march madness

...but not the basketball kind. I survived the 3/15 deadline in style! Now it's the time for the 1040 clients. A coworker's wife is nearly due with their first child, and I knit a cute pair of booties and a matching headband with interchangeable crocheted flowers. Thankfully, I'm almost done with J's pillow cover - I picked up the invisible zipper and some perfect wooden buttons to finish it up.

The yarn for my brother's socks has arrived, so it's sitting on the kitchen counter being an inspiration every morning and evening. I'm tempted to knit up a pair of socks for myself between J's pillow cover and my brother's socks, but... yeah. He's been waiting a few months for these, so I will start on his as soon as I get J's cover finished.

I've learned I am definitely not a dog person. Captain Jack is a cute bundle of energy, but I just don't have the patience for this stage. I really miss being able to sit quietly with the cats, petting them in between rounds on a project... the constant watching and frequent calls to the dog are wearing on me. I am so comfortable with our decision not to have children - if I'm having this hard of a time with a dog that I can crate when he's out of control, I can't imagine how difficult of a time I would have with a kid!!! [since you can't crate them and leave without getting Child Services called on you (with good reason, of course)] Especially a kid that could TALK. UGH. Definitely not my cup of tea.

With the dog now crated for the evening (he was in that frenzy that children get into - too tired and strung out so completely hyper and out of his head), I can finally sit and enjoy a glass of wine and some knitting. Maybe even some cuddle time with Skye without a ball of fur coming and jumping on top of her... poor kitties.

Hello friends...

Things are definitely getting busy at work. My CIRAs are coming in for preparation or extension, and the busy-season interns started today. I was at work till about 7 tonight, which is not bad, but I was determined to go to the gym and then to the store afterward. Since watching Food, Inc., I have been making dramatic changes to how I eat. If I can't ensure that meat is organic, I'm not eating it; I'm making as many of my vegetables organic as possible. No eggs if they aren't organic (to the point that I didn't buy any at the store tonight); no unorganic dairy products. I was pleased to see that my favorite coffee, Dunkin Donuts, is fair trade certified. So... grocery shopping is a new adventure.

In knitting news, I've finished my Diagonal Cross-Rib socks! I cast on a swatch for my friend JS' basketweave pillow cover, but realized she said she wanted regular basketweave, and I was swatching pie-crust. Oops! So, frogged the swatch and restarted it yesterday.

Well - since it's late, I'm off to bed. The dog was just going nuts, I'm betting out of exhaustion, and I am going to get my second wind if I stay up much longer.

ArtFire

Tonight marks my first sale on my ArtFire shop!! My friend J.I. commissioned a pair of baby booties in green and white for a friend/relative's baby (can't remember right now which she said). I tried to find matching green buttons but was not able to find the right shade of green. Here are a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure.
I hope the recipients like them! I am sure they will...

The puppy is being a holy terror. Saturday, he nipped my upper arm, on the back where it's sensitive and delicate, and I have a nice bluey-purple bruise there. He got the outer edge of my right hand tonight; that will be fun tomorrow when I'm typing and writing all day at work.

This past Saturday, I ran in the OUC Half-Marathon and 5k. I have been training for the half-marathon for a couple of months, but the longest run I'd managed had been 8.7 miles. My knees ache and hurt a lot when I run, but I had hoped that lifting weights in addition to the running would help. Wellllll... it didn't. By mile 9, I was dying. Of course, mile 9 is where the hills started - bricked hills, at that. Did I mention that it was cold (relatively speaking) and raining? Yeah, it was. About 60 degrees (hey, I did say relatively speaking) and misting, at a minimum. EWWWWW. Not fun. Bradley brought Jack and they were waiting for me at the finish line - that was one of the best things I've ever seen :D For now, I'm done with running. I'm taking a break this week from exercising (other than chasing around the steeenkeeeng dog) and am allowing myself to have 'bad' foods if I want.

OK. I think that's all I have to say--- oh wait, regarding the socks for my dad: I'm working on shaping the gusset on the second sock. I am quietly and unobtrusively enforcing Papa-Puppy time so that they can bond and I can get some knitting time ;-)

Next week I should have the pictures of my dad's finished socks. I can't wait to show them off!

Vacation & road trips

We spent this last weekend on the road. It was my annual family reunion, and seeing everyone in my mother's family was wonderful. The gathering was at Cloudland Canyon State Park in Rising Fawn, Georgia. It's near Chattanooga and in the mountains - beautiful country up there.

I finished my Undulating Rib Socks on Saturday and cast on Sonnet! I was so pleased to finally start that. When I gave my sister and niece their socks, they were very pleased. Emily put hers on right away, but when Grace tried to put hers on - no luck. The yarn shrank in the wash :( Shame on me for not swatching them. I'm so disappointed. I suggested that she get them damp and slip them on carefully, and then let them dry on her feet.

My sister-in-law, brother, and father have all put in requests for socks. Mary and Kenneth are getting pairs of Padded Footlets; Kenneth is getting a pair of Eesti Trail Hiking Socks; and Dad is getting two pair of the same hiking socks. My poor Branching Out is going to be neglected, but thankfully, I have the counter app on my iPhone so I will be able to pick up where I left off. Kenneth picked out some beautiful yarn from KnitPicks - I can't wait to see how it looks and feels in real life.

The Sonnet is coming along nicely; I am using the piecrust basketweave instead of the box/moss stitch recommended in the pattern. I'm also cutting out an inch on each side since I have heard from every direction that the finished item will definitely stretch side-to-side. I finished about seven inches while we were on the road. I do love how Bradley doesn't mind driving...

