Trying to take inventory

Not an inventory of merchandise or supplies or anything tangible.  I'm trying to take an inventory of my business options.  And it's all wide open.  I can continue in the direction I've started (and which has been a lot of work, but successful).  But a lot of the work is tedious and I would really like to have an assistant to take on the tedious, less than artful, tasks.  And in addition to my online presence, I would love, Love, LOVE! to have a brick & mortar store.  And then there are all my other interests.  I just want to do it all!

Now to find a way to successfully combine my love of fiber (dyeing, knitting, spinning), my love of papercrafts (stamping, scrapping, bookmaking), my love of sewing (quilting, fashion), my love of photography (portrait, landscape, stock), my love of vintage (particularly vintage Pyrex), and bath & spa products (hand made soap, candles, etc.) Oh, and throw in the occasional jewelry making and whatever else strikes my fancy at the time.

Can you picture a shop that would include all, or maybe just most, of these interests?  Would you shop at my store?  Would I be trying to do too much?

I need to get my thoughts written down.  And organized. Any suggestions for organization tools to make sense of this stuff?

Comments are most welcome.  Please share a link to my blog so your friends can give me some input, too.

Fiber Arts Friday & A Cozy for Your Coffee

Some people think a coffee cozy is just silly.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Those who use them are generally happy with the result-keep your coffee warmer, longer, while keeping your hands cooler.  At the same time, you can let your mugs with advertising or editorial comments go undercover.  Works for me.

What also works for me is making a coffee cozy while testing a stitch pattern, swatching for a larger project (check your gauge!), or using bits of left over yarn.

How To:
Using size 2 (US) needles (I used two dpns because that's that I had in easy reach), cast on 62 stitches.

Knit 4 rows, working back and forth, (two ridges of garter stitch).

Next row and every row till about 1/2 inch from desired height, Slip the first stitch as to purl, *YO, Slip1 as to Purl, K2Tog.* Repeat from * to * till one stitch remains.  K1.

When within 1/2" to 1/4" of desired height of coffee cozy, work 4 rows of K (two ridges of garter stitch) and bind off.

Leave about 10" to 12" of yarn.  Using a tapestry sewing needle, sew the two top corners together, run the yarn down the side of the piece, and sew the two bottom corners together. Weave in ends of yarn.

This is not a fancy pattern.  You can play with it make your coffee cozy as plain or fancy as possible.  This stitch pattern is one of my favorites because it doesn't use a purl stitch, which are often more painful to my arthritic hands.

If you make coffee cozies (or any other cozies!) please post a link to a photo in the comments section.  I'm looking forward to seeing your work.

And . . . . it's Fiber Arts Friday!  If you have a fiber related (yarn, knitting, crocheting, dyeing, spinning, sewing, quilting, anything fiber arts!) blog post, please post a link to your blog post in the comments section.  And I always appreciate a link back to my post.  Thanks in advance!

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.

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

.

300 Days of Dyeing - Update

Just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten about the Challenge.  I have slept about 6 hours since Friday night.  And right now I have an exploding headache.  That's why I thought it would be a good idea to make it 300 Days of Dyeing instead of Dyeing Every Day.  I knew there would be Days like this.

But  . . . I still have yarn to dye so as soon as I'm feeling better again I'll be Dyeing again.

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 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!

TeresaLeviteStudio Artisan Studio ArtFire Buy & Sell Handmade

Everything on sale 10% off!

TeresaLeviteStudio Artisan Studio ArtFire Buy & Sell Handmade