Scarf It Up! Wearable Fiber Art

A Mess of Upcycled Scarves.....or Just a MESS!

2012-01-20T08:20:00.002-05:00

These are TWO different ones!

Well, some people might think the scarves ARE a mess, but that is just personal style and preference. The MESS is actually what happens when I create these little gems that seem to be appealing to more and more funky fashionistas all the time. The mess IS my studio! My studio doubles as a guest room! Need I say more????

But fortunately, the only time I need to use it as a guest room is when the family comes to visit - 5 or 6 times a year. I have another guest room for use when only one person or couple comes to visit, so my studio can remain in whatever condition it seems to be in at any given time. The problem, however, is that I can't stand it when it gets completely out of control. And then it behooves me to clean it up.

Yarn is one thing! It often occupies the bed, the counter, to say nothing of all the drawers built especially to house my stash. And then there are the bins that I've added to store bags of yarn that is color-coordinated for use with a number of my designs. Yarn also often occupies my kitchen counter and the family room couch for work in progress! And BTW, all the felting supplies live in yet another area of my house - one that also houses my washer/dryer and myriad other things. It is erroneously called the "laundry room!" - yet another joke!

So when an order came in for a half-dozen Tee-Upcycled Scarves in a variety of color themes, I had to begin the search within my studio for the tee-shirts, fabric stored in bureau drawers and under the bed, and other pieces of coordinating yarn and fiber. I didn't take a photo of the studio in progress (next time I WILL!), but yesterday I spent a couple of hours organizing (that's a joke!) and re-storing all those components.

I LOVE it when the studio is clean, the floor and bed are visible, and the counters are neatly arranged. And I did some re-arranging, coordinating, and tossing! My fear now is that I will no longer be able to find anything in the de-cluttered environment!

So then I took photos of the resulting scarves (another process that makes me a little crazy! You can read about THAT here in a post called "The Saga of the NEW Photos!") And then I posted them on Facebook, and THEN......one of my favorite customers wanted one! I'm certainly not complaining, but since these are designated for a delightful shop in Taos, it means that I need to make her a new one and THAT means I have to pull apart my studio for this next creation of the Tee-Upcycle Scarf!

You know what? I really love designing these, and I'm really grateful to HAVE a studio that lives in the FROG. A FROG???? In the South, that's a Finished Room Over Garage, AKA Bonus Room. It is out of sight, but never out of mind! And occasionally, it is sparkly clean. Photos of before and after coming soon!

Guest Blogger - Meet Jane Thornley - Inspired Knitter Par Excellence! Part II

2012-01-16T10:29:00.000-05:00

I THINK this photo on the left was the first one of Jane's I saw that so reminded me of my own Bernadetta Scarf style, pictured on the right. Hers is wider and contains such an array of luscious, hand-dyed yarns and fibers. Mine makes use exclusively of stash yarns. But the resemblance is uncanny; hence her coining the term "Kindred Spirits" for us. As we've come to know one another, there are other uncanny similarities in our work and in our lives. We do indeed hope to actually meet in person one day...............!

And so I happily present the second part of my interview with Jane Thornley and reprint - with her permission - an article published in the Camelid Quarterly from February 2009. I am so in awe of this woman..........!

8. Describe your workspace?

Once upon a time I had a house, a whole house. Now I have a downstairs living area sandwiched between a lower floor recreation area that has turned into kit-making central with winding swifts of my husband’s invention. Walk into our ‘rec room’ and you’ll see yarn wound and ready to go. On the very top floor of our aerie, we have the office/beading area on one side of the house with the knitting/yarn room separated by a hall on the other. During the day, I sit at the computer writing and at night move to the knitting room to work on my designs while watching movies or shows. Yarn and knitted pieces assault the eye everywhere. I literally have pieces festooning over the banister separating the upstairs from the open kitchen below.

9. What is one of your best moments as a crafter/artist?

When someone emails to say that something I did or said or made has made a positive impact on their life, I pause to ponder the power of the human hand. To think that something I did has touched another both honors and humbles me.

10. What advice would you give to anyone thinking about starting their own craft business?

I was once cited in a book as a how-to example on becoming a crafts entrepreneur. The problem was, I didn’t have a business plan and still don’t. Nothing I did follows the rules. I prefer to think of what I do as an evolution, a way of following my inclinations towards self-expression in an intuitive way. I once sat at a big desk in a big job with lots of employees supposedly under my jurisdiction. My creative voice choked on budgets and bored meetings and management issues. Oh, and budget cuts.

Then I escaped and refuse to enter another cage for anyone.

My message to anyone wanting to start a business is encapsulated in one word: passion. That says it all. And, yes, an entrepreneurial spirit helps, as does a bit of life experience, but if you don’t have fire in your belly to create, nobody will follow your light. Do what you believe and enjoy the process!

Knitting Off The Grid

By Jane Thornley

The Camelid Quarterly 1 March 2009

Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I began my knitting life at twenty-one as most of us do, by following a knitting code along a linear path called a pattern. Somehow my efforts never turned out like the originals; like the sweater sleeve that turned into a trunk warmer for an elephant. But the fact that my hands had created this miraculous piece of slubbed, apricot-coloured, textile overrode niggles of disappointment. While my passion for yarn had begun, my frustration caused me to explore ‘knitting off the grid.’

I took extension courses through the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design but, with the help of my mother and so many wonderful books and magazines, taught myself most of the beading, embroidery, sewing, painting and drawing techniques that have since embellished the otherwise plain surfaces of my life. Along the way I made time to acquire a Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English, a Bachelor of Education and a Masters of Library Service. These enabled me to spend many years as the passionate advocate of school libraries.

Creating jewelry is a relatively new passion, though a natural extension of my love for colour and texture. My bead drawers brim with semi-precious stones, pearls and metals from all over the world which lure me to compose talismans of adornment for otherwise bare necks and wrists. Wherever I travel, I find inspiration and more beads to weave into something to celebrate the rich global trove in which we live.

Give me detail to austerity any day. Something to catch the eye, drawing theattention deeper into the subject, is my preferred aesthetic. My early multicoloured sweaters contained as many as fifty different colours of yarn. For me,

colour and texture rule and most of the inspiration feeding my imagination comes from the natural world. I see knitting as art, as viable as any other, and no matter what the tool or preferred palette, in human hands, magic happens.

Besides jewelry creation and knitting, the latter of which has sustained me on the parameters of many demanding executive careers in public education, I also write women’s fiction. Seven novels, a few agents, and a tendency to focus more on writing than the business end of becoming published, and I’m still authoring at least one novel a year. Once upon a time, I was listed as one of the most popular authors in fiction and mystery on the now defunct Time-Warner website, I-Write. I am currently working on a book for knitters tentatively entitled ‘Adventure Knitting’ which takes the knitter on a ride through the textural landscape of novelty yarns.

