Wishing You All...

Just a quick note to say

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!


To all my Canadian readers....

Where Do You Get Your Ideas, Part 2

So the next part of my dissertation on inspiration (!) will be on the materials  to create...
In my case, this time, yarn...as is evident in the pictures of  the various skeins and little blurbs of colour I already crocheted in preparation for the pansies I'm making...pansies?  Did she say pansies?
Whatever happened with the iris, the original object of her inspiration?
Don't know how  everyone else's mind operates, but mine has a tendency to roam, quite a bit in fact, as I consider all the possibilities...and if you think about it, pansies have a similar sort of colour structure as irises...sort of....and wavy shaped petals...so somehow, my idea went from an iris to a bunch of pansies..not to say I won't try an iris, later, but the pansy presented so many difficulties, and it's a much simpler structure, that I felt it might be better to take baby steps on this one...at least for now...
So, here are my materials and colours:

  And, in the next image, are the  close-ups of my starting shapes...

Finally, after a couple of hours, I have finished three of them, with some embroidery involved, as you can see
in the last image, below...

 Thought I'd include the tools I used as well..a needle threader is a fussy and annoying tool but absolutely critical when the yarn is fatter than the needle, and it almost always is...

These flowers took way too long,  was thinking I would be making a good dozen of them, but it'll take much longer than I thought, so that is all for now...
When I've finished them, and the requisite leaves, I'll be back with the finished project (of course, a hat, what did you think...?)

A Custom Order- One Viking Helmet...

 Saturday, December 22nd was our last day this year at my weekly craft market..and of course, for the first two hours it poured..so very little in the way of potential customers strolling through the market..cold, too, so me and everything I owned was soaked, in no time, despite the tent and some tarps for walls I threw up, in a hurry...
  The rain stopped around noon, and then at one we got a few customers..very few, because we have to stop at two...*sigh*
Still, I did okay with the hour I had, and one of the things that happened was a big burly young guy came  to my 'booth' and asked for a Viking helmet..I was really happy to do it, I'd actually been thinking about a child's version for awhile..but this guy was about 6'2", so, measurements taken, I started it that night, and today (Christmas Eve afternoon) put the finishing touches on it (I think)...
I want to tart it up a bit more, but I think he wouldn't like that..he was pretty specific about colours..what do you think of the finished product?

He wanted the back to look like chaine maille, so this was as close as I could get without making it too delicate...
He didn't want the horns too big, so...and nothing decorative, although I could have had a great time designing runes, etc. if I 'd been given carte blanche..actually the big discs in the front and the "nails" in the back are my idea, hope that is okay with him...
Kinda looks alien from the back, so, two hats in one...

Leopard That Can Always Change it's Spots

This isn't a tutorial, rather an unpaid endorsement of a fab new yarn I've been wishing for and fantasizing about for for awhile, called "Safari" and made by Stylecraft Yarns, which according to the label comes from the UK..I bought it online from Herrschner's.
I live in the back of beyond, have to drive many kilometers to buy any sort of yarn and what I can get isn't very exciting...I am also allergic, heavily, to  sheep's wool, so that cuts right down on what I can use, as well.  Buying  online has really helped me..
I often to try to blend different yarns, sometimes three at a time, to achieve looks I can't find  readily available.
I have a leopard hat that was created trying to blend different colours of yarn to look as though it were a leopard's fur...

But now that I have this safari yarn to work with, I'm in crochet heaven.. what I've done, so far..



I'm planning on another hat, and this one will be for me...
Found any interesting new supplies that work for you?

Windows..

No, not the Microsoft kind..just thinking about the way I seem to live so much of my day looking through windows, when the weather is inclement...
It seems as if it has been raining here for a month straight...this, after a record lack of rain for the Summer and early Autumn...today is beautiful, finally clear and cold.

Here are two images from my windows..what  are you seeing through yours?
Poor Richard's Almanac (yes, after all this time, still more accurate in projecting general patterns than all the modern meteorological forecasts!) says that this will be a mild winter for us, with snow not starting 'til mid-December...usually bang-on, so I'm hoping  that carries on in 2012..it's rather difficult to travel in snow to craft markets that no one goes to because it's snowing...but I shouldn't  worry needlessly...
Hope you all have a mild Winter, snow if you want it, and my thoughts are especially with those on the Eastern Seaboard who will have a very hard Winter this year...

Autumn Has Been Unavoidably Detained...

