It's officially Thanksgiving in the US as I type this - I wish you and yours love, fun, feasting and treasured memories!
But you might also want to start your holiday shopping even a little earlier than the infamous Black Friday (day after Thanksgiving - a huge shopping day in the US)!
So, I'm sharing my Black Friday discount code with you a day early ... and it works on all Phydeaux Designs sites:
"blackfriday"
(I know! Such a sneaky and clever discount code!)
For an automatic 30% (!!!) discount on the following sites, just enter "blackfriday" during checkout. Your order, prior to shipping, will be automatically adjusted for a 30% discount:
I'm not able to combine discount codes (I'm elated that Etsy allows discount codes now - a brand new feature!) and the discount is valid only for purchases from now through Friday night, midnight PST.
But!!! I will, periodically, on Friday put up a super special or something new and exciting that you might not have seen before (oh, say ... Christmas ornaments???). If you'd like to stay in the know, just follow me on Twitter or Facebook - you'll be covered either way.
One last little incentive ... I very may well be taking down anything that isn't ready to ship in any of my shops later today (particularly buttons), so if there's something you've been eyeing, now's the time. Just saying. :)
p.s., On Friday, there will be three (3!!!) brand new cowl designs in my hand knits shop on Etsy. Chunky, oversized with LACE (hehe). And if I'm very productive tomorrow night after the turkey coma, I will have at least one knitting pattern ready from that new bunch.
The immortal words of my youngest brother. As a baby (OK, toddler), he'd mutter those words in his sleep at night if he kicked off his blankets. Now a family slogan, forever burned into our subconciousnesses and family lore.
It is cold! Tonight is supposed to hit freezing the Bay Area. Wow! I was wearing shorts just a week ago. Now all I can think of are wearing cozy, chunky warm knits.
I have piles of just that to add to my Etsy shop! Chunky, soft, cozy, colorful, warm: 'tis the season to wear your knits. I have many new things as of today, and more will arrive this weekend.
Hard to believe. I often feel as though I spend the entire year recuperating from the holidays, and am taken by surprise every single year when it's suddenly Thanksgiving again!
I'm preparing to spend my first Thanksgiving with my family (parents and brother) in y-e-a-r-s. I'm cooking dinner (yay!) and will be rushing back on Friday morning for ... Black Friday.
I'm going to have a super awesome Black Friday sale this year: 30% off all day long in any of my shops. And will have spot specials throughout the day for even better savings.
Interested in learning more? Join my mailing list - I'll send out the details Tuesday night! I might also have a few surprises only for mailing list members!
Not sure how to join (missed the link?): click here!
So, as we all rush around this busy Thanksgiving week ... where will you be spending your Thanksgiving day???
As you might have noticed, I've been a little absent lately. Between transitioning back to a day job, the crazy holiday season, the release of Joyeux, the fun and games I've been having with my health, etc., etc., etc. ...
I lost track of what I was going to say.
Sigh.
Life.
And its little ups and downs.
I don't have much to share, simply because I'm just trying to keep on keeping on right now. I will share some Phydeaux news throughout the week though.
Thank you for visiting and for your good thoughts!
In the latter category of "not very wonderful," I'm in the unfortunate, while necessary, position of needing to suddenly simplify my life, while dealing with a potential medical issue. I'm thinking positively - and hope you'll think the same positive thoughts for me! Hopefully, everything will turn out negative, but there are some definite tests and procedures in my near future.
I'm happy to share a few new pretties in my hand knits shop, all knit up with handspun yarn from the wonderfully talented Naomi (love her sqoosh monsters handspun!).
As a designer, do you have a "vision" or a "version?"
I'm watching Project Runways finale tonight (yay - I've loved this season!) and am once again struck by how the designers this season are really focused on their design perspective and their own, unique vision.
I see a LOT of hand knits and knitting patterns each day. From Etsy to Vogue Knitting to Twist Collective to Stitches West and beyond. So many designs are really, really incredible. Awe inspiring. Original. And many are ... The. Same. Exact. Thing.
Oh, but wait, there's often a disclaimer: "this is my version of (fill in the blank)."
When I was in junior high school, my VERY popular art teacher gave me a C in Art. To get a great grade from this teacher, you had to allow him to draw on top of (redraw) your drawing. And I wouldn't let him do that. I didn't want my drawing to become his drawing. I didn't want my drawing to no longer look like mine. I didn't want it to look like everyone else's in the room.
Although I don't like or want to design things that look like everyone else's, it can be a challenge to know what my "look" or perspective is. (I think this is a challenge for many creative types.)
So how do you know what your vision is and how do you stay true to it?
You'll have to come back tomorrow to find out!
