A finished object

I forgot to post this:

Sweet Pea Socks
Yarn: Hill Country Yarns Sweet Feet
Color: Periwinkle
Needles: US 2.5
Finished: October 17, 2007

Notes: Love love love the yarn and the pattern. A great combination. The only problem I had was the foot was too baggy so I decreased the number of stitches picked up from the heel flap from 30 to 20. I finished these just in time to wear them to Rhinebeck. They felted just a little bit under the ball of the foot and at the back of the heel but I did do quite a bit of walking and it was super hot to be wearing wool socks so my feet were probably a little sweaty!

Rhinebeck Swag!!

What an overwhelming 2 days I just had. Rhinebeck was quite the experience, but before i get to Rhinebeck, let me show you some pre-Rhinebeck swag.
My mom and sisters got this for me when they went on the NH fiber tour. It's 2 skeins of Claudia handpaint in boot camp. I already have this yarn, but I think my sweetie can have 2 pairs of socks in the same color. There's not much boy yarn to choose from anyway. Then there's a skein of tofutsies. I've really been wanting to try this yarn out since it was introduced.

OK, onto Rhinebeck. My first purchase of the day:
Some sock yarn that's right up my alley, variegated green. It will make some gorgeous socks.

Next up was this:
3 SKEINS OF SOCKS THAT ROCK!!! I kept saying I wasn't going to go crazy for socks that rock, but I feel into the frenzy. I didn't go hunting for it at first but then come 2pm or so, I just had to see what this stuff was like. I figured they'd be sold out of everything, I'm sure they sold out of a bunch before I got there, but they still had some fantastic stuff. There were very nice multicolor yarns, but I couldn't buy them since I have such a problem finding good patterns to use with multicolor sock yarn. So this are all slightly variegated. I love them!!!

And this was a purchase inspired by my sister:
She had to get fiber to spin on her new wheel(!!!!!) and I just had to buy some too cause it was such a good deal. 1 pound of the softest merino ever for $15! I'll try to spin it on the drop spindle then have Val dye it for me.

This is a sock kit. It had enough yarn to make 4 pairs of socks and a booklet with 6 patterns (all for $45!) I probably wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't for the samples. The drawings on the pattern book do not do them justice. They are all beautiful fair isle patterns in cream and grey. I can't wait to make these!!!

Other than the yarn craziness, I had a great time watching the border collies herding the sheep:
The weather was fantastic, the yarn was scrumptious, the company was entertaining, and the dogs were stalking. . . all in all a great day (although I really would have had a much better time if about half of the people would have stayed home!)

Then Sunday was another overwhelmingly great day. I went into the city (New York City for you non-Long Islanders) with all the girls in the family to celebrate my grandma's 80th birthday. We saw Mama Mia and went out to a fantastic Italian dinner. It was quite an exhausting day after Rhinebeck.

OK, well, sorry I'm not putting any links in for anything, but I've got 2 million things to do before Thursday when the movers come (AHHHHHHH!)

Knit sibs episode 2

We actually got an episode of our podcast recorded, despite many technical problems! Come check it out here.

We'll have real shownotes and I'll write MUCH more when we get back from Rhinebeck!

Hogwarts Quidditch Round 3

I'm trying to get this done before I leave. I still have to pack and it's 10 at night, so you Ravenclaws know I love you!!

1. a
2. d (thanks AuntlyH!!!)
3. b
4. a
5. d
6. d
7. a
8. a
9. d
10. b

Pictures:
Bertie Botts Beans
Jelly Slugs
Chocolate Frogs
Blood Pops
Jenean's first HSKS kit (Bonus Point: Who made the kit? Ansley)

OK, I'm off to pack for Rhinebeck! Wish me luck that I don't spend too much money!

RAVENCLAW . . . . FIND THAT SNITCH!!!!

Things on Etsy!

I posted most of the things I took to the craft show on my etsy shop. Please feel free to browse and buy something!!! Everything is fantastic, if I do say so myself!

My etsy shop

Catch me if you can!!

Here's a little hint for anyone who may have me on their Blogger Bingo card. . . There's a picture of me and my sisters on our podcast page. I'll be with my sisters just about the whole time and one of my knit sibs (Valerie) is also a square! We'll be carrying blogger bingo totes that will be busting with yarn.

My first (and last) craft fair

So, the craft fair was a total disaster! I'm far past the fun fur craze, in fact I never thought I was part of it. I'm a bit of a high-brow crafter. Not that I'm not always on the lookout for a good deal, but if I see something that's handcrafted that I like I'm more than willing to spend the money to buy it. I think the best way to describe the crowd at his craft fair is to document a few conversations I had. First is the conversation with my husband via cell phone about 3 hours into the fair:
My sweetie: So, how's it going?
Me: OK, I guess, I'm not really selling much.
My sweetie: Do you think you'll sell much?
Me: No, probably not. I don't quite fit in here.
My sweetie: Is it more of a Walmart crowd?
Me: Yeah!
My sweetie: OK, good luck!

