Stitches West

I know it has been more than a year since I updated my blog. From my previous postings you can see that I was experimenting with knitting patterns on my work and if you have been following me on facebook and instagram, you know how busy that has made me.
I just thought instead of writing long posts, I might just make shorter posts about what is happening in the studio and what is on my needles.
So last week, I went to Stitches West as a vendor for the first time. It was a great show and got to meet so many knitters who have been following my work.
Here are some of the highlights. Visit from Stephen West of westknits designs. Love all his patterns and how he plays with colors. Though I am not so much of a neon person, I admire his courage and have knit several of his patterns. And after setup was the StevenBe and Stephen West fashion show.

 My stash enhancement. I was good and on a yarn diet. But..... Miss Babs... How could I resist those colors? And I have always wanted to knit with spincycleyarns from Bellingham, WA. Got myself a sock bag for my travel knitting from Slipped Stitch Studio.

 And here are some pictures of my booth with new garter Stitch pattern pieces. I sold out of the needle keeper vases on the first day.

I had also taken some amazing handmade buttons from potter and friend, Ginger Steele. (Also known as my Whitey mom). More on those later... I selected some for my sweaters as well. Loved each and every one of them.

Mugs, Tumblers and Cup Marathon

Working in production can sure teach you a lot fo things. I have been making mugs, cups and tumblers with buttons for 5 years now and never did I have a problem with the buttons. Recently I was running really low on them and decided to go for a marathon of making mugs and cups. These are entirely handbuilt from slabs of clay and wrapped around to emmulate the look of fabric. To add to the effect I add buttons. With this marathon, I made 80+ mugs/tumblers/cups. It was a fun guessing game on Facebook when everyone jumped in guessing the number of buttons I had to put on these cups. I had to make 308 buttons total!! Since this was a lot of buttons, I changed my method slightly. Instead of making 10 buttons at a time and sticking them, I made 20 buttons at a time. This did speed up my process but everything comes at a price. Everything came out fine in the bisque firing and great in the glaze firing too. And then it was like watching a horror movie unfold in front of me. While sitting on the shelf after 3-4 hours of getting out of the kiln, I started hearing pops and pings. Curious to see what it was, I noticed a button from a cup just pop out! This has never happened so I was in complete disbelief. I did loose quite a few and I am now working on figuring out how to fix them and sell them as seconds. So look out for an online seconds sale coming up soon, where these will be sold at 50% off. I will make them look pretty again, so they will still be good. And while I am still stratching my head wondering what went wrong, I get an email which brings back a smile to my face. One of my repeat customers, Robyn, has been purchasing my mugs over the last few years. She sends me a picture of all my mugs and bowls she has purchased sitting pretty in her kitchen. She is using them everyday and loving them.Just made my day seeing a dedicated shelf for my work!