Blog Archives

Initially Yours U

3/30/2015

What a weekend! Another winter storm, maybe not as severe as in the past couple of weeks but capable of making four foot drifted around the yard. At least this was powdery stuff and not the heavy, wet, back breaking variety. The plough arrived at 3:00 am, too late for hubby to go out and move the car while the driveway was being cleared so he had to dig his way to the vehicle the next morning. He was out there quite a while shoveling..…maybe it was worth getting up and going out into the cold, dark night to move the car. I would say next time, but I sure hope to goodness there isn’t one!

I got back to hooking this weekend. We watched a marathon of Breaking Bad, we’ve had the four season DVDs for almost two years so it was time to get our money’s worth. A couple of friends had recommended it and although drugs and that lifestyle doesn’t appeal to me, there was great character development and I’m intrigued enough to look forward to the next three seasons.

I’m working on the U, as a tribute to our friends south of the border.   This time, I’ve designed the letter to hold the interest instead of extras in the background. It was finicky work in the top half with #4 strips as the stars are quite small but I hooked the red and white stripes in #6. The entire rug will be dressed in red, white and blue. I would have more hooking completed but after dark, even with my Ott-lite, it was difficult to colour plan so I’ve brought it to work today to figure out all the placements and then I’ll blitz it again tonight.   I’m on the fence about the background, either a solid blue or a mottled sky but I don’t have to make that decision until some of the motifs are hooked and then I’ll have a better feel for what will work.

The shop was very quiet on Saturday.   It snowed all day so we didn’t expect anyone and Deb and I continued to work on patterns. I worked on a design that’s been several years in the making. When we renamed Charlotte, the gorgeous runner Sue Cunningham hooked in shades of Grey, I swapped it for Twenty Five Shades of Grey. I felt a little guilty so I promised I would design a new pattern after my dear departed friend Charlotte, who adored paisley. It was time to take this one off the back burner so I bit the bullet and finished the red dot and put it on linen.   It took all day but I am very happy with the results. This design is called “Charlotte” and is 37 ½” x 64. It can be viewed on my new designs page. http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/new-designs.html

There was so much going on in the interior of this design that I kept the border simple and uncomplicated.   The paisleys are a mirror image so this rug can be viewed from both ends or the sides depending on how it will be displayed.

Charlotte, named for my oldest friend Charlotte Gloria Baird (Bennett) who passed away in 2008.

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U is for the United States.....

3/27/2015

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This has been one busy week! I feel awful that I haven’t had time to sit down and write! I’ve also have been feeling guilty not hooking, especially my Initially Yours letters. So I drew out U this morning anticipating I’ll have time to start hooking it this evening.

I’m thinking of honouring our American followers by hooking the U, for United States, in a stars and stripes pattern and then continuing that colour scheme throughout various motifs and background. Red, white and blue are favourites of mine so it will be a pleasure to hook. I threw all the colours together and I'll be chomping at the bit to get started. This will be the catalyst to get back into the swing of things and finish this project for the “ABC’s Of Rug Hooking” book and poster.

Deborah and I have been on pattern detail this week, building the stock for the back room. Summer is only a few months away and then the tourist traffic slows down production so we need to make hay while the sun shines. We’ve added new racks and expanded the existing ones for more space. Soon the entire perimeter room will be wrapped with patterns, like a big comfy shawl.

Today, every customer through the door warned of more snow coming tomorrow and although there might be some truth to this terrible, ugly and frightful rumour, I’m hopefully they’re all mistaken. In this neck of the woods, we’ve seen enough snow to last a lifetime. My shop roof is finally bare so the leaks have stopped, I thought the nightmare was over!!!

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More contest eye candy!

3/25/2015

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Here are three rugs entered for the Pattern of the Month Contest. They may not have taken the grand prize but they hold a very dear spot in my heart. Thank-you ladies for participating in the my first ever rug hooking contest. I appreciate the enthusiasm and effort you put into these masterpieces.

Anne Holmes

Janet Delo

Rosemary Malone

Adena was in yesterday to claim her grand prize of the $500.00 shopping spree. She had a smile you could see for a mile. She left with three patterns and two baskets full of wool!

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A lovely little surprise......

3/24/2015

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I’ve been a Subaru owner since 2004 and let me tell you why. In 1996 I had environmental illness and reacted to processed food, chemicals and anything man-made. I had to make severe changes in my life and home so I could exist as uncontaminated as possible because the alternative was horrible. One whiff of perfume and I was bed ridden for days, the smell of gasoline almost sent me round the bend and household cleaners almost did me in.   I became a prisoner in my home, my only safe haven. At the peak of my sickness, my poor hubby went to social functions alone and I had to wear a mask to go to the grocery store.   I felt like the freak of the town. Back then this illness was taboo, no one understood it and they cast aspersions about the crazy gal that lived on Fairmont Street. It was a very rough time for me both physically and mentally.

When our old beater gave up the ghost and it was time to find a newer, safer means of transportation, I never realized it was going to be a rough road to haul. I'd never noticed it before but now that I was immune compromised, I found out quickly that new cars have a new car smell, toxic off gassing of cheap plastics, rubber and polyester fabrics. For me, a closed up car or one sitting in the sun was a deadly weapon, the fumes inside lurked like a sniper in the grass.

My hubby was away working so Shane and I went car hunting. Several dealership salesmen shook their heads when I sat in their new cars and jumped out holding my hand over nose and mouth as if they were doused with Agent Orange. We took several cars out but only made it down the road a short way before turning back. It was winter so driving with the window down wasn’t an option. I’d never be able to own a car like that, I’d have to drive with my head out the window like a dog.

