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Remake?

Preface
Along with my gratitude attitude this year, I have taken a more serious look at Spindles and More as a long-term project. This is sometimes difficult because I am not a trained business person. I began Spindles and More as a creative outlet for myself, and while it remains so, it is also a creative access point for others and I need to honor that as well. There is a need for regular communication, so a blogging schedule has been set up (roughly every other week) and I am committed to following it.

In General
I am thankful for many things. In a couple months we will celebrate another lung-iversary with my younger brother. I will continue Year 19 as a SpEducator. We just celebrated 14 years as a married couple this month. My family's health, although augmented by medical procedures, has been good. We are blessed to have knowledgable medical staff to assist us, and the means to purchase those procedures.
I am thankful too, for the people who come to the wool shows/festivals and talk with us, who sit and take a spinning lesson out curiosity, and purchase the items we sell. Making these items brings me joy and teaching others to spin (whether they purchase a spindle or not) is gratifying. I see the creative spark light up, each time the spindle spins, even if the yarn isn't "perfect" (whatever that means).

Spindles and More
Our online shop is at SpindlesandMore.com
We are currently scheduled for two shows in 2019.
Powhatan's Festival of Fiber on April 27, 2019, in Powhatan, VA
Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival, Sept 28, 29, at the Clarke County Fairgrounds in Berryville, VA

In the works
Felt Yourself Slippers are in process. The demo pair has been made. The felting went perfectly, except I had to experiment with boiling the slipper first "just to see what would happen" and I ended up fading my gorgeous yarn. I'll make another slipper and this time, I'll felt in correctly so you'll be able to see how lovely the color remains. Needless to say, playing with the felting process wasn't the only thing I did... The pattern was a flat knit with seaming (I hate seaming), so I rewrote it to be in the round until it had to split to do the three-needle bind off on the bottom. My demo pair also allowed me to figure out yardage and color changes so the gorgeous yarn stays in view, instead of hiding under the slipper. Since I don't think I'll have enough time between now and Powhatan, I plan to offer the Felt Yourself Slippers at Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival (SVFF).

Also in the works, a shawl knit in Blue Heron Yarns Metallic Rayon, in the Deep Space color way. I designed the pattern, and then redesigned, and then redesigned, and then redesigned it. You didn't misread, I had to knit a full pattern set five times before it looked the way I wanted it. I'm now happily knitting along and remembering why I love the metallic rayon, even if I can't wear it. The light strikes the deep blue/black of the yarn and sparks the sliver metallic strands, the yarn's movement as I knit can be mesmerizing. My nephew visited yesterday (small family get together) and came over to my knitting place several times, just to hold the yarn and look at it sparkling in the light.

Until Next Time
Look for another blog on or around December 9th. Christmas is coming, I hope your Christmas knitting/spinning/crocheting/crafting is well underway.

When you look at the calendar...

... And realize years have gone by since your last post. I'm still here, Spindles and More is still here. Keeping up with everything takes a lot of energy. I've made more spindles, which are on the website. I've been working on finishing another grouping of market bags. They take about two days each, if I work on them exclusively. I'm also working on doing an inventory of my yarn so I know what I have to work with. I've finished a few shawls and have discovered that I love working on them, but I don't wear them after they are finished. So it occurred to me that I could offer them for sale at shows as well as online. My biggest struggle with this ides is that there is no way to "make money" from them. There is no profit to be had if I actually want to pay myself even minimum wage for the time it takes to knit the shawls and other pieces. Handcrafters understand this, but the general public (whom I picture purchasing these items) may not have an understanding of it. So do I charge a "fair" price and risk not selling any of them or do I devalue my work to the point that I might be able to cover the cost of the yarn, but not the time or knowledge required to create the piece I'm trying to sell?

Folding brochures for Powhatan

Yes folks, all the joy and spectacle of paper folding with an infinity practical result, brochures for new spinners. I may just need to have printings done for me, it'd save me a lot of time. *sigh* There are some left over from the last show, but I need to have more ready for Powhatan. Down to the wire on my timeline. Still have two spindles in progress as pieces and parts, and twenty spindles waiting for hooks, their test spin, and final tweak. No school on Friday so I'll have the whole day to do any final prep. I'll load the truck before Hubbyguy returns from work and we'll head to the show. Hope to see folks at Powhatan.

The Supplies have Arrived!!!

Just dropping a quick note to say, the spindle supplies arrived today and now I'm off to measure and cut and paint and glue!