It's a weird Autumn here in Paradise..no leaves turning beautiful colours, warm days where folks are still in shorts and sandals...
The only evidence of the season so far is cold mornings, and it's a good thing that I make big comfy circle scarves...I needed one  while setting up my booth at the Duncan Farmer's Market this morning...
Thought I'd share a  few pictures of the people selling near me...the colours of all the lovely vegetables and fruit will have to stand in for what is normally going on this time of year..we aren't sure when, if ever, the rains and cold weather are coming, but our lakes and rivers are drying up too...so the only people happy about what is happening right now are the farmers..it's been especially nice for pumpkins...
Right next to me from the local corn maze and pumpkin patch farm is McNab's, and Halley is covering cashiering while Bruce is BSing in the back with another farmer...isn't the colour wonderful?
Then there's Ben's Backyard, with Ben nodding and smiling behind his bumper crop of tomatoes, etc.
Finally there's Dina, who has been at this Market for many, many years..she makes beautiful sheepskin-lined slippers and polar fleece  Canadian Maple Leaf  Flag Coats, baby sized to big adult...
Finally, a glimpse of my Autumn/winter booth (last two images)..no jewelry this time of year, strictly hats and scarves...
To my few but fabulous readers, have a wonderful Thanksgiving..we celebrate ours on October 8th..early I know, but then we are farther from the Equator, and have a shorter growing and harvesting season than the US...

It's the Great Outdoors For Me...

It's gonna be that time of the year again..when we go back outside for our Saturday Farmers/Crafters Market..and I can't wait!
I'm getting to the point, usually about this time of year, when I can't bear to be inside all day, trying to sell  and trying to take a decent breath..it must be the antsiness of Spring, but, personally, if I lived in a place where I could sell outside all year, I would be happiest there.
Just spent way too much money buying some really outrageous yarn from a store going out of business here..it's one of my main locations for yarn purchasing so all of us  who are involved in fibre arts are really feeling nervous about where we will go in the future, since we live on an Island (albeit a big Island, not exactly the UK, but still, big) and we have few choices within an hour's drive...and with the cost of fuel, our options are shrinking..
Tried buying online but the shipping charges are prohibitive too..we may end up doing that again, this time hopefully  in co-operative mode,  buying in quantity to save a bit of cash on supplies..I really hate raising my prices!
It is one of the costs of living in Paradise, I guess...
Happy Making, everyone, and wish me luck for the coming season...♥

New Models

I have been trying for a long while to figure out how to find models to photograph in my hats..this may not sound too onerous to some folks, but I live alone in a rural area, don't know many people, and can't afford to hire someone either to model or to take pro photos, so I lucked into this mother and daughter team who agreed..
Only the first of hopefully many other people  who do this.., I want to create a rogue's gallery  in a frame for my outdoor market kiosk, since people often ask me if I have pictures of people in my hats...they want to get one as a gift, but need to  have an actual person to visualize I guess..
As well, I want to be able to have a few real people in my listings on Etsy, for the same reasons...

This ridiculous Weather...

Forget everything you thought you knew for certain about Canadian weather...even if you live in Canada..this time of year, you need a scorecard!
Amidst dire warnings of snow (possibly) or heavy rain (probably) one cannot plan a darn thing more than two hours in advance..and, the weather reports are almost always wrong!
Every time I think it's the right sort of weather to give up on hats and scarves and start getting my jewelry supplies in, sure enough, Murphy's Law (poor ol' Murphy, scapegoat for the universe!)kicks in, and the weather goes into a deep chill...or not..worse than someone who changes their outfit twelve times, never happy with whatever they have on (..guilty!)
Today it was supposed to snow for awhile, and then rain..although it was a bit chilly this a.m., of course neither 'event' happened, and I can only hope, now, that it at least stays cool for a bit, so I don't have to dig out my Spring stuff, yet again, only to have to pack it up and put it away...
Not a huge bummer, when considering world events, I know..but it's my bummer, and I embrace it, fully.

Little Green Bits Popping Up..

It seems way too soon, but even I have things sprouting in my balcony garden of pots..tulips, the garlic chives I thought were well and truly done for this winter..and some things I'm not sure of..lots of birds hang out at my little birdbath, so considering that they transport a plethora of seeds in their droppings, anything could happen..
I always look forward to this serendipitous new crop, whatever it may be..
Creating a little 'crop' of my own, as I need to have a good booth-full of jewelry for the Spring and Summer Markets..here's a couple of my new things, a bracelet and a neckace..

