Aaaargh

So it appears that it is that time of the year again. Luckily this doesn't happen too frequently, but when it does I feel I must rant at least a little. When you use one of my free patterns or purchase one from my etsy store, I request both in the listing and on the pattern itself that you please use them for personal use or offline sale only. This is of course because I sell my own pieces online and I don't want to compete with my own designs. I know that not every designer feels this way, but many do and even though this is not a legally enforceable mandate(who can honestly afford trademark or patents?), most people comply, I assume out of common courtesy or respect. Every once in a a while though someone fights me on it. Yesterday was that day. I fought a seller on esty whom I had asked to remove the listings made with  my patterns. In the end it appears courtesy lost and she refuses to remove the listings. I of course have no recourse and the worst part is that when some people see those listings they will assume I gave permission or that is is fine for them to do it as well and I won't be able to stop the bleeding.

Okay, I may be being hyperbolic, but these events always cause me so much stress. This one even had the added bonus of a bad review for a sale pattern that called out this policy and then stated that they didn't even need the pattern because they could see how to make it anyway. It's everything I can do to keep myself from pulling down all my patterns and never listing another to avoid this in the future. It really is a lot of stress. I mean I get a nervous stomach just sending the messages. I didn't even find the listing myself, but someone had asked if my policy had changed because they saw the listing and so I had to send the message. I know that most people who use and buy pattern have no interest in selling and that to pull them down would be an overreaction, but I still just want the stress to stop. Anyway, I think it's mostly out of my system now, provided that no more of it rears it's ugly head anytime soon.

So back to making things. It was hard to get through any oya yesterday as I kept getting distracted and then shaky from the afore mentioned drama, but I did get some done. This first one here is called the basket stitch in the book I'm using. I like that it looks like little stars after the third row is done. I also like that I don't have any ends to hide when I cut off the threads with this. The knots are so tight, I can't seem them unraveling ever.

This next one is my favorite so far. The book refers to it as a pine cone and adds a tassel to the end. This is the first bit that I can imagine as a piece of jewelry. In fact I may try it out with thicker thread and see how it looks today, provided that I'm not distracted again. Oh, how I hope that drama is all done for now. Sorry, I know, I thought I was done too. Here's hoping today is better and thank you to everyone who does understand and respect my request. Thank you to all of you who support my work and give me confidence to learn new things and occasionally design new things. I need that more than you know.

Unwise

Well let's see, I tatted some yesterday and I got the two orders I received in the mail. Then I got another small order and went ahead and made it up. I have to put that one in small boxes though, so that means a trip to the store this morning with the larger mail slot, they won't fit through the one I have on the street. Then I did a terribly unwise thing, I checked my order stats from this time last year and the year before. I'm not going to go into the actual numbers of course, but let's just say that I've gone from thinking I had a fairly successful little business to thinking that's it's becoming almost not worth the effort.

Don't worry, I'm going to stop tatting or close up shop any time soon, but it is clear that something has really changed. Maybe everyone who was ever going to want my tatted goods has already got them, or maybe it really is that all the changes at etsy have made me irrelevant in search. I'd crawl up in a ball and whine about it, but the holiday is almost here and I've still got things to do. Presents need to be wrapped, rooms need to be cleaned and even though it doesn't seem to matter, I've got a few things left to tat up for the shop too. I'll just keep moving forward and hoping.

Weekend Recap

We had quite the whirlwind weekend around here. My house is currently full of siblings and yesterday evening we had most of the family over. I was pretty much completely focused on getting the house ready for guests and now, with spending time with them since we don't see them very often.

In tatting news, I was told over the weekend, as part of one of my, 'please don't sell things made with my patterns'  dramas, that I could be sued/fined for making a legal claim. Now, I don't know how true that is, particularly since I don't think I actually make a legal claim, but a request,. It did however,  put me in another mood. I don't think it unreasonable to allow someone who created something and shares it freely to help spread the art of tatting to simply request that they not make a profit with the free pattern. At that point I am simply hoping that people will be kind enough to respect that request. I definitely could never afford to sue someone. I was linked to a site seemingly made for ebay sellers who are being contacted by major sewing pattern companies to stop selling garments made with their patterns. The site seems to dispute all legal claims those companies have over the products made with them or with licensed fabric. I tried to explain the major difference here is I am not a large corporation trying to steamroll the little guy. I am the little guy too. Anyway, I don't think anyone changed their mind on the subject, but I know I'm a already more apprehensive about future pattern sharing.