Along the way my knitting evolved into the 'free-range knitting' philosophy I favour today. Now I knit and design patterns that feature a mix of fabulous yarns, rather than complex pattern work and stitch gymnastics. The style is

intuitive. In workshops, I guide knitters to explore their own creativity through the rich world of yarn.

My early attempts at following patterns, or not following patterns, plus my education background, taught me that many people have difficulty decoding standard patterns, which has nothing to do with ability, education or intelligence. The symbols scramble, the attention wanders, or they simply find all that direction-following stressful. I certainly did.

Now I encourage knitters to banish the inner perfectionist and explore a sense of play. I often provide colour and texture maps in my patterns to provide a reference point to encourage knitters to experience knitting 'off the grid.' I try to decrease the use of symbols, though they are often necessary and very useful. Gauge rarely features and I advocate a 'no wrong turn' approach. What mistakes? Mistakes are simply deviations on the road to adventure. Being too fixed on a specific result amputates creativity so 'loosen up' is my mantra.

In workshops, I like to introduce 'yarn whispering' as a way to unlock a knitter's intuitive self. Every knitter has the ability to create unique works of fiber art once they trust that inner voice. Confidence is rarely achieved without a little risk and adventure can never happen without an element of serendipity.**

But, most important of all, this is free-range knitting and free-range knitting is about knitting with passion. Take a look at the projects in the project gallery for some of my patterns and you'll see passion blooming in other's knitting

throughout.

During my first trip to Italy, visiting a castle in Tuscany, I began imagining bringing a group of art, food, fiber and culture enthusiasts to Tuscany, using the castillo as a home base while touring the area. Travel has always been one of my great loves even way back in my first life as an educator. In the early days, I used to organize groups of junior

high students to travel in North America. If you can keep teenagers happy, safe and fed, you're well on your way to coordinating anything. My first workshop was 'Knit a Beach' in Nova Scotia, then came Tuscany and tomorrow the world, I hope. I seek out the extraordinary and the inspiring with a view to weave in the culture, spirit and colors of

the region I visit. Next up: Morocco followed by Ireland. Did I mention the world?

My wonderful, supportive husband, John, a talented stone mason, painter and cabinet maker in his own right, and I live on the edge of the Partridge River, in a place that has become a sanctuary and an inspiration for us both.

Like so much of human experience, after a certain steam burns away, what is left hardens to the core. Adhered to mine then, is the love for books, learning, and the celebration of the human voice through words or art. Only recently have I come to fully live what I believe.

About the Author

Jane Thornley calls Mineville, Nova Scotia home but is using the world as her creative muse. She may be reached by

e-mail at jane@janethornley.com. More information abouther workshops, yarn whispering and her inspired patterns may be found on her website: www.janethornley.com

**serendipity - originated in 1754, coined by Horace Walpole, suggested by The Three Princes of Serendip, the title of a fairy tale in which the heroes “were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of.”

The Camelid Quarterly 2 March 2009

Knitting Off The Grid

Guest Blogger - Meet Jane Thornley - Inspired Knitter Par Excellence!

2012-01-12T07:42:00.000-05:00

Do you ever wonder how/where/when you’ve met someone? After a while those recollections fade (and really don’t matter!), but when I asked my guest blogger to recall, she had the same response. We just don’t remember how we “met!” However, I can say that Jane Thornley has been my inspiration, my muse, my fierce Scrabble (on FB) competitor, and my “kindred spirit” for a number of years.

I am honored and humbled by her coining the term “Kindred Spirits” about our work. We do think we discovered one another (not sure who!) on Ravelry where she manages several knitting groups. Amazingly, our work is quite similar in its love of nature and natural materials, use of color and texture, and combining fibers and stitches to produce wearable knitwear. She is far more skilled, inventive and innovative, published, adventurous, and recognized than I, but surprisingly, we share many of the same attributes. I can always find her up EARLY to play several of our on-going Scrabble games! ;-o)

I am thrilled to present her interview here in two parts. I think you’ll love and admire her as much as I do!

1. Do you have any new Year’s Resolution’s?

Yes, I vow to avoid all resolutions. They sound so serious, just one more thing to feel guilty about. Instead, I have an internal pilot light to retool certain aspirations in my life, such as move more, eat less (isn’t that one universal in January?), and get my fiction published. Since I have so many things on the go, from the publication of my Inspired Knitter’s Club issues, designing patterns for knitters, making jewelry, doing workshops, and organizing exotic excursions to Turkey, Italy, Spain and Santa Fe, I have to repeatedly remind myself that I’m retired. Now, there’s a laugh: me retired. I should just stop pretending. I’m not retired, I’m re-hired…by me!

2. Where do you reside, work from, stake your claim in the world?

I’m based in a little forested, riverside, home in Nova Scotia, Canada, but consider myself a bit of a global wanderer with the Internet my virtual store. I have my own web shop for jewelry and designs at janethornley.com but don’t have the time to make knitwear to sell these says. Otherwise, I consider Santa Fe my heart home, so I have a bit of the dry and the damp happening.

3. How long have you been doing what you do?

I’ve been writing forever and wrote my first stories in grade school. Knitting began in my twenties with embroidery and needlepoint prior to that. I’ve always done something with my hands, including sewing all my clothes right up until the BIG JOBS began. In university, I knit elaborate pictorial sweaters just to survive graduate school and didn’t begin unfolding into free-range knitting until it occurred to me that I was only trying to impose control on my environment with such fiddly work. Now I believe in knitting free to live long.

4. What’s next for you?

Fiction!

5. Who or what inspires you to create?

In a word: nature. My designs are very organic and often evolve from views right outside my door such as the river or woods. I’m also very influenced by the places I visit such as Turkey, Italy or Morocco. When I escort a group of inspired knitters to someplace exotic, inevitably I return brimming with ideas. Global cultures inspire me, the ways in which people interpret their inner and outer worlds.

6. Do you listen to music when you work, and if so what kind?

I listen to music while I write: lately it’s been Freddie Mercury, Sara Brightman, Al Stewart (I’m very eclectic) but while knitting, it’s Masterpiece Theater or HBO. I recently bought the complete set of Carnivale and downloaded all of Downton Abbey.

7. What do you like least/most about your craft?

Tax time! It’s become so complicated with my touring company plus the Inspired Knitters Club and my pattern and book sales. My husband is my accountant. As I write he’s sitting at the desk next to mine, filing.

To be continued......! But in the meantime please visit Jane's website and consider joining her Inspired Knitters' Club.

Chateau Dumas Revisited!

2012-01-09T07:27:00.001-05:00

The highlight of 2011 for me was winning a creative workshop at the Chateau Dumas in Auti, France (near Caussade, Montauban, and Toulouse). It was offered by Lizzie Hulme (owner, manager, designer, decorator, antique collector, and visionary) and posted on Chrissie Marshall's blog, Krishenka's Vintage Treasures. The story of my win can be found on my blog. Click here and here please. I had written extensively about my Week of WOW upon my return from this dream trip, but somehow Blogger (not I, of course!) managed to lose the entire HUGE post. I was so frustrated by the loss that I could never bring myself to rewrite it. Moral of that story: write it in Word and then copy and paste it into Blogger!

