The Joolsopolis Story

In celebration of my very first Etsy sale (joy! excitement!), I'm taking a tip from last week's Shop Makeover Challenge and attempting to write my "story" in six words or less.

My first unrehearsed top-of-my-head take is... Passionate fiber artist, loves cats. There, I even have an extra word to play with!

Well, anyways, getting into the meat of the exercise, the first adjective that comes to mind describing myself is passion. I throw myself full force into every new project or hobby that comes my way! Unfortunately that passion is oft short lived, so I have many abandoned half-finished projects squirreled away around the house. Sweaters waiting for zippers, bags of flat-backed marbles with pictures mod-podged to the back...I even have long expired black and white Polaroid film in the freezer from when I thought emulsion transfer was going to be a fun side project. But the passion is always there! It just jumps around...a lot!

Fiber...well...knitting will always be my first love. No matter how long I stay away (and it's never all that long), I always come back to the needles. When I walk through a yarn store I investigate more with my fingers than my eyes, kneading and caressing the yarns. All my other favorite crafts - dyeing, sewing, felting - also involve fiber and the tactile pleasure is a big part of it for me.

And artist? I started typing out the story of a fight my husband and I had many years ago about his habit of calling my stash "shit" - as in, "your shit is all over the house," or "I can't fit my clothes in the closet because of your shit." I'll tell the story another day, because it's pretty good, but the short version is that he never called my yarn "shit" again. I feel that the materials of my chosen art should be treated with the respect they deserve. I even balk at using the words "craft" and "hobby," though you can see I do use them anyways for lack of a better substitute. They seem too diminutive for this act of creation that I take so seriously.

Loves cats. LOVES THEM. We sleep with two in our bed every night, and I have my lovely husband 90% convinced to get another kitten. You know, for the baby. He needs his own cat. I know some people aren't crazy about buying knitted/fluffy items from a cat friendly home, and I totally get that. I minimize cat contamination as much as possible and wash garments before sending, but that cat hair floats! So that's fine. If it bothers you, you can buy from someone else. My kitties are #3 on the list of Things I Love. (#1 and #2 are the husband and the baby and they are pretty much tied.)

If I could add more words, "Mama" would be in there somewhere. It's my favorite title. I try not to let it define me too much, but it's the life stage I'm in right now and I can't deny it. "Nerd/geek" would be a good one too. Even with a little monster and a hopeful internet business and a house to clean, I still manage to fit in video games every day. In my previous corporate life, (this is TOTALLY going to give it away, but oh well), my absolute favorite of my company's core values was "Embrace Your Inner Geek." It really speaks to that passion thing - you could say I totally geek out on yarn!

So maybe an acceptable revision would be "Fiber nerd, loves babies and cats." There, all six words! Ta da! Now, off to tenderly package up my Pumpkin Longies and send them to their new home!

T-5 Days!

Oh holiday bazaar madness, you may be the death of me! I still have so much to do before the big day on Saturday. I sat down last night and made a checklist of things to do pre-show and things to bring and ho boy, it's kind of long. There are still 13 things on my prep/buy list, so I picked 6 to finish today. I was going to get a car today and go buy the last few things, but SOMEBODY decided to keep me up off and on for 5 hours last night. I only have 7 hours to sleep, dude...not cool. Shopping will have to wait until tomorrow.

So I think I mentioned in another post that I picked up some citric acid and started subbing that in for vinegar to dye my yarn. I am starting to have issues with it... Supposedly 1 tbsp citric acid is equivalent to something like 6-8 tbsp vinegar. I am not big on measuring, so when I used vinegar I would just pour a few glugs in the pot when i turned the heat on, and if the dye bath didn't clear I would add a few more glugs. (very technical term here, "glugs") I have checked several guides, and they recommend 1-2 tbsp citric acid for a pound of fiber. Last night I used 7 tbsp of citric acid and my dye still wouldn't set fully! I ended up with pink yarn instead of red...very frustrating. I'm going to find some pH strips to see if maybe I got a bad batch of acid.

I also only have two balls of undyed yarn left in my stash, yikes! After Saturday I will be ordering some more for sure!

TIM...

(Today I Made...)

- a ghetto light box
- an Etsy store banner

...and it totally burned me out. Damn. I need a crafting/business break.

Why, hello there, Starcraft! Fancy meeting you here!

