I finished this sweater over the holidays. Until I started this blog post I didn't even realize it's also Christmasy colors. I don't have a pattern for this because I worked and reworked this sweater too many times and I lost track. The yarn I used is Mirepoix and Hornet from Into the Whirled in DK weight. I actually had more of the Hornet than the Mirepoix, but I forgot that when starting this at a show and started with the Mirepoix. So of course I ran out in the middle and had to buy more. It's not an exact match because its definitely different dye lots, but its the sleeves and the pockets and I feel like the only person who will notice it is me.




The back and the front panels is a simple moss stitch. This is made by doing single crochet and chain all the way across. You're always single crocheting in the chain stitches and it creates a nice neat pattern. I made it really long, hitting me mid calf, and I'm hoping it doesn't stretch too much.




The color is just alternating rows of half double crochet and half double crochet back loop only. I made the collar extra wide at 14 rows. The pockets are mostly the Mirepoix with just one row of Hornet. They are actually probably a little low, but I really like the look.






I'm still debating whether I add a button or three. The original button I had in mind looked good in theory, but is too big for the half double crochet stitches. I've considered making a button hole. I don't know - what do you think?

At one of my December shows I was a klutz and knocked over my ornament trees. Surprisingly I only had 4 ornaments break. One was beyond repair, but the other three were just broken in one place. I've been wanting to try kintsugi for a long time and even had a few other pieces set aside for when I finally got around to it. I decided to take the plunge and try it. I already have e6000 that I use for making magnets and decided for this first foray that would be good enough as an adhesive. So all I needed was the leaf adhesive and the metal leaf paper.

I had done a good bit of research and decided that I could use imitation leaf vs spending on the real thing for my first try. I did have 3 colors to choose from (gold, silver, brass), but for these I went with all gold.






Step 1 was to do a little sanding. Two of the larger plates weren't actually broken they just had a deep crack. I sanded the edges so they weren't as rough. Step 2 was to glue the pieces together. As I said before I used e-6000 as the glue. For the pieces with the cracks I just wanted to fill them in. It took me a couple of tries to figure out how to get glue into the cracks without having it spill over. It was some careful wiping down. I let the glue dry overnight so it had time to solidify.








Step 3 is to add the leaf adhesive. The directions said to let it dry for 30 minutes or until it isn't cloudy any more. I made my fingers sticky touching it. Step 4 is to add the gold leaf. It's hard because if you get the adhesive on your fingers then the paper sticks to your hands and not the pottery. Took me only one try to learn that lesson. It helped at some points to break the leaf into smaller pieces before I tried to apply it. I found that for different pieces I liked different widths of the leaf. For the first piece I did the front first and then switched to doing the back first so that I could learn more. The first side you do needs to be completely done so that you don't have other things sticking to the adhesive.








The last step is to spray with a sealer. I only had a matte sealer and I thought it wouldn't make a difference. It absolutely did. I still like these pieces, but I will definitely be buying a gloss sealer for the future.








This was really fun to try, but I definitely won't be doing it frequently. I did put the ornaments on my tree immediately and love them. However, the plates aren't functional. They will make nice wall art, but these aren't things that I think most people would want. I don't have a lot of pieces break in the firing process, but those that do will likely continue to end up in the trash. I will reserve this for speical pieces that break that I don't want to lose.

One of the advantages of keeping track of things is metrics!!

2023 Top 5 Sellers by Count:

1. Mugs
2. Small Plates
3. Trinket Diskes
4. Spoon Rests
5. Ornaments

2023 Top 5 Sellers by Percent of Sales:

1. Mugs - 27%
2. Small Plates - 12%
3. Long Platters - 6%
4. Spoon Rests - 6%
5. Platters - 6%

Something which shouldn't surprise anyone the top seller in categories - Crabs!! 25% of Mugs, 38% of Trinket Diskes, 35% of Small Plates, 35 % of the Long Platters...pretty much every category its Crabs.








I also did 18 shows which was a lot. This year I'm going to be pickier in my shows. I've also been tracking the fee ratio of my shows - 12% being the average. There were a couple of shows that were much higher than this. They were all multi-day shows that I thought were going to be better than they were. I likely won't be doing any of those again.

