Hello, friends! How is everybody doing this mid-December day?
You know, when I gave up writing TWiP posts, it was a big relief to no longer be on a schedule. But what I hadn’t considered is that without a schedule forcing me to check in every week, I only seem to pop in here when I have news to share or something to promote. So today, I am just going to fill you in on how I’ve been keeping busy in my spare time these last few weeks.
For example, this afternoon, I fed a squirrel. He (or she?) looks like he’s already had plenty to eat, but I have no other use for the Cheerios, or the cranberries, or the little pumpkins that are not in the frame. So, I hope he enjoys the buffet.
I bought myself an Advent calendar this year. This one was full of tea. The image here is from December 1st, and was my first surprise flavor. Since then I’ve tried a variety of teas from Cherry Marizipan Oolong to Cocomint Green. They’re not all winners, but there are a few I may buy again, and I’m enjoying the surprise every day.
I’ve been getting back into tea lately. Any suggestions for something I should try? I don’t care much for fruity teas. I like “warm” flavors, like maple and vanilla. And there’s a Gingerbread Festival tea that I have that’s to die for.
I mentioned the Maker’s Market in my last post. It went well! I hadn’t been behind the table like this for over six years, and it was a pleasure. You miss a lot when you strictly sell online. For one thing, you don’t get the opportunity to answer questions about products, or offer answers to the questions they didn’t think to ask 😁 Plus it’s really interesting to see what catches a shopper’s attention, even when they don’t actually buy it.
Seam rippers were the product of the day. I sold more than half of my stock. More than once I heard someone say “these are the most beautiful seam rippers I’ve ever seen!” Awww. blush
My first customer was a little girl who cleaned me out of all of the purple pens. Next time I sit down at my new clay desk, I’ll be making more purple stuff 💜
One of the things I did at the market was a Buy 3 Get 1 Free deal on seam rippers, crochet hooks, pens, and buttons. I decided it would be nice to carry that promotion over to my website, so for the foreseeable future, when you buy any three of those items, you can get a fourth one (for equal or lesser value) for free. No coupon is required, and you can mix-and-match.
This is a great way to complete your crochet hook collection, or to gift seam rippers to your quilting circle, or grab some teacher gift pens. For example 🙂
If you’re interested in any of that, you can look directly at this page, which lists every item variation included in the BOGO (or is that BTGO? 😜).
I don’t have much to say about this image except that I knit this scarfy thing last year, and I liked it, but now that I’ve added this well-coordinating shawl pin to it, well, it’s my favorite thing EVER. I’ve been wearing it every time I leave the house lately. I have one more shawl pin just like that one in my shop if you want one, but you will have to make your own scarf or shawl to go with it 😜
I got a new phone last month, and it has allowed me to get some interesting shots I would not have thought possible with a phone before. Like this one, of the full moon outside my window at 7am yesterday. It’s not the most fantastic photo ever, but the fact that I took it from across the room while still in my bed makes it pretty impressive in my book 😁
These are two more phone shots that I love. Look at how close I was able to zoom in on that first one! Those are the workers putting this monopole together for the electric company. Later in the day I went back to see if they had finished, and they had. Though you can see there are no wires running through it yet, and the old tower is in pieces behind it, so there’s still a bit of work to do there.
Have you ever gone to see the studio of a sewing celebrity and then run into a knitting celebrity while you were there? No? Is that just me? 😆
This morning I went to Lotta Jansdotter’s studio sale. I had no idea that I lived so close to it until I saw her Instagram post a few days ago. I had nothing going on this weekend (for the first time in so long), so I thought, why not? The finished goods on her website are a bit outside of my price range, but I thought maybe I could find a deal or two at this sale. And even if I didn’t, it would be fun to look around and get a chance to meet Lotta.
So, I did meet Lotta, which was cool. And if I were more outgoing, I for sure would have told her that her book Simple Sewing was the first book I purchased when I bought my sewing machine, and I basically learned to sew by making the half apron in that book about a million times. But I didn’t say any of that. Instead I bought a pillow cover that was slightly irregular and less than half price, and a piece of fabric that I’m not entirely sure what it’s for, but I think it’s pretty.
Anyway, while I was there, I saw Kay Gardiner of Modern Daily Knitting fame, and we talked about our handknit scarves and Rhinebeck. I was wearing the one I posted a picture of up there (of course I was), and she had on one that looked like it might have been a linen stitch, or a moss stitch, with multiple lovely gradients.
What a cool morning it was. And as I was checking out, I gave my email address to have my receipt sent to me, and the ladies in line near me said “now I have to google Polka Dot Cottage. It sounds cute.” Well, I hope they did, and I hope they are reading this and maybe they will comment and say hello 😁
Here’s my new pillow cover, duly covering a pillow in my corner of the couch 🧡
Well, that’s my update. I will try and pop in more often. I do have a few more topics I’d like to write about. For example, see that blanket in the photo above? It’s my Family Room Squircleghan, and I have had a post about it in progress since February of 2021 🤭 Maybe I can finish that show-and-tell one of these days.
See ya 👋🏻
Your seam rippers are beautiful! One of my quilting books calls for “seam un-sewing” rather than “seam ripping.” They’re not fooling me–I’m still ripping out seams!
Thanks, Kat 😁 And I’m with you, it’s totally ripping! Besides, I kind of think it’s the ripping noise that makes it kind of satisfying in a way, LOL!