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I’ve spent the last two days in the dye studio – finishing my first wholesale order and dyeing some rovings for my own shop. It has been blissful – feeling like I am back to my most creative self and getting to do what I love to do.
This thing that I do is interesting – having this business. The Painted Sheep has allowed me to be a working fiber artist, at least part time. I get to play with fiber and make a little money doing it. Then there is the business end – balancing the books, dealing with suppliers, marketing myself, keeping track of the bottom line. As I alluded to recently, I’ve encountered some things that are unexpected and unpleasant that I did not choose, rather was forced, to deal with. The business end is the part that I worry about, that stresses me out, that I don’t prefer but I recognize as a necessary part of what I do.
I have found myself saying repeatedly lately that I “just want to dye some wool”. Friends and family have heard me say this endlessly as I deal with the sometimes harsh realities of starting a business. This weekend really brought me back to why I started The Painted Sheep. I love do this – to paint fiber, to play with colors, to make pretty things.
To that end, there are so many wonderful things to come. About half of what I dyed today – 4 pounds of merino/silk/angora roving and 2 pounds of superwash lambswool roving – is for the shop. I did 1.5 lbs of the angora blend for the shop in some of my more popular colorways. I had a blast with the superwash roving – I decided on a whim to make them spot rovings (blips of color with white left in between) – they look great. Perfect to spin up for socks – spot rovings make really funky yarn.
I’ve decided to hold off on updating the website for another week. We have one more event to do – The Painted Sheep will have a booth at the Nutmeg Spinner’s Guild Meeting on Saturday, October 6. I’d have to put it all up and then take it off the website again to take it to the meeting – better to just wait. I will do a huge update over Columbus Day weekend, likely on Monday. I do have some great things on Etsy right now and will likely add a few things this week.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
Some unkind stuff is being said right now about the way I’ve chosen to handle a particular issue. I choose not to go into it right now. I just ask that you keep in mind that there are always two sides to every story. Having one side of the story does not give you the whole picture – things are not always what they appear to be.
When the time is right, I will share my side of this story.
I have a love/hate relationship with the TV. I always say that I don’t watch much TV. A few shows a week that I love and can’t miss. I tell myself that I could live without it, don’t really need it, etc. In reality, its on, to watch shows or the news or just for background noise, far more than I’d like to admit. And when our satellite service broke and the repair people couldn’t come for 2 weeks, it drove me batty – the fact that it bothered me as much as it did bothered me even more! Yes, I watch those must see shows two nights a week – Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters on Sunday and Ugly Betty, Gray’s Anatomy and ER on Thursdays. I watch the news in the morning, in the evening if I’m home early enough and I sometimes catch “my trash” (those hideous, gossipy entertainment shows) while we make dinner. So this week, new TV season – all my shows are back and several new ones are starting. I find myself drawn in and pulling away at the same time.
So my compromise? TV knitting. I’ll watch the things I really love and try to have it off more other times (Ev is applauding this – if it weren’t for cable news, the Daily Show and UCONN games, he’d skip it altogether). At least it will be productive time. So far it has been. I’m actually making progress on projects. The Monkeys in Painted Sock Too are halfway up the pattern repeats on the cuff. I turned the heel on the Toe Up Socks in The Painted Sock – serious progress when you consider the length of my foot 
And since Monday, I’m halfway through one of the “mystery” Christmas projects. Updated pics:
This last one, of the mystery project, is actually to show off my new needles. Knit Picks Harmony Wood Classics – arrived on Monday, as promised from Knit Picks. Aren’t they pretty? They are wonderful. Super smooth (they are coated or finished with something – making them faster than other wood needles, not as fast as metal), the join is perfect – no snagging, the cable is very pliable and they are nice and pointy. Easily on par with the Addi Naturas and far, far better than the Crystal Palace bamboo. The price is better too – $5.99 each. The timing of their arrival was perfect – I just received a little “gift” related to my car accident in June – I decided to treat myself to a little something. As soon as I tried the needles, I decided that my treat would be the Options set in Wood. Can’t wait to order them – though I hear they’re already backordered…
As far as the rest of my life – no news on the job front yet. Still pursing things but I do feel like I am at least settling in a bit in the new position. I think not having to do two jobs helps – probably more draining on me than I realized. I am really trying to make the best of it and get into the swing of things. I do still have to update/replace the links on the online shop. I managed to get the items back on Etsy on Sunday. The website is more labor intensive and requires a bit more thought – hopefully after work on Thursday or Friday. It’ll definitely be done by the weekend. Lots of dyeing to do this weekend – I’ll be finishing up the wholesale order and doing a few things for the online shop. The weather is supposed to be better – I can’t believe its 90 and humid at the end of September. We are supposed to be closer to normal by Friday, making for perfect dyeing weather. To be honest, I’m ready for winter! Bring on the snow!!!