Yesterday, Lizzie posted on FB the top photo, announcing the schedule of creative workshops to be offered there this year. Much to my surprise, the items pictured are MINE! (Not the urn and gourds!) She had photographed a number of students' work on the last day of our stay, and I was always the one who went off on creative tangents to design items that we not necessarily holiday oriented. Thanks to the enormously talented (and tolerant) Ros Badger and Anna Corba, our instructors for the week, who gave me wide berth to do my own thing, the photo depicts just some of the interesting pieces I made.

Trust me.....the work of ALL the other participants was far more elegant and painstakingly designed and executed! I am a fiber artist but NOT in fabric, paper, stamping, embroidery, sewing, etc. I learned so much and enormously enjoyed the company and creativity, the accommodations, excursions, meals, staff, and so much more! We fast became friends while touring, creating, learning, eating, imbibing, and living together for a week. I cannot say enough about this trip - for me it was heaven!

If interested in the most wonderful visit to France (for me always a grand delight!) while learning or honing creative skills, PLEASE check out ALL the pages of Chateau Dumas' website. It is a feast for the eyes, while the actual chateau and all its accouterments will astound.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-05T08:11:00.000-05:00

Well, the holidays are over.....and I made it through remarkably better than I have for the past 24 years, when I lost both my parents a year apart at Christmas-time. I am grateful! Having family here always helps, and we had a grand time with everyone: daughters, son-in-law, and our three grandchildren. Just about everyone had new electronics, so we learned and played, played tennis, went bowling, and ate plenty! Now everyone has left, and it's time to get back to some sort of routine.

I wish everyone a New Year filled with many blessings, especially good health!

The new year always makes me start thinking Spring designs, and I realize that one of my recent creations will be excellent for warmer weather. The Tee-Upcycles totally appeals to my sense of reusing and repurposing materials meant for something else. And of course I value materials that also cost very little. Men's tee shirts, women's silk scarves and lingerie, and yarns and ribbons from my stash are the perfect solution. While these designs are difficult to display in a gallery, they get a lot of attention when worn. So that means I get to make them to match many of my outfits and wear them everywhere! Well, that's a joke really....because I never go anywhere, so I rarely wear "outfits!" Rather, I'm making some to go with jeans (in various colors) and my favorite color combos.

It's interesting that some of my color combos have long remained stable: black and brown; black and rust; brown and teal; rust and teal; black and gra; lots of autumn colors. But (shhhh....a secret!) now that my hair is suitably salt and pepper with WHITE sideburns - all natural!), I find I can wear other colors that didn't appeal to me before: aubergine, periwinkle, grayish lavender, royal blue. However....never pastels - they make me look awful.

The idea is to give others the idea, and then I can make Tee-Upcycle scarves to match THEIR color needs. It's fun, fast, fruitful, and fashionable!

More Photos to come later today - once it warms up a bit! Check out my flickr photos for the most recent of Scarf It Up's designs.

The Scarf It Up Open House 2011

2011-12-16T13:07:00.000-05:00

WOW!!! I just realized that I haven't blogged in many weeks! It's a busy time for everyone, so you probably haven't even noticed my absence. ;)

Since my last post, I've had an incredible month of highs and not so highs! On December 4, I hosted a very successful home show which brought a number of local people to view my work! I am enormously gratified to report that they came, they saw, and they bought a lot! It was a happy day, and so I thought my Christmas shopping was well-covered!

Well, I was wrong, because the next day began a month of disastrous news on my car, an 11 year-old Volvo wagon with 150K miles on it. I will NOT recount the saga (and it most definitely was one!). Suffice it to say that the month's expenses on that car included three services, towing from Durham to Wilmington NC, a rental car, and $2000+.

And then.....my 6 year old iMac, a trusty old thing that I love and do not want to give up, gave me a HUGE scare. Thanks to Jamie from Computer Medics, it has been salvaged for the time being, for a very small sum. I do not want a new computer right now (we bought one for my husband this year!), and I do NOT want a new car, since we bought one in September. I DID want to buy myself an iPad, but it will have to wait now for additional profits.

So...here are some (not so great!) photos from the Scarf It Up Open House!

For my Knitting Friends!

2011-11-29T08:17:00.000-05:00

So often I am asked where I buy my yarns and fibers. I've written on this before, but I think it could use both repeating and updating.

When I lived in RI, there was a plethora of choices for purchasing yarn, being in the birthplace of the textile manufacturing industry, but then we retired to NC where my business has continued to grow. As my business has increased so has my desire for fine yarns. This area is very limited in the types of fibers I prefer to use. In addition, because I sell my work, I can't afford to buy yarn at retail prices. There ARE yarn stores locally, and they carry some wonderful yarns, but they are pricey and limited for my type of knitting, crocheting, felting. And so....the search began!

I WILL pour through any online store that has sales, bargain prices, discontinued yarns or colors, or specials. I receive emails from my favorites and also follow the suggestions of online friends. I WILL stop at yarn stores in my travels North (VA, RI, MA, NH) or South (SC, GA, FL), and I WILL visit all my favorites. But most of the time, I am home when I need something special.

I don't "run out" of yarn (OMG!!! my stash is almost ominous!). Most of my work utilizes multiple yarns and fibers in one item; rarely do I make something from one yarn only. And most of my work makes use of any type of yarn (except superwash). I go for color and texture, combining fibers to work together for interesting effect. But occasionally, I WANT something in particular, often discontinued yarns that I know and covet. That usually begins my search.

The first place I look is Ravelry. Many obsessive knitters (like me!) photograph their stash (not me!), and many are willing to sell or trade. So if I want a particular yarn or type/color of yarn, I begin there, scouring the pages of desired yarn. I contact those who are willing to sell the yarn I want. Many list their requested prices and shipping charges and everyone takes PayPal. And sometimes, of course ;) I find other yarn! I try to limit myself to the need of the moment (rather than the "want!") I have met only wonderful people (aren't knitters always that way?), never been stiffed, and always get what I want!

Next I go to eBay and Etsy. I do the same thing there, looking for specific yarns, but I often end up in the vendors' stores to see what else they have. I might find hand-dyed or painted treasures. No point paying shipping for just one skein of yarn, right?

OK, and THEN I start going through my favorite online links. I've signed up for emails from several of the clearing houses, so I know when they're having specials and sales. Here are my favorites:

DBNY (Discontinued Brand Name Yarn) - They buy out yarn stores and offer deep discounts on selected manufacturers' yarns. Sign up for their mailing list - well worth it! Watch for their Sunday specials, when they often take an additional 15% off.
Designer Yarn Sale - Be on their mailing list too - great sales every day and an occasional warehouse sale that can't be beat!
WEBS - Beware of their shipping charges! Outrageous, but their yarns in the Closeout section and Grandpa's Garage Sale are worth looking at and sometimes even buying. I hear that their store in Northhampton MA is fabulous, but only if you can get there.
Elann - lots of great yarns, mostly discontinued, as well as their own brand of excellent quality yarn.
Got Yarn - lots of great yarns with sometimes good prices.

