This morning started earlier than normal. I was up around 9. I think my theory of "late to bed, early to rise" is correct. I'll probably be going to bed later more often. I didn't have to be up this early, but it meant I had plenty of time to putter around before Rick and I had to leave. I made egg, mushroom and cheese wraps for breakfast, which were pretty tasty. I also had plenty of time to get my knitting together for the car ride we had on the agenda.
Earlier this week, we planned to drive the 40 minutes or so to Amherstburg today, where Trinkets and Treasures is now located. They've been open there about a week, and are doing fairly well. I had new stock to drop off, as well as take care of all the paper work that needed to be done. The new shop is beautiful. It's quite a bit larger than the last two locations, combined! The way Mel has the shop laid out is pretty nice, too. There are two pretty big windows at the front of the store. One of them showcases children's items, and the other has all sorts of things for adults. There is also a section of all kinds of beautiful jewelry, another with stationary and other paper goods, and other small sections so you can easily find what you would like to purchase. These cowls are a few of the items I brought in today. I also brought in a bunch of earrings, and a couple scarves. I wanted to bring more, but I want to make sure I have enough stock for the next two craft shows. Maybe I'll bring more in there after those are done. We'll see!
There is a "Christmas tree" in the centre of the store, that is made of old wooden ladders. Mel has this covered with a whole bunch of handmade ornaments. It's super awesome. She wrapped "presents" to put under it to add to that tree effect. I still have a few of my tiny winter hats on there. There are also hand painted bulbs, sewn ornaments, and quite a few others.
Overall, I really like the new store. I have a feeling it will do really well here. Amherstburg gets quite a few tourists, and I'm sure a lot of them would love to buy handmade goods. Not to mention, the people that live there really seem to like to support independent businesses.
On the drive there, I finished another knitted bracelet. This one was the bright blue one. I started a black cotton one right after. I only have an inch or two left to do on that one, and I will can it finished as well. I'm loving how these are turning out. Hopefully I can get more than 10 made before my next show in a week and a half!
On the way back, we stopped at an antiques store in Harrow. There was an amazing spinning wheel in the front window that grabbed my attention. It was in really good condition, from what I could tell, and was HUGE! Seriously, the actual wheel part was probably 3 feet or more across. The whole store was pretty big. And chock full of interesting things. We're planning on heading back there one day when we don't have Winston in the car so we can spend a long time in there looking at everything. I can't wait!
Onto some fun facts about me! I hope you aren't getting bored with this feature. Really, I hope I'm not boring you with this whole NaBloPoMo series!
20. Everyone close to me knows this one. I am very untidy and very unorganized. It doesn't matter what I do, I'm like Pigpen, with a dust cloud following behind me. I can tidy up the areas I use regularly, like the coffee and end tables, and the computer desk, but within as little as two hours it can be right back to square one. I am definitely much better than I used to be, but still not great. This is a big goal of mine: to be perpetually tidy. I don't mind a little bit of mess now and then, but I just want to be able to know exactly where everything is when I need it.
21. I work in retail, at The Beer Store, as I've mentioned before. I love my job, but there are certain things some people do that drives me right up the wall, and back down again. The biggest one, and it really shouldn't be, considering some of the crap I have to deal with there, is when people throw their money down on the counter, rather than putting it in my hand. After I give them their total, I extend my hand if they have the money out, and wait for them to put it in my hand. I don't do it before they have the money out, because it seems rude to me, almost as if I'm waiting impatiently. When my hand is out, and then they throw the money down on the (dirty/wet/beer and dirt covered) counter, and then I have to pick it up, it makes me want to throw it right back in their face. First of all, the counter is fricken FILTHY 90% of the time, no matter how much I clean it. In Ontario, our alcohol bottles are returned to The Beer Store, and you receive your deposit there. There aren't any bottle return machines at grocery stores or anything like that. Everything has to be processed by hand. People put bags of cans up on the counter, and inevitably, scummy, smelly beer spills out. I clean it as often as I can, but it still is pretty dirty. I digress. I don't want to stick my hand in that filth! So when people throw it down, I stare at it for a second, and then reluctantly pick it up and put it in my cash drawer. If the customer was exceptionally jerk-ish about it, I sometimes put their change back in the beer puddle. Rude? Maybe. But what goes around, comes around. This is just a faster circuit.
