Rooted in Mississippi

I had a good day on Wednesday, I got plenty of sleep, I took a nice yoga class, then ate lunch with Rhonda at Aladdin’s. We chatted, I saw some of her new things and she loaned me a serger to see if I like it enough to buy one for my business.

I am teaching a punchneedle embroidery class on March 29th and a silk ribbon embroidered Iris Vest two weeks later. I need to get my classes down and make some proposals to the craft center and maybe even set some things up for ARTichoke.  I should probably work up some proposals for EGA too.

Today I am taking my supplies up to ARTichoke to work on Artist Trading Cards.  I need to get a few more finished to complete the challenge from last year on CyberStitchers.  I really want to be able to send everyone their ATCs before the next general meeting.

I also want to share a few pictures of dog cuteness and one of them is even fiber related!

First, Rudy did me the honor of modeling the sample socklet from the class last weekend. It was knit from yarn I spun that weekend. I am not likely to knit from my homespun without washing it first in the future, but this was for class. I have enough yarn to make a second sock, so that there is a pair.

Princess is digging some really giant holes in the back yard. This particular has gotten even deeper since the photo. Ironically, she abandoned it for another spot on Tuesday, but went back to it after the heavy rain. She spends about half her days completely covered in mud.  She really seems to have fun while she is out there.

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I attended Marjorie Slade’s funeral today. I wish we all got together in good times as well as bad, but that seems to be the way things happen when family and friends reach a certain age. I was shocked when I realized that Gran was just five years older than my father and a little over a decade older than my mom. I have always had “older” parents, but I often wonder how strange that must have felt for my youngest brother, since dad was 52 when he was born.

Anyway, after the service, I ran to the cemetery ahead of everyone, so I could have a few minutes alone at Charlotte’s graveside. I can scarcely believe it has been over ten years since she died. The passage of time has always been a mysterious thing to me, how the same time period can see like both an eternity and an instant. I still miss her terribly and the grief is as raw today as it was five or ten years ago. While every moment from the time I heard about the accident to the minute she drew her last breath is permanently etched in my memory, I can not really remember the days after or her funeral. It was another one of those confusing contradictions for which I am famous, I managed to be both numb and a raw nerve at once.

Then there comes the funny. I had to beg off from lunch at the church, because I had started to feel a breeze other than the strong winds blowing today. I was wearing a very old dress, one I have worn many, many times over the last fifteen years. I have worn it to interviews, on dates and even to a few funerals. Today the nylon zipper came apart from the bottom up and my backside would have been flapping in the wind had I not wisely chosen to wear a lightweight silk cardigan over the dress!

Then there comes the joy. I got a call from Anne Campbell over at ARTichoke, she wanted to know if I had gotten my letter from the Craftsman’s Guild of Mississippi. Sadly, I had not. I was in the process of updating my resume, so I decided to call Julia and just ask. She told me I got accepted in all five textile categories for which I submitted: embroidery, spinning, knit, crochet and felting. I am SO excited and I really look forward to getting my packet.

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I am home from the Useful Knowledge Seminar in Huntsville. I am so tired, but I have a full plate of things to do, so no rest for the wicked. I almost finished my tiny sock made from my own yarn, but not quite. I will post a photo of the socklet when I am done. Merike Saarniit has an interesting way of working a toe-up sock without grafting, but do not ask me any details, you will have to take her class!

I did buy a little fiber, but not as much as you might imagine. Until things start to take off at ARTichoke, I am going to go slow. I kind of feel like I have to be careful.

A friend’s grandmother died while I was away, so I will be attending visitation and the funeral on Monday. I had to dig out something appropriate to wear, which can be a challenge these days. I am just NOT a pantyhose kind of a gal any more. I was glad an old dress worked, because I would hate to wear a suit with my bellyring right now!

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The rat is finished! Happy Chinese New Year y’all!

So is my submission, or submissions, for the Craftsman’s Guild. I took a whole box filled with forms, photographs and samples up to the Guild this morning. I am actually a couple of days ahead of the Friday deadline. I suppose that is better than a couple of days late. Now I have to sit around and bite my nails and wonder and worry about how I will do with the jury!

I bought the last bits to complete my kits for the Needlefelting class that I am teaching in Canton at P is for Primitive. They will actually be cute, with all the parts stuffed into one of those large plastic eggs. Oh, and the beads/crystals for the eyes will be inside a smaller egg for safe keeping. I love eggs and bunnies…which is kind of crazy since I do not celebrate Easter. Oh, well, the older I get, the clearer it becomes that G-d has a sense of humor.

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I worked on the body and ears for Cynthia’s rat, she wanted him because in Chinese astrology, this is the year of the rat. I need to work on his features, but I really have to be in the mood to make that part work!

I also wanted to include a photo of the felted bag made with crocheted roving. I am not very happy with it, although I did buy a small washboard from Anne and I plan to work on it a little more. The bottom did not full as well or as fast as the rest of the bag. I just do not like to deal with the extra work, it defeats the purpose of machine felted projects!

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This is a small display at ARTichoke. I needlefelted some eggs and put them into a little arrangement. They started out in a tea cup, then I swapped into this other piece of china.  Anne has such a variety of interesting things to select from in the store.  I wanted to teach the eggs as a beginning needlefelting class, but the timing just did not work out. I am thinking I will do a mouse pincushion as my needlefelting 101 class.

