One Month Recap

This month has gone very fast and I have been so crazy busy.

3 additional shows have happened since my first (Limerick Community Days, NJ Sheep and Wool [more about this below], and Phoenixville Farmers Market Fiber Fest) and I have been dyeing every week to keep up.

I started 2 new jobs and a 3rd new one today, well, training starts today and ends hopefully middle of next month. I already do this same job for another University, so hopefully training will be quick and easy. This puts me up to 10 jobs, 7 of which are jobs I get some sort of legitimate paycheck for, but all of them are sporadic and seasonal so its not like I work all of them every week. The other 3 are my personal businesses of Graphic Design, Tattooing, and now the Fiber business. My schedule is nuts though and today is my first day off in about 3 weeks. I'm going to TRY and relax, try being the operative word there, even though my to-do list is glaring at me from the coffee table.

The most exciting show I've gotten to do so far has definitely been NJ Sheep and Wool. It was the 20th year of show and just in the few years I've been going there it has really blossomed into a very nice, medium sized show. It is not nearly as overwhelming as say Maryland or Rhinebeck for first time fiber show goers and can be leisurely perused in just a few hours. When I found out I could still get in, even though the show was only in 2 weeks and I could only get an outside booth space, I jumped on it and made it happen. I'm really glad I did. We had a great show, despite the heat and rain on Saturday, which actually helped us being outside since inside the barns was so very hot.

This is my booth halfway through the day after I'd already sold a lot of product. I'm really thankful for everyone who came and purchased and all my other vendor fiber friends who came around to congratulate me on finally getting started. I can't wait to do this show again next year and by then I should have way more stock.

This past Saturday was a wee little Fiber Festival at the Phoenixville Farmers Market. I frequent this market when I have the time and had no idea until the week before that they did a Fiber Fest. Someone actually asked via my FB page if i would be there and I was able to sign up and forward it on to my Alpaca farmer friend who also came. We both had good days, made a lot of new contacts and I think I might see about getting into their Artisan Saturday, which happens once a month. It will be a good spot to pick up knitting and spinning students.

Which reminds me, Shirsty Cat Designs has a facebook page HERE
And my Website is finally operational HERE, not much on it yet, but I'm getting there. One of the biggest to-do list items is to photograph everything and get it up on etsy and finish the website so I can sell directly from there. Until then if you see anything you like, please feel free to email me or contact me on FB, we can set something up.

But today I'm off. I need to be cause I'm not going to have another day off in a while and no matter how hard I push it won't all get done today anyway. I'm going to work on my Ocracoke Cardigan and spin this pretty BFL Silk that was my only purchase from NJ Sheep and Wool. I already have 1 and a half of these bumps spun.

Frabjous Fibers Braid

My First Show!

Now I have done craft shows before, mostly for my paintings with moderate success, but I had to stop doing them for various reasons. Now that my mom has started selling her hand made soaps and she has requested that I accompany her to help, I figured I might as well be vending. I actually got a bunch of blank yarn and dye last Christmas from my in-laws and this week I finally got it all together.
Yesterday was my first show, a craft fair in a park in Ambler PA and I did better than I expected. I sold seven skeins and had several people take my info to schedule knitting and spinning lessons. I have another event coming up this weekend in Limerick, PA. If you would like to find out where I'm going to be and where to purchase yarn online (etsy will be up and running soon) please follow my page on facebook at Shirstycatdesigns

A marathon not a sprint

Tour de Fleece begins today, which I didn't realize until last night when someone in my FB group asked who all was partaking this year. Luckily I was pre-gaming all week because I was morning the loss of one of our dogs. AJ, my Japanese Chin passed away quietly at home with me on Monday. So it has been a sad week and knitting, spinning, and housework were mostly what I could manage.

Spencer in his sweater snuggled with his buddy, AJ

We really miss the little dude and all his quirky little ways. The other dogs have been notably bummed out and I hope Dan will come around to adopting another dog in the near future. Our area shelters are in extreme advertising mode since they are getting more intakes than they have room for, so every time I go on social media I am assaulted by cute pics of homeless pets. Heartbreaking!