And that's it for starters. There are many more - but those are the basics. I never stop looking for yarn - bought some in France in the atelier of a weaver, some vintage yarn from the truck of a flea marketer (I isolated it and then stored it in the freezer for a week when I got it home), and from a vendor at a local street market. It was all great fun! I also have access to the creator of hand-dyed ribbons, but I need to check with her to see if she'd like me to publicize her offerings.

So enjoy the treasure hunt, for that is what it truly is - to me at least, and I venture to say, to every major knitter I know! Happy Hunting!

The REAL Roadkill Story!

2011-11-07T21:24:00.000-05:00

Well, I WAS writing about the first few days of my Week of WOW in France. After several days and many pages and pix, I LOST the whole thing. So....I need to take a break from that before I try to rebuild it. And so here is a cute, true, and rather funny story in the meantime.

About a dozen years ago, I started knitting again, creating a plethora of eyelash and novelty scarves when those yarns were first produced to become an instant RAGE. My DH sort of affectionally called what I produced "roadkill!" We often referred to it as that, preferring to call is "Rhode Kill" since we lived in Rhode Island at the time. I made and gave away a ton of scarves before realizing that I simply had to find an outlet for my work if I wanted to continue to invest in these luscious new yarns. So I started to sell my work - first through home shows and then in galleries and boutiques. It's now been years that I seem to be successfully selling all this colorful roadkill!

Several weeks ago, one of the other members of my gallery bought one of my Loopies. She loved the colors, and so did I. It was made entirely of hand-dyed rayon ribbons from Judi & Co, yarns that I covet and buy only when I can afford to. She wore it on HER trip to France several weeks before mine, and she claims she could have sold it many times over. Happily, she didn't sell it!

When she returned to NC, she wore it one day on her many errands. When she returned home, she realized that the scarf was not on her, not in the car, not on the floor, not anywhere! It was gone! She scoured her house and car - to no avail.

About a week later, she entered her local CVS parking lot and saw a colorful mass of mess in the middle of the area. She stopped her car to get a better look, and discovered a filthy, muddy, run-over wreck of loops. HER SCARF!!! She carefully retrieved it, brought it home, handwashed it, and threw it in the dryer. The hand-dyed rayon ribbons responded well to her ministrations, but the resulting piece, though intact, was clean, colorful, but crumpled, wrinkled, and quite sad-looking. She was embarrassed to tell me about it.

Finally, one day when we were working together at the gallery, she told me her story. I asked her to bring it back to me so I could inspect the damage. Today I saw it for the first time. Oddly, the piece was undisturbed, retaining its color completely, but it truly was a crumpled mess, needing ironing of each individual loop. Not I! Not she! No one wanted to attempt to iron this bugger. So we arranged a trade: a new Loopy for her and some of her pottery for me!

You might think this was the end of the story, but now hear the REST of the story (RIP, Paul Harvey!) Today I had BOTH the new and the old Loopies side by side on the desk in the gallery when one of my funky friends came to visit. Now this friend is an art appreciator par excellence and she is a faithful supporter of my work and of other members of my gallery. She commented immediately on the pile of Loopies. I said, "Which one do you like?" First she pointed to actual roadkill version, then vacillated and picked up the new version for a second. Then she said, "No, I really like this one!" pointing to roadkill. She picked it up, put it around her neck, walked to the mirror and back, and said she loved it. My comment: "Take it! It's yours!" And out she went to her meeting!

All's well that ends well! Don't you agree?

(I was going to take both home to photograph again to show the difference, but my friend escaped before I thought to do that. I have now asked her to take the photo and send it. I'll add here it as soon as she does.)

Moral of the story: don't drop your scarf in the road, leave it for a week, and expect to even find it. And if you do, please don't bring it to me - or even tell me about it. Just do try lovingly washing it in Woolite, AIR-drying it, and then if necessary, iron it with a cool iron. But just don't tell me the results! OKAY????

HURRY UP!!!

2011-11-05T18:15:00.000-04:00

I thought my computer had died! After all, it IS SIX years old and has never given me a bit of trouble. That's the way it is with Macs. I know, I know......I'm a confirmed Apple fan! I will NEVER have anything but a Mac. Yesterday morning I noticed that it was extremely slow to boot up. It finally did, and I gave a slight thought to backing up my files - but of course, I never did. Last night, when I went to shut down, it closed my open apps, but then I realized there were no folders or icons or even the MaxOSX icon on the desktop. Decided NOT to shutdown but wait until this morning to address the issues.

Hoping that it might correct itself during the night while it and I were sleeping (I didn't!), there was no change at 6 AM. Afraid to force quit, and no way to back up files with no files to find, I decided to run ONYX, a Mac maintenance program that usually finds and fixes all that ails it. IT WORKED!!!! The cleaning requires several restarts, and so it was that it restarted, found the Finder and all the missing files and icons, and now it seems to be OK! Scared me!

I have now backed up all the important files and am working on my photos. So....that's the hurry. I've been remiss in completing the story of my trip to France, and I need to do that asap so that all the France photos get somewhere other than on the hard drive. I started to delete some of the 3500+ photos currently in iPhoto and then managed to NOT delete them and had to start all over. Still working on that.

So....I am going to simply upload all the remaining photos from my trip so that they are at least safely saved here. So here goes!!!

Well....that didn't work! So now I've uploaded them to Picasa Web Albums - and you'll just have to look at them there.

ENJOY!

And on to Auti and the Chateau Dumas!

2011-10-30T18:01:00.000-04:00

There were two distinct parts to my journey to France this month. The first part was with family - my sister-in-law and her husband. She was my college roommate, so we go back MANY years - too many to say! We were best buddies then, and now it's the same - when we're together. The second part of this trip was so very special too because I was the honored recipient of a FREE workshop offered by Lizzie Hulme and the Chateau Dumas. I learned of the offer thanks to my ETSY friend, Chrissie Marshall of Krishenka.

Several years ago - by chance - I bought some vintage buttons from Chrissie. We've followed one another on Etsy, blogs, and FB for years. Last March she announced the Chateau Dumas workshop offer, and I responded as directed. I WON!!!!! Needless to say, I was overjoyed. There is much more written about this process and the joy I felt on my blog and Chrissie's.

See the woman in the background? She and her husband are the ones who tried to steal our seats!