So we went from dealership to dealership, sniff testing cars, looking for the least offensive. I thought about buying second hand but they didn’t seem to smell much better. I could detect cigarette smoke, air fresheners and cleaners. I have a sense of smell that could be utilized for sniffing drugs at the airport. My illness developed my olfactory sense to work as an early warning system so I can get away before fully engulfed in the toxin that stunk up the place.

The choice of vehicles dwindled and I was discouraged. Now toxed from all the different cars, my neck glands looked like I had full blown mumps, my head was pounding; my face was inflamed a nasty shade of red and my ears hurt. When infected, it felt like someone was jabbing at my ear canal with a pipe cleaner; in and out in rapid succession causing severe discomfort. So I was feeling pretty beaten and lacked any hope of finding a car that I could sit in, let alone drive.

It was like entering the last chance saloon when we drove into the Subaru lot. I was even more discouraged because my beer budget didn’t include this breed of automobile, but while there I figured I’d give it a try. I have to admit I was shocked as I settled into the seat and didn’t have any immediate reaction to pile on top of what was already happening going on from all the other cars that day. This vehicle had a very subtle smell, new for sure, but it didn’t slap me in the face. I was told they use high grade plastics and rubbers in the interiors.

The salesman started the spiel of all the safety ratings and all the pluses but my nose had already bought the car. It could have driven like a three legged mare and I would have been happy but it turned out to be a very comfortable vehicle. The price tag was more than I had planned on but maybe you can’t put a price on health. So we drove off the lot and I’ve never looked back. I’ve been a Subaru gal ever since.

We started with the Legacy wagon that I loved. Unfortunately they discontinued that model so I moved up to the outback, a confidence vehicle for our harsh winters and long icy driveway and it sure paid off this winter with more snow than the north pole in my backyard.   My environmental sickness is now gone but I continue to stick with the car with the least amount of off gasing so I never put myself in a position to make myself ill again. I told them they should promote car sales with that pitch and I was told that many others have said the Subaru vehicles are environmentally friendly.

I’ve been leasing my vehicle through my company and when my lease came due in November of 2014, I decided to trade in for new one instead of buying out the lease. The prices of vehicles had dropped so my payment dipped to the tune of $200.00 and I got a loyalty and low mileage discount. I’d put only 29,000 on it in three years, that’s not a lot of driving. She was barely broken in. I could have kept her but a cheaper payment was too tempting. I hated to see my beautiful navy girl go; they didn’t have a blue that I liked in the 2015 paint choices so I opted for the Wilderness Green. I don’t know what I was thinking because green is my least favourite colour and after several months of looking at her parked in the driveway she still doesn’t seem to belong to me. Remember I’m the one with an attachment to inanimate objects so I felt a lot of guilt giving up on a car that had served me well, didn’t have a thing wrong with her, never needed fixing and most of all was blue.

My new car arrived and I put my back out at the same time. I couldn’t drive to the dealership to pick it up so they said they would bring the contract and car to me. I had to hustle and clean out the old car. Shane came down to help me as there was a lot of stuff in the trunk and beds and toys for the pups. I stripped her of our personal items and said my goodbye and the new car rolled into the driveway looking like shiny new penny. I sadly watched my blue girl drive away. My back was slow to heal so the new car sat in the driveway for three days before I was able to start her up and go for a spin.

A month later a thought hit me. We’d left a CD in the old car. It wasn’t just any CD either; it was Laura Smith’s latest release. I found the jacket and looked inside and sure enough it was empty. We don’t usually play CD’s in the car but we did hers, we know Laura personally so her music is all the more special. I asked the dealership about our old car and apparently it sold within a week. I thought, our loss their gain. In case you aren’t familiar with Laura, she’s a Canadian Icon. Her voice is unlike anyone you’ve ever heard. Google her and be amazed.

So to get to the point of my story…..last week a woman popped by the shop and asked if I was the owner. I said yes and she said, “I think I have something that belongs to you”. She pulled out a CD jacket and I knew immediately it was Laura’s CD! Sure enough, she was the new owner of my blue Outback and proceeded to tell me this amazing story.

She said, “My name is Laura Smith as well, and I’m from Sunnybrook”. She said when she bought the car and started it up to drive away, the CD player engaged and up popped the name “Laura Smith” across the screen.   She said she knew she’d bought the right car! We had a good chuckle. So I have my CD back and a fun little story to share!

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Grand Prize Winner of the Pattern of the Month!!!!!

3/23/2015

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!!!!Adena Clark!!!!

Adena has won a $500.00 shopping spree at
Encompassing Designs!
Come on in and claim your prize!!!!

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December Pattern of the Month Winner!!!!!

3/19/2015

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Congrats to Sue Cunningham!!!

The other entries are too sweet not to mention! I would like to thank all of you who have participated over the past year making the Pattern of the Month contest fun! Stay tuned for the big draw of all the months hooked on one backing. They are extraordinary! Only four have gone all the way so the odds are 1 out of 4 for a win of a $500 shopping spree at Encompassing Design Rug Hooking Studio! Stay tuned!!!!!

Rosemary Malone

Charlene Scott

Lucille Whynott

Janet Delo

Anne Holmes

Pam Haughn

Adena Clark

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Searching for the positives of winter......

3/18/2015

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Snow will land anywhere!

I’ve been whining about the conditions of winter in the Maritimes along with every other shovel wielding soul. As it stands, I can’t get out of my driveway and maybe we'll be trapped here until tomorrow when our turn finally comes up on the long list for ploughing. I’m trying not to think about the shop and the leak problems and heavy snow on the low pitch roof over my store when there is nothing I can do about it but worry, but every glance out of the window brings me back to the problems a number of us are facing this winter. Winter is making me a glass half empty kind of gal....or maybe that's me in any season.