I do want to figure out how to drive more sales online. While I don't really like having to ship things, I think that this is an untapped resource.

Having all this data also helps me determine what things I've been making that aren't things I should continue selling. For example, I made a whole tea set this year plus an extra teapot. While I did really enjoy the experience - I still have all of it. I think eventually I will find the right buyer, but I haven't yet.

There are things that sold really well in 2022, but did not sell well in 2023 like my large decortative pumpkins. My theory is that people bought smaller this year due to the economy. Next year I have all of those in inventory so we will see, but I won't make any more.

I feel like at some point the market for crabs will be saturated, but I don't think it is just yet :).

There aren't really any shows in the first 3 months of the year so I will be spending the next couple of months building up inventory. I also have some new ideas for things that I'm going to be working on during this downtime. Stay tuned

I love this yarn. I used it for my Open Wave Block Shirt last year. I bought more yarn from Greenwood Hill Farm at the Maryland Sheep and Wool and was just waiting for the yarn to tell me what it wanted to be. I'm really happy with the results. I used 2 skeins of silver and 3 of slate

I know from the shirt I made that this yarn is exceptionally warm so once again I chose an open pattern so I could wear it indoors without sweating. I picked this stitch from the Crochet Every Way Stitch Dictionary. This is the spider filet stitch. I don't think it looks like a spider, especially considering spiders have 8 legs not 6.








Stitches:
ch: chain
sk st: skip stitch
hdc: half double crochet
dc: double crochet
dc3tog: yarn over twice, insert hook and pull through a loop, yarn over, pull through 2 loops (you should have 2 loops on your hook). Yarn over twice, insert hook and pull through a loop, yarn over, pull through 2 loops (you should have 3 loops on your hook). Yarn over twice, insert hook and pull through a loop, yarn over, pull through 2 loops (you should have 4 loops on your hook). Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops to complete the stitch. picot: sc, ch 3, sl st in the sc stitch you started with, sc in the next stitch to close
Back Panel:
This pattern works in multiples of 16 + 8. For the width I wanted I cast on 72 (16*4 + 8)
Row 1: dc in the 6th chain from the hook, * ch 1, sk st, dc. Rep from * across.
Row 2: ch 4, sk st, dc, ch 1, dc, *ch 4, sk 2 st, dc3tog, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Row 3: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, *ch 4, sc in the next ch 4 space, sc in the dc3tog, sc in the next ch 4 space, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Row 4: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, *ch 4, dc3tog in the middle sc, ch 4, dc in the dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Row 5: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Row 6: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Repeat rows 2-6 5 times or until you reach your desired length.

Front panel - Make 2
Cast on 28. This isn't a full version of the pattern,but I wanted the front panels to end slightly short
Row 1: dc in the 6th chain from the hook, * ch 1, sk st, dc. Rep from * across.
Row 2: ch 4, sk st, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc3tog, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc3tog, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc
Row 3: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, ch 4, sc in the next ch 4 space, sc in the dc3tog, sc in the next ch 4 space, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 4, sc in the next ch 4 space, sc in the dc3tog, sc in the next ch 4 space, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc
Row 4: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, ch 4, dc3tog in the middle sc, ch 4, dc in the dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 4, dc3tog in the middle sc, ch 4, dc in the dc
Row 5: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Row 6: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Repeat rows 2-6 5 times or until you reach your desired length.

Sew together the front panels to the back panel leaving 7 inches for the sleeves.








