Rooted in Mississippi

I made another rabbit for class. Here he is sitting on top of the kits for students.

All of the kits are packed and ready for class. They have wool roving, beads, crystals, wool thread, plus beading needle and thread for sewing the eyes. I need to make another run out to the store, to pick up some darning needles.

I have all of the instructions and the pattern diagram done and printed. I am so glad I took the plunge and bought the color laser printer. Not only will these not bleed if they get wet, it was able to do two sided printing without any manual intervention! I specifically got the printer for instructions and it worked like a charm. It has also been wonderful for printing price tags and fabric bands.

It was such a beautiful day today, that I cooked hamburgers on the grill.

On a sad note, I got word that Dee Stark passed away unexpectedly on February 18, 2008. She is the author of “A Spider Web for Luck” a book about symbolism in crazy quilting. According to her obituary, the memorial service will be held on Sunday, March 9, 2008.

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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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About twenty minutes into the artist’s reception for Rhonda at ARTichoke, Jackson suffered a major power outage. Luckily, Carmen had a ton of candles and we were able to continue to meet and greet. Rhonda’s sister made food and it was smashing! It was like old home week, I ran into a ton of people that I know and got to catch up on their lives.

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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 thought I would share photos from Pretty Impressive Stuff @ ARTichoke! I am only occupying part of the space in the front room, but it is nice to have a place to sell my wares and teach people how to spin. I am still moving in to the space, but I hope to be fully operational in a few weeks. I have been making inquiries to several distributors and want to see spinning equipment, in addition to fibers and fabric.

Also, Vee nominated me for the E is for Excellent Award. Wasn’t that nice?

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All of the dogs are getting along well and seem to be adjusting to me being out of the house more than usual. Everyone seems to be settling into a routine. Princess appears to actually enjoy her new siblings, instead of just tolerating them. She can frequently be found snuggling with one or the other of the males, but most often Rudy. He is just so sweet and so handsome, who could blame her?

Tomorrow I will try to post some photos of my space inside of ARTichoke!

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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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