I had heard of these dolls before, seen them and loved them. They are about the same price as an American Girl doll. They are about the same size, but so much better. I still love AG’s but the Bamboletta dolls are in a entirely different world then anything mass produced who knows where. Hand crafted with love and the most natural and high quality materials you could want, with the creator having a keen eye for design. Christina creates these amazing dolls over at Bamboletta.com

A lot of fun was had at Stitches South. The nearly 48 hours I was there was just so full of fun, social activity and all things knitting and fiber related. I arrived Friday morning and went straight to the Cast on Cottage booth to see their display and my samples on display. It was already fairly crowded Friday morning, more than I expected.

The market was open Thursday night and all day Friday. Word was my pattern and the kits sold very well all weekend! Theresa can be seen in the photo above wearing the multi-colored scarf; she is the owner of the shop and has been so wonderful to work with over the past year. I was seriously impressed by the booth and how everything was set up. There were about a zillion colors of Mmmmmalabrigo. I of course couldn’t leave without some.

So after walking around and scoping out everything, I went to my class (at this point all I had purchased was a Namaste bag, seen below, everything else I got on Saturday morning). My class was all about how to alter the length of your knits. I enjoyed grafting the fabric together when it wasn’t on needles. Kitchener wasn’t as much fun, but it was hard in class with the teacher speaking to try and focus on it. The biggest thing I got out of the class was how to *think* about your alterations and how to make them in the easiest most efficient manner. For example taking out 1 inch of fabric at the elbow of a sleeve really wouldn’t be that difficult, vs ripping back to that point and re-knitting the entire sleeve just because you accidently put in too many increases or decreases etc.

Here is my swag from the first day; Namaste bag, Knit Witch Super Wash and some Tess’ yarn. After resting at the hotel for a bit I headed to the fashion show.

I was pretty darn exhausted by this point and I had packed too much stuff to walk around with, and was walking far more then I was used to. So I wound up not taking my camera to the fashion show (a shame too) but I was simply too tired. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of the semi-nekkid male model. He was wearing hand knit boxers and matching socks. The crowd went crazy. Every time he came out with something new the room got so loud, he would wink and play up the audience. He was very good looking too. After that came the banquette. I had run into Elizabeth from the AKG and wound up sitting with her at the fashion show and then dinner and had a good time catching up. Everything about Stitches is very different from the type of “fiber fairs” i am more used too. It’s more of an *event* and while still very laid back you get a vibe of it being overall more “up-scale” of an experience from something at a fair ground. The hotel was beautiful and my only complaint was for some reason the conference center didn’t have any seating outside the market area (there was seating in the eating area, and plenty of it). I hate when conferences don’t have seating. I’ve spent most of my time at IT conferences on the floor with my laptop in-between courses, but it’s too hard to get up while 26 weeks pregnant so I was glad I had the classes to sit down in (with complimentary water, shew!).

Over the course of the two days I was there I bumped into the CEO of stitches, Benjamin. I need to check his card when I get home and make sure I have his name correct. I was very impressed by how hands on he was for the event, and always helping someone and taking care of something. He was helping me out in the registration line and I didn’t know who he was until I looked at his card afterward, he was incredibly nice.

Oh lest I forget the AKG’s contribution to the banquette. They knit the most amazing knit flower centerpieces for each table. I had seen one in person back when I spoke at the AKG a few months ago, but it was nothing like seeing them all set up and in person, each flower was set upon a wired stem that was several feet tall, making for a very impressive entrance into the room. The stem was metal, the flower at the top was knit and the base was also knit, each was themed differently, daisy’s, tulips and other various plants. It was amazing looking, I am sure some photos will turn up on the internet.

I’ve always wondered why Stitches Events aren’t more prominent in blogs. Stitches West seems like a fairly big affair but really over the past few years you don’t see much in blogs, and that’s because of the no photography rule at the market. It really is too bad and I know there are good reasons for it but the amount of free advertising that could be had if blogging knitters could take photos would certainly help build the buzz around the event. I had a press pass and was able to take photos, I wish I had taken more but my lazy pregnant self just didn’t have it in me to lug the camera around the entire time. I did get this picture of the Bagsmith booth though;

Those are some big needles!!!

So I met up with my dear friend Claudia after all the vents and we had fun catching up in the hotel room. The next morning we set up to make a run of the market and my main goal was to get accessories and notions as those are things harder to find at stores. I got some adorable children’s sock blockers, a really neat little scissor tip protector, stitch markers, knitters highlighting tape, some free Addi’s from Skacel (one side is the lace tip, the other side is the normal tip, handed out to all Stitches Students as a special present!) and then a fantastic project bag, and matching zipper pouch to go with my Namaste bag.

