I came up with several ideas for the hearts. I asked on facebook to see what people thought of the hairpin idea or maybe making a bracelet. Some didn't think the size eliminated the possiblity of earrings. I also played around with more thread sizes to see how they turned out. The simplest option was the largest size thread I had (size 3 crochet cotton) as a pendant and the 20 crochet cotton ones as earrings:
Simple but effective, I think. I like the set, but if I can do simple, the next step is always going overboard. I used a couple more of the size 20 crochet cotton hearts and one made out of size 10 together with swarovski crystals, chain, and some eyepins to make a necklace.

I really like this. I think tomorrow I'm going to make a bunch of the size 20 hearts and try a bracelet and see what the pattern looks like in size 80 tatting thread. I also need to take some better pictures if the sun decides to peek out so I can get these babies listed on etsy! I'm feeling amazingly motivated lately. Let's see how long it lasts.

Best Laid Plans

I was thinking about making some jewelry for Valentine's Day to add to my shop and I remembered that I had created a small heart pattern several years ago. I've previously made the pattern with fairly small thread and used the little motifs on cards and scrapbook pages. The pattern is in my journal but I never attatched a sample and I hadn't worked it up in years. I thought I would be smart and make the hearts with size 20 crochet cotton so they would be a little bigger and dangle them either directly from earwires or attatch a headpin with some beads in between. Seems like a great plan, right?

Then I worked two little hearts up. I discovered that in that size thread, they're roughly the size of a quarter. Drat! My brain couldn't really work out how to make plan A work, so it's back to the drawing board. I'm not sure whether to tack them to some felt and make hairpins or clips or just work up a whole bunch and figure out an edging to connect them and make a bracelet. I guess we'll just see how motivated I am in the end. Here's a sneak peek of the "little" guys with the threads still trailing and terrible lighting.

Busy Little Listing Bee

Back at the end of November, I spent a good three weeks tatting my fingers to the bone and acquiring endless paper cuts working on cards to get ready to a craft fair I wanted to attend. Most of the work I wanted to accomplish done, I went to turn in my application and pay my fee, only to be told they'd been full for two weeks. Frailty, thy name is procrastination. The end result of this, is that I now have lots of work to photograph and list. Procrastination got in the way again. But I finally wrestled that evil little devil to the ground and pinned him down long enough to get a little etsy work done. One pair of earrings sold within twenty-four hours! Here are a few of the other little items I've listed this week:

White Filligree Drop Earrings

Live Charmed Earrings

Ring Around the Daisy Pendant

Peachy Keen Pendant

There are a few more items in my shop that aren't listed here, so take a sec and go check it out! More to come soon.

New-ish Work

I've posted pictures of these on facebook and I'm finally ready to talk more in depth about these little guys.

I keep a notepad beside the bed for a good reason. Many nights, as I'm falling asleep, an image will pop into my mind. Something new to try and make when my brain and fingers are awake. I always try to jot these ideas down. Lots of times, I wake up in the morning and find that my notes make no sense to me or my brilliant idea isn't going to work for one reason or another, but sometimes it actually becomes something great.

My first attempts to make this butterfly pattern work resulted in the usual pile of twisted discarded thread. The basic idea was sound, though, and eventually I made a wing. I held a mirror up next to it to see just where to join the second half and finished the first one. I loved the way it looked, but it was turning on itself rather violently so I had to block it aggressively.

Pinned out you can see the butterfly starting to take shape. I left it on the blocking board until it dried and then added a layer of stiffener to make sure it maintained that shape and voila! A butterfly:

I made a two for a special order and they turned out beautifully. One had a body made of split rings stitched down the center and I attatched a cameo to the center of another.

This pattern is an excellent lesson in the importance of blocking. I don't have any pictures of the butterfly before I blocked it because it really did just look like a twisted mess. The first one is going to get pasted into my tatting journal so I won't forget this pattern. Hopefully, there will be a few in my shop soon :)

New Earring Designs

I know, I know, I've been neglecting my blog again. I can't help it. Writing patterns up in my tatting journal, filling orders, facebook, there are just too many distractions these days. But here I am to show off some new earring designs. So, while I've been off neglecting the handful of people actually interesting in reading about my life and projects, this is what I've been doing:

Shamrock Earrings

Bell Earrings

Captured Rain Earrings

Those are the new patterns I've added to my repertoire. Enjoy and take a moment to see some of the one of a kind items also in my shop.

