greenleaf knitting

Merging/ Ending

2010-01-19T21:57:00.001-08:00

Another winter (i.e., knitting season) is passing, and I find myself - yet again - having difficulty keeping this blogging space updated. So, for now, I'm merging this blog into my other blog that I update regularly. Basically, that means that, if I feel like writing something about knitting, I'll just post it on my other blog. Thanks to the faithful few who have endured the sporadic and inconsistant murmurings and occasional creative outbursts in this space. Who knows whether I'll revive it in the future. For now, it's time to face the reality that I don't want to use this space at this time! Hope to see you in my other blogging space though - aprocessofbecoming.blogspot.com.

peace,
laurie

new stuff

2009-12-05T14:52:00.000-08:00

I'm updating the etsy shop today with lots of new stuff. I'm tempted to keep some of it, but alas... one needs to generate income.

Markets, Fairs, and Festivals

2009-11-28T15:48:00.001-08:00

The day before the etsyRAIN Holiday Show, I went to Kinko's to get a business sign printed. Little did I know that such a seemingly simple task would cost me $35! I said "no thanks" and made my way to the craft store 2 blocks over to get some supplies for a home-made business sign. It kind of felt and turned out to look more like a 6th-grade craft project than a business sign, but I still like it. :)

The etsyRAIN holiday show was both wonderful and disappointing. The venue, the vendors, the organizers, etc. were all great. And there was a pretty decent crowd of pleasant and kind shoppers as well. But for whatever reasons (economy?), not many sales were made (by me or many of the other vendors there).
Tomorrow, I'll be hauling this display to the Ballard Farmer's Market and hoping it will be cold enough to entice people's purchases but not so cold that I lose the function of my fingers and toes. :) Feel free to come by and say hi if you're in the area.

Christmas shopping?

2009-11-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

I'll be selling wrist warmers, leg warmers, headbands, hats, scarves, etc. at the...

EtsyRAIN Craft Show
November 21 and 22 (Saturday and Sunday)
10am-5pm
at the Intiman Theater (Seattle Center)
201 Mercer Street

*The first 50 customers through the door each day will receive a Swag Bag featuring items from etsyRAIN artists!

It's the perfect time to get some totally unique, high-quality Christmas presents or just something to keep yourself warm this winter. If you're in Seattle, I hope to see you there!

from the bowels of my apartment

2009-11-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

Thanks to craft fairs, birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions, I do manage to finish knitting projects (ends weaved in and all) on a pretty regular basis. That is not to say that I finish everything that I start but that I do finish SOME things. However, in the process of moving this past weekend, I found entirely too many unfinished knitting projects that were buried in the bowels of my apartment.

My reasons for abandoning projects include:
hating the way my project is turning out,
growing weary of monotonous projects,
growing weary of the complicated projects
becoming distracted by a more inspiring yarn or project
dislike of the texture of the yarn I’m working with.
dislike of the color(s) of the yarn I’m working with.
etcetera

When I find piles of my unfinished projects, I’m often surprised at what I find. First, it’s a bit shocking how many projects I completely forget about having started – projects that I would possibly never think about again if moving or deep cleaning did not forced me to dig them out of the depths. Once these projects have surfaced, I have various reactions to what I find.

In some cases, I can quickly see why I abandoned the project in the first place. In such cases as these – when my disdain for certain projects surpasses the mere immediacy of the artist’s creative angst – I feel perfectly at peace with unraveling the work and freeing the yarn for the possibility of greater purposes. Granted, I’m not immune to the impulsivity that comes with the artist’s creative angst. I once knitted a cabled sweater for my husband and basically ripped it off his back (despite his contentment with the piece) to tear it apart less than a week later. I don’t regret that decision, but it was definitely more emotionally fueled than rational.

On the other hand, I often find beautiful projects that are just waiting to be finished. For whatever reasons that I abandoned them in the first place, these projects are bursting with desire to be completed and worn with pride. Among others that I found in our move this past weekend, I found this little sweater (intended for a toddler) that almost audibly cried to be given sleeves and a young child to keep warm.

Unfortunately, this project doesn’t fit into my specific business focus in Greenleaf, but I think I’ll have to make time for it on the side, because I love it. Hurray for digging in the bowels of my apartment. Whether I unravel the piece or give it sleeves, I can now free the pieces that have been neglected for far too long.

packing

2009-10-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

The packing process has begun for our move into our new house,

and I have become keenly aware of just how much yarn I have

and how badly I need to organize it!