In the meantime, I really do want to know your thoughts on this! Share with us in the comments - how did your own tastes, perspective, aesthetic, etc. develop? How do you stay true to it? On the flip side, if you have no idea, what do you hope to learn about this?
You know that yarn shop that you often walk by? The one with all the gorgeous colors and textures in the window, teasing you, beckoning to you? The one you've avoided entering, because you feel just a wee bit intimidated? That one?
And guess what? Yarn shops have egos. Well, not the shop. But the owner. The manager. The staff. They are there to provide you a service: sell you yarn, patterns, notions, tools, classes. They are proud of their offerings and their service! If you come in and ask where the red heart acrylic yarn is, that's more than a bit of a shock to most yarn shops.
(Not that there's anything wrong necessarily with red heart acrylic yarn ... if you like acrylic ... but most shops don't carry red heart.)
Being a retail business, most shops are going to try to sell you their higher end and more special yarns and fibers. They want you to see their indie dyed and spun yarns, because they want to support those artisans. They want you to buy addi turbo needles because (a) they're rather expensive, and (b) they believe they are the best needles.
In the end, most shops want you to introduce you to the best quality at a price you can afford. I've been in many a shop with customers commenting on how expensive things are. Audibly commenting. True, some shops are REALLY expensive, but most are reasonable, given the goods they are carrying. Their yarns are likely more expensive than craft store yarns, but they are likely higher quality yarns.
Have you ever railed against the prices in a shop? Or made a disparaging or dismissive comment about their stock? That may actually hurt the feelings of the workers in the shop! Which created defensiveness and even anger. The staff are people with feelings, who may take things very personally.
I just had to play devil's advocate for a minute, remembering what it's like when I'm vending at Stitches West or Renegade or other shows/fairs, trying to not let comments like those bother me. Being human and all, it's hard.
If you're genuinely baffled about price differences between your yarn shop and the Hobby Lobby ... ask the staff about it! I don't recommend a "why the heck are you so expensive compared to Michael's." :) But a genuine question showing authentic curiosity, such as, "I'm really curious about how the prices and quality between yarn shops and craft stores are so different - can you help me understand?" In a nice, friendly, curious tone, not an aggressive tone!
Most yarn shop employees genuinely want to help you. They love knitting as much or even more than you do (hard to believe anyone could love it more than you, right?). They may not be extremely skilled in customer service, communication, human interaction, but they do want to be helpful!
So help them help you!
(And now you get why the youtube clip - be sure to watch it!)
Be nice, open, friendly, and you're more likely to get the same in return. Go in on the defense, ready for a fight, already not happy about prices or selection, and you'll get defensiveness in return.
And yeah, I know it's not that simple all of the time, but this has worked for me 99.999% of the time! When I feel that defensive crunchiness starting in a yarn shop, I remind myself that I can change the vibe, and set about to do so right away. Even just a "hello, how are you" and smile from me can reverse what's starting to be a negative yarn shop experience!
But what do you think? Have you had similar experiences? Or very different experiences
I actually designed and knit these mini hand knit lace wall hangings in preparation for Stitches West earlier this year ... then ran out of time to finish the pattern/kit.
I may release these as kits ... I haven't decided yet. For now, they're available in my home decor/art shop (more colors are coming!).
I really had fun knitting these. I was dying to use the lotus lace pattern - I love it's contemporary flavor - and liked the idea of using a garter stitch, very free form, using different sizes of needles.
I'm using a super thin organic cotton ribbon, tied to balsam dowels that I cut/sanded.
No two will be identical! Perfect colors for Autumn (and gorgeous hand dyed colorway/merino wool from Lisa at Wabi Sabi Yarns!).
What a week I've had! Big orders (yay), more work at ... work (yay), Phydeaux deadlines (nearly met, yay), something brand new coming up at Phydeaux (yay), and, oh yeah, that little thing called health.
I ran into a new health issue last week that made my week all the more challenging, even a little precarious, but I seem to have emerged from the other side and that is a GOOD thing.
Life gives us these little reminders now and again. Helps us remember what's important (oh, say, living?) and what the true priorities are in the end.
I've felt a bit like living life at the speed of sound while through a haze, but am so glad the haze is lifting and I feel like a human being again. :)
I am seriously swamped this week with work and Phydeaux deadlines, so am just popping in to share with you a (yay!) shop update in my hand knits shop on Etsy! I've had scarves piling up for weeks (and in some cases months) - finally blocked and photographed them.
These are all knit from luscious handspun fiber. Even one that I spun myself (below)!
Even more to come this weekend!
What colors would you love to see in scarves knit with handspun fiber?
I read a LOT of blogs and other online resources. I used to regularly share a few links with you, but fell out of the habit. I'm redeveloping that habit! Even if you don't have an online business, many of these reads will have good insights for you to use in your own profession.
