Posted on 20 Comments

Hi there

My name is Lisa Clarke. You might remember me from such shows as “Last Time I Looked at the Clock it was 7:15 and Now it’s Midnight and I’ve Wasted all Night Blogging” and “Ovens are for Clay not for Food” and let’s not forget “We Haven’t Eaten at the Dining Room Table in Two Years Because it’s Always Covered in Crafts.”

Ah, yes, quality programming at its best.

Been wondering where I’ve been the last few days? I’d dazzle you with a story of my exploits, but it would have to be a fabricated one. The truth is that I have been working. And that’s kind of boring to talk about. Believe me. I started to write about it, found myself yawning uncontrollably and just deleted it.

Still, all of the excitement of two contests coming to a close last week beefed up my readership a bit, and instead of riding that wave and chatting about all things crafty and domestic here, I disappeared. Well, I’m sorry about that, and I’ve got an hour to kill before picking up the little guy at preschool, so let’s chat now, shall we?

Mitten weather


To begin with, it’s darn cold here this morning! I even dug out my mittens.  Are these things great, or what?  My friend (hi, Tina!) made these for me early this year and they’re so nifty.  They are fingerless gloves with a flap that you can pull over your fingers to turn them into mittens.  I wear them mostly as mittens, but then there are those times where it’s really handy to have my fingers free, and I pull the flap back.

This is the first time I’ve worn them this season, and unfortunately I discovered their summer tenure in the hall closet wasn’t kind to them.  Some hungry little insect seems to have had his way with the thumbs and a few spots on the flaps, too.  There are at least five holes in them.  What a bummer!  I wonder if I can repair them.  It won’t be elegant, but at least I could keep my thumbs from poking through the holes.

I was taking care to dress more warmly than I usually bother with this morning because I was having a little trunk show.  In the preschool parking lot.

My inventory


This is actually the third time in a week that I’ve been asked to bring my jewelry & stuff for a couple of the other moms to have a look at.  Tis the season, you know.  I really have no problem bringing my things with me to preschool dropoff, particularly since they’re so portable, but I wish it wasn’t so darn cold!  I’m considering having an open house one morning soon, but that requires a clean house.  Or at least a clean-enough house icon_biggrin-flickr-1-6

Speaking of my portable storage, here’s a question:  I store my wares in the way that makes the most sense for setting up and tearing down my craft show table: by color.  But lately I haven’t been doing any shows.  I’ve been selling to friends.  Friends who say “I’m interested in a Dangly Necklace.”  Well, I don’t have a box of Dangly Necklaces.  I have a box of Candy and a box of Vintage.  And somewhere in those boxes are Dangly Necklaces, but it requires a search party to dig them up.

So what is a crafty girl to do?  It seems that there is no ideal setup that works for both craft shows by color and selling to friends by item.  Or am I missing something obvious?  (It’s been known to happen icon_rolleyes-flickr-8)

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Posted on 20 Comments

20 thoughts on “Hi there

  1. Sorry the mittens got eaten. If you want, in a couple weeks (when I’m done with Christmas presents) I can make you a new pair — maybe in something acrylic that won’t be attractive to insects. Though I do love fibers like Merino wool, I’m not nearly as much of a yarn snob as some knitters are. 🙂

    Anyway, as knitting projects go, these are pretty easy (they take only about a week or so for a pair, especially for someone with small hands like you or me), so I wouldn’t mind doing another one!

    1. Oh, that would be very cool! I think I’d like to stick with natural fibers, and then I’ll just store them in a plastic bag or something safe.

      Interested in a scarf or some buttons? I promise I’ll actually send them to you while it’s still winter, and not 10 months from now 😉

      1. So, same color (assuming I can remember which one it was and find it again!) or would you like something different? I used Koigu KPPPM Merino wool on yours, though any yarn of similar gauge (6.5 stitches per inch on US 3 needles — all yarns have this info somewhere on the label or in the description) would do, so feel free to Google around. 🙂

        I’m trying to find the same color as the ones I already made for you, but so far coming up blank. #138 looks similar, but not exactly the same. This one has better pictures that don’t require 2 clicks to see well like the FoxyKnits page linked above, but I don’t see the same color there either.

        Interested in a scarf or some buttons?

        Well, I can make scarves too (though knit or crochet, not sewn…how warm are sewn scarves, anyway?), but buttons could be cool. I’m torn, though, between getting some now and coming up with a cardigan pattern and color to match them, or coming up with a color first. 🙂

        1. Actually, different color. I liked the last ones, and while they go with my vest, they don’t go with anything else I wear. I found one that is as perfect as it can possibly get. this one is exactly what I would make if I could make yarn ;-).

