hey i met another blogger

I went to St. Louis this past weekend to meet up with my friend Silvana and from there we (and a few others) were all going to embark on a trip to Tennessee. What a weekend. But while I was in St. Louis Thursday evening, I went with my friend Silvana to a Tupperware party she had been invited to from our friend Deborah. I brought my knitting with me because Tupperware isn't really my thing and because I tend to feel more comfortable with people I don't know if I have something to do with my hands. :) So I'm knitting away and it just so happened that another lady who has a knitting shop in St. Louis was there and took my picture. She even asked if she could post it on her blog. How nice! Anyways, I know this is a tiny post, but it's been a tiring weekend and I've got a lot to catch up to. One of these days I'll get all creative and post something fun. Until then, take care all!

more knitting and crazy mad sewing

What a busy week! Busy and exhausting! I've been working like a mad woman sewing wedding gowns. I actually ended up staying up all night on Monday and worked until noon on Tuesday so I could finish them in time so that they could be air-mailed to their destination by Wednesday afternoon. I know there are a lot of people out there who do all-nighters on a regular bases, but I cannot handle them very well. I'll work late a lot, but working through the night and realizing that the sun is rising and you still have several more hours of work left is absolutely no fun at all. It pretty much drains all energy from my system. I've been trying to recover all week and I'm still tired! Plus it got me on a really bad schedule so now I'm not really sleepy until 2a.m. aghh. Not good! Anyway, enough talk of that! It's been awhile since I've written in my blog. I know I should try to make this a regular thing, but I tend to be sporadic in my blogging. Plus I haven't had much time to think up anything creative to write. Not that my writing is creative to begin with! :)

::the crazy sewing disaster::


Lately I've been knitting to help deal with stress. It actually works! I figure that since I always need something to do with my hands and because I sew for a living, knitting is a project I can do purely for myself, but still feel like I'm being productive and I only have to do it when I feel like it. Not that I never knit for others or for friends, but I'd think it would suck to knit for a profit. I don't even count the hours I put into knitting. The best part about knitting is that you can pretty much take it anywhere you want. I always have these high hopes for my knitting, although I lack a lot of skill. I'm doing better than I used to and I'm starting to make things I never thought I could make. Right now I'm working on three projects. They're mostly pretty simple, although the stitches are new ones I learned for each of these projects. I'm also finally attaching the lace edge to the knitted Mariposa I talked about in a previous post. I put that off for awhile because I wasn't sure how I was going to knit all around the body. I'm not even sure if I'm doing it right, but I guess we'll see what happens when I bind off the edge! I still have a ways to go. It's supposed to be three inches wide and I've only done about one. I'm hoping it will be finished by November. For those of you who don't know or haven't figured out by now, I do quite a bit of living history. Mainly centered in the time periods between 1850-mid1860s. I do mostly the time period around the Civil War, though I've been doing quite a lot of living history events with my St. Louis friends and we also do the 1850s. Right now we're at 1857, next year it will be 1858 etc. So it's kind of fun to do an earlier period than the Civil War for a change. So this winter cap I'm hoping to wear to the event I'm attending at the Boone Village down in Defiance, Missouri in about a month. Come to think of it, all of my knitting projects right now are from 1850 or '60s patterns. But most of them (except the cap!) I'm planning to wear with my modern clothes. I really doubt anyone could tell the difference and if they can, so what? Everyone knows I'm a dork anyway. :)

::yarn over, knit two together::


::1850 necktie in blue and white::


::comfort scarf::


In other news I've taken up shoemaking once again! I promised a pair to my friend Deborah and it's been over a year now since I told her that. In fact, it could be two years...ack! She knitted me a lovely cap for living history stuff and every time I look at it I think "oh crap, I gotta make those shoes." So finally I got the "bug" again and was all inspired to make shoes again. There is no way I'd make shoes to sell, unless I accidentally made a pair that didn't fit. They are very labor intensive and the whole sole is made by hand and attached by hand. The uppers can be sewn by a machine, except for the eyelets on the side for lacing. Those all have to be done by hand. That's about 32 hand sewn eyelets per pair. If I'm really fast, an eyelet will take 2-3 minutes to sew. That's over an hour of sewing for just the eyelets alone and that's if I crank them out one right after the other. I don't even know how long it takes to sew the uppers to the soles! But this is another project I can do while watching movies or hanging with friends. The first time I made shoes I brought them to a discussion group I go to at the coffee shop. Most of the people there knew I was a little wacky anyway, so they didn't mind. Hey, my friend Shaun even calls me "grandma" every time I bring my knitting into the shop. But it's all in good fun.

