J-Flo, your order is ready for pickup

It's amazing what you can get done in a day when you don't have a job. Like take pictures of custom orders for your etsy shop.

Here's the set Justin made for our friend Jennifer over at Ophelia McPhee.



Justin and Jennifer worked out a trade -- he'd make gloves and a hat for her if she would do a painting for him.

When she asked what he wanted, he said without hesitation, "A painting of Dog the Bounty Hunter."

Um, OK. We at Teapot Hollow may need to go into negotiations about that, but this trade has nothing to do with me so I don't see how I can win.



However, we both hope our friend Jennifer will enjoy her foxy new accessories. If you'd like a set -- or even just the gloves or hat -- we would be more than happy to work that out for you.

Oh karma, you are the boss of me

Remember just a few hours ago where I wrote a big post about work? Too much work? Waaa waa waa?

I was "laid off" today. So. More time to crochet, I guess.

It's enough to drive you crazy if you let it

Back in December, I had the good fortune of a freelance job landing in my lap. I wasn't looking for the extra work, but when my boss was contacted by a former hometown football hero looking for a page designer, my boss recommended me.

The work comes along once a month -- almost like other annoying things that show up on a monthly schedule -- and it's always a big, stressful mess. As much as I like to pretend that I can fly by the seat of my pants, the lack of organization and structure involved with the work makes me want to punch someone in the neck.

I shouldn't be complaining, right? I have not one but two jobs in a time where work is scarce. People are losing their jobs every day, but I have plenty. But there are so many things about the freelance that just make me want to cry -- being a big old baby in general the least of them. You can ask Justin: I'm not happy unless I'm busy. Most of the time I am literally unable to sit still. I have to clean and tidy and sort and organize morning, noon and night. And when I do give myself a break from all of that, I want to spend ten minutes crocheting or updating the blog. So it would make sense that having more work to do would be just the thing for me. But it's not. In addition to all the learning on the fly we're doing with the start-up publication I freelance for, it seriously cuts into my at-home time. And after many years of being a social butterfly, flitting from one place to the next in false eyelashes until sunrise, home is where I want to be most of all. With Justin and our dogs and our yarn.

This is why I want etsy to work for us. We both really enjoy creating things and brainstorming about new projects and encouraging each other. We would be making things with or without an etsy shop, but our coat closet simply cannot hold one more scarf or hat.

Yesterday, while I worked up hundreds of photographs while also doing my "real" job, Justin made me a pair of sky blue fingerless gloves. With spring on the horizon, we've talked about things we can do to keep our shop stocked with things folks will want year round. I found an awesomely easy pattern for the cutest mary jane slippers on ravelry.com and Justin is considering socks. I still have lofty goals in the sewing department, too.

I guess what I'm getting at is that I spend enough time working. And I want my spare time (and Justin's) to be filled with work that truly makes us happy. Like fingerless gloves and unfinished mixed berries scarves (which I will be able to finish now because Justin scored more yarn for me yesterday!) and cute little cloth napkins. And I guess it will be, because it always has been.



Right now, this is the most-viewed item in our shop. It's very nice, no? Justin made it himself and it is lovely. We've reduced the price on it to $15. It's 100% wool, and it's soft, not scratchy.



This is one of the gloves Justin made for me yesterday. We don't have a pair listed in the shop yet, but if you'd like to have your own, let us know. He just finished a custom pair in orange for Ophelia McPhee. We will list the gloves and matching hat in our shop as a reserved item if you would like to see more photos. We aim to have that done in the next day or so.



This is Rowdy. He is not for sale and he doesn't freelance. Sorry.

Thawing out

We survived last week's ice storm. My sister-in-law X told me today that her parents are still without electricity! We were lucky enough to have kept our electricity throughout the whole mess, but we did lose our cable briefly Thursday night. We went out for pizza and returned to cable and Internet. It was a close call.

I spent the ice storm working on the mixed berries scarf. Of course, I had to go to work for a few hours every day but being on early deadlines gave me plenty of time to crochet when I got home.

Sadly, I ran out of yarn while I was doing the edging on the scarf. I could have pulled it out, made it a few rows shorter and been OK. But for now I'm happy to leave it unfinished.

Justin has whipped up a pair of arm warmers for our friend over at Ophelia McPhee. He's working on the matching hat now.

I finished a hat and scarf set. They remind me of a box of Valentine chocolates.



I also managed a set of pink and black coasters. I'll be working on a custom order of brown and red coasters for X, and some wash cloths are in the works, too. Have you tried a wash cloth crocheted with cotton yarn? You don't know what you're missing.

My husband wanted me to mention that I've hogged the can of mixed nuts while I was writing this. Someone has to eat all the cashews.

Snow day

Or, more accurately, ice day.