In better news, I did sell a couple of pieces from the shop over the weekend. That not only made my weekend much better, but gives me some tatting tasks today and I am definitely looking forward to some hard work. I also played with the last doodle motif a bit, but there is much more work to be done with it. If I finished remaking, I'll get back to that. So, here's to a drama free week where no one mentions legal action in a threatening way.

Done and Doodled

Ug, I don't want to start a day arguing. I asked someone to please not sell something made with my pattern. Instead I got a 'try and stop me', sort of response. She's right, without applying for something like a design patent, I have no legal recourse. Honestly, I just think it's rude to use a free pattern to sell something with it when the designer has asked you not to. Sure, I can't make you, but I can lose all respect for you and never be kind again. It was also pointed out that 'other' designers are fine with it and 'understand' copyright law. Still I know 'others' who are far worse than I and some with a litigious nature. I don't think it's going to take many more of these encounters for me to stop sharing patterns at all. Maybe I'm being melodramatic, I did just wake up to it. Yeah, I'm not going to bother responding, no one is changing anyone else's mind here.

Onto other things then. I did list the last few color combinations in the chain earrings. It ended up being quite a little rainbow of earrings. I think I'm also done with the chains for a while. The technique is really rough on my fingers.

After I listed the last of these, I doodled a bit. I'm not sure where I was going with this, but I think it's cute and I might try to grow it into something or use it as building block to make something bigger. If I was into that sort of things, I'd say it would make a nice basis for a place mat or table cloth. That's not really my thing though. My thing is taking patterns designed for those things decades ago and turning them into something else entirely.

Well, I think I've written enough to let the morning communications roll odd my back...for now. I've got guests coming, like I thought, over the weekend. That means a little more cleaning is left for me to do today. Hopefully something noteworthy will occur over the weekend so I can greet you on Monday without being whiny. That would be excellent.

More Colors

This teaching the kids crafts business is taking up quite a lot of my morning. Yes, I suppose that was the intent, but man I feel like I'm getting nothing done between that and cleaning. I know, what's up with all the cleaning? Well, we will likely have house guests next week and there is a big difference between house clean enough to pass a brief visit and clean enough to let someone sleep here. I know it really doesn't matter, but I suppose I use it as a motivation to 'need' to clean things that I don't really ever want to.

I did get some more ombré earrings made up. I'm not overly keen on the yellow/orange ones, but I had the colors, so I figured I'd make them up anyway. I didn't get any of them listed partly because I got an afternoon headache. In fact I woke up with it this morning as well.

I will try to get these listed in the shop and then I think I need to come up with another new idea to get some attention in my etsy shop. If the general quiet wasn't bad enough, this is the second day in a row that I've had to send a 'please don't sell pieces with my patterns online' message. I hate sending them, but I need to make sure people know that I'm serious when I add that information to my patterns. It's hard enough getting customers without competing with my own designs especially when they haven't even bothered to mention that they were using someone else's design. So to wrap up, if you're new here, please do tat the patterns I have posted for free or am selling at my shop. Please do not sell the finished works online. Make them for yourself, as gifts, or sell them locally, and always remember to credit designers.

Alright, rant over. Here's to a productive day ahead. If nothing else I'm sure the child will make some tatting progress and that's a success I can claim.

Not Again

So I was going to start off by writing about what I tatted yesterday, but I woke up to an ant invasion in the pantry, now quelled, and a message on Facebook that put me in a bad mood. While I couldn't find the group through searching, I was informed of a tatting group where the owner posts pictures that don't belong to her and apparently recruits other tatters to make the pieces for her. Again, I've no direct knowledge, but I was shown a screen cap where at least one of my pieces was included. Honestly it's probably a good thing I was unable to find the group, or I'd be much more livid this morning. I really don't want to join the ranks of designers that stop working because of this sort of nonsense, but I completely understand where they're coming from. I truly don't understand why anyone thinks this is honest or good behavior. If you are reading this, just know that I don't find it flattering, nor ethical and if you're out there doing it, stop it. I'm fairly certain most of you aren't, but I needed to say it.