::every lady her own shoemaker, by a lady. published 1856::


::two pairs of shoes::


Well, I suppose I should wrap this up for today. Off to do more sewing and think of inspiring images. I have been getting the urge to cut my hair again after seeing this picture I found on flickr. It's SO flipping adorable! Why is it that every time I decide I'm going to grow my hair out, I find all these cute women running around with adorable bobs and suddenly I don't really want my hair long anymore?? I swear I get the bug every single year around this time. Anyone have any inspiring images of women with long hair that will help me to realize I need to keep it growing? Have a lovely weekend everyone!

coffee is good

Drink fair trade.

This important message brought to you by someone who cares. :)

weekend with my sister

So this past weekend I decided to go visit my sister. She recently moved into a new apartment, so I finally got to see her place. It's this really cool old building that was built in the 1920's and if you know me and my sister, we absolutely love old things and old buildings. So she was pretty happy when she was able to get this place. I took a few pictures of it, although she still has a lot to do before she feels like it's "done." But I figure when decorating, you have to take your time, otherwise you'll end up adding things you really don't like. She's kind of stumped with what to put up as far as art goes, but seeing as she's an artist herself (she's a graphic designer) I'm sure she'll figure it out. In the meantime, I will probably send her random pictures I find in the random blogs I read. Because that's what I do. :)


::my sister and her friends at the hog roast!::



::coffee in the morning::



::the blouse i made - yeah i know, it's a horrible shot of me::



::farmer's market::







::my sister's apartment::







::katie was searching for turn-tables on ebay. :) ::

end of summer

I realize I haven't posted anything in quite awhile. I've been feeling rather overloaded with work lately. It's something I know I just have to get used to... Stress is one of those things I can't deal with easily and whenever there are what seem like a million things on my plate, I just feel unsettled and I HATE that feeling. So I'm trying to learn how to deal with stress and all that lovely stuff. It's just one of those things you learn to deal with throughout life I guess. There's this WWII poster I think of every time I'm feeling a little worried. It simply says "Keep Calm and Carry On." Isn't that lovely? I am determined to acquire that print someday. For the time being I have a little posted note written to myself and stuck to my calendar. So every time I look up I see that note. :) Oh, life...it's so wonderful and yet so confusing at the same time.

Here's something I wrote a few days ago...

--
Summer has passed us by and now it's the beginning of the dead season. Not that I don't like autumn, but there is a deadness about autumn that can be slightly depressing. I felt like I never really got to enjoy summer until it was half over. I made an effort to wear sundresses on particularly hot days. I even went swimming for the first time in YEARS. I had forgotten how much fun it was. I want to go to the lake again and jump in the water. I want to have a chance to wear that new bathing suit I got! I want to have time to walk around the countryside on terribly hot and muggy days. I want to be outside for hours and hours and not get an ounce of a tan on my skin, unless you count the thirty freckles that suddenly appeared all over my face, arms and knees. I want to have spontaneous dance parties every single night. I want to listen to music in the car, with all the windows rolled down... I want to camp out on random nights, with no tent and no sleeping bag. Just a few blankets and some friends.

It's not that summer is so much different from the rest of the year, except of course the weather is quite a bit different here. But I don't go to school, so it's not like I have less work to get done than I do any other day out of the year. But there's something about summer that is freeing. It's almost like you feel more free just because you can walk outside with your bare feet on, a tank top and a cotton skirt and suddenly you feel as though you're apart of everything around you. Yes, that last sentence sounds a little strange, but for me sometimes I feel like that. Maybe it's not just summer I'm thinking of. Maybe it's every day out of the year. Maybe I'm forgetting that there's lovely things to look at, even when it's 20 below outside. Or maybe it's just that I feel like I didn't appreciate the summer as much as I could have...and now it's already gone. Look outside the window and realize what a beautiful world this is...before it all melts away.
--

I was going to go to Kentucky this weekend, but that didn't end up working out so I've decided to go visit my sister in Des Moines to celebrate her 25th birthday. (Happy birthday, Katie!!) I'll bring my camera and will try to go a little wild with it. But then again, there's no trying necessary for me. I love taking pictures. So we'll see...perhaps I will post again before long. Take care everyone out there in cyber world. And if you aren't doing anything this weekend, GO and DO something. Be spontaneous! And don't give a hoot what anyone thinks of you. Because it doesn't matter! (I promise.)