Cyn drove up to Jackson today and came over to ARTichoke to see my new space. I was there doing some small things and meeting the other Carmen. After a while Cyn and I went to lunch then to the Knit Studio to meet some of the Ravelers for some fiber fellowship. Lisa even showed up! It was good for all of us to get together.

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I drove up to Memphis to pick up a used Ashford Elizabeth spinning wheel and some fleece from a very nice lady. I stopped in at Hank of Yarn and That Yarn Shop while I was up there, but I did not actually buy any yarn. I did, however, pick up some more double pointed needles while I was in Hernando and looked at some of her wheels and looms. It was a nice place to visit and I will definitely go back.

Here are the first photos of the Elizabeth.

It was good for me to see the prices she had on her roving, because it made me feel better about what I am charging at Pretty Impressive Stuff. Most of the dyed NZ Romney she had in carded batts was $5 an ounce in batches of between two and three ounces, which makes my dyed top look very reasonable. It was also good to talk to Kathy about her experiences. Hernando and Jackson are not the same market, but it helped me get things at ARTichoke into focus.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is Rhonda’s Artist’s Reception. I helped Anne clean and move things around yesterday instead of working on inventory. I hope that they had a chance to get the show hung today. I can not wait to see it tomorrow!

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I am still here, but I have been too busy to post regularly.  I am working on inventory: sorting, labeling, buying furniture and getting things done. I start moving into my space tomorrow, but it will take me a while to get it all ready and I will not be at full capacity for a while. I also need figure out how I will fit into the physical space.

I am trying to become an Ashford Dealer, but I can not mail off my application until the state of Mississippi comes through with my sales tax number. I am going to carry Brittany knitting needles and crochet hooks, but that is not a surprise, since I used to sell them on eBay. I am also going to try to divest myself of some of my copious stash! I have a ton of fat quarters ready, both cotton and silk. I also have silk threads and some ribbon embroidery supplies. I hope it will be an appealing, if eclectic, mix of things.  There will be a little something for spinners, felters, knitters, crocheters, crazy quilters and embroiderers!

It is kind of hard to imagine all of that in such a small space, but better that than no space at all. Brick and mortar stores are a lot of work and commitment. I am trying to make sure that I do not duplicate items that can be purchased at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby, unless it is part of my stash. I also wish to avoid competing directly with the local knit shops.  Next, I need to start setting up some classes at ARTichoke.

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I got up early and did my morning pages before I had to take Roscoe to the vet. I left him there while I went Yazoo City to meet with the Stitchery Guild. The good news is that Chez Root is heartworm free! Both Louie and Roscoe are officially finished with their treatment, have had a negative blood test and are back on monthly preventative.

I am so relieved that it is all over and they are doing so well. Roscoe is even more energetic than he was when first got here, which is hard to believe since I nicknamed him “jumpy boy” on day one! Louie has aged a lot over the course of the last few months, but he too is doing well. I thought I would share an old photo of Oscar and Louie on the same dog puff bed that they are on in the previous post. The dog bed and the dogs are both a lot grayer these days.

I really had a lovely day at the Nutty Knitter inside Grace Hardware. She has increased her floor space and carries a lot more stock than on my last trip. I bought some roving bits…yes I know how crazy that is…but I was tempted beyond my ability to ignore the lovely goodness. After visiting with the owner, I am very encouraged. Grace Hardware and ARTichoke are similar types of stores and she started her shop by renting a small space from Grace Hardware. The venture has really grown and she occupies about a third of the store now! It was a nice thing to hear when I am about to embark on this new adventure.

Someone on Ravelry corrected me and told me that ARTichoke is really in the Belhaven District, not Fondren. That makes sense since the Belhaven Garden Club has used the space out back for meetings. Sorry for being a ditz.

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First, thanks for all the well wishes! Most of the people I contacted about wholesale accounts want too large of a commitment, so I might not be able to carry spinning equipment. I would like to sell real spindles, but I can not promise to do $500 a year in business. For me, it makes no sense to sell at retail plus 25%, although it was a common business practice for some yarn shops in town. I had hoped that since I will have a brick and mortar shop that this would be easier than having an Internet storefront, but I might have been fooling myself. So, while I am looking forward to selling my wares in Jackson, it is also a little scary.

Speaking of scary, I heard this quote again the other day and it really struck a chord with me. “Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed.” -G.K. Chesterton

Oh, oh, now I can do a dragon segue! On Tuesday I went to DragonMom’s (aka Lisa) house to spin! I finished spinning the last of the Fiber Denn fiber that I had and now I need to ply it.

I also finished off the skein of brown wool/mohair blend that I spun last week. It came out a pretty balanced skein, even before washing. It is currently sitting on the yarn blocker and I think it will be one of the skeins I submit to the Craftsman’s Guild of Mississippi.

I have been trying to come up with Valentine’s things for ARTichoke. I crocheted a bunch of roses out of wool, I plan to full/felt several of them. I also crocheted one out of roving, which was fun and I think it turned out kind of cool. I will full these this weekend and post some after photos too.

Now for some random doggy cuteness:

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