We did a lot of fun things while we were in Florida- we saw sea turtles, took lots of walks, went to a nature preserve, visited a science center, enjoyed delicious food, soaked up the goodness at the beach, and best of all spent lots of quality time with family, but it wasn’t all play while we were there. I brought some work along with me too. Though while I was on vacation and enjoying the sunshine and everyone’s company, it hardly felt like work.

In my suitcase I brought tons of buttons (Jeff had been so busy getting that many buttons ready for me in time to leave on my trip), button cards, and twine to tie the buttons on cards with. My mom provided the muffin tins, which are still my favorite organizational method. I brought buttons along with me on car rides, sat by the pool tying buttons on cards (first in the sun and then moving to the shade), worked on them while we watched a movie before bed (two nights in a row, yay for movie nights), and took every opportunity I could to tie buttons on cards.

When I was trying to wrap things up on my last night of tying buttons, my grandma cut pieces of twine for me and my sister helped put the twine through the buttonholes. That helped so much and I was so grateful to them. By the end of my trip, I was able to fill a large box full of button cards all ready to go. That was a lot of work to get to that point, and it felt good! Normally I would not want to bring work with me on vacation because I want to fully soak up all the family time and relaxation, but I was able to spend time with everyone while I tied buttons on cards and the work really needed to get done.

Winter is when we have a break from the local market where we have a booth for most of the year and is also the time when we don’t have our garden to care for, so it’s usually the best time for us to visit family. Every February we visit my mom in Florida and we already had plans for that when we got accepted to have a booth at a fiber festival that same month. So I knew this year the work would need to come along with me because we wouldn’t have much time after returning from our trip before leaving for the show. I had the easy part though- tying buttons on cards by the poolside in Florida, while Jeff was working long hours day after day in his shop. My goodness, he has made so many beautiful things! (He’s been working so darn hard, he’s going to need a little vacation afterwards.)

I had planned to re-open the shop when I got back from Florida, but we decided not to open it back up until we return from the show because it’s been too much of a whirlwind around here without worrying about shipping out orders. (Also, I haven’t forgotten that I told you in December, ahem, that I would post sets of buttons in the shop that would work with the Comfort Cowl pattern. Being as busy as we’ve been getting ready for this show, I decided awhile ago that I would wait until we returned before I posted any more items in the shop. I’ll keep you posted here about new items in the shop in March.)

Okay, and now onto the best part… the show! We will have a booth at Stitches West in Santa Clara, California from February 23rd through the 26th. It will be our first time having a booth there and also our first time selling at a show in California. (Not counting many years ago when Jeff sold his art in California long before we ever met, that is.) It’s also the largest show we’ve ever done and we’ve been excited, and a bit overwhelmed, all at the same time as we prepare for it. We decided to take a leap and just go for it this year after quite a few friends we sell at fiber festivals with recommended that we have a booth there. We’ll be in booth 1135 (with a big banner across the top saying WoolyMossRoots) and you can find more information about the show on the website. We will have more buttons than we’ve ever had before, along with shawl pins, and so much more. Are any of you planning on going to Stitches West this weekend? Friends have told us so many great things about it, we can’t wait!

P.S. Speaking of buttons, I wanted to mention two new adorable knitting patterns that just came out featuring WoolyMossRoots buttons. I already mentioned the Bitty Caps Tee pattern by Laura Spargo Anderson here before, a free pattern on Ravelry featuring one of our heart buttons. Now she just released the In Caps Tee, an expanded version with more sizing options, and to go along with it, a hat pattern called Capped. Thanks Laura!