Tag: Etsy shop

September 7, 2021

Change coming this fall

Change is good. I really believe that. Most of the time. Unfortunately, occasionally it’s painful.

Photo of neon sign reading "Change." — “Change”: Photo by Ross Findon on Unsplash.

Case in point: The US Post Office and other shipping companies announced that they’ll be instituting a surcharge on shipments come October 1. That is not a good change. Worse, this means that I’ll have to change, that is, raise some of my prices slightly to compensate. I don’t anticipate having to do it for small items – like mug rugs and the sunflower wall hangings and similarly sized items – but the shipping costs for larger items are WICKED these days even without a surcharge.

Please be advised that I won’t do anything till October 1, so if you’re interested in something, order it on Etsy NOW! Or message me to let me know your concerns. I’m sure we can get a rug to you somehow. In fact, if you wish to purchase anything in the shop before or after October 1, contact me directly rather than going through Etsy. You’ll get a bit of a price break anyway as then Etsy won’t take their bite out of it.

Also note that I’m reviewing options to Etsy, including WooCommerce and other such apps. If you have any words of wisdom or other advice for me, please, please share!

Unfortunately, our two forays this year into public sales (one outdoor, one indoor) haven’t had the best results. Damn you, Covid! While we usually do the Fall Fiber Fiesta in Santa Fe, I’m just not that sure it’s a good bet given the virus and its mutations. It’s indoors and three days and a lot of driving or hotel rooms. I usually love this event, but maybe next year. Another bad change…

Now that the unpleasant stuff is out of the way, I’m reminding everyone of the coming In the Studio Workshop Week 3 in October. I’m teaching two sessions of Hooking with T-Shirts. I have a few spots left in each class (both on Saturdays, October 23 and 30). Some workshops are full or almost full, while others have some room. Contact each teacher if you’re interested in their class. More info HERE. Besides myself, teachers include the very cool and fabulous: Susan Feller; Karen Miller; Beth Miller; Meryl Cook, Carmen Bohn, Charlie Dalton; Anastasia Tiller; and Lisa Meecham.

No change here, two dogs on hooked rug. — No change here – Tynan and Bowyn bring you the current WHAT’S ON THE FRAME. It’s the rug that I started while traveling and have finally gotten back to (repurposed t-shirts on monk’s cloth).

So, how’s your fall shaping up? Are you back to the usual stuff or is Covid still cramping your style too?

August 10, 2021

Project Porn – the work of summer, 2021

Summer’s been flying by, and I was gone for part of July. But the work of summer, first mentioned back in June – that’s been ongoing. Enjoy the project porn.

Project Porn, hooked rug — ABUNDANCE, the latest of the #happyrugseries rugs. Mixed fibers, many recycled. (15″x48″)

#happyrugseries
I started the #happyrugseries back at the end of last year so that I could concentrate on something other than all the overwhelmingly DOWNER news that we were (and continue to be) subject to. These pieces have to have a certain joy to them, most of which can be seen in their riot of colors. In June I finished a large-ish happy rug ABUNDANCE. She was hooked using a variety of fibers, mostly what I had on hand, in an “automatic” or stream of consciousness style. And, yes, she has holes!

New Mexico Cushion
In late June, Ruth and I finished New Mexico’s contribution to the USA50 project. You can find more about that HERE. It was a relief to get it into the mail and up to Canada. I could finally work on my own projects and start adding to the Etsy shop.

Project porn. New Mexico USA%) cushion. Design by Patricia lowden. — New Mexico’s contribution to the USA50 project. Design by Patricia Lowden. Hooed by Laura Salamy. All put together by Ruth Simpson. Thank you, ladies!

Retreat Week
You might remember that I claimed the last week in June for my personal retreat week after a class I was to teach at had to be postponed. I had a lot on tap for that week.

Write an article on 2020’s Ribbon Rug Journal. Check! It’s written, but I need to take some photographs and submit it. At least the words are done!

Project porn; hand-dyed yarn — Yarn destined for punching.

DYEING! I know, you don’t hear much about dyeing from me, especially given that I hook with so many old bed sheets and t-shirts which come in all sorts of vivid colors. Nonetheless, I’ve been planning to dye some wool yarn for quite a while. I’ll use the bulk of it to punch with or sell/share with punch needle rug hooking students when I can host an in-person class. Had a great time doing it and will definitely do some more.

Project Porn; kawandi quilt — My first Kawandi project. Quilt scraps and recycled linens.

