for me, anyway. There are just too many things that can go wrong.  Like Life.  But if mold this idea to fit me, I think I can make it!  That's where 300 Days of Dyeing was born.

The challenge: Dye something - anything - for 300 days over a period of approximately one year.  Knowing me, this will take more than a year.  But that's ok.  It's not a race.  It's a developing and evolving experience. Some days will be planned dyeing days for my business.  Some days will be dyeing days for me.  Others will be to experiment.  And yet others will be for the sole purpose of improving. I may improve a color or colorway.  I may improve a technique.  Or I may improve on not making such a mess when I dye.

Here is the yarn I'm over-dying today.  I will dye just one skein. I'll be able to photograph these together later so you can see the difference.  I hesitate to say 'the improvement',  but I've yet to make a skein worse by over-dyeing it.  Many of my favorite yarns are over-dyed.

I may not post everyday that I dye, but I hope you will check in often to see my progress.




Until next time, 
Enjoy!