So...on October 9, Rita and Joel drove us to Marseilles to the Gare St. Charles, where we settled - finally - into the train for Montauban. I say "finally" because there were people sitting in our seats (assigned), and it seems they were trying to take the train ONE MONTH later than their tickets said. I think they had made the trip before on those tickets and were attempting to reuse them. They succeeded! The man stood most of the way; the woman seat-hopped as necessary. Anyway about 5 hours later, we emerged to meet Pete, our British driver to the Chateau Dumas. He is actually Chrissie's son-in-law. A little snafu at the train station got settled - so we had to wait for two additional arrivals and another car to accommodate all of us and our luggage. All worked out fine, and we arrived at the Chateau, excited and eager to meet our group.

Although most of the group had met the year before at a similar workshop in France, they graciously welcomed us with a first drink (they had started hours earlier!) and our first meal - one of Charlotte's many wonderful ones to follow.

It was dark when we arrived, so I couldn't take photos of the approach to the Chateau. These are the first photos of our room, the second hard to see, but easy to appreciate the handmade SILK drapes and the gorgeous pillows that Lizzie made - in every room!

That was our intro - a beautiful dinner with warm and lovely hostess and welcoming staff and participants. More tomorrow!

Aix-en-Provence

2011-10-29T16:37:00.000-04:00

AIX! This means so much to so many people! I first heard of AIX (pronounced "EX") MANY years ago, during my very first trip across the pond to France. In fact, it was indeed across the pond, as I was on the student ship, Aurelia, and I will NOT tell you the year. I traveled with a group of young women from Elmira College, going to Paris and then immediately to Montpelier for an intensive 6-week language course for foreign students. But most of the ship was populated with students headed to Aix for a year - and they were from all over the country, and they were FUN! Elmira at the time was an all-girls' school, so we were very much interested in FUN!

But in 1998, I traveled to France with my husband of many years, and we based ourselves in Aix-en-Provence for a week - at the Hotel des Augustins off the Cours Mirabeau. We toured the countryside and very much enjoyed Aix. This time, Rita and Joel took Ginny and me back to AIX - for lunch, to watch people, and do a little shopping (of course!) We ate at one of the big cafe/bistros on the Cours Mirabeau, and I had their version of the Croque Monsieur, called the Croque Mademoiselle - with egg. It was a fun time, and it was our last day with the family. I was most impressed with how crowded it was in Aix and how clean and uniquely organized the garage was where we parked the car. We also stopped into Hotel des Augustins with its interesting lobby.

Did you ever see such a clean garage? It was immaculate; the free spaces were indicated with lights along the ceiling and floor, and the whole place was bright as daylight.

Happy in the restaurant!

Ginny & Rita shopping. G wasn't happy with what she wore and ultimately bought a skirt to wear over her leggings. Here Rita is attempting to wrap the scarf around her waist.

Hotel des Augustins

Next: On to the Chateau Dumas and our Festive Workshop!

On to Cassis!

2011-10-26T14:51:00.000-04:00

So busy that continuing my story of the trip to France got side-tracked! And if I don't record this soon, I will have forgotten all the details. I must say that after a week and a half at home, I am still on a high! And I am also happy to report that my sales continue to be strong, so that means more time needed for knitting, crocheting, photographing, as well as managing the newsletter for the gallery, and planning an upcoming home show! WHEW!!!

So.....after the Chez Bruno day, we spent the next rediscovering Cassis, one of my favorite places. Rita and Joel had offered to take us there by boat, but the Mistral had other ideas. In all the travels to France, including 6 weeks in Montpelier many years ago and time spent in Provence, we finally had the experience of this legendary wind from the North that blows with ferocious fury while the sun shines crisp and bright. And it's a cold wind! So that boat ride and any idea of any boat ride to the Calanques (fiord-like structures that rise from the sea) were out of the question. And the Route des Cretes, over the mountain from La Ciotat to Cassis, closes when there is sufficient wind. It was closed! So we drove instead to the city, saw the Calanques from above, climbed down a path to the sea and then walked around the city. We usually stop at Nino's for a drink, but it was closed too. My DH's family nickname is Nino, so we wanted to pay homage to him!

It was a glorious day - as were all the France days in Provence! The last day with Rita and Joel were in Aix-en-Provence, a city that we had stayed in for a week in 1998 (I think!) Next post will be about that!

The French Experience - Part 1B - The Middle!

2011-10-20T11:40:00.000-04:00

THE RICHNESS OF CHEZ BRUNO!

Rich....in every sense of the word! During an earlier trip to France with my husband, we treated our family to a luncheon at Chez Bruno, a restaurant/inn in the countryside village of Lorgues. Watch the video! It must have been the most expensive meal I've EVER eaten at any restaurant, at this culinary masterpiece that specializes in truffles - with every course. There is no food selection - except to choose which of the prix fixe menus you wish to indulge in. Thinking this would be an excellent choice again - to thank our family for hosting me and my friend for 6 days, Ginny and I agreed to take Rita and Joel there - on us! Little did we know!

Here is the menu. I thought we had chosen the "basic" prix fixe, but I fear that my BIL selected a different, more "cher" one, plus wine. OMG!!! OK, so every course included that elusive truffe (except the second dessert), but really! And it was rich and almost did me in. I worried for a while on the way back that it would get me, but I did survive and didn't eat another thing until next day.

SHOCK!!!! CHOQUE!!!! In any language, this was a shocker! And yesterday when I checked the AMEX bill to see where I stood, I almost left my chair. When buying/spending in Euros, it's like Monopoly money! When the reality reveals itself, you cannot imagine that ANY meal, anywhere in the entire UNIVERSE, could cost that much! Are you ready? And this is only HALF!!!! in dollars! NAH.....I think I won't reveal the actual amount, but there was a transaction fee of $10.11. Suffice it to say that it was embarrassingly expensive!

NEXT: Photos of all the amazing sculpture on the grounds of Chez Bruno. Not the best photography, but really astounding, from classical to very contemporary.

The French Experience - Part 1A - The Beginning!

2011-10-19T16:55:00.001-04:00

Ginny, my travel companion and partner in crime.

Do you think she looks happy?

How do I begin? I think it makes sense to split our sejour in France into two distinct parts, because they really were. The first week was spent in Ceyreste in Provence with my very hospitable, funny, and fabulous sister-in-law Rita, and her husband Joel. They spend part of their time here in a beautiful, large house in the heart of Provence, near Marseille and Cassis, high on a hill but with precious views of the Mediterranean.

View from my bedroom window. That IS the Mediterranean through the V in the trees, but haziness over the water prevents you from seeing it. We could see it clearly a few days later when the legendary Mistral (wind from the north with crisp, clear skies and bright sunshine!) relentlessly tormented the area for several days. If I looked to the left, there was yet another view of the sea.

The house is spacious with master bedroom and two additional bedrooms on the ground floor and two more bedrooms upstairs. Ginny and I occupied upstairs, each with our own room and a shared bath. Typical Provence style inside and out. We ate almost every meal outside, except when the cold wind blew too violently. It never stopped us and actually gave us some great adventures.

Rita is a stupendous chef and prepares lunch and dinner every day, for company or not. Her husband is FRENCH, so meals are "comme il faut!" We ate and drank in copious amounts! Want to see food?