Productivity

Quick post today, I hope...

First - from a non-knitting blog, a post which I had to bite my lip in order to avoid screeching at my desk at work: "Dear Economy", from Reactionary. If I don't LOVE it, I'm not buying it. So quit producing mediocre CRAP with the expectation that I will run right out to buy it. I do keep a list of quality brands - and of brands that produce shoddy, poor-quality goods. I will GLADLY pay for high quality, long-lasting products.

This past weekend was very productive. The husband got a lot of work done around the house - we went to the pool store and spent $140 on chemicals to get the water cleaned up. He will add chemicals every day for the next ten days, so we will have to wait at least 2 weeks before we can get in the water. I was amazed that the water turned from icky pond green to pretty blue overnight! But the water is milky and opaque - and now full of chlorine and acid and calcium, so it's definitely not safe to put in even a toe right now. He was a genius and fixed the wiring to the pool lights... I am so proud of him :)

I knit up my coworker's pair of girly booties and am almost done with the boy's pair. I meant to hit the craft store for buttons while we were out on our errands this weekend, but forgot. Will have to stop by tonight. I should be able to finish the boy's pair tonight and get them packaged for her tomorrow night.

I realized with our summer family reunion coming up, I need to get these socks finished for my niece and sister. My friends didn't come over Friday evening, so I couldn't get LB to pick out a pattern she likes... I'm tempted to make an executive decision and pick one for her, but the beauty of custom-made socks is just that - they are custom.

OK - gotta get some work done :)

Booked, again.

Foiled, again! Crap. My two officemates both want baby booties. I need to find a new pattern or mod one up enough to be my own... I don't feel comfortable continuing with the pattern I have now. I was feeling grumpy about my personal knitting time being taken away, but with the recent discovery that we will have to replace our entire HVAC system by the end of the summer, I really am not in a position to complain about something that will bring in some cash. To that end, I have created a price list in my Google Docs to help myself stay in a business frame of mind. Making some cash was one of the reasons I picked up knitting to start with - so I need to remember that, as well.

Finished niece's first sock and am about halfway done with the cuff on the second one. Spent a few hours knitting last night and made serious progress.

I have a lot of random ends in my stash that I need to use up. I sense some baby hats, booties, maybe some mittens coming soon!

Completion...

Aaah... Life is getting back to normal. What a relief!

I've finished the commissioned baby blanket and woven all the ends. I will wash it tonight and make any last adjustments then. It's bigger than expected, of course, because I always forget how doubling the strands changes the size of the FO. DUH.

I had jury duty Tuesday, which involved a lot of sitting around and waiting. I took the socks I'm knitting for my niece, so I was able to make some serious progress on the first one. The security didn't have any problem on the way into the courthouse in the morning, but on the way back in from lunch, a different guard was manning the scanner, and I very nearly lost my two small crochet hooks. She didn't really like the needles, either, but let me go on through with them because I was a juror. So I finished the heel and gusset of the first sock and am working on the foot now. I am so glad to be on socks after that damn blanket! Something that shows progress much quicker - is much lighter-weight - and the yarn feels good on my hands.

I'm definitely sticking with small projects for the next couple of months - or rather, any big projects are going to be for ME. I want to cast on my Sonnet, finally, and work on my Branching Out. It will be a lovely scarf for the summer!

Orders

Well, I've been working on Lisalou's scarves for a little while and was nearly finished with the last of her order. I was thinking about what to do next, and one of my co-workers came to my desk to ask about the scarf I sold to another coworker. It ended up with her commissioning six scarves! Two or three for herself and three for Christmas gifts. The original co-worker decided that Christmas gifts sounded like a great idea and ordered two more herself. Then one of my friends saw the signature pointing to my Etsy shop, and is figuring out what colors she wants out of a FunFur scarf.

Score!

So 6-scarf coworker is getting a decent discount for such a bulk purchase. The other two - not so much.

My previous quandary has come back up again. Since I'm new to all of this - I'm not sure what the rules are for selling scarves knit from patterns. I understand that a pattern published in a book or that has to be paid for shouldn't be knit and sold. It should be gifted or kept. I have no problem with that at all. But what about free patterns? Specifically, the My So-Called Scarf pattern? I made three before I knew about rules like this, and have sold them, and they are very popular. I don't try to claim the pattern as my own and gladly point people to the website where I've found the pattern. Also, the person who posted it says that the people who came up with it don't care about the distribution. When I have sold these - I take the position that I'm charging for the materials and my time. I don't want to take credit for the pattern at all. So is this okay? To absolve my concern - I think I'm going to donate part of my profit.

I just want to make sure I'm not stepping on anyone's toes just because I'm new to this. Hm.

So, here's what they ordered:

GC: (by 12/15)
1 Seed-stitch scarf
1 Boucle garter-stitch scarf
1 FunFur scarf
3 MSCS scarves

LG: (by 11/30)
1 Boucle garter-stitch scarf
1 Seed-stitch scarf

I have one of the boucle scarves done, so I think I'll go ahead and do the seed-stitch scarf to finish LG's order. GC knows that LG's order is due sooner so I think she'll understand. I really like the yarn I've picked for this one but jesus does it shed.

Other things to figure out:
Exact pricing structure so I know how to negotiate in the case of more wholesale orders
Business cards (anyone have any recommendations for relatively inexpensive suppliers?) - went with V!staprint
Care instruction cards (I'll just print these on cardstock but I need to figure out the details) - found several websites with legends for care labels; will just prep them for each scarf as they are finished.
When to make this official as far as legal & tax issues