sock porn for knitting voyeurs.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Ready for Stitches West 2008? (...or, how many knitting stitch markers does it take to choke a horse?)

I am! :) Well... as far as obligations go, I finally got to stop holding my breath when Kristine and Adrienne from A Verb for Keeping Warm picked up the zeromarkers stitch markers for their Stitches West booth (booth 840!) yesterday along with the plexiglas stand I bought for the Bay Area Knit Co-Op booth at Stitches last year...

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(i made way more than these :))

Taking some lessons from last year, I know that the way I packaged them last time caused them to fall forward from their pretty plexi stand and make a general mess. This time, I mounted a single marker to the front of the card like I do for thank you gifts, and packaged the remaining six on the back of the card.

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(still, there are more than pictured... :))

Last year I handwrote the type and ring size of each marker set... not a great idea for my terrible handwriting and the ensuing cramping. This year I picked up a few reusable stamps and only had to write in the ring size and extra stone info after stamping the backs of the cards the markers were mounted on. I really like the way the labeling works-- markers sold in my store haven't been marked with what kind of stone they are, and for gifts the recipient may not know what they were. I hadn't come up with a good, cost effective way of labeling before and it kind of bugged me, though I hadn't heard anything directly about it. I think I'll keep this up for my knitting stitch marker shop as far as stamping goes.

I picked up a box of moo cards to pack in with the marker sets... printed with an individual discount code on the back for my zero.etsy.com shop as well :) They turned out great...

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moo cards for zeromarkers, knitting stitch markers

I think they are too expensive for use as business cards with the volume I hand out, but as pretty extras in the Stitches West packaging they're awesome. The back side of the Stitches packaging is just as good looking as the front because of them... I just grabbed images of sold items from my etsy stitch marker shop and moo did the rest.

They also included a discount code to share-- 10% your first (or next) moo minicard order with code "8BSUTZ". It expires 29 February 2008 at midnite gmt... soon, but yay for leap year anyway! :)

Kristine and I were undecided on what ring marker size to offer-- I made lots of US 2 and even more of the US 9 sizes this time. When I made the US 2's, I specifically made them smaller/shorter than I usually do when fitting US 9 sized markers. Thinking they're on sock or lace needles and wanting to keep them just as dainty, I really like the way the shorter stature markers worked out. I don't like long stitch markers anyway so most of mine normally hover at 2/3-3/4" long, but the shorter US 2's I made for A Verb for Keeping Warm were mainly about 1/2" with a few "normal" lengths in there. I think I may start making specifically "shorter" markers for my US 2 ring sizes and offer them in my shop-- in a week when I can look at stitch markers again, anyway ;)

...I know! Lots of stuff that's probably only interesting to me, but I'm so happy to have these done and out of here :)

Aside from that, I've been visiting all of the home pages of the Stitches West vendors this year, planning my must sees. My bent will be on fiber like last year, and this year has some amazing vendors I can't wait to see. A few (and of COURSE I'd love to hear yours)...

* A Verb for Keeping Warm, booth 840. I know you're thinking nepotism, but seriously hear me out. A huge range of fibers (and yarns) dyed with natural dyes, many of which are grown organically in their own garden. They're also a local shop-- VERY local to me, right here in Oakland, and I really like being able to support local indie businesses as much as I like supporting indie businesses in general. They're also sharing the booth with Tactile Fiber Arts-- another awesome stop for naturally dyed fiber and yarn. There is a huge hole in my (enormous!) fiber and yarn stash for naturally dyed items, justification central for me :)

* Article Pract, booths 1040 & 1042. This is my LYS, and seriously even if it wasn't would be my favorite bay area knitting store... actually favorite knitting store anywhere, I've never been in a knitting store outside of the Bay Area :) Christina is going to be debuting her new pattern line in the booth, hosting Alchemy Yarns' new book signing for "Destination Alchemy," and carrying Pigeonroof Studios yarns and rovings (!!)... I shouldn't have said anything, it'll all be gone by the time I get there Saturday!! :) Article Pract will also have the Knitter's Block which had my jaw dropping at the Knit and Crochet Show last year (Clara from Knitter's Review has a review HERE)...

* Blue Moon Fiber Arts, booth 731 & 830. Their Sheep 2 Shoe kits are always picked over by the time I make it on Saturdays... but I'll keep trying! Curious to see what the raven series looks like in roving-- though I hate buying 8 oz of roving destined for socks.

* Carolina Homespun, booths 717, 719, 816 & 818. I have no idea what I am looking for here, but I know I'll find it :) (Seriously awesome spinner stop.)

* Fiber Fiend, booth 738. I picked up some of Margit's fiber last year from the Bay Area Knit Co-Op booth (just finished spinning the last of it!) and I'm excited to see her colorways on her new bamboo and hemp fibers...

* Full Thread Ahead, booths 621, 623, 720 & 722. Four words. New Cookie A patterns. (Hopefully! Someone's scoped some new socks in her flickr stream, and Kristi has pics of a beautiful one here-- "Stricken"...) Cookie can snap me out of stockinette socks, I know it!! :)

* Interlacements, booths 611, 613, 710 & 712. Their "dyer's choice" sale bins are always worth checking out-- the last time at the Knit and Crochet Show was just okay, but times before I could pick up 8 oz bumps of handdyed merino for $15-- worth it in my book. (I knit the Totally Autumn throw from merino I picked up from Interlacements one year.)

* The Mannings, booth 301 & 303. I'm curious to see the spinning fiber they bring, having heard good things about this shop online.

* Village Spinning and Weaving, booths 305, 307, 309, 404, 406 & 408. Another one I'm curious to see... with so many booths, they are probably bringing a grip of wheels like Carolina Homespun! :)

...and of COURSE-- the RAVELRY BOOTH!! They'll be selling Bob pins (::swoon::) and other rav swag, yay! Don't forget about the passport game; I've given A Verb for Keeping warm four sets (in each of my ring sizes) of markers as prizes for the game.

See yall there! I'm hoping-hoping to have finished my Imogen jacket, just the front to complete but I'd like to sneak in a wet block (and DRY!), and in this rainy weather... wish me luck! :)

10 comments:

Jennifer said...

I bow down to your work to get all of those together! I'm heading to Stitches on Saturday, I hope there's some left.

errs said...

Nice job on the packaging. You look like a huge corporation. ;)

Lothlorian said...

wow! they look amazing, the moo cards are stunning too, your markers make for very striking images, I think they look amazing!

I am so jealous of stitches west, look at the vendors, they all sounds great

Chris said...

Have a good time and I hope you sell lots! The moo cards are gorgeous.

lexa said...

They look great! Bet you're glad to get them done. Have a great time!

April said...

Don't hate me but I'll be there tomorrow night for the Market Preview (yay for Vendor's Passes). E-mail me if there's something you want me to pick up for you that you think might be gone by Saturday. And come and see me in the Knitting Arts booth!

Kyle William said...

jealous that you're going and I wish you the most fun you could possibly have. bring back a full report for those of us "stuck" here at work... :)

Kristine said...

Oh Aija, yesterday I was so grumpy. I think from exhaustion, but then I unpacked your stitch markers, looking at all of the beautiful stones, and your beautiful craftsmanship, and they seriously brightened my day! They are sitting here right next to me as I type -- thank god!

Erica said...

Your Moo cards turned out great! I am so glad they worked for you :)

Anonymous said...

Wow, all those stitch markers, and more!! You're making all us East Coast-ers green with envy, but hope you have a great time, just remember to show off all the loot.

Fantastic cards too!

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