And this isn't even all of it. Oh how I can't wait to move from this 1-bdrm apartment to our 3-bdrm house. At least then I might feel less guilty about the plethora of unorganized wool.

finding my nitch

2009-10-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

One of the first pieces of advice that I was given by several people when I first started Greenleaf was to find my nitch - To try to focus and market 1 particular piece or style (e.g., long, narrow scarves, pastel baby hats, pot holders, anything - just as long as it’s specific and I do it well.)

Most of you who know me probably know that it’s hard for me to stay that focused. As far as knitting goes, I love knitting a variety of styles, shapes, colors, textures and get bored pretty quickly with the idea of producing the same thing (or at least the same style) over and over. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t quite find a specific enough nitch for my business in the past year, and thus Greenleaf has struggled.

However, over the past several months, something magical has happened… I’ve found my nitch, my style, my focus (at least for now). :) With a few exceptions of course, I’ve found myself entering an awesomely fun, inspiring, sometimes-practical 80’s vibe of knitting. As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve made wrist warmers galore, several sets of leg warmers, and recently venturing into headbands.

I'm currently working on these leg warmers, which will soon be embellished with bright red heart buttons

to match these perfectly 80’s wrist warmers

So fun!

In addition to the ongoing inspiration that I’ve encountered in this focused realm of knitting projects, on the business end of things, it’s working! People seem much more interested in my stuff (probably because they’re actually able to focus now and not feel overwhelmed by the incongruent diversity of products), and the sales at markets and in my etsy shop have begun. Hurray for focus! Let's hope it lasts.

new stuff

2009-10-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

New items going up in the etsy shop today!

And many more. It's not too early to begin your holiday shopping!

www.greenleafknitting.etsy.com

first fall event!

2009-09-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

I'll be participating in this event on Sunday, October 4 (1 week from today). If you're in the Seattle area, I'd love to see your face there! I'll be selling lots of hats, headbands, wrist warmers, leg warmers to kick off the fall season. Hope to see you there.

(A bit more about IHR - I Heart Rummage...)

I Heart Rummage is Seattle's longest running cutting edge urban craft experience!

IHR features 40+ of Seattle's most innovative indie designers and urban crafters at Chop Suey from 12-4pm the first Sunday of most every month.

Be sure to stop by October 4th and shop the best variety of urban crafts, and hear DJ Huggy, our live house DJ, spin his tracks!

Our special guests for October are Ruby Room and NW Film Forum
IHR always has the latest and greatest in urban crafts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Join IHR
Sunday, October 4th
12-4pm
Chop Suey
1325 E. Madison, Seattle, WA
www.iheartrummage.net

resurrection

2009-09-18T08:09:00.000-07:00

Alas, fall is approaching, and it is time to resurrect Greenleaf Knitting and this blogging space.

I'm currently applying to a bunch of fall indie markets/fairs and busting out as many wrist warmers as humanly possible. I'm on about month 6 of my wrist warmer obsession and still loving it. :) Even though I've let Greenleaf sleep for many months now, I have kept her in mind and diligently knitted, knitted, knitted for her during her long nap.

I'm looking forward to re-entering and sharing this journey with you. I'll post some pics of my latest projects soon and let you know when I have specific market news.

yarn drunk

2009-04-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

I'm obsessed with yarn. I own tons of yarn - shoved into bags, boxes, and chests or elegantly (sometimes) arranged in baskets that are scattered throughout my apartment. I love being surrounded by the various colors, textures, and even smells of yarn. Yarn stimulates a particular part of my creativity that opens up seemingly infinite possibilities of expression.

When I walk into a yarn store, my heart starts to race, and all of my senses feel like they're going to explode with pleasure. The 1 variable that tends to keep me from exploding is the monetary cost of gorgeous wool yarn. Knowing that I cannot afford to own all of the yarn with which I can become quickly attached, I manage to find a relative sense of calm while I'm in yarn stores. Unless... there's a yarn sale.

One of my favorite yarn stores in Seattle is having a sale this weekend, and I might have come as close to exploding as I ever have in a yarn store. I was, initially, somewhat skeptical, because a yarn "sale" can often be disappointing - not much of an actual discount or a significant discount on undesirable yarn. But neither were the case this weekend. The shop was selling tons of gorgeous wool for 40% off!

