Blog Archives

The wool fairy has come and gone....

1/28/2016

This grouping is all full yards (Below)

The wool fairy has come and gone
and left more wool to turn us on!

Beautiful must haves for your stash. I drooled putting it on the shelves.
Yards & 1/2 yards yards, washed and ready to hook.

These are mostly one offs, so we aren't putting them on the website but if you wish to order, count from the top left side or right side, describe the colour and we will pull it for you.

This grouping is all 1/2 yards (Above)

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Our low Loonie......means savings for US customers!

1/27/2016

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Attention US Shoppers!

Currently, all of our inventory items are listed and sold in Canadian funds. For you, our American customer, this is an opportunity to save big time to take advantage
of our low loonie!

Because of the exchange rate, consider everything you buy to be
discounted between 20% to 30%.

Your credit card company will do the current exchange rate for you.

For instance, a $100.00 order in Canadian funds will show on your credit card statement
as $70.00 to $80.00 US funds!

Shop Canadian and take advantage of these exchange rate savings to build your
wool stash and get that pattern you've been thinking about!

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Green Man

1/26/2016

1 Comment

Green Man by Guest Blogger Carol Butcher

I have been hooking a little over 3 years. I hook with the Kinder-Hookers (Kinderhook, New York) In fact, three of our group took a road trip up to your shop last spring and you were so gracious to them. You had a hook-in in their honor and even invited them back to your house for cocktails. They had such a great visit. The "How Much Is That Doggie...?" rug that you just posted from Laney Young is another of our group. Several of the ladies are ardent fans of your patterns. We all have on our wish list a trip to Nova Scotia and a visit to Encompassing Designs.

I have learned so much from this group both in hooking and just in a simple sister-hood of sharing. We meet twice a week and once a month for a Saturday hook-In. Laughter is our main production...after that is hooking, eating and learning from each other. What a JOY

About my Green Man

First of all, I fell in love with the pattern the first time I laid eyes on it. I knew at once that I wanted to hook it in blue-greens and I always saw it as a mask. Viewing the pattern on the Encompassing Designs website, I never saw the feathers, wings or the snake so when I received the pattern I was flummoxed. Whatever was I to do? After much soul searching I decided to just hook it as I had imagined it in my mind’s eye (with apologies to the creator and hope that it was a modification that would not offend).

The pattern was a joy to hook. The face opens a world of possibilities...I'm even tempted to try it again in another color way.

After I finished all of the "tendrils", I spread white glue on the back and cut the mask out...no binding or other finishing. I have hung it on the wall just as one might hang a real mask...my Green Man smiles down on me every day and I smile back.

Thank-you so very much for sharing Carol. Your Green Man is definitely watching over you! I was so excited to see it hooked! Below is an added bit of history of the Green Man for interest.

For our ancient ancestors, many spirits and deities were associated with nature, wildlife, and plant growth. After all, if you had just spent the winter starving and freezing, when spring arrived it was certainly time to give thanks to whatever spirits watched over your tribe. The spring season, is typically tied to a number of pre-Christian nature spirits. Many of these are similar in origin and characteristics, but tend to vary based on region and language.

Strongly connected to Jack in the Green and the May King, during the fall harvest, the figure known as the Green Man is a god of vegetation and plant life. He symbolizes the life that is found in the natural plant world, and in the earth itself. Consider, for a moment, the forest. In the British Isles, the forests a thousand years ago were vast, spreading for miles and miles, farther than the eye could see. Because of the sheer size, the forest could be a dark and scary place.

However, it was also a place you had to enter, whether you wanted to or not, because it provided meat for hunting, plants for eating, and wood for burning and building. In the winter, the forest must have seemed quite dead and desolate... but in the spring, it returned to life. It would be logical for early peoples to have applied some sort of spiritual aspect to the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

The Green Man is typically portrayed as a human face surrounded by dense foliage. Such images appear as far back as the eleventh century, in church carvings. As Christianity spread, the Green Man went into hiding, with stonemasons leaving secret images of his face around cathedrals and churches. He enjoyed a revival during the Victorian era, when he became popular with architects, who used his visage as a decorative aspect in buildings.