On the other hand, hubby’s glass is always half full so he tried to bring me out of my slump with comments about the good side of a snowstorm. That’s when a thought hit me, sure the negatives outweigh the positives, but there are some good points to snow, you just have to dig deep to find them...... So today I’ll write about the positives of winter, surely there are a few.....let me see what I come up with.

So......I guess I can lead with the forced day off aspect. I work a lot, it should be appreciated. It’s like being a kid and hearing that school’s canceled right? How can this be a hardship? So there’s a check for the positive side. So what else?
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A big white page, like what I see out the window. That’s all I have, I’ll ask hubby for a bit of help.

No surprise, Mr. Positive was quick to contribute, as if he’d been stoking the fire compiling the list before I asked him for it....must be nice to be a ‘be happy, don’t worry’ kind of person, too bad it wouldn’t rub off on me! I couldn't believe what spewed out of his mouth after five seconds of thought. “The exercise of shoveling, being forced to kick back and relax, sleep in, time to cook a special meal, read, nap on the sofa with the pups, nothing to rush towards, sit and savour a cup of coffee.” Whoa, slow down big boy, all that off the top of your head? Impressive!

I will admit I’ve noticed how warm the floors are lately. I guess that’s a big positive. The outside walls in the front part of our house always feel chilled as cold wind seeps into the cracks of the granite rocks and works its way up through the floor boards. The house is over 140 years old and sits on a granite foundation and we sometimes find snow in the basement as the wind sweeps the white powder through the cracks and crannies, bringing with it the cold. The front door area is always chilled but now I can walk on the wood floors in my sock feet and not need slippers. The house also heats faster when insulted by a wall of snow. The entire perimeter of the house is buried in three feet or more of the stuff, like fitting the house with a big leg warmer. So there’s savings on the electric bill. A huge positive for sure!

Hubby is home now so he’s been digging out and hauling firewood so today we’ll have a nice cozy fire to snuggle around and if the power goes out, we can cook on it, keep our coffee warm and be mesmerized by the flickering flame, all positive.

Snow storms afford a bit of “oh look” moments from wind swept, sculpted landscapes. Fantastic drifts that take on recognizable shapes, like lying on your back cloud watching.   Every window frames artistic impressions of nature.   Beauty is a positive so another check.

Henri sure loves the snow. He’s a cream boy and without his plaid jacket he might get lost as he runs and climbs to the top of white mountains in our back yard.   He stops and looks as if to say, “Look at me mom, I’m the king of the castle!” He makes me laugh. Laughter is good, sometimes referred to as the best medicine. Laughing on a crappy weather day can only serve as a positive.

I’ve been outside more this winter than most, it’s healthy to breath in the fresh, crisp air. I've put in my share of shoveling and even with hubby home I've shifted a few tons of the stuff. Who needs a gym when there’s a yard full of natural work out material.   Its good clean labour and I feel exhilarated when I come back inside.   My face is pink, not the normal rosacea colour, I look and feel like a youngster, that’s rarely said at this age so chalk it up as another positive.

Another part of a stormy day is to listen to the dulcet tones of the impending Snowmageden on the weather channel. I don’t know why we let it play on after we've watched our area’s forecast. The monotonous score runs in a continuous loop and then you realize it’s been playing for an hour, droning on like Merry-go-round music. Golly, that one sounds like a negative. Maybe I've scraped the bottom of the barrel and that’s all there is.

There are pros and cons that's a given but after all is said and done the biggest positive of winter is........any day above ground, no matter what is piled on top of it, is friggin fabulous!

This is the view from my dining room window.

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From party highs to shop lows....

3/17/2015

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Life is great, hubby’s home, the pups are all well, business is good and we now have a boat. What’s not to rejoice about? But, and there always seems to be a dreaded but, the shop is once again leaking like a weakened bladder and my spirits are draining along with the water dripping down the walls in my classroom and stairway. My mood plummets every time I look at the pockets of water bulging the paint. I want to rush home and stick my head in the snow so I don't have to see the destruction. I want to cry watching it spread across the ceiling and hear the dreaded drips, no wonder that’s been used as a form of torture for centuries; it really brings on a world of agony. My poor beautiful shop.......

I came into work today with a big ole smile thinking about the new Pattern of the Month project I plan to launch and now it’s a big ole frown. I’m trying to boost my mental morale by saying things like, “It could be worse, the roof could cave in,” but even that silver lining doesn’t erase the gloom I feel for all the work ahead. The roof tiles have damage from all the chipping with ice picks, the rain gutters are now toast from all the pounding, the gyprock needs removing and the insulation replaced with dry, mudding, sanding, mess, mess, and more mess. I’m in a funk and it ain’t uptown, and if you don’t believe me just watch! Thanks Bruno Mars!

I keep thinking others have it worse but that doesn’t take away from my own woe and that is the only one I can feel as it continues to drip and spread and create more damage. There’s more snow coming this week, oh bloody joy. Last year when a storm hit it was a high five experience, yippee, day off! Now I sit at home belly aching over what might be happening to the ceilings and walls in the shop! Shane went home to get his big boots to go up and chip away the ice once again. I hate him being up there, what if he fell!!!