Grumble, grumble, pattern, grumble

All right, I would just like to state for the record that the fact you can't copy from Word, Works, or Notepad and paste into Blogger is frickin stupid, annoying and useless!

Okay, got that off my chest. I'll feel a little better still after pouting and complaining about it for the next week and a half, but what can you do? So, because I love this pattern so much and want to share the love, I'm going to type this pattern out again. Now please go to my shop and buy something so I can tell that you all love me for doing this ;)

Old is New Again Shawl(ette)

I made my shawl with lace weight yarn and an F hook. Pretty sure it would work with other yarns/hook sizes and plan to experiment to that end myself. I'm not giving a gauge because, frankly, I'm too lazy to go measure it on the finished shawl or work up a swatch. Play around with it until you get something you like.

This pattern is an adapted version of shawl 7b in Beehive Knitting Booklets No. 9, A Practical Guide to Knitting and Crochet c. 1915. It has been tweaked to no longer be a full circle and written more simply.

Special Stitches:

Dc cluster: yo, pull up a loop in st indicated, yo, pull through first two loops, yo, draw up a loop in same st, yo, pull through first two loops, yo, and pull through all loops on hook. Counts as one st.

Beg dc cluster: ch 2, dc in same st. Counts as one st.


Ch 4, join with sl st to form ring.

Row 1: Ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch 1 now and throughout) (dc, ch 1) five times in ring, dc in ring. 7 dc with ch-1 spaces between.

Row 2: Ch 4, (dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1) in each ch-1 space across, dc in last st.

Row 3: Beg dc cluster, ch 1, * dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next ch-1 space, ch 1. Repeat from * across, dc cluster in last st.

Row 4: Beg dc cluster, ch 1 *(dc in next ch-1 space, ch 1) twice, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * across, dc cluster in last st.

Repeat in this manner with one additional dc being worked between clusters in each row until there are 22 dc between clusteres. Begin edging.

Row 1: Beg dc cluster, ch 1, *skip next ch-1 space, [(dc, ch 1) twice in next space, skip next ch-1 space] twice, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * across, dc cluster in last st.

Row 2: Beg dc cluster, ch 1, *skip next ch-1 space, (dc, ch 1) in next two spaces, (dc, ch 1) four times in next space, (dc, ch 1) in next two spaces, skip next space, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * acrooss, dc cluster in last st.

Row 3: Beg dc cluster, ch 1, * skip next two ch-1 spaces, (dc, ch 1) in next two spaces, (dc, ch 1) four times in next space, (dc, ch 1) in next two spaces, skip next two spaces, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * across, dc cluster in last st.

Row 4: Beg dc cluster, ch 1, *skip next two ch-1 spaces, (dc, ch 1) in next two spaces, (dc, ch 1) six times in next space, (dc, ch 1) in next two spaces, skip next two spaces, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * across, dc cluster in last st.

rows 5-7: Beg dc cluster, ch 1, *skip next two ch-1 spaces, (dc, ch 1) in next three spaces, (dc, ch 1) four times in next space, (dc, ch 1) in next three spaces, skip next two spaces, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * acrosss, dc cluster in last st.

Row 8: Beg dc cluster, ch 1, * skip next two ch-1 spaces, (dc, ch 1) in next three spaces, (dc, ch 1) six times in next space, (dc, ch 1) in next three spaces, skip next two spaces, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * across, dc cluster in last st.

Rows 9-12: Beg dc cluster, ch 1 *skip next two ch-1 spaces, (dc, ch 1) in next four spaces, (dc, ch 1) four times in next space, (dc, ch 1) in next four spaces, skip next two spaces, (dc cluster, ch 1) twice in next space. Repeat from * across, dc cluster in last st.

Finish off, or continue in this manner for desired length. I did a row of beg dc clusters along the bottom to add little scallops before I finished off. Weave in ends and enjoy!

Happy stitching!

A better look

Ta-da! Finally good pictures! And it's even listed on etsy, I was productive today :) Rolling River Shawlette

I'll post the pattern as soon as I can figure out how to copy it from Works and post it here. It's not letting me for some reason and after taking half an hour to type it out in the first place, I really don't want to have to start all over again.

From the depths of time

I'm not scared of lace. Not at all. I mean, I tat, right?

Okay, I'm a little scared of lace. I can knit and crochet lace stitches like there's no tomorrow, as long as it's with nice safe worsted weight. My knitted lace never looks like the pictures and my thread crochet always buckles and ripples on me.

