Where have you been?

I've been a bad blogger.  I have been absent for many months.  No, I didn't go into hibernation although with the winter we had it would have been nice. We had many days where we were -40C with the windchill.  In mid-October, I made a career change.  I had been working as a supervisor for a therapy program.  There were still parts of my job that I loved, but there were also many things that were out of my control making the job difficult for me.  It was affecting me in ways that were not healthy and impacting my ability to do the job I needed.  So I made a change.  Between then and now, we also did a major bathroom renovation, I attended a few shows and completed a number of custom orders.  Needless to say, blogging fell off the radar.

Baby Beard hat - custom order

Me modelling the honeycomb scarf - custom orders

Teacher gifts for my daughter's teachers

The course revision project is complete, courses are winding down soon, and for the first time in months I picked up knitting needles the other day (insert big smiling Laura here).

Swatching for a new project

I'm using sock yarn which I don't typically knit with.  This is Scachenmayr Regia Jeans Style Color that I picked up at Len's Mill.  I'm knitting a lacy dress for a one-year-old and liked this as I felt it would be modern yet still cute for an infant.  The pattern is the Lizzy Dress by Taiga Hilliard Designs.  You can find it on Craftsy or Ravlery.  I hope it turns out.  I must admit that I have started the first 6 rows and am already feeling like I have messed up something somewhere.



I don't quite know what the rest of spring and summer will hold yet.  I am hoping for some online courses to teach.  I'm also really looking forward to time to garden, get back to running, and create!  Last year character hats were a big seller.  This summer will be spent planning for the fall and winter show season and figuring out what I want to make for those shows.

Happy Easter weekend to all!
Laura

Cat hat - Peg + Cat

September first is my neice's birthday.  Every year, I nearly forget to send a gift (and some have been late) because we head to the cottage the week before.  This year, I'm happy to say, I was more prepared.  I'm proud to say the gift not only arrived on time but I managed to make it as well!

pbskids.org

My niece loves the show Peg + Cat.  She often gets her dad to pretend play Peg + Cat.  She gets to be Peg (the girl) and her dad is Cat (you can probably guess what cat is) ;)  After creating the Benjamin Bunny hat for a customer I had the bright idea of making a hat from the show for my niece Violet.  And the Cat hat was born!

I decided to crochet the hat as I felt I could more easily create the oval eyes in crochet than in knitting.  At least with my skills.  I started with a generic crochet hat pattern that I had.  I then created two uneven oval eyes, round pupils, and ears from my own knowledge of crochet stitches.  I must admit I was proud of myself.  I didn't create anything wild and crazy but it is a start to creating my own designs.  I think it turned out pretty well.

Finished hat

My daughter modeling the hat

My niece lives in Atlanta, Georgia so it is a bit warmer there than here in Ontario.  In the winter, it gets cool enough that a hat can be useful some days so I figured it was a good gift.  She loved it so much she put it on right away and wore it even though it was a warm August day.  Thank you to my sister-in-law for the great photos of Violet in her new hat!

My two neices.  I think Violet's sister  needs a hat too.
Look how sad she is ;)

Ahhh...  Relaxing!

Location, location, location

Yesterday I took part in the first annual car show and vendor sale in Elmira.  Every year the local businesses put on a sidewalk sale.  This year, in an attempt to bring more people to downtown, they also added a car show with entertainment on Friday evening and vendors for the 3 days of the sale.  Given it is the first year, setting up as a vendor was free.  I figured why not?!  Even if I sold very little, or nothing at all, I was out for exposure.

Originally I didn't think I could make the car show on Friday.  I was happily surprised to have my calendar open up.  It seemed to me the car show event would bring the most people.  And it did!  The car show was a success for the first year with 120 cars displayed and quite a crowd.  Unfortunately, that crowd stayed primarily in the middle of the street occasionally leaving to head towards retail stores to check out the deals.  And I wasn't near a retail store.  

Great to see a good turn out!

They had placed me in front of the bank hoping to draw people further down the street.  It was a great thought but perhaps would have been better with more than little ol' me and my 6 foot table which looked tiny compared to the front of the bank.

Pretty quiet down my way :)

In the end, I did get a few people who came by and sold a few items. It isn't an experience I regret in the least but I did choose not to head back on Saturday.  The experience highlighted the importance of location.  

The experience also gave me a chance to look at my set-up and re-evaluate.  Just before the show I purchased some vintage suitcases which I love and intend to reuse again.  I would like to look at adding some additional layers and height to the display.  As well as remember my table cloth next time :)

Hmmm.  Needs some work

Off to Pinterest I go for some craft show booth display ideas!  I see some blog posts on creating craft show displays in the future.

Keep being awesome!
Laura

Just a couple of the cars at the show