Scarf Designs For the Special Olympics Project Coming Soon

I just finished another bacon and egg scarf for a custom order. Today has been a whirl.  I have 3 new videos in the making but I didn't get any of them done today! The advent calendar is taking a long time as it has so many parts.  Twenty four pockets,  plus the background and backing and numbers. Come to think of it, it's still on the porch and it's dark now so I better go bring it back inside.  Sure can't video tape in the dark! Haha.

My editors asked me to come up with two scarf designs for the Special Olympics. I'm honored to be asked and will work on that as soon as I get all my custom orders done.

In other news, my grandson is due any day now, so I'm afraid to make too many commitments. I'm not sure yet if I'll be traveling 300 miles to see him or what exactly. Sometimes new parents need some alone time you know.  They don't necessarily want everyone showing up on their doorstep. As it is my other daughter and grandson will be staying with them as the birthing coach.
I do hope to see him for Christmas or at least New Years. We'll see how it goes.

Sca Heatherwyne Craft Fair

I'm back from the Heatherwine merchanting event in LaVerne. Sold quite a few arrows, some beef jerky and other archery related items.

Then I came home, rested a bit, and made some Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats to take to the Paleoplanet meeting in the morning. The recipe is on the Rice Krispy website.

I met another Kumi Himo person and got some more disks from her. That way if I want to teach  a friend or do a class I'll be ready.

From another seamstress I got 2 patterns.  One has Medieval dragons and lions on it for cross stitch or needlepoint.  The other is for blackwork and it an acorn pattern and a celtic knotwork pattern. The designs were inspired by a trip she took to England. She's also tried to find documentation on stick weaving and hasn't had any luck either.

Another woman who was vending has a range near San Diego. She was merchanting with her two daughters. They had all kinds of wool from their sheep and goats as well as some quilted items and hats and scarves.

Then they had the booth where people donating items that were gently used. I got a box full of quilting books for $5.  And I got a bag with 10 crochet hooks, some eyelets, some snaps and an eyelet setting tool for $3. I love bargains! Can you really have too many crochet hooks?

Tomorrow is our Paleoplanet gathering.  It's already rained tonight so I'm hoping the morning is storm free. I want to take my atlatl equipment and my juggling props, neither which will be useful in the rain.

I need to get to bed. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day.

I Sold a Scarf, YAY.

I just sold something on Etsy. Yay, it is possible. I sold one of my almost famous bacon and egg scarves.But I won't even have time to look for it until Monday. Because I didn't find out about the sale until after midnight, and I'm leaving at 7 AM to do an SCA event on Sat, and then on Sunday I'll be at the archery workshop in Pasadena, CA and then to visit relatives. With any luck I'll be home by 10 PM and there is no way I'm tearing through boxes of inventory at  that time of night. Plus Sat. night after the SCA event I promised to make Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats for the archery meeting. Super busy weekend.  I'm glad I sold something but the timing is challenging.

Now to bed I go so I can get up early.

Time Management and Arts

My Tweeters and Hooters shop hasn't had any new additions lately so I started working on a new owl baby tonight. This one is a medium gray. I can't wait to add the eyes.

My video 'job' has eaten up bunches of my time so I'm behind on practically everything else. So I decided to limit the videos to four hours per day, because the task really was expanding to fit the time. It's hard to make four videos a week.  Especially if it's a bigger project.  For example if it's a tutorial on knitting a pillow, the videotaping only takes so long, but somewhere in there I actually have to knit, stuff and sew together the entire  pillow. The items don't just magically appear.  Right now I'm making a knitted advent calendar, and I'm barely into making the pockets, so it will have to be a two part video.

Also, I want to have time to make videos that aren't tutorials. I want to make some VLOG videos, and some comedy stuff, and maybe a puppet show. I guess I"m going to have to live with a little less money, because life is about balance. I quickly become frustrated if every motive revolves around money. In hindsite, the tutorials don't pay much if it takes me 20 hours a week to make 4 tutorials. That's barely $5 an hour, and sometimes they take me more than 20 hours a week. The 20 hour mark is the new cap I put on it.
And if the editor doesn't like it, and I have to start over, I make even less money. It was so much simpler when I only had myself to please.

Oh Holidays, Why Do You Muck With My Schedule So?

Today I got up early to make tutorials and it was too cold on the porch for my hands. I'm going to have to find some way to make tutorials indoors.

I did get started on a snood tutorial. Then I had an idea for a knitted advent calendar so my focus shifted.  Ack! Now I'm doing 10 things at once.

My boyfriend was going to make a turkey today and he just got back from the store. But then he decided to do it tomorrow instead, which is a relief because I don't really have time to go help him or clean the kitchen right now. Because I realized my editor probably has Thursday through Sunday off for the holiday, which means I need to get 4 tutorials in by Wednesday at the latest. It entails making the videos, saving them to my computer, then saving them to youtube, then sending my editor a copy, then she has to upload it to youtube.  All that waiting for uploads takes time. And then somewhere in there the editor has to also send it to the people that send me money. Yay money.

I also needed to get my autumn project up on the zombie nanner gang blog. I'll put a photo of my harvest pillow here for you guys to enjoy.

Cypress Craft Fair

It's a rainy day in CA. Two rainy days in a row in fact.

Yesterday I found out my friend Doris was doing a craft fair in nearby Cypress, so I went to see her crafts and lend support. I figured with the poor weather the turn-out would be poor.  I was wrong. The place was bustling, most of which was due to the fact that dance performances were going on so of course the parents showed up with their kids in costumes for the show. Rain or shine.

Doris said sales were good. Her son was there helping her with the details.

Kumihimo and Beads

I just started a more advanced kumihimo project.  This one has 16 strands. Four of the strands have beads. The tricky part is getting the tube to form without losing the beads on the interior. The colors remind me of ocean waves. I picked out two pendants to hang from it. I haven't decided which one to use yet. We shall see. One is a fused glass square with lines of various colored glass across it.  The other is a collage of items.  I think it's got a key, a ball, some rhinestones and more. 

I didn't even think to get a green pendant to go with the cord I just finished.