My poor hubby is home digging through four feet of frozen snow to get to the remaining woodpile that’s been buried for months. I’m not fit enough to do that kind of heavy work. They’d find me in the snowbank after the thaw. I stopped burning wood a month ago and leaving the electric heat on is more expensive. The fact that we already paid for the wood and now have more heating charges on top of that is wasteful. Every dollar depleted is now begrudged, that's taking away from dollars that could be spent on our boat, the new focus in our personal lives.

The snow is as hard as month old biscotti. First you have to drive a steel rod in to break up the latest outer crust and penetrate down to the previous frozen parts before the shovel will carry the softer underbelly away. The plough guy told us three of his trucks are down from all the heavy loads they've pushed around. This winter is not for the weak. It's hard labour! I think it’s time to put the house on the market and rent an apartment or condo, no woes, no cares, no grass to mow or snow to haul. No long driveways to maneuver and continually salt and sand. No wood stove, no wood to pile or fetch and no wind to pound you into yesterday. We live along the water and the frigid north wind uses us as whipping posts. We need one hand for the coat collar and one for the hat or be stripped naked on the short walk from the car to the house.

I’m from Nova Scotia so you’d think I’d be immune to the weather by now. There are jokes how our province can have four seasons in one day and I’ve experienced it, even brag about it! I can go so far as to say that winter is beautiful because I’m a tough Canadian, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger right? This year has certainly been a trial. If not for the leaks, the insurance claims and the renovations ahead I’d be like everyone else, a bit tired of it all and patiently waiting spring.

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It's aboat time!!!!

3/16/2015

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First I'd like to say that Fiz did remarkably well during and post surgery. She's back to normal minus a back canine. We both thank-you for your well wishes!

Exciting NEWS!!!   We are now the proud owners of a sailboat, a Nonsuch 33 named “Catalyst”. Maybe the word ‘now’ should be changed for the word ‘finally’ because realizing this dream has been a long haul. Through a series of wrong timing and sometimes bad luck our ducks were never in a row. Over the last three years, boats listed that seemed to be too good to be true, proved to be just that elevating our hopes and then dashing them. But at long last, our dream has come to fruition and we couldn’t be more excited at the prospect of a summer on the water.

For such a momentous occasion, we decided to host a party Saturday evening to sailebrate. At long last we are giving berth to a sailing vessel and quite frankly, it’s aboat time!

I haven’t thrown a party for a very long while. We sail by anniversaries and birthdays without a blink, just another day we say, but this boat represents a new lifestyle and deserves a proper launch. It was fun dragging out all my fancy serving dishes and doing a spot of decorating. I bought a red, blue and yellow boatquet of flowers, about as nautical as flowers can be. I put painted wood buoys on the table boasting nautical flair and found the most delightful navy material with waves running across it for a table cloth, which might end up as curtains below deck. I had napkins with anchors on them that were the perfect match for the material.   Hubby hung his burgees from various yacht clubs he has joined in his fifty years of sailing so the room was well appointed with marine flavour.

The house was pretty clean due to Larry’s regular swabbing so the place was ship shape which allowed me to concentrate on the food. This was the first party we’ve had in several years so I went all out. The galley island was covered in dishes heaped with grub and so was the dining room table.   I kept hauling appetizers out of the oven and trays from the refrigerator and there were groans at the overabundance but you know what they say about seafood, you see it you eat it. There wasn’t much left, thankfully they all stepped up to the plate and emptied them. I’ll bet there were a few Tums consumed later that night, after they opened their belts or put on comfy, loose fitting clothes.

I’m the kind of gal that goes all the way; it’s the cut of my jib. I attack any job with everything I have and this boat, a major purchase and the new lifestyle that will accompany it, was deserving of a proper nod to our cruising future from Mahone Bay harbour and ports beyond.

My sailor hubby that I will now have to refer to as Captain hubby, and me, his first mate, with our four salty dog crew, are going to sail every day the sun is smiling, cruising the local waters.   I predict, she’ll be the most used boat in the Bay! I’m going to learn the ropes, pardon the pun and sail her on my own. I’m pretty handy and if I can master the motorcycle I can take on a sailboat. If at any time I get into trouble, such as heading towards the rocky shoreline at 6 plus knots, I can dump the sail and power out of danger.   All I need to do is keep her off the shoals, reefs, bars, spits and shores, stay between the navigation marks and monitor the depth gage, heck, how hard can it be?

I love being on the water, rocking to the motion of the waves. I think it harkens back to the days I floated in my mother’s womb because when on board a boat, I curl and sleep like a baby.   I’ve always responded to movement, especially swinging; as a child I’d climb so high I kicked the clouds. I get the same feeling slicing through the water, the sail harnessing the wind, driving the hull forward, heeling over to the press of the gust, what a rush. If I close my eyes I can taste the salt air, feel the breeze in my thinning hair, I can hardly wait for the summer to begin. Maybe there was a mermaid ancestor in the family tree that passed down seafarer DNA....that would explain the webbed toes and the hint of gills under my hairline, but that’s quite a tail.......

There was the threat of another winter’s storm interfering with our celebration but we kept an eye on the weather and hoped our guests would come and go before it hit. Those that could make it arrived in good cheer and because this is Lunenburg County they all gathered around the kitchen island and stayed there.....it’s a standing joke....

The favourite nosh was the bacon wrapped scallops made from scratch so I could use the bacon I like best and a generous sized, fresh scallop. The boxed ones usually taste like smoked cardboard wrapped around a thawed, rubbery, hint of one.    I couldn’t fathom serving those to our friends!

We had super large shrimp from Costco that didn’t last long. I have these great shrimp cocktail servers that hadn’t been used in twenty plus years. I used to love to entertain and use my specialty dishes but life is so busy now with a shop to run and four dogs to raise there is little time for fancy fluff.