In-Stock Dyes

Color approximations, as well as all available colors, can be found here.

Reds/Pinks:

Turkey Red
Cranberry
Fuschia
Bright Red
Rose Pink

Oranges:

Spiced Pumpkin
Saffron
Bright Orange

Yellows:

Golden Yellow
Golden Pear
Lemon Drop

Greens:

Ivy
Avocado
Herb Green
Moss
Spearmint

Blues:

Turquoise
Brilliant Blue
Nautical Blue
Colonial Blue
Island Blue

Purples:

Brilliant Violet
Lilac
Boysenberry
Lavender
Plum

Neutrals:

Jet Black
Mouse Grey
Brown
Mochachino
French Vanilla

Last updated 11/19/10

7 woolies down...

...many, many more to go. My goal is to have at least 16 pairs finished by the fair on 12/4, 4 of each size, evenly divided between longies and shorties and boyish and girly colors. I am remarkably on track. If I continue finishing one pair every other day, I will actually have over 20 finished, but I have to factor in time to wash the suckers and let them air dry before the event. My to-do list still includes ordering business cards and designing some sort of care sheet/tag/thingie, finding a pretty table cloth, getting shopping bags and a simple receipt book...ho boy. Who knows how many crucial steps I am missing because I am flying by the seat of my pants here. Still, I am SO excited!!

Tonight I tried dyeing with Kool-aid for the first time, and I can definitely see the appeal. It certainly smells yummier than my usual vinegary cauldron, and the water was practically clear after one rinse, compared to the 4-5 rinses acid dyes take. But, at the volume I'm working with, it would be so much more expensive to use and the color selection is pretty limited. To keep my wonderful, kind, patient husband content I'm ordering some citric acid right now - he complains to no end about the acrid stench while the dye pot is bubbling. And, of course, since I have to pay for shipping anyways, some new dye colors! *steeples fingers and cackles maniacally*

There is violet dye on my shirt. This is not a dyeing shirt. :(

I have a correction to my last post. Apparently I only suck at blogging - crafting I'm doing pretty well with! This week, I...

Dyed my Osnaburg wrap!



Sent off my craft swap items, including my tea cozy! Also included were two tiny pumpkins and a purple scarf, but I forgot to take pictures of those in my rush to the post office. The nut in the background is Oni.



Finished two wool shorties from my dyed yarn! Also a pair of longies that are still missing elastic and so are not pictured. The photobomber in this picture is Leela.



And, most exciting of all, HOLY CRAP I COMMITTED TO A HOLIDAY BAZAAR TO SELL MY STUFFS! I keep having "wtf was I thinking" moments, but I think this could be just the kick in the butt I need to get my craftiness into business mode. I have until December 6th to finish as many shorties, longies, hats, wrist warmers and whatever else I please as I can. Even as I type there is a dye-pot of yarn simmering on the stove and a batch in the microwave. Grandmas have been enlisted to come over during the week to keep the monster occupied while I knit my ass off. I am hoping to have about 20 shorties/longies in various sizes plus whatever else I can manage. The bazaar is at Granola Babies in Costa Mesa, so I'm focusing on the baby goods, but mama goods are welcome as well.

The one job offer I had has been pushed back yet *again,* so I am not hopeful at all that it will happen. Nobody around us is hiring part time, and the thought of going back to work full time makes me cry. Even the thought of going back part time bums me out, so I am throwing myself headlong into crafting. Wish me luck, imaginary readers!

I suck...

...at blogging, at crafting, at job hunting, blah. I am unemployed until some time next month, and yet I can't seem to find time to do anything productive.

And now, a message from your friendly neighborhood monster:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Maybe he is tired?

Anyways, I have actually been starting lots of projects lately. I joined a craft swap on Reddit, and holy cow, am I excited! I crocheted a tiny pumpkin and am halfway through a super easy tea cozy - maybe the pattern will show up here soon, hmm? Would you like that, my non-existent readers? I also have a few half-finished wool dryer balls that were super easy and used up some of my stash, and my super awesome sparkly stripey sweater is now about 75% done - one and a half sleeves and a tiny trim to go. Just in time for fall, my favorite season!

Okay, time to take this little man to Target. We are on a mission to buy some cute Halloween socks to turn into faux-babylegs. Farewell!