"Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either." ~ Elizabeth Zimmerman

1/13/11

Adding Something New to My Life

I've been thinking of ways to generate money for my crafting. I'd rather contribute the money for my own yarns, beads, etc rather than Sweet Hubby having to support my habit. I'm making next to nothing on knitting classes. So I've decided to try out this idea that's been floating around in my head for awhile.

When I had my shop I had a lady, named Edith, who did sweater repairs and finishing. People would bring things for her to work on to my shop, then she'd come to the shop, pick them up, do the job, return it to the shop, and her customer would come to the shop and pick it up and pay for it. Edith passed away from cancer a year or so before I closed the shop. I miss her. She was a good friend. Anyway, as far as I know, there isn't anyone doing that around here now.

Last week I discussed the idea with Andrea, the owner of my favorite yarn shop CDA Yarn and Fiber, and she liked it very much. For a fee I will finish peoples sweaters for them such as blocking, sewing things together (there are lots of knitters who hate that part of making knitted garments), knitting the bands and collars for them, fixing small holes, and whatnot. I've determined my minimum fee and will go from there depending on what the job needs.

I already have my first job. Someone has a little baby sweater that is not finished. It needs button and neck bands on it. There's no pattern, but there's enough yarn. Andrea kindly referred her to me. So I'm going to finish it for her, for a fee. I am quite excited about it. I think it will make up for the lack of students coming to my classes.

Today I went to the shop for my Knit Clinic class, but as usual, there were no students. My daughter Ruth went with me. She and I sat and knitted and chatted with Andrea for awhile. I finished the left front of the Lobster cardigan. Then we went out to lunch and did some grocery shopping after that. All in all it was a nice day. I enjoyed spending time with my daughter.

The weather yesterday was as predicted. Extremely cold and it snowed most of the day. We got about 6-7 inches of new snow. Sweet Hubby came home early and carefully plowed it all off the driveway and parking area where all the hard ice is so when it turned to rain there would be half a chance the ice might melt. Sure enough, I woke up about 4 a.m. to the sound of rain pelting the roof. It's been raining all day. Got up to 45F degrees too. That's quite a change from yesterdays 17F. It's supposed to rain for another day or so, then get colder by the weekend and start snowing again. There's a very nice ice rink out front. I hope enough meltage happens to make the driveway walkable. Right now it's so slippery it's impossible to walk on. I feel silly driving to the end of the driveway to check the mail, but I'm not willing to take a chance on walking it, falling, and injuring myself on that hard concrete-like ice. My niece slipped on the ice a couple weeks ago and broke her leg. I do not want to walk in her shoes (or maybe I should say crutches). It's dangerous out there!

Stay safe and warm my friends. Tommy has it all figured out.



Live long and prosper. \\//

4 comments:

  1. I chose you for a blogger award. You can stop by my blog to pick it up.

    Finishing services sound like a great way to make extra money. I used to pay my late MIL to sew buttons on my sewing. I hated it so much.

    Yes, do be careful on that ice. I fractured my pelvis bone years ago with a fall on black ice. It's better to look silly than be sorry later.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you think you can fix my hole in my shawl??? Do you you do mail projects? http://craftitagain.blogspot.com/2011/01/devestated.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good luck with your new venture! I'm sure you will do very well!

    ReplyDelete
  4. shortoldlady: Email me privately and we'll talk about it.
    thebeadknitter@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete