Pete plays trombone

My dad brought my trombone to me from Texas. I played for 8 years straight, and then I didn't play for nearly as long, about seven years. 

Wow. It's been an adventure picking it back up since I got it back from the shop on Monday. 

Pete isn't quite sure what to make of things. 

I caught him investigating while I was sorting my sheet music this afternoon. 

"How is this thing so loud?"

"Isn't that white thing supposed to make it quiet?"

I really thought Pete would hate it when I practice, but he only seems to mind when I am just buzzing on the mouthpiece. 

The neighbors probably hate me now, but they're lucky I even bought a mute after their 7AM Sunday morning weed-whacking session a couple of weeks ago! I'm not holding a grudge or anything, haha. 

If it happens again, I'll go outside and play my lungs out towards their house! 

I will! 

(And that really is a terrible threat right now since I'm quite awful at the moment.)

WIP Wednesday: Duo MaxCowl

I haven't done a WIP Wednesday in... well, I don't think I've ever actually done a WIP Wednesday post. It's mostly due to the fact I have trouble remember what day of the week it is, and I always want it to be Thursday. Thursdays are my favorite. 

Picking back up where I left off a couple months ago, here is my Duo MaxCowl. 

(It was somehow named after Duo Maxwell as a joke between my husband and myself that neither of us can actually remember now, but the name stuck. He's not even my favorite character. I mean, he's better than Wufei, but no one likes that guy anyway, right? Trowa Barton and Heavyarms all the way. OK, this is devolving quickly, back to knitting...)

Knit in Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino in Crimson and Sahara, I unintentionally picked out our rival college's school colors. But the "crimson" colorway really looks more maroon, right? Right?

Ahem. Picture. Here. Look:  

I know it's a bit difficult to see, but here is the chart I made for this project: 

It's a bit hard for me to see, too, since I generally view it on my phone, but I'm cheap and lazy and I don't want to print it out and use up my expensive printer ink. (Seriously, that stuff is way too expensive. Consumer reports says it's even more than fine champagne. Give that article from 2013 a read if you care about serious adult issues like printer ink. Especially check out the lovely .gif at the bottom.)

Aaaaaaand with that last rabbit chase, I'm just going to stop here while I'm ahead! 

Pete is giving me looks. Specifically, this look: 

I need to go play with him. I have about 209,807 dog toys at my feet right now. 

Until next time, happy knitting! 

First Craft Show

The Craft Show has come and gone!

Here's my little booth:

Ta-da!

And here are a few closeups of the displays:

Left display

I forgot to post my mock display last week, but that's fine since it changed anyway!

Center display

I ended up displaying more beanies in that empty space. I collected emails in the jar for my Etsy store launch in January.

Right display

I had so much fun at the craft show!  

When I made all of my items, I had my Etsy store's target audience in mind: the expectant mother. However, that didn't translate to the craft show as well as I had hoped since there was (of course!) a much wider range of people. (I still consider the day a success, though sales were modest.) I'm kind of glad that one of the cowls didn't sell since I decided I wanted one in that color. Now I don't have to make another one. Geez! This is why I need help building up my business sense... 

I wrote down tons of ideas and notes for next time, and things will only get better! 

Many other vendors stopped by and complimented me on my suitcase display idea. It really gave me a confidence boost since I was a bit nervous. Setup and cleanup were a breeze thanks to my suitcases! A couple of ladies said they were jealous of how quickly my booth breakdown process was. (Not-so-secret secret: I'm lazy. I don't want to spend time doing things I don't have to when I could be spending time knitting, reading, or bugging my dog.)

Next year I will have a wider range of children's sizes and more adult items as well. I plan on matching fingerless glove, cowl, and hat sets along with selling a few of the patterns I have designed recently. 

Now that the show is over, I have a few items left to finish (well, I have to start them first) for Christmas. 

I will go back through my posts and add the patterns/charts I promised a few months ago, too. I haven't finished my two-tone cowl, but the chart is done, and I think that's all I will post here. I think there are a couple of patterns here that I haven't added to Ravelry yet, either, so I'll try to catch up on those.