We bought a couple of thin crust pizzas from Michaels in Lunenburg. I reheated them to make the bottoms crisp, put a bit extra topping on them and then served them in thin wedges. Those were really popular and made the house smell like Italian heaven.   Costco has fresh made vegetable, spring rolls and there was a lot of double dipping in the plum sauce.

There was a homemade artichoke dip, a nice hot appetizer and mini quiches in phyllo pastry...tasty! Mary made her famous salsa and guacamole. I make a grape spread with red and green grapes, orange rind, pecans, cream cheese, cheddar cheese and cilantro that looks fabulous and tastes even better, recipe below. I had a fruit tray and a veggie tray, the fruit was devoured but no one touched the veggies...it reminded me of that TV ad, lie to your kids when they ask, "is this a vegetable?" I guess a party lets you off the hook for eating healthy. For a closer, I served eight different squares from Lahave Bakery that I cut into quarters for bite sized pieces as an end of evening sweet.

We were all respectable, no one rocked the boat. Even with an open bar we stayed high and dry, no one got three sheets to the wind. I even had a few celebratory drinks, let my thin hair down for a change.

The snow held off until 10:30 and by then everyone had left except Chris & Tina. We talked boat because they just purchased a Nonsuch 30 called Felina. A beautiful sight, the Nonsuch boats with their wishbone rig. A lot of retirees lean toward this design because they are easy to sail and race, are well-built and are stately below for comfortable living on the water. On Sunday, hubby and I spent the afternoon perusing the NS Nonsuch Association Site and although it looks like age spots might be a perquisite to joining, hubby and I can grow into them.   There's nothing wrong with being the youngest, old farts there. This year’s annual meeting is at the Lunenburg Yacht Club the early part of September, and that will serve as our meet and greet of the members. I wonder if I will find any rug hookers among them. I plan to do a lot of rug hooking aboard our boat and we’ll be taking out hooking friends for jaunts on the water.

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Fiz

3/12/2015

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I'll be a nervous Nelly today. I just dropped my beautiful Fiz off at the Vet clinic for surgery to remove a broken tooth. I know in my head it's fairly routine but my heart is pounding a little faster. Please send positive thoughts our way!

Fiz is very special. She's the brains of my little pack, as smart as a whip. She's undeniably daddy's favourite, he's partial to redheads and he's coming home tomorrow so she better be waiting at the door for him!

We call her Fiz because she's effervescent and bubbly and also after a red headed character on Corrie Street.

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A tale of two customers......

3/10/2015

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It was the worst of times, it was the best of times….I so love this line!   One customer gives me chocolates, another gives me a headache.

A woman came into the shop with a tale of woe. A rug, newly purchased lasted less than five minutes in the jaws of her dog. He’d pulled out a section of approximately three inches by five, oh what great fun he must have had! Luckily the backing was still intact and the yarn hadn’t been eaten so it was only a matter of rehooking it back in.

I gave her a demonstration on the basics of pulling a loop and she watched with interest. I told her the rug would have to be stretched on some sort of frame and she would need a hook. I looked at her and felt bad, I couldn’t condone selling a hook for such a little job that would only take me minutes to fix and I couldn’t be absolutely sure that there would be enough yarn to cover the bare patch, maybe bowser ate a few bits, so I figured I could find a few scraps around the shop to fill in if needed. Having never hooked before, the woman might be lost and in over her head if the wool came up short. I offered to work on it at the hook-in that evening and she said, she couldn’t let me do that, but I insisted that it was really no trouble at all. She offered to pay me but I told her to do something nice for someone, pay it forward.

The next day, I was out for an errand when her husband dropped by to pick up the repaired rug. Apparently he is a tall and handsome RCMP officer. Sorry I missed him!   Before I returned the woman came in with a box of chocolates to say thank-you.   A lovely surprise and Belgian! I opened and shared them around, the fewer I ate the better but I did souse out the caramel ones and scoffed those down.   I would crawl naked over glass for the taste of caramel, a flaw I can’t seem to correct. The gift was unexpected. I was happy to do it for her; both she and the rug were nice.   Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture to show and tell.

I haven’t complained about a customer for a long time, mostly because there is usually nothing to say. 99.99999% of the people though my door are lovely and kind. Sometimes a few are slightly irritated about something that might have happened in their day and be a bit on the crisp side, but that doesn’t warrant a rant, we all have rough times, I certainly have my share.

I do find this last year fewer folks have been off the wall, maybe they’re afraid I’ll write them up in a blog. Someone emailed once with a minor complaint and then asked that I not put the story in one of my blogs. I chuckled. I wonder if maybe now that I’ve been baring my soul in these blogs, I’m not just a face behind the counter but a friend, and in this case familiarity does not breed contempt. But, every now and then someone comes in like a shit storm, flinging it about so that it sticks to everything and everyone.   I’d written about this woman before, she was in before Christmas and very rude, and this time was even worse.

It was last Saturday afternoon and the shop was crazy busy, there were six or more shoppers, most were browsing and two I was helping, one with a design question and the other needed browns to finish her work in progress. I was running like cheap pantyhose to make sure everyone’s needs were met. When that busy usually everyone is happy go lucky and waits their turn, they can always fill time by running their hand over the wool in the shop, a treat in itself. Before I continue I’d like to apologize to the nice folks in the shop that had to listen to all this go down.

The gal working with me asked a woman that came in if she could help her and I heard the customer say rather loudly, “I need to talk to the boss!” She was told that I was currently helping others and would get to her shortly and it was mentioned that the woman could check out the store while waiting. A rude retort followed, “I’ve been in here before so I don’t need to look around.” The comment was once again, said loud enough to drift into the back room where I was helping a customer. My spider senses began to tingle.

I breezed by her to go upstairs to get a paper pattern of a poppy design that the client I was helping wanted to see and as I passed the waiting woman stomped her cane and placed a well-timed exhalation.   It was loud and long and caked with annoyance. I found the design and came back downstairs and as I passed her she said very curtly, “What do you have to do to get waited on around here, take a number?”

The words dripped like blood at the end of a knife. I paused long enough to say that I would be with her momentarily, that folks are dealt with on a first come first served basis, and continued to the back room with the poppy pattern. She had been waiting less than 5 minutes, not an eternity. She’d come in with a bad attitude because there wasn’t enough time lapse to foster that kind of discourtesy.

I remembered her. Shortly before Christmas she came in and bullied me for information about a frame that I sell, demanding to know who made it and where he lived. I knew what she was after. In the past this has happened when one of my carpenters got several calls to build them a frame trying to cut me out of the process.   She got pretty angry with me when I wouldn’t divulge my source and I had to walk away. When she realized she’d gone too far she told me she would go home and save her pennies and then come back in the New Year to buy the frame.   She asked how many I had in stock and at that time there were three. She asked if she could take it home to try it out before purchasing it and I told her that was not an option. I told her she was welcome to come into the shop and try it here for as long as she liked but she said no, it had to be at home with her chair. That wasn't good enough. She said I let her take out a frame years ago and the memory of that experience flooded in. So that was the woman! She was impossible to deal with ten years ago and pushed me until I gave in. I was a bit of a pussy in those days and I felt really upset for letting her bully me into doing something I didn’t want too. I can’t remember how long it took to get the frame back or even if she bought it, all I can remember was that it was a bad experience that made me cry after she’d gone.

I’m not about the money or the sale. If I was, I would have sold a hook to the lady whose dog chewed her rug and never gave her another thought. I take great pride in my shop and the items I sell; I want them matched with people who appreciate them for their workmanship and function. I want transactions to be pleasant so we can both feel good about it. I want my quality products to go to people who appreciate my wares and enjoy my shop.   Remember I’m the person that is attached to inanimate objects and my wool and frames and all other beautiful things that I sell are like my babies. I don’t want bad vibes and rudeness near or using them. Go somewhere else and peddle your misery. (My apologies to all the other shop keeps.)

So she was back and grumpy. Up to this point I’d had a wonderful day so I was in a good mood when I asked how I could help her. I bit my tongue and made a pact to remain cheery no matter what. She started by saying I probably don’t remember her but I said I did, that she had been in last year and was interested in one of my frames.

She said she wanted to buy an Octi-Spinner but wanted to take it to Dartmouth or Halifax, can’t remember which city, to try it out first. I told her we don't do that.  She asked why not? I said it wasn’t my policy to allow product to go out without being purchased first. She said what does that matter?   I told her something could happen to it offsite and she said it would be 'all on me' while it was out of the store. I’m not 100% positive but I think she figured I could just claim it on insurance but that wouldn’t happen, I would be out of pocket, either for the repairs or the loss depending on what the damage was. She told me that lots of people must come down from the city all the time so I could arrange for it to be picked up and brought back to me if she didn’t like it. I felt like saying, name one, I never know who is coming to visit from the city and even if I did, why would it be my responsibility?    Why would I burden another customer with it?

Where was the deal for me? The sale? I’m not motivated by money so what’s in it for me except potential trouble.   If this was the way she was treating me when she wanted something from me, what would she do when pissed off, if the frame got broken or didn’t work to her satisfaction? I kept thinking the entire time, lady, you get more flies with honey, if you want something from me butter me up with a knife, don’t stab me with it!

She was gradually getting louder and louder. I hate to use the word bully, a popular vernacular of the time, but really, there is no other better word for her attitude. All of this of course in front of other people in the shop. She said, “You mean you wouldn’t do that for a $400.00 sale? That’s a lot of money for that frame!” She droned on about the money and I said, “Well, maybe if you think it’s too expensive it isn’t the frame for you”.   She angrily shot back “I didn’t say it was expensive!”

She kept pushing me to let her have it….the frame that is. So I said, “No store would do that, you can’t take things out without paying for them first”. She said people do that all the time. What people, where? Canadian Tire? Maybe I’ll go there and be really rude and demand, “I’d like to take out a snow blower and try it out, I’m not paying for it and if I don’t like it, then I’ll return it used. If anything happens to it while I’m using it you’re responsible.”

Then she said, You have more than one so what does it matter? I told her “Actually that one is all there is at the moment”. She belts out, “You told me there were 3 in stock!” I told her “That was in December, they sell.” Someone could walk in the door any minute and want to purchase this last one.”

For some reason I keep standing there explaining myself and I wanted to rip the tongue out of my mouth so I'd stop. Now I’m saying things like the frame has moving parts and is heavy to manage. It could get dropped and break.   Again, she said it was “on me”. I said, if it gets damaged I lose because you won’t buy a broken frame. She said something like how do I know, and I looked her right in the eye, and said, “You would not pay me for a broken frame.”   She kept pummeling me with why not? She wanted her way and was going to bully me until I said yes, once again throwing up that I did it for her before.

I’m not sure why she is mean, but there isn’t any kindness there. Her eyes were disturbingly cold, full of contempt. Her nostrils flared. I wanted to look away but she was right there in my face. I don’t understand how people can be so mean, go out of their way to spread unhappiness. I can only hope that when she bad mouths me all over the city those forced to listen will know her character and take what she says with a grain of salt.