When I left for work Monday afternoon, the bad weather hadn't hit yet. It wasn't even raining! But about an hour after getting there, the situation outside had skipped bad and just went straight on to worse. A co-worker brought me home. I left my car at the office and Justin and I spent the day at home today.

We also stayed up late "crafting." Justin has ventured into the realm of knitted mittens. Once I finish something, I go through a restless phase. I start something, tear it out, start over on the same thing. Tear it out, find a new skein to work from, tear it out. Read two pages in a book. Go back to the original ball of yarn and THEN settle into the next project. Justin usually likes to see something through when he starts on it. I usually get about halfway through a project and start thinking, "Hmmm, I'd like to look at a different yarn for a while!" Needless to say, last night I tore out a scarf I was working with the new yarn I bought at Knit Wicks on Sunday. I flitted around for a while trying to commit to a yarn, a pattern, anything, before I went hunting for some yarn Justin bought me a year ago. Since I'd already started projects with it before and tore it apart, I was able to settle in and start making a scarf. About two hours passed and I said, "Oooh! You know what I want to do? Make a white popcorn scarf!"

And perhaps I will, but for now I'm determined to keep working on my mixed berries scarf.



Tomorrow we will have to venture out to work, but we're really lucky to still have electricity and Internet in all this icy mess.

Spinning yarns

Every once in a while, I get to go with Justin while he works. It's rare, but on days like today, it's a matter of getting two birds with one stone, so to speak. While he was at the yarn shop earlier in the week, the owner told him there would be knitting gathering this afternoon. And because sometimes news photos are hard to come by, he decided to go back today and get a picture of the knitters.

By the time we got there around 2 p.m., the place was packed with men, women and children. Some were knitting, some were spinning, some were making polymer clay buttons. Everyone was having fun. Justin got a spinning lesson from a really awesome woman named Diana, who has been spinning for 25 years. She also makes her own drop spindles. She was really patient, but also really passionate about wheels and fibers. I think spinning is something Justin would like to explore, but a spinning wheel -- no matter how basic -- is a costly investment. Like everything he tries, he took to it like a duck to water. When he was done, Diana rolled up his yarn (maybe half an ounce) and gave it to me. She suggested putting it in a shadowbox with a bay leaf to keep the moths away.

Needless to say, he got some great photos of a 6-year-old girl learning to spin with Diana, a lot of great information and a better-than-average Sunday afternoon at work. I bought a set of bamboo crochet hooks -- a life-changing experience -- and two balls of wool. Some of the ladies at the yarn shop inspired Justin to venture into the realm of knitting socks, but he's currently giving a shot at a pair of wool mittens for me. Although I was always better at crocheting than knitting, the ladies also convinced me that knitting a pair of socks was a breeze. I bought a few new books today, too, and although I can't promise I'll ever try it, I have an arsenal of information within arm's reach if I ever decide to.

I finished the red and black acrylic scarf today and listed the pea soup scarflette in our shop today. So, for the week, I've done two scarflettes and one regular scarf. Plus a handful of wash cloths and face scrubbies. I also finally mailed Candy's scarf to her, which is another goal met for the week.



This is the "Brick is Red" scarflette with the birds-eye maple button. I haven't listed it yet, but you can look for it tomorrow or the next day.

What we're doing now

Yesterday I spent my time before work hanging out with Justin's mom. She was passing through the area on her way to another place, so we got to spend some quality time together doing our favorite things: Eating and shopping. Justin's mom bought me a fabulous new mirror in a cheerful yellow frame with red flowers all around. She and I had seen it in the shop about a year before and I loved it then. The shop girl told us it was on sale yesterday, so my mother-in-law had them wrap it up for me. Now I will have to pester Justin until he hangs it up.

Anyway, spending time with my mother-in-law was a nice little break. The night before I'd finished another little scarflette in brick red and Justin made another button for me in birds-eye maple. While I was out playing yesterday and not worrying about the etsy shop, he was able to stop at the local knitting hangout and picked up some Peruvian wool. He also went to a library's used books shop and found an old instructional book about knitting and crocheting. He came home and taught himself a new stitch. He is currently working on a basket weave cap. I, however, am taking the easy way out with a black-with-red scarf from the stash of acrylic yarn I've been hanging onto for years. I doubt there will ever be a shortage of acrylic yarn -- in the world or in my home -- so I might as well do something with it.

I joined the ARETSY team on Wednesday for etsy sellers in Arkansas. I want to link to their blogs here and I hope I can start working on that tonight.

But, my goal for the day is to finally mail the scarf I made for my friend Candy. I told her probably two weeks ago that I had made one, and then I got swept up in getting the shop ready. I'd made it to surprise her anyway, so if I hadn't told her about it she wouldn't know how long I'd put off mailing it. Maybe she'll forgive me when she sees it.