Back to my tatting then, while I suppress the desire to only post blurry pictures, I did work on a custom necklace yesterday. This back drop necklace needed to be shorter in front which meant I had to redesign the front motif here a bit. I thought I had it all worked out, but then the necklace was too short to fit over my head. You see usually, when you unhook the back there, the chain sections are long enough to slip over your head, but with the changes it wasn't. So I stared at it for a good half an hour trying to come up with an elegant solution. Well, it isn't the most elegant, but I added two clasps to the shoulder pieces. I only needed one, but symmetry demanded two. Now, I need to go back and remove the back clasp to reduce potential confusion, but otherwise it is done.

That's all I have on tap for today. Just finishing this and going back to the woven rose motif while I grumble, 'some people' under my breath. Here's to a better day than the morning has promised.

Argh

Well the pattern release yesterday could have gone better, but it could have gone worse as well. I assumed it wouldn't sell quite as quickly since I charged more for it, but I guess that I hoped I was wrong. What I didn't assume was that someone else had already copied the earring design that I made four years ago, likely counting stitches, wrote it up and posted it online. So now it kind of looks like I'm selling something you can get for free even though it was my design in the first place. I tired to convince myself that since it was adapted from an antique pattern, that the same idea could have come to someone else as well. but it really is far too similar and it's already happened too many times.

I'm glad I only got the blog comment regarding it late last night, because then it only made it hard to get to sleep. Plus, I got to calm down a bit before writing about it. My thoughts last night were in the, 'why bother', and ' that's it, I'm not doing this anymore' vein. Sure I'm sick of it, and places like pintrest, while a beautiful collection of inspiration, are also a haven for copyright infringement. I'm just going to take a deep breath and move on now.

Okay, I have to admit now that part of my reaction to that discovery was based on the failure of a day I had overall. I attempted, at least a half dozen times, to design a new piece. Each attempt ended in abject failure. I had an idea, but it wouldn't coalesce. The thread seemed to be rejecting every stitch. So that by the time I got the comment notification on yesterday's post I was honestly quite ready to hang up my hat and get out of the tatting game. Now, don't worry I couldn't stop even if I really wanted to. I love tatting and it's my real job, but a few more days like yesterday and I might be singing a different tune.

So I guess I'm just going to have to work harder today and hope that I have some sort of creative breakthrough to cure the malaise. Before I leave, a big thanks to all of you who already did pick up the pattern. You've no idea how much I appreciate your support! It's part of what keeps me working. Here's hoping for a better day ahead.

Grrrr & Halloween

Ah, my least favorite way to wake up, to a message that someone has stolen my work for profit or something...they use credits or something there. Anyway, I got a message letting my know someone is trying to sell my tatted mask pattern on a site called Lista. She's got my photo and the pattern, which by the way is free online at Instructables here for anyone to use to make a mask for themselves. I sent a message to the site to try and get it removed, but in the meantime, the most amusing part is when someone asks about tatting being hard, the seller responds, "Its The DIY Instructions On How To Make It Its Really Not A Tatt" So...she probably doesn't even know what tatting actually is, what a silly little bird. I'm tempted to make an account just comment on the listing, but that's a lot of effort for snark, so I likely won't bother.

But, back to nicer things for the morning. It was a lovely Halloween with cute kids that are getting bigger by the minute. They were a Cat-Witch and Bat Girl. We had trick-or-treating at the Husband's work site with all the requite, 'they've gotten so big' and I handed out tatted bead spiders to everyone. Then we had my mother over for her birthday presents, followed by a quick dinner and outside for more trick-or-treating.

It's funny we head about a block or two away from our house into the established neighborhood and there are tons of kids, but back at our house to hand out candy and we saw maybe a dozen. We are on the edge of the development in a newer section, so I guess they just don't want to come this far out. More candy for us though...we'll likely be eating the stuff for months, despite our better judgement.