          I find the sewn scarf nice and warm – there’s flannel on the back, which makes is pretty cozy. But I’m always up for making buttons, and I can customize them to a cardigan, if you want. You could send me a swatch of yarn, even, once you got started, and I could make them based on that.

          1. Argh, bad news. That FoxyKnits site is the only one I can find that has that color listed on it, so I tried to order from there…but got an error on their shopping cart page. I emailed the two addresses on their “Contact Us” page and got an auto-reply back from one of them saying they would be closing for a few days while they did their inventory…in July. So I’m not holding out a lot of hope for them. Tomorrow I can call the only local yarn store that I know carries Koigu and see if they have that color, but that’s a long shot too.

            Which all means that you will almost certainly need to pick a different color — sorry! Here are a couple of sites that came up in a Google search for Koigu (and which will hopefully work better than FoxyKnits did):

            http://www.knit-purl.com/Products/Product.php?Product_ID=68

            http://www.gotyarn.com/detail.cfm?ID=2021

            http://www.yarnzilla.com/default.php?cPath=1_1096_1098

            http://www.kyarns.com/koigu-painters-palette-premium-merino-fingering-weight-yarn.html

          2. Bummer. I spent a lot of time looking at those last night, and then I went to bed without writing down which one appealed to me most. I’ll have another look this weekend and drop you a line!

          3. Sounds good. I did call Knit Happens (the local store I mentioned) yesterday and they don’t have that color either. 🙁

  2. Lisa, your posts are so funny! I don’t make it past google reader much to comment, but I really enjoy reading your stuff. 🙂
    Good luck with your sales! That’s exciting that people are requesting you bring it to them. Since you aren’t doing shows, maybe dump all the totes on the table and reorganize them by item type? Of course (if it were me doing it with my luck) the day after reorganization someone would ask for a “blue green pair of earrings”. LOL!

    1. Aw, thanks, Christie. I know that feeling about google reader – I read/scan, but rarely click these days. Just too busy!

      And yeah, it’s really great when there’s a particular item I have that becomes popular, because I start getting requests. A few years ago all of the moms in my older son’s preschool class had watches I made. And now that the younger one is in preschool, I’m doing business again at dropoff time! I don’t know what I’m going to do when I no longer have a kid in preschool. You just don’t run into the parents that much when your child is taking a bus every day. I’ll have to talk my husband into having another baby. Or maybe I should just sign up for a craft show or two – that’s probably an easier route 😉

      I think I may just have to dump everything out and re-organize. I just love seeing it organized by color and hate to go back to the old way.

  3. I wondered where you fell off to. I was sad to not have Polka Dot posts to read. So instead of reading about you I have been emulating you and sewing napkins. A veritable rainbow of them. when I am done I will post a picture in Flicker 🙂 You are a bad influence!

    See what Kathi has been blogging about: Torah Learning Center

    1. Heh. That’s me, the bad influence. Just don’t go as hog wild with the napkins as I have. I’ve made so many and bought so much fabric, mine aren’t going to pay for themselves until 2011.

      1. is 40 too many? =)) we only bought…a few quarters *g*

        1. Holy cow! Expecting an army??

          Ok, maybe I shouldn’t talk – I’ve made us around 100 of ’em (ack!) but we only use 25 at a time and the rest are tucked away for other seasons. Wow. Now that I’ve typed that “out loud” that really makes me sound crazy. Who needs 100 napkins??

          1. well…we got a wee bit carried away looking at pretty colors and decided we needed a rainbow of napkins. Needless to say half will stay with us and half will be gifted to friends for a Channukah gift.

            Hey better 100 reusable napkins then tossing 100 paper ones!

            See what Kathi has been blogging about: Torah Learning Center

  4. I’ve missed you Lisa 🙁 and your funny musings.
    Glad you are back 🙂

    1. Thanks 🙂 It’s nice to be missed.

  5. Are you related to Troy McClure? You may remember him from such films as “P is for Psycho” and “Firecrackers: The Silent Killer.” (Okay–maybe I watch “The Simpsons” a little too much.)

    1. Heh. You caught me. I’ve watched a lot of Simpsons in my time, too 🙂

  6. lisa … do you have pics of your items? maybe put them in an album (or print out thumbprints and put in looseleaf binder. then put numbers on the containers and corresponding numbers on the pics. keep the album/binder in the car to show and bring with you the next drop-off day.

    that way, the “goods” are safe at home and you don’t have to load them in the car, you can still show off your “amazings” and you can write or stamp “sold” on a pic as soon as it goes to a new home.

    have fun!!!

    1. Good point. I do have pictures of everything, since everything is also on my website. Still, I think I sell a lot more when I have the actual items in person. Luckily (or maybe I should say Unfortunately), this is not an issue that comes up all that often. I probably just need to do more craft shows – then it will make more sense to sort everything by color!

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