1 Comment

Quality palease!!!!!

1/25/2016

10 Comments

I taught a beginner class on Saturday. All great students with varying degrees of natural talent for rug hooking. I expect most will continue with the craft in greater or lesser degrees.   We had a guy as well, a hubby and wife team hoping to add a new and fun dimension to their lives. I was so enthralled with the group that I forgot to snap some shots to document it. A couple of things happened that got me thinking and I went home and pounded out this story, it has to be said!

One gal had a pattern she’d purchased online that was on monk’s cloth from a shop in the states. The type of backing has no relevance to the story but the condition of the design did.   It was cute, a primitive sheep with vines and berries surrounding it. The photo that accompanied the pattern was sweet as well but there was a border around it that wasn’t drawn on the pattern. No biggy really if they had allowed enough selvage edge to put it on plus allow for the inch and a half bit for finishing. On one side there wasn’t enough excess to put the pattern in a hoop and hook out to the edge of the design. It would have worked in a gripper frame but generally new rug hookers start with the less expensive hoop to see if they will like it before upgrading to another frame. Not knowing who would buy the pattern, it should have been geared to fit any frame.

In my shop every pattern on the rack has four inches of extra all around the pattern so if you have a hoop you don’t have to take the time to sew material around it to be able to hook it. When paying top dollar for a pattern, and this small one, about 14” x 19”, came with a price tag and shipping of $80 plus dollars, it should be user ready, not needing to be fixed to hook it. The drawn bottom line on the pattern wasn’t straight on the grain either. As far as I am concerned that is three strikes against it.

Then there was a gal with a kit purchased elsewhere. The wool provided didn’t match the picture on the bag. That is strike #1. When shoppers are browsing, usually a kit is decided upon by the beautiful hooked photograph that smiles up at you from the front of the bag, the image that shows you what the project should look like when completed. The picture is also a guide to help with matching the colour to the area to be hooked. A beginner wouldn’t realize they needed to scrutinize the wool through the plastic in the back to see if it is a match to the photo, it would be assumed and rightly so.

Strike #2. I could clearly see that there wasn’t enough wool to hook the piece. The plaid for the background was unique, so matching it would have been impossible and the rug hooker would have had to tear it all out and find something else or contact the kit maker for more wool. When it’s recycled, coming up with more might be a problem. In my book, this is inexcusable. The gal said maybe she could make the starfish bigger to compensate for the lack of background wool, a smart alternative but there wasn't enough to do the motif the original size let alone enlarge it and besides, why should she have to do that? She paid good money for this kit. There should be at least 20% more wool than is required to hook the piece, extra to account for high hooking and packing and when there isn’t enough for even normal loop formation to cover, it’s a crime.

The wool for the starfish in the center was lacking as well. Although the background wool was the proper weight and thickness, the wool for the starfish was extremely thin and clearly not enough to do the job. When wool is a bit thicker you can fudge more as it will fill in better by skipping more spaces, but when it is wafer thin you can only do so much. My experienced eye could see there was a shortage immediately and I gave her a lesson on how to tell if you have enough to do the job by folding a strip in four, laying it on the design and counting up how many she would need to do the area. I counted how many strips she would need to cover the five armed echinoderm and one whole arm was going to be left naked. I felt badly for her and dug into my basket of left overs to find a plaid that matched enough to blend that she would be able to mix the colours to complete the starfish, I didn’t charge her for the wool and I’m not saying this looking for a slap on the back, but why did I have to compensate for someone else’s poorly constructed merchandise?   I’ll tell you why, the last thing I want a student to feel is frustrated with their first project. That does little to exude excitement over the craft. The point of teaching is to cultivate interest, be an ambassador to build this continent’s rug hooking empire to grand proportions. Bring victory!   Not be cut down on the front line. Also, the wool was cut poorly as well; it frayed more than I would want a beginner to struggle with, once again potentially turning them off instead of on.