Etsy vs. selling at a local shop

I've been thinking about selling some of my items in a local Iowa City shop I recently discovered called White Rabbit. I have no idea if they would even take my stuff, but I've heard they do a lot of consignment. It would mean I'd get to keep 60% of the profit, which isn't bad. But I've also thought of selling stuff on Etsy. You may be wondering why I'm even thinking of this, because I already have my own business and sell stuff through my website, The Graceful Lady. But my website is basically geared towards historical reproductions as well as the occasional wedding gown. Although I've always thought it would be fun to sell some of my modern creations. I tried to put a few things on a separate page of my website for awhile, but that didn't work. And now that page is screwed up, which I don't understand. In fact my whole website needs updated, but that's a totally different story!

So I've been thinking of selling some of my things on Etsy, since that would mean I'd get full profit. Although I could be unaware of a cost to sell on Etsy. I haven't really looked into it that much. I thought I could do both; sell on Etsy AND sell some stuff on consignment. The store I found is 100% d.i.y. which I think is way cool and I love to support local businesses. But at the same time I need to think of my own labor and the amount of work I put into a garment. After all, I've got to think about supporting myself too. Of course it wouldn't hurt to sell some of my things at the local store for a time and see how I like it. Plus it might get my name out around here. I honestly don't mind selling most of my things out of state, though. It's not a big deal to me. I'm just happy when people find what they're looking for and that I can be a service. So it's a toss up for me.

Anyone have an opinion? I'd love to hear it. :)

i laugh at life

...and yet I don't at the same time. I think it's funny and I know it's not. I believe there's a plan and that things don't just happen, but then life never ceases to surprise me. One minute I am so very happy because life is good and maybe I noticed a pretty flower on the side of the road or I learned how to knit a new stitch. Maybe it's because I met a random friend at the coffee shop just when I thought meeting kindred spirits never happened anymore. Maybe it's because I got a pretty substantial order that I thought I wouldn't get, or that unexpected smile I received or just seeing people being happy. There are so many times in life when you think all is lost, when you're depressed and all you want to do is dwell on the bad. But isn't it funny how those horrible times pass and all of a sudden you find joy in life again? When just those simple pleasures in life are sometimes the greatest of all? Yes, I am amazed at life. I still laugh at it. Because when you look at the big picture; when you think about what you stress over and worry about, it's all very funny.

hair + knitting

I've decided for the second time that I really do dislike most hairstylists. Got that antsy feeling again and had to go get a haircut. I got it trimmed and what I really wanted was some bangs, but not super short bangs. Just enough to have a change without compromising the length of my hair, which I am still trying to grow out. argggg....What I got wasn't really much different from what I originally had and I felt like I had to pull teeth in order for her to understand what I wanted. I really don't know of any good hairstylists around here, so I decided to go to Supercuts, or was it Cost Cutters? Really doesn't make a difference. Both places suck. Every hairstylist I've gone to, whether they charge $30 or $40 for a haircut or only $14, they never really grasp what it is I want. So I end up having to do my own fixes when I get home. She did trim it up and that's what I wanted, but I asked for longish bangs and she didn't really give me much at all. I still came out with hair that looks just plain blah. But it's good I got someone to help out, because it's so hard to cut my back hair myself. I ended up cutting my bangs a bit to frame my face and it also gives me that look I'm going for...whatever that is. I think this should last me hopefully at least six months before I need something else done to it. Seems like a long time, but it's short compared to the years I used to go without getting haircuts. And besides, I sorta like that jagged "messy" look. Think natural. :) It's the look NO hairstylist I've found can understand. All they want to do is blow dry your hair out straight as a board and then add blonde highlights. There is NO way I'm getting my hair highlighted. I think it looks tacky and cheap. So I've got at least six months to find a place who really understands hair. Too bad I don't live in Canada or else I'd check out Pome. Anyone out there know of a good hairstylist like this in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City or even the Des Moines area?



In other news I'm getting excited about knitting again. I tend to take a break when it gets warm out, but now that the weather is *slightly* changing, I'm really getting into it. I've got a ton of projects planned and purchased a bunch of wool yarn. Right now I'm mostly planning to make some mid 19th century garments, but I'm also looking forward to starting on a few modern things. I just recently got that Twinkle's Big City Knits book, which looks fabulous. Can't wait to get started on a few of those sweaters. I really like this sweater I found on flickr which is from the Twinkle book. And I especially love it in the grey color she chose to make it in. The tuxedo jacket would be cool to make as well, only I can't decide which one to make first. I LOVE these knitted stockings I found on a random blog. I believe the pattern is from Rowan magazine #40 and get this, they're called "Anna Socks." So yeah...totally me! Only by the time I actually made them it would be summer again.