I've had some lovely lace weight yarn in my stash for ages. Every once in a while, I pull it out, fondle it, try a few stitches, cock my head from side to side, decide it looks like crap, pull it out and stuff it back in my stash again. Yeah, I'm a little scared of lace.

I finally decided to suck it up. It's time to work my way through my stash and put some new things in my shop. I just had to figure out what to do with the yarn. Lots and lots of false starts later, I landed on the perfect thing.

I knew from the start, I wanted it to be a shawl. Knitting seemed to be out of the question until I can learn more about patience and probably try blocking some of my swatches. (There, I admitted it, I don't tend to block things unless I absolutely have to.) I searched through all the books I've downloaded from antiquepatternlibrary.org and finally found something that looked simple enough to play with.

It was a circular shawl and I don't really like having to fold a great big circle over to drape it around my shoulders. I worked several rounds of the pattern as written until I figured out where to basically cut out a piece of the shawl pie. I did the foundation as written, and the edging as written, adding a few additional rows until it felt like the perfect length. And Ta-da!

I just love the way this turned out! The picture is awful, but I had to take it in my bathroom because it was raining all day yesterday. Better pictures coming soon and probably my version of the pattern. Stay tuned for that.

I'm working on another one in a solid color yarn that will be bigger. This first one is the perfect size for keeping the chill off your shoulders, but I want to see if I can make a larger one that will look as good. We shall see.

Listing Adjustments

I realized a few days ago that there are people in the etsy world who don't seem to understand that we're all just self-employed crafters. I had an order come in for one of my patterns around 8:00 at night. I saw it in my email box, but due to the hour, decided to sent it off in the morning as it was time for me to get off the computer and start winding down so I could get a decent amount of sleep for once. I awoke in the morning to an email from the customer with a timestamp of 1:30 am asking when she would recieve the pattern. It was not, by any meaning an angry or irritated email. Still, it annoyed me. Maybe because I'm not a pleasant person first thing in the morning, I don't know.

Don't get me wrong, I'm always glad for a sale. I love all my customers. It's just, I'm not a mindless computer. It isn't, click this button, I'll take your money and you can immediately download your file. I think I was also annoyed because this forced me to realize that I had to go into every listing for a pattern in my shop and add to the last line so it now reads "PDF will be emailed to you within 24 hours after payment is recieved." Thankfully, there are only nine pattern listings at the moment.

Enough of my complaining. It's a little thing, but it got under my skin, and now it's over. I've also gone into several other listings and changed them so that any piece I make when ordered will now say that.

Other than dealing with this, I've been working on orders and making cards, which I still have to photograph and list, if the sun will even peek out again. I've also been trying to tat some new ornaments, but nothing seems to be working out right. I have a large stack of twisted threads and nothing finished to show for it. If I really worked the amount of false-starts into the time it takes to create a piece when I price it, I'm underselling myself by a lot more than I already know I am.

I am also, of course, still working on creating a mountain of squares for afghans. There are lots of other little projects drifting around in the back of my brain begging to be started, but there's just not enough time to do any of them and no money to get supplies. On the horizon, I'm planning to get some fiber reactive dyes and start dying some of my own tatting threads. But that's probably a long way off. I'm dding my best to keep on top of things, but it looks like I won't be finished with everything I'm already working on until the new year. Sigh, by then I'm sure there will be a new mountain of projects to climb.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Good Karma and My Favorite Holiday

Last night, I got proof that good things come back to you in the end. This is what happened. While we were unpacking and organizing craft supplies among other things, we donated a lot of things to Goodwill. See, I'm not a hoarder, I can part with things. Many things that we donated were old inventory from the last time I was doing craft fairs several years ago. Rather than have to deal with taking new pictures and listing them in my shop, only to have them not sell because they were based on styles from several years ago, I donated them. I left the tags on because they had care instructions. I didn't even think about the fact that my old website address was on the tags. Last night I got a convo on etsy from a woman who bought two hats and, not finding my old defunct website, looked me up through google and found my etsy shop. She wanted to know if I would be interested in making something else for her. So, in giving away a lot of inventory, I got new business!

I feel I may be a little late to the game getting my Halloween stuff up on etsy, but yesterday, I made a dozen Halloween cards because I felt inspired. I wish I had more Halloween stamps, but the spiderweb edging punches I bought on clearance were definitely a good investment. In fact, I didn't even use the one Halloween stamp I had because I was having so much fun with the punches. I've now added a Holiday Kards section to the shop. It's all Halloween cards right now, but as soon as I get some made, Christmas cards will be keeping them company.