How to Measure For My Hats

Hello! Welcome to the blog for my ArtFire studio..mizdarlin's hats and jewelry...which I thought I'd post here too..
Because I sometimes have problems with buyers and sizing, I thought I'd explain a bit about how to know if a hat will work for you, or whoever the hat is going to.
I have provided, as an example, a medium sized brown earflap hat..
This hat measures in at 23" (58 cm) at the opening, which is what I call the area at the very bottom of the hat body, before the earflap braids...
In this particular case, the 23" is also identified as "before stretching", which means that it can and will stretch comfortably within a 1" range.
If you are have a 22" head circumference, don't worry, this hatwon't be too big, but I wouldn't go any smaller.
Now of course, the question is, where and how do you measure?
Use a soft cloth tape if available, or a piece of string that you can measure afterwards, and, starting at mid-forhead, measure around your head going across your ears, not behind them, and finish again at mid-forehead, snug but not tight, ...this will give you a general idea of your 'size'.
The reason I do not use typical hat size measurements, e.g., 6 1/2, 7 5/8, etc. is because they don't have meaning in stretching hats..
The average adult female has a head from 19" to 22"..if you are someone who can walk into any store and try on a "one size fits all" hat and it fits, or is even too big, you fall into this range..and most of my hats are labeled as Small (19"-20") in this range, or Medium (21"-23").
Children's 'sizes' can be problematical..believe it or not, most kids from about 2 years old have heads only 4" to 6" smaller than an adult, around..
So, when I list the measurements for a child's hat, a newborn comes in at around 12", 3 months to 6 months is 14", and from one year onward, I usually list from 14" to 16" and up..many girls, for instance, from 3 or 4 years are wearing 19" hats..(please remember that these are "averages", and most of the hats have 'give' within a one inch range.)
It is a difficult question to sometimes find the exact size in the exact hat, I know, which is why I do custom work..if you love a hat that is the wrong size, let me know, and chances are that I can do a version just for you at the same price.

And for my First Event...

Pictured to the right of this note is the poster, for my first craft fair of the season..a benefit for the "Cowichan Women Against Violence"
Last year's fair was the first, and a wonderful time was had by all..this year we've moved to a larger venue.so if you are in the neighborhood, looking for fabulous homemade gifts and prefer spending your money to suport those who can use your assistance, please come by...
Looking forward to seeing you there!

How I "Emigrated" to Canada...

It was 1973, and I wanted to apply for landed immigrant status in Canada; I got in just before they changed the law: within a few months of my application, an immigrant had to apply outside of Canada, so I was just under the wire, in time to apply from within.
I got a book from the Canadian Government on how to apply...there was a points system, and you had to have a total of X number of points to qualify for landed immigration status. I was a bit worried, because, in 1973, to say I was broke was the least of it, and I had no formal education beyond the requisite high school diploma.  My live-in partner and I decided to get married to help ease my way in, but it wasn't a marriage of convenience at all, just the next step ...still not enough. I noticed while perusing this bureaucratic booklet that an artist would have enough points to qualify, with everything else I had going for me...native English speaker, from the US (Canada also had a quota system, I think, now, designed to encourage European/North American types to apply, rather than the Asian refugees of the time, who were numerous). So I boldly announced, when asked my profession in the first interview, that I was an artist.
"A professional artist?" queried the interviewer..".Oh yes, I have sold work", I said, which of course, on the
face of it was true, but really, I was overreaching, to put it kindly...
He looked at me quizzically, and smiled, stating, "Alright, then, please bring me a piece of work when you return for your second interview in a week's time." He looked quite smug,  pleased with himself, as if he had cornered me...
Of course, I had to think carefully about what to paint. My husband and I spent alot of time making terrible jokes about painting some awful black velvet thing (hard to believe, but they were wildly popular at the time)
or an equally hokey subject that might answer for what he wanted.
I decided, being the brat that I was, and hopefully, still am, to mess with his mind a bit...I wanted to shock him, but in a way that would make it impossible for him to turn me down...what would work?
Then I had a great brainflash...I would do a pointilist portrait of a famous figure of history, and paint it as if it were the portrait on the face of a currency bill...
Did I mention I was a brat...the famous figure of history was Lenin...done in greens and blues...like money...

When I went in to the interview, he looked quite crestfallen to see me with a canvas under my arm...I'm sure he thought I could no more paint than type...and of course, I could do both..
I placed the painting on an open file drawer, facing him, standing up at an angle...he looked at it for quite a while, saying nothing, but an occaisional frown would momentarily crease his brow as he tried to discern the identity of the portrait, and his eyes were at war with his brain...I don't think he could quite believe that I would bring a picture of Lenin in to be critiqued in a Canadian government office...
Finally, he looked straight at me, eyes twinkling and a small smile on his face..I know he was dying to ask, but he wouldn't give me the satisfaction...he merely said "You're in!" and stalked out of the room, leaving my husband and I speechless, but supressing our own laughter.

