Rx for the blahs

Today is cold and windy and I have a sinus headache.  Sounds like a crappy day at first, doesn’t it?  You’d be right, except that I found the perfect thing to take my mind off my head pain: a Day of Hunks.  It started when I had to run into the drug store for something and happened to see the new issue of Esquire magazine with Matt Damon on the cover.  Now I’ve never bought or read Esquire before, but today I felt the need for Matt to come home with me.  And he did.  But it gets better.  After spending a leisurely half hour on the sofa sipping my chai latte and reading the article about Matt (not enough pictures though), I was starting to feel better.  So I flipped on the TV to check the news (I’m a news junkie).  But the tv happened to be tuned to Oprah’s channel and I got distracted.  Why?  Oprah’s guests today included the drop-dead gorgeous and sexy Nacho Figueras (drool!) and Bollywood star Abhi (Abhishek Bachchan), also drool-worthy.  Yes, I’m feeling lots better now…. 

(I didn’t post their pictures here because they’re all copyrighted, but I’ve linked awesome pix of each of them above, so make sure you click those links if your day needs a pick-me-up!)

I’ll have another new design to show you in my next post…stay tuned.

Honk your horn!!

Today as I drove past the local Dairy Queen on my way to the post office, a group of young kids (maybe 8 or 9 years old) were yelling at the traffic and pumping their arms in that sign that says, “honk your horn”.  So I honked and they jumped up and down with big smiles on their faces — and it gave me the warm fuzzies.  That might sound weird, but it was because my brother and sister and I used to do that exact same thing when we were kids.  Whenever we were on the highway piled into the station wagon for family vacation, we’d try to get all the truck drivers to honk their loud horns for us, and lots of them did.  (I think my parents got as much of a kick out of it as we did.)  Every time I remember those 5 seconds from earlier today, I get a smile on my face — it was fun to be able to make those kids happy with such a simple act on my part.  Now I’m thinking of driving past DQ more often….

Today was a good day in other ways too. 

• There was a very productive and enthusiastic discussion on a forum for my professional association (The Association of Knitwear Designers) that has left many of us feeling re-energized and optimistic. 
• I made significant progress on my newest kids’ design.
• Eric had a great first day on his new diet plan, and we both exercised today (we’re competing with each other).
• I sent a surprise package to my sister; I tucked a bunch of goodies inside to lift her spirits as she deals with a family health crisis.

So, I guess this is almost like a gratitude journal for today, isn’t it?

It’s raining. No, it’s stopped. No, it’s raining again…

That’s how the weather was today as I was running errands…sprinkling for a few minutes then stopping.  Off and on all day.  So when I got to the end of my list and arrived at the supermarket I didn’t bother taking an umbrella inside.  Of course when I was ready to leave it was raining.  And not just sprinkling this time but really POURING.  There were a half dozen shoppers hovering under the roof overhang with their carts of groceries, waiting for it to slow down.  Did I join them?  Oh no, not me…I figured it was only water, and I was going straight home where I could dry off and change clothes.  So I pushed my cart in the pouring rain uphill toward my car, while rivers gushed over my feet, knowing that people were thinking I was nuts, but feeling defiant.  That’s when Mother Nature decided to teach me a lesson in patience — by stopping the rain 10 seconds after I got my sopping wet groceries in the car.  Where I discovered that I had left the moonroof open.  (I hope my iPod can recover from its shower….)  Good one, Mother Nature!

New bird sightings for my list!

Eric and I are mostly backyard birdwatchers, and we get hours of enjoyment from watching activity at our feeders and birdbath.  But the visitors there are limited to about 12 species, and it’s really fun to see some different birds once in a while.  This week I added two species to my life list, although neither of them were at our feeders.

Yesterday I saw this at a local park:

Mother turkey and her brood of 4 turkey-ettes

Aren’t they cute? I think they’re wild turkeys, but I have to check to make sure. I’m pretty sure I saw one of these in our yard last year, but I didn’t get a clear view so didn’t count it for my list.

And 2 days ago I got my first look at a brown thrasher in a downtown parking lot. Very cool. So, along with the kingfishers we saw on vacation last month, and the big hawk that has been hanging around our yard all week (watch out little chipmunks!), it’s been a relatively exciting birding summer for us.  Oh, I almost forgot, we also saw what we thought were 2 blue herons (or some type of heron) while we were in Michigan’s UP last month.

