I know I’m owing the blogverse a totally cute baby booty pattern and some updates, but it’s been really crazy around here, and instead of typing out the pattern, I totally had to post about my day today instead.  It was pure comedy for sure.

With my trusty google map directions in hand, I set forth on three simple errands. Jenise’s house, Homestead Park, library drive through.

On my way to Jenise’s, I got lost — first time because I passed Main Street since Google gave me a different name, then a slash, then Main street. Great. I was looking for the street name prior to the slash. Second time, I was on the right street, but turned around because Google maps told me to go 1/10th of a mile. I was about 2 miles down the wrong way when thankfully, my patron saint of Hilliard directions, Christine, came to my rescue and told me to go 1 FULL mile.

So, I get to Jenises finally, and then quickly depart towards Homestead Park to meet Christine — well, I didn’t proof read the directions, and as I’m in the general area of Homestead Park, I realize my last direction is to “Turn onto Bike Trail”. Uhm. Right. So that’s time no. 3.  I’m about 2 miles past the actual park area (and the bike trail leading to it from a street that has no road entrance to the park…  ) then it’s Christine to the rescue. Again! Christine to the rescue. Again!  However, I’m running on 2.5 hours of sleep, plus only about 3 hours of sleep the night before that, and I swore she said to look for the park on the left side. I was a good two miles before I called her and said, HELP! Again. I’m lost for the fourth time!  It was on the right side. Plus side is the cutout cows if you go too far past Homestead are pretty cute!

So, then, me getting lost every which way gives me all of 40 freaking minutes at the park. Sigh. My alarm goes off, and the daughter and I are on our way back to the car. Sort of. Time number 5 — this park is huge. I ended up on the other side of the lake asking a very friendly lady which way the water play area is, she points and says “On the other side of the park.” I’m so tired after walking very fast for like 7 minutes on hilly terrain that I just stop and laugh my ass off. We walk another 10 minutes to the car.

So, phew. We are SO ready to go home. Christine has given us great directions, too. Except that I missed one very important part of it. Turn RIGHT out of the park. The sixth time I got lost was because I turned left and when that road dead ends, you’re entering Union County. I shit you not. So, I turned around, called Christine and got home 40 minutes later after I treated myself to Starbucks coffee and smoothie. No library, no way. And I didn’t drive another iota today. No way in hell. We’re so out of food but I was like, crackers, cheese and peanut butter is juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust fine.

Just thought I’d share. I was functioning, alert, awake, in every which way except for directionally. Small trade off. I think.

Going strawberry picking tomorrow. Let’s see what that brings, shall we?

…live, after the photos.

Watch American Idol anyone? We do. Shamelessly.  Though we don’t vote. So perhaps we should stop watching it? I dunno. But I will give a quick shout out to Adam Lambert and Kris Allen. That’s all. Swear.

Anyway, here’s the grand, and I mean Grand with a capital G process of selecting winners.  Since my comments don’t have numbers (which I think I’d like to change, but we’ll see), I had this - over 30 entries!

And I must say, thank you all for commenting. There wasn’t a single bad idea in the bunch. At all.  My personal favorites were the nearly-exasperated “don’t over think it”. Because, that’s what I do. Constantly. Just ask my poor husband when I finish something and tell him the thought process and he just cocks his head and says, “well, it’s nice”.  Must be because he’s a computer guy.

Anyway, here’s the state-of-the-art random generator we used:

And, the winners:

Katie will receive the sterling earrings

Valerie will receive the merino/silk yarn

Julia will receive the hand dyed silk hankies.

If you don’t live in Columbus and I know where you live, drop me a note with your address at jen at daharadreaming dot com and I’ll get your package out first thing Monday morning.

Thank you all again! Should you come back, you’ll find content worthy of reading, even if you hate it.  For those it applies to, have a happy Easter weekend.

Now, I’m off to finish getting ready for my father’s Welcome Home Par-tay from Iraq. And as such, I leave you with this image, taken by my daughter:

Sharon G., you have a $5 gift certificate since my daughter insisted, quite insistently, that I pick out a winner too — as she picked out a name and held it out to me.  And since I had nothing else prepared, hope that’s alright. Said daughter also took the photograph. Not bad, eh?

Today is the last day for my Help Me Write a Blog Contest. So, here’s the obvious statement of the day - leave a comment!

And in relation to the blog, I was discussing the weirdness of blogging (in my mind) and found that it’s sharing the personal things and the things I take for granted (eating gluten free, buying in bulk, not being able to dye in the winter since my ’studio’ is my garage, why I work from home, etc. etc.) is what many folks are interested in. Who woulda thunk? Then duh, I realized my Google Reader list is filled with amazing artisans who don’t just jabber on about their stuff, but they talk about their life.

Good to know.

Here’s an insight into my life - and what makes me think of beauty, love, life, gratitude - the hubster and daughter at Hoover Dam:

And this - my two favorite people’s hands - my heart sings a bit when I see it:

And, a gratuitous pic from my artistic child. Amazing how incredibly frustrating she can be and yet amaze me every. single. day. Universe willing, there’ll be another two frusmazing (like that, eh) children in our lives to confound us and bring us joy:

How does she do it?

Comment so I can get some good old numbers pulled out of a hat and send out some prizes tomorrow!

Got some nice dm’s on twitter and FB letting me know that, hey, some folks couldn’t enter. Nice to know that I’m a complete idiot when it comes to the internets Anyway, one more week on the contest - making that a new end date of Thursday, April 9th. Okay, technically, that’s only 4 days from now.

And, so this isn’t some boring update on how I don’t know anything about how my own blog works, here’s what I’ve been working on:

Skeining (and gods my arms and shoulders hurt). Pictured below is approximately 90 skeins of yarn. With more on the way. But I totally need a break. Everything dyeable is now skeined for dyeing. Should have been ready over a week ago. But, whatevs. Thank goodness for roving/top. You weigh it and cut it. Done.

By the way, after my trifecta of June Shows (a post coming later in the week), I’m buying an electric skeiner. My body deserves it. Here’s my current low-tech, high-energy setup:

And currently, prepping craft and wool felt. Yep, I wash even that stuff. And iron it. Because I’m OCD.

(This is also why it’s 2:25am and I haven’t updated until 3 days after the original end of the contest. Ugh. Oh, besides totally rearranging the house <again> and a sick child [which will forever trump all].)  Enter the contest. Win something for yourself or to give. Until then, keep dreaming, and keep creating.

ps: welcome back home, Dad!

**updated! contest extended by 1 week

Help me write a blog. I finally admit it. I don’t know what to write about. How to write it. I get started and then I fizzle. Or, like recently, I completely break my stinking blog.  Then fix it. Mostly.

I do many different crafts, but can’t think of a thing to write about, all I can think about is doing the crafts, to hell with writing about it!

So, I knit. I sew. I dye yarn, silk, and clothing. I make jewelry. I try new things all the time. I can’t do one of those crafts all the time or I simply go bonkers.  I go to craft shows when I’m accepted. I work my ass off trying to make it as a working from home mom, raising a very, very active kid. Trying to produce another 2 kids (yes, with the dh’s help). Possibly homeschooling. Have to make damn near everything from scratch food-wise since it’s cheaper when my daughter and I are completely gluten-intolerant.  We compost. We have gardens so we can help feed ourselves.

What do y’all want to read about? That’s what I want to write about. It’s how I aced all my English courses in college.  So leave a comment or three  - give me some ideas. Should I post daily? Weekly? Or when I have stuff to show off? When I have new things listed in my Etsy and webshop? When I make new stuff? Tutorials? Themes? Too many ideas, not a good enough blog filter for sure.

And, to spice it up - I’m adding incentive. All the best ideas (which, I admit is not the most fair criteria given how my brain functions, but it’s all I’ve got) will be put into a random generator and the three chosen will win:

Sterling earrings with coral and black tourmaline:

A skein of hand dyed yarn in a wool and silk blend:

And, a set of three hand dyed silk hankies.

Contest ends in one week, on April 2nd, 2009.  All prizes will be beautifully packaged for you to keep or to give away. Bring on the comments!

Dude. Finally. I think I’ve unbroke my blog.  Now. To get all my plugins/widgets/and visual setup the way it’s supposed to be, I’ll be able to breath, and blog, with a sigh of relief.

Night night all!

And, *coughcough* when your blog tells you to update. Do it.

The Daily Etsy, Monday 12/22/2008

The time has come to segue into Christmas or Holiday posts. But since i’m not all ’bout the red and green and shopping till I drop, I’m gonna do the holiday posts a bit different.

9 Days of Holidays - What the Holiday Spirit Means to Me.

Day Six - CPSIA

What is CPSIA, exactly? And why is it being blogged about?

CPSIA is the Consumer Protection Safety Improvement Act. I hope I get this blog fixed and posts public so more folks can be aware of what’s going on, and how it’s going to affect not just the consumer, but all of us cottage industry folks who make products for children twelve and younger.

Here’s a mostly brief recap, I’ve left out many of the details. Some of this may change, and I may have interpreted it incorrectly, so I’ve included various links below as well for further reading.

Lead testing has been passed into law (August 2008) by congress and placed into action by the CPSC. This new regulation requires all products to be tested and certified to meet the new, lower levels, of lead.  Even if it’s just a blanket, a fairy skirt, a notebook, knit booties from hand dyed yarns - every. single. product intended for a child twelve and under must be tested.

In many cases, batch testing will be permitted, for say, PlanToys, or EeBoo, or any large scale manufactuer. However, testing is expensive. The consumer is going to be given the cost in terms of raised purchase price.  What this means, however, for small business, either singly owned and operated or even with a few employees - is that products that are made, even if they are from the same pattern, but use different materials, means each item produced will have to be tested. At the lowest found testing cost of $300 per test, that will put any person producing any product - toys, clothing, dolls, shoes, blankets - out of business.

Scarily enough, the law was enacted and began immediately - many of us might be selling products that are considered illegal under the new Act. And most of us only began hearing about it in the past month.

February 10, 2009, when the remainder of this Act goes into full force, is being called National Bankruptcy Day.  And for good reason.  Just in my small business - my fairy wands, chalk mats, children’s jewelry, art packs, elfin outfits, fairy skirts, and anything else a child under 12 might use/play with - will be illegal to sell without proper lead and pthalate testing. I’m just one manufacturer.  How many sellers on Etsy list products for children? Thousands. How many others sell independently? Thousands. How many will this law affect? Millions.

I post it here, under Day 6 of 9 Days of Holidays because this law, while well-intentioned, has been badly thought out. Its execution will change small business, pricing, and the industry in untold ways that may truly be hard, if not impossible, to recover from, if the Act remains unchanged.  Gift giving and the handmade movement will change, if not die.  Making gifts and making things for people to buy and use or give is such a vital part of creativity and economy. If that choice is taken away, what will be next?

Please do some reading. Write your congress and senate representatives. Take the surveys that are posted below.

http://www.cpsc.gov/

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpsia.pdf

http://www.fashion-incubator.com

http://nationalbankruptcyday.com/

http://www.nam.org/

Richard Woldenburg on YouTube

The Etsy Storque on CPSIA

http://www.handmadetoyalliance.org

I’ve Been Tagged! And it’s my first tag evah. I was tagged by Karma at Pirate Bootie Baby with the 7 things meme…

The rules:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 7 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post.
4. Pass on the tag.

My 7 Things:

1.  I’d rather eat the batter than any cake, brownie, or cookie.
2.  I love the movie Xanadu. Yes, the one with Olivia Newton John.
3.  I have a tattoo and would love about 6 more. The gal at Baying Hound has inspired me to go for it!
4. I want to go off the grid, in my wonderful suburbia home, have solar panels galore and a rain water conversion system. Oh to dream!
5. I’m terribly shy and all stumbly in my head around people. Which really surprises people, and surprises me that it surprises them.  I love meeting new people, but get so nervous that I tend to freak about what’s coming out of my mouth, or is being typed on the keyboard.
6. I think conversations with my 3-year old are the bomb. She struggles with colors but can repeat most of Green Eggs and Ham and talk to me about how the body works. All kids are geniuses in their own way.
7. They’re not library fines. They are library dues.

