It's my Elbow!

Unusual topic for today's post: it's my elbow. And not a particularly good shot at that. You should try taking a photo with your left hand in the bathroom mirror some time.

I've been having trouble with tennis elbow, aka gardener's-crafter's elbow--for about a year now. This isn't the place to moan and groan, but when I started waking at 2 am in the morning in pain I decided I'd had enough. With a fair bit of determination and more than a bit of luck I managed to escalate the problem fairly quickly.

Today I had an ultrasound-guided injection which I'm hoping will give me some relief--at least long enough to get started on suitable physio in a more focussed way. I'll know in a couple of days how it's gone. I will keep making things one way or another--even if I have to learn to crochet left-handed.

I promise my next post will be something more attractive!



Woman on a Mission

What does a craft-loving woman do after her first market stall. Rest and recover? I've done a bit of that. Now I'm embarking on a rather unusual mission. I've been asked to make a Sehlat. I had to ask for further information, not being a Star Trek fan myself. Here is the best picture I've been able to find.

You can find more information at the appropriate wiki if you're that way inclined.

It seems I'm looking for a teddy-bear-like creature with six inch fangs and a tufted tail. It just so happens that I have quite a variety of soft toy patterns. The grizzly bear from Marshall Cavendish's 101 Soft Toys seems to be a likely candidate. I'm going to get started tonight by tracing off the pattern. It's one of those old-style scale-up-each-square-to-2.5 cm kind, but I think I'll be using the photocopier instead. Once that's done I'll dig out some suitable fur. Hopefully there's enough in my stash essential fabric collection.

Would you believe, this isn't the most unusual request I have received. Some years ago I made a Veeblax for a nine-year old. The request was accompanied by drawings of  front and side views and special notes on the single protruding eye.

And if you've been wondering about my somewhat unusual silence here: I've spent several hours in the past couple of days on the phone to my internet service provider. I think it's all sorted out now.

 

Full Circle and a Little Rose

A market day generally takes me full circle in my making. It's like this. I like to sit and spin at the market. I find it  good way to pass the time; to demonstrate and discuss what I do and to be present without focussing too much on people's response to my work. Since it's such a busy and colourful environment and I could be interrupted at any time, I don't spin anything fancy: plain white wool tops are my favourite.

After the market the momentum has a tendency to slow down, but here I am with a partly spun bobbin of lovely white wool. So I have to finish it. Turns out that spinning is what I love--it's why I do this. When that's done I'll have a whole skein of lovely new yarn crying out for colour. Colour is also a strong motivator for me. And so the rhythm of making and offering what I've made for sale can go on. 

As for the tiny red rose, it was peaking out from among the weeds when I got home from my walk this morning. I love its courage and perfection--despite the spider's web and blackspot it was determined to bloom!

Morning After Market

It's the morning after the market and I'm in surprisingly good shape. Yes I'm tired, but that was to be expected. I feel a good momentum to continue with what I've started by participating in the Make Craft Your Business course a couple of months ago.

For those of you who couldn't be there--and for my own future reference--here's how the stall looked.

Apologies for the back-lit shot--that window does actually have a curtain across it and I did try using a fill-in flash, but mostly I was focussed on interacting with people on the day. You can just see the pedal of my spinning wheel on the far right. I spent most of the day spinning and chatting. I had enough sales to be encouraged and plenty of positive feedback. It was also great to see the work of my fellow students and the excitement of their first sales. I had the luck of sitting next to the table with the eftpos machine!

One feature of this market is the free kids craft. There were children galore! I enjoyed handing out tiny bits of soft fluffy wool and explaining how the spinning wheel works.

I have a few adjustments to make to my display before next time. Of course I have new ideas of things to make, but I plan to stick to a slower pace for a little while.

The next challenge will be setting up for some on-line sales.

 

Finishing Touches

I've been so busy tidying up loose ends for tomorrow's market, that I've nearly forgotten to blog. But here I am.

The only thing left on my list are to tie a few more business cards--they're printed, but I want to add the strand of handspun fibre to set it off.

A friend of mine is droppng in after work to have a look at my stall. I've got it all set up in the spare room. I want to add a few more details, but I'm deliberately working through in order of necessity to stop me rushing from one thing to another. I'll also need to head out to the shops one more time to see if I can track down some tablecloth clamps. They're proving surprisingly difficult to find so far. I've made a full length calico tablecloth and I just need a bit of extra insurance in case some-one accidentally steps on a trailing edge. Failing that I'll use some heavy duty clamps from my woodworking tools, but it would be nice to have something a little more subtle. Oh, and if I find myself with either time or adrenaline to spare this evening. I'll make up the lavender sachets. They haven't made it to the top of the list yet.

 Just in case I've sharing the details somewhere along the line:

Made 'n' Thornbury Market

10 am - 2 pm

99 Leinster Grove

Thornbury

There are kids' activities, home-baked sweets, coffee and soup and hand-made wares galore. And it's indoors, so there's no need to worry about the weather.

See you there.  

Organised

I've been stitching up a veritable tornado in the past few weeks. It's been a lot of fun. Today I set myself the task of organising and pricing the things I have to sell at the market. If I waited until I'd put the last stitch into the last thing I could possibly make in a final burst of inspiration I'd end up with very little actually ready to sell or a sleepless night. Neither of those are good for me. So today--not tomorrow--is my day to get organised.

I've spread out all my crochet flower brooches; categorised them and checked prices. I only had to make a few changes. Now they're in bags ready to go. Ditto the knitted ones. There weren't many of those. Next are the--more recent--fabric flowers and felt and fibre necklaces. I'll need to buy or make some more tags before the end of today. Tomorrow morning I'll do a dress rehearsal of the stall set up. After that I can have as many last minute bursts of inspiration as I like--or not--the basic work will be done. 

Gift Cards

I've just come in from the studio for a quick lunch and a coffee. I'm making gift cards. Here's what I've achieved so far.

I've got quite a collection of cute little stamps and it's tempting to try them all, but I do need to manage some sort of efficiency, so I'm making about a dozen of each. Next I'll pull out some different fibres. Then I'll move on to some greeting cards.

I got some brooch backs stitched on before my morning walk. And there's a stack of finished pieces waiting for price tags. It's good to vary the tasks and alternate the more creative bits with the more mundane.