I decided to share this because I haven’t really been online doing much with my knit and crochet business.  I haven’t been blogging much at all and haven’t been doing much with my Etsy shop.

I haven’t been feeling well for a long time.  I’m just now getting to the point where I feel well enough that I can do better for myself.

So let me tell you a little story…about 3 years ago, I had to rush my mom to the hospital.  She was not herself, talking funny, not eating and only drinking ginger ale and sometimes orange juice if I could get her to take a drink of that.  One afternoon I called her from work to see if she was up.  She wasn’t.  She was still in bed.  I told her she needed to get up and at least get some breakfast.  She assured me she would and I hung up.  All of the sudden I got this overwhelming feeling that something wasn’t right.  I went to talk to my manager at work and let her know what was going on because I might have to leave.  My manager said, if you feel like you need to leave and take care of your mom go now.  I am grateful to her for that! Later on the doctor told me that if I wouldn’t have taken her to the hospital when I did, I would have come home and found her dead.  [This blog wasn’t published originally when I typed it up and this still makes me cry. See update at the end of this post for time.]

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Leaves picked up on a walk during lunchtime

It’s that time of year where we breathe with a sigh that the cooler weather is coming. I live in Central Ohio and the weather from Winter 2017 – 2018 was so cold it was almost unbearable and then the warmer weather came and it went from cool to hot in 60 seconds. I’m over the high 80s to 90’s weather and want to enjoy fall!

With that said I am looking forward to our two October Shows this year. The Day of The Dead Festival at Green Lawn Cemetery on October 20th and the Columbus Mennonite Church Holiday Festival on October 27th. Both will be featuring Fall colors in hats, scarves and hand mitts. At the Day of the Dead Festival we are also featuring brighter colors in Hats and Hand Mitts, Halloween colors and Day of the Dead Jewelry.

Halloween Hand Mitt

Day of the Dead plastic beaded Bracelets

Green Lawn Cemetery Columbus

1000 Greenlawn Ave., 43223

Columbus Mennonite Church

35 Oakland Park Ave., 43214-4146

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Join us, Imagin8 Columbus,  on Sunday, November 19th from 1:00-4:00pm for the Worthington Community Center’s first annual Holiday Craft & Vendor Fair!

The shops of Imagin8 Columbus attending are: CrazyCraftNLadies, Frock On Baby! and 21st Century Quilts and Curious Goods.  Our vendor booth will contain lots of Cool items to buy as gifts for your loved ones.

Worthington Community Center, 345 E Wilson Bridge Rd, Worthington, OH 43085

Some of CrazyCraftNLadies Items:

It sounds like a dance doesn’t it!  I love the name because it is so much more than a craft show.  Every year, Grandview Heights, Ohio hosts events during the Summer months that has live music, shopping, art and food!  The current hosts of this Hop are the Columbus Young Professionals Club and Destination Grandview.

CrazyCraftNLadies will be participating this year with the Creative Collective Imagin8 Columbus.  Our plan is to debut a new item each month of the Hop and have a show special for July and August.

The dates for the Hop are June 24th, this Saturday!, July 29th and August 26th.  The Grandview Hop is also offering a Bonus Hop on December 9th called the Holiday Hop!

The Grandview Hop is being held between First and Fifth Avenues on Grandview Avenue in Grandview Heights, Oh.

Stop by our booth and say hi!  We are giving away a free gift with purchase.  All vendors participating, Herbal Skin, Frock On Baby!, 21st Century Quilts and Curious Goods and CrazyCraftNLadies will all accept cash and credit/debit cards.

http://www.grandviewhop.com, http://www.crazycraftnladies.etsy.com, imagin8galleria.wordpress.com

When giving care instructions to customers and potential customers, I usually give the instructions of what the label of the yarn I use says.  I wanted to take this opportunity to elaborate since just saying Machine Washable and Dryable isn’t enough for me.

I normally wash my knitted and crocheted items in lingerie bags.  Cold water gentle cycle.  I never use warm or hot water.  Even if the label says to wash in warm, warm water can make your colors bleed or wear them out faster.

Depending on the item, if its more intricate, I will put it on a drying rack to let it dry thoroughly.  If it is a scarf that is made with a bulky yarn or a scarf that is made with worsted weight yarn (the most commonly used yarn) I will put it in the dryer on a gentler cycle than normal.  On my dryer I have a Knit cycle.

If your label says to lay flat to dry, you may want to use a towel to dab it mostly dry and then lay it out flat to dry. Sometimes laying it out flat to dry without using the towel first will take your clothing several days, if not a week to dry out.

If your label says to hand wash, Please Hand Wash Only.  I’ve been brave and used the delicate cycle for some hand washed clothing (not knit) and it worked out fabulously, but I never did that with knitted items that said to hand wash.

There are drying racks avaible that you can purchase on-line that are mesh that allow you to lay your item out flat and it will dry a little bit faster.

I use the good old fashion drying racks where you throw your sweater over the bar.  I have never had an issue with that either.

Most instructions given by the yarn companies are to insure the longevity of your item.  My instructions, unless just a very badly made item, Will insure the longevity.  I have scarves almost 17 years old that look only a few years old, if that!

In Outside magazine, Bob Shacochis profiles Lya Battle, creator of Costa Rica’s Territorio de Zaguates, an open-air shelter home to hundreds of dogs.

via They’re Good Dogs, Brent: Meet Costa Rica’s Stray-Dog Whisperer — Longreads

So today is the day I find out if I got into a craft show that I applied to.  The application said the vendors will get notified via e-mail by October 12th.  Here it is the 12th!!!! I’m checking my e-mail at least once every half hour.  Sometimes once ever 5 minutes!  I guess I wouldn’t be stressing so much if they hadn’t already cashed my check. I probably would have just assumed that I hadn’t gotten in if the check wasn’t cashed.   The promoter cashed it over two weeks ago.  Normally when that happens it means you’ve been accepted.  Almost all shows I’ve ever participated in did not cash your check before you were accepted into the show.  If you were not accepted, they sent your check back.  Sometimes, the show promoters didn’t ask for money until they have decided if you got in or not.

Approximately 3 weeks ago my mom and I participated in a show that did the same thing.  They cashed our check at least two weeks before notifying us that we had been accepted into the show.  Exasperating!!!

I searched this promoter’s website and another site they are affiliated with and there are NO adds about the craft show.  Should I be worried?

My focus for now is getting pictures taken of my wares (wears!) and get them on-line.  It’s been hard with the weather and with me working most of the daylight hours.  I’m not complaining (or at least I’m not trying to).  I know this is something I need to do and something I need to make time to do.

So even though I have the anticipation of whether or not I got into the show, I have plenty of work ahead of me and other avenues of moneymaking that I’m exploring.

Buenas Dias!