Pizza and greens at a bistro in Sanary sur Mer. Two lovely French ladies and their dog - a Whippet - sat nearby and chatted with us. Prior to lunch we stopped in La Cadiere, where we visited the atelier of a weaver who sold me a gorgeous wrap/shawl and gave me a ball of beautiful brown/rust mohair.

A very badly focused photo of Valerie Frerot, the weaver "creation de vetements tisses main,"

me wearing the wrap I bought, and Ginny.

Pottery in the lower portion of her atelier.

Another of Valerie's creations.

Rita examining my purchase. I'm not so sure she likes it!

I thought I had taken photos of every meal we had, but alas the photos are NOT there. No clue what happened! The photo below is that last lunch with Rita & Joel at their home - and this consisted of left-overs. How yummy does that look?

NEXT: Our gastronomical SHOCKER!!!!

When in France......!

2011-10-02T08:38:00.000-04:00

The day has almost arrived! TOMORROW I leave for France for the first time since 2003 (I think!) I never thought I'd return, and for me France is the most beautiful country in the world. Granted, my travel experience has not been extensive: Italy, England, Holland, Spain, Switzerland in addition to many visits to France, including a year abroad there as a college student. Since we have family in France, many of our trips have included visits with them and/or to various regions where we have imbibed freely in Burgundy, Dordogne, Paris, Provence, Annecy, and more!

In March I was incredibly fortunate to WIN a workshop at the Chateau Dumas in Auti, in the Tarn-et-Garonne region near Toulouse, thanks to the encouragement of Christine Marshall (Krishenka on Etsy!) I "met" Chrissie online when I purchased some of her vintage buttons several years ago. I follow her blog in which a textile workshop was offered as the prize....and the rest is history! I WON!!!! I selected the Festive French Country Workshop (scroll to the near the bottom of the page) and invited a friend to come with me (bc my DH will no longer travel abroad). WE LEAVE TOMORROW!!!

Also fortunate to have family in France, we will arrive (finally!) in Marseilles and spend 6 days with my SIL and BIL in their summer home in Ceyreste, a gorgeous spot way up on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean, where the food is exquisite (SIL, who was my roommate in college, is a fabulous cook and co-conspirator in fun!) and the visit will be perfect! Then we train to Montauban (near Toulouse) and are retrieved for passage to the Chateau Dumas. The workshop begins on October 9 for a week. We return home on October 17 to husbands and friends.

And when in France, of course, we will savor the food, the wine, and the words of wisdom we encounter from the textile workshop which is focused on holiday designs with vintage materials. Included (in addition to all the food, wine, and accommodations in this charming chateau) are visits to markets, shops, and hat museums and factories. My suitcase is packed with room to spare for acquisitions and handmade creations (mine and others!) along the way.

France is especially dear to me: lived there, taught the language for many years to American high and middle school students, spent lots of time with family there, traveled with friends to many of the incredibly gorgeous and historic regions of France, spoke with les Francais in their language, drank freely of their regional, local, famous, and not so famous wines, and indulged in huge quantities of magret, foie gras, escargots, croques monsieur et madame, pain, pain au chocolat, et beaucoup plus! J'ai etudie le langage et la litterature. I lived with French families and totally immersed myself in everything French. My first pair of contact lenses were bought in France! My husband and family have enjoyed Christmas and New Year's in Paris; we've been to the Crazy Horse Saloon; we've visited all the amazing landmarks of Paris......and the list goes on and on. The best trips have been two barge trips in the Burgundy areas with friends from RI - never to be forgotten!

This one is special because I truly never thought I'd get back to France - due to the many cardiac (and other) issues of my DH's health. But he's well and completely self-sufficient right now (he does most of the cooking for us anyway!) - and he's looking forward (I think!) to two weeks with his pup, lots of rounds of golf, and the peace and quiet that most likely will exist with me away!

Adieu jusqu'au retour!

A NEW Website for Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts

2011-09-27T18:11:00.000-04:00

Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts has been in existence since 2007, and I've been a part of it since the beginning. We've maintained our members at around 20 - with some changes along the way - and we've happily experienced continued growth of our sales each month and year. It's been a very gratifying experience for all of us.

I pushed for a presence on the Internet, marketing through Facebook, Constant Contact, and for the establishment of a PCPFC blog, all of which I offered to manage, write, and maintain. ALL of these things have now come to fruition, with the launch TODAY of our brand new website. Thanks to the efforts of Melanie Heinrich, one of our member artists, we now have a professional website with the look and feel of a gallery of artists and artisans: PORT CITY POTTERY & FINE CRAFTS!

Visit our gallery and our website to see the work of our 19 local artists in clay, fiber, jewelry, wood, sculpture, gourds, baskets, and other 3-dimensional art. We are the ONLY gallery of such artwork in Wilmington!

Of course, when one pushes for something, it's often the case that you get yourself assigned to DO it. So I ended up with the task(s) of managing all of the above. For the new website, I worked with Melanie to design the theme and color scheme, to edit all content, and to "pull teeth" to acquire the necessary elements from all our member artists. This meant having them develop their keywords, write their bios, and submit photos of their work in the form and format that Melanie required. She conducted a workshop to help us develop the skills of effective photography. I edited all content submitted and passed it along to Melanie. I was the gatekeeper and the time manager, nagging, cajoling, bribing, and diligently working out the kinks, to result in a product to be proud of! The new website is LIVE!!! And we are indeed proud of the efforts of all our members!

So....this brings us to completion of our marketing plans for now. Pat Hart, one of our potter-owners, effectively manages all the advertising for the gallery. I'm working hard to manage our FB, blog, and Constant Contact Newsletters. See this link for our current newsletter!

And the other good news is that we've had a banner month in sales! And me too! Hope you'll all come to visit real soon - at the best location in town - The Cotton Exchange - in beautiful downtown Wilmington, NC!

Surprised, Gratified, Happy

2011-09-22T11:04:00.000-04:00

A new record! I'm surprised by this - a new sales record, that is! I have never had such sales in one month's time! I'm gratified by this - so pleased that it will cover my travel expenses in France (when those bills come in after I return :-) I'm happy, of course! Doing the HAPPY DANCE!!! And the month is not over yet!

So what accounts for this?

Not Hurricane Irene, when our gallery (Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts - new website launches on 9/27) was closed for more than a day during the storm - and on a Saturday to boot! Sunday was slow as everyone was doing the clean-up.
Cooler weather? Perhaps this is making people think Fall and Winter! That's always good for my sales. And holidays? My work is well-suited to cooler weather, and even though we now live in the South, our tourist traffic is from all over the country and world!
New styles? Perhaps. I've been experimenting with variations on older styles of mine and use of recycled materials, new materials (for me), and a commitment to work off (some of) my stash.
Wholesale inquiries? Yes, but very limited and they don't always pan out.
Rayon Ribbons? Thanks to Karen and Judi & Co., I've developed (or redeveloped) styles that highlight the ribbons from this company in the Cascade and Loopy original designs.
Winter's Fringe Scarves - they seem to be the "rage!" I LOVE creating them too, so that's a plus. During my trip to New England, I'm looking forward to finding some very specific yarns to continue making these.
Felted Bags? Maybe!