What a perfect day! The Fiber Twist was wonderful – great fun and very successful! Ev and I were joined by Paula, who was a huge help – couldn’t have done it without you!!! It was great to meet my customers in person. Oddly, this isn’t something I typically experience – that’s the drawback of the online business. Its great to “be among my people”! I also met several people that I am connected to through blogs and Ravelry, which was a blast! The day really couldn’t have gone better. The weather was just amazing – warmer than normal for the first day of fall, no humidity and bright blue skies. For our first show, things went off remarkably well. The tent went up (thank you again Paula and Aaron) and stayed up. The displays worked out really well. My dyeing demo went great. We sold lots of yarn and fiber. Many, many thanks to everyone! People really went for my Painted Sock Too. Happy sock knitting all!!! And the best part – we had fun!!! There are certainly lessons learned for the next one – it’ll go that much more smoothly. I will definitely plan on doing more shows – like CT Sheep and Wool in April. In the meantime, we’ll be vendors at our spinning guild meeting in October, most likely the rest of the year as well. Here’s some pictures of our booth and the event (more pics on my Flickr page).
Here’s me! Gotta admit, it was a little emotional for me at the beginning – I’ve never seen all of my hard work come together like this – it was really cool…
Ev, standing in our booth. Notice the lack of huge-o air cast on his left foot – all gone! He’s doing much better. He’s been a huge help – I so owe him quiet Sundays of football and homemade chili…
Our sign and part of the display. The sign is amazing – Paula made it for me! Thank you again!!!!!! Its perfect!
Some of the little goodies I brought home – soaps and Knitter’s Salve from Sleepy Moon Soaps. Winter (owner of Sleepy Moon and market organizer) has amazing stuff – check out her website here. The market had loads of other great stuff – fiber and yarn of course, plus all the typical farmer’s market things – great produce, artisan breads, flowers, etc. I could have just eaten my way through the day…
Thanks again to everyone who came and supported us! And to Ev and Paula – you guys rock! I’m exhausted… the website and Etsy shop need to be updated, but it will most likely happen tomorrow. Off to bed – happy, fibery dreams!
Its finally here — the Fiber Twist at the Coventry Regional Farmer’s Market is tomorrow – Sunday, September 23. I’m very excited for tomorrow!!! Everything is finally done – Ev is winding off the last skein of Alpaca Handpaint as I write this. The van is stuffed with, well, stuff! Loads of yarn and fiber!
I hope to see lots of you there tomorrow! The market is located at the corner of Rt. 44 and North River Road in Coventry, CT. From Hartford, take 84 East to 384 East. Hop on Rt. 44 at the end of 384, going towards UCONN. The market location will be 5 or so miles up on the right. Tomorrow promises to be a great day!
Check this out http://kuler.adobe.com Its an interactive color wheel – and best, its free! It allows you to do everything a full color wheel does, without really having to get all of the specifics about color theory behind it. I actually heard about it from Lynne at Harrisville, but forgot about it until recently. I have been playing with it a ton. I love color, but color theory makes me cringe. I take a more intuitive approach so grabbing a color wheel – not really my style. However, there are times when I go for it – like when I’m trying to create a new colorway or working with a color that I don’t often use. Kuler lets you create colorways by dragging the mouse around and using the tools – I guess it applies the theory for you. I just love it. Great for playing with combinations, then creating them using dye and fiber.
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