I was grateful to have the opportunity to visit the Starlight Knitting Society for the first time last weekend, and to be a part of the Rose City Yarn Crawl. It’s a cozy knitting shop with shelves full of colorful yarn. (They had a spot all set up out front for taking pictures, so of course getting a family picture taken in the moon was a must!) There were fellow makers doing trunk shows on the same days, and we met some really kind folks. I was surprised by how many familiar faces we saw, from selling at different fiber festivals over the years, and we knew a few of the vendors too. Portland has such a fun knitting community, and I enjoyed connecting with people. (And seeing so many inspiring handknits being worn! I love that about fiber festivals too- so many handknits to see in person. The yarn crawl is during the perfect time of year to wear the handknits too, whereas many of the fiber festivals happen when the season is too warm to wear the handknits comfortably.)

We found a place to stay during the yarn crawl not far from the shop, and for part of the crawl Jeff and Bracken were able to have a little downtime there (appreciated after Stitches West and all our recent travels.) I hung out at the shop- knitting, chatting with folks, and helping people search for the perfect set of buttons for their projects. I felt great on Saturday, but by Sunday the exhaustion really set in and between that and some sinus pressure/allergies my brain was having a hard time forming complete sentences by the end. (I apologized a few times, luckily knitters are usually a pretty understanding bunch.) Thanks to everyone who came by to say hello! And a special thanks to Toni, a long time reader who has left comments here for years, who came by with her family (four generations all together that day!) and introduced herself in person. And of course, thank you to Starlight Knitting Society for inviting us to their shop for the yarn crawl!

P.S. On Sunday, Spincycle Yarns was at Starlight for the yarn crawl. I had the pleasure of connecting with those ladies at Stitches West this year and coming home with some of their gorgeous yarn. (I must say their yarn is truly unique and something special.) All you reading for awhile here know about my current pom pom obsession, so I had to show you Spincycle’s new Fixation Hat Kit that I think is so awesome because it has a skein of yarn with a pom pom (!) on top. The skeins of yarn are so beautiful as they are, but the pom pom on top is just too fun. There’s something really satisfying about having a skein of yarn and pom pom together, you just want to hold them in your hands and squish them.

P.P.S. Come back here this weekend for a giveaway from Sweet Skins– organic apparel! 

Forgive me for saying Californy in the title, after watching The Beverly Hillbillies recently, it’s just so fun to say it that way and I couldn’t help myself. For those of you who have watched that show, imagine Jed Clampett’s voice saying “To Californy we go!” and you can’t help but smile. These pictures were from the drive back. Stopping by the beach on the way home is essential, and has become a tradition. More on the yarn crawl soon, but first our trip to California… 

The morning we left to start driving south for Stitches West, it snowed at our house. We’re about twenty minutes from the coast, we don’t get snow here very often and when we do, it doesn’t last long. Bracken hoped for snow all last winter, but we didn’t get any here. This year he hoped for snow again, and his wish came true, but the snow came on the day we were leaving. Poor guy! (The next time he wishes for snow, he told me he will be more specific and wish that it comes on a day when we’re home.) We had a tree fall over in our driveway, but didn’t have time to deal with it as we were leaving (and luckily it was in a place we could drive around), so had to leave that for when we got back. Despite the snow (and the fallen tree), all the roads were clear for our travels, so we were grateful for that.

On the drive down we stopped by the Ashland Food Co-op to grab a quick lunch. (The first time I ever visited Ashland, right after I moved to Oregon, I went to the co-op there and have loved it ever since.) This year, rather than stopping in southern Oregon where my dad and stepmom live for the first night like we did last year, we drove to California and then drove as far south on I-5 as we could, before calling it a night. We were glad we did it that way because we arrived early in the day on the second day (even after getting stuck in road construction for awhile) and giving ourselves more time to set up, and being less rushed, was a gift to ourselves.

I said before we left that we were doing things differently this time around and it turned out that driving my dad and stepmom’s truck made a huge difference in regards to driving in the traffic. There was better visibility, from being higher up, and it made the intensity of the traffic so much more manageable. Bracken had better visibility in the back seat too than in our car and didn’t get car sick in that vehicle a single time during our trip, which was another blessing. It made the entire experience vastly different than last year and we appreciated driving that truck more than we could say.

It was chilly while we were there, but the sunshine was wonderful. When comparing different places to stay during the show, we decided on a place nearby that had a kitchen. Having a kitchen cost a little more initially, but being able to make all of our own meals saved us so much money in the long run. Being able to do laundry while we were there was great too. And the short commute was awesome!