I kept my cool but there was nothing I could do to appease her. All my suggestions of trying different chairs in the shop were shot down. How the frame would adjust to any chair height. She kept reiterating how expensive it was, couldn’t believe I would turn down this fantastic offer of a potential sale for four hundred dollars, implying my stupidity with every breath. The woman with her, stood off to the right, not saying a word. Why couldn’t she just purchase it, take it home and then brought it back if she didn’t like it.   Anyway, she was so angry with me she spit venom all the way to the door. I doubt if she will ever come back and ask me if I care.

Quite frankly I think this boils down to that some people don’t view craft shops as real stores. Well, I’m as real as it gets. Registered, pay HST, employees, overhead and a store full of priced and ready inventory.   Just because I’m not a big franchise doesn’t make me any less bonafide. Why would I give a frame to a customer that I don’t know from a hole in the ground. If my life depended on it, I couldn’t even tell you her name, unless Grumpy works. What business does this? Tell me, because everyone will want to shop there, take stuff home and use it and then take it back if it doesn’t suit. I also don’t understand when people don’t listen to reason or treat you unkindly just because they don’t get their way. Whatever happened to please and thank-you? When does ‘no’ mean ‘maybe’ or ‘I think I might be able to wear them down if I’m hateful enough.”

Yesterday I was in the local hardware store buying staples. I overhead a chap talking on the phone to a difficult customer. I lingered in front of the display keeping an ear on the conversation. It went on and on as he tried to explain his point but was getting cut off mid-sentence. He never lost his cool, his voice was low and quiet and he finally said, “I tried to help you but you refuse to listen. Sir, this conversation is over.” Good line I thought, maybe I’ll use it sometime. I said to the guy when he hung up the phone. I see you have difficult customers as well. He said, you wouldn’t believe the stories I could tell you and shook his head. I think I would.

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A tale of two thoughts.....

3/5/2015

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It is the best of times, it is the worst of times……I’m torn between kicking winter’s arse and embracing its beauty. Seriously, this has been the harshest winter I’ve seen in years and not to dwell too much on the negative, it's becoming increasingly harder to find any joy in it.  Hopefully the worst is over but I won’t be surprised by a few more dumpings of snow. They say if March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb, so what happens when it comes in meek and mild, are we to fear more roaring?

Most of us are sick of winter but even through the trials of shoveling and snow removal, leaks and icy sidewalks, I wouldn’t want to live in 365 days of one season.   Having four different seasons offers a guide to calculate the passing of time and allows us to really appreciate the good after the not so good.

Seasons allow change, and change is splendid. Our surroundings switch from green to gold, to white and then to green again in a glorious transformation. Watching buds grow on the seemingly dead branches of winter is awesome....its like witnessing a miracle!

We get to experience seasonal decorating; changing our colours schemes both on our bodies and in our homes. Spring is all about new beginnings and the excitement of digging out the gardening tools, anticipating all the beautiful, rainbows of colour and the robins playing tug of war with worms in the early morn.

We dream of parties around the pool, I wish, and water sports like sailing, and the land sports like baseball and golf. Seasons give us diverse pastimes to look forward too, break up the doldrums of the less favourite months. Personally, I’m not a big winter person but others love the season, head to the ski hills, skate on the lakes, play hockey on the ponds, and fool around with all manner of winter toys. I think life would get pretty boring if it was 24/7, 12 months of sun and sand, but that’s just my opinion. Yah for our beautiful Nova Scotia, our diverse slice of the planet cake! But really mother nature, enough already.....

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Winter Games

3/3/2015

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Not all designs are winners but it’s always a bonus when one sports a bit more personality. Between my efforts at the design table and Jean Wentzell’s interpretation with her hooking, I think we both deserve a good slap on the back for “Winter Games”.   It might be bragging to blow your own horn but who wants someone else’s lips all over it during flu and cold season? I once read it isn’t bragging if it’s as good as you say it is and in this case, especially after it went viral on Facebook, I don’t think I’m far off the mark.

As I was drawing this darling jewel, I was thinking about the colour plan and what I would do if it were on my list to hook. I do that when I design, filling in the lines with colour.   This one was a custom order for Jean Wentzell, who has hooked a lot of my designs, some custom, and always does them justice.   We are currently working on a series of four designs so she has a rug to hang for every season. This one depicts winter and although Christmas is slap dab in the middle she didn’t want it to only serve the holidays but represent all of winter and withstand the three month duration it would hang. In Nova Scotia, white winters are commonplace so snow had to be on the menu and the perfect jumping off point.

A few years ago I saw a card with a cat skating on a pond and that stuck in my crop so when I was mulling over Jeans request, it popped up and I mentally switched out the cat for a snowman and the pattern began to take shape.   The skating snowman is definitely the focal and I wanted to have the design trail off in the distance. I placed a row of houses against a winter sky. I envisioned them as funky jelly bean shacks and Grinchlike groovy trees in-between.

The hill behind the pond was almost a third of the drawing so it needed to be broken up with interesting bits so I added more snowmen fooling around with various winter sports like skiing, snowshoeing and a toboggan and that’s when the name spoke to me, Winter Games. I added clothing, scarves and hats to help break up the use of white on white.   Jean did a great job hooking these tiny guys probably in a #3 and #4 cut. She also placed shadows in the snow strategically so the snowman bodies stood out. One snowman has taken a tumble, his skis are stuck in the snow and his hat went flying. There were now five snowmen which provides a nice balance to the overall design. I don’t much care for symmetry so they are not all clumped together.