In all the years I’ve been teaching I’ve seen a lot of this.   Sometimes I’ve cried silent tears for those who have struggled and been frustrated with inferior wool and poorly draw patterns, trying to hook a straight line on a stamped pattern that defies the meaning of straight on the grain. Working on burlap or linen that isn’t worth a second glance, the vagabond cousin of the superior backing, with its holes and gaps wide enough to stuff Jimmy Hoffa in. If that was all that existed to work on I would quit rug hooking and open a beading store. Its crap! Stuff I would wrap around my shrubs to fend off the cold winds and nibbling deer of winter.

I don’t verbally disparage those who sell these kits to interested, newbie hookers; I don’t want them to feel badly about their purchase. I’m a better person than that. I’ve never liked professionals that dump on their predecessors. “OMG, who cut your hair last?” “Who did this carpentry job, a two year old?” That sort of thing is unprofessional and ugly. You can point out a problem discreetly without tearing anyone down, doing it kindly in the name of education for the next time they are in search of a project.

So…. I’ve decided that from now on if a person signs up for one of my beginner classes, they will need to use my products. I’ve never believed in forcing anyone to be exclusive, but I can no longer stand by and watch a newbie struggle. In the past, I used to suggest, if their wool was inferior, cut across the grain or shedding like the hair on my head, they should use pieces from my basket for them to practice on. I can’t do my job properly unless I am confident in the materials. I’ll put that little note on my website and from now on all students will learn on my top quality wools and patterns, making their first experience like passing a knife through butter, perhaps inspiring enough joy that they want to do it again.

I’m not perfect. I’ve screwed up in kits already but never in the quality department. Despite our constant process of double checking before a kit is bagged I’ve left a bundle of wool out every now and then, not often though, I can count it on my one hand for the past 16 years of service. Considering how many we sell that’s almost not worth talking about. I’m fanatical about kit quality and I do my best to inspect what goes out the door.

The biggest grumble over my kits has nothing to do with the quality; it’s with the amount of time they take to make. In a world where we demand immediate service it’s difficult to wait for a handmade product. The wool has to be dyed, measured and cut. If it is a new kit, detailed instructions have to be written, a label designed and a colour placement chart created. Every piece of wool is hand dyed and matched to the actual rug for continuity and ease for the hooker to follow the picture as well. I have to make these in between all the customers, shop duties and office work. At any given time there are several kits on the order board to create. Large kits can take up to 4-6 weeks and in summer perhaps longer as the list of orders we receive is always long. Our kits aren’t thrown together without a care for the customer.   I call them idiot proof, not as an insult to the buyer; we’ve never had a call because someone couldn’t figure out the colour plan or the instructions. We are proud as punch over this.

Our kits don’t fall off a China delivery truck, they are made from scratch, one at a time and all the attention you can imagine is put into the bag. So over the years, waiting has been our customer’s biggest angst but in the end it is well worth it when that parcel arrives full of care and love. If it is a large kit with a lot of colour we sometimes label each bundle so there is zero confusion. Each bundle is precisely cut and tied. I’ve seen kits where the wool is cut and thrown into the bag without any separation between the other colours, matting together into a ball. And sometimes the wool is poorly cut, more like scored and not totally separated and having to pull the strips apart frays them.

And, when the strip colours don’t match the picture, the rug hooker is left to figure out what goes where. When you’ve purchase a kit because of the beautiful red building in the photo of the finished rug that will look great with your home décor, you feel a bit ripped off when you open the package and find pink instead. I remember one student on a Saturday afternoon laying out all the wool in her kit bag, untangling it all as it was all mixed together like dog fur matts. Some of the wool was fraying and dropping bits all over the place because it was worsted, the absolute worst wool for hooking. All the strings from being poorly cut congealing the mess into a ball. We separated all the colours into groups and tied them together   We spent a lot of time trying to figure out where each colour went according to the picture. The only easy match was the black for the roof and various other objects. None of the colours matched so I had to help her figure out by the quantity of each pile where each might go. A beginner, on their own, would have no clue how to proceed.

It was clearly short for most of the buildings and boats. She paid over a hundred dollars for the kit. The pattern was hand sketched without using red dot and there were places where the drawer kept correcting mistakes so it was a mess of black lines. None of the buildings were straight on the grain and the poor quality backing smelled like it came out of a musty basement that had suffered an oil drum spill.   There were no instructions except for a small piece of torn edged brown paper with a couple of words written on it that for the life of me I can’t remember.

I will say that the student was a trooper. She realized how bad it was but said she would have to work and make the best of it. She was a visitor from Ontario, loved the area and really wanted to learn how to rug hook on her holiday. She bought enough wool from me to hook the pretty red building to look like the photo because that is what drew her to the kit in the first place. I’ve never heard from her again and I think about her every now and then, wondering if she finished the project or if it’s stuffed in a closet somewhere.

I’ve taught students where the wool literally disintegrated while they were hooking with it. Worsted wool, cut across the grain isn’t worth the powder to blow it up, why anyone would stuff that crap into a kit bag and sell it to an unsuspecting buyer is a mystery. Even with my experience I wouldn’t be able to hook with it. There’s recycled wool and then there’s recycled wool. Not all of it is worth using just because it’s called wool. Customers that have purchased these kits have literally told me that hooking is too hard and frustrating. How very sad is that?

Our shop has almost zero returns because everything we have is well built and top quality. I wish others were of the same thinking. If we sell product to the masses our job is to cultivate new hookers to the fold, it is our mandate. We need repeat business; we depend on it to stay open. I personally can’t see those disgruntled customers ever going back for the second kit so where is the value in cutting corners or not putting the proper care into your merchandise?

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Another fabulous show and tell!

1/21/2016

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Last night's hook-in was a one table filler but we were lively all the same. Two of the gals wouldn't let me take pictures, one is a gift and can't be shown until after it is presented and the other wanted to hook a bit more before we show it off. I'll catch them both later.

Deborah has been colouring in her "Mine!". It's a real art piece in Deb style. We will have the pattern shortly. We also plan to make it larger but we can keep it small as well.

Patsy's pretty poppies. She is doing a wonderful job shading them.

Hit and miss is straight lines, the most simple way to hook but it is always huge on impact. This rich colour palette of leftover worms is strikingly fabulous.

Anne is only working with three colours but the effect is going to be timeless and tasteful!

I'm picking away at my Valentine's piece.

Charlene is working away on her tessellation piece but the show stealer is the ruffly cuffs that she knitted. They are called pulse warmers. Sweet.

Some of our new designs. click to view:
http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

Love 13" x 13"

Eagle Eye 16" x 16"

Sweethearts Mini 11" x 17"

Audrey's Morning Glories 22" x 32"

Eastward Bound 37" x 28"

Pictures sent in for show and tell. There is nothing better than seeing our patterns hooked! Thanks so much for sharing....you make us look great!

Labrador Retriever 27" x 31" hooked by Marian Penney

"How Much Is That Doggie.....?" 39" x 30" hooked by Elaine Young

Peeping Neptune 40" x 29" hooked by Lorraine Burch

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How "Sweet" it is!

1/19/2016

5 Comments

Shane and I were so pleased to nab Deborah Sweet for our team. The stars were aligned perfectly when someone mentioned to her that we had a “Now Hiring” sign in our window at the exact time she was looking for a change. Tired of the food industry, she wanted to explore something different and being an artist, perhaps that is what attracted her to our door. She applied; we hired, and have loved her since day one!   I tell her often that she’s perfect and mean it sincerely. She's perfect in general and a perfect fit for us!

Deb took our beginning class a few months back and designed a smart, original design. I was suitably impressed but not surprised. She's proven to have a keen eye for detail and advanced spatial concept, the reason why her patterns are so precise and well-drawn.   I can delegate jobs with confidence, a freedom I’ve not had before, knowing that she will share the vision and make it so.

We’d talked about her art experience so I knew there would be fun things to come, a line of “Sweet’ patterns perhaps, both figuratively and literally. But after she brought in her portfolio my socks blew off immediately after losing my shoes. Deborah Sweet is not just any artist, her work is incredible!

