Holiday Shopping

Hope to see you at the Knitted Owl & Moss Street Holiday Market!

The First Day

It started on the 9am ferry, Nathaniel and Little R. running all over the boat while I sat and stitched block after block (and yes, while drinking St*rbucks coffee out of a disposable cup). I packed enough finished stock to make it through the first day of the One Of A Kind Show. The rest came as 'shells' accompanied by a giant box of wool and my sewing tin - I knew that the evenings wouldn't be over when the Show closed for the night ...


BC Place Stadium is giant, giant enough that transport trucks full of carpet rolls were dwarfed and seemed Tonka toy like. Driving into the stadium through the airlock was a trip in itself - driving right into the middle of this scene was other worldly and very cool. We parked the van, grabbed a dolly and I started unloading, and was soon joined by Jen and Iesza. The loading and set up went so smoothly, I can't even tell you.


Children under 15 weren't allowed in the set up area - Little R. wasn't the only little person camped out in her car seat, patiently waiting. Fortunately Nathaniel and Little R. had only wait until the van was unloaded before cruising off to a play date with friends.


Muscles Jen, they call her, having just hauled my carpet (I think) to my booth. See the big round mirror just to the left of Jen? That's Industrial Artifacts - they were my neighbour, and had super awesome work. There were 8 of us who made up the Green District.


Iesza and Jen hard at work assembling lighting and signage. Those of you friends with Jen on f*cebook will appreciate this composition.


This picture is mostly for my dad, though it's pretty fun, eh - bright lights and towering exibhitors sign. Dad wondered what I ended up with for a lighting solution ... it turned out great!


B-22, all set up and ready for action.

Tomorrow I hope to post images from the next days at the One Of A Kind Show - stay tuned! And in the meantime, check out this gem of internet community making. Stumbling across it while searching 'hemp knitted draw string bag' totally made my day.

10:47pm

How did it get to be so late already? Time for one quick post about my next crafty appearance ... Come see me at The Knitted Owl Craft Show in Fernwood (Victoria BC):



That's Saturday and Sunday of this upcoming weekend, Nov 29 & 30th, from 10am - 5pm at 1923 Fernwood Ave in Little Fernwood Hall.

If you're on F*cebook, check out the Knitted Owl page.

I Love My Bed!

I'm back from the One Of A Kind Show and it was INSANELY awesome and affirming and wicked-tiring fun, and I can't wait to tell you all about it and show you pictures too. Well, actually, I can wait - my bed, my v e r y o w n bed, beckons and I am sooo tired that all the news will have to be saved until Little R's nap time, tomorrow or the next day ... Suffice to say that I sold out of my 100 Organic Teething Bonbons in the first 2 days, came home with only 9 of my 70 Organic Rabbit Rattles, know that 26 Little Ones are soon to be the very cozy receipients of my luxious Organic Double Cream Blanket and more Organic Soft Blocks and Cloth Balls than I can remember this late at night are making their way to toy shelves and boxes around the world (yes, the world!). Like I said, it was awesome. And I now I sleep.

P.S.

I won't have a chance to reply to emails or phone messages while I'm away, so if you're here reading this and wondering what the heck is up - now you know! I'll catch up with y'all when I return.

Off ... I ... Go !

We've got a rental minivan packed to the roof with everything I could possibly need (and more, I'm sure) for 4 days at the One Of A Kind Show in Vancouver. I've got my camera at the ready, and will return with many photos to share with you!

Wish me luck, and join me in sending out oodles of thank you vibes to the amazing people who helped me in the past weeks to be ready for the Show - Amie, Emma, Mercedes, Jenny, Lynda, Bryan, Andrea, Nancy, Dave & Lorraine, and the loves of my life - Nathaniel and Little R.

And, hey! While we're at it, how 'bout some pre-shout outs to Kerry, Wade, Jen, Iesza, Christina and Brenda for agreeing to keep me company and handle the hordes while at the Show! Come join us all at Booth 22 in the Green District.

If I had a suitable image to post here, I would - but as I don't, I offer you the photo that I've printed off to hang up at my booth, taken this past Halloween.



Now, if that ain't inspiration to have a rockin' weekend, I don't know what is!

Mother, may I?