Kawandi Quilting – It’s a form of kantha-like quilting. While I have plenty of friends who are quilters, I am not. At all. Mostly, I don’t like how much room it takes and that you need a machine. But I’ve always loved kantha quilts and stitching by hand is more to my liking. After doing some research online about what I might actually be able to make, I was happy to find these Indian quilts which are pieced together using scraps of fabrics. Another form of recycling – yay! I had plenty of quilt scraps from Ruth; plus there are all kinds of old sheets in my “stable” that I can hook with. But I wasn’t done: I have a lot of old cloth napkins that have seen better days. Cut everything up and…I had a quilt. Sure I made some errors, but I was pretty happy with it in the end.

Project porn; ecohooking — VOYAGE PLASTIQUE was hooked using plastic bags that might have otherwise made their way to the ocean.

#ECOHOOKING – Given all the wildfires, the melting tundras, violent storms, and ocean pollution, I decided to do my own little part and hook a piece with plastic bags that otherwise might have ended up caught in a tree. Having already hooked a larger such piece, I’d kept the most colorful bags I didn’t used. Despite the heavy environmental theme, I was hoping she might make some folks smile given her sunny disposition. It worked! Tom mailed VOYAGE PLASTIQUE off to her forever home in New Hampshire just this morning.

July travels
Last month Tom, Bowyn, and I saddled up the CR-V for a 2200-mile trip or so back East to see friends and family. (There were another 2200 miles to drive back, of course.) Tynan got a staycation with Ruth. Sitting in a car for several days does call for some handwork, and I was prepared.

Personal best crocheting project – I prefer not to hook in the car, but I will crochet. Before we left, I decided on a project that was NOT a shawl, my usual travel go-to. Nope, I searched and searched online for something.
Finished! “Easy crochet top down” by Modessa.

Some tops looked interesting, but I couldn’t deal with having to crochet up two identical halves. (Mostly because I doubt my ability to do that, especially on a distracting trip). I finally came upon the cool EASY (emphasis on easy) CROCHET TOP DOWN. Reading it, the syntax and directions are off a bit as the chick who created the pattern isn’t a native English speaker. If you choose to crochet the pattern, I’d advise that you watch the video. I did. Many times. Oh, and there’s not a lot of counting in this piece. A big bonus. BEST: I finished the top last week, and it even fits me. I’ll block it this week then post me wearing it on Instagram.
New rug – While I don’t hook in the car, if I’ve driven to my destination, I will hook when I get there. Usually more than I did on this particular journey. But before I left, I drew up a new pattern, sewed on my tape, and gathered up and stripped some old t-shirts. I find that hooking with t-shirts works best when I’m on the go. That wool allergy isn’t going anywhere, and bed sheets shed thread like the dickens.
Bowyn sharing the floor with the “travel” rug. He’s happy to be out of the car.

What’s on my plate at the moment
Since I like to crochet all patterns twice so that I know I’m proficient, that I didn’t just get lucky, I’m planning to do up the top in another color. It helped that JoAnn’s has a summer yarn clearance going on. (I spent a lovely hour there yesterday picking up some bamboo and hemp yarns. I hope to do a bag with the latter. All those colorful yarns; I couldn’t help myself.)

And because I have two sales coming up very soon, I decided to put the travel rug away and do a few small wall hangings. Sunflowers! I love sunflowers and try to hook at least one each year. Plus, one of the sales is the Sunflower Festival down in Mountainair, a mountain town south of Albuquerque.

Project porn - summer 2012. — Bowyn takes this chance to have a treat and bring you the sunflowers in this week’s WHAT’S ON THE FRAME.

All in all I’ve been pretty productive this summer. And there are still a few weeks left! Perhaps it’s a byproduct of the pandemic; I realize that I’ve become a little less social. I like having more time to myself to create, to concentrate on projects that I deem worthwhile, whether they’re for my shop or my own growth. The challenge will be how to keep at least some of that time for myself once the Delta variant disappears and we can move back out into the world for real.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the project porn. How has Covid affected your art practice?

June 22, 2021

The work of summer

Summer arrived just this week along with the kind of “work” that seems tailor made for her. Ah, but what is the work of summer?

By rights – thinking back to when we were kids having escaped school for two months – there should be less work in summer. For High on Hooking, that will indeed be the case in some respect. Unfortunately, Ghost Ranch (see this post) postponed our workshop there till the spring. Boo to you, Covid! I was really looking forward to it, but there is a silver lining. It’s been SIZZLING here in New Mexico for a few weeks. Last week we hit 108 degrees here on the West Side of Albuquerque! Hiking will be better in the spring. I’ll post more information as we get closer to the workshop. In the meantime, think of how fabulous it will be to do fiber art in Georgia O’Keeffe‘s special milieu, her querencia.

querencia

The place where one’s strength is drawn from; where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self.