Here is my lovely project bag, it matches the knitting bag and I like it because the pull ties are “closed” so there is no way they will eventually slide into the inside and fall out (this has happened to me a few times now). In that shot is my February Baby Sweater, the first knit for BG #2 knit in a buttery yellow crème color from Rowan Pure Life.

The last of my yarn swag, all from Tess’ Designer Yarns (love their colors):

My last event of the weekend was the Saturday night Scalini’s Italian Restaurant Ravelry Meetup! The KnitWitch I believe ran this event, and it’s her dad’s restaurant. It was a lovely event and we even went around the room shouting out our ravelry nicknames, there must have been 100 people in the room so that took a few minutes and they had loads of prizes to give out.

I gave a little squeal of delight when I sat down at my seat, each dinner plate had a Cast on Cottage flyer (with 10% coupon) and I was sitting there just reading over the list on the card when I realized my name was on it! I had no idea it was on there! I didn’t attend the market Sunday, two days was more than enough for me. It was a wonderful weekend, and I highly recommend Stitches events, it sounds as though they will be back next year, I am sure even bigger and better than before.

I just had a revelation this week, that I started my Knitwear Design business exactly 1 year ago this month. It was April 12th that I launched my first pattern, “Country Kiddie” when BG was just 7 months old. I think I worked on it for about a month before getting it out the door. I hit some sort of stride being home when BG was 6 months old. I was settled in, happy with things and ready to “get to work” on something fulfilling and fun without too much stress behind it.

BG modeling a Country Kiddie, size 18 Months – Knit for Stitches South, Cast on Cottage

In the past year I met both of my beginning goals, the first goal being I wanted release 4 patterns in the first year (Done! 3 purchasable and 1 free) and then I had my dollar amount that I wanted to reach, and that goal was also met. My patterns are in several yarn shops around the country, all of whom have re-ordered more patterns from me. I was asked to speak at the Atlanta Knitting Guild (how totally fun was that?) and then later asked if I would be interested in being “featured” at a booth at stitches south, complete with 5 samples on display and kits being sold. I am so very proud of my accomplishments for this first year being in business. It has honestly been very hard to focus as much on things as I have wanted to these last 6 months. I work full time now, and the part that really has derailed me is how sick BG has been, and then I have been and then of course being pregnant again is a huge energy and time suck.

With all that going on I still met my goals and I could not be happier. Now entering the second year of my business I have of course set up another set of goals. I want to triple my income, and I have a marketing plan for how to reach that goal. I still have been considering submitting to a magazine. I have to pick which magazine to submit too, and which design I am willing to submit. That design of course would only be available via a magazine that once that season is over is more or less gone and that idea doesn’t sit so well with me. There is the whole nasty business of making sure you retain copyright and working out at which point you get the rights back to once again sell your pattern and if so in what manor. That all makes me a bit nervous, but it really would be lovely to be printed up in a national magazine or even better a worldwide magazine. So I may or may not do that in this second year, and of course you have to submit the design several seasons ahead and there are much longer wait times when publishing that way vs self publishing. I would like to learn more about that whole process and make some more decisions around that.

BG modeling a Country Kiddie, size 18 Months – Knit for Stitches South, Cast on Cottage

The most pressing goal for my second year is to get more organized from a taxes/legal perspective, and to make at least 4 more designs (4 being more conservative knowing I’ll have a newborn and then be learning to handle 2 children, I would like to say 6 but I want to be realistic). So basically beefing up my line and getting more creative and learning more about garment construction is the focus. All of this comes with time and patience so I just have to “keep on keeping on” and really this is a business I know very little about. I know about self-publishing, I know about self-marketing and online marketing and how to create a pretty PDF template but there is lot I don’t know and I am excited to learn.

I was chatting at work today with my friend Sarah (we work for the same large company, in totally different departments) and I mentioned stitches and she asked “What is stitches?”, what a bad blogger and friend I am not to fill my knitting friends in on such a fun event!

So what will I be doing at Stitches South? Well I am very proud to say I am going to be “Featured” at the Cast on Cottage Booth, and they will be selling kits of all my patterns! I am very excited and the owner of CoC is so sweet and wonderful. She approached me about it many months ago, and asked me if I could knit up a bunch of samples for her. I had a bit of help from a friend of course (Love ya Claudia!). It’s been a huge time suck knitting all those samples, and I was sick for so much of the last few months that it REALLY slowed me down and I am way behind. I just have 2 more inches on a Country Kiddie and I am totally done with them and *shew* I can not WAIT to knit on my new design ideas and knit something for the new baby! I have a fantastic pattern planned out made especially for newborn babies, gender nuetral too! So Stitches will be wonderful but it will be nicer after to focus on a bunch of other projects I have had on hold.

