Out of Whack - Seasonal Projects...

I don't have very many close friends who sew, crochet or knit, or any other crafty type of hobbies.  I know a few gardeners, and a model train hobbyist, and most of the men I know are avid sports fans -- oh and one fellow (my son actually) builds guitars and electric guitar sound pedals, but really very few now who do needle crafts....

I think because of that, a few of the people I talk to on a regular basis don't really get the concept of working months ahead of what other people consider "the season".    A gardener does think ahead somewhat and if they have a big enough garden or yard may keep track of perennials and annuals and other sorts of plants.  A gardener does plant in spring to harvest in fall so it is kind of like thinking ahead in one season to get the results in the next.

Sports fans live in the moment, I think.  Or at the end of a loosing season most just say "Next Year!" but they don't actually do anything about it until next season comes around again (unless they are actually a manager or participant).

But with needle crafts you sort of have to plan ahead.  A friend wondered why I was spending my free summer hours knitting or crocheting scarfs...  And what did I say?

Well, you can't knit a scarf in a couple of hours, it takes time, especially if the time is in bits and pieces through the days....  So knitting a scarf in summer might seem like a silly time to be making something you don't need til October or November...  But if I want a scarf in November the only way to have it is to have made it quite a while before....

So I have been working on three projects the last couple of weeks --- each one as I feel inclined.

The knitted scarf with the expensive Noro Garden Silk yarn is coming along...

It is just about 23 inches long and needs another 7 or 8 inches to be an easy to pull over the head COWL.   I am quite pleased with the result of the project but even tho I found a source online that sells this yarn at 1/3 the price that was on the label of these balls, I don't think I would buy this yarn if it was not in the thrift shops, or given to me...

A larger project that I expect to keep me busy for a few months yet is my traditional granny square afghan.

Definitely a classic design and I have always wanted one for myself!  My grandma had one and a older neighbor lady had one when I was a little girl and I want an ABSOLUTELY PERFECT ONE for me...

I am using 100% pure wool that comes in small hanks, that is actually meant for tapestry or rug yarn.   All the 'hanks' I have picked up at 2nd hand stores and if I keep my tension right I can make three squares (3 1/2" sq) with three hanks...

I have 36 squares joined which makes just over 22 inches square and I have 60 squares made but not joined...  I expect to have to make at least another 200 squares!

And because there is always something new to try out, I was browsing the internet and came across a pattern that I liked but didn't want to make it so loose or so big...  The pattern is on the Red Heart free patterns site and is called Happy-Go-Lacy Shawl.   My variation is that I changed the treble crochet stitches to double crochet and instead of being 18 inches wide I reduced it to about 8 inches and it will be a scarf.   But the thing I did like about this is using sock yarn and as I progress with this scarf and stitch pattern I am finding I REALLY, REALLY like the feel of it!  Being a sock yarn it is mostly wool with a bit of nylon in it and as it progresses, it is very light and soft and cushy against the skin!   I think I will go and get some actual Red Heart Heart and Sole yarn (because again, I am using thrift store yarn which is a Deborah Norville, I think from the USA yarn) and make a couple more of these as gifts....

So, in the heat of summer, here I am making things to keep myself and a few others cozy come the cool winds of autumn!   If you get one of my creations, then you gotta realize I didn't make it the day before Christmas or the day before your birthday....

One of the other things that I like about working months ahead, is that I can experiment with what makes me happy and if I am happy with the product and the pattern, then I am going to put my "best" into it...

The best thing about "do it yourself", no matter what it is, is that it is likely to be a one and only!  or as the slang term is a "one off".   You can go to Wal-mart or some other big store and buy a scarf, but as you are paying for it you gotta know that 100 people across the country have just got exactly the same as you...   I like the idea of being just a little bit different than everyone else.

Yarn Dilemna

The other day my friend Doris brought me some yarn that she had acquired from free or cheap sources...  She did not need all that she had got so shared some of the treasures with me.

Some very nice yarns and very use-able yarns, a couple of balls of Loops and Threads Impeccable (Michael's Stores) which I really like for hats or scarves to give away, a couple of balls of a Patons chunky yarn also good for nice warm cowls, 3 balls of a orangy and white mohair/acrylic which I am thinking might be a nice shawl and 2 Noro Garden Silk that had price stickers on each of  $21.99!

I spent a couple of days just looking at the yarns, thinking about them, wondering which to start on and what I might create with them....  I couldn't stand it any longer --- I had to figure out why a yarn -- even if it was mostly silk would cost $21.99 per ball...  And really who would pay that much and then still have to spend the time making something with it?  That makes it awfully expensive.   I guess I just live in a more frugal, common world!