Oh yes, I have a blog?!

When a podcast stops casting it is called pod fading. Is it called blog fading when a blogger stops blogging? I've been quite remiss in keeping you all up to date on my life and projects. A rapid recap of life since March of 2014.
We enjoyed Powhatan a lot!
We got the twins!!! Well, my brother and his wife actually got them, they were born in April, as hoped. Thank you, everyone who helped with the Bunnies for Baby project, they were able to bring them home right away.
I continued teaching middle school special needs and added 6th grade self-contained science to my class load.
We attended West Virginia Fiber Festival and Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in the Fall of 2014.
Family visited up to Northern NY, where my ancestral family is. Family visited down to Virginia, where the two daughters of the family live.
My sister announced her pregnancy in late fall of 2014 and had her first child in June of 2015. She and her husband named him Eric, a significant name in our family.
We attended Powhatan in the Spring of 2015.
I continued teaching middle school special needs.
Later in the Spring, a routine checkup noticed a couple small lumps in my thyroid, which required ultrasounds, biopsies, and second opinions. The word "cancer" is pretty flipping' scary when you live life where everything happens to "someone else" and you turn out to be the "someone else." Turns out, I got off VERY easy, no need for chemo or radiation.
In September of 2015, I underwent a thyroidectomy (first surgery in my life under a general anesthesia). I survived, took off two weeks from school, and then, you guessed it, continued teaching middle school special needs. My students were well behaved during my absence, so I showed them the pictures taken just after the surgery, as promised. Middle schoolers like icky things like that. My scar and a follow up treatment turned out to very useful when teaching about radioactive isotopes, and how a normal nonradioactive element can be changed for medical use. I have pictures from the Geiger counter showing normal readings and then the spikes when the probe was passed over my throat area.
The adoption of my twin nephews was finalized for my brother and his wife mid Fall 2015. They are officially Zehrs now.
Despite my having very limited energy, we attended West Virginia Fiber Festival and Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival that Fall. My husband was ever vigilant and kept me from wearing myself down to a husk (I was not allowed to take any leveling medication during this time, so my body was burning the last vestiges of the triiodothyronine produced while I still had a thyroid).
In January of 2016, I resigned from being the Lead Special Ed teacher at my school and returned to the humble life of a regular Special Education teacher/case manager. The relief from that stress has helped with my post-surgical recovery. And even though the medication levels haven't been completely corrected yet, I am making progress toward a happy end of normal energy and not needing to depend on massive doses of B12 and a nap to survive a school day.
In a month or so, I'll have follow up blood work to be sure I continue to be cancer free (highly likely, since the actual thyroid was removed and the cancer hadn't escaped from it at all).
The scar has pretty well faded and it doesn't bother or pull much at all anymore. If people ask, I usually make a wisecrack out about a screwed up chin lift, and then explain the real reason for the scar. It doesn't bother me to educate people about it. I mean, until May of 2015, I had never even thought about the possibility of having thyroid cancer, and now I'd rather people know about it and get checked "just in case." If it hadn't been for my regular checkup, I still wouldn't know...

So here we are in April and Powhatan 2016 is later this month. Last year I diligently made my spindles and used up my entire supply of 3" whorls, without realizing it. Imagine my panic when I began setting up for marathon spindle making (my favorite type, the creativity permeates everything and my husband makes sure he's the one to cook, because even the food gets experimented with...) only to go to my supply cabinet and find the 3-incher shelf bare. But Orders have been placed along with parts for more woodworked spindles.
Plans are underway for changes to the SpindlesAndMore.com website, formatting changes, updates, and easier access to purchase spindles and spinning supplies are in the works.

By the way, apologies for this long post, but now that everyone is caught up, I should be able to write more often, in shorter format.
On to the spindles!!

Powhatan Bound

Spring is here! Ok, well not really, because as I'm writing it's snowing outside and school could be closed tomorrow. I can't even remember what number snow day it will be. Is it 12 or 14 or something like that?? The weather this winter has thrown so many things off as far as school schedules, sleep patterns, and being able to keep all my work responsibilities on track since my job has timelines linked to calendar days, not days we are actually at/in school. The past couple weeks I've been spending an average of 12 hours a day at work, just to catch everything up and last week our 8th graders took their two-part Grade 8 Writing SOL. I think it may have been our first or perhaps second full week of school since October. It has all worn me down.

