13 Hours a Day?

It's totally feeling like Christmas all of a sudden. It got bitterly cold this week and there is that nice stillness on campus right before the holiday break. (Just as I typed that line someone started drilling right outside my window. Irony in action!) The Winter Shimmer scarf above would make the perfect accessory for this time of year. It's a mix of hand spun wool and a super soft acrylic yarn.

I came across a really interesting article on the NYT's Style Page about Etsy and the myth or reality of earning a living with your craft. It's titled "That Hobby Looks Like a Lot of Work" and it describes how some crafters have been able to turn their passions into a full time income through Etsy and other venues.

They featured one knitter who described her day as including 13 hours of knitting and then multiple other hours on-line with buyers and promotional duties. She actually has a wholesale contract with Urban Outfitters to sell her handmade cowls. She claims to be earning $140,000 a year which I wonder is gross or not. But either way I don't think it's worth it. I have spent 13 hours in a row knitting on the weekends before but I honestly can't imagine doing it every day. It would drain the joy out of it real quickly and my hands just couldn't take it. As great as the dream of making a living off my craft sounds, in reality it would likely be a nightmare.

There was another feature in the summer on Slate about the fantasy of making a living and how Etsy "Peddles a False Feminist Fantasy". I was insulted by some of the ideas implied in this article but the reality is much of what she says is true. There was a lot of controversy about this article and if you go back to the first pages of comments you can read some angry reactions from Etsy sellers.

I'm happy with were my business is at the moment. I had a great craft show season and had an increase in sales over last year which not a lot of businesses can say in this economy. I've found my place in the indie shows and my target market. I'm not happy with my Etsy shop but that is a different post. Online sales are just not my priority. I'm glad that I still enjoy my hobby but I'm thankful that I don't have make a living from it.

The countdown!

I know that I rambled on a lot in that last post but I was really trying to organize my thoughts about whether I should or want to get more involved in the local crafting community. I would really like to hear from you about any street teams or organizations that you belong to and whether you have found them worthwhile and deserving of your time.

So the countdown is on for the start of my holiday break. I have to work Monday and Tuesday and a half day on Wed. which is our office party so it really doesn't count. Then I have off for 11 days in a row! The campus completely shuts down which I think is so amazing. It doesn't count against our vacation time and we get paid as usual. At the other college I worked at we got Christmas and New Year's Day and that was it. (I'm calling the scarf at the top Holiday Cherry Red and it's a snuggly soft wool blend)

So I've been thinking about what I want to get done on these days off. You can be sure that I will be doing lots of relaxing and sleeping in but I really want to get some productive time in there also. Here is my list of goals for the break and just to keep me honest I will report back here after the break on what I accomplished.

1. Clean and organize my craft room. (Get a single bed in there for company and the kids to sleep over.)
2. Go through the clothes in the basement and donate the ones that I can no longer wear.
3. Have my car checked and any maintenance that is past due taken care of.
4. Spend some time with my girl friends catching up. I've let myself isolate way too much this year and I need to reconnect with some people.
5. Get energized creatively for the new year. I just bought three books from Amazon and I want to read all three for inspiration over the break. I got The Creative Entrepreneur: A DIY Visual Guidebook for Making Business Ideas Real to get inspired with my business, KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knitting's New Wave to get inspired with my knitting, and Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally to get inspired with my life.

In addition to these goals I also plan on spending as much time as possible with the girls. I also know that Ani wants to come to the farm for a few days while the girls are in town so I will probably have to make a round trip to get her. We'll see whether I can get it all done. I'm not going to stress myself out about the top 2. They are ultimate goals for the new year too. I will probably end up taking a week off in February just to get some spring cleaning and organizing done to finish up what doesn't get done.

Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Hanukkah to all my readers who observe. It always sneaks up on me and as always I got my nieces and nephew in New York their gifts ordered too late to get there for the first day. But luckily it got me motivated so now all of my Christmas shopping is also done and everything should be here in plenty of time. I definitely got my money's worth out of my free trial of Amazon Prime. No I didn't pay anything for a free trial but I feel like I should have with all the 2 day shipping I've used in the past few weeks.

