Snow day

This morning the snow was slow to show it's face. First we had a 2 hour delay and then finally they announced school was canceled and at that, it began to snow. Sounds odd, huh? Even though it hadn't quite hit by school time, it was coming and the schools around here don't like to take their chances on parents and kids venturing out into slick conditions. And there was a Nor'easter coming! Personally I love snow days. I feel absolutely no pressure to do anything at all. I have no idea why and despite the fact that ALL of my days are technically free from the pressures of a traditional 9-5 job, a snow day puts me into a completely different mindset. Suddenly my kids are all home with me during the day (much like they were all weekend?- yes, but now there is no bickering, the girls are basking in the glow of freshly fallen snow, holding hands and snuggling- they're like best friends on a snow day.) And we sort of feel like pioneers. I don't even feel the need to go out and shovel (ok, so the neighbors hate me). So far today the girls ventured out into the backyard for some pre-sledding snow fun (drat! I promised to taking them sledding... might need to reconsider that one.) Afterwards they came inside for a hot bowl of homemade soup.

As for me, I'm trying to sort through the progress of all of my projects. Last week I accomplished almost nothing at all on the sewing machine, but there was this one thing. I had one piece of organic cotton sitting under the presser foot all week and I kept going to it whenever I had a chance- sewing this stylized wood-grainy pattern. It's the last element for a new batch of little Lumpy play sets I'm finishing up. I'll use the wood grained fabric to make the little totes.

I also blocked sweater #5 of the year. It's an actual boy sweater! I know, I was shocked too. I've struggled so long to figure out what to make for little lads. I'm pretty happy with the sweater. It's as close to camo colored as i plan on getting. I'm calling it Mossy Boss. In related news, sweater #4 of the year has taken a turn for the worse. That sweater has become the bane of my existence. I say that too often, but seriously it's driving me crazy. I always start a sweater out not really knowing where it's going, but that sweater is terrible, I've frogged the sleeves at least twice already and look out because here comes the third! i also have to redo the pod pocket and figure out something to do with the bottom of it (already been frogged once) I should call that sweater Evil Orange Frogfest. It's sure to be a hot seller.

Tomorrow I pick up my yarn for my first custom sweater of the year. I'm excited to go to LYS I haven't been there for a while and I have some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket.
For right now, I have a dirty diaper to tend to and new little bunch of batts that just arrived and are calling my name...
Happy snow day to all you Nor'easterners out there!

To Do List, Business Cards, First Snow

This time of year I find myself to be a very conflicted person. On the one hand I'm very excited about having a happy holiday season and preparing for all the fun, and making presents and decorating. On the other hand, as a maker of children's goods I know that this is the most important time of the year for my business, so I feel I should be knitting, sewing, creating my fingers to the bone before I miss it. This year I can't have it both ways. So instead of making my family miserable while I pollute the house with fiber shavings and push the limits of child neglect, I've decided not to put too much pressure on myself to load up the Etsy shop as I someday dream it will be for the Holidays. I know that all sounds very vague. What exactly constitutes "too much pressure'"? Who knows? I'm just going to try not to freak out about business. Instead I'll be freaking out about the state of my house.

So here's the Holiday To Do:

1. Make some new stockings for the kids
2. Make an advent calender
3. Finish gifts for the Stocking Stuffer Swap
4. PLEASE finish setting up the playroom!
5. Decorate the house
6. Throw M1 a proper birthday party

[side note I just happened to look at the clock and it was 11:11:11 am, whoa]
Back to what I was saying before- Part of the reason I'm not too upset about missing out on prime business opportunities this Gift Giving Season is that I've been doing some serious work on the Lumpkin brand and. This week I designed a new logo and business card with my own lettering and everything. I've also been researching all of my favorite Etsy shop's policies. I'm trying to come up with a good clear brand that expresses what I'm trying to do with this business. I sent a brand new design of my very first recycled business cards off to the printers! I ordered them from Green Printer they were having a special. I did my last order through Overnight Prints and they were great cards, but cards are a huge reflection of my business practices and so how can I print them on new paper stock(wow that sounded pretty high/mighty huh?)? It was really important for me to go "green" on this now. It did cost a bit more and I expect the paper quality might not be as indestructible as my old cards. In addition, uploading my file to the Green Printer website wasn't quite as user friendly for me because my images required crop marks so I had to figure out all of that (ok, Lorenz did that). I'll let you know how the cards turn out.

All of this BRAND work has made me feel really good about my business. I guess I've always known that I'd have to completely define my brand before I could truly be happy with my end products. Babble babble babble.

One more thing,
we woke up to snow this morning...
house temp. 59'F burrrrr