We appreciated knowing our way around more, and having a grocery store nearby. (Jeff and I have been brainstorming ideas for keeping our traveling expenses down as much as possible for next year, everything seems especially expensive in that area.) We stayed at a nice (and affordable) hotel on the drive down, but on the way back up 101 we stayed at a place that cost much more than the first (the nicest place that small town had to offer) that we wouldn’t want to stay at ever (!) again. I’ll leave it at that.

The next day made up for that experience, though, when we drove further up the coast until we reached Arcata and then had a delicious breakfast at Cafe Phoenix. We sat on the back patio, in the sunshine, that overlooked the little garden. I loved that they served organic food that came from so many local farms, as well as their own garden. I also appreciated that they had gluten-free options. We had been traveling and I hadn’t made any of our favorite chia date pudding in awhile, and was craving some. When I saw that they had chia pudding made with coconut milk and vanilla, I ordered some for all of us to share. I loved all their topping ideas- roasted almond slices, shredded coconut, and lots of fresh fruit- yum!

Eating out is a treat for us, not something we do all the time. (Though we just found a new place nearby we like so much, I think we’ll be counting the days until the next time we go!) Most of the time when we travel, we make many of our own meals to save money, and Jeff is so great at whipping up a quick meal while we’re on the road (he’s a faster cook than I am.) Since we make our own meals so much of the time, we love to eat out a few times when we travel. (I know I just mentioned above about keeping our traveling expenses down… but eating a good meal at a good restaurant is such a highlight of our traveling experiences!) I wrote about this before, by the way, and shared a few favorites places we’ve found over the years along the Oregon coast. Whenever we find a great place to eat, I enjoy sharing about it here.

Once we were back in Oregon, we kept our promise to Bracken and went to the beach for a little while. (While we were at Stitches West he begged for more outside time, and Jeff and I were really wanting some beach time ourselves.) I found a rock that looked a bit like a heart, had a ladybug land on me, and then found a small sand dollar, so I felt pretty lucky. (It’s the little things, right?) We could have stayed there at the beach all day, but we wanted to get home and start unpacking the truck while it was still light out.

It felt good to be back home, but we weren’t there for long. We unpacked the truck to re-pack it for our next trip. We cleared that tree out of our driveway, mailed orders out, and didn’t even bother to unpack our suitcase because we just added more to it. Now we’re home again after our weekend in Portland, and I will be happy not to be living out of a suitcase for awhile. Between going to Florida this winter, getting a long-lasting flu, going to California, and then Portland… we missed quite a few of our regular activities. We’re looking forward to connecting with friends and getting back into the swing of our regular activities, but we really enjoyed our travels!

I mentioned the yarn crawl at the end of yesterday’s post, but thought I’d announce it in a post of it’s own. Have any of you local knitters participated in the Rose City Yarn Crawl before? Several knitters had mentioned it to us at fiber festivals over the years, telling us we needed to head to Portland and check it out, and I’m so glad we are this year. We’ll be a part of the Rose City Yarn Crawl for the first time this weekend, and will also be visiting the Starlight Knitting Society for the first time. (Yay!) You can find WoolyMossRoots at the Starlight Knitting Society tomorrow and Sunday (March 3rd and 4th) from 10-8 (Sat) and 10-5 (Sun.) We’ll have lots of buttons, shawl pins, and some wooden earrings too.

From the site: “An annual Portland experience, the Rose City Yarn Crawl is a four-day event for fiber enthusiasts (knitters, crocheters, spinners, and felters) to explore the many local yarn shops in and around Portland. 2018 will mark our 9th year of celebrating Portland as a yarn and fiber destination. Join us for a chance to win prize baskets, collect special patterns, and explore all the participating shops. Be sure to also subscribe to our Facebook Page, Twitter Feed, Instagram Feed, and Ravelry Group for updates, alerts, and fun.” “Participation is open to anyone and everyone who is interested in learning more about the Portland-area knitting community.” You can find out more about the yarn crawl on their site.

Rose City Yarn Crawl and Starlight Knitting Society… here we come!

What a full weekend we had! Thanks so much to everyone who supported our family business at Stitches West this year, we truly appreciate it. For those of you who live far away or didn’t make it, here is a peek at our booth. (I also shared that picture of our booth on Instagram.) Last year we found that it was difficult for very many people to fit into our booth at one time (with all our display racks and such in there), and (understandably) people would get tired of waiting for their turn to get in the booth and sometimes move on before they got a chance to come in. This year we decided to upgrade to a corner booth and we were so glad that we did. Everyone was able to see everything in our booth more easily (and it was easier to find our booth at the show too.)