There have been a few places in my life when I’ve felt what the Spanish call querencia. In fact, it’s why I wanted to move to the Southwest. It’s definitely something I understand about O’Keeffe.

Given the change of plans, I find that I have more time on my hands to do my own work. Frankly, this calls for some serious rejoicing as this year I’ve been working A LOT on things that I’ve HAD TO DO. I haven’t even put many new items into the Etsy shop! Sure, I chose to teach and to make the New Mexico cushion for the USA50 project. The latter took longer than anticipated, working with all wool yarn. Beautiful, but itchy wool yarn after a while. Friend Ruth has the piece at the moment as she’s converting it from the hooking to the actual cushion. Pics in the next post; I promise. It’s beautiful, and even better, it has a good story.

To me the work of summer is “lighter” than that that I think to do come October and as winter starts to blow in. Fortunately, that coincides well with the “happy rug series” (#happyrugseries) I informally started earlier in the year to combat the “heaviness” of Covid and the entire year of 2020. Sadly, between gun violence and the continued stupidity of US politics, 2021 hasn’t been much happier. BUT, given our vaccination rates here in New Mexico, life is looking much more “normal” than it did a year ago. WOOHOO!

Current projects…

Hooked rug, work of summer — ABUNDANCE, part of the #happyrugseries.

Still finishing up ABUNDANCE, the latest and largest so far in the #happyrugseries. I’ve hit a little snag, as she’s hooked with all kinds of fibers that aren’t the easiest to put a needle and thread into. Worse, there are holes built into her, so a lot of perimeter work to do. Worst, Bowyn was going crazy for rabbit scents on a walk last night so I let him run in the park. Unfortunately, my right ring finger got caught in the leash as he took off. Ouch! I won’t be wearing any rings on that finger for awhile. Fortunately, if I take the little brace off, I can still hook.

Friday, as soon as I finished hooking the NM cushion, I drew up a small, geomtric-ish pattern so that I’d have something to work on that evening while Tom ran a summertime, “Arnold” action movie for us to watch on the TV. Given all the environmental issues we’re facing these days – drought, climate change, wildfires, plastic in the ocean – I decided to hook the piece with old plastic bags. Having already hooked a larger such piece, I’d kept the most colorful bags I had. Despite the heavy environmental theme, I’m hoping the piece will still make me – and others – smile. And just maybe curb our use of plastic bags some.

I’m also getting ready to tackle some new-to-me techniques, that is, NOT rug hooking! I’ll let you know how that goes, but right now I aim to explore a bit on my own. Then there’s an article or two that need writing. While the work might be lighter in summer, there’s no lack of it!

July also brings a road trip back East. Various folks were supposed to come visit here last fall, but…you guessed it…stupid Covid. So, having not seen family in a couple of years, it’s time. Bring on the seafood! This time around, Bowyn will man the Instagram account. Tynan, 13, will stay home and keep the hearth fires warm.

Hooked rug and Bowyn a Welsh Springer spaniel — Tynan let Bowyn handle WHAT’S ON THE FRAME today. (Nonetheless, he demanded a treat as a finder’s fee.) No name yet, but it’s being hooked with plastic bags that WILL NEVER SEE THE OCEAN!

What’s your work this summer? Perhaps it’s to concentrate on family and friends, the return to life with others? YES! Enjoy.

March 16, 2021

Of sketching and day-hooking

Thursday makes it a year that “regular” life came to an end here in New Mexico. Not knowing what I know now, I rather welcomed it. No meetings for the foreseeable future! Remember – we never thought the crisis would go on for sooooo long, and Zoom wasn’t a BI Ad for Sketchbook Revival 2021; sketching G THING yet. I figured I’d have time to work on my own projects and actually get a chance to explore other ideas percolating in the back of my brain, maybe even move them to the front.

Some of that happened. I certainly had ample time to “play” with the Ribbon Rug Journal. In fact, without Covid, I’m not sure how I would’ve been able to log each day’s entry. (Now if I can only get to writing the magazine article on the damn thing!) I managed, too, to finish “Holes,” a rug about the effects of motherhood on women. But then Karen Miller came up with the idea for In the Studio with its presentations and two! online Workshop Weeks (keep watch; the third will be coming), my own class offerings, and, of course, rugs to make (I do have an Etsy shop). The forced time at home was not quite so restful. Such is our new reality.

