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.