Camping and Crocheting

Last week we went on vacation to our annual tent camping spot in the mountains by the pond. To be honest, I was kind of dreading it. Camping is never exactly easy, so it's not as if we were going to spend much time resting. The whole week before we left I would look around the house and fantasize about all the things I could get done with the boys off on a trip. I'd get that sofa recovered, that afghan made, that woodwork painted...

But there was no way I was going to not go on this trip, so I resigned myself and packed up. The week was really wonderful for me, much to my surprise. I had relatively mild allergy reactions to the fire smoke and pollen, and I really enjoyed the fresh air and fun. I mostly hung around camp, but did manage two canoe trips and two visits to a nearby natural history activity center that my boys loved.

I had finished my book by the fourth day in camp, so began again crocheting six-sided blocks for the tablecloth I have in progress. I have to say that I loved crocheting by my warm fire, listening to the breeze in the trees and the loons calling. My yarn stock stayed at my side in a plastic bag so that no camp dirt would be incorporated into the design, and I worked away peacefully in the folding camp chair, tea in the cup holder. I finished five blocks!

Getting Ready to Learn

Today I will register for a continuing education seminar at our local college. It's a half day next month, inexpensive, and right up my alley. Successful Arts and Crafts Marketing. Perfect. I had considered registering for a longer, more in-depth entrepreneurial business course, but it seemed to be much more than I would need in order to learn how to run a booth at craft fairs and make sure I'm not breaking any laws! I'm very excited to be taking this step.

Also, I plan on holding an open house/reception at my home for friends and family as a kickoff for my business. I've got to get started on some holiday stock - gift bags, ornaments and the like. This also has me very excited and inspired. Wish me luck!

Tablecloths for the Holidays

I've decided to offer at least one lace tablecloth for sale at my Etsy site for the holidays. As an example of how yarn speaks during a project, and how creative projects evolve, I started making a baby afghan for a friend and realized that the pattern is too lacy for my taste. (I prefer making baby blankets with high contrast and lots of texture for the baby to enjoy.) The yarn I am using is a sport weight off-white organic cotton from Knit Picks that I am currently totally in love with. It's SO soft. I am making the six-sided motif with a 5.00 mm hook, so the blocks are quite large.

As I was working, I got thinking about the tablecloth I started last year for myself - of number 10 cotton crochet thread. Very small blocks. Will take me 20 years to finish. Why not make a tablecloth out of this??!! And, voila. The project has emerged. I could sell it - perfect for holiday time! So here goes...

Obsessed

I picked up a crochet hook about four summers ago, and now I can't help but crochet madly late into the night while chuckling along with Letterman and Craig Ferguson! This has progressed to having flashes of potential projects while I'm at my day job, color combinations and stitch patterns floating in front of me while I work. I dream in yarn and patterns. 
So for now I daydream about owning my own yarn and design shop while writing grant applications to government programs, taking phone calls, and reading reports, seeing crochet stitch and color combinations on the pages as I write. This is really becoming an overpowering urge. Yikes.