So I thought that I would play around with this "special" yarn....  I had actually considered listing these balls of yarn on my Etsy store, but sometimes when a diamond falls in your lap you just have to keep it for yourself...

First I got out my trusty crochet hook, and my big "The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs" and looked through it for a lacy but not too holey design.  I started --- I did about 4 rows, I didn't like it.  RIPPIT...  Then I tried another simple crochet stitch, just half double crochet, I didn't like it, RIPPIT....  Then I thought, maybe it needs to be knitted...  So after quite some time online, cuz I don't have a knitting book, I decided to do a sort of garter stitch rib variation, which was 7 rows stockinette then 3 rows stockinette the other way...

I kinda liked it and actually worked 30 rows, but there still was a problem...  The needle was just a bit too large of a gauge -- it was the thinnest I had, tho so the stitches looked loose and fairly uneven...  So yep, RIPPIT...

Oh and the thinness and smallness, I don't know what else to call it was making my hands ACHE!   So that wasn't going to work.

I went to bed -- my brain seems to work all by itself while I sleep the night away!  When I opened my eyes this morning, I knew what I was going to do.

Of course if I had paid $21.99 for each of these balls of yarn, I would never have done this.   I doubled up the two skeins into one...  It actually took me close to 2 hours to match the color run because as you can see in the photo above each ball of yarn started at a different point.  I started with one ball, winding it on my thumb until I came to a point that fairly closely matched up with the other ball...  Cut off the part from the first ball, and matched them and started winding and winding and winding.  Oh and winding...

It worked out very well, except I did discover that one of the balls of yarn must have been partly used because there was a full two or three color changes left on the first ball of yarn that had nothing to match with on the second ball of yarn....

Now, I am happy with it as it stands.   I still think I will go with knitting a garter stitch rib that I described earlier, but I have to go find a proper gauge knitting needle (s)  to use --  Stay tuned for the concluding or continuing episode!

While I was writing this blog post, my husband was outside watering my container plants -- everything is in containers, because my whole yard is about as big as your living room...  This morning there were a handful of ripe strawberries, he ate a few and brought some for me!  I LOVE strawberries!  So far, the strawberries, which are already eaten, were much more satisfying than $21.99 Noro yarn!

5th Anniversary! Susan Being Snippy on Etsy

And really I don't think anyone noticed...

I only noticed because I was updating and renewing a few listings and happened to glance at the side bar where it says -- on etsy since "August 9, 2010"

That is a long time when it comes to maintaining a business -- well for me it is a long time because I am one of those people who are always finding new and interesting things to learn about...

The idea of a Etsy store tho fits into a very long tradition of reuse, recycle, reclaim, repair, remake.  My mother was a treasure hunter, not for buried treasure or gold pieces but for treasures that she could make use of without spending much money on.   My grandmother was even more so a hunter of bargins!   And great grandmother, well, I suspect so because she had many children to raise and find clothes and things for.  

Before the 1950's the second hand tradition was not "above ground" as it is today with THRIFT SHOPS all over many towns and cities.  Second hand was usually word of mouth -- a child grown out of his pants or shoes and those shoes passed along to a neighbour child who was just getting to that size.   During the war years, much of the 'extras' that were recycled went to the war effort, tin cans to manufacturing, cloth and yarn, made into items for soldiers -- maybe to your own son or to any soldier who served overseas.   The world did not manufacture bright plastic things in those times and even though our Canadian or American cities had factories, those places of manufacture were often geared to things that might use raw materials that were fairly local.   One of my Mother's earliest jobs was in a factory that made leather gloves.   The leather was brought from a local abattoir, that supplied beef and pork across the country and so leathers were close at hand.   My father, for a time worked in a factory that made Mink Coats and Stoles -- his job was to use an air hose to clean and fluff the fur coats before it was  sent on its way to Stores.

Winnipeg, where I grew up was well known as a manufacturing HUB, especially of clothing -- sewing factories that made London Fog raincoats, a shop that made men's suits -- did you know that fabric would be stacked in layers and the pattern drawn on the top layer then with a fine blade saw all the layers cut at the same time?   I saw that process when I was in my late teens on a school "information" trip!