My Big Project

Yes, I have been a bad girl. I have neglected my shop. I have neglected my blog. However, it's all been for a good cause.

About two years ago, I started a shawl ministry at my church. It began as crochet lessons for most of the other ladies at church, but they all dropped out one by one. I continued on doing shawls, baby blankets, afghans, etc when they were asked for. Since that time, our church has joined with another to form a new church, and I'm still the one-woman shawl ministry. I'm not complaining about being alone in this effort. It doesn't really bother me. The shawl ministry project was something that God laid on my heart to do and I never really expected a big turn out.

Each Christmas, our church takes care packages to a local nursing home. The first year after starting the ministry, I found an easy slipper pattern to work up. It involved crocheting rectangles and then doing a little simple stitching to form the slippers. I crocheted rectangles for the required number of slippers and the ladies helped me stitch them together. Last year, they made knotted edge fleece blankets.

I decided last Christmas that this year, I would make afghans for the residents. So in January, after unpacking some of my scrap yarn, I set to work. I started crocheting granny squares. I thought that the afghans needed something else though, so I started knitting mitered squares as well. I did this in my spare time with my scrap yarn for a while. Then it hit me. I haven't done the exact math, but I have a general idea that I will need over 2,000 squares to make the required number of blankets. Since figuring this out, I've taken the project into overdrive. I worked through all the scrap yarn I'd started with, I searched and unpacked more, I was given scraps from a woman in my needlepoint class and asked my etsy fiber team and my friends. Well, there's a bin full of yarn to be worked through and another bin full of squares, but lots more to do. I have finished the first afghan, all stitched together:

I like the way it turned out. I'm hoping and praying that some of the ladies at church will help me stitch squares together to make the rest of the afghans. I'm going to have to go out and get more black yarn soon to keep edging them as I've run through all the black I had and bought for the project already.

So that is why I have been so absent and neglectful. After Christmas, I should be back to being productive at other things.

Hopefully.

New and Exciting!

Finally took some pictures of the totes I made over the weekend and got them listed in my shop.

Rainbow Waves and Shells Tote

Shoreline Waves and Shells Tote

I also managed to list a crocheted business card pouch. I finally found a use for the little 1.5 oz hank of wool I dyed a few years ago as a demo at Michael's. They've discontinued two of the colors of Kool-Aid I used for it. I'd been saving it until I came up with thee perfect project since I loved it so much and could never recreate it. There was enough to make two business card pouches (one for me and one for the shop) and still enough left over for a felted flower or something else small. Want to know what it looks like? Well check out the one on my shop!

Also added a whole new section to my card shop! Friend Kards feature friendship quotes and some tatted flowers.

My hubby takes pretty good pictures. I might just have to get him to keep doing it from now on ;)

In the works

I know, I know, I fell off the radar again. Well, lots of projects going at the same time don't tend to leave me much time for blogging. So, what am I up to you ask? Lots of things!

I have a green and brown scarf on my needles at the moment. Pictures will come when it's all done and ready to list. I'm also working a shawl with my pineapple shawl pattern in a laceweight virgin wool yarn I picked up in a thrift store a while back. This is in addition to the Queen Anne's Lace doily I'm still working on, the needlepoint homework I'm not quite keeping up with, being driven mad by a handful of fruit flies, and continuing a little story writing on the side.

See, I'm not ignoring my blog, I'm just a little busy. As usual. Stupid crafting ADD. One day, I'll only have one project going at a time.

It could happen! Stop laughing at my pathetic attempt to control my wandering mind!

Ok, I need to stop lying to myself. I'll never stop trying to learn new crafts, I'll never stop reading two or three books at the same time, and I'll never have just one project. That reminds me, I really should get started on Halloween costumes soon. Maybe I'll be able to get a sewing machine set up and working soon and even get a little money set aside to buy fabric. Here's hoping!

Summer's Colorful Snowfall

I named the pendant pattern I created a few days ago Neige because it looked like a snowflake. Well, there's a sprinkling of more snow around here!

Neige Soleil Pendant

Admittedly, that's where my memory of French classes gave out and I didn't feel like looking up translations, so . . .

Neige Tropical Punch Pendant

Those are the only two I've listed so far, but there are two and a half more and I've still got lots of interesting thread colors! I need to write this pattern down soon so that I don't forget it. That means I have to figure out where my tatting journal has disappeared to. Why do things always run off and hide when I need them?

