Success!

My first Earth Day event and it went really well. I sold three spindles and a bunch of roving. I should have tracked how many people I taught to spin, including the teenager who brought her friend over after she learned how and wanted to make another bracelet from her yarn. Several people asked me to host workshops on spinning with the option to sell as well. I'll need to follow up on the opportunities. I'll do EarthDay on the Greenway again next year, it was a lot of fun. I need to eat, prep more roving and pamphlets for tomorrow and get some sleep.

So this weekend...

This coming weekend I am going to be taking part in two EarthDay events. The first is Saturday, EarthDay on the Greenway, in Luray, VA. The next is Sunday, The Valley EarthFest in Berryville, VA. I am excited and apprehensive. The Greenway event will be my regular show and sale. This will get me back in practice for Sunday and my workshop in Berryville. Right now I am knitting on a t-shirt rug for my sister to stand on while she is at market on Saturdays. I may show off the rug at both events.

It is official, I'm facilitating at least one workshop

Plan ahead, spread the word... I'll be facilitating a workshop or two on spinning! Valley EarthFest 2012 will be hosted at The Barns of Rose Hill to benefit the facility's increasing environmental initiatives April 22 11-7pm. The basic description of the workshop is: Come learn a little about the history of spinning and other handcrafts, and learn how to make your own yarn out of natural fibers. Learn how handcrafts can become part of your entertainment, self-care and all while being practical and Earth-friendly. Participants will be able to keep the yarn they spin and have an opportunity to purchase handmade drop spindles at the end of the workshop.

Wow!!

Ok, absolutely SQUEAK!! For those who don't know me, this is the best way to exhibit my excitement and trepidation. I have been invited to do a workshop for a local EarthFest and I have to admit to be very excited and a bit intimidated! I truly believe the following statements I made in an email inquiry made earlier this year... To some extent, the concept of handspinning (using spindles) falls into several areas of life in the following ways: Entertainment- spinning, knitting and crocheting are all portable crafts that can be used to fill small bits of time while people wait, it can ease conversations by giving it a starter Self-care- in the form of a meditative and relaxing craft, which also produces items that can be worn, used, or given to others Earth-friendly- natural fibers (wool, silk, alpaca, llama, cotton) are a renewable resource, by spinning your own yarn, you know what is in it and can avoid manmade fibers Spinning, knitting and crocheting are skills that should be promoted and supported, they are an excellent way for people to gain a sense of accomplishment in their own skills. Now I have to figure out how to flesh this out and explain it in an entire workshop. I suppose the first step is to write back and accept the job...

The Open House

So I braved the risk and invited some of my friends to attend an open house for Spindles and More at my home. I had three visitors and sold three spindles. That's a 1 to 1 ratio of visitors to sales!! It was a lot of work, mainly because I baked the cookies from scratch, made three kinds, hung up the scarves and blouses hand-painted by the kids at TC in Bolivia, hung the crocheted and knit things, organized the hand spun yarn and organized the spindles. I'm really proud of myself for making this work and when I do it again, I'll allow more time to plan, I only invited people the week before I held it. I had four or five people say they wanted to come but had already planned things to do. I've sent two registration fees in to two shows and I'll see how it turns out. I'm waiting for a response from another show that is supposed to send me a form to fill out as well. I feel motivated to keep trying and see how it all turns out.

The shop mini

Hanging on Part 2

   The second area where I reached my "I have had Enough" was my fear of rejection and invalidation with Spindles and More. I have not pushed Spindles and More because I feared others would look at my spindles and not be interested. I know the amount of time and how hard I work on the them to develop unique spindles (there are no repeats, even though the same colors get used, there is always a difference in style or detail). A hook may be set at mid- or high set, where the first was flush. Patterns change, I create series of spindles that can be part of each other, but also stand alone. Each decorative piece is hand painted and applied to the spindle in a specific manner.  The colors are chosen and combined by an idea of something I see in my world, or a concept I want to embody... There is a lot of me in each spindle I make and my fear has been that when others reject the spindle, they are in part rejecting me. And this is not just for the spindles, but the yarn and crochet/knit items too.

   But again, just recently, I took a bit of time to evaluate the Spindles and More situation. Here is what I discovered... I have three shows that only require me to fill out the application and send in the fee in order to vend there (and there are more shows out there). Since I make most of my sales in person, where the spindle can be test driven, this is a good thing. There are at least two people who have said they are interested in purchasing my spindles. And there is a local yarn shop that may be a possibility for carrying my spindles as well, which would open me to a larger customer base. 

   So, having realized the only real thing standing in my way is a fear I can't overcome unless I take a risk and put Spindles and More out there, I sat down earlier today and filled out applications, wrote fees checks, selected photos to send and wrote emails to get things in order and to make Spindles and More a living reality. No one will hear of it if I just sit here and tremble.