New Business Venture

Hi everyone, how are you? I miss reading all of your blogs! I promise I'm going to catch up soon. I have an hour lunch break, so I've been trying to catch up on little projects during that time. Usually that means getting in a few rows of knitting. Look what I finished!

It's the Little Red by Erika Flory (or in this case Little Blue!) And Carly absolutely loves it. The first time she wore it to the park, she ran around trying to force all the other kids to admire what her mommy made. Aww!

Anyway, I'm still trying to find a balance between being at work all day, coming home and taking care of Carly when Douglas leaves for work, and keeping up with my shop. The past few weeks I've only been able to make custom orders, which I guess is a good thing, but still. My brain is overflowing with ideas but there's nothing I can do about that!

I woke up this morning from a dream about having a second etsy shop.* It had cutesy hair pin sets and jewelry, in all different styles. I even dreamed up a name- Eclectic Taxi. I woke up Douglas and asked him what he thought of the name. He said it was really awful. But I want it to describe what the inside of a decorated taxi feels like. Ok, I've never even been inside a taxi. But I've heard of ones that could describe the inside of my mind- Pompom trim around the top, kitschy stuff glued everywhere, and several pounds of crap hanging from the rearview mirror. I want it to encompass all my favorite styles: Vintage farmhouse, fun and kitschy, sweet and girly, glamorous and sparkly, and retro bohemian.

I think I've narrowed it down. Now for just a moment, let's put aside the reality of how insane it is to think I could run two shops when I can't even keep up with one. Let's look at this like a long-term goal, mmkay?

Which name do you like best?

You should know that I've already sort-of started this little venture. My new company has a little craft fair every year for the three office buildings in this complex, and of course I entered. I've always wanted to do a craft show, so hopefully this will be a great way to try it out. The problem is that in the past few weeks, my shop stock has been seriously depleted. I haven't had time to make anything new or replace the sold things, so I don't know what I'm going to put in this little fair. Then I saw these:

They're vintage appliques, and of course I bought them. I also bought two coordinating sets of bead and sequin appliques, some vintage cabs, and some flat-back gems. The first of my new hair pin line! 

Now I know there are lots of hair pin sets on etsy, but I haven't seen any like I'm thinking of. I want to branch out into other styles too, but keep it unique by using vintage and one-of-a-kind embellishments. I'm already going nuts with all the packaging ideas too! I'm hoping this new line will solve my problem of not having enough time to keep my shop stocked. I can use my lunch hour to assemble them. The designing will be the longer process, which I'm already doing all day long and even while I dream! So the actual assembling should go quickly, and then I can use one afternoon on the weekend in photography hell. Oh boy...

I have way too many ideas to tell you all of them now, but I can't wait to show you! If you have any suggestions for a good name, please help me out! Thank you all so much!

*I should tell you that I also had a dream that I was having dinner in a restaurant and a very pregnant woman walked in. She was looking around for her date/husband/whatever, when suddenly she exploded. Like, not in a rage exploded, like literally exploded. More like her stomach exploded. There were baby parts everywhere. Her significant other comes running, and you know he's a doctor of course. He tries to save her, but she dies in his arms. In my dream-like state, it was very romantic. Then I woke up and it was just disturbing. The end.


UPDATE! An awesome friend just came up with a third name that I think I might like best: FlashCab ...Whatd'ya think? I like it because it is a play on words- Cab like kitschy decorated taxi, and cab like cabochon?

Learning To Spin

...And by spinning, I don't mean the exercise kind.  
Come on, me, exercising? Pffbt!

On Thursday I took a break from my neverending pile of custom orders to try something new- Spinning! I went with my mom to a spinning group at a cute little bookstore, and we brought Carly. She had a great time with her new "spinnel" that Abby gave her. I tried using a drop spindle once, but I didn't really catch on. I made something that looked like what the cat pukes up after major hairball blockage. Fortunately, there are many different ways to use a drop spindle, so I'll keep trying!

Abby Franquemont is a great teacher. She was so patient with Carly, who was delighted to trot over to where I was fuming over a tangled mess to show me how to do it just right. So cute!

As soon as we got home, she tried to teach Daddy how to make yarn too. Love her!

Next week I plan to find a sitter though, because I seriously want to learn how to do this. I don't even know why! I already have way too many hobbies and I'm drowning in orders and projects. Even if I did actually spin anything that actually resembled yarn, am I going to have time to knit it into something?

I've heard that knitters/crafters/people in general can be classified into two categories- Process people and product people. Usually I consider myself a product person- I see a cool sweater, I want the cool sweater, I make the cool sweater. Occasionally, though, I'll get the urge to throw myself into process drama. If I fold the fabric this way, I get this effect. If I turn my yarn this way, it looks like this... Hmm, interesting. Now I wonder what happens if I..... And it doesn't matter what it turns out like in the end. The point was that I had a great time just making it up as I went. 

This might be one of those process moods. Will I ever spin perfect yarn that's prettier than anything I could buy in a store? I highly doubt it. But so what? I'm learning- Creating crafty neuropathways in my brain that will someday lead to some fantastically exciting crafty idea! And when I finally spin up enough fluff to make the most irregular, wonky, pathetic-looking scarf known to mankind, I'll wear it proudly because darnit I MADE THIS YARN!

Now will someone please remind me of this next Thursday when I'm ready to throw my spindle? :)