Peonies, Politics, Pigeonholes, Pots, + A Giveaway

Yes it is finally peony season at the farm and it is glorious. I love this time of year in the garden. If I can, I head out with my clippers every morning and collect some new blossoms. The smell! The flounciness! (is that a word?)! The overabundance of petals. Remarkable.

In a few short weeks time, I'm heading out to Detroit to tape the next season of Knit and Crochet Now. There's big news on the show. Brett Bara, the host and owner of Brooklyn Craft Company, has retired her position - she is now busy with twin baby girls! Congrats Brett! She is being replaced by Deborah Norville (of tv fame). You can read about it here. 

Last Saturday I taught an all day class at the stunning fuchsia walled Stitch House - a knitting and sewing store in Dorchester, MA, a neighborhood in Boston. It was my first time there and it was a fantastic day. I taught 2 classes - a morning and afternoon class. I had some awesome students who did both embroidery on knits and steeking. And Annissa Essaibi-George, the owner of Stitch House is running for Boston City Council. I'm impressed - owner of a yarn store and a politician. Can only mean good things for knitting and sewing in Boston if Annissa gets elected. Great store space -- worth a trip and incredibly lovely employees - thanks all! Visit if you can folks - you won't be disappointed. Close to the JFK Library for family trips (and yarn store visits for mamas). 

Tomorrow is World Wide Knit In Public Day. Check it out here. 

So, now for the wacky title to this post. DId you know that post titles are a big thing in the blog writing world. They say the title of your post is paramount to "opens." Crazy huh? I usually just throw my hands up in despair and write something, anything. It is sometimes all I can do to write a post. 

I've already talked about the Peonies. Here is another photo of some more in case the first wasn't enough. 

Politics - Annissa Essaibi-George was that part of the discussion. 

Now for the Pigeonholes. For years, I have been known as the knitter, the knitter who does color, etc. It's a good thing to be known for something and I do not take this for granted. As my friend Candi says "But Kristin - there is so much more to you. I know that but the world doesn't." 

Here is the thing - I do not even think of myself as "the knitter." I think of myself as a person who is..... a mom, artistic wife of a farmer and assistant to all things sheep and farm related, creative, curious, interested in textiles and all kinds of textile arts (knitting, crochet, embroidery, sewing), loves color, likes to make things using all kinds of techniques including painting, ceramics, gardening, furniture restoration, interior decorating, and more. My interests go so beyond knitting.... How's that for coming clean? 

But the thing is, I really do feel like the world only wants me to be the knitter. I know I have done it to myself. As a career, I fell into the world of the yarn biz and it supported me and my family for years. But as a person, I always did and made other colorful things for fun and passion. And as usually does happen, and did happen for me - knitting became a job. Not a dreadful job but a job itself. And sometimes a slog. For sixteen years, I had to come up with collections season after season. It got old to say the least. I cannot think of going back to doing that again - even though I love love love the business and all the fabulous people and knitters I have met and worked with. 

Once I left the corporate yarn biz, I began to look for other opportunities. I co-wrote a knitting book. (It was an easy place to start.) I tried to move beyond knitting with an embroidery book for kids. It didn't do well for the publisher. Was it my fault? No - but when your numbers don't deliver sales, it makes other publishers nervous. I wrote another book on embroidery. It did relatively okay. And then I went back to the knitting because the publisher of the embroidery book wanted me to do a knitting book. Two more books on knitting. My book - Color By Kristin - I feel was my knitted magnum opus. Once I finished that book, I felt I had nothing much more to say to the knitting world in print. Yes, I wrote another knitting book but that book was an off-shoot of a failed book proposal to write a book about sunflowers, gardening, and crafting. No publisher wanted that book because I wasn't known for gardening. But sunflowers that were knit and crocheted? That would be okay from Kristin.

You all know Barbara G. Walker, right? Barbara is the author of some of the most astoundingly useful and popular knitting books in the English language. She wrote many, many knitting books. And then she disappeared from the knitting scene - for many, many years. She began writing on feminism and sacred objects. Did her knitting followers follow her? I very much doubt it. 