As I posted before here are the classes I will be attending:

Long & Short of Knit Alterations

Friday 04/24/2009, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Intarsia Basics Techniques

Saturday 04/25/2009, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

I am planning to have a bunch of copies of my Preschool pattern handy (and pixie stickers!), so if you see me just ask for a copy, and it will have the booth number for CoC written on it as well (Booths 430 432). I am very much looking forward to my little “mini” vacation all by myself for friday/saturday and getting to see long lost knitting buddies and good friends who I don’t get to see often enough.

I will have a tote bag I got from Cafepress with my Pixie Purls logo on it, and if it’s chilly inside I will be wearing my Debbie Bliss Bolero.

See you at Stitches South!

How did I miss 19 months? I was just thinking I should blog and was looking at my recent entries to see what I had last blogged and yikes I totally missed 19. I think I blogged it in my head one night and forgot I never actually typed it, hah.

(The one hat she will wear, from REI with ewww bugs on it, grasshoppers aren’t too bad though, saying “cheese”.)

The last month has flown by.BG hasn’t been sick much, just normal toddler stuff (runny nose of course) but she sleeps well and her tantrums are just regular stuff. We had a follow up ENT appointment and her ears are perfectly clear and she can hear very well so those tubes have worked their magic. Ironically I’ve been sick fairly frequently. I’ve been very lucky I had/have 28 vacation/sick days to help deal with that. I’ve given up on saving any days for maternity leave etc. If you save the days up you get pair for them prior to maternity leave (that’s how I did it last time, I had like 15 days or so) but this time I’m just going to use them as I need them to make sure I get the rest I need.

DH has been a very important presence in the family the last few months, and he has handled the additional stress with ease. He is fantastic about helping me and not complaining about it. He’s been on bath duty for a while now. BG kept giving me issues about getting OUT of the tub and its been hard physically to get her out when she gets mad. This morning for example he helped me out to the car. I put BG in her car seat as she prefers I do it and will struggle really hard with him. He’s more the “guy” and just holds her until she stops fighting; I prefer the sweeter tactic of distraction to make her happy so avoid the screaming and tears. So he was holding my purse and laptop and when I went to put her in she arched her back. I said to DH, “Please help me distract her, lets sing ‘You are my sunshine’” which is one of the few songs DH will sing. BG stopped wiggling immediately and just looked at us in fascination as we sang the chorus to her 3 times in order for me to be able to buckle her in; once she’s in she’s fine.

So my best friend Laurel visited and was an amazing help with BG, we cooked and as we are close like sisters, she decided to re-organize a bunch of shelves/cupboards in my kitchen. Oh and we made Egg Kaka (she’s whom the recipe is from) and she gave me a few baking tips. It of course tasted better then when I fixed it but I am not sure what she did differently. So then we went off for Spring Break and the rest of the week to visit my family in VA. It was one of the most least stressful visits we have ever had. No big holiday or stressful event to worry about. We did do a Passover dinner but it was very low key and mostly just about eating dinner. My mom fixed her amazing mother’s chicken noodle soup recipe which is my FAVORITE.

BG loved visiting with family, and for as often as she does NOT see my family I can’t tell you how wonderful it felt to see her instantly smile at my father, and want to sit with him and play with his mustache. She was equally happy to see everyone else as well!

She quickly learned how to say “Aiden” (her cousin) and I was trying to teach her to say “Aunt Samantha” but that is a bit of a harder name. Here is a funny video, with classic toddler antics. 

View Flickr Video >>
 

Not much else I can think of to report. Her favorite show to watch is Mickey Mouse Play House which is part of our morning ritual. I plop her down in front of it with some cheerio’s and milk, and send DH in to sleep on the bean bag while I shower and dry my hair. We don’t want tv in the evenings accept about 20 minutes before bed time as it seems to wind her down and keep her from grabbing my hand, dragging me to the back door and asking to go “outside” 90829897845 times. I take her out ALOT, but if it’s raining and cold I don’t want her to get sick. DH says she always looks like she’s going fishing. She puts on a pair of wellies, her bug hat and her windbreaker jacket. It’s pretty funny, and she dresses herself in it all because she knows it raises the chances of getting to go outside.