The second conversation is with a women who was selling these gorgeous penny rugs for less than it would cost for the materials! (if you don't know what a penny rug is, check here for an example):
Me: Wow! Did you sew this all?
Penny rug lady: Yes.
Me: By hand????
Penny rug lady: Yes.
Me: Wow! You should charge so much more than you are!
Penny rug lady: You have to know your audience here.

Now, there are two major responses I have to these conversations. First off, I will be the first to admit that I am anti-Walmart, but in the sort of situation where that is all that is in driving distance I guess I can't get mad at people who shop there. For people who have other options I say "shame on you! Walmart is evil!!" Now, by the "is it more of a walmart crowd?", my husband meant "is it the sort of crowd that think they can buy anything for $10?" In which case I say YES!!! They didn't think paying more than $10 for anything is worth it and they seemed to go crazy for all things football. More than half of the tables featured goods made from NFL team fabrics and fleeces. They sold like hotcakes. Sure they may not be things that you run across in your normal shopping scene, but they are not what I consider craft fair quality.

And in response to the conversation with the penny rug lady. I'm am not willing to lower my standards!! Just because the customers were not willing to pay more than $10 and may be used to paying $10 for that "quality" item in Old Navy that goes out of style in one year or starts to come apart at the seams in 2 months does not mean that I'm willing to make negative profit. My "big ticket" item of the craft fair was my laptop case. I had it for sale at $80. Which I think is pretty good. I spent about $60 on the yarn to make it and it took more than 2 weeks of working on only that project to finish it. Even if I figure I'd pay myself $1 an hour for making this bag, it still doesn't pay for my labor. Despite the tons of "oohs" and "ahhs" I got about this bag, I was not willing to pimp my knitting self out for less than $1 an hour!

I've come to 2 major conclusions from this experience:
1. High school craft fairs suck!!!
2. I'm more likely to reach my target audience through etsy where people seem to appreciate the quality of handmade items a little better.

So, what exactly did I sell:
9 packages of small dog treats
4 packages of large dog treats
1 pair of baby booties
NOTHING ELSE!!

No one wanted any key fobs, which I think are just adorable and extremely handy. Maybe no one else has the problem where they have to walk 2 dogs in exercise clothes with no pockets! I did get lots of "Oh, that's a good idea." comments about them, but no actual buyers. As I already said I got lots of positive comments on the laptop bag but no buyers. A few comments on the newborn mittens, but most of the people there were just walking around while their sons were in wrestling practice. I'm guessing if they have kids old enough to have kids in wrestling then they probably don't have newborns and aren't thinking of grandkids yet.

My overall opinion of the craft fair was pretty negative. It's rather disappointing when people walk right past your handmade quality items to run to the crap jewelry from China!

Will I ever do another craft fair?. . . . HELL NO!!!!

Will I ever attempt to sell my goods?. . . . YES!!!! While my faith in mankind has been greatly damaged, I still believe in the general good taste and appreciation of quality craftmanship that I know is in there somewhere. I'm going to go forward with my etsy shop (hopefully I can have some stuff posted tomorrow, when I sober up a little) and see if I sell anything there. I'll probably give the etsy shop a few months so I can settle in wherever our new house will be and hopefully get a few more crafty things done (like making soap).

Etsy Shop

OK, I took the jump and started my Etsy shop. I'll be listing lots more stuff after my craft fair tomorrow.

My etsy shop can be found at:

www.julispinsandneedles.etsy.com

Craft fair, here I come!

I completed a few more things for the craft fair.

Another set of baby mittens, hopefully I can get another pair or 2 made before the end of the day. This one is made with leftovers from my Fawkes socks:

A very small felted bag. Perfect for throwing keys and a wallet in for quick errands (do you see those gorgeous handmade socks in this picture! We turned the AC off yesterday and it's already sock wearing weather, a 20 degree drop in one day. . . fantastic!):

My messenger bag is dry and just needs a toggle to close it. It came out much better than I expected. But the yarn alone cost $60 so I'll have to charge more than most people would want to pay for something at a craft fair. We'll see if it sells there, it may just wind up on my etsy shop, which I have to get up and running by the end of the day. Oh, and it's now a laptop bag not a messenger bag. Pre-felting:

Post-felting (with my iPod nano for size comparison):

Owf! so much to do in the next 24 hours! I wanted to make at least one more small felted bag and some more baby mittens. But it's 930 and I haven't even walked the dogs or showered. I need to get a move on!

I'm a podcaster!!!

Me and my sisters are starting a podcast. I know, pretty silly, but Val and I are pretty knitting obsessed and this was the next logical step. Here's the link to our podcast shownotes and here's a link to download our first episode. Gloria was absent since she hasn't downloaded skype yet. We're working on getting it onto iTunes, apparently you have to go through an approval process. Keep your fingers crossed that someone will actually want to listen to me and my knit sibs!