I didn't get much tatting done though. I did finish the pair of ankle corsets I was working on, but that still leaves three more pieces that need remaking and honestly, I like to have two pairs of the ankle corsets on hand as well, so I'll likely do that if I make through the queue at all. The rest of the weekend should be pretty quiet... I hope. Man, am I overusing the ellipses this morning, sorry about that. It was a long day. I leave you with a picture of my sugar skulls and the artificial pumpkins I carved. Extra points if you know what the orange one is supposed to be. Here's to a nice calm weekend for us all.

Dissapointing

The only thing worse than starting yet another day without a sales in the shop is knowing that you just lost one because you won't lie on a customs form. I got a message overnight asking for a pair of ankle corsets to be shipped as a 'gift' with a value under $10. It's been a long time since someone tried this one. I mean I know why, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one that gets caught and pays the heavy fines. Then the item is confiscated, the customer wants their money back and it's just totally not worth even playing that game, so I said no.

In other news, while the etsy seller I mentioned yesterday with the copy of one of my necklaces did remove the listing, the message I received back from her was disheartening. This was part of it:

 "I removed my listing but not because I made it after your design.  Is this pattern(design) copyrighted? I foud it on google, I didn't know it was your "original design"."

Oh, dear. While I'm not a lawyer and I don't want to get into the copyright issue, I am sad that anyone thinks that just because you find something on Google that it's fair use for everyone for any reason. I suppose it could just be a cultural difference, I know there are a couple of countries that seem to keep popping up with this issue, but seriously EVERYTHING is on Google. How can anyone think everything posted online is free to profit from? Clearly this person found my listing image in a Google search and copied it not knowing nor caring that the design belonged to anyone. I know I can't fix people that see no issue with this, but I can write about how it's wrong and inconsiderate and hope someone reads this before they try it themselves. I let the seller know to be careful with that as I am by far, not the meanest tatter in this regard. She copies the wrong one and they'll be cease and desist letters and threats of lawyers.

In other, other news, I didn't get any tatting in yesterday either, but I did list the white collar and I did do more cross stitching. I'll get stir crazy again soon I'm sure and they'll be fresh tatting. I just can't sit on my hands and make nothing. I just have to keep my hands moving.

Labor Day

Well, I started the day on a bad note when I went looking through tatting listings on the etsy. Yep, another copy floating about. Now, I don't get upset when folks use the same source material, antique and vintage patterns, for their piece, but when I make something more unique and they copy it, I get touchy. So I've sent off that mean, take down your listing, note which I honestly hate sending. The seller is from overseas so there might be both a language and cultural barrier there, but we'll see how it goes.

That reminds me of something else I ran across the other day that has me a bit nervous. Remember when everyone was talking about that lady who was making embroidery machine templates to look like tatted lace. I, and many others were contacted for permission to use our patterns, which I refused. I'm pretty proud of the fact that tatted lace requires more work than pushing a button on a machine. Anyway, I just saw the first example of it pop up on etsy described as tatted lace in the form of a pair of earrings. It makes me nervous because while we can tell the difference, many people may not, particularly if the seller is not forthcoming with the truth. So we wait and see if it's an aberration or the start of something unpleasant.

So, I had all these plans yesterday and instead of accomplishing any of them, I cleaned. Yeah, that's right I vacuumed and steam mopped the floors. Did some deep cleaning on cat stains and since the sick cat hasn't soiled anything new, I properly cleaned the couch as well. I guess I labored on Labor Day...that's celebrating right.

I was going to make a mask, but I couldn't find the beads I needed, so I did a little cross stitch instead. As you might have guessed, it was another, no sales in the shop, day. You might think I'm going to use these cross stitch pieces for Halloween, but they'll likely find some cute clearance frames after the holiday and go up all year long. I've got a few more in the kit to make, so if boredom strikes again, I've something to do. I promise I will get photos of the white collar today so I can get it listed. Not that anyone is waiting for it, but it certainly can't sell if it's not listed.

In White

I'm in one of those funks again. I think most creatives must go through this sort of thing. I'd call it bi-polar, but I don't want to trivialize a very real and serious mental condition. It certainly behaves in a similar pattern though. There's a period of manic creativity with the happiness of working hard, compliments, sales, etc. Then when I finish a piece, there's this letdown followed by extreme laziness and funk especially when sales are so very slow. Everything stresses me out and I just want to push a pause button on everything, curl up in a ball and cease to be, just for awhile. Yesterday was particularly stressful, but there is no pause button and I'm still incapable of ceasing to work even when I don't really have anything that needs doing.