Her subjects and colours are very tuned to my fancies. Rich palettes always attract me first, the subject is always secondary and she grabbed my attention big time as I turned the pages with my jaw hanging. Her work is bold and realistic, it demands attention and deservedly so. I am truly in awe, and a bit sad that she doesn’t dedicate all her attention to her talents but she says there is something said about getting out of the house.

Deb came to the hook-in two weeks ago with her second project, drawn out on linen and ready to pull loops. I was floored! Not only did she lay down a perfect seagull drawing but she water painted the backing to show where the colours and shading should go. I’m sure you will be as blown away as I am and together we will enjoy following her work as it progresses.

Years ago, some rug hooking patterns came coloured in, giving the artist a feel for what the pattern could look like when finished. Today it is rare, if at all, but what an interesting concept. Using markers and coloured pencils, I’ve coloured in areas to help determine the background in some of the busy Morris patterns from the scrolls and leaves. I would dearly love being able to offer this service for unhooked patterns that don’t have a photo to use as a planning guide, but there aren’t enough hours in any day.

Here is a short biography of Deborah Sweet

Picture an only child in 1950’s small-town Ontario, born to introvert parents, far from the company of boisterous cousins. What else to do with such solitude but read and draw? Thus was my introduction to the arts in the village of Beamsville. Around age eight, on a trip to visit relatives, we were taken to the old quarter of Quebec City. I was fascinated by street artists’ displays and for the first time, realization dawned that drawing and painting could be pursuits enjoyed by adults. Until that moment, the only artwork I had seen was one Group of Seven reproduction hanging on the wall of my public school. During my high school years, art classes introduced me to the history of art and I was allowed to take a few painting lessons. I ‘dabbled’ until I was employed by Grimsby Public Library and Art Gallery. I enrolled at McMaster University as a part-time student of art and art history. As it does, life intervened with the advent of my own family and I continued to ‘dabble’. A desire to be at home with my children led to the start of a crafts business in 1985. I joined the board of the Lincoln Regional Arts Council and continued to paint sporadically.

The turning point was our move to Nova Scotia in 1991, and my friendship with painter, Helen Opie. She introduced me to The Lahave Life Drawing Group where I further honed my observational and drawing skills for six years. Thanks in part to Helen’s enthusiasm and encouragement, I put my crafts business on the back-burner and painted more and more. For two glorious years I reveled in the thrill of painting non-stop and felt I was finally hitting my stride with my solo shows at The Moorings and Black Duck galleries. During that time I became the third best-selling artist represented by The Moorings. Again, life intervened, a full-time job became necessary, and my painting time and energy severely curtailed.

Encouraged by the owners of The Biscuit Eater Books & Café in Mahone Bay, I had an almost sold-out show there in late 2009. More inspiration came in spring of 2012 when Helen Opie invited me to a week-long artists’ retreat on Long Island in the Minas Basin. The images I gathered there became the foundation for another show at the Biscuit Eater in 2012 entitled “More Than Cappuccinos” with friend and fellow employee Carmel Rose Smith. In 2014 I was invited again by The Biscuit Eater to create a solo show. “Between Heaven and Earth” was an exploration in acrylics of the various meanings associated with flowers.

5 Comments

They have us by the short and curlies!

1/18/2016

12 Comments

A couple of weeks ago someone informed me that all the rewards from credit cards are funded by the retailer. I said, no way, they said yes. I could barely comprehend this, surely these credit card companies charge enough interest and fees without robbing Peter to pay Paul for promotions?

Today it was confirmed. They were right. I can’t help feeling violated as if someone snuck into my bedroom and went through my panty drawer. Not that I trusted these huge conglomerates, but I didn’t know they were that devious. Yes, if you have a card that offers a perk, every time you shop, the retailer pays the price. How sleazy is that?   On my Merchant Visa account I have to pay 1.99% of the sale for your rewards plan, over and above the rate of 1.47% I was told they charge.   Plus there are several other fees that add to this until I’m paying just shy of 5% of the total sale, tax included, for every purchase that goes through my till for Visa or Mastercard.