The trees between the buildings had to be funky. I told Jean from the get go, go wild or go home. Bring in the bright, make then dance on the skyline. The trees were hip in design so they needed to be matched with jazzy colour.   I said I envisioned red and green stripes and she followed my suggestion to perfection, even sculpting them for added character. Unfortunately that effect doesn’t show well in the photo but on the actual rug it provides even more spark! We talked about making the little row of houses wild with colour, oranges, pinks turquoises, pumping up the jam and looking like they are straight out of a Whoville storybook.   The houses dance along the skyline and steal the show of the top third of the rug.

At the shop, Shane dyes wool called Snow & Ice, appropriately named, and Jean used 3 value and six 6 value swatches for the snow and ice. With that much snow to deal with the values had to be manipulated to show shadows and valleys or it would have become a large blob. The snow and ice 6 value bundles go from darkest to lightest with a smooth transition to Dorr Natural as the 7th value, which would be called on more to cover the area. I think Jean did a great job in creating the shadows along the hillside and under the snowmen. Even though this is a whimsical design the snow is rather authentic looking and quite believable.

Jean’s vision of the pond ice was a neat surprise. Similar to a chevron pattern it looks exactly like ponds from my childhood where the wind swept the snow into a pattern on the ice. It is a perfect contrast visually to all the vertical snow on the hill. Once again the icy blue from the darker values of the Snow & Ice bundles continued the uniformity of the rug so that it is totally balanced throughout. The sky denotes a grey winter’s day, a bit lighter than the darker ice as frozen water should be treated the same as an open body of water, a reflection of the sky tone only a couple of shades darker.

During the hooking of this magical rug, Jean would drop by on Saturday’s for updates and each visit brought more excitement. I couldn’t be more pleased with her efforts and the execution of her colour plan is masterful. Jean my dear, you can hook my patterns anytime!

An idea for her Spring design is already in my head, all I need is the pencil in my hand and a couple of hours to transfer my thoughts to the blank paper.   Stay tuned!

To view this pattern on our Seasonal Designs page click this link: http://www.encompassingdesigns.com/seasonal-designs.html

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Monday, Monday not so good to me......

3/2/2015

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Removing the fan. Expensive collateral damage.

I've had a heart breaking day. The inside of the shop is dripping like an incontinent senior. As I was getting into the shower this morning, Shane called to say the roof was leaking like a sieve; the upstairs smelled of burning wires and smoke was coming out of the ceiling fan upstairs. I rushed to work with unwashed hair wearing clothes picked from the laundry bin.

Ice packed along the edge of the roof from the rain gutters was melting and finding cracks to seep inside. It then ran along the walls and ceiling until finding openings in the vapour barrier, like around window frames or ceiling lights and once establishing a route, dripped to the beat of a very fast drum. We have dye pots everywhere to collect the water and towels that we have to squeezed out continually. Thank goodness for the vapour barrier keeping the leaks inside to a minimum but I hate to think what it's doing to the insulation..

Until this morning, the bathroom was the worst hit week, ruining part of the wall as well as traveling to the exhaust fan vent. There was a latex water bubble the size of a pregnant dog that I pricked it so the water emptied in a roasting pan. The paint acted like soft flexible rubber and grew to a third trimester. he kitchen as been leaking for days as well and Shane’s been dyeing wool with the lights off, dodging the drips coming out of the light fixture so he doesn’t get wet. My beautiful pristine building, how I weep for you as you weep for me.

So this morning, Shane and I had to go up on the roof to shovel the snow and break up the ice. I’m not afraid of heights and the snow is so deep on the low pitch roof that there isn’t much chance of sliding off anyway and even if I went over the side there wasn’t long to fall because the snow down there is about five feet high cutting out a third of the distance to the ground. When I got close to the edge I sat on my rump and pushed the snow with the shovel. It was mild today so we shed our coats and my hands didn’t even get cold. Shane, bless his heart, broke up all the ice, did so much pounding with the edger tool that his fingers went a bit numb.

Damn rain trough! Because of the ice pressing up against the building I now have several thousand dollars’ worth of repairs and that fan was expensive, bought to suit the classic wide mouldings and raised panels of the interior trim. Friggin champagne taste on a beer budget, I just had to squeeze out the extra bucks for a really nice fan and now it’s wasted, fried like chicken. It can't be fixed. We are lucky it didn't set the building on fire. Which goes to prove that things could always get worse so count the blessings. The electrician that answered my pleas for help, blessed be his name “Mike”, took it down and another dripping fixture to be safe not sorry. He got the power back on because we turned off all the breakers when the smoke started pouring out of the fan and then when I switched them back on they didn’t work. Why I am not sure, cause they worked with the Electrician did the very same thing. My poor gals were working in the cold and the dark. What troopers!

What a mess upstairs in my classroom, bubbles in the paint where water collected, streaks down the wall. My poor, beautiful building……. I suppose I should happily add, no rugs or wool were damaged in this disaster.

That's me on the roof. Not exactly what I had planned for today but you do what you have to do and smile while doing it.

It's crying time again......

Shane held the other side of the ladder with his his hands while the electrician climbed up the other side. We didn't have a proper step ladder but this is a trick to use in a pinch. Although this looks like a super hero feat, all the weight was on the step side so it wasn't difficult. When the fan was being disconnected, the water rained down on Shane through the opening in the ceiling, dripped off his hood into the bucket by his feet.

It was a three bucket serenade. One might have appreciated the melodious sound the water made when hitting the inside of the metal can if not for the dollar signs flashing before my eyes.

One of the many pregnant bumps from unprotected encounters with snow and ice.

The area above the washer and dryer. Lovely gash two feet long.

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