I scored 1 skein of royal blue eco-wool

& 8 skeins of beautiful Noro silk/mohair blends,

(This one will become a wide scarf/shawl for a dear friend in Cameroon...)

On my way home from the sale, I called a friend/ fellow knitter and told her that she must go to the sale. After listening to me manically go off about how awesome the sale was, she said, "Are you yarn drunk?" Not sure that I heard her right, I said, "What?" She said it again, and I busted out laughing. It was perfect. I was, in fact, yarn drunk.

focusing

2009-02-28T10:55:00.000-08:00

As usual, despite my long and regretful absence from the blogging world, I have continued to knit a ton. Over the past month, I’ve been trying to get more ‘focused’ on the types of projects that I’m doing. In other words, I'm trying to make a lot of a few particular things (instead of a few of a large variety of things).

Within that focus, I’ve started making a few hats in this vein…
And a TON of brightly colored wrist warmers like these…

I can’t quite get enough of the wrist warmer thing, so I’m just going to keep going with it and try to focus on some bright, springy colors to sell at markets during March and April.

Oh, and 1 more random thing… I’ve been trying to get a good picture of Antonio (the 2-year-old that I nanny) in the sweater that I made for him at Christmas. And finally, here it is…

more, more, more...

2009-01-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

completed projects. And another successful (though FREEZING) market last Sunday.

I'm presently working on 4 custom orders - YEA!!! Too bad I'm also a nanny and in graduate school. I want it all, I suppose.

Productivity

2009-01-22T22:54:00.000-08:00

I've been quite productive with my commissions this week and am pleased with the results of both of these...

Men's hat - made with gray and black cashmere/merino wool blend - an amazing fiber to work with.

Lacy Scarf - made with hand-dyed merino wool/silk blend in a gentle but rich, slightly-varigated yellow.

SO MUCH FUN! I can't wait for more.

Market Update

2009-01-19T19:04:00.000-08:00

Well... after much preparation (including tents, tables, tags, cards, and weaving in a million ends), my experience as a vendor at the Ballard Market was successful! I made a few sales, accepted a few commissions, and distributed my card to a lot of people. If all goes according to plan, I'll be back at the market again next week. Yea! This was such a relief after my previously disappointing market experience.

p.s. The only down-side is that I froze my toes off. I'll have to double up the socks next week.

Going to the market

2009-01-17T20:04:00.000-08:00

I'm prepared to set up a booth at the Ballard Market tomorrow. Come check it out if you're in the area... 10am-3pm. Although I have a tent, I'm still hoping for some sun like we had today!

Catching Up

2009-01-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Ahh, I am back after a LONG holiday hiatus. In the past week, I have begun to reconnect with ambitions for Greenleaf that had begun to fade over the past couple of months. (I'll blame that on graduate school. That's my excuse - though quite valid - for everything these days.)

In this past month, although I've been mostly inactive with the business side of Greenleaf, I've continued to knit, of course. Among other things, I knitted these hats as Christmas gifts for my 3, beautiful nieces...

I bought the flowers that I sewed onto the hats from a local Seattle artist. (You can see and buy her beautiful work at simplyscraps.etsy.com)

As far as the business end of Greenleaf goes, I'm happy to have run into a LARGE (over 400 people) group of Seattle artists who also have shops on etsy. They are called etsyRAIN (ahh, so depressingly fitting for a group of Seattle-ites), and they function to network and support each other in their brave and creative endeavors. I'm very happy to have found and joined this group of artists.

In other news, the gracious family for whom I nanny gave me a tent to use for markets!!! Now, the weatherman holds much less power over my market fate - YEA!!! I'll be sure to post my market vending plans here for you local consumers.

The Weatherman Lies

2008-12-14T15:03:00.001-08:00

Chance of precipitation today = 55%-65%
Actual precipitation today = NONE

Based on the 55-65% chance of rain/snow, I didn't want to take my chances at the market as a tentless vendor. So I didn't go. Grrrr.

It looks like my luck with markets is not so great so far. Hopefully, things will start to look up in the new year.

not so great

2008-12-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

Well, The Vera Project craft bazaar sucked. Actually, the other vendors were great, and the venue was great, but The Vera Project did a really bad job of promoting and advertising the event. In other words, there were almost NO customers - which is ridiculous considering the great venue and vendors and the fact that there were TONS of customers at another craft fair (Urban Craft Uprising) about 200 yards from us. All they had to do what put up big signs pointing people in our direction, but that didn't happen. So I sat with lots of other lonely vendors and knitted.