Whatever the reason for this uptick in sales - for me and for Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts as a whole (it's the only 3-D gallery of local art and fine crafts in the Wilmington NC area) - we are indeed very pleased!

Want to see more of Scarf It Up's creations - the whole inventory is on flickr. See specific sets if you wish to view all work in specific styles.

As FYI, I've been invited to participate in a home show - not at my house this year - but at the home of a friend of a friend. My artist friend makes simply stunning beaded jewelry. Keep the date in mind - November 10 - more info coming soon.

The Latest Crop of Bags!

2011-09-08T15:13:00.001-04:00

All handknitted, all clutches, all wool with added novelty yarns in the flap, and then embellished with a vintage pin or earring (converted to pin), or nuno felted brooch.

See all of Scarf It Up's work on Flickr.

All handknitted, all clutches, all wool with added novelty yarns in the flap, and then embellished with a vintage pin or earring (converted to pin), or nuno felted brooch.

Bags, Bags, Bags!

2011-09-06T07:37:00.000-04:00

I didn't start out as a handbag designer. I've never had a bag fetish, generally satisfied to carry the same purse for seasons at a time, changing only when going out in the evening (rare!) I'm not even sure how I began making a variety of small bags for day and evening: Loop, Sacs Sauvages (Wild Bags), Sassy Sacs, Avatar, felted clutches, Rag Bags, woven bags, MOB (Mother of the Bride), Bridal Bags, etc. They emerged and people bought them. The photo on my business cards has been for a very long time a special hand-felted bag that I made in a workshop, posted on this blog, where someone unknown to me bought it instantly!

Avatar Bag

Sassy Sac

Hand-Felted Clutch

But more recently, the sales of these bags had slowed. And then suddenly within a week, three of them went out the door! So....naturally, this prompted an explosion of activity here: stash-searching and yarn shopping on Ravelry for just the right combinations of wool yarn, novelties, and recyclables for embellishment. Found great choices in the stash, but also at Tuesday Morning, Etsy, and Ravelry! And so I seem to be on the bag-a-day diet, making bag after bag of small knitted and felted clutch bags. Actually, the timing is right! They make perfect gifts and accessories for the upcoming holidays.

Wet-Felted Bag (my business card bag!)

Silky Rag Bag

Loop Bag

Bridal Bag

OMG! As I'm writing this and reviewing the photos of all the bags (and more!) that I've designed and created in the last 10 years, WOW!!!! I can't believe how many there are! If you'd like to see more, please visit these sets on flickr:

Sac Sauvage

Mother of the Bride Bag

Felted Clutch

Woven Bag

The Saga of the NEW Photos!

2011-08-24T09:33:00.004-04:00

My local co-op gallery is working on a new website, thanks to Melanie Heinrich, inter-disciplinary artist who specializes in granite and stone, photography, and graphic design. She graciously offered to rebuild the website, and I volunteered to provide some of the content and edit the entire entity. YIKES! Since we are a gallery of 18 OTHER artists, our work largely depends on the submissions of others (content and photos). To that end, Melanie offered to do a photography workshop in an attempt to get quality, consistency, and "professional" photos to represent our work.

BEFORE

Although we are all skilled at our various craft, we are at various stages of photography adeptness, knowledge of our cameras, and staging, and some of our work lends itself better than others to the camera. Mine, for example, requires the use of a mannequin or bust to properly display the work. A light box! Sure, that would be great, but it would require a HUGE tent to accommodate my standing mannequin. And since I am a fairly prolific producer of knitted, crocheted, and felted pieces, it really would require a ROOM to keep the tent and set-up ready and available just about every day. Well.....I just don't have that kind of space in my home to allow any photography "studio" to remain in place all the time.

AFTER

So.......in the workshop I learned about the use of back-drops, photo "sweeps" and other tricks of the trade. Sweeps, lighting, camera settings - all these are important to the professional quality of the photos. I had been taking my photos outdoors (good!) in daylight (good!) with a lovely Carolina Jasmine or Podicarpus (not so good!) behind the mannequin. In most cases, I was able to crop the photos so that the background was fairly consistently GREEN (not so bad, but also not so good!). I had no clue about the settings on my camera, and now I do (thanks, Melanie!)

BEFORE

There are different ways to achieve the "look" using a sweep. One is to buy photographic paper backdrops. This comes in sheets or rolls. I'd need a roll and a way to adhere it to the wall, or in my case, brick. I'd learned that daylight is good, cloudy is better than sunny, but that my camera can be adjusted to each type of lighting. WOW!!! I never knew how to do that before! The best place for photographing my work - that could accommodate the mannequin AND provide the right type of light - without the purchase of special lights (that would also require a way to mount them!) - was in the alcove by my front door, either early in the morning or later in the afternoon, once the sun is no longer streaming into the space.

AFTER

The second suggestion for a "sweep" was a piece of white or light-colored laminate - that comes in 4' x 8' sheets. On my way home from the workshop, I stopped at Lowe's to see what they had and to price it. They did have a matte white sheet - but it was $42. I nixed that idea immediately and went home to research the photo paper sweep. What I found was lovely choices in paper color available in rolls that cost even more than the laminate. And paper creases and tears and would still have to be adhered to the brick in some way. Plus....it would be consumed over time.

So I sent my husband back to Lowe's to buy the laminate, thinking I could try it, and if it didn't work, I could return the thing. He took my station wagon and returned with this huge rolled up and taped sheet. I cut the tape and this MONSTER emerged! It seemed to have a life of its own! DH disappeared, of course, and I was left to tame the monster. My idea was to place it in the alcove, wedged between the front door and the brick side wall, bending gracefully at the floor to provide a white ground for mannequin. AND it was my intention to have a portable photo studio that could easily be set up and removed as needed. The concept was perfect; the execution was flawed!

BEFORE - Not too bad!

This MONSTER piece of laminate with a mind of its own was not easily tamed! I managed to place it in the alcove with great effort AND many cuts and bruises to my legs and feet. The photos were terrific! the body was not! And then of course, I couldn't leave it there. It needed to be stored somewhere so we could have access to our front door. I tried re-rolling it, taping it - no use. We (yes, I finally enlisted the help of my husband!) tried bungie cord, rope, NOTHING would tame this thing! And even if we had, we had no clue where it could be stored. THIS was NOT going to work!

AFTER - Better!

But finally, we found that keeping it flat, it could be stored against a wall in the garage and easily (ha!) pulled out for use. But ultimately, I realized that it was just too large and too unmanageable to be effective and efficient. I called Lowe's to see if I could bring it in to be cut down. No, they don't do that! I figured that cutting 2 feet off the end would still work and be far more manageable!