Since we had a corner booth, we wanted to have two signs, one for each side of our booth that was open. Jeff made us two beautiful signs in red cedar wood, I love them so much. Last year I felt so overwhelmed by how huge Stitches West was, and I still felt that way this year, but to a somewhat lesser degree as I was able to find my way around more easily this time. Last year was our first time at Stitches and I remember feeling like a little fish in a big pond, this year it was nice to have more familiarity- more familiar faces and booths. We met new people and made new connections too, which of course was wonderful as well.

Speaking of that, two blog readers came to say hello at the show, which meant so much to me. (I’ve written here a few times before about feeling so surprised every time I meet people in-person who tell me they read my blog. Really? You mean I’m not just writing to myself here?) One sweet gal who came to our booth felt like a long lost friend and our kids became instant friends too. (To the kind lady who came up and introduced herself while I was walking around: I apologize that I wasn’t able to talk longer or connect with you more. My little guy was having a melty moment and it was just one of those times. I hope our paths will cross again and that we’ll be able to connect more next time. I’m grateful you came over and said hello!)

We had such a fun surprise happen this year… guess who our booth neighbors were?

(Forgive the blurry picture.) Imagine my surprise when Jeff and I were setting up our booth and I looked over and saw Susan at the booth across from us. I didn’t know that she was going to be at Stitches West, so I was completely surprised to see her there. And what a delightful surprise it was! We had been writing back and forth about button orders for her kits, and getting to meet her in person was a real treat. She is such a sweetheart and kept telling people about our buttons at the show, and sending them over to our booth. (Seriously, bless her heart! It means so much to our little business.) I enjoyed getting to meet Susan’s family and it was a joy to have them for our booth neighbors over the weekend. It was amazing that in that giant building our booths were next to each other!

I came home with some yarn from the company Susan runs with her son, called Barrett Wool Co. Their yarn is so lovely to touch and see in person. It’s wonderfully squishy (I can’t help but want to keep grabbing my skeins to squish) and I can’t wait to knit with them. I’ll be knitting with both the Wisconsin Woolen Spun and yarn from their Home Collection. (Growing up in the Midwest, I have a still have a special place in my heart for that area of the world.) By the way, those adorable teeny tiny sweaters pictured above are from Susan’s book Kindred Knits. I must knit some (along with some of her other patterns I fell in love with that I saw in her booth.)

Besides Susan and her family, we also had another wonderful booth neighbor this year- Alana Dakos, who was sharing a booth with them. (Bracken loved our booth neighbors too and wanted to keep visiting their booth the whole time!) When I saw her sign Never Not Knitting, I wondered why that sounded so familiar. Then I saw her books in her booth, found out she was the designer, and I realized where I recognized it from. I had admired some of her knitting books at a local yarn shop and had seen some of her patterns on Ravelry. It was a fun coincidence that several times when I admired people’s handknits at the show, they said it was an Alana Dakos design. She has so many lovely patterns and I came home with her book Baby Botanicals, having some upcoming gifts in mind. I’m excited to announce you can now find WoolyMossRoots buttons in Alana’s yarn shop in Atascadero, California. (I would love to visit her shop someday!)

What a great weekend at Stitches! I’m looking forward to showing you some of my favorite things I brought home, in upcoming posts, but for now I need to wrap this up and get ready for our next trip. We’re leaving again for yet another busy weekend. We are excited to be participating in the Rose City Yarn Crawl in Portland, Oregon for the first time. We will be at the Starlight Knitting Society on Saturday, March 3rd from 10-8 and Sunday, March 4th from 10-5. If you are in the area, please come by and say hello! 

That last post concluded my posts from our trip to Florida. Lucky I had so many posts to share about our trip on the blog for awhile, because it wasn’t as interesting at home while we had the flu. It ended up lasting for two plus (!) weeks, dragging on and on, longer than any flu we’d ever experienced. So many of our friends who had it said the same thing. But anyway, onto other topics…

The weekend before last my dad and stepmom drove up for the day and we went to the beach. The sun was shining and there was hardly any wind, so we felt lucky (especially because it was pouring the next day.) The tide was out and we explored some caves, saw rock temples people had stacked all over (that’s what I like to call them), and most exciting of all- looked at the tide pools. We saw a sea star! (I called it a starfish, and was corrected- they are called sea stars now.) We were so delighted, it felt like such a gift to get to see it.

