The Yarn Tardis.....or Yardis..Yarnis...?

Perfect for knitting while watching your favourite doctor.

So Much Happening...

Sorry I haven't posted of late. Life has been , to say the least hectic. I have been making a bit of effort to beef up my online store at etsy, and get more involved with moving toward broadening my sales area and get some pots out to my Galleries in time for the summer influx of tourists. Its a crazy time of year for me, and it is only getting crazier. Preparation has begun for the NSDCC Summer show in July, I have chosen a smaller booth size this year, 5x10 rather than 10x10. It feels like a better space to me. I had this size at the Christmas show, and it was great. So now the push is on to fill that booth with goodies, and sell out completely.
I have managed to get some new product designed, and am putting the great push on to sell a metric buttload of pots between now and the end of July, when I will be moving house and Studio. The push will then be on to get ready for the Big Christmas shows, and the Celtic Colours International festival.

Amongst all of this business, I have been filling orders for these Police Call Box mugs. If I sell enough of these, I can move to a place that isn't a cardboard box. Great time to pre order for Graduation/Christmas... Only $45 Canadian, plus shipping....Oh, and Fathers Day is just around the Corner...

So Yeah, Toronto.....

First off- to those still waiting for their Easter Cards, (you know who you are)....... they are coming, they are not lost in the mail, they are late because of human error, sickness and an international trip. I promise they will be special and worth the wait.



So this is the view from my sisters apartment. Its pretty spectacular really. Now, despite being in my sister's company for an entire week, I neglected to get even one picture of the two of us. I did however get lots of pictures of the dogs she works with. Hey, I got priorities...

This fellow was such a handsome and well behaved dog, and could pass for a horse in a pinch...nd of course like all good aunties, I took a ton of pictures of my beautiful canine neice Miss Cracker

Such a pretty little hound. Cracker and I had a great visit. Maggi and I did too. It was a fantastic visit all round.

The main  purpose of my visit to Toronto was to attend the Toronto One of a Kind Show, and do some market research, in preperation to attend as a vendor in the fall. I spent a few days wandering the halls of this show There were more than 400 vendors, all of whom were juried in . The quality of the work was fabulous. The show was so well organized, and the staff was amazingly helpful. It was a joy to attend, and yes I bought stuff- how could I not??? I was however very good at practising restraint. I bought two small pieces of pottery for myself, a funky monster fabric bracelet for the girl child, and a really cool robot /city scape print for the boy child. all in all it was a lot to take in, but I came away from the show with a pretty good idea of what to expect, and the knowledge that I should definitely leave my credit card at home when I go back as a vendor, or the proceeds of my sales will just be gone.

I am really glad that I took this time to go and observe the show before jumping in as a vendor. I was very nervous about preparing for the show. I had no clue how much stock I would need, or how to possibly make all my pots arrive there safely, or how to display it when I got it there. There sure is a lot to think about when attempting to do  a show that far away. I was very glad that I had the opportunity to meat with Valerie Roy, at the show, she was amazing, and took the time to answer my questions, and show me a bit of the ins and outs of the show. Suffice it to say, that after talking with Valerie and many of the fabulous vendors from across the continent, my worries have been allayed. The show does not feel like a scary place anymore... and the preparation has begun.

Toronto Bound....

So I cleaned out my bank account (literally) and purchased a plane ticket. I will be landing In Toronto Tuesday afternoon, ready and raring to go... I am going to be attending the Toronto One of a Kind Show. No, don't get all excited now, I am not exhibitting there yet. This is a recon mission, I am going to scope out the show, take down some notes.. and lay down the groundwork to get my booth designed and pots made for the November Show. Its pretty darned exciting. Hopefully I will have a good day at market tomorrow, so there will be a bit of spending money while I am in TO. On a happy note though, I got funding to go, so 65% of my costs will be reimbursed. This is a VERY good thing. I have more I could say, but I am sleepy, its 3:15 in the morning, and there is a ton of stuff to do to get ready for market. ttfn

High Five Friday......Giv'r...

Sending out a Big ole Cape Breton HIGH FIVE! there are lots of folk out there deserving a high five this week. My personal biggest high five goes out to all those who are risking their lives to avert meltdown at Japan nuclear facilities this week. To all the Aid workers taking care of the wounded, the displaced and the hungry.... You are all my heroes.
To all those out there in blogland who are finishing up the week, HIGH FIVE!

India is our official high five model this week....

Jack The Ripper

Whern I was in Halifax last November for the NSDCC Christmas Market, I took a little trip downtown to my favourite yarn store. Now, I truly have no need for more yarn, or fibre of anykind. I have multiple rubber maid containers to illustrate this point. But I always need to take a little stroll through the shop to fondle the yarns and feast on the colours.

So there I was fondling the braids of hand dyed spinning fibre, when this little gem popped out at me. Its really a lovely blood red and black/grey combo It looks a little orangy here, but you get the idea. I thought it was just beautiful, and soft and lovely, but I was putting it back because this was supposed to be a LOOKING trip. Then I read the tag. Its called "Jack The Ripper" . I squeeled out loud and giggled. How GORY!!!!! I love it. Suddenly, I found myself whipping out the debit card... and adding to my already unmanageable stash of fibre.
I'll be taking Jack to Market with me on Saturday, along with my Drop spindle. I figure spinning is a good pastime for those few slow moments I have at market. If my hands are busy, I can't use them to stuff myself full of delicious baked goods from the stand next to mine. Good plan no?

What is Old, Is New Again.

All of these photos, and stories about my family filtering through my brain are starting to take on a life of their own. In the past two weeks I have learned so many interesting things, heard tall tales recounted by my Aunt Ann, originally told by my great Grandad Joseph Beck. Old stories, from the early 1900's, recorded by iphone in Fredericton, and sent by audiofile to Cape Breton. Technology is a wonderful thing.
 Hearing my Aunt retell the tale of my Great grandad's dog chasing a Rabbit through a stone wall in England, brought back memories of my Nan telling me the same story when I was a small girl. I was quickly able to recall the story in its entirety, though my aunt had forgotton bits of it.

The rather serious looking young man  on the left in this picture, is my Great Grandfather Beck. It was he, who was apparently quite the character, telling tall tales to anyone who would listen. I think I would have liked this guy alot. It seemed he had a wild imagintaion, and a bit of a twisted sense of humour. I like to think he was a tad adventurous as well, moving his entire family to a brand new country and leaving everything he knew behind, starting a brand new life at 42, with a young wife and seven kids in tow. This man and his stories have inspired  some new ideas for me, I am not yet sure how they will manifest, be it in art pieces, or production work, but I just know its going to be exciting work either way. I can hardly wait to get started.

To make something new, and to honour those who came before me