Hello, and happy Wednesday! (* looks around * … it is Wednesday, right???) This week is a bit of a wash for me, work-wise — a dentist appointment on Monday in the late morning and a mammogram later today in the early afternoon, both of them an hour away from the studio. Hooray for taking care of myself, but boo for not feeling very accomplished. Oh, and after today’s appointment, I’m headed out of town. I’m coming back either Sunday or Monday (I’ll know by Saturday) and am planning on getting SO MUCH DONE NEXT WEEK. Meanwhile, what about last and this week?
In ceramics, I’ve taken some things off the website that I just know I’m not going to have time to update before the holidays. Time is at a premium and one lesson that’s been hard for me to learn through the years is that I can’t do it all. So instead of even putting something in the back of my head that sounds like “I’ll get around to this”… I’m just taking them down for the time being. If I leave them up, online, but showing sold out, I get notifications about that and feel guilty for not having time to make those things. So if I hide them, out of sight, out of mind? But then if I can get to them in the Spring, great - but then again, if nobody even notices they’re gone…? [ shifty eyes ]
In soap, I’ve about caught up on updates, which means it’s time to do inventory again, and make another round of things that are sold out. I’ve ordered more of the fragrances from those test batches I did last month, so expect those to show up when I start making things. And I’m going to make double what I need, because (knock on wood) GLAM is coming in December, and I want to be prepared! I feel like soap is going to be in high demand this year.
In yarn, I’ve dyed next month’s yarn, but it’s supposed to be more of a lighter color, and half of them came out too dark. That means I’ll overdye them and have a few One Hit Wonders soon, but it also means that I need to re-dye the color they’re supposed to be, and I’m very low on a couple of base yarns. The Pandemic has not been kind to some of my distributors - you may have seen this with some other small dyers, as well. Some base yarns that come from England are taking a lot longer to get here, or aren’t getting here at all. I’m almost out of Andre and Tepper… I’ll have enough to do these redyes, but that’ll wipe out my stock, I think. I keep hoping I’ll catch one of the scarce bags that shows up at my supplier, but… demand is high and stock is low to nonexistent. I may have to, like some other dyers have already done, look into alternate but similar base yarns for a while. I mean, which is better, or which is more frustrating? Not being able to dye a yarn because I’m out of base yarn? Or the base yarn being a little softer or a little sturdier for a couple of months? Ugh. Decisions.
In Patreon, I’m getting ready to put out a new chapter in a couple of weeks (first Sunday of November). Meanwhile, I’m also writing a series about things I’ve learned during the Pandemic. And I really, really need to catch up on Hanks posts. Oh! Both ceramics and yarn went out earlier this week, if you’re in those tiers. Our Discord text chat was last Sunday, and our Google Meet video chat will be the first Friday of November.
In knitting, I’m working on a modified log cabin blanket, and I’ve never been so grateful for mindless stockinette. All I really have to do is count rows, and the rest is relatively mindless. Usually I like complicated cabled patterns, but… but this is 2020, and up is down, black is white, left is right, and I’m enjoying stockinette. Bananas!!!
Let’s see… what else? I got a newsletter out this last week, that’s exciting! I plan on doing them monthly… and this was the first one I’ve done since April. Hahaha. Clearly you don’t have to worry about me spamming you with too many emails. As I mentioned above, I’m getting ready to go out of town for a few days. This’ll be a regular every-other-week occurrence for the time being; I’ll try to remember to mention it on social media a few days before I go away, in case anyone needs something shipped immediately. And I’ll have an announcement on my website with the days I’ll be gone and when things will ship out.
That’s about it for me. What are you up to? Rocking your vote? Enjoying the weather? Getting ready to start crafting holiday gifts? Or are you one of those people I’ve heard about who gets all their holiday shopping done by the end of October???