Playing with new techniques

I checked out a new tatting book from the library the other day and started playing with some new techniques. I always seem to find that things I think are going to be difficult never turn out to be in the end. After some frustration and confusion, I finally mastered the Dora Young knot, in spite of watching a YouTube video that had it completely wrong. One of these days, I might have to do some of my own videos, but that's a project for another time. Anyway, after playing with using the Dora Young knot to cover some small plastic rings I had lying around, I ended up creating this stunning new pendant:

Neige Noir Pendant

It still boggles my mind that I covered that ring using the shuttle when the shuttle can't fit through the tiny little ring! If I hadn't done it myself, I wouldn't believe it was possible. I still almost don't. I see many more pendants with that pattern in my future.

Between continuous thread technique, the Dora Young knot, and split rings, I worked the whole thing without breaking the yarn until after the very last chain. I'm sure that for any readers I have that don't tat, this is all sounding like a lot of nonsense. To you, I'll just say, look at the pretty pendant, and don't worry about it.

Why Michael's Is Out to Drive Me Crazy

I finished tatting the most amazing choker the other day, by far my favorite yet. I needed ribbon clamps to finish it off and, of course, didn't have any on hand. If all were the way I wanted it to be, I'd just put in an order to Fire Mountain Gems for them, but this plan had two flaws. 1) I'm far too impatient to wait for shipping when I'm so close to being done and 2) we didn't really have the money for me to put in an order because Wal-Mart screwed up the hubby's paycheck (but that's another rant for another time). So off we trek to Michael's where I've always gotten my ribbon clamps in the past.

I stare at all the findings for a few minutes. Where are the ribbon clamps? I must have missed them in this massive wall of head pins, eye pins, clasps of all sorts, cell phone charm ends, and, what the heck? wine bottle stoppers and badge clips? Really? Badge clips? Whatever. As long as I find the ribbon clamps, I don't care what other pointless stupid supplies they have. But, alas, there are no ribbon clamps. No, I scream in my head, that can't be! They're here somewhere! I mean, there are badge clips for crying out loud! Deep breath. Okay, new plan. Get all the other things I need and then order the ribbon clamps from Fire Mountain Gems when I get the money together.

After ten more minutes of comparing and contrasting the beads available with the imaginary ones I had my heart set on, I grab what I'm willing to settle on and make one last desperate search for the ribbon clamps. Nope, they didn't magically appear while I was debating the merits of various beads. Dammit! Okay, I'll just get this other stuff and . . . wait, what's wrong with me? Why am I willing to give any of my money to this chain that doesn't have the one thing I really need? Okay, plan C, shove everything back on the first hook I can reach and leave the store.

That's pretty much how it happened. I pouted all the way home because I wasn't going to be able to finish and list this awesome piece. Then the miracle happened.

I found a pouch I'd been using for projects around Christmas and had abandoned when I'd gotten something better suited as a gift. I opened the pouch to pull out the handful of vintage buttons I knew were stashed away there, hoping to distract myself with a totally new project. A little glint at the bottom of the bag caught my eye. I reached for the small package and, would you believe it, RIBBON CLAMPS! I found some I didn't even know I had! So here we go:

Vampire's Kiss Tatted Velvet Choker

Evening Sky Tatted Velvet Choker

So there they are, new totally new choker and the one I've been working on off and on for a good long while. All finished and listed :)

Busy Saturday

I believe I've accomplished a lot this afternoon so far. I finished and listed a new pair of tatted earrings:

Jayne Hat Earrings

I made two treasuries: Cunning, Don't You Think? inspired by the earrings and Not Another Necktie in honor of the Father's Day gift cliche.

And I added some more to the Queen Anne's Lace Doily:

Now it's time to type up some of the story idea that's been banging around my brain for about a week! So much for Saturday being a lazy day, lol.

I Live!

Once again, I have been neglecting my poor blog. It seems that I just end up leaping from project to project without giving myself a break. I've honestly been avoiding the computer a little lately as well. I'm trying to break myself of bad habits like sitting playing silly facebook app games all day long.

I'm been doing a LOT of tatting lately. My tatting calluses have calluses and my fingers are beginning to get a little achey. I've finally learned at least one method of making split rings with the shuttle and spent some time experimenting with that. So far, I haven't come up with anything great, but I'm still working with on it.

We've been driving around listening to audiobooks a lot. One of the best things about this is that it's wildflower season. I've been staring out the window at butterfly weed, tigerlilies, and queen anne's lace (my favorite) for hours and found a little inspiration.

I've been working on a Queen Anne's Lace doily. It's been trial and error so there's a pile of twisted, discarded false starts at least as big as the doily so far. I'll post more pictures as it continues to take shape.

