Archive for October, 2008
Back to Business
Monday, October 6th, 2008
SO…the fair is over and it’s back to “normal” around here.
Normal in quotes because normal is so relative.
I’m at my parents’ house today, they’re watching Mazie so I can get some computing done. The days I can just get on the computer, write, work on images, think, etc., are few and far between, so I’m taking full advantage of them today! 
I’ve got a couple of patterns due, so doing some fast typing and heavy commotion-ignoring.
On Tuesday, Nate leaves for four nights at the Marlboro Ranch. Yes. The Marlboro Ranch. His brother Matt entered the sweepstakes and won a trip for two for four nights. He decided to take Nate as his “companion.”
I’ve googled and googled, and I can’t find any official site for the ranch, but there are TONS of pages of pictures and video from other people who have gone. It’s one of those things that sounds too good to be true, but actually IS true. Check our Flickr on the weekend for pics.
I’m really excited for Nate to get a vacation. I’ve gotten to get out of town a few times (to TNNA, and Book Expo in LA, and various other little things) since Mazie was born, but he really hasn’t had any time to himself just to be NATE and not DADDY.
After he gets back, he has a 3-day weekend to recoup, too!
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Mazie’s first pony ride (more Fair stuff)
Friday, October 3rd, 2008
Mazie rode a pony yesterday!
She rode for a few minutes then got scared, but…she was so brave to try it!! I love my adventurous little girl!
We also checked in on the ribbons, and I won a few!
My little leather shoes got first and second place:
And my jewelry also won! One necklace got a blue ribbon AND a big pink “Best of Lot” ribbon…and the other got a white (3rd place.) SO FUN!
(My pieces are on the mannequin in back.)
Now I can call myself a blue-ribbon leather shoe maker, and a blue-ribbon jeweler! (total HAHA on that one.)
To give a little background into my current Fair Fever…
I’ve never lived in a town this small and this agricultural, so I’ve never really had much of an active interest in the Fair before. We lived in Des Moines, Iowa when I was growing up, and the Iowa State Fairgrounds were really close to our house. We’d go at least 2 or 3 times each year to the fair, but just to walk around and ride rides, never really paid attention to the contests. My friend Christina and her family went to the IA State Fair this year, and you can see from her pics that it’s a whole other animal! Living in Des Moines, we were surrounded by agriculture, but didn’t see “cowboys” and kids didn’t wear boots and hats to school. Iowa itself is agrigultural, but Des Moines is more insurance, publishing, shipping, some meat packing and by-product manufacturing…My high school was more “Heavy Metal Parking Lot” than anything else. (Maybe a slight dash of Breakfast Club thrown in…but mostly the Metal.)
Anyway, living here in Las Cruces, I see being involved in the fair as judge or superintendent as a way for me to serve my community and to meet other local crafters and artisans. It’s all volunteer, and it’s a lot of work to organize everything, but it’s really worth it to see people when they realize they’ve won. Yesterday we were in the Vets’ building checking in and saw one of the entrants looking over her things and with each ribbon she saw, she just GLOWED. It was such a great feeling. Maybe it sounds cheesy, but it really is something that I feel good about doing. And now that I am officially a WAHM (Work At Home Mom) I love chances to meet other people and just to get out and to get involved. I just don’t get to do that often enough.
We’re so busy with Mazie’s activities, and I’m still working a LOT…we end up just sort of doing our own thing and not really taking the time to just explore and have fun.
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Let’s Knit!
Wednesday, October 1st, 2008
I recently did an interview with the UK publication Let’s Knit. I got my copy in the mail on Friday. I had honestly not seen this magazine before, but it is so cute! There’s a reason that it’s called the UK’s “Brightest” knitting magazine! They layout is really bright and the patterns are geared towards young knitters. It’s a fun read! And each issue comes with a little surprise. This issue came with a 4mm circular needle!
Here are some images from the spread:
(Note about the last sentence in that photo: my mom does knit now, but she didn’t while I was learning.)
It was really fun to get this in the mail, and it took me a few days to actually read the interview. I get so nervous about sounding pompous or like I’m all that…that I couldn’t even bring myself to read it. I made Nate read it first and tell me if I sounded like a jerk first. (He says I didn’t, and believe me he’d tell me the truth!)