Sunday, December 11th

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarn! Sneak peek for all you pink lovers; Pretty in Pink will be coming back in January, if not sooner. I wouldn’t bet on sooner, just because it’s about a three-week turnaround from when I start to do something to when it starts to show up (but you probably already knew that). Also? About half of what is hanging up there is lace. Yes, I’m bringing lace back into the shop! Not the same lace base that we offered at Hanks, but the same basic idea. Solid colors only and not rewound after dyeing. I don’t know where I’m going to put it, mind you; I’m already at my allotted ten categories in Etsy. Maybe cram it in with the worsted…? Sigh. The perils of being crafty enough to have an Etsy shop, but too crafty to fit into their cookie-cutter idea of what a shop should be.

ANYWAY. That’s about a third of what I did yesterday. I also made about 25 bars of soap (for Christmas gifts for friends and family this time, not for the shop) and glazed almost all of the rest of the dish set custom order. I’m going to load what will fit into the kiln today and fire it, and fire anything that won’t fit on about Thursday or Friday, and after that I’ll almost be done. I have two more large bowls to do and a centerpiece vase. Can I just say how fun, and what a learning experience it’s been to do an entire set of dishes? I only had one … no, make that two, minor mishaps. One accident was breaking two bowls in a row, so I’m behind the schedule I set for myself. The other was a small kiln explosion, so I have to remake two plates. Neither one of those issues is the end of the world, and the customer is fine with that (in fact, she’s a joy to work for!). It’s just a reminder that handmade does sometimes mean that fate laughs in the face of your schedule.

Going back to Christmas, I hope my friends and family like soap and Chex Mix, because that’s about all there is this year. It’s hard, you know, wanting to give everyone everything you think of during the year, but short of robbing a bank, not having the hundreds of thousands of dollars to be able to do it. I want to give the people I love ALL THE THINGS. Not because it’s a gift-giving holiday, but because I love them and love to see smiles on their faces. Ever since a couple years ago, I think it was the last Christmas before Hanks closed and things were tighter than tight (all our savings had gone into Hanks, and Tim had been laid off that fall, and you know the yarn store couldn’t exactly afford to give me a paycheck)… and the most common answer to “here’s this soap I made you for Christmas, I’m sorry it’s all I could afford to do” was “soap? Do you think I smell bad?” …. ever since then I’ve really had a complex about giving my soap to people for Christmas. In spite of ALL THE CHRISTMASES BEFORE THAT when people like Sharon, and Greg and Caitlin, were all “you don’t make enough soap OMG I love your soap do you have any more even just a scrap?!?!” It’s amazing what joking negativity can do to you when you’re already feeling guilty. Not that I’m calling anyone out in particular. OH WAIT, YES I AM. But enough about that.

In fact, enough about writing this morning! I need to refill this cup of coffee, and then shower, load up the kiln, run to Wards to get nuts for Chex Mix, and then come home and fire the kiln and bake Chex Mix. Mmmm. Guess what I’m having for lunch right out of the oven?!