I spent most of the afternoon trying to take my mind off a dozen things I won't go into, by tatting up my new collar in white. I first made up some buttons and since I'm going to embellish this one, I started by adding a nice swarovski round to it.

The only great thing about tatting as a distraction is that I work faster. If I slow down I'm more likely to let my mind wander and that's when I get into trouble so I work at full speed. I got all the way though the base rows of the piece and I crocheted the button loops while tatting since this time I knew where they needed to be. I also added more pearls along the bottom edge of this section. I plan on adding just a few more to the final row. I fear too many and it will take away from the classic look of the lace, so they're just small details.

I've got a bunch of things to do soon that I'm not overly fond of doing. There's a teacher meeting in the morning, which isn't too bad, but I have to take one of the cats to the vet this afternoon and I hate doing that for so many reasons. Then tomorrow there's family eye appointments all while still keeping up with the schooling. I know it doesn't seem like much that should bother me, but when you want to pause everything for awhile, anything seems bothersome. It's all just temporary though, I should be back to what passes for normal soon enough. It does help to whine about it though, so thanks for reading.

The Collar Grows

I had a bit of an odd day. I remember when I used to work retail and I began carrying myself in a certain way that conveyed to people that I knew what I was doing. Unfortunately I couldn't turn it off and was more than occasionally accosted while shopping in other stores by other customers who assumed, despite my"street" clothes, that I worked there. Yesterday was one of those days. I fielded questions from a slew of people I have never met, communicated with nor even run across online that I'm aware of, asking for my help in areas which I am most certainly not an expert. It's like when someone asks you an easily googled question while they are sitting in front of a computer and you have to stifle a comment about them looking it up their damn selves. Yeah, it was that sort of day, very odd. I mean, I do try to be as helpful as I can, but shockingly I am usually pretty busy and low on patience.

The rest of the day was at least productive though. I decided on adding a couple of scalloped rows to the collar before the clover row. Since the piece is meant to sit lower on the neck, it is really long at this point so every row takes longer than I wish. My brain is already onto the next section, but my fingers are far from done with the current one.

After the scallops, I reworked the clover pattern again and once more after that to get all the lengths and proportions correct.  That gave me plenty of little sample pieces to double check the concept with the base row. Once I was sure it was going to work I started tatting the clovers starting at the center of the base to make sure that it lined up right. I could have just done some math first, but it's math, so I opted for the easy way out. I finished the clover row, but it did take the entire rest of the day so I don't have a picture of it.

There are still more elements I want to add to the piece. At the very least, there will be one more row after the clovers. Those old collars were lousy with elements and I want mine to be as well. Of course it will only be wearable in a strapless or spaghetti strapped top by the time I'm done because it is huge. I'm also tempted to hang some crystals from the small space created between the low clover and the scallops. I won't play with that idea until I'm done with the lace itself though. So much more work to do on this. At least it's distracting me from the slow shop.

One Forward, One Back

Well yesterday's issue turned out about as good as can be expected, though I didn't think it was going to for sometime. When the customer first responded they acknowledged that they must have missed the sizing, but didn't want to incur the shipping costs to return for an exchange or refund, so I feared that neutral was mine to keep. Then the oddest thing happened, they initiated the process to change the feedback and suddenly all my complaining was for nothing. Don't get me wrong, I still wish that I have been contacted before the feedback was left and I still wish more people would read descriptions more carefully, but that's more of a general complaint anyway. Another side effect of complaining out loud was the wonderful commiseration with others who'd had similar or in most cases worse experiences and the other nice things they felt compelled to share, so all's well that ends well.

I also got my rear in gear, decided that the new motif looked most interesting on it side and listed it as a necklace. Hanging from a corner it did resemble a lot of other motifs, not exactly of course, but the squared version I found to be more unique. I might do up the two color version as a choose your own colors listing, but I'll need to make up a few more examples before I do so. I don't have any big plans today, so there's a real possibility that it will get done.

Now, one more bout of complaining. I know you're getting sick of it, but remember I mentioned something that got to me over the weekend, well it came back this morning, so I must get it out of my system.