Yarn shops can be intimidating! So many choices: colors, texture, fiber, knitting needles, buttons! And those yarn shop sales people and teachers speak a whole different language ...
Many of my friends hate going to yarn shops because they can't understand the language. They aren't fluent in fiber speak. And sometimes the yarn shop staff are a little condescending, rather than helpful, in their communications.
For instance, yarn "weight" is a whole language unto itself.
Many shops organize their yarns by "weight." Many knitters, from casual to more experienced, are completely mystified by this whole weight thing.
Here's what you need to know about weights in a nutshell:
Yarn weight refers to the width or circumference of the fiber, as well as the yardage that exists within a standard weight (3.5 oz/100 gms is common).
Finer (skinnier) yarns will have more yardage per 4 oz. Bulkier (wider/chunkier) yarns will have less yardage per 4 oz.
Weights run from lightest (super fine lace) to heaviest (super bulky). Generally, the gradation of weight is as follows:
Super fine/cobweb lace
Fine lace
Lace
Light fingering/sock
Fingering/sock
Heavy fingering/sport
Sport
DK
Worsted
Aran
Chunky
Bulky
Super bulky/roving
So weight, related to the width of the yarn strand, can (and often is) be measured/determined by "wraps per inch" (WPI), which is measured by literally wrapping a yarn strand around a ruler to see how many times you can wrap that strand within one inch (p.s., this isn't very objective, given tension differences). Weight is also determined by a standard gauge (this is a whole different topic!), or stitches per four inch swatch, using a standard needle size. For instance, worsted weight yarn gauge is 16-20 stitches per four inches knit in stockinette using size 7 to 9 US needles.
Many shops arrange their yarns by weight. If you're knitting a lace shawl, you want finer weight yarns (lace to fingering). If you're knitting socks, you probably want sock (fingering) weight yarn.
Not all yarn manufacturers use the same weight terminology, but most use a standardized symbol system for yarn weight, which you can see on the Craft Yarn Council's website.
This is just a brief overview of yarn weight. Here are a few additional resources for you:
After several years of dinking around with yahoo, wix, and other "self design" website portals/programs/etc., as well as pricing out professional designers ... I decided to learn how to design my own.
Thankfully, just about the time I was about to immerse myself in the world of HTML and CSS coding, Tara Gentile launched her Webdesign Kick Start course (yay!), so for the next few weeks, I'll be learning design using Wordpress from the ground up.
I'm seriously excited about this!
By Black Friday, I will have a brand new Phydeaux Designs site, complete with new blog and the ability to sell both my hand knits and knitting patterns directly to you (with direct downloads of patterns!). I'll still use Etsy, but not as my primary site.
Yarn shops can be very intimidating for even the most intrepid knitters. A common theme from newer knitters is that they hate going into yarn shops for just that reason.
I visited a yarn shop with my bestest friend Kris this weekend. I had to spend a few minutes understanding their set up - every shop is different, so you do have to figure out the lay of the land every time you enter a new shop.
Luckily, most shops have a similar general layout:
1. The yarn
2. Needles/tools
3. Books/magazines/patterns
4. Lots of samples and swatches already knit up
5. An area for knitters to ... knit
6. A sale/clearance section
7. Buttons/other notions
8. Spinning fiber/tools (wheels, drop spindles)
9. Lots of impulse buys at the front counter
The yummy yarns will likely greet you at the main entrance. The knitting area is often combined with books and magazines, with tables and chairs.
What are you intimidated by in yarn shops? The terminology? Overwhelming choices? "Snootiness?" Let me know in the comments, and I'll share tips for dealing with your yarn shop issues!
This Summer, I worked up the courage to invest in not one, but two, books of Japanese knitting stitch patterns (trust me, it IS a significant financial investment!). I love the uniqueness of these stitch patterns, which are full of complex details, delicate lace, bold lines ... without one word in English! Luckily, each stitch pattern is charted, but with chart symbols that often require significant work to decode. Which took me awhile to get the hang of.
I've incorporated elements from these stitches into other designs, but kept coming back to this gorgeous lace pattern with twisted rib stitch. So elegant, with a bold modern feel that I wanted to use with something surprising - super bulky yarn - to give it a wonderfully rustic appeal.
As a plus, I've long desired to create a line of accessories based on medieval/ancient motifs, which I adore. Ancient religion, history and mythology are lifelong reading passions, so creating art and craft based on that passion makes me very happy. To me, Regalia is reminiscent of motifs and heraldry from medieval Northern Europe. You'll be seeing more designs incorporating similar elements!
1st place - copy of Knit and Wrap: Stephani - kekumukula
2nd place - two knitting patterns: Vicki - orion designs
3rd place - one knitting pattern: Sandi
THANK you all for participating and for your fantastic questions (which I'm already working on!).