I hear friends tell me of all the benefits they receive from collecting points and I think wow, I should have a card like that! Free groceries, air fare and holidays! It all sounds fantastic until you know that the small business person, the little mom and pop shop is paying for it. Yes, large corporations do as well but they make a whole lot more money than a small craft business and might better bite the bullet on it.

Today I thoroughly scrutinized my credit card merchant statement and sure they tell you upfront they charge 1.47 every VISA transaction, it’s there on the first line in black and white to see. But when look further there are all kinds of percentage fees added on lower down the page and the total percent taken off? Almost 5% per transaction!!! I’m gob smacked! And what can I do about it? ABSOLUTELY FRIGGIN NOTHING! They have us by the short and curlies! Ouch!

Of course I could refuse to accept credit cards but I’d be closed in a week. It would hurt me more than the credit card company that would view me as a mere drop in their bucket.

And coincidentally, I received an unsolicited call the other day, a new card offering all the perks to replace our existing MasterCard. 2 yearly First Class Lounge tickets for the airport in case your flight is delayed so you can wait in comfort with free coffee and comfy chairs, travel insurance, air miles with opportunities to get double the amount for certain things. There was an annual fee of $149.00 and $1000.00 free Airmiles if you charge $3000.00 to the card within three months.

They really want you to be on the faster roller coast of debt. On and on he went, accentuating the positives, the perks. Finally, at the end of the pitch we were about to say, make it so, when I asked about the interest rate, something conveniently omitted. It was 19.9%. His voice lowered as he quoted the rate as if he didn’t want me to hear it. I wonder if they are trained to do this? Apparently the credit card company wanted us off our existing card that was locked in at a lower rate of 12.99% and tried to woo us into higher interest with perks. Really? Is the money not trickling in fast enough?

And what is up with an annual fee? They should be paying us to use their #&(%!@* credit cards. They make billions off us!   I don’t use a credit card for my personal life. I use debit or cash, whatever is in my pocket when I need to pay for something. I like these options; only spending what I can afford.   A long time ago I got annoyed seeing the credit card bill come in; when I wrote the cheque, it felt like I was paying for the item twice so I opted not to have one.   I only use a credit card for business for ordering supplies, for the convenience factor and quicker service.

So I’m disillusioned. In a world where 70 (seventy),( that’s seven zero), people combined have more wealth than half the world’s population (3 1/5 billion plus) the little guy is screwed up the wazoo by fees, interest and surcharges as they struggle to get by, feed their families and keep their head above water.

My rant for the day!

12 Comments

I Shall Wear Purple......

1/13/2016

3 Comments

"When I am an Old Woman, I shall Wear Purple" comes to mind when I see Charlene these days. We’ve been friends since I moved to the new building in 2007. She owns a building further up the street so often walked by and chatted while our construction was going on. She is a beautiful rug hooker, designer and repairs rugs on the side. She is also a smart cookie, a self-taught knitter from watching internet videos. These days she swings both ways between knitting and hooking with ease.   Some of the projects she knits have been artful and amazing due to her very good taste.

Charlene is always put together nicely....I could probably learn a few things from her sense of style. Although retired she keeps active by working at the Have A Yarn Shop a few days a week and another interest, pursuing her passion for jewelry. She and I took a wire wrapping class together which she has used to make a number of pieces but she also keeps an eye out for sterling and gold bling at second hand venues that she wears for a bit and then resells at flea markets. Some of her finds are astounding and now reside in my jewelry box. Being a crow myself, every time we chat I scan her for some new bauble and she never disappoints.

When she was at our last hook-in I had took note that she had gone over to the purple side. Over the years her clothing colour palette has changed. I used to see a lot of blues and earthy colours but lately there’s been a definite transformation to the lavenders, violets and plums. Of all the colours out there purple is nothing to sneeze at, it’s the fun and exciting cousin to all the others in the box. It was certainly a favourite back in the day when I had crayons, that fabulous combo of turquoise and purple was splashed across every colouring page with abandon.

