Miriam Felton

If you’re in between projects, need a break from your current project, or just because you wanna, you should knit one of these cranes (or more, I won’t complain). The project is to knit 1,000 cranes for knitnotwar. These knitted and felted cranes will become part of an art installation in support of peace. My good friends at Knit Purl in Portland have taken up the torch to get this project finished. They are 300 cranes short of the 1,000 needed. I’m sure they’d love to have your help.

My little crane took less than an hour, a bit of worsted weight wool scrap yarn (I hear they take about 20 yards, but I didn’t keep track) and I had a lot of fun shaping him once he was fulled. If I get some more time this week to do another few I’ll send them all the end of this week. If you are interested in knitting one of these little guys, the pdf pattern can be found through the KnitNotWar website, or via direct link here (opens a pdf). If anyone local would like me to send theirs with mine, just let me know and we’ll figure out a crane hand-off.
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Now for a small matter of business, I’ve changed my PO Box to a bit closer to home. My last PO Box was located to be easily accessed from my last 2 jobs, but now that I’m working from home, I got one that is easier to get to via public transportation. The new PO Box address is:

PO Box 1764
Salt Lake City, UT 84110

The store and the website have been updated, so if you purchase using a check/money order, you will now be prompted to send the check to the above address instead of the old one. If you’ve already sent something to the old PO Box, it will be forwarded.
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I am literally cleaning my house, hence the title of today’s post. My nametwin “The Other Miriam”, whom you might remember from my first trip to Philadelphia, or the shawl I knit for her wedding, is coming to visit in less than 2 weeks! I am super excited, because even if we sit around watching movies all day, it will be the most fun I’ve had in probably 6 months. She’s the best kind of chosen family you could imagine. We plan to visit some museums, and eat some great food, and be sure we get up to Margene‘s favorite spot.

Even though she’s not the kind of person who would give me a hard time about my clutter (and there is some serious clutter), it’s a good opportunity to do some deep cleaning. As I walk around my apartment, I realize there are places where I have never dusted the baseboards. Eww…. And now that I’m home all day, the cleanliness of my house seems that much more important to my clear head.

I will try to stop short of alphabetizing the bookshelves though. That’s just crazy talk.

M

I finished the Desdemona shawl this weekend. It’s the March installation for the 2009 Shakespeare in Lace Club, inspired by the tragedy of Othello. I can’t show you too much of it before it’s revealed to the club, but you can see some not-clear pictures to whet your appetite in my ravelry project page.

The subject line comes from a bit of creepy stirred up by Anne. In the ravelry group for the club she mentioned that her association with Desdemona is a piece from Fame, so of course I found it on youtube. Happy Monday!

M

Last night it really hit me that I am leaving the corporate world. That my career future is entirely in my own hands, and it sort of freaked me out for a minute. But then just made me glad that I’ve made this decision. I’d much rather be terrified by something I can DO than to be stressed out about something OTHER PEOPLE want me to do.

I wished that I could say I was going to miss my job. But I’m not. I’ve learned something about myself over the last month. When I decide I have put enough into something I have felt obligated to do, I am DONE. There is no more. Once I have reached that measured level of “Enough” there is no love lost, I have no sentimentality, and cleaning up the loose ends is more of a slog than a pleasure at having completed something. There are some friends here that I will call and have lunch with once in a while, but I’m certainly not coming back for any reunions, you know?

All in all, I feel very focused and content with this decision, and I’m glad that things have played out this way. This last week at work has been really really difficult due to lack of motivation, one really shitty person, and a ton of work, including 6 hours of overtime. I am not sorry to see it go.

And in a fitting end to the week, my train caught on fire this morning. It smelled like when you turn on a space heater after a long summer when I got on the train, then just after the library stop, it burst into flame and started smoking.

I was in the middle of the train, and the fire was at one end. The guy sitting there jumped up and said “It’s on fire!” and other people in that half of the train stood up and looked at it. I yelled to push the red emergency call button, but nobody was paying attention. So I ran to the other end of the train car and pushed the button. The driver responded and I said “We have a fire in this car”. She sped up the train trying to get to the next station and people were freaking out trying to get off the train. I tried to explain that it would be more dangerous to let us off on the tracks than to just get to the next station.