For the sleeves witch to the silver yarn.
Row 1: ch 4, * ch 1, sk st, dc. Rep from * across ending with ch 1, slip stitch to join. Pick up 36 stitches
Row 2: ch 4, sk st, dc, ch 1, dc, *ch 4, sk 2 st, dc3tog, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 3: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, *ch 4, sc in the next ch 4 space, sc in the dc3tog, sc in the next ch 4 space, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 4: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, *ch 4, dc3tog in the middle sc, ch 4, dc in the dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 5: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 6: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 7: ch 4, * ch 1, sk st, dc. Rep from * across ending with ch 1, slip stitch to join. Note on this round there is intentionally a reduction of the 3 dc in the sleeves to 2 between the spiders
Row 8: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 4, sk 2 st, dc3tog, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 9: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 4, sc in the next ch 4 space, sc in the dc3tog, sc in the next ch 4 space, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 10: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, *ch 4, dc3tog in the middle sc, ch 4, dc in the dc, ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 11: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 12: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across. For the last stich slip stitch to join instead of the dc
Row 13: ch 5, *sk 2 st, dc, ch 2. Repeat from * across sl st to join.
Row 14: ch 5, *sk 2 st, dc, ch 2. Repeat from * across sl st to join.
Row 15: ch 3, dc in the chain space, *2 dc in the next ch space. Repeat from * sl st to join.
Row 16: ch 3, dc in each stitch, sl st to join.
Row 17: ch 1, sc, picot in each stitch around, sl st to join.









Turn the sweater right side out
Pockets - make 2
Cast on 16 in the slate
Row 1: dc in the 6th chain from the hook, * ch 1, sk st, dc. Rep from * across.
Row 2: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Row 3: ch 4, sk st, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc3tog, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc
Row 3: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, ch 4, sc in the next ch 4 space, sc in the dc3tog, sc in the next ch 4 space, ch 4, sk 2 st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc
Row 4: ch 4, sk st, dc, sk st, ch 1, dc, ch 4, dc3tog in the middle sc, ch 4, dc in the dc, ch 1, sk st, dc, ch 1, sk st, dc
Row 5: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across
Row 6: ch 4, sk st, dc, *ch 1, sk st, dc. Repeat from * across


Switch to silver
Row 7: ch 3, hdc in the chain space, *2 hdc in the next chain space. Repeat from * ending with the last hdc in the last stitch
Row 8: ch 1, picot in each stitch to the end.

Sew on to make the spider stitches line up on the front panel. I decided to map it to the second one up.








Collar

Start at the bottom right corner with the silver yarn
Row 1: ch 3, 2 hdc in the space, * 3 hdc in the next space. Repeat from star all the way around to the bottom left corner.
Row 2: ch 4, * sk st, dc, ch. Repeat from * across end with a dc in the last stitch.
Row 3: repeat row 3
Row 4: ch 3, dc in the ch space, * 2 dc in the next chain space. Repeat from * across, end with a dc in the last stitch
Row 5: ch 1, picot across.

Weave in all ends

Well I should have scraped off the bear glaze. Aside from that everything else looks great, but that bear is saggy. I do love how all the dill items came out.

Laguna 60 Left: Spectrum Autumn purple x1 on the top, x2 on the bottom. Mayco Light flux on the bottom. Spectrum Kimchi x1 on the top Right: Spectrum Sangria x1 on the top, x2 on the bottom. Mayco Light flux on the bottom. Spectrum Kimchi x1 on the top Birds are Mayco BlueBird x2 Sunkissed on the nose	Laguna 60 Amaco Snow x3
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Norse blue x3, Mayco Light flux sweeps Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 clear	Laguna 60 Coyote Oatmeal x2 (ok maybe more on the one on the right :)
Colors for Earth Bright Green, Lemon Peel Amaco Moss x3 on the rim 2167 clear	Colors for Earth Bright Green, Lemon Peel 2167 clear
Colors for Earth Bright Green, Lemon Peel Amaco Moss x3 on the rim 2167 clear	Colors for Earth Bright Green, Lemon Peel Top 3 rows: Amaco Marigold x3 on rim and back Bottom 3 rows: Amaco Moss x3 on the rim and back 2167 clear
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail x2, Hot Tamale 2167 clear	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Cotton Tail x2, Hot Tamale Kentucky Mudworks Cherry Blossom x2 on the rim and back 2167 clear
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Norse blue x3, Mayco Light flux sweeps Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 clear	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Norse blue x3, Mayco Light flux sweeps Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 clear
Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Norse blue x3, Mayco Light flux sweeps Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 clear	Laguna 60 Mayco black ug wiped back Mayco Norse blue x3, Mayco Light flux sweeps Mayco Hot Tamale x2 2167 clear
Body: Coyote Really Red x3 Hat: Opulence Emerald x3 Various Mayco stroke and coats