So, just from memory right now, these are the birds we frequently see on our property:
Tufted titmouse
Black-capped chickadee
Ruby-throated hummingbirds
Downy woodpecker
Blue Jay
Cardinal
Nuthatch
House finch
Goldfinch (occasional visitor)
Grackle

Sort of the standard backyard feeder list for this region of the country, I know. Nothing exotic, but they’re still fun to watch. The woodpeckers in particular have been very entertaining over recent weeks. There are 3 of them here, and they often spar for the right to claim the suet cakes for themselves. One day I saw two of them hanging on opposite sides of the same suet cake, peering over the top at each other, pecking over the top trying to knock the other guy off. It was cute.

I feel like I barely spent any time outdoors this “summer” though. Spring lasted into late July, leaving us with a bumper crop of blood-thirsty mosquitos. Then we had a couple weeks of summer temps, and now we’re pretty much headed into cooler fall temperatures already (it was in the 40’s last night). If I’m outside 10 minutes without getting bitten by something, it’s unusual. Last year I had a pest-control company spray the woods around the house monthly, and it was just heaven being able to sit out on the deck and work or relax. But I really don’t like the environmental and health risks associated with those nasty chemicals, so this year I didn’t sign up for that. And clearly there’s been a price to be paid for that decision! I’m considering what I’ll do next year, and although I hate to admit it, there’s a chance I’ll sign us up for that service again. Citronella and lemongrass candles seem to help a tiny bit, but I can’t tolerate their strong scents. I worry about spraying my skin with mosquito repellent because it might end up rubbing off on the cats and making them sick. What to do, what to do….oh, I know — just stay inside and knit! (Funny how everything can be made into a reason to knit, huh? That’s part of the obsession I guess!)

I have to knit for who?

After I got over my giddiness at receiving my confirmation for the Knitter’s Review Retreat, I read through the info pack Clara sent to all of the attendees.  One of the events is called a “New Beginnings” session, and all attendees are asked to bring materials for one new project.  Ok, no problem.  But here’s the kicker: the project has to be for myself, and it should be something I normally wouldn’t do (new technique, more challenge, etc.).   This is perfect for where I am mentally right now, because I’ve been missing knitting-purely-for-pleasure time in my life over the past couple of years.  But I’m overwhelmed with the possibilities for this New Beginnings project!  How do I choose?

The Leading Contenders

Here are the likely prospects as of today, from yarn in my stash:

• There are 2 skeins of Rio de la Plata kettle dyed merino in the softest pale pink that have been calling out to me for months….”We want to become a beautiful lacy feminine wrap!”
• I just acquired several skeins of beautiful hand-dyed sock yarn from Knit Witch, and these yarns have been pretty persistent too: “We’ll be your favorite socks and wristwarmers…promise!”
• Quiviut from my most recent trip to Alaska.  It doesn’t yell, but the soft whispering is just as persuasive as the shouting from the other yarns.  “Psst, c’mon, you know you’ll never knit anything as amazing as us.”

I think these are the favorite yarns in my stash right now, and the quiviut has a slight lead over the others because it’s been in the stash the longest.  It’s only fair to use my inventory on a FIFO basis, right?  And I have a special interest in the quiviut as well: here’s a picture of Caesar, a musk ox who lives in Palmer, Alaska.  (Just before this picture I sat with my back to the fence for another picture, and Caesar took a gentle nibble of my fleece pullover…what an awesome animal!)

Next in the selection process is choosing a pattern or at least a type of project.  The anticipation of getting to browse patterns with the intention of knitting something special for myself is filling me with giddiness all over again.  (In case you haven’t noticed, my word for today is “giddiness”.)

And I get to knit a hat (or several if I get inspired) to be donated to cancer patients as part of the Hats for Hugs program.  I don’t think I’ve knitted anything for charity for 2 or 3 years, and that’s just not right.  So I’m excited about that too.  I’ve already gone through my stash to find yarns that I can use for hats.  I think I should keep a hat project with me all the time so I can grab extra knitting time when I have time to spend in a line or something.

Ok, one more time, just for the fun of it: GIDDINESS!

I’m IN, I’m IN!