Enough sad news, today I went to the Phoenixville Farmers market to attend a canning demo/talk. Most of which I knew, but there were door prizes and I have a huge stack of Ball canning coupons to hand out to my other friend who can. Bought the book as well, Preserving by the Pint by Marisa McCullen. Here is a link to her web page, Food in Jars.

And finally on to the fibery stuff. I dyed this fiber last summer or fall, started spinning it and stopped for a while. I just didn't feel like spinning, but last weekend I demonstrated spinning with some ladies from the lancaster guild at Canal Days in Monte Claire. It was a nice relaxing day talking about something I love. Kids and adults showed an equal amount of interest, although one man called a wheel and loom and another woman called it a sewing machine *face palm* I think my goal for this tour is gonna be lighter than other years, I'm gonna try and get this finished and plyed by the end of the tour. I have roughly a pound left to spin and hours of plying ahead of me. To everyone else participating in the tour, happy spinning!

3rd times the charm

Miramare Castel

Just back from Italy again. It was a great trip. Way slower pace than I am used to when traveling abroad and relatively little site seeing done. Mostly it was a trip to visit Dan's family in Trieste, but we did do an overnight in Venice, which was kind of a bust. The place is all tourists and the best description I can think of is Medieval Disney Land. We did a couple other day trips and spent some time on the beach as well. Bought some yarn, of course. So here are a few of the highlights.

Postonia Caves in Slovenia

Predijama Castel

Beach Day

The view from our B&B

 

And 2 sweaters worth of yarn.

2014 Comfy Collection

It's been such a busy week that I'm just getting to post about my new pattern. It was released via Knit Picks as part of the 2014 Comfy Collection, Striped Tunic is a really versatile garment and I can't wait to see the color combinations everyone comes up with.

 

I've also bee trucking along on baby knitting for the rush of pregnancy that has occurred all over the place, this is what happens when there are so many snow days and power outages in one winter. 

Twin baby sweaters and the never ending button dilemma. See all those cute, perfectly matching buttons, they all work, but not enough of any of them for the sweaters. Had to go and buy more today. And because I was finishing designing something and just wanted to make something relatively mindless, so a really large baby blanket came out of that desire. We are heading off to Italy the week after next, I have a pattern and graphic design work to get finished before then and still have to put together my travel knitting. Next week is going to fly by so I better get on it.

Curlicue Blanket

 

Back almost a month...

...and it has taken me this long to catch up and get back to the blog.

Japan was lovely, so very unlike any place I've ever been. The appreciation for all things great and small that permeates the very being of Japan's people is evident everywhere. It was a once in a lifetime experience. Here are a few photos. I'll actually have some knitting to show you by the weekend. Finally finished up a pattern commission since I've been back and another one is going live early next month. Stay tuned.

Cat, perfectly posing at the Inari Shrine

Even the tools craftsmen us everyday are beautiful.

Ancient Buddist Temple with modern day Kyoto in the background.

People still get dressed up, even if they are just going for a walk.

The Shogunate's palace.

Not much knitting going on

Been ultra busy with work lately, so my knitting has slowed to a snail like pace, especially since all I really am able to focus on when I do have time to knit is really simple things. I finished a Gap-tastic cowl a few weeks ago, no pictures yet, a pair of knotty gloves, also picture-less, and 2 pairs of plain toe up socks. These are my on-the-go socks and are much needed since many pairs sprouted holes this very cold winter. I will repair some of them, but right now it is faster to knit new ones.

 The reason I've been working like a crazy person and picking up tons of hours is I am off to Japan next Friday. I'm looking forward to the trip...the flying not so much. So in about 2 weeks there will be lots of pictures. In the mean time I still have to extricate my luggage from the storage room in the basement, pack, call credit card companies, bank, cell phone company, and a whole slue of other small errands that need to get wrapped up in the next 5 days.

I also just found out last Tuesday that we will be going to Italy to visit Dan's family at the end of May for 10 days. Tickets were bought today and I have to figure out who is going to house sit for the fur kids while we're gone. Its way easier than boarding everyone or shipping everyone off to different houses; we have too many pets for one person to take everyone. I will be calling on a few friends and hopefully that will all work itself out. One of my dogs gets separation anxiety when I'm gone overnight, so both of us being gone for 10 days will be rough on her.

I'm off to finish my laundry and relax for the rest of the night. Maybe I'll work on another sock.