But I decided this weekend I needed to adjust my attitude about life in general and begin my preparations for my fiber shows. I have a job I enjoy and feel called to. I am healthy and have a loving husband, good friends and family. I make spindles, spin yarn, knit, crochet and am in a position to help others. Having gone through an attitude readjustment, I feel much better.

After that, I spent some time checking over my spindle inventory and analyzing the next steps in the process. I have a few Fiber Art projects in the making, I'd like to finish and bring to the show to sell. I'm not sure they'll be ready in time, since I've also been working on the Bunnies for Babies fundraiser. This is still an ongoing project and I should probably update everyone.

My brother and his wife have been chosen to be the receiving parents of a set of twin boys, one of whom will have special needs. The boys are due in April which means the giving mother could have them any time now. We hope she is able carry them as long as possible, since any preemie has an uphill battle and twins would be even smaller.

I currently have 14 Bunnies made, three bodies flat, but not sewn up, and another on the needles. The intake from their sales goes directly to my brother and my sister-in-law's adoption fund. They will not be allowed to bring the boys home until specific fees are paid to the adoption agency. $10 a Bunny, may not seem much of a contribution, especially after all the hours spent hand knitting or crocheting the bodies and assembling them, but every little bit helps bring the boys within the reach of our family. Hence, the slow progress on my own Fiber Art projects. It is a bit late now, so I will sign off and go to bed. Maybe I'll have hours to work on my projects tomorrow... after I get some of the waiting paperwork finished for work.

Blessings everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving thanks for family and friends. I'm still working on the knitted/crocheted bunnies for the Bunnies for Baby adoption project and thinking the mothers out there who realize they aren't in a place to take care of their little one, but still love them enough to make the heart-wrenching decision to let someone else take the little one into their heart.

Finally listing again

I've gotten through the limited show season I participate in and have begun listing the spindles still available for sale on Etsy. My hubby has worked technical magic and made the dot com site much nicer. Now I need to do my part and get the items listed so the public can find them. I also need to knit more bunnies for the Bunnies for Baby project. Many things to do, a positive attitude and just plain "doin' it" will get it all done in time.

The show will happen anyway

Sorry folks, it's been a while. Summer has come and gone and I've lost track of time on here. I'm prepping for the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival which is happening this weekend. I've been working on the spindles and since the mail won't cooperate, I'll need to do alternative spindle tops to the ones I had planned, since the show is in two days and I can't wait any longer for the decals we ordered last week to arrive. I can't say I'm pleased, but it is so and so it is. I love creating the spindles, so having my creativity squished by an inanimate entity is off-putting. On the more positive side of things: I have more roving to prep to weigh, band, and sell at the show as well as a new project called "Bunnies for Baby." This is an adoption project fundraiser. I madly knit little stuffed bunnies to sell and then gather the proceeds from them (and this year, the other items I have already knitted/crocheted) and will then give the designated couple the money to add to their adoption fund. For more details, drop by my shoppett at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival this weekend.

Those hard questions

Today I am waxing philosophical. My struggle is with a concept I was raised with from very early on. "Work first, play later." This simply means, get your work finished and out of the way so its not hanging over you and you can be free to do what you want to. On the surface this is a great concept, very simple to understand. It is a responsible adult concept, one that really dictates how we do our jobs and live our lives... It is quite a bit harder to put into complete practice. Well, not the "work first" part, there is ALWAYS way more of that to do. It just seems for me that the work never gets done so my "play later" doesn't get to happen as much as I'd like. Job and career aside, I'm thinking more on the household tasks that everyone does.I am a homeowner, I have responsibilities to the property. These include yard work, laundry, remaking beds, etc. These tasks happen on a weekly basis in our house. The thing is, yet again I am doing housework, which would normally not be a problem except I'd like to be able to push aside the tasks that need to be done and "run and jump and play." Now please bear in mind, I have no idea what "play" I actually want to do, just not the work. But my sense of responsibility rears its head and says "no, no, you must get the work done so you can feel free." Why? Who really cares? I see other people put off their work to the point it never gets done, but they seem to have a lot of fun playing while their tasks go unfinished. It doesn't seem to bother them. But it bothers me. So I guess the issue is "why does it bother me so much to not have 'my work' done?" Why is it such a big deal? Who is really watching me and ticking the "irresponsible" box on their list of my personality traits? Am I self-centered enough to believe everyone really is watching me and judging me that way? I get a sense of satisfaction from knowing I have finished tasks. I can point to (fill in the chore here) and think "yes, I got that done" and "yay me, I am such a good little worker," but in the end, what does it matter? Why should I value those tasks so highly that I miss out on the fun things I want to do? If I don't get it done this week, there is always next week, or the week after. If I end up in an accident, I doubt I'll be thinking, "Darn, if only I'd gotten the laundry done." Instead, I'll be thinking "well, no way to get that scarf-gift ready before Christmas now." And yet, the work has to be done and it does hang over my head until it is, so off I go to do another load of laundry. And on the positive side of things, the laundry is the last thing on my list for today, so when it is done, I can play. And I even waited to write this until the laundry was well under way...