At the hook-in the other evening, when I snapped a picture of Charlene at her frame I was struck by how her hooking and clothing radiated a purple glow. As you can see, she is working on a beautiful tessellation of purple birds. We joked about the book called “When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple” which doesn’t mean Charlene is old by any means, just the fact that she is migrating over to the purple side seemed fun. How we change over the years.   I won’t elaborate on the fact that she had a red hat when she came through the door. We see a lot of red hatters around here, fun gals one and all. All I can say, red and purple sure go well together.

I’ve owned the book for years and grabbed it off the shelf when I got home from the hook-in and started reading it again.    Having a leaky brain ensures I get my money out of any book purchase. If I wait a few years I can read it again and not remember the first time around. Some of the stories move me like the continental drift while others raise the hair on the back of my neck from hitting too close to home. Perhaps when I read it the first time, ten years ago, I didn’t relate as much as I do today. Now I could write some of the stories instead of being an observer to that fourth quarter.

This book is a great read for women of all ages. There are poems and short stories that will have you tearing up or laughing loud.

Here are two patterns that do and could work well with purples and red! I sure would love to see Hattitude hooked! Any takers on this pattern? I'll send it out with free shipping to whoever orders it!

Cats In Hats Hooked by Mary Doig

Hattitude waiting to be hooked....

3 Comments

Playing Hooky....with my hook!

1/11/2016

0 Comments

I played hooky today. As much as I need structure, I was so dirt tired from working seven days straight I needed some time off. I worked in the office until 8:00 pm last evening getting the last quarter of paperwork ready for pick-up by the bookkeeper today. I arrived home in a vegetative state, a potato that is, and sat on the couch where all good potatoes hang, watching a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad.   We’d watched four seasons last year and had one more to go so we plugged into Netflix for season five and have been pulling marathons with only four more episodes to go.

Breaking Bad is not a show I watch and forget, I take it to bed and can’t sleep as the scenes play over and over in my head. Last evenings were more brutal than usual, as Walt’s character grows incrementally darker and ruthless. So it was a restless night, tossing and turning and dehydrating from the heat that floated up the stairs from the wood stove. We should never have topped it up before bed as it cooked my goose. I was kicking off the covers and had to get out of bed for water three times to hydrate my parched throat, withered lips and quieted the pounding in my head.

So of course I couldn’t get up this morning, I need eight hours to function so I lay in until almost 10:00 then came downstairs for breakfast followed immediately by a nap. I fully intended to go in today but as the hours melted away I realized I needed to face that it wasn’t going to happen, made the call to tell Shane I was taking a day off and relaxed. So I lounged in my jammies and did various things around the house, like got rid of the last of the Christmas ornaments still hanging, the garland on the stair railing and a few wreaths that looked to pretty to pack away last week.

Now I’m going to sit and hook for the rest of the day which means I’ll still be working, just not leaving the house. The overture of hooking pleasure will balance out the guilt of not going to the shop.

The sad news that David Bowie passed brought forth memories today. I remember way back, a single mother on social assistance, managing to scrape enough money together to buy his cassette, “Let’s Dance”. I loved the entire playlist and pretty much wore it out. Music was work back then, playing the cassette through and then having to rewind to start all over again. I remember playing it from morning till night, being a slave to the machine's buttons. Bowie was a very talented and unique individual, who definitely left a legacy through his music. He’ll be with us for a very long time.

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I'm happiest when I'm a hampster on a wheel.....

1/7/2016

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I’m not sure if time off is a cure or a curse. Most folks live for weekends, holidays, vacations, even staycations to enjoy leisure time in their own homes. Throughout the year, they work and save and talk of little else getting ready for when they can hit the road or fly the coop.

I, on the other hand, must be an alien. I don’t want to go anywhere and I can’t even handle a few days off without falling down the slippery slope of boredom which in turn, leads to chronic laziness. Because of this I dread retirement, having nothing to do or a regiment to follow might be my end. It’s painfully obvious that I need goals and structure to exist.

