A Banner Week

This week, I passed 300 sales in my Etsy shop! I took a screen shot to post here, but just noticed that it doesn't show the completed sales. Now that I'm at 301 sales, it hardly seems worth sharing a screen shot of that.

I did a little analysis of my Etsy sales data as follows:
First sale on Etsy: June 25, 2007 I sold two items
Since that time, I've sold 227 knitting patterns
I've sold 29 of my hand knitted neck warmers
I've sold 44 other items
Lesson learned: I need to find time to create more knitting patterns. They are also incredibly easy to sell because they can be emailed to the buyer and don't require shipping or the purchase of materials.

Also, this week I had the second of my two glass bead making classes. This was at the local college craft shop. There were five students in the class, and I was the one who made the fewest beads in our two sessions. The photo above shows my product from two weeks' classes. I did manage to make two somewhat odd buttons which was my motivation for learning glass bead making. I wanted to see if it was a viable option for making buttons. I do think it could be although fused glass may be an even better option. To do it right I would have to invest a considerable amount in equipment and materials and I don't think I'm ready for that.

Worldless Wednesday

Railroad Romantic Notions

This is a photo J took recently in the "Portneuf Gap" area just south of Pocatello. You can see the recent snow on the mountains above Pebble Creek Ski area near Inkom, ID. Pocatello still has a presence by the UPRR, but the rails around here are pretty inactive these days, just the occasional freight train.

There's an effort underway to get the passenger Pioneer train route returned to our area. Cost estimates are so high, it seems unlikely it will come to pass though. I'd love to be able to ride the train over to Boise when I have to go for meetings, especially in the winter when the freeway to the West can be interesting to say the least. Years ago when we did have passenger service, the schedule was so awful (departure around 2 am I believe) that I didn't utilize it.

I had romantic notions about train trips from my childhood when we frequently rode the Canadian Pacific but they were pretty much dispelled when I took my last long train ride (from Portland to the Bay Area in California in the late 70s or early 80's. I had wonderful experiences on trains in Europe and Japan in my college years, too, so when we had the opportunity to take a train for a Christmas visit to my family in California, we jumped at the chance. It was too expensive for our young family to get a sleeper car, so we sat in the uncomfortable seats with a toddler. We missed our connection in the Bay area and had go across town and catch a bus for the last few hours of our trip. By the time we arrived at our destination, we were exhausted and determined to avoid trains in the future.

Why is it that we can't get public trans portion right like they do in so many other parts of the world?

Two more weeks

Market 10/17/09
Originally uploaded by HMOriginals

The Farmer's market is winding down, just two more weeks after today. It was a glorious sunny fall day...started out very cold, but the sun really warmed things up.

How do you like my new tent? Click on the photo for a larger view. I've had it about a month and really like how easy it is to put up and take down.

Halloween at the Market

I'm long past the years of trick or treating with my children and my grand-daughter is too far away and too young. To be honest, during my adult years, I've always seen Halloween as a it of a chore. Here in Idaho, where I raised my children, Halloween is likely to be very cold. You have to bundle up in coats, wool socks and the like and I always thought that took a lot of the fun out of the evening. I also thought it was sad when the homemade popcorn balls, cookies, and candies went by the wayside due to parental safety concerns and x-raying candy became a part of the holiday routine. I have fond memories of making popcorn balls with Karo syrup. We all knew about the special neighbors, like my Mom, that gave the best homemade treats. It's too bad today's kids don't get to experience that. The one saving grace to the holiday for me is seeing the cute little faces come to the door (I'm not as fond of the big teenage ones, especially those who don't make an effort to even appear to be in costume).

I'm remembering a neighbor in my youth who responded to the usual "Trick or Treat?", with "trick" and told us we need to perform some sort of trick for his enjoyment. He would only give us candy if we performed. I don''t recall what we came up with. That was probably about 1959 and the thought of soaping his windows wouldn't have even crossed our minds.

This year, I'll be at the Farmer's Market in downtown Pocatello for Halloween. The usual selling time has been extended to an all day affair including a parade, pumpkin caring, and trick or treating. if you're in Pocatello, drop by for a treat on me. I probably won't make you perform a trick for your treat.

Featured Blogger

The Etsy Blogger's featured blogger this month is Made by Melissa. Above is my favorite item from her shop, a lovely crocheted scarf in Mohair. You can also check out her blog here.

Giant Knitted Poem

Giant knitted poem unveiled at British Library 7 October
Originally uploaded by thepoetrysociety

I had to post this photo and you really must click on it to see it large.
Poetry and kitting, two of my favorite things!

Go here to see the poem and here to see more photos of the process of creating this giant poem.

Halloween Greed--An Admission

Before I get to my short story, isn't this an adorable hat? I didn't knit it, it comes from the Etsy shop of KarlenKnits. I didn't have a suitable Halloween photo and thought I would like to feature another Etsy artist who had one. I hope you will check out her shop; right now she has this cute hat available in several sizes.

I laughed when I read her shop introduction becasue she says " I learned at my grandmother's knee that "anything worth doing is worth doing well", so I strive for exceptional craftsmanship." because that is something I heard many, many times from my own mother. I recall my mother making me take out a zipper that I had put in the wrong side of the first skirt I sewed. I couldn't understand why that was important at the time because it worked perfectly well on my right side instead of the left.

Now on to my story which is a bit of a confession about a Halloween past. One of the blog carnival topics for the Etsy Bloggers this month is: Share your favorite Halloween memory from your childhood (it could be a costume, party, etc.). I have to say that this is the Halloween memory which is most vivid to this day. Of course I have wonderful Halloween memories of making cute costumes for my children (superman, Beetle juice, Big Bird, clown are some I recall). Here in Idaho, however, the Halloween costume is often hidden under a warm winter coat. Growing up in California, we were able to go out trick or treating without outerwear.


When I was in about 6th grade, my best friend and I dressed up and went out trick or treating. I'm sure I was wearing one of my mother's handcrafted costumes. She was an excellent seamstress and made some wonderful ones. We got the usual mass quantity of candy by visiting each house in the neighborhood but it was still pretty early and apparently we weren't satisfied with what we had So we went home, changed into different costumes (gypsies or witches as I recall) and went out a second time, visiting the same homes again. I remember feeling a bit giddy as we headed out, then worried we'd be found out by a neighbor(I don't recall that we were) then ashamed about our activities. At least, thinking about it now, I hope we were a little ashamed. I can't imagine that our parents knew what we were doing and allowed it.

We all do things in our youth we wouldn't want to be known by our parents or society at large. I guess in the big scheme of things our Halloween greed isn't so awful as far as misdeeds go.

Comfort Food, Comfort Knitting

I'm feeling a bit under the weather, more tired than ill I think. J was very sweet and went to the grocery store with my list to do the week's shopping (usually we go together).

I think of this knitting project I just finished as the knitting version of "comfort food" It's a comfortable, cozy creation, called "Mr. Greenjeans". It was named for the color "greenjeans" of Miss Priss yarn it was created with. My yarn, called "Perfection" by Kramer is a made in the USA wool/acyclic blend that is machine washable.

I blocked it yesterday, sewed in a few ends and the button today, and it is ready to go on it's first trip with me tomorrow.

In the meantime, in my kitchen, I was preparing my idea of "comfort food" this time of year, my homemade chicken pot pie. See here for my recipe in an earlier post. Unfortunately the photos of the finished product were eaten by Flickr when my account was deleted by them some time back. I'll try to get new photos later today before we eat it.

PS here is the finished pie: