you like clay, it's your favorite

Is SO hard to do. My dear Grandmother passed on Friday, at ninety six she lived a full life. She was such an important figure in my life. She will be greatly missed.

Grandma and Lillian, the greatgranddaughter

I love you grandma.

A Taste of Briar Rose!

Things are a buzz here getting ready for this weekends show. I’m very fortunate to live in a place with such an active guild. Each year the Minnesota Knitter’s Guild brings instructors from far and wide to teach at their event, Yarnover. This year the guild members have brought compiled a great group. Meg Swansen, Amy Dejten, Lucy Neatby, Gayle Roehm, Ginger Luters, Susanna Hansson, Margaret Fisher, Jared Flood, Edie Eckman, Franklin Habit, Judy Pascal,  Lily Chin, Beth Brown-Reinsel, Cookie A., Carol Rhoades , Romi Hill and the keynote speaker Cat Bordhi.  Whew, I wish I had time to take a class. It’s great fun to see all the knitters after a long winters hibernation. Even if you’re not taking a class stop by the marketplace.

I’m very excited to have a dear friend joining me this year, Chris of Briar Rose Fibers. We met at a sheep and wool event a few years ago and became fast friends.  We see each other at “work” when we are at Fiber Festivals and shows, but don’t often have time to just play. Chris is making the journey from Michigan, to take a class, and is coming early to make a mini vacation of it!  She couldn’t come to a knitting event and not bring her goodies along. So, there will be a “Taste of Briar Rose Fibers” at my booth this Saturday at Yarnover. So, check out your pattern stash, and queue on Ravelry. Perhaps you have a project that could use a little Briar Rose?

Lil and the swap potholders, originally uploaded by jenniethepotter.

Lil has figured out how to sit up just in time to hang out in the yard. Our potholders arrived today in the mail from our crocheted potholder swap. Lil was instantly smitten, as was I.
I’m not doing a lot of cooking these days, with all the show preparation, so I might have to use these to unload pots from the kiln!

I was recently bit by a bug. It involved a crochet hook and lots of kitchen cotton. Hub wants to know how many potholders one house needs. Good question.

Here’s the current list of events I will be attending in 2010!
Madison Knitter’s Guild Knit In : March 13
Minnesota Knitter’s Guild Yarnover : April 17
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival May 1& 2
Shepherd’s Harvest May 8 & 9
Schoolhouse Press Knitting Camps weekends in July
Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival September 10 – 12
New York Sheep and Wool (Rhinebeck) October 16 & 17

Also, there’s a new group on Ravlery for fans of my work. Check it out!

I made it! Fueled by caffeine, 30 Rock and dreams of Olympic Gold, the sweater was finished early on Sunday morning. I’ve posted the full details to my Ravelry page. All that’s left to do is sew on some buttons. I wonder where I can find buttons?

Tonight the Winter Olympics begins, and with it thousands of knitting projects. Inspired by the accomplishments of Knitting Olympians the last winter games I decided to give it a go. I’m joining in the madness and will be casting on Estelle with some beautiful Briar Rose abundance.
This yarn has already been knitted once. While pregnant I started a sweater and was generous with my calculation. After knitting happily to the armpits and casting on for both sleeves I decided I should move the body stitches to a waste yarn and try it on for size. By this time Lil was a few months old. While I still carry some of the “baby weight” this sweater probably would have fit just fine when when I was eight or nine months pregnant , or still living in the baggy shapeless sweater wearing eighties. The hub was consulted and my suspicions confirmed So, the sweater was put in a corner to stew. What to do?

My answer came when I was asked to join in the knitting Olympics. Chris is a dear friend and knows how much of her yarn I have. She was composing a team of like minded knitters for the Olympics. I stumbled across the pattern after another friend tweeted a link to the designer’s work after the earthquake in Haiti. ( The designer donated half of her pattern revenue to Doctor’s Without Borders) I measured my “swatch” and my gauge was spot on.

So, in the Olympic spirit I will cast on tonight during the opening ceremonies and will attempt to finish the sweater during the Olympic games. There will be late nights, and brief sojourns while the Lil nugget is napping. All the while I’ll be thinking swifter, higher, stronger as I click along. Or, dear God what have I signed on for?

Buttons are on the way! I have taken many photos and over the next few days will be posting them on my etsy site. I know there are people who will be needing buttons for their projects for Ravelympics. I’m not considering this an “update” as it’s only buttons, but rest assured pots are in production!

These mugs have been donated to the Knitter's Without Borders drive for Haiti. Have you donated yet?

I have a few irons in the fire right now. New ads are on the way, new shows, some custom work for knitwear designers and oh yeah a new way of selling my work online.  I thought it best to start with the pictures.  I find making the work is the most fun and photographing it by far the least. It’s such a steep learning curve photographing a three dimensional shiny object like a piece of pottery. Add the overcast winter weather to the mix and the whole process is frustrating enough to drive a woman to drink. That’s were the new photo back drop and a stadium’s worth of lighting comes in. I’m pleased with the results. Now, to have the patience to do this to a whole kiln’s worth of pots. Good thing the liquor store is just up the street.

I want to let everyone know I’m transitioning to a new site. The website, in it’s previous incarnation, no longer exists. I am changing how I sell my work and the new site will reflect that. Previously, customers placed an order on the website, the site generated an order to me, and I made the order. This process took anywhere from two to four weeks to complete depending on how many orders were pending and proximity to a show. We have a wee little home studio and do not have the space to keep a large stock on hand. This model seemed to work best for those wanting to purchase pots from me. With a new babe around the house my studio work has changed dramatically. Instead of a regular studio schedule where I was in control of my time I now have a little one who dictates our days (and nights). Sometimes the stars are aligned and I can accomplish studio tasks during her brief moments of rest, or when a grandparent offers babysitting. Too often though I feel like I’m drowning in expectation and become overwhelmed when I am unable to get into the studio because my energy and efforts are needed elsewhere.  I love my new role as a mother and needed to find a solution to always feeling behind in the studio, while balancing my desire to spend time with my beautiful daughter.
So, with the help of a dear friend we’ve decided to implement a different plan for purchasing my work online. The new site will be largely blog based with commerce run through etsy. It’s the easiest solution, and hopefully one that gives us more control of the look and feel of the site. (The old site was functional – but did little to reflect my personality) I will continue to make pots and when I have an adequate supply I will post those pots on etsy.  Once ordered they will ship within the week, as the pots will be made and ready to ship. I will give advance notice of this to those who sign up for my email list so you’ll know when you can peruse the newest work. I will be posting the update time and details on the blog too. All of this will be accessed through the www.jenniethepotter.com web address. Over time I hope to create a pattern of these “updates” and should be posting where seasonally relevant ie in time for Mother’s Day, Christmas etc. Anyone “needing” pots, buttons, jewlery etc for a special occasion (or just ’cause) can contact me directly and we can arrange a special order.  I will continue to make work for shows and will be maintaining a calendar of upcoming events at the site too. Those of you who have purchased work at event know there are many designs and motifs that did not appear on the website but were available in person at shows. Depending on the kiln, there should be more of those pots popping up for sale outside of shows too.
So, be patient as the hub and I dive into this new experience of building our site, and stay tuned as I unveil the new stuff. It’s bound to be good!