After being frustrated last year by not making it off of the waiting list, I cannot tell you how thrilled I was today to get my confirmation for this year’s Knitter’s Review Retreat in November.  And my excitement isn’t diminished even after I realize that the retreat is on the same weekend as the Ohio State v. Michigan football game, meaning I’ll miss our annual rivalry game for the first time in 19 years.  Wow, that feels really weird.  I’ll probably have to find a way to check in on the game while I’m at the retreat, but I definitely won’t be watching the whole game and screaming for my Buckeyes as usual.  

I’ve attended lots of other knitting-related events like fiber festivals and several of the big Stitches conventions, and have lost my enthusiasm for them lately because of the corporate hype that surrounds some of them, and the huge markets where I usually end up buying more yarn than I can ever use, and the sheer exhaustion that results from it all.  The Knitter’s Review Retreat sounds like such a nice change from that type of event….just a short weekend in a small hotel in Massachusetts, with only a couple classes and a small market, and plenty of time to relax and reconnect with my knitting.  Since knitting is also my job now, I’ve found that I rarely get time to knit something purely for the pleasure of it, with no deadline.  That’s what I hope to get from this retreat.  I cannot wait until November!

Speaking of football, the weather today is classic football weather….temp in the low 70s, bright blue sky with big clouds, a few leaves changing color already…I love it!  It looks like we’re already done with summer here in southeast Michigan after about 10 days of temps in the high 80s and low 90s, and I’m completely fine with that.  I’d be thrilled if summer lasted about 2 weeks long and let fall take over the extra weeks….imagine if the beauty of fall could last for 4 or 5 months! (This picture is from last fall in northern Ohio.)

A quick bit of Knitting Matters event news: if you are anywhere near Russellville, Arkansas, make sure you stop by Knit 2 Together to see the Knitting Matters trunk show.  They’ll have a selection of scarves, wraps, and handwarmers from September 1-15, 2009.  Tell them Kim sent you! (Sorry no link, they don’t have a website yet.  But they’re on Main Street in Russellville and are easy to find.)

There’s no crying in baseball!!

Thankfully, a wise and kind yarn shop owner stepped up to give me some encouragement after my last post where I whined about feeling discouraged.   Her thoughts gave me perspective, helped me to step back a bit and calm down, and now I’m trying to refocus on doing what I do and doing it well, while also thinking up new ways to stand out in an overcrowded market.  I’m reminded of a quote I used to have pinned up on my wall: “Fall down 7 times, stand up 8.”  (Oddly, I had thought that was attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but a quick web search seems to indicate that it’s a translation of a Japanese proverb. )  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve fallen so far, but I guess it’s time to stand up once again and get on with it.  Or as Tom Hanks said, “There’s no crying in baseball!”.   Just change it to “There’s no whining in knitting!” and imagine Tom shouting it out….funny.

I’m suddenly feeling an urge to dig out all those little slips of paper that used to decorate my office walls in my “Zig Ziglar years”.  If you keep that kind of stuff out all the time it starts to feel sort of corny in a 1980’s way, but maybe I can use a little dose of it at a time to keep myself in the right frame of mind.  Any favorite motivational quotes to suggest?

Rant (yes, maybe I’m hormonal today, but still….)

Libby feels the same way I do!

I’ve got 2 new designs on the needles…well, one is already off the needles and just needs the ends woven in and photos taken. The other one is a scarf that I’m planning to use in my ad in the Gifts issue of Interweave Knits. But the artwork for the ad is due next week, so I’d better get busy working on that, huh?

But I’m struggling lately to stay enthused about my job, which makes for many sleepless nights and frustrating days. It’s not the designing and knitting part that’s a problem (I love that part), but sales to yarn shops have dropped to a virtual trickle this summer. I had better-than-expected sales at the trade show in June (TNNA), and was encouraged by the responses I got from talking to yarn shop owners there. But aside from the trade show floor, it’s SO difficult to get the attention of a yarn shop owner and get them to promote your patterns. I’ve worked hard over the past few years to try to see things from their perspective in terms of patterns: they don’t really like having to buy and stock patterns because selling yarn is their main business and where they make their profits. I get that, really I do. So I tell them that I realize that patterns are only a “tool” to selling more yarn, and I try to give them ways to make better use of that tool — I offer POPtags, trunk shows, a retailer newsletter with promotional ideas; I write great patterns; I include generic yarn requirements so they can always match the patterns to yarns they sell in their shops; I spend money to advertise my brand (which helps shops sell my patterns). And I get great feedback about my patterns too.  I’m a member of both TNNA and AKD.  But even with all that, it’s hard to get orders right now. I know the economy is slow, but I don’t think that’s the biggest part of this problem. 