On the other hand, there were some pluses to this experience...
1. Got a lot of knitting and embroidering done and am, particularly, excited about how this embroidery turned out...

2. Sold a couple of things.
3. Got my name out there and distributed my cards/info.
4. Met some other talented and nice vendors/artists
5. FINALLY weaved in all the freaking ends and tagged most of my projects.

So, with all that prep-work done, I'm hoping to set up a table at the Ballard Farmer's Market on Sunday. However, since the market's policy is that vendors provide their own tents (which I don't have), I'm wondering what kind of chance I should take as a tentless vendor.

Any advice? 10% chance of rain/snow? 30%? 80%?

This Weekend!

2008-12-03T20:44:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in my first craft bazaar this weekend! It will take place in the Seattle Center and is being put on my The Vera Project in combination with their "Bring It Screen It" screen-printing event. If you're in the area, COME check it out! noon-7pm on Saturday.

as promised

2008-11-24T16:59:00.000-08:00

The final product (post-blocking)...

Guess what I'm doing?

2008-11-23T14:21:00.001-08:00

Yep, that's right. BLOCKING and finishing! Thanks to deadlines, I do manage to get such things done - even if it's at the very last minute.

I'm looking foward to showing you the final results of this laborious process.

sweet finds

2008-11-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago, my friend Cosy taught me how to recycle the wool from old sweaters and use it for knitting. As soon as I learned this handy-dandy trick, I couldn't stop going to thrift stores and saving the many six-dollar, wool sweaters from their hideous, 80's-style bondage - only to re-form them into something new and exciting. Over the past couple of years, I've scored some gorgeous undyed wool (that would cost about $75 if I bought it new) and some crazy-soft merino wool and lambswool.

But every now and then, I have to pass up the beautiful wool, because the sweater is too beautiful as is - sometimes even handmade. Last night, I found 2 amazing, hand-knit sweaters and decided to keep them for myself. (It's not easy to be the photographer AND model of the sweater...)

After buying the sweaters last night, I suddently wanted to go on a hayride or winter camping or move to the Irish countryside and raise my own sheep - all because of these sweaters. I love it!

Progress

2008-11-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

I just found out that I got accepted to be a vendor at a local craft fair (put on in the Seattle Center by The Vera Project) on December 6. I have not done a fair yet, because I've been trying to build my inventory so I'll have enough stuff to sell.

That brings me to another point... MARKETING.

Since starting Greenleaf Knitting, I've gradually been trying to focus in on, articulate, and market my particular knitting style. I, actually, enjoy designing and knitting a variety of styles and pieces, so limiting myself to one particular style has been quite an unappealing thought to me. But I also know that some level of consistency and commonality among my work is important if I ever want to sell anything. So, although this plan will need more tweaking, I think I've finally figured it out...

I'm going to create 2 seperate Greenleaf lines of garments: "Greenleaf Indie Line" and "Greenleaf Classic Line". This should allow me more freedom to design and knit what I want without creating too much disunity among my products.

The "Greenleaf Indie Line" will be feature vibrant colors and funky styles/patterns like this...

The "Greenleaf Classic Line" will feature more earthy tones with lots of cables and intarsia - a bit of a classic, outdoorsy, scandanavian vibe like this...

Hurray for new ideas and first-time fairs!

[FYI - The Vera Project craft fair is more of an indie scene, so I'll be selling more from my Indie Line (e.g., leg warmers, wrist warmers, funky hats)]

cables

2008-11-05T17:30:00.001-08:00

Many new-ish knitters are intimidated by cabling. And even more non-knitters are deeply impressed by a piece that has cables. The hilarious secret is that a basic cable is SOOO easy - even mindless. It's also an exciting way to break up the monotony of a simple project without turning it into a stress-the-heck-out-of-me-because-I'm-constantly-counting-stitches-and-rows project.

The longer I knit, the more I realize that such a pattern is ideal for me. I get bored with my project and feel disconnected from what I'm doing (i.e., knitting) if the whole pattern is mindless. But I tend to get stressed if the pattern is so complex that I can't get into any sort of rhythm. The meditative process of a rhythm that gently invites me back to itself (the pattern) periodically transports me to the healing, creative space that makes knitting the therapy that it is.

I’m currently making some children's sweaters in this basic cable pattern.