Mike's sister Julie converted to Judaism and is raising their kids in the faith. The above picture is from their family vacation to Aruba last year. We are hoping to be able to make it to Abbie's Bat Mitzvah in a year. It will be my first and I'm interested to see what it is like. We unfortunately only see the family once or twice a year whereas I often see Kai and Ani once or twice a week. It is sad that I don't have the same relationship with her kids as I do with my other nieces and nephews. I always really enjoy visiting with Julie and her whole clan. I think if we lived closer there would definitely be a good friendship between us.

Abby is the oldest and she is a little bookworm. She and Mike had a few long debates about Harry Potter and for awhile she would e-mail him quizzes to see how well he remembered the details from the book. She had every single thing memorized including the title of all the chapters. He gave her The Hobbit last year to see if he could turn her onto Tolkien and at first read she didn't get it. After the second time I think she had decided she liked it.

Cassie is the middle child and I feel a connection with her on that front. She is feisty and has a devious little grin that I find adorable. The first time I met her she had just come back from a ride with Grandma and her Mom. Betty had pointed out some flowers to her and she had said, "I don't like those fucking flowers." She was a sweet looking 3 year old at the time and I found it hilarious, especially since she had used the word in such a perfect context.

Ben is the youngest and he is the sweetest boy you will ever meet. He is so polite and friendly that it always amazes me, especially since we see them so rarely. He will crawl up on your lap and start charming you 5 minutes after you meet him. When he was 2 Mike had picked him up to reach something and he said thank you in this high pitched baby voice. Mike and I still use that voice when we say thank you to each other all the time.














I got the girls the Happily Ever Crafter kit that I had to order through Imagine Toys since it was out of stock at Amazon. I did find a 15% off coupon which helped make it more in line with Amazon's price luckily. It has 9 different projects with directions to learn the fundamentals in crocheting, embroidering, and sewing. Since they aren't here for me and their Aunt Debi to help teach them the love of crafting I'm hoping that this will inspire them to appreciate the handmade world.

I also got Abby Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, which should be required reading for girls her age in my opinion. I got Cassie The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo also by Blume. I haven't read this one but it is about being a middle child which I thought was appropriate.

I got Ben a big set of Wikki Stix and some activities to do with them. They are crafty but the description and reviews made it sound like boys enjoy them just as much as girls so I hope he likes them. They are a colorful, non-toxic wax and yarn product to stimulate imagination and creativity, according to the description. Sounds like fun to me!

So Happy Holiday to you whichever holiday you choose. Yes, I do always say this rather than Merry Christmas. It just feels more right to me since you just never know. I have another in-law that identifies as Buddhist and other family members that are both atheist/agnostic so I think "Happy Holidays" covers it all. We all enjoy the season and I don't think it is a slight to Christmas or Christ in any way.

Handmade Nation Review

It only took me a little over an hour to read the actual text of Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design by Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimer but who are we kidding I didn't buy it for the text. It's all about the pictures with pure crafter's porn on every page! Page after page of crafters in action at indie craft shows around the country, working in their studios, or modeling their incredible creations. There is nothing I like better than learning about other artisans creative process. I love reading how they come up with their ideas and seeing how they organize and decorate their studio spaces. And getting an inside view at some top indie sellers booth designs is priceless. I put a lot of thought into my booth space and seeing other crafter's displays, even if it is a total different medium helps me to come up with my own inspirations for next year's shows.

The book was inspired by the rise of the indie craft movement at the turn of this century. It covers indie designers all over the country and there is also a documentary that just came out last month. Here is the website for the movie. I can't wait to see it as soon as it makes it anywhere in the St. Louis area. There are interviews with designers and crafters were they share their ideas about the handmade movement. Here were some of my favorite quotes:

page 26, Sabrina Gschwandtner of Knitknit.net:
"I love making things. I love writing about aesthetic objects and their makers. I love conversations about making things. I love thinking about making things."

page 80, Annie Mohaupt of MOHOP.com:
"I think people want things that are unique. As the world becomes more and more homogeneous, handmade things become more precious. Also, as people become more aware of issues like the environment, workers' rights, and toxic ingredients or materials in products, they are more drawn to artisan-made goods, which are purchases they can feel good about."

page 125, Susan Beal:
"Indie craft fairs have defined a generation of women and men who value the nature of handmade and innovative goods.... I have never felt more at home than in an indie craft fair. It's a place where our hobbies, our ideas, and our worldviews are packaged up into a tangible object to share, to be admired, and to start new relationships between people."