I talk about this with my friends frequently. These friends happen to be involved in knitting and the knitting business and they are about the same age as I am. We look around at all the "popular" knitters now and just marvel at the whole internet charged world of Ravelry, fiber festivals, and more. It is astounding how the knitting world has changed - how an on-line presence can morph into overnight success (although I doubt very much it was overnight success - there is always gobs of hard work to go along with it). How this whole on-line thing is changing the world of yarn and yarn stores and the typical, longtime traditional way that yarn is and has been sold for eons is astounding. 

I frequently joke (only half-joking) with my friends that we need to wait another twenty years until we are in. Seriously - look at Barbara Walker - she is all over the place again. Go Barbara! You definitely deserve the fan worship and accolades.

I have seriously digressed.... sorry about that folks. 

I have always followed my passions in life and in my art. Sometimes my passions turn into books and sometimes they don't. My most recent book Crafting A Colorful Home is about all my passions rolled into one. I think it is another magnum opus book for me. I cannot think of doing another one like it because I think I said it all. One reviewer on Amazon said the following: Nice book if you like painting. (I do get a kick out of reading the different reviews.) She was probably a knitter upset that I wasn't filling a book with knitting. (You know that is my responsibility to the world to only do knitting.) Oh well. I gave up long ago trying to make all people happy. It is not possible.  

(Crafting A Colorful Home is in its second printing. Books just arrived. I am still offering free shipping, illustrated bookplates, and postcards. Check it out here.)

Where am I going with all this rambling...... Here's the thing. For the past half a year or so, I have been doing everything else but not a lot of knitting. I have been helping on our farm. I have been taking care of my family. I have been cleaning my house, raising chicks, feeding animals, thinking about my garden (note - thinking - not doing). I have been teaching classes here at the farm on Fabric Printing - the reason for the cleaning (UPCOMING CLASS JULY 18/19 - STILL 3 SPACES AVAILABLE! CHECK IT OUT HERE. DON'T WANT TO DO PAYPAL - I CAN TAKE A CHECK OR CREDIT CARD. EMAIL FOR DETAILS.) I have been stitching and doing lots of crewel embroidery. I have been doing oil paintings. I have been making pottery and painting ceramics. I have been painting lampshades. 

There are some exciting things coming down the pike here at the farm. I do not know where they will all lead. It will be fun to see. Will they turn into anything? I don't know. I am reacting to things as they happen. Do I have a grand plan? Yes, in my head I do but I do not tell anyone about it for fear it will not happen. 

But.... I will begin today here today. What a lot of reading you had to do to get here...... I want to introduce you all to my new Etsy Shop called Colorful Pottery. Hop on over and check it out. Here is what my pottery looks like. Will it be a success? Who knows. Time will tell. 

Photo by Rikki Snyder

To kick off my new Pottery Sales Site on Etsy - I'm doing a giveaway here on my blog for you all - my fabulous, loyal, comeback readers. I treasure you all so much. Many of you have been here since the beginning back in 2006. It really is amazing to think that.... 

a) I have written something here on since then - in fact over 1700 posts...... 

b) that you all read it. 
I think it is one of the most remarkable things about the internet - that I can write what I want, no one edits me and tells me I am all wrong, and that I reach all the way around the world. Amazing. Thank you all for reading!

Here's what I have for you today. One lucky winner will have their choice of a Happy House from my new shop. (Don't worry, if your color choice is sold out, I will make you another one.)

Here's how you enter......

Just leave a comment in the comments section. Any kind of comment relating to today's post. 

Contest is over - but I will still enjoy your comments. 

The winner was Annie and I have notified her by email.
Contest ends Sunday evening June 14th at 11:59 p.m. 
As always, please leave an easy way to get a hold of you - email, blogger id, FB name, or RAV id. 
P.S. A blogger id is only good if you have a way to get a hold of you on Blogger - like an email or an actual blog. If you have no i.d. on your account, I won't be able to contact you.