Because They Asked...

Online sellers who have never entered a Farmer's Market, Craft Fair or Holiday Market are often confused about where to start, so in an ongoing, when-I-feel-like-it blog about Craft Markets, my do's and don'ts, and dids, based on my own experience of several years of misfires, disasters, successes and near-misses, I'll be discussing this kind of off-line project, for the meek and discomfabulated.
We all start somewhere...I started my jewelry and crochet carreer pretty simply-like the rest of the hippies on the West Coast, I used to buy tubes of beads and make huge strands of them to be wrapped several times around the neck. My first "sale" came to a biker friend of mine, who wanted one with lots of green, to match his Norton Commando...and as far as I was concerned, of course, he could have any colour he wanted...this was Southern California, circa 1968 or thereabouts...
He really liked it, and so did several of his friends, who of course all wanted one, but didn't want to pay for them...finally, one of the biggest and meanest of them, (who I had patched up once, after a fight, with homemade butterfly bandages, before he went to the hospital) took out a ten dollar bill (a days' wages for many of us then) handed it to me, and sat there glaring til the others coughed up various amounts...

I decided that there might be a future in this beadery stuff-but of course, as was the hippy way, I usually either traded them or gave them away..
Quick forward to 2009 and here are pictures of my current "set-up" for selling at the Saturday Farmer's Market In the Square in Duncan...just got the banner (big props to Wilson Graphics, on Etsy!), and need to find a way to properly store and pack/unpack, but so far, it's working...
In future installments I'll talk about the more practical pros and cons of craft fairs, by jumping around in my own history with crafting...in the meantime, happy creating!

Ode to Aldergrove: Just Who Is Crossing the Line?

Since you are reading this blog, I can assume that you have noticed the two widgets just to the right; namely, the Ligit widget and the FlagCounter...I really enjoy them both, because they tell me, at the very least, who is reading or at least flashing through my blog, by country, hence the flags, or, if you click the recent reader's link on the green Ligit widget, you can see, further, which city, as well as country. I find this useful, since only two readers have commented at all since this blog began...guess I'm so devastatingly witty that there's nothing left to say, or no one actually READS it-so I can either stop blogging, or get my satisfaction where I can, and lately, that is discovering who comes along and from where, if not by name, then by city and country.
Which brings me to the theme of this particular tale: by far the place that shows up the most, every single day, and several times a day, is a smallish little 'area', Aldergrove-a community-within-a-community that is named Langley, a sprawling area in the Lower Mainland of British Coloumbia, bordering the Pacific Northwest of the US. Some here would argue that the whole damn thing is really just Surrey, but I prefer to stay quaint when the opportunity arises...
Don't really know much about Aldergrove itself, so looked it up through kindly old Professor Google-here goes-
The most well-known thing about Aldergrove, for me, was that there is a border crossing there, euphemistically referred to locally as the truck crossing, where, to avoid the huge lineups at the flashier Peace Arch crossing, most locals try first, when heading to the US to shop or whatever .
On the What to Do in Aldergrove site it was suggested that families might want to visit Dinotown, "fun-and educational too!" But what had me going was that Dinotown features a Petting Zoo-one shudders deliciously, imagining what sort of baby T-rex delights await there...
Oh and there's a Telephone Museum and Archives, which might tempt some thrill-seeker.

So, whoever my Aldergrove Follower is, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on your exquisite taste, and most humbly apologize for not changing up the blog as often as you would so obviously desire, judging by the amount of times per day you link here..
And lastly, I do sincerely hope that my singling out my mystery admirer in Aldergrove does not discourage him or her from continuing to visit my site in the often-vain hope that I have written some new masterpiece of bloggery.
Aldergrovian, I salute you-and ask you to please, please comment, so that I know the click-on isn't machine-generated, or a vagrant fax signal gone terribly wrong...

This Cynical old Broad...

