Life's Hurdles & More Shows

It never fails. Just when you are gaining momentum and feel you are right on track, life throws some hurdles to jump over.  I decided to jump and do my best to keep going.  It started a couple of weeks ago when I decided I needed to clean my eyeglasses as things were suddenly blurry.  I soon discovered that wasn't the problem and my left eye was actually blurry and I was seeing floaters.  Later that evening I was seeing some sparks which was not a good sign.  After seeing my optometrist, I was rushed in for emergency eye surgery the next day.  I had a small hole and horseshoe tear in my retina and was at high risk of the retina becoming detached.  They told me it was good they caught it in time as surgery for a detached retina is not something I would want to go through as it is pretty serious.

After the laser surgery, I was informed that my eye was still in extreme danger and for the next few weeks there was to be no bending over, stooping or lifting anything more than 10 lbs.  I had some shows coming up in a few days and was a bit worried how I was going to manage.  I was considering cancelling but decided to go ahead but with extreme caution and the help of a couple of friends. 

So the Craft-a-Fair and Trunk show at Silhouette Fashion Boutique were in the same week and both  went very well -- even with all the worrying.  I feel my eye is healing but still another week to go so will proceed still with caution.  This Saturday I will be doing another Trunk show in Salmon Arm but this time at Intwined Fibre Arts.  The main focus is still my Snap Decisions Collection but this time focusing mainly on items for scarves, shawls and sweaters.

My last (Christmas) show for this year is the Okanagan Artisan Sale at the Vernon Lodge.  This show has a great reputation with high quality artists that are accepted in only by a jury so is a real thrill to be a vendor this year.

After my last show I have other things I want to focus on.  I haven't written or published any tutorials in a while and have several in the background ready to finish.  So it is a surprise but a few word hints would be:  resin, buttons and bling!

New Buttons for a Sweet Sweater at Intwined Fibre Arts Store

We sell our handcrafted buttons, shawl pins and other accessories through several yarn and quilt shops in BC and what we enjoy the most is dealing directly with the owners.  Each one has a unique style to their shop and are looking for different items to fit in with it. 

We like to customize some items for each of the stores as much as possible or fill a need if they are looking for something in particular.  In this case, Althea at Intwined Fibre Arts in Salmon Arm had knit a girls' sweater from this gorgeous yarn.  It needed 3 larger size buttons on each side in colors to match. 

We designed some concave buttons with a texture and fun colors to coordinate with the colors in the sweater.

We made extras for her store and with our color samples, she can order in her custom colors to go with other yarns she might have.

Visit Intwined Fibre Art's Facebook page for more knitting and crochet inspiration.

Multi-functional Snap Jewelry Available at Intwined Fibre Arts

To go along with our multi-functional snap jewelry (see my last blog post here), we have been creating some new snap art bead designs in a slightly larger size.  These snaps also have genuine Swarovski crystals to accent the deep jewel-tone colors and add some bling.

These work really well on our multi-functional brooches as well as our new shawl sticks with the snap base.

We are happy to announce that a selection of these new snaps, shawl sticks and multi-functional brooches are also now available at Intwined Fibre Arts in Salmon Arm.

Althea of Intwined Fibre Arts

Intwined Fibre Arts is a colorful store packed full of a wide range of yarns.

Althea and store mascot Gus

There are also lots of beautiful knit pieces on display for plenty of inspiration.

Althea loves color and besides the yarn, she also sells high quality chalk style paints from The Fat Paint Company made right here in Canada.

Mother's Day at the Historic O'Keefe Ranch

We were asked to take part in a Mother's Day Fibre Fashion 'N Tea at the Historic O'Keefe Ranch last Sunday.  We normally don't do outdoor shows but we thought this one would be fun and so glad we did.  It was a lovely day and the sun was a little warm so we were thankful for the tent that was provided.  This was our display where we had samples of our many items sold in the local yarn shops.  It was nice talking with people who came by and recognized our work.  Some even shared with us about what items of ours they had used on their hand knit or crocheted project and even shared photos of them with us.