So the next big deal was to try to cut it down myself. The Lowe's guy said it could be cut with a utility or Exacto knife and a straight edge. DH was golfing, so visiting daughter agreed to help me. I sought out the proper tools (we actually had everything!) and we set to work. I could barely make a scratch in the surface. So now....I had to wait for my husband. I wanted to be able to do this without his help, because he's on blood thinners, and so I'm reluctant to have him messing around with knives and other sharp objects (like monster laminate!)

But.....HE DID IT!!!! No bleeding (other than my earlier cuts and scrapes). The results were TWO pieces of laminate, one that's 4' x 6' and the other that's 4' x 2'. I could now place the larger piece wedged in the alcove as planned and use the smaller one on the floor to provide additional light. I don't need it to sweep because my pieces are photographed from the hips up. OMG!! IT WORKS!!! I need only show you some of the new photos and, where possible, some before and afters! Actually, if you look at the "Slideshow" at the top of this blog, you'll see many of the new photos. ENJOY!

I promise (NEXT TIME it's set up!) to take photos of the set-up BEFORE taking any photos! Still working on my photos for the website - but I am on my way!

Another Wholesale Inquiry!

2011-08-11T08:29:00.000-04:00

I'm psyched! A woman who is opening a boutique in Anchorage, Alaska (right across from Nordstrom's!) came to Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts earlier this week, saw my work (and that of BJ Berlo), and contacted me about wholesaling to her. Other than the shawl pins shown in my last post, I've not had such interest!

I have a difficult time with wholesale, because the profit margin on my work (materials AND labor) is so small. But I've proposed pricing that seems to work for us both, and she intends to place an order as soon as she returns from Wilmington to Anchorage. That works for me! I really like the idea of my creations going far and wide. Alaska is not the place I had expected, but I'll be content with the Nordstrom demographic and tourists!

She was particularly taken with my Loopies and Cascade scarves made with the luscious rayon ribbons from Judi & Co. Me too!

A HAPPY Wholesale Customer - and me too!

2011-07-27T12:41:00.002-04:00

Hammered Shawl Pins in Copper

This was a first! A tourist from Mississippi visiting The Cotton Exchange and Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts bought one of my hammered copper shawl pins. She was in the process of opening her own knit shop and contacted me about supplying her with some of them to sell in her store. She has become my first wholesale customer, and she ordered 10 of them: five in copper and five in German nickel silver!

Hammered Shawl Pins in German Nickel Silver
One more to go....!

At the time she contacted me, I was recovering from carpal tunnel surgery on my dominant hand, so I was unable to fulfill the order immediately. But after a couple of weeks more, I found I could pound that hammer and at least create two per day. Slowly I completed the order and sent them to her. She received them yesterday.

Last night she emailed to say that she had
already sold one of them!

HAPPY customers!
Hers and MINE!

A lovely thing happened on the way to.....Scrabble!

2011-07-21T12:03:00.000-04:00

Dirty Denim I

Actually, Scrabble was at my house yesterday. This is our monthly group that I can rarely attend. But since this was at MY house, I obviously needed to be there! LOL! I greeted the first person to arrive who LOVED the Dirty Denim Scarf I was wearing. As luck would have it, I had just retrieved the duplicate - as well as all the rest of my work - from a local venue where it was rather languishing! No point keeping stuff at a place where it doesn't sell when I have a fabulous place (Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts in The Cotton Exchange) where my work is doing better than EVER!!!

Dirty Denim II

So my friend came in, drooled over my scarf, was delighted to know I had a second one, and BOUGHT it on the spot! She's thrilled, I'm thrilled, and then we ate wonderful food that everyone provided, and played challenging Scrabble. I won - in all respects! Thank you, Marsha!

Usher Syndrome

2011-07-20T18:03:00.000-04:00

I've begun a separate blog called "in our hoUSe...!" to discuss and inform about Usher Syndrome and to continue my own personal journey with this condition. I do NOT have US, but both my daughters have Type 2. They are both adults leading productive and successful lives.

If you wish to follow this journey along with us, please follow the new blog here.

If you'd like to learn more, you can join us on Facebook on my daughter's Community Page, Usher Me In.

If you'd like to support the vastly underfunded research on Usher Syndrome, please visit the various links on "in our hoUSe...!, a parent's perspective on Usher Syndrome."

It's been a very long time.......! Dealing with child disability.

2011-07-17T16:37:00.001-04:00

Not only has it been a very long time, but it's been a very emotional time period. Where to begin? Maybe at the beginning of my journey as a parent.

I am the mother of two very special daughters - special in so many ways! And they are exceptional human beings! My journey as mother has been fraught with many ups and downs. It's been an enlightening learning experience since 1971, when our older daughter (Andrea) was diagnosed as hearing-impaired at age 3. Imagine 1971! There was no Internet, no information, no ready source of resources to help us even begin to deal with child disability. What do new parents know? Virtually nothing, for there is no prep course for parenthood.

Our second daughter (Roberta) was born that same year, 4 months before Andrea's diagnosis. Immediate hearing testing was inconclusive; it wasn't until she was 13 months old that her hearing-impairment was deemed conclusive. We were now the parents of two hearing-impaired children, four hearing aids, and little else. We knew no one who shared this experience. It was frightening, isolating, depressing. With the help of some wonderful friends and a few good professionals, I began to relate the experience to Kubler-Ross' On Death and Dying, viewing the process as one of grieving.

The stages Kubler-Ross identified are:

Denial (this isn't happening to me!)
Anger (why is this happening to me?)
Bargaining (I promise I'll be a better person if...)
Depression (I don't care anymore)
Acceptance (I'm ready for whatever comes)

It wasn't until I felt relatively more educated on the subject of hearing loss - which was no mean feat without today's Internet - that I understood the loss (grief). In addition to the stages identified above, I grieved for the loss of expectations. New parents have high, and sometimes unrealistic, expectations for their children. I agonized:

will they talk?
do they and we need to learn sign language?
will they be reasonably well-educated?
will they be able to support themselves?
will they find happiness in this life? will I ever feel happy again?
how will they cope socially, emotionally, physically?

There were so many unanswered questions. Life was in turmoil. But I knew I had to do everything in my power to help them succeed in having a normal life. But what was normal anyway? Was it a blessing that they both had the same condition? Or was it just one more twist of fate that one couldn't help the other in hearing, speaking, playing, communicating, socializing?

Those years are rather a blur. They went to public schools throughout their childhood - with limited special services from a gifted teacher of the deaf. They talked! They were mainstreamed! Mostly they managed in their classrooms with wonderful teachers who learned right along with me and from me. I became an advocate for them and their educational process. In high school, they were pretty much independent of me and of school-provided resources.

Both went to college; one has an advanced degree and works as a school psychologist, The other works for a medical research company. One is married and has three lovely children; the other is single, dealing with changes on her own.

In 1990, everything changed again. You'll have to read the next installment to learn what came next!

To be continued.......!