Now, to tag… here goes:

– J at Misplaced Canuck (see her awesome dyed goods at www.MapleLeafDesigns.net)
– Rachel at Baying Hound
– Helen’s NapArt Fiber Blog. It’s amazing. She’s amazing.
– Amy’s Scheduled Maintenance Blog - she runs and raises chickens. And she’s super cool.
– Alana’s Blog on Homeschooling and life, Finding the Way Home
– My mama’s blog on quilting and family - Angel45402
– SewKnitNBeads2, a woman’s blog on her exquisite hand spun yarn. I lurk because I cannot. buy. any. more. yarn.

Just when I’m on a heavenly roll, I lose the use of a hand.

Got your attention, didn’t it. I still have my hand, and it’s not broken. What might be wrong with it then, you might ask. Then I’d have the distinct pleasure of telling you I sliced it open. On the the back. To the left of the first knuckle bone on the middle finger. About 1.5″ in length (running parallel to the finger itself. To the bone. Hurts like a mother.

Then, one might ask how such an odious cut came to be. And then I could tell you with a maniacally pissed off grin, that it occurred while I was putting away towels in our linen closet. Safe enough task, one might think. Until you slice open your hand, that is.

Our linen closet has metal shelves the previous owners put up. Adjustable, cheap, razor sharp metal shelves. On the underside of each shelf where it slides for adjustable width, going the whole depth of the shelf, the piece where you grab on to slide open the shelf. Captain Disc, my wonderful husband, tests each one. Each one has slice power. Each one is going to hell tomorrow when they get taken out.

So currently, there’s a lot of tape on my hand and a splint using one of my daughter’s fabulous Plan Toys bamboo knives. More than the fact that I’ll probably have to get stitches is the fact that this could have been my child. Oh, the blood rage came pounding, I tell you. But, blessedly, it was me.

The second worst part is I can’t sew, knit, or bead jewelry. Or type fast. This is going so excruciatingly slow. Especially when I’m typing excruciating.

The third worst part? I can’t put my own bra on. Let alone take it off.

The best part? I get new linen closet shelving. Reorganizing makes me smile. The best part, part deux? I took pictures! Of the hand, silly.

Well, after much research and revamping of some original goals, Dahara Dreaming is going to be up and running better than ever. Well, not that I was ever gone (!) but I was at a personal standstill, not to mention trying to reorganize a VERY tight office space. It’s amazing what a LOT of shelving and an actual desk can do for one’s morale.

Also, I’m finding that doing the photos is more difficult than I anticipated, so I’m just taking an hour each evening when the little one is asleep to sit and focus on photos. I have a HUGE backlog of them to modify. It’s scary! At least it’s taking up harddrive space and not physical space. Oh the boxes those would fill!

So, on to better things. We’ll have the blog linked to the front page so the latest post will show up.

We’ll have our Upcoming Events always at the top, so if you wish to come see us in person, you’ll know where we are!

We’re reorganizing what’s currently up on Dahara Dreaming, HyenaCart, and Etsy – it’ll make more sense as to where things are listed.

Our HyenaCart will also –thankfully! — get a design that matches DaharaDreaming. Have you seen our HyenaCart page? Ugh!

Products will now be getting listed on the three sites once a week - instead of letting it stockpile like I did (I only have myself to blame for that!). So Mondays are now stock days — officially at that.

There’s a lot more, but those are the “biggies” we are working on right now. Stay tuned - daily posts, upcoming products, news, and cool new ideas are on their way.

Just a warning though — I have what is called craft A.D.D. (ROFL), where I think of something to make, but after one or two dozen, I’m done and on to other creations (*disclaimer* this is not to mock or be confused with those that do have A.D.D., but rather to clarify why some things just don’t get made anymore).

So, sneak peek — off to work on some cool minkee newborn/toddler blankets!

Blessings,
Jen