Idol Appearance

I have this bad habit of not watching American Idol until the final episode. And then I have it on in the other room (I really can't handle two hours of bad singing) just sort of waiting for the winner to be announced. I suppose I'm afraid that I won't know the latest tidbit of pop culture, and although the water cooler only includes me and two cats, I still don't want to be that out of the loop. Taylor Hicks won, he kept yelling something I couldn't understand but the crowd responded to. It sounded like "Bobeedo" or somesuch. Do you think he's going to get a "Just For Men" endorsement deal now?

It Aint Easy for a Dude

Since the purpose of this blog is to journal the process of becoming a professional designer, not all of it is going to be pretty, right? Take yesterday for example. On one hand I received some very nice feedback on "Dawn" and a few people even bought the pattern. Woo hoo! On the other hand, two of the felted items that SCCM had me do last month for a January issue were ultimately deemed unusable and that they would be returning them. I suppose they imagined the items differently than how they turned out. They are pretty much exactly like the swatch/sketch from which they made the decision to have me produce the items and patterns. I can only conclude that when they looked at the swatch/sketch their own imagination filled in the details differently than mine did. It's like a whole new level of rejection though and hopefully I won't have to get accustomed to it as I develop. Having a swatch/sketch returned as "not what we are looking for" is very easy. Having the final item (that one has worked on round the clock for days and days) returned as "unusable" kinda feels like getting kicked in the guts.

That being said, I'm still pleased with how both of them turned out, so I definitely plan to publish them myself. Lemonade my friends. Lemonade.

Potential Appearance

A LYS here in Houston near Rice University is having a big sale this Saturday and the owner contacted me to see if I would make an appearance. Although it's not totally confirmed I'm pretty much planning on going at least for a for a few hours (once it's confirmed I will give times that I will be at the shop). I will be there to give impromptu basic crochet lessons, answer any crochet related questions that anyone has about a pattern or project, etc. I'm also going to set up a little trunk show of my designs. I have worked up Chic on the Halfshell in a yarn that they carry there (a wonderful Blue Sky Organic Cotton - wowza!) and created a one-page version of the pattern to give out for free. If you are in the Houston area come check out this little gem of a yarn shop and introduce yourself; I'd love to meet you! Here is her website with location info, etc: Mary Charles Yarn Co.