I've got another piece of press to share with you - well, more accurately, to expand on for you: Mothering Magazine Best Natural Toys, 2008! Here's the spread, find the little bunny!:



Here're the links to the other fantastic crafters and companies from our very own Vancouver Island featured in the list, making waves in the natural toy world. Congrats, Everyone!

Bamboletta, Poot & Boogie, Little Red Caboose, Natural Pod

Also, I wanted to make an extra plug for Nancy of KaiKids.com waaaaay over in central Canada, in the big city of T.O. - just this morning she placed another order for my Organic Teething Bonbons! A few months ago I wrote about how cool it was to meet Nancy in Naramata, and I'm excited to hear that she's organizing some in-person shopping events in the Toronto area.



Many of my fine fans are in and near T.O. - be sure to mark Dec 6th as one of KaiKids event days, and stay up to date on KaiKids events and news on their blog, then go give Nancy a huge hello for me!

My First March

In 1990 I was in Grade 10, had moved to a new school and was gangbusters for David Suzuki and The Environment. I had a t-shirt from The Body Shop that read "Protect the Ozone" on the front and "The Body Shop and Friends of the Earth, Defending the Earth for Tomorrow" on the back. I wore it until it fell apart (I still have the scraps of it, tucked away in a box). I thought that I, and all other young, moderate, banner painting activists were simply friends of the earth ...



That year I joined the Environmental Club at school and one of our first actions was to make a lunch-hour march down the highway with plates and forks in hand, all the way to McDonald's and demand that our nuggets and burgers be served out of their styrofoam cartons and onto our dishes. It was totally radical. Seriously. We made it into the local newspaper, a fuzzy picture of our posse, dressed largely in black ..., plates in hand, and posing under the golden arches that, in those days, read "99 million served".



Now, the activist in me tamed slightly (hey, I was at the WTO in Seattle), scissors in hand and toddler in tow, I strive to live an environmentally responsible life and am still wild for Suzuki. Passion for a more collective relationship with nature and appreciation for the simple things in life is the inspiration for my business and the organic products that I love to create - and give.



That's why I can't even begin to tell you how completely honoured I am that my Organic Teething Bonbons are included in the Organic Holiday Gift Guide in the Fall/Winter Issue of Checkerspot - the Canadian Wildlife Federation's bi-annual print publication. Nancy at KaiKids.com made this happen and I am just so thrilled - my copy came in the mail this week. You can bet that I'm going to tuck it away with my old t-shirt, newspaper clipping and protest photos, ready to show Little R. when she asks me what I did for the environment, and just who was it, squandering the electricity?

Eros & Isis, oh yes

I'm supposed to be working on a very large pile of Organic Rabbit Rattles, but I just have to tell you about this beautiful company that just happens to belong to my cousin, Iesza (that's her on the right). And in some ways, taking a break from making rabbits to write this post about Eros & Isis is very fitting.

Congratulations, Iesza! I'm so proud of you!

Congratulations, Denise!

Cousin E on her Ostrich Blanket

Denise C., of Victoria BC, is my Organic Double Cream Blanket Winner! Here's her entry, thoughts on the Ostrich Picnic Blanket:

"We found it emensely useful when we travelled, we put in on the floor at the airport (before H. was on the move) and she played happily and sanitary, we also did that at our doctor's office. I like the faux ostrich side doesn't collect dirt as easily, wipes clean and you consistently put your babe on the clean side."

Thanks, Denise, your Organic Double Cream Blanket awaits!

Backing Up

Today I was able to hook my computer back up ... and, immediately, I backed it up.

Let me explain. Last Tuesday, the eve of my appearance on the Vancouver-based TV show Urban Rush, my computer died. It wasn't until Friday morning that I took it into the shop for repair (Wednesday was Urban Rush, Thursday was moving house!), and around noon I received the dreaded phone call - my hard drive was indeed toast, and with it, likely all of my information. And no, I hadn't backed it up. And yes, I wept.

But all is not lost! I picked up my computer from the shop this morning, and when I powered it up I was so thrilled to see most of my data tidily tucked away into one little folded aptly named 'recovery'. Now I'm making my way through files, emails and orders, catching up and feeling quite thankful.


Totally.


If you haven't heard from me in a couple of days, you now know why - and I'll be in touch soon.

ps. D&L - thanks for e v e r y t h i n g
xoxo