There was another reason for their visit besides having an enjoyable beach day together, they brought up their truck for us to borrow. You know that saying the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results? Well, we decided to make some changes this year when we go to Stitches West. The first change is driving a truck, rather than our little car, which we feel safer driving amidst the traffic. The other change is that we’ll be staying someplace close by, (not three exits away like last year.) We were so grateful to my dad and stepmom for letting us borrow their truck for our trip, and for driving it up to us.

Jeff and I have been working so incredibly hard to get ready for Stitches West, and we’re exhausted. (Getting a long lasting flu when you’re getting ready for your biggest show of the year keeps things interesting.) We needed to get all the buttons tied on cards (and Jeff made more than ever), then everything needed to be priced (still wrapping that up) and packed. (And that’s just the buttons. There’s shawl pins, shawl pin sticks, jewelry, and more that all needs to be priced and organized too.)

There are endless details and things to remember to pack when we’re leaving for a show. It’s always interesting finding space in any vehicle for all our booth and display parts and then all the things that fill up our booth too. I’m really excited about the changes we’ve made to our booth and display this year and can’t wait to see it all set up. (Somewhere other than in the middle of our living room for the practice round, that is.)

Another change we’re making this year is to give ourselves more time to get down there. That will make for more time to get our booth set up before the show begins. We don’t want to be rushed and stressed, but have plenty of time to get all the parts of our booth set up and arranged. Whatever we can do to be a bit kinder to ourselves, right?

Oh, I’ve been meaning to mention that I haven’t done a shop update post on the blog here for awhile. Lately I have been doing mini shop updates, posting a few new things in the shop at a time, rather than a bunch all at once, and have been sharing what’s new on Instagram. Follow us on Instagram if you’d like to see those (and other little updates that don’t always make it to the blog.) When our schedule gets back to normal, I’ll be doing larger shop updates again.

Okay, now checking our lists and figuring out those last minute things to pack…

I apologize for another delay here, my laptop had been on the fritz, and then stopped working altogether. Jeff, by a miracle, was able to get it working again, and we’re hoping to eek out a bit more time with it until we’re ready to buy a new one. Anyway, I have pictures to share from Florida, but my mind is currently on other things and I always like writing best what is currently in my thoughts, so those will come later. This picture doesn’t really have anything to do with what I’m writing about, but when my mom handed me a mug of tea (while we were visiting her) and I sat to drink it one night, I looked at the little tag to see what my bit of wisdom would be that day. It happened to be a very favorite quote of a friend of mine, so I took a picture of it to share with her. Tea and candlelight go well together. And it’s the time of year I especially appreciate the cozy feeling that candelight brings (even while I’m in warmer places.) 

We got back from our trip last week, unpacked, and got some good sleep for our jet-lagged selves. I caught up on laundry, cleaned like crazy around the house, and then we started getting back into a rhythm for homeschool, work, and all the things that make up daily life around here. (I’ve also been making an effort to be more active and make sure I’m exercising every day because even when I’m on my feet much of the day around the house, my body needs a wider range of movement. Coming back from trips always feels like a good time to start new routines.)

My work last week, other than the usual things like shipping out orders, was mapping out our festival year for 2018. I’ve been deep in sending in applications, and that includes other details (like business licenses for shows in California, booking hotel rooms for the ones that fill up if we don’t get something booked in time, and getting insurance for some shows.) We want our festival season to be full, but not too full that we can’t possibly keep up. It’s a balance we’re constantly figuring out. (Especially because we still have online sales and wholesale orders to keep up with through it all. Online sales don’t compare to in-person sales for us, though, and having shows on a regular basis is important for us. Plus they’re fun!)

Some shows we do every year, and others are competitive (or already full with long-time vendors) and we don’t know if we will get into them or not. Some festivals overlap and we have to decide which to choose. Some festivals we love and definitely want to do again, one we’re still deciding on, and as for the ones we’ve never done- we’ve talked with many of our artist friends who have had a booth at them to get a feel if it would be a good fit for us, and then take the leap to try it out. Lots of decisions, but for the most part we pick the ones we’re the most excited about, the ones we have the best feeling about (and the ones that work with our schedule.) At some point, when we are able to travel more, we would love to do shows around the US, but for now we’ve been applying to shows in Oregon, California, and Washington only. (Any shows near you that you’d like to see us at?)

We have worked so hard for so many years, and it feels good to be able to add more festivals to our calendar because of letting our local market go. Sometimes you have to let go of something to open up the space for something new. This year looks to be our very busiest year yet with festivals and we’re really looking forward to it. Jeff and I have so many plans, ideas, and dreams for our business (and want more hours in the day to bring it all to life!) Making a living as an artist can sound romantic, and it is wonderful to do something you love to support yourself, but it is also a lot of work. Anyone who owns their own business knows the hours of work you put in, and the workload that seems never ending.

Am I boring you with all this business talk? Forgive me if I am, it’s where my head is at.

In exciting news, we changed the design on the back of our button cards to include our Instagram link, for sharing projects. (Just kidding. Not on the design part, but the fact that it would be exciting news to anyone but me.)

The day before yesterday had thing after thing after thing happen until I swore our day belonged in a sitcom, it was so ridiculous. I got a crazy huge splinter that belonged in a different category than splinter altogether, Bracken got sick again (poor guy hasn’t been able to get a break, he had a virus this winter and got more sick than he had ever been in his life),  my laptop up and quit, I left a burner on in the kitchen and forgot about it until the pan was charred, I went to our library online (on Jeff’s computer) to play an audio book for Bracken to listen to while he was under the weather and was blocked from my account (got an e-mail that I had an overdue book, but I had returned it a long time ago and it’s all sorted out now), and then got a call that our vacuum needed an expensive part even though we had just paid a fortune for a “tune up” that included replacing every part imaginable. There’s more, that was a short list from the day, but I’ll leave it at that.

Yesterday was such a better day in so many ways. Bracken was on the mend, which automatically made for a better start to the day. (Last time when he was sick I told him that I wished I could instantly make him feel better and he said to me: “Mom you’re not a superhero, you know”, which made me laugh. Sometimes I really wish I was a superhero, though.) The boys stayed home and I ran errands, realizing I couldn’t wait until next week to get chicken feed. I had a solo trip to the grocery store, I don’t remember when the last time that happened was. I ran an errand for our business that led me to a happy place- a yarn shop. (I’ve decided that yarn is officially one of my favorite words. I should take it up as my mantra to repeat over and over whenever I feel stressed, since it instantly relaxes me. Ha!) I sang loudly during the car ride and made up little songs, not needing to be embarrassed at all by anyone overhearing (though my family is used to me doing that.)

I’ve noticed that whenever I go on a trip anywhere, and have that change of scenery and perspective, an outside lens to look at the whole of my life more- I come back with the feeling of what I want to change in my life and what parts of my life I wouldn’t change for the world. Do you feel that way when you travel? I feel inspired by the beauty around me and want to incorporate bits of those inspiring parts into my life when I return, while at the same time craving the comforts and safety of home and realizing the parts of my life I miss and feel grateful for the most while I’m away.

I came back being reminded more than ever of the changes that Jeff and I have been wanting to make- in regards to our living space and work space, and finances. Jeff and I love what we do for a living. We want to be able to support ourselves more in the work we do and also balance that work with self-care. For us it’s not a matter of not working hard enough, but in figuring out how to work smarter, not harder. We continue to get more efficient in what we do and make positive changes as we go along, and we have learned so much with each passing year of having our own business. And we still have a lot more to learn in regards to business.

For example, I finally started charging shipping and handling for the first time ever in our shop. (We opened our WoolyMossRoots shop in 2009, to give you an idea of how long it’s taken me to learn this lesson.) I charge a minimal handling fee for each order now, (and wonder if it’s enough, but it’s a start.) I resisted doing so for so long because I wanted to offer the most affordable shipping for our customers that I could, but with all the time I had spent packing up orders over all those years, I had never once paid myself for that time. Now I can’t believe it took me so long to figure that out! Taping up boxes, getting orders together, going to the post office… all of those things take valuable time in my day, and I like getting paid for the work I do.

Jeff and I are determined to pay off our debts this year. We’ve made a point over the years to not buy things we didn’t have the money for, and to reserve our credit cards only for rare occasions, but sometimes we needed something for our business or something else important, and bit by bit it can add up. We’re working hard to create more financial stability in our life so we can move forward in all the ways that we want to this year.

Oh goodness, now am I really boring you?

Besides being renewed in my dedication to work towards the changes I want to make, I also came back from our trip with an even deeper appreciation for the parts of my life that I absolutely love. At the heart of that, of course, is my family. Physical changes can be made to the environments we live and work in, and changes to our business to support ourselves more in the work we do, but having people in our lives who love us unconditionally? That’s truly priceless. I think it’s important, when we notice parts of our lives that aren’t working as well as they could and are paying attention to the changes we want to make, to also take notice of the parts of our lives that are working, to remind ourselves of all the areas where we are blessed. The most important parts of our lives- the people around us who we love and who love us, that’s a foundation that makes for a good life even if a few of the other details could use some tweaking.