Settling In

I am officially tired of boxes. I'm also a little tired of the fact that we don't seem to be doing anything about them. I love my hubby, but sometimes he just doesn't see the same point that I do. He wants to put off getting the storage units I want for the craft room and getting that room organized. He wants to tackle the boxes in the bedroom closet first.

That's all well and good, but he's not the one desperate to have a sewing machine up and working. The one who feels an overwhelming urge to make some cards. The one who wants to know what's in her yarn stash so she can organize and purge.

I don't think he realizes that the longer we put this off, the more I'm going to want to keep because I'll have more and more ideas for what to do with it!

Being stuck in the apartment for a week because of the snow piled on the sidewalk didn't help either. I'm feeling stir crazy. More than that, I'm feeling creatively antsy. I need something to do. I can't even add to the box of completed granny squares for a shawl ministry project, because I've run out of accessible worsted weight yarn. I'm starting to feel like I'm losing my mind!

I have a really awesome idea for a messenger bag. If I ever get a sewing machine set up, that is.

Who's Conditioning Whom?

For our anniversary, my hubby and I went to the Festival of Lights which seems to be our new tradition. This year I actually managed to convince him to pull off at the gift shop so I could look at all the crafts and we could maybe buy our ornament for this year. I managed to brave the crowd, in spite of my phobia, and look at all the wares ranging from crappy kitsch to glorious crafts.

As I looked at the various things, sometimes marvelling and other times thinking that I could make something ten times better, I looked at prices as a reflex. As someone who sells my crafts I guess it's a matter of "sizing up the competition" even when not in direct competition. There were a few people that I thought were charging too much. I admit that I'm not always drawn to "primitive" painting and crafts, but sometimes I like it. However, I'm never going to spend good money on a piece of bark that looks like it was painted by a kindergartner. As usual, there was no tatting but a lot of knit and crocheted items, most of them desperately underpriced knowing how many hours went into them.

I started to wonder about where this drive we seem to have to undercut ourselves as artists comes from. It seems to happen mostly with the fabric and fiber artists. The woodcarvers, potters, and such seem to know what they're worth and price accordingly. I got to thinking about why the fabric and fiber artists do this. I'm still not sure, but I have a few theories.

1: The usual "I have a friend/sibling/parent/grandparent/etc. who sews/crochets/knits and I'm going to get them to make me something like this" comments make us worry that if we don't price it to move, it won't. I am guilty of this one. I'm not saying that there aren't plenty of people who will get something similar to what you've made somewhere else for less money or a favor. I once had a woman stand not five feet away from me counting my stitches in a scarf I had for sale. If she'd asked, I would have gladly told her. Garter stitch isn't a personal trade secret. However, this annoyed me. Rather than buy a $10 (yes, grossly underpriced, I know) scarf or even talk to me about it, she just stood there trying to figure it out without acknowledging my work. I think this sort of attitude that you shouldn't expect people to pay you a decent wage for what most people consider a hobby is one of the reasons we undervalue ourselves.

2: Plenty of people want to blame Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, etc. for selling items that have the same look as handmade for what breaks down to less that a penny an hour. I don't think this is the real problem. Yes, there are people who look at what we've made and say to themselves (or callously aloud) "I could get this at Wal-Mart for three bucks." Ok. Go for it. If what you want is mass-produced junk, get it. Have a field day! You're not my target consumer. The person I'm looking for is the one who wants something unique. Something that took more time and thought to design and create.

3: We've conditioned our customers to undervalue us. Too many of us have thought of what we're doing as a hobby and maybe a way to make a little money on the side. The hobby sellers are the biggest threat. It's not the big chain stores because most people understand the difference between handmade and mass-produced and will buy accordingly. I think that the hobbyists have taught too many customers to expect prices based on wanting to be able to go out and get more yarn or fabric just to keep up a crafting habit. They're not looking for profit and they're not going to get it. I don't have too much of a problem with these types. I just wish they'd stick to ebay and leave things like etsy to the rest of us.

So that's what's been rattling around in my head since Friday. Each time I look at my new little Santa ornament, I have mixed feelings. I feel bad for the crafter knowing that he probably took at least 2 hours to make and I got him for under $5. I'm also proud of myself, because I got a bargain ;)


On a side note, while World of Warcraft was down today to institute a new patch, I finished a new tatting a new ornament. I have to stiffen this one because it isn't as tightly packed as I usually make things. Pictures to come later.