Does this make me a bad person? I hope not...
22. I am fluent in French. I grew up going to a French school from the age of 4 to 18. It was all French, all the time, except starting in grade 4, we had 40 minutes of English everyday. In high school, I took an English class every year, as well. I consider French to be my first language, as I learned all the grammar rules, spelling and what not in French before English. Now that I no longer use it regularly, I am losing my fluency slowly. We have a couple customers who come into work that speak French much more easily than they do English, so I try to have a short conversation with them if time permits. I'm trying to find some French blogs and podcasts to subscribe to so that I can use it more often.
My parents, my Mom mostly, made a sacrifice putting us in a French school. Dad grew up speaking exclusively French until he was about 10, and since then has lost most of his ability to speak it since then. Mom barely understands a word of it. They both missed out on a lot of our childhood school activities, because they were run in French. I don't want that to be for naught if I never use my French in a way to improve my life.
23. I have a bit of an obsession with pretty numbers. I don't like the way certain numbers look, and if it can be avoided, I avoid them. When I do deposits at work, and I have a lot of 20s, I try to deposit an amount that will be an even hundred. If I have 50s, I like the number to end with 250, 500, 750 or 000. When I count out my till at the end of the night, I am really satisfied when I have coins that are multiples of 5, or their total value comes out to an even dollar amount. I don't know how to explain it, but some numbers just... I don't know if "bother me" is quite right, but let's go with that. I guess I just find some numbers more aesthetically pleasing.
24. This one kind of goes hand in hand with the last one, so I am adding it today. There are certain numbers and dates that come up often in my life. Some of the numbers are 157, 23 and 13. The dates are my dad and brother's birthdays. I don't know what it is, but I see them often. A lot of times when I see commercials advertising something that has an end date, it falls on one of their birthdays. It's really strange. The numbers 157 and 23 are "okay" numbers, even though they don't fit any of the normal criteria for numbers I "like". I'm a strange person, I know.
I knit the last few rows on the teal shawl I posted about a few days ago just before sitting down to write the bulk of this post. I added a row of yarn over, knit two together just before the end, to add a little variety. And, the increases up the centre spine had a little openness that I wanted to mirror. I will be binding it off once I am done writing, and I will post about it tomorrow, or possibly the following day.
Today's 365 photo is of one of the huge windmills we passed on the way to and from Amherstburg. He have a TON of these turbines in the county. They are a pretty common sight, standing tall above the flat horizon here. There's a lot of controversy about them around here. People saying they cause health issues, and kill animals, and that sort of thing. I don't know what to believe about all that, but I love taking photos of them. I have one Instagram photo I took in the early spring that I'm thinking of getting blown up and printed on canvas.
I'm currently looking for some new podcasts to follow. I would really like some yarn or knitting related video podcasts. I already follow Yarngasm, and The Dyer's Notebook. If you have any suggestions for others, I would greatly appreciate it! I follow a lot of blogs, and usually I read those while knitting, but lately, my knitting has required me to look at it more often than usual. Not so often that videos will be lost, but often enough to make reading difficult. Please leave some suggestions in the comments!
This post has 1785 words.
I am at 11 785 total words for this month.
I am so happy with today's 365 photo. I told myself I wanted to have at least 10 bracelets made for the Made in Windsor show, and I am almost there, with nearly a week to go! My new quota is going to be two of each colour: one of each size. The filter on this photo makes the colours look a lot more saturated than they are really, but it's pretty close. The top row all wrap four times, and are $12. The bottom row wrap thrice, and are $10. My pricing is basically going to be $6 for the first wrap, and $2 for every wrap after that. So if there is a colour you want, in a specific number of wraps, let me know, and I can get making that for you!
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