We did polymer clay demos throughout the day where we would show how we make a "cane" and then sculpt a flower from it.

We also had our "Snap Decisions" collection available.  Customers seem to really enjoy picking out their different "snaps" to create their interchangeable jewelry pieces.

This is Althea and her sister of Intwined Fibre Arts in Salmon Arm.  They were set up next to us for the day and were busy spinning.  The selection of fibres and wool they had were in such yummy colors that were hard to resist.

The Historic O'Keefe Ranch had many other activities going on all day such as sheep shearing, pony rides and stage coach rides which passed by us on a regular basis.

The afternoon tea was really done up old fashioned style with the old style teapots and teacups and home baked goodies.  There was a fabulous fashion show hosted by A Twist of Yarn.

My camera wasn't cooperating too well to keep up with all the models so I managed to get one to pose for me.  Here she is wearing a gorgeous red hat and infinity scarf and with our maple leaf shawl stick.

It was a fun day and for a show like this was actually quite relaxing.  It was a nice way to spend Mother's day.

Scarf Jewelry at Intwined Fibre Arts

We stopped in at Intwined Fibre Arts in Salmon Arm, today and had to take a picture of their latest window display.  They are always so unique and I loved the cheery and colorful spring theme.   That is one of our scarf necklaces on a pretty scarf that Althea knit up for it showing in the window.

She used the Sublime yarn which is super soft and the shade of green really compliments the jewelry piece.  The pattern for the scarf is called X's and O's and is super quick and easy to knit.  If you are an average knitter, it should only take about 3 hours to finish.

 

Intwined Fibre Arts has a good selection of our scarf jewelry for sale and if you buy any piece you will receive the scarf pattern for free.

Intwined Fibre Arts in Salmon Arm

Intwined Fibre Arts is a quaint yarn shop that opened up in Salmon Arm just over a year ago.  They already outgrew their space so moved to a larger one just down the street from one block.  We just love their new store even more an their unique layout.  They have been selling our buttons and shawl accessories but have now added more for a larger selection.  They haven't had time to celebrate their new location yet but when things settle down after Christmas, we are looking forward to doing a live demonstration in their store.  So here is a peek at what their new shop looks like:

Front area and window of shop

Another sectioned off area

Area in the back for relaxing or knitting

Their cute little store scottie mascot

Althea, shop owner/manager

Our button and accessories

Our scarf jewelry and other accessories

Special Made Crochet Hooks

We have been extra busy this year as we have added lots of new items to sell in the yarn shops.  Some of these are specialty type items for knitting and crocheting.  Our crochet hooks were a bigger hit than we expected them to be so are selling fast.  Each handle is covered in clay in our own decorative patterns, with extra care taken on the "grip" part so it is comfortable while holding.

The hook size is embedded into the end for identification.

They are sold individually in sizes 2.0 through 10.0 and also in a 6 piece "made to order" set that includes a soft faux leather case.

We have also come out with an interchangeable crochet hook set.  The heads easily interchange in the handle that is covered with our own decorative floral patterns.

All our crochet hooks are available at:

Donna's Yarn & Craft

(Northshore, Kamloops)

and

Intwinted Fibre Arts

(Downtown, Salmon Arm) 

New Items Now at Intwined Fibre Arts

We are finally almost caught up with our fall orders for the yarn and quilt shops.  Some new items we added this year were our stitch markers and covered crochet hook handles.

Intwined Fibre Arts is one of the stores in our area to have these items for sale along with a nice selection of our buttons and other novelty gift items for the knitter.  They have been busy creating some new and fun projects.  I love this family of owls made from sock yarn and how they used our "Color Wheel" buttons for the eyes!  Aren't they adorable?!

We love seeing how our work is used in unique and different ways like this.