Tall trees and why you shouldn't put things off.

There is a storm raging outside, her name is Sandy. I hear the rain beat against the windows and hear the tall trees getting whipped into a frenzy by the wind. This would not be a problem except one of them has a direct path to my bedroom, through the roof, of course, and the other has a direct line to the daughter's bedroom (also through the roof first, except she wouldn't even hear it coming, with her ears out). My husband has gone upstairs to bed, thinking nothing of this because he's been through more hurricanes than I have, but me, being cautious and finishing schoolwork, just can't quite let the smooshed house image go. Did I mention those trees have most of their leaves still on them, so the wind force is rather intense on them. Anyway, I will need to go to bed soon and just get on with the being smooshed or not. It isn't like I can do anything about it. On a second note "Why I shouldn't put things off." Yes, I know everybody knows this, but I did procrastinate and now I am sitting here (doing other stuff, but not SpindlesandMore) with no spindle supplies to create with. I haven't ordered them yet. If only I had, I'd have had two school free days to play and paint and create. But no, I put off ordering the new supplies when I got back from the show a couple weeks ago and now I pay for it with time to listen to a storm I'd really rather not hear. The positive note to all this is that today, both my sister and one of my friends took pictures for some projects they are working on and I helped. I, despite an aversion to pictures of me, volunteered to have my back and hands photographed for the projects. All identifiable jewelry was removed. The agreement was, no parts anyone would recognize, as we were going for the concept of the image, NOT 'hey, I know her!' based on a picture. It was actually pleasantly invigorating to my creative sense to discuss the shots and how they looked, what we liked or didn't, how the lighting really worked or flopped shadows in inconvenient places. Anyway, to bed and another stormy day tomorrow. Good Night.

Ahh, the end

The Shenandoah Valley fiber festival is over for another year. This year was my first vending there and we will be back! After selling 13 spindles yesterday and 6 more today, along with both roving and yarn and a shawl, it has been deemed a huge success. Compared to other venders, I have a minuscule inventory, three small table with items spread out to be easily seen. One of the things that sets me apart from the other shops (in both good and bad ways) is that because I work full-time somewhere else. It is not my livelihood, and so I experience no pressure to make a sale. I can afford to relax at a show and take time to teach the spinning lessons for free. While I think I would like to make and sell spindles and other fibery things full-time, it is unlikely I'd be able to, nor would there be enough income in offering the lessons as a free gift to the greater good. I really enjoy spinning and offer the basic knowledge of how to do it free of charge as a way to bring old information to light and a make connection to our past, perhaps even cultivate a respect for the old skills that still have validity today, if we take the time to practice them. Spinning forces you to slow down and enjoy the process by its very nature. It is hard to rush when you are hand-spinning your yarn.

Oh what a day!! SVFF 2012 Day 1

I am on a bit of a high after today. Hubby and I attended the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival today (and will again tomorrow). Sales were good and about 20 people learned to use the drop spindle with several others standing by to observe the process and ask clarifying questions. My newest spindles were the most popular of those sold, so I will continue making those series. One of those series was the "manly spindles" Hubby suggested I make. He located some pretty cool decals for me to add to some of the spindles to make them bolder. The decals can be a bit touchy to apply and then to add the polyurethane layers so they don't bubble is wonderful fun. I did a bit of touchup work on a few older spindles and will have them out again tomorrow with the new ones. Come out and see all the lovely fiber, fleeces, clothing, patterns, hooks, needles, llamas, alpacas, sheep, possibly sheepdog trials, soaps and oils and food (there was a bactrian CAMEL there today too)!! Sunday hours are 10AM to 4PM.