These awesome leg warmers have the same basic cable up the side of each...

And this baby sweater (yet to be blocked and assembled, of course) is my favorite variation of this pattern thus far. (It doesn't hurt that it's knit with a gentle, pink, SOFT alpaca wool.)

In Need of Finishing

2008-10-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that I have trouble finishing my projects? That is to say, I knit the whole piece(s) but will NEVER block, sew seams, and weave in the ends until I'm about 10 minutes away from giving it to the person who has bought it or is receiving it as a gift. But the ridiculous thing is that each unfinished project (there are, literally, at least 20 of them in my apartment) each hold a special point of tension in my neck and back or a lovely knot in my stomach. You'd think that would be motivation enough to finish the project, but, alas, my masochism prevails.

Next week is "reading week" at school (which means we don't have classes), and, among other things, I hope to throw myself a finishing party - in which I'll spend a whole day finishing all those lovely, lingering projects and hopefully knock out a few of the kinks in my neck and back through the process!

Meanwhile, there's new stuff in lots of fall colors going up on etsy...

Finally

2008-10-07T17:07:00.000-07:00

After a very long delay, I've finally added a new item to my etsy shop. I have tons of mostly-finished projects lying around the house, but I can't seem to get motivated to weave in all the ends, sew the seams, and take the pictures. I absolutely LOVE the designing and knitting process, but I have such a hard time with the final details (symbolic of many things in my life, maybe?)

Hopefully, I'll start to post new stuff to my etsy shop several of times a week. We'll see how that goes. :)

This is the yummy hat that I posted today...

eco-wool taking form

2008-09-29T15:58:00.000-07:00

The sun is still shining, but the temperatures are beginning to fall and the leaves beginning to change. Slowly but surely, the lovely eco-wool (described & pictured in the previous entry) is becoming a very warm and exciting baby boy sweater. I love this wool so much. Have I mentioned that yet?! Here’s a taste of what’s developing…

yarn shopping

2008-09-19T15:57:00.001-07:00

You'd think, with ALL the yarn that I have in this apartment, that I wouldn't need to go yarn shopping. BUT I am working on a new commission and couldn't find enough of the yarn that I needed for the project. So I got to do one of my favorite things yesterday - feel, smell, and feast my eyes on the gorgeous, vibrant fibers at a local yarn store. I could spend days in this place!

For this particular commission, I've decided to use one of my favorite wools. Cascade Yarns produces these HUGE (250 grams/ 478 yds) skeins of Peruvian "ecological wool" in more than 20 colors/shades, and it's UNdyed - meaning these 20 (or so) colors are the natural, gorgeous colors of the sheep. All the colors are various shades of creamy white, brown, and gray.

Also, because the wool is undyed, it still has its natural, sweet smell that I have become addicted to.

I also scored some sale yarn in my yarn excursion yesterday, including...

this beautiful navy, angora wool for 50% off

and these awesomely bright, watermelon colors in cotton - perfect for a kid's project!

Ahh, yarn shopping. It makes me so happy. :)

becoming official

2008-09-16T15:26:00.000-07:00

Is it just me or is it strange that paying some stranger at a printing store to print business cards and price tags, somehow, makes my business more "official"? I was amused at this idea and thought that I was above believing such ridiculous things about my business... UNTIL I received a perfectly and beautifully organized box of my self-designed business cards and price tags.

Suddenly, Greenleaf seemed so professional/official, and I became quite eager to distribute my cards and tag my work. On the other hand, I was also deeply aware that business cards end up in the trash (though they should be in the recycling!) most of the time, that Greenleaf is NEW, and that I have MUCH farther to go before it will be an established business. In the meantime, I'm going to thoroughly enjoy and be proud of my cards and tags and wooly creations.

Here's a glimpse of some projects that are in the works...

By the way, constantly taking pictures of oneself has some interesting effects on one's psychology. If anything, I'm deeply amused by myself in the process. :)

a new adventure

2008-09-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start a knitting business – and with, a blog about my knitting adventures. This is a risky adventure that is presently full of excitement and fear. So, we shall see how it goes!

For now, here’s a glimpse of the chaos that has been exploding in our apartment since making this decision…

Knitting Books

Yarn

more yarn

and MORE yarnone of MANY projects

finished projects!more finished projects!

photo shoot for online shop

p.s. You can check out my online shop at greenleafknitting.etsy.com.