by carmen | Feb 3, 2009 | Uncategorized
John is gone. He has up and left town and has the nerve to be on vacation. Now this should be upsetting and I should be missing him like crazy, but…..
The first day he left, I got to play window display. While I was napping on the couch to recover from having to use my brain and crawling around the window ledge the buzzer rang. It was JP at the door with all of the ingredients to cook me a fabulous dinner.
Now believe me, for him, this was a very simple thing. I gave him some challenges because we have no salt, sugar, butter,cream or cheese in the house. This was simply not acceptable for this French man (I think butter and cream are as necessary as oxygen). However he made do, and then made this.
The chicken is cooked with several different types of olives, spinach and asparagus. The salad on the right is fennel with grapefruit.
Great company and conversation coupled with good food. His business is called Maison Cote. On top of creating the most amazing spice blends, rubs and oils, he also give cooking classes on how to use them and has a million good food and entertainment ideas. His product list will have you drooling.
A note to JP….many thanks, Toni and I enjoyed the left overs for a fabulous lunch on Monday.
by carmen | Feb 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
911 – Hello, emergency services, what is the nature of your emergency?
Caller – I am a yarn store without a window display for the month of February and today is February 1st.
911- Well, what took you so long to call. This IS an emergency. We’ll have someone right over, stay on the line with me, we can talk you through this. Is the emptiness overwhelming….
Caller – It is, there is no yarnie goodness in the window.
911- Hang on, keep talking, envision colour and texture and we’ll be there in just a few minutes.
At least that’s how it played out in my dream.
I was ready for the store opening this morning. A bit of this, a bit of that–some rustic shelving and it was a go. I love solving a problem, playing dress up and giving Gertrude her first formal outing. Even when I was coveting and buying the mannequin, in the back of my mind I was thinking I could probably do without her. The fact that she got me a working gig 2 days into ownership validates this purchase.
Isn’t she exquisite?
by carmen | Jan 30, 2009 | Uncategorized
I don’t want for much. It’s not a big life, but I am content with it. The people around me are inspirational, genuine, kind and funny (sometimes kind of funny). We have a lovely place to live, our animals, and I have as much fibre in the house as I can possibly fit in.
And yet, I did want something…a weird thing, an unnecessary thing….but something that has added wildly to my happy factor.
Gertrude (Gertie) is going to make a lovely addition to the already crowded house. She will come to craft shows and trade shows with me. She will travel and adorn herself in half finished scarves. She will inspire new designs and keep me company during the design days.
I didn’t think I could fit anything else in my life, and I’ve long since given up collecting anything other than wool, yet somehow Gertie fits in just fine.
by carmen | Jan 29, 2009 | Uncategorized
My friends make beautiful things. I just received these from Joan yesterday. I have a design specifically for them (which I did not have prior to receiving them).
I mentioned in passing that I would love buttons that looked like stone. I think these are just amazing. I have used her buttons in my designs before, but these have excited me more than the world’s largest fudge brownie.
And since I am plugging my friends today…
Claire makes outstanding journals, recipe books and hand made cards. My favourite is her teacup cards which are photographs of her personal collection of tea cups with gorgeous teas inside. They make the best get well cards ever.
Stephanie has the quirkiest collection of tea cozies and bodum covers made from recycled sweaters. She is my favourite “green” artist. She has also developed a new line of fibre jewellery that just rocks.
Oh, and I managed to collect the rest of my hand dyed fibre today. Without tooting my own horn, I find them kind of pretty…
From left to right: Hand painted roving of merino, bamboo and rayon. Hand painted superwash merino and seacell. Hand painted hand spun BFL.
And I’m knitting something super sweet, inspired by these peas.
by carmen | Jan 28, 2009 | Uncategorized
I was finally able to spin my own hand dyed roving this morning. What a thrill. As I split the 100% kid mohair roving, I could not stop staring at the colours that were unfolding before me. The more the roving was drafted, the more hypnotically I became attached to watching the flow of the colours…
The funniest thing about spinning my own hand dyed means I probably will not go back to spinning what other people have dyed. I say funny, but I really mean problematic as I have now added yet another layer to the pre knitting production work.
Knitting with this wool has bumped the design up yet another notch. It’s another calling card of uniqueness for the work. My colour choices, my textures, my designs. How delightfully selfish.
I would like to apologize for how self indulgent this post is. I had a moment with the yarn, one that was truly mine and I needed to share how great that felt. Someone please tell me you have had an amazing yarn love story so that I know I am not alone.
by carmen | Jan 27, 2009 | Uncategorized
So begins the new year and the first jury is out of the way. YLFMS is an exhausting market to apply for. Consider pre-jury, then formal jury, then choosing market dates and finally trying to survive the season with 8:00am weekend tent set ups come rain or shine.
I digress. When I am preparing pieces for a jury I am considering a multitude of things, not withstanding, who is the “jury”. Who is this mystical group of people that can determine my annual income and in a lot of ways what course my business might take.
When I am accepted into a jury, I am quite certain that these are a group of people with impeccable taste. When I am rejected, I consider that the jurors were from a pool of prison inmates who were given a day pass and free sandwiches to offer their services for the process.
No one likes to be judged. What I came away from this recent experience with is that it just doesn’t feel good if your talented friends aren’t along with you for the ride.
Breath deeply, stare in amazement at your acceptance package and reward yourself by knitting something that is not a jury piece (or if you love it, could become a jury piece). One down only six more to go.