Well, the world has changed, and the things we think we need are made in faraway countries with low wages and dangerous conditions and many people keep buying those things and not reusing or even recycling them.   I can't help it tho, the concept to make use of everything in every way possible is just bred into my bones!   So, I suspect that Operating and Etsy store with Vintage items was just a natural extention of the way I was taught from the beginning of my time...

I really love operating my own little business!

It does take time to learn the how to's and to learn what suits yourself and your customers.   When I first opened my Etsy story, I started with household goods like Pyrex cups and bowls, and a few fancy things like egg coddlers.   Then a couple of friends were clearing their extra sewing notions and buttons, so I sorted buttons and put them on the store -- along with wooden spools of thread, and vintage sewing things like self cover dress belt buckles....   I discovered, I didn't like photographing buttons -- for some reason, I would confuse bunches and then they would get lost in the button box -- buttons were frustrating.... (But I think I now have figured out a method so will soon be listing buttons again on my store).

It really is great that a online store, under the Etsy banner can bring together people who enjoy the process of creating items to sell, and for buyers looking for the things that just cannot be found in Wal-Mart or any of the other big box stores.  Etsy is for the person who wants something different and something special.

Well, now my store mostly has patterns for sewing clothing for men, women and children along with some specialty sewing patterns and magazines and books that include sewing and crochet books.

So, now my store is 5 YEARS OLD and much of my product is along the lines of vintage sewing -- I can make really classic patterns available for someone who admires a style no matter when it was printed and who has the vision to sew that pattern to make it fit in with today's styles and have that special flair that no one else around them has.  

I love to send parcels across the ocean either east or west and am always wondering why someone in Florida is buying a pattern for making mittens!  There must be a use for mittens there!   I love to search out products that will go into my store -- I frequent the thrift shops throughout my area and every now and then a friend will bring me items they just want to clear away and I pay then when their things sell in my store - I don't do that often though because it means another 'layer' of organization -- a subject I am weak on...

SO, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY SUSANBEINGSNIPPY ETSY SHOP!

Gearing Up and Going On

Susan Being Snippy is in the process of Evolving.   I haven't been writing on the blog for awhile because my focus has just not been "in focus".

I am lucky enough to work at home -- I don't even really call it work...

I pick my time, I decide how much I want to do, and I decide if my daily chore is as the warehouseman, the marketing agent, the administrative manager or the head of the accounting department!  There are lots of jobs to do but if I want to go out and get groceries I can ignore my "work" and wander off on some other adventure.

My Warehouse with all its inventory is housed in my HOUSE, in the living room actually, on the right side of my computer desk and file cabinate.  On the left side is my shipping 'room' .  My laser printer pops out the orders and the table (an old drafting table I got at the 2nd hand store) serves as the shipping and packing desk.

Some of the things in my "warehouse" are under consideration...  I have dozens of wooden thread spools and I do need to decide if I am going to list them on the store or if I can maybe find a project or two that will make use of them...   It is a project that sits at the back of my mind, so alot of other things tend to get ahead of it but eventually something will motivate me to make a decision

Some of the interesting things about operating an online store is first that it gives me an ongoing project now that I am officially retired.   I don't HAVE to give hours to somebody else who really doesn't want to pay me for my time, but legally has to...   I work for myself and for the people who are interested in the products that I can provide them.

I really enjoy hunting up items that I can offer for a really good price that are otherwise hard to find or unusual.

Now if you are into Vintage Fashion or need to create a 1930's outfit for say a stage play for your teenagers high school production, Look what I found!  This is a reproduction pattern of a 1938 design.   This pattern is complete and unused and would you believe Vogue patterns have a "Suggested Retail Price" of $33 on it!   REALLY!!  Do you want to pay more for that pattern than what the fabric would cost?  NO, of course you don't, and especially if you only make it one time!

But, HEY!  I found the pattern in like new condition and at a price that I can make a bit of profit on it...

NOW you gotta realize, my shop has a policy to sell almost all patterns for $5.00 each (that's US FUNDS) plus postage. So, now doesn't my pricing make a pattern worth taking a look at?

So, this is what my blog is about now.  The things that I find that you might have a use for that is unique or at a good price -- even when you add in the cost of shipping.

AND I will even suggest other ETSY shops that I find with interesting things to check out...

Ever heard of fairy doors?  Got a big tree in your yard that just seems to need a bit of Whimsy?   Check out this shop for an interesting feature for your yard -- the kids will create their own stories of who comes and goes in and out of that door....

Bean and Flaps 

Stop and Visit now and then and hopefully I will find something you will find interesting or something that will send you off looking through some of the wonderful shops on Etsy.com.