Even before I started to share some patterns, people would message me asking for patterns. Now sometimes people are very polite when they ask and I can tell they only hoped I would acquiesce, not assumed I would. Every once in a while they were in luck as I did have that pattern written up and didn't mind sharing. More often lately though I get requests all the time that run a little like this: 'Can you email me the pattern for this piece?' Yep, that will be the whole of the message, just GIVE ME. No greeting, no closing, heck sometimes there is not even a name except in the email address.

This is unacceptable. Have we really gotten so uncivilized that we can't write a proper letter especially when asking for something that one has no claim to. They barely ask and it seems they think they are entitled to have their request granted. Look, I love that I can sometimes share or sell a few patterns. I love that people are inspired by my work, that I have in any way helped people to learn tatting, but giving the world some, does not entitle it to all. So, I don't mind if you ask for a pattern that you really want to make, I have on more than one occasion actually had one written up to share, but don't go assuming since most of the ones I want to share are already out there and please I beg of you put some thought into requesting something of anyone you don't personally know. Do not let the art of polite correspondence completely whither and die because of the ease of the Internet.

I'm going to go make some lace now that that is all out of my system. I hope that's the last of my whining for a spell. I know it can be irksome when I get like this and I don't really want to annoy anyone out there. I do, however, always feel much better after I vent, so thanks for putting up with it.

Neutral

I have just woken up to the second worst feedback in my shop one can receive, the neutral. Well, that put me in a mood. I've gotten one before when a package was shipped overseas and went through customs with one fewer piece that it started. I was blameless, but I also cannot blame them for the feedback as they never got that piece. This one is a bit more annoying as I feel it is unfounded. I suppose I should just be glad it wasn't a negative since those affect ones feedback rating and I have tried so hard never to get one of those. The feedback states that the bracelet was too small because they wear a 7" bracelet, which would be a valid complaint except that the listing clearly describes the bracelet as being 6", so it was never going to fit...if they had read the fairly short description.

I often remake my pieces to fit custom sizes, this one however is one made of motifs and those can only really change by adding or subtracting one, so I couldn't even offer to make it a better size for them. I offered an exchange or refund this morning, but I do so wish people would contact the seller before leaving feedback for something that would almost certainly be fixed had it been brought to ones attention. I also wish that it were possible to reply directly to feedback like this, but you can't and I've made my effort, so it that neutral doesn't disappear, I at least hope that some more people will actually leave feedback for their purchases to bury it amongst them, so few people do. So if you're reading this and you bought something you like from me, a piece or a pattern, over the last 6 months, please go leave your feedback. Of course if you didn't like it, you don't need to bother, but you could have messaged me and I would have made it better!

Well now that that is out of my system, yesterday was a fairly boring, quiet day. I worked on remaking and then playing with the new motif just a bit because of some kind comments here. I tried it with two colors just to see how it would play. I'm also now thinking it would look cute hanging from the corners as a square as well as a diamond. I don't know when I'll make a decision and get it listed though...starting the day annoyed does not bode well for my productivity.

I will try to get back to work and get the motif listed as well as some more pieces remade, but I will likely dwell on the mornings issue until I get some sort of response from the customer. I let things bother me far more than I let on, but I can usually let it go once I have done all that I can, eventually anyway.

Monday, Monday

Well here we are, back to normal. The house is empty of guests both human and cat, the leftovers have mostly been consumed leaving the refrigerator in a state close to what we remember and we face a week of routine. The kids are back to schooling, the husband is back to work and I am back to worrying if this holiday season will ever pick up enough to make up for a painfully slow November. I did make some sales over the weekend, but not as many as I had hoped and since I'm not engaging in this Cyber Monday nonsense that has already filled my own email inbox to bursting, I can't expect much today. Of course I feel like after the deluge of email marketing no one would even see my deal should I have one. It would just melt into the background. So we forge ahead.

Sorry, I'm in an off mood this morning. I was ready to start the week when I noticed a new tatting seller on etsy who has just a few pieces listed. The concern is two of them, a pair of barefoot sandals and a slave bracelet feel a little too close to home. They're not copies, but they are clearly, we'll go with, inspired by, my work. The slave bracelet however does use the same exact bracelet base and now I'm worried I have to watch for future 'knock-offs' and send one of those dreaded, 'please don't copy me' messages that I hate sending.  I do so appreciate the number of new tatters and I don't want to discourage anyone from being inspired by the work of anyone else or learning my emulating, but I really do wish people would work harder to find their own path and design fresh pieces if they are going to make a go at selling them. The weirdest bit for me is the thought that someone likes my work enough to emulate it, but disrespects me so much that they don't mind essentially ripping me off and potentially affecting my livelihood. Alright, I'm calming down...this could really be nothing, they appear to be attempting to design something kind of new just with the exact same silhouette and I'm letting the stress of the holiday intensify the situation.

I wish I had a new cat picture to take this all down a notch, but I didn't take any more before the guest cats lefts. So I'll just leave you with the hope that this week is all up from here, that sales will rain down, that I will be so inspired I'll create something new, that you will all have sunny, crisp days and the Universe will grant us all a little extra good fortune and happiness. There, I feel a bit better now...sorry for the Monday moaning.

Ups and Downs

It's always best to start at the beginning so I'm afraid I shall start with complaining yet again today. You see, I started yesterday by attempting to call the postal service. The web page gave me a number I should call to 'document my issue' regarding the seemingly lost package, only nowhere in the automated phone line could I find a place to do so. I couldn't even manage to find a living human being. I ended my frustration by sending an email regarding the issue. I'm not certain that it will do any good, but I tried and I now truly hate that damn phone line.

On a positive note, when I relayed my futile attempt to my customer and offer a refund or replacement, they responded with grace and understanding. They offered to wait a while to see if it does in fact arrive this week and then they requested a replacement if it does not. If relying on the postal service is one of the low points of my little business, having customers like this is one of the highest.

So the rest of the day was spent remaking some barefoot sandals for the store and starting to remake the contents of the missing order just in case. I honestly have little faith at this point that it will, so I might as well get on it. The evening was a lovely trip to our monthly comic book store meeting. Really, it's a lot more engaging than it seems. It's a lovely break from conversations online and with kids. I returned late to a couple of orders and I'm crossing my fingers that the rush is beginning. Getting the holiday shopping done early felt great, but it left quite the hole in my wallet that needs filling.

So today, it's finishing up that missing order and then more remaking. I ordered up some of the new charcoal  colored Lizbeth thread from Handy Hands last week and it should be here today or tomorrow, so I might take a break when it arrives to make something with it. I have been waiting for a dark gray thread forever. Now, I just need a medium between their silver gray and this and I will be a happy tatter. Wow, that seems like a much odder statement than it is when you read it back. Oh, well...off to it then.

Grrrr

I was lamenting that after a long day of fairly constant tatting that I would have nothing to say here. I mean I schooled and tatted and relisted pieces as they were finished. I chatted very little online and unlike the weekend had no new communications requiring my reply. However, I could have definitely done without the communication that I received a mere 15 minutes before bedtime.

It was the dreaded, 'Where the hell is my package?' message. Often when this one appears a quick check of the tracking shows that it was in fact delivered. Of course as they say it didn't arrive, I assume to the wrong address. This one was more mysterious and therefore more annoying than that. The tracking shows it left here and tracked for one more day on the 3rd and then nothing. Apparently it fell off the face of the earth. So today I have the singular pleasure of calling the USPS to attempt to track down the package. I get to hope that the customer does not blame me, but I will probably still have to replace the lost pieces at my own expense. I get to continue to lament that I must rely on a service I cannot control to get my packages into my customer's hands. I shouldn't have to feel lucky that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. Oh and before you go suggesting that I use another delivery service, my luck with the other two hasn't been any better only more expensive. I already add insurance to packages that total more than $100, but I'm thinking I may have to adjust my shipping costs to include that on everything over $50 though I hate raising shipping costs as I personally hate paying large them myself.

I could of course just be overreacting to this one incident, but with the holiday season upon us, I am filled with shipping induced dread. These are also the situations that make me rethink running a little shop as well. I don't think I can ever stop now though as the income has become important to our household and tatting is important to my sanity. It's all this other mess that I could do without. Well, I think that's enough for today, I have much more tatting to do which apparently includes remaking a lost order to send so I best be off.