Just a bit further

I made 22 new spindles for the show Saturday. With only 7 more hooks to put in, I am nearly finished. I lost one spindle to a broken hook, no way to repair it by removal, so all the work sanding and layering the polyurethane is lost. Just one more pretty piece for the fireplace. Once the hooks are in, all the index cards for the new ones have to be completed noting their color, styles and marking, hook type and setting, identification number and date, weight, and the various measurements I use to track which concepts are more popular. Considering the show is Saturday, I'll be bustling a bit tomorrow night. It is too late tonight to do more. The newest concept I'm working on is one my husband suggested. He wants some "manly" spindles. Until now, this has translated as a few plain ones in dark colors. Now, thanks to his suggestions I have a new idea for some spindles, but have only been able to make two in time for this show. You'll need to come to the show to see them. :)

Less than a week to go!!!

This coming weekend I will pack up my lovely spindles, roving, clothing items, camp tables, table covers, brochures, business cards, signs, and a host of other items into the back of my truck and head to my show. Until then, I will be dashing about trying to finish all the other things that need to be ready for the show. This evening I added two more layers of poly to the spindles. This finishes about a dozen of the spindles, but the others are still in need of one more layer on the shafts. Tomorrow I'll put in the hooks of the finished ones and do the last poly for the small batch. Now to print the spinning brochures and head to bed.

7 started with 5 waiting

I am happily anticipating the SVFF on the 29-30 due to its location close to my home (no hotel stay required this time) and the chance to see friends while selling the spindles and roving. I have seven spindles in paint now, a few are gradients of black going toward midnight blue and there is a silver and a copper. I am debating how many to leave natural and seal with polyurethane. I'd like to treat a couple with the WoodBeams beeswax, but in a moment of insanity, I reorganized part of my craft room and haven't seen the WoodBeams since. That's what I get for trying to clean the space up. I will continue the search and this Friday evening and into the weekend, I'll be working on the spindles. I love the creation process, I just wish I could sell all the spindles so I'd have more space to create more of them. I picture my spindles as making the world a brighter, happier place.

Oops and next show

And I was so intent on keeping up with this blog regularly... But life gets crazy and since my last entry I attended and sold spindles and roving at the West Virginia Fiber Festival on Sept 8-9. A nice show, only a few years old and still growing. With all the vendors selling fiber, my spindles fit in really well. As a result of those sales, I finally have the confidence to make more spindles. So, I have a dozen 3-inchers in process at this point. There will not be any 2-inchers made in this round. At this point, the spindles are built and the notches cut into their whorls. Hand sanding is not my favorite part of the process, but it must be done and I don't trust a machine to do it for me. Although, I have to say, after the second sanding, they are silky smooth. After that, the multiple painting and polyurethane layers. And finally, the setting of the hooks. My next show which is the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival at the Clarke County Fairgrounds on Sept 29-30.

Forever and future plans

School is over for this year (my last day was June 6) and while I have a couple school-related projects to work on this summer (when do teachers not have this), I'm putting them off and taking at least this week off before beginning on them. On the happy notes of Spindles and More, I sold two spindles a bit back (can't remember if I posted then or not) and I need to plan for another open house event, here at my home. I haven't chosen a date and I'll need to be careful to give myself plenty of planning, prep, organizing and baking time. I know I need to give several weeks notice for people to get the word out and I have to dodge the times I will be away from home as well (obviously). Incidentally, besides my spindles and hand painted scarves and blouses (the fundraiser for Talita Cumi), this time the open house may have some knitted bunnies for sale as well. I'll have to see if I can make them fast enough to be worthwhile as knitting them from sock yarn makes for the cutest small bunnies, but takes a lot of time for such a small critter. We'll see.

Another Success

Well, it was a rainy day today and we were all moved inside. It was cozy, guests did not have to walk far to move to the next vendor and the vendors got to see each other's skills and items without having to leave their own stalls. I'm pretty sure my spinning by spindle helped the others pass the time when we had lulls in guests. My first ever workshop went well and I've even thought of a few things I'll improve upon. I sold three spindles, Hubby-Guy sold one of my hats and between us we taught a whole bunch of people how to spin. Plus there were a few frustrated knitters who stopped by and when we chatted, I directed them toward the continental style. All three were lefties who struggled with "throwing the stitch." YouTube is a great resource for this because you can replay the videos over and over as you learn it. It is a bit late now, I need to unpack the bins, move stuff about and then get to bed because I have school in the morning. We are going into the last week of April and SOL testing starts the first week of May.