Sketching — A one-line, mirror sketching from 2019. Sadly, a self-portrait.

But some things didn’t change. This March, as I did in 2019 and 2020, I will participate in Sketchbook Revival presented by artist Karen Abend. It’s a free, online event whereby each day for a couple of weeks a different instructor presents a a different approach to filling up your sketchbook or journal. As much as I used to be good at that, I’m not anymore. Sketchbook Revival gives me a do-over each year and a way to learn new techniques. As Karen says:

Some sketches are colorful. A “creature” rug perhaps?

“Imagine waking up each day brimming with ideas, excitement, and confidence to open up your sketchbook and start creating, no matter what.”

As far as I’m concerned, sketching can be relaxing and enjoyable on its own, but more importantly, better sketching leads to more and better better hooked pieces. Click on the link above to join. While there are social media pages to share your work and to see that of others’, I generally prefer to keep to myself. And you don’t have to attend every session. I pick and choose. One comes out every day, but the videos stay up for a few weeks.

Day-hooking. I mentioned it last post. It’s not necessarily what you think. But it is another benefit of being stuck at home. I generally hook in the evening. Like many of you, if I don’t work with my hands after 8:00 p.m. or so, I’ll fall asleep. That’s when I catch up on TV and movies. But sometimes – like right now – I’m hooking a piece that needs: 1) good light, specifically, the light of day and 2) concentration. Like I said before, in another world in other years, my guild , AWAG, held three retreats and had a teacher visit us, usually for an open workshop. Each event gave me three whole days to work on more challenging rugs. And a multitude of folks to ask for advice when it was needed. Or even when it wasn’t. LOL

While I tend to do other tasks during the day, lately I’ve been trying to carve out some time for day hooking to get through this one difficult project. I feel guilty sitting on my ass, but the work happens, and I can even get some of those year-old NOVAs out of my DVR queue. So, day-hooking, yeah, it’s a thing.

Meanwhile, the night-hooking continues. Which is exactly what the boys bring to you today in the pic. I’ve started on the fourth of what I’m calling my #happyrugseries. I realized that after such a negative year, I’d prefer to mostly focus on the brighter aspects of life. For this one, I’m trying to really just go with the flow; there’s little advance planning in it. Other than the holes, which the rug dictated to me as I sewed on his tape.

Dogs with hooked rug — “What’s on the Frame.” Bowyn takes being a High on Hooking dog very seriously while Tynan is quite blasé about it these days.

Nancy Hart of AWAG created a rug a couple of years ago that I really loved. I miss you, Nancy, but you’re here with me in spirit, and your rug is my inspiration for this project. Tom’s going to kill me as parked in the living room is a large shopping bag AND a laundry basket filled with all kinds of fiber to pick and choose from as I go. (Plus the day-hooking paraphernalia.) But I’m enjoying working on it all!

What’s got you’re attention these days as we head into the final stretch of the Coronacootie’s reign?

Workshop reminder: Hooking With and Beyond the Wool happens this Saturday. Contact me if you’re interested.

December 5, 2020

The Angel of 2021 – Notorious

Hooked rug - angel of 2021 — “The Angel of 2021 – Notorious”

As I promised the other day, here is High on Hooking’s annual angel for the coming year. Because last year’s “Angel of 2020 Prays Very, Very Hard” clearly did NOT pray hard enough, this year’s celestial being had to be a bit more…forceful. Enter “The Angel of 2021 – Notorious” who has arrived to kick 2020 ‘s butt to the curb. “Notorious” sports a hand-crocheted jabot as well as wire-rim glasses. In each corner of the piece is a symbol of RBG’s life: scales of justice; a courthouse; the sign for equality; and the spiral of life. That last item can be found on the petroglyphs here in New Mexico where the great lady spent a significant part of the year.

Card featuring The Angel of 2020 — This is a card featuring “The Angel of 2020 Who Prays Very, Very Hard.” She sold right away last year, but she clearly needed some better prayers.

“Notorious” is 22.5 inches by 16.5 inches. She was hooked on my usual monk’s cloth using: wool yarn, wool strips, and ribbons.

Hooked rug - The Angel of 2021 — A close-up of “Notorious”

I’d like to say that she’s available, but she sold almost as soon as I loaded her up into the Etsy shop. (I still can’t get over that!) The base angel pattern is available to be drawn up on request (linen, monk’s cloth, or rug warp). Email me if you’re interested.

Along with the “Angel of 2021 – Notorious,” I wish us all a much brighter and happier 2021.