wip wednesday

I feel like I have lots to say, but first my WIP Wednesday update. I met one goal this week: I finished my Grateful Dyed Socks. The pattern just needs a bit of refining and then its off to Josiane for test knitting (hopefully by Friday, Josiane!). Still hoping to sell it at my two upcoming events on June 1 and June 7. As far as my other knitting, I’m sticking to working on Melody and the Jaywalkers. Little bits of progress on both this week – at least a few rows. My goals for the week: use up at least a 1/4 ounce of the yarn remaining for Melody (that would equal at least a couple of inches), finally get into the dye studio and stay sane.

Remaining sane brings me to my next thing. Yes, I’m feeling a little crazed. You might notice it here by the lack of blogging. No time, no energy when I get home. I’m feeling like time is getting away from me for the last week or so. All of sudden its mid May. Next week, I start training at work to become a certified Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor. I am very excited about this – one of my first experiences in the field was as a Sexual Assault Crisis Counselor and I loved it. Its been many years since I’ve had the training (12? 13? lost track – I was in college) so I’m anxious to see how things have changed with new trends, laws, approaches and how my own perspective has changed over the years. The draw back is that the training is Monday through Thursday evenings through late June. Yikes. I’ll flex my hours at work when I can, but the reality is that I don’t want to let other things slip at work while I’m training, so I’ll work a lot of hours over the next several weeks. Its temporary and it comes with the territory (and I LOVE my job, so I sort of don’t mind). In the middle of training, I’m heading to Louisville for a training for four days, Monday through Thursday. Again, its going to be a great experience that I am so lucky to be able to participate in. Its just getting to that point – no doubt that once I get to the airport, I’ll leave everything else behind and be able to be fully present in the moment and enjoy it (both the training and the cushy hotel room, all to myself – just me and my knitting). Here’s the kicker – the conference is sandwiched between shows for The Painted Sheep on either end. June 1 is the opening day of the Coventry Farmer’s Market. June 7 is the Nutmeg Spinner’s Guild meeting. And you all bought all my inventory! Not that I’m complaining about that, I just have a whole lot to do between now and then. Combine all that with the general craziness of the last few weeks – the spring cleaning that resulted in an outbreak of eczema and has been on hold since (my curtains aren’t even back up), gardening and household projects that need doing, other Painted Sheep stuff that I have to catch up on and work stuff. And oh yeah, I have a husband, family and friends I’d like to spend time with. What it all comes down to is this: over the next several weeks, I’m going to try hard to maintain my sanity and balance all of it. I may complain now and then – but I’ll do so knowing that I am far happier and in a far better place than I was a few months ago. It may take me a little extra time to get Painted Sheep stuff done and I may be a bit slow to respond to emails but I’ll get to all of it, in time. Blog posts may be a bit sporadic, as they have been over the last week. If you come to my house, it’s going to be chaotic – between my own running around and my lack of time for housekeeping, meals, etc. Once I get through the next few weeks, things will return to “normal”. Just bear with me for a bit, OK?

Now that I’ve rambled a bit, there is one last thing that I feel I have to comment on. Over the last couple of weeks, there have been quite a few negative things happening in the fiber arts community. First, there were several thefts at Maryland Sheep and Wool, including cash and merchandise on Saturday night and someone blatantly stealing Clara Parkes’ shawl from its display at a booth (the shawl was a sample for her book – not only was the theft in the open, the person likely knew exactly what she was taking). At New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, a cash box was stolen from a vendor booth during the festival hours. Equally bad, if not worse were the incidents of stealing others’ creative work. The Bosworths – makers of the Journey Wheel and the gorgeous spindles – found a vendor both at the NH and CT festivals with copies of their spindles, nearly identical in appearance, made by an “unknown” producer being sold. They forced the vendor to remove them. There was an incident on Etsy this weekend of a seller using other sellers photos and word-for-word product descriptions in her listings. Some of you are aware that I have had my own issues around people using/copying/whatever you want to call it my creative work. I am quite aware that I have a particular sensitivity around this issue and tend to be on higher than normal alert to issues like this. I just feel like there is more and more, a lack of respect in our community. This is respect for one another’s property, be it physical or intellectual and respect for each other as human beings. Its time to stop the nonsense. If you can’t play nice, get of the damn sandbox.

Enough said.