Lacy and I have been
holed away in the studio this past chilly March. She, warming
herself in a fragment of sunlight that melts across her bed from the far
windows, and I, wrapped in sweater, leggings, socks and Uggs with the electric
space heater and its oscillating hum a few feet behind me. The heat in
the house is working fine, but the chill that's permeated my bones this winter,
remains steadfast no matter what I do in my little space and so, the room stays
at a womblike 72 degrees to compensate. We took a trip to the vet for her
Senior medical checkup and outside of a slight ear infection and 1/2 lb. drop
in weight, the old gal is as feisty as ever, albeit a tad decelerated. As
am I.
After prepping for
February’s Pet Fashion Week Gala which has come and gone, I've been affixed to the
computer preparing new prints for my favorite knitwear company, and one to whom
I owe a huge debt of gratitude for their continual confidence in my design capabilities to keep me constantly engaged in
projects. February was targeted toward an equestrian theme and my own
confidence being what it is (or isn’t) I found this one a struggle. Ideas were plentiful but just not working and
my frustration was mounting. When I’d had enough, I'd flip channels and work on
Lollypups, something that I always find gratifying and productive. With hours
of Skype conferencing, and back and forth exchanges of ideas, I was finally able to nail it . Very cute and
very salable in colors for every season.
There were sales of
sweaters on etsy, as well as a custom request which was simple enough to have
done in no time and send off to a very enthusiastic customer for the arrival of
her new teacup yorkie pup.
Not something I will do
again I think. She asked that I follow Lollypups’
xxs sizing, which was done, only to tell me when she received it, that the
sweater was too big for the tiny pup and that she was afraid he wouldn’t grow
into it either. But the style made can
easily be altered by simply moving the buttons over. I hope she does it. I’d hate for her to have had to pay for
something she’ll end up not using. It's definitely not something I would
ordinarily do, (solid and simple is not my thing) but it was
copied from a picture sent by the customer and the navy alpaca yarn she chose was
beautiful.
April weather is still
chilly, though not as bad and I feel that my fingers are finally thawing out
which is a good thing. Fiddle has been on the back burner due to all the
creative activity, and practice sessions were sparse since December. So I'm
back to my daily practice routine in order to wake up sluggish fingers in time
for Fiddle Camp, which is next week. I'm really looking forward to some
"me" time now.
