Looking Up

Things picked up even a little more right after I wrote yesterday. When I came back downstairs after getting ready for the day there was another sale in the shop of several pairs of earrings. This means not only am I feeling cautiously optimistic about sales, tI also have several tatting tasks that should take me days to complete.

Even though I had an ordered mask that needed making, I took a few minutes after schooling to make sure I got the new necklaces listed. I went ahead and put them all in the same listing since I pay less for that and this lack of sales has made me a little more conscious of the money I spend on everything. Honestly, I thought one or two of them might sell pretty quick because of the way they were received over at the Facebook page, but nothing so far.

After they were listed, I worked on the sold mask for the rest of the day. I should have that finished today barring a really long school day, then it's only remaking earrings. Those usually go pretty fast so I'll likely get a couple more Quandary necklaces made up over the weekend. I was going to at least get that brown and brass one I mentioned made. I'm not sure what over combinations I'll do. I have many more thread shades than I do bead colors and to make matters worse, our local Michael's store stopped carrying seed beads so I won't get more unless I need to make a big supply order. That won't happen any time soon because I simply haven't made enough sales this month to afford to. Man, I started this post on such a high note and now I've dived back into complaining. I'm done, I swear. Everything seems to be looking up and I'm looking up with it.

Positive Thinking

Ah, the power of positive thinking. Never mind that I think the whole concept it hooey. I put my mindto the task of making something new yesterday and that, my friends, is what I did. I started with the usual places for inspiration, antique pattern books and I scoured them for some time, but I really felt like doing something truly from the ground up. So I just searched for lace images and landed on some nice crochet edgings and something sparked in the back corner of my ill used imagination and I was off.

I played with split rings, which are not really my friends. They were, however, the perfect method to get the shape I was trying to mimic in the crochet lace. Of course in the end, my piece looks nothing like the lace that inspired it. Not one little bit, but I am really happy with the piece. I started on the design right after schooling and spent the rest of the day making more of these necklaces. Look, I even used beads on the green one, which doesn't look as green as it actually is in this photo, and on the black one.

I wrapped up the day adding a purple one to the pile as well. None of them have their hardware yet. I'll get all that done today and hopefully get them listed in the shop. Well, except for the brown one since it was the prototype piece. I might make another up in brown and add some brass beads to it though. I even started playing with the central motif I created to see if there was anything else I could do with it and managed to work it in one round. I was already using split rings so it was fairly easy to do and it has some potential.

I must have finally made a real enough effort to appease the Universe as well because I woke up this morning to a mask sale. It still doesn't quite put a dent in the awfulness that has been this months sales, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. I also now have something that needs remaking and I am am feeling pretty positive this morning. Things to do, things to do.

Waste of a Day

Well, I don't think I got much of anything done yesterday. I did get the children schooled and that took much longer yesterday than usual. Some days are like that though, you just keep right on working until you realize that half the day is already gone. I suppose at least it is time well spent.

The rest of the day I just worked on the white spiderweb, but I didn't remember to stop for any photos. The day just flew by as I watched a show on netflix because my normal channel was marathoning something I don't watch. It was basically, mostly, a waste of a day. I had no motivation, no inspiration and there's yet another fire burning near enough that the air is full of smoke again so I feel a bit trapped in the house. Don't worry, it's not close enough to get us, just close enough to make the air unpleasant.

I have got to refocus my efforts again and get something interesting made. I'm going to set my mind to it now. So unless something new and interesting happens to give me something else to do, I'm going to make something new today. I have no idea what it will be, but if I don't stay positive and work, it'll be yest another waste of a day.

Remaking

Nope, there was no miracle turn around of events. I did sell something in the shop, but it was patterns and patterns are so inexpensive that they can't make enough of an impact. Then there was the sale I had to turn away because it came from Italy where shipping lace is prohibited. The customer made it more painful, by trying again and again to see it there was any way around that, but it's really not worth it to try. I am the sort that gets caught and fined. I did however decide to suck it up and tat some things anyway. Sure, I'm enjoying the large crochet spiderwebs, but I'd rather be tatting.

I opted to dig through my older sold out pieces to see if there was anything hiding in there that I could remake and get re-listed. I found a bracelet to remake in burgundy and a necklace that I've remade before as a special anniversary edition. It was one of the first things I "designed". Yes, it's very simple, but it's still a nice necklace so there you have it.

I finished the necklace and got it listed again. I did start to dig again for something else, but it was getting late and I was losing momentum.  I might get up to that again today and I'm sure I'll spend some time crocheting as well. I've just got to keep working and maybe today is the day things look up.

Spiderwebs

I'm afraid the weekend did not turn the world around. It just slogged along in the same direction. I know, I'm getting a bit morose, but I'm trying to keep it to a minimum. However, if I don't complain here, I complain to my husband and that just passes the stress around the house. So, without further ado, my shop is soooo slow it's technically dead. Whew, I think that did it for now. Let's all cross our fingers that things pick up before this becomes a regular, and quite frankly an annoying, thing.

I did quite a bit of crochet over the weekend. It was all on the same project mind you, but it kept my hands busy and my brain just distracted enough. I finished the black cobweb on Sunday morning and started the white one. They grow very quickly in the beginning rounds, but as the rounds get bigger, they take on a life of their own. I think it's big enough to throw over the center of the dining table or cover the whole coffee table. Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing with them, but they look neat and they're giving me something to do.

We're back to schooling today of course and I'm most likely to use my free time to crochet, unless of course the Universe was paying attention when we all crossed out fingers for things to pick up a moment ago. I guess it's also possible that I might get a creative epiphany and make something else new. It's a Monday, so which direction I head has yet to be determined and that's as close to optimism as I'm going to get.