Many of the people interviewed described themselves as makers not crafters. This is a term that I think is starting to become more popular. I like the DIY connotation and it has a broader context than crafter. The article about indie craft shows by Susan Beal was one of my favorite chapters. It shows the progression of how the new indie shows started out in small ways and morphed into a movement all over the country. The Strange Folk Festival and the Craft Mafia shows here in St. Louis are the best representations of these shows in this area and I was proud to be a part of them last year.

I would totally recommend this book to anyone who loves reading about art and design but more importantly wants to see some amazing pictures of fellow handmade advocates around the country.

What's Going On

So I've been moving pretty slow this week. I was supposed to go down to the farm today to hang out with my brother and his girlfriend who are in town for the week from France. I hope to get on the road tomorrow morning bright and early but don't count on it. I had a ton of errands to run today and apparently I was in need of a 3 hour nap this afternoon in which I was consumed by creepy and bizarre dreams I haven't been able to shake all evening.

I happened upon the treasuries while open yesterday and put together a list of St. Louis sellers in Fall colors. I don't see it making the front page but I do like to support the local talent whenever I can.

I also had to go through my entire inventory and relabel everything since when I called the Mad Art Gallery and asked if it was ok if my item number was before the vendor number they said it would destroy the entire system just as my husband predicted. That took over 3 hours to correct. I have got to get a better system for tracking my inventory. I started one spread sheet or another over the past year and nothing has seemed to work for me. I did a google document one before the last show and I brought it to the show. I remembered to check things off the list as they sold for the first few hours and then I got busy and lost track. I have got to remember to just write the item number as I check them out and record the sale. The business side of things is last on my list of skills. I really sometimes wish I had taken a few business classes when I was getting my undergraduate degree. I remember my father and at least one advisor recommending it but I was an idealistic English major so why would I ever need to know anything about business.

My mom told me to bring a tub of items home to set up since much of the Lenox tribe, which means over 70, will be at the house this week. I told her I have another big show coming up so I wouldn't be able to give big family discounts. She then told my uncle this which I'm sure offended him since he has brought me business in the past. I did not mean that I wouldn't give Mom or Uncle Jack discounts but that I didn't want all the cousins to expect to get everything for next to nothing. For all you other crafters out there how do you deal with family or friend's discounts and does it ever get touchy?

I won't probably be blogging for the rest of the week. My mother has the slowest dial up Internet in the world and it is hard enough to get in and check on my shop a few times while I'm home. I hope everyone has an amazing turkey day and doesn't get too sick of their families or sick to their stomachs.

My little Muse

Unfortunately I don’t have a model available for me to photograph my scarves to show them to their best potential. I make do by using the body torsos I got from Ebay, 2 for like $25. I have definitely gotten my money’s worth out of them, can you imagine what I would have paid Heidi Klum this weekend to model for 2 days straight. I also love the glass head my friend Tif rescued for me from one of her hoarders basements. He shows off my scarflettes really well and takes a fun quirky photo.

I had my little niece A. over last night for one of our crafting play dates. I got her to do a little photo shoot while the sun was still up. I took close to a 100 shots and got about 10 I really like and will probably use. She is a little diva and loves to ham it up so it was no problem getting good shots of her but it was more difficult to get a good shot of both her and the scarf. I kept telling her it’s good of you but I can’t see the scarf. My only fear is that someone will think it is a little girl scarf and not for them. I can’t wait until she gets a little older because she really will be the perfect model then.

She loves to “help” me with my business and we always have a good time. I’m thinking about bringing her for one day of my Lindbergh show as my little salesperson. I don’t know how anyone could say no to her. My only fear is she will lose interest and start distracting me about half way through. We’ll see if she can help to get me to my goal for the show season. She has been eying more than a few items that I could “pay” her with.