Once we stopped at the station, we got off and the driver checked the fire and found it was just the heater, so she shut it off and let the car air out a bit. We all got in the other cars and then finished the trip. By the time I got off there were people in that car again. But they had one of the safety trucks with its flashy lights follow us the whole way.

It was exciting, and scary, and I learned that I am one of those people who keep calm until the danger has passed and take charge of a situation.

TGIF, for sure.

M

TNNA was awesome as usual. I’ve got some highlights to write up, and I am still processing photos, but here are some from me and some from others.

From the Stitch Co-op booth (did I mention that I am joining the Stitch Cooperative? I am. They have graciously accepted me even though my patterns aren’t revamped yet to be uploaded to their site):

Annie Modesitt and Kristi Porter displaying some of Mary-Kay‘s yarn.

Uber-creepy dog purses! Wouldn’t it be very Escher-esque to carry your twee dog IN a dog purse?

And you know the cover of the new Vogue Knitting? With the beautiful woman’s face draped in a pale blue chunky knit scarf? That scarf is HUGE and weighs a ton! It fits 3 people with plenty of room to spare! Thanks to Amy for the picture.

I am frantically trying to write up instructions for the person who will take my job (they don’t have someone hired yet, and even though I said I’d come back to train anywhere up until the second week of February, it doesn’t look like they will get through the hiring process before then), and my work days are long, involved and tiring. I have what Anne refers to as “short-timers disease” where I really could care less about deadlines and drama (oh the drama!) but I am trying to be a good little girl scout and leave things cleaner than when I arrived. I have a sinking feeling this pace is going to continue until I walk out the door for the last time.

M

So we all remember the lead-in-toys-from-China recalls right? Well, as well intentioned as our US Congress is (I am giving them the benefit of the doubt in this case), sometimes they let a knee-jerk reaction overwhelm logical thought. I believe this is the case with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). This lovely little piece of legislation is a backlash from the lead found in toys from China that effectively makes it illegal (and with jail time people, not just a fine) to sell a product for children that has not been tested for lead. Do not mistake what I am saying. It’s not that it’s illegal to sell a product containing unsafe amounts of lead. Even if your product is lead-free, this bill makes it illegal to sell a product that hasn’t been TESTED. Not only does it apply to products manufactured after the Feb. 10th start date, it also applies retroactively to all products sold or marketed to children. The cost and hassle of testing, while a drop in the bucket for large manufacturers who are producing hundreds of thousands of units of the same item becomes prohibitive and unreasonable for a small business handcrafting tens of each unit.

A vintage toy in a thrift store? On February 10th, it will be illegal to sell it.
A hand-made wooden toy? Unless the wood and the glue and all the other components have been tested for lead at a large cost to the hand-crafter, it would be illegal to sell it.
A hand knitted baby sweater? Not only would it have to be tested for lead, but each COLOR of sweater and each MODEL of sweater would have to be tested individually.

There are a lot of grassroots efforts going on to make people aware of the prohibitive nature of this legislation on small businesses, but it hasn’t really hit mainstream yet, and time is running out. You can read more about it at change.org and vote in favor of changing this legislation to be less prohibitive to small businesses. You can send a message to your congress people all at once here to let them know this law need some change and ask them to represent you in this. If you are a buyer of local products, an avid etsy troller, or a collector of vintage children’s items, please read about this piece of legislation and take action.

If you make or sell children’s items, please consider joining the mail-in protest that my sister is organizing. She helps support her family with the adorable cotton booties and wonderful cotton kitchen items that I’ve talked about on this blog before. This business is what allows her to stay at home with her children. If selling her handcrafted items were no longer an option, she would have to have daycare for her little boys with Aspergers and go work outside the home. Chances are pretty good that you know someone in this community who makes a living (or even supplements their living) by selling children’s products.

Please, please, please take action. If nothing else, please tell others about this and get someone involved.

M

ETA: Thanks Stephany! I was not aware they had issued a clarification on the thrift store aspect of this issue. On January 8th, the CPSC issued a clarification for Resellers of Children’s Products, Thrift and Consignment Stores.

Let’s hope that they can issue a clarification for hand-made products and small manufacturers as well.