Was quite moved a few days ago, after she got over the shock of an unordered parcel that was so heavy she could hardly lift it with one hand...
I of course am that broad...
Was nervous at first-Vancouver citified me to the point where I am paranoid about unknown parcels...looked carefully to see if it had my name..it was a professional looking printed label too, so I relaxed a bit, and as I staggered under the weight of it and other parcels, all delivered after the long weekend, mused on who could have sent it, and why I didn't rememeber ordering anything that heavy...
I now do order lots of stuff online, after refusing to do so for quite a while. But nothing that could be this heavy was ordered that I could remember.
Getting senile? It wouldn't be the first time this thought has crossed my mind-I am terribly absent-minded and do sometimes forget things that are a few items down on a list of things to remember, but that's normal...or is it? Well, normal for me...
As I wandered all over my beyond-messy apartment, trying to find my cool little box opener and pattern-cutter that an old workmate in Vancouver had given to me (hey, McBain, hope you finally got to retire too!), I thought about the nature of the unknown. What could be in that box?
Once I finally got it opened, it made me smile. A box of gorgeous, luscious exotically flavoured homemade jams! Zounds, certainly a mistake..but a welcome one.
As I repacked it, preparing to return it to the PO so that it could be sent to it's rightful owner, a tiny white corner of something appeared at the bottom of the box.
I reached in and pulled out a little 3D flowered thank you card, and inside it said

For being super sweet
Someone thought you could use a treat :)

Ah, a sweet mystery to solve! I couldn't even imagine who would have sent me such a gift, or why, since anyone who really knows me would use a few epithets to describe me, none of them being 'sweet' or anything like it....I will admit it here, although even under duress I will deny it later, that a little tear escaped,unbidden...

But! I knew the seller, an online Canadian purveyor of fine jams and jellies on Etsy, named bovinebubbles, as well as soap and cosmetic products, so, thought I could 'coax' it out of her.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5318323

And, in my usual delicate, tactful jackboot manner, proceded to try and squeeze it out of the cow, so to speak-she tortured me a little and strolled away, her mocking laughter resonating in my online ears.
So there you have it, an Unsolved Mystery of kindness, and still, I am not sure who or even why...but if You Who Must Remain Nameless are reading this, hey, great gift! And even greater sweet mystery, as I lick the mango jam off my sticky fingers and smile beatifically...
Guess sometimes, it's just better not to know...

The same $20?

On the Canadian BuyNSell Promo thread on Etsy today, someone posted a chart from May that listed, in order of sales, the highest selling Canadian shops on Etsy. I laughed right out loud, because I keep reading in the Forum that supply sellers are the only ones making any money on Etsy-and lo and behold-it's true.

http://etsybynumbers.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-se.html

On some level, I'm really glad to have this list-I always try to buy as many supplies as I can from Canada, not just out of loyalty, but because they don't have to cross the border and so they get here faster-critical when I'm in production mode, especially for earrings-if I get frustrated about supplies, I have to stop, and who knows when that urge will return-and yes, I am not an automaton, I have to want to...
Guess the point I'm trying to make is that I wonder how many of us sellers (and buyers) on Etsy are the ones keeping these shops in funds...If the only action seems to be for supplies, soap, ad a few long-time jewelers (okay, most of it) then am I just wasting my time online?
My work seems to be popular at craft fairs, Farmers Markets, etc. but no online sales yet. Patience is a virtue I possess in only minimal amounts-usually in reserve for children, animals, and men (less and less for men as time goes on) but if it seems that all my efforts are in vain, well, why bother?
Does the same $20 bill move from hand to hand, from creator to supply seller to soap maker, then the crumbs (small change) down to whatever lucky seller makes the grade? Is there any wealth being created by creativity, or is it only lodged in the production of the means to be creative? Poor old Marx must be rolling in his grave...

Ms Exile in Paradise

This will be a blog about a retiree fleeing the city, moving to her Island paradise and trying her damnedest to keep working at being creative; as well, I'll be providing some social commentary around politics, philosophy, and generally whatever sets me off-warning-this will be a celebrity-free zone, no crocodile tears, no slavish idol worship (unless we're talking my personal obsessions).
I will naturally focus on things Canadian, but I am an immigrant to this country, so I'll have some things to say about the US as well...and maybe the rest of the world too...
I'm also really involved in crafting and selling my work, so that'll come up but not to the point where it turns into spam.
I would like anyone with a different opinion, agreeing totally with everything I say, or anyone who's somewhere in between to feel free to comment, and I'll feel free to have your comments posted or not-please comment on my ideas, personal attacks are the last refuge of the paranoid...
That alone should engender comments-well, see you later, and hope you enjoy my blog, or that you are at least entertained by it-if you happen to notice a bias toward leftie politics and philosophies, and a passion for social justice, it's intentional.