Maybe others are like me and that’s why they croak once they retire, they’ve been so conditioned to keeping schedules and toiling hard that they shut down once the work plug is pulled, when there’s nothing left but a lazy boy chair and the TV. Let’s face it; there is only so much housework or dishes you can wash before the excitement swirls down the drain. Over the holidays, I wore out the floor dragging my feet, my knuckles took a beating as well and when I started speaking in broken English, “me hungry” I knew I was regressing farther than I cared too. It’s obvious I’m not the sort of person who can sit around twiddling. I need stimulation that comes with a side order of beat-the-clock to rev my engines and a smear of stress to grease the wheel.

I haven’t had many vacations but the few I’ve been on were yawners only after a few days. Once the fast pace of working leaves my system, I become almost comatose. Maybe it’s just me, but the less I do the lazier I get. I predict, if I retire, I’ll be dead in a month. A few days off over New Years and I can’t stay awake, napping on the sofa, a chair, on the floor and lingering long hour’s in bed. Who sleeps all night to get up in the morning to take a nap? As each day passed, more grey cells oozed out of my ears leaving me more inclined to incline in my favourite chair and let mindless TV exercise the only part of my body that moved over the holiday, my eyeballs.

I’m frustrating to hubby who would like to travel but I’m afraid after two weeks anywhere I’d be begging to come home, bringing a whole new meaning to a stick in the mud! I was certainly happy to get back to work, even with pending inventory looming, guaranteeing to bring on an avalanche of paper and stress. Thank goodness for paperwork so I’ll live another day!

Year end is the least fun of any business; for me anyway but it’s a necessary evil. Our shop has a lot of inventory that needs to be counted and costed. The paperwork all falls on me and will be like eating three pounds of shortening, it’ll sit in my gut for a few weeks until the last “t” is crossed and the “I” dotted.   I’ll be stressed to the limit but as happy as a hampster on a wheel.

All the paperwork aside, I’m pretty stoked for 2016! This is going to be one heck of a year. Sure, there will be twists and turns and a few bumps along the way, but I will never say it was boring and I’ll have a fantastic reason to get out of bed in the morning!

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Hello 2016!

1/4/2016

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Hope you all had a fabulous new year!   I did! We had lobster for dinner, the big tradition at our house, and at midnight fired off the expired flares that came with our boat. My ears are still ringing! Maybe it’s illegal and maybe I shouldn’t say what we did but it was crazy fun, lighting up the sky around our house, so neat. We also watched the fireworks launched from the government wharf. It was a very bright and sparkly passing of the old to the new year.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve used the time off as unproductively as possible; living in my jammies, watching Netflix movies and sitcoms and putting a permanent arse impression in a wing-back chair. My tree is still up which is usually biffed on New Year's day. All my good intentions went out the window and I lay around like a tortoise sunning itself on a rock. Truthfully, in the back of my mind I knew what was coming once back to work, year-end stuff and it kind of deflated my holiday balloon, so I rested up to be able to take on the beast.

But I won’t complain, it has to be done so now that I’m back at the helm I have to suck it up. This is the part of the business I don’t like. We’ll start counting inventory tomorrow or Wednesday, right now I am getting the upstairs in order for our Wednesday evening hook-in. The mess has grown out of control once again and I want to begin 2016 with a tidy slate. Once everything in the shop is cleared, my head will follow and be ripe for the work that needs to be done.

I did do a bit of hooking over the weekend. If I’d applied myself seriously it would be finished, the goal I’d made for myself when I colour planned and took it all home to work on. It’s only a two day project, three at the most, but there was always an excuse. Too many late nights, late mornings and stuffing my face in between. Simply put, I got lazy.   Some say “that’s what holidays are for” and maybe they’re right, maybe I should stop beating myself up and instead of complaining I haven’t finished this cute little stocking, maybe I should be happy just starting it.

I love the colour plan. It’s very trendy like owls seem to be right now. Every time I hook a stocking I try to visit interesting combinations so no two look alike. Just because it’s Christmas doesn’t mean we need to paint everything with a red and green brush. This time I’ve used two value chartreuse, dark brown, medium brown, white, beige and two value turquoise.   It’s a fun colour combo and I think it suits these sweet little hooters.

Stocking Pattern is called "You Who?" click this link to see other stocking designs. http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/whats-newblog/hello-2016

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