The market for knitting patterns is absolutely glutted….there are thousands of sources for patterns, many of them free, lots of them poor quality, and all of them competing for attention from yarn shop owners and knitters.   And we’re also in a transitional period where some patterns are available as downloads from the internet, and I think shop owners (and publishers like myself) are deciding if and how they want to participate in that aspect of the market.  I think everyone in the industry is struggling to be heard — my frustration is beginning to wear me down though, and I’m sad about that.  And what’s worse, the success of my business is tied directly to my self-esteem.  So unless I can figure out how to stand out in a crowded marketplace, I’m headed for more frustration.   Anyone want to do a good deed today and help get me over this hump with some motivation or encouragement?  Please?

What really annoys me is that I consider myself a very creative person when it comes to marketing (I have a degree in it too), but I still can’t figure out a way to make money in this business.  {Bangs head against wall}

Scrumptious Yarn

As I mentioned in my last post, I got a delivery of the most beautiful yarn just as we were leaving for vacation. I opened the package and took a peek at this from Knit Witch:

My pictures don't do it justice, trust me! (I couldn't take a good picture of yarn if my life depended on it.)

I thought about that yarn ALL week long, and I just can’t wait to play with it. The colors are “Portland Rain” (top) and “Illumination” (bottom).   And kudos to Brittany for working her marketing muscles too: she also sent me a tiny little skein of another colorway (“Pisces”), and I will DEFINITELY be ordering some of this one too.  Do you think she’ll have mercy on me if I ask her NOT to send me any more samples in the next package?

 I can’t resist adding a few more vacation pictures here — enjoy your virtual trip to Michigan’s U.P.!

Vacation is in the rear view mirror now

We spent last week in a rented lakehouse on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, our first trip “up north” since we moved to Michigan in 2000.

"Indian Head" at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

Arch Rock

I’d been told over the years that the U.P. was beautiful, and have always gotten a sense that native Michiganians are particularly proud of that part of their state.  Now I’ve finally seen why!  As you can imagine, a land mass that’s surrounded by Lake Michigan and Lake Superior can’t help but be a gorgeous place.  Our house was on a small lake about 25 miles south of Lake Superior, in the Hiawatha National Forest.   We thought we’d stayed in remote locations before, but this was really remote.  Seriously, you could probably get lost in those woods and never be found again.  We joked that we should keep an eye out for Bigfoot.  The closest encounters we had with other species were not nearly that exciting though — aside from a pair of hummingbirds and a pair of kingfishers that frequented the lakeside, the most exciting thing was finding this in the sand outside the house on our first morning:

Bear track in sand at our lake house

Yes, bear tracks.  Well, I haven’t verified that’s what they are, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  (If you find out they’re just big dog tracks, please don’t tell me.)

We took a 3 hour boat tour of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, which turned out to be a highlight of our week.  The pictures are the best I could do while trying to balance on a boat on rough waters, but I think I got some decent ones. (See above — and I hope to post more pics on Flickr as well.) Some of these cliffs are 200 feet high, and many are marked with vertical lines of minerals that leak out of the stone.  The park ranger told us we could tell them apart by colors: white is limestone, orange is iron, and green is copper.  Pretty cool.

Iron and limestone leaking from the rocks

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a couple pics of the hummingbird and kingfisher, blurry but still awesome I think.

Male hummingbird at feeder on deck

Hold still, little guy!

First time I ever photographed a Kingfisher!

Eric fished in our little lake three times, but only caught one pike the whole week. Disappointing for him, but at least he got some quiet time floating around in his canoe.

The weather was pretty good the whole week — highs in the low 70s each day and only a couple of short rain showers. On the last morning we awoke to steady rain and overcast skies, which was fitting for the end of vacation I guess. We drove through some very heavy rain on the way home, and found lots of heat and humidity waiting for us. Bleh. I’m much happier when temps are in the 70s.

Luckily the kitties were fine when we got home, and I gave them both big hugs. No matter how relaxing a vacation is, it’s always good to get back home afterwards!

I’m beginning to work my way through emails and other things that accumulated during the week, and have to get back to work on some knitting projects too. Oh, and in my next post I’ll show you the most beautiful yarn I received in the mail just before I left for vacation. It is scrumptious!