new blog

Here's what I plan to do: I'm going to start writing a new blog. The reason I started this one is that every helpful selling strategies email from Etsy says that shoppers love blogs, and good sellers write blogs. That may be true, but I think the problem with mine is that of all the things I am thinking about minute to minute, rarely is making jewelry or accessories among them. I still create things, because I enjoy it. I am no great photographer, so when there's 2 feet of snow outside it's hard for me to photograph anything since I have not yet found a feasible way to put myself inside a lightbox. My main Etsy shop will carry on, and I plan to add some of the more eco-conscious things I've been working on to the other Etsy shop, Duck & Cover,like recycled yarns, but this blog is dead. nobody needs to listen to me bitch about the things and people that annoy me, or to read the myriad ways I can grasp at straws as I try to relate what I'm actually thinking about to my shop.

So here it is: I give you. . .

The last Octavia's Beads blog post!

Making yarn is my new favorite thing. I spun some nice super bulky undyed yarn from some wool roving that i picked up at the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival last weekend. I knitted a few rows with it and it is soft, cuddly, and amazing. I was so proud of myself. I also bought some pinkish-peach and cream roving with bronze glitzy-stuff in it at the PASA conference and I think the two combined will make a stunning wrap.
At the K&C festival, I took a class on recycled yarn. Some of it was probably common sense, but as I have none, I needed this class. The instructor even pointed out that all of the things she taught were available to learn from youtube, but I am not likely to pay rapt attention to youtube for more than a few minutes. To be fair, though, that is how I taught myself to use a drop spindle. That and a library book from the U.K. which was published in the 1960s and never checked out before. I'm certainly on the crest of a trendy wave, aren't I? Anyway, T-shirt yarn, plastic bag yarn, leather yarn. . . it's all possible, it's all doable, and it can look really fantastic. I knitted a headband out of T-shirt yarn that I made while I was there that day.

So. . . if you'd like to see what I make with the yarn, to find out what I plant in my new, bigger garden and how I plan to add wheat, nuts, hops, and kiwis, read the new blog. If you want to follow the drama and the learning curve as I manage my first multi-farm CSA group this summer, read the new blog. If you're curious about how much of one family's food supply one person without training or experience can produce from an acre of challenging clay soil, read the new blog at http://www.finianvalley.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Haiti Relief

It may be a bit after the fact, but I'm sure the need for help in Haiti isn't going away any time in the near future. Doctors Without Borders could use your help, and so I made a section in my Etsy shop that's a fundraiser. 20% of profits from everything in that section go to the Haitian Relief effort through Doctors Without Borders. There is also a special vintage item in the Duck n' Cover shop that's a similar fundraiser.

This is the special vintage item.

Open House

I'm planning my holiday open houses this week, and like most everything else in my life, I have made it more complicated than necessary. I made some square invitation cards with a new font that I downloaded specifically for earring cards & stuff. I had to print, cut, paste, scan, print, cut, and stick them in envelopes. I realized after a few that it was an absolutely absurd amount of effort to put into something with a fairly low expected return. My open houses usually draw the same core group of loyal customers. I could send their invitations on cardboard scraps with the dates written backwards in crayon and they'd still come. So anyway, I came up with something easier that actually looks better, anyway. I buy giant quantities of blank cards on clearance at Michael's and use them for thank you cards, birthday cards, invitations, everything. I printed the info on pretty purple paper and glued it into the cards.
A friend of mine who is a dairy farmer in the Co-op I work for makes raw milk cheese, which is really, really excellent, and I asked for a sampler tray to share with my guests. He ships cheese all over the world, too. Check it out. Another friend of mine, Deb Mercer, is going to be doing seated massages for my Saturday open house. I'm having my mother bring out her higher-end textile hats and bags to fill out the space a little more. All of my previous in-home parties have been great, highly profitable and enjoyable, so hopefully this winter's ones will be as well, so if you're planning to be in Western Pennsylvania on December 5th or December 8th, ask me for directions and come check out our stuff!
I'm also running special Cyber Monday sales in my Etsy shop. Free international shipping on orders over $40 and 20% off all purchases over $30. I am blatantly promoting myself here, but that's what the internet is all about, right? Well, self-promotion and ineptly trying to keep your porn addiction a secret from your girlfriend (come on, we all know that guy. Later on I'm going to post holiday sales from other members of the Fabulous Artistic Moms Etsy team, and possibly from Etsy Team Exposure if those girls are running any specials.