Well its official! Not only have we been blogging for one year, but we will be participating in the 2009 Salt Lake City Art and Craft Market. Woo Hoo! We are busying ourself with preparation for this event with some new additions as well as some of our old faves. We hope to see our supporters out this year like in years past and can't wait to chat with you all this year to see what you've been up too. For those of you who are not from around here, we look forward to hearing more of your comments and input as well as welcome your your support. Lets all have another year of good knitting shall we?

Hello everyone,

It's been a little while since I posted last. And this time I am sad to report that I don't have any pics to share just yet. But I had to post an update. Its been too long.

So after dying a yarn order for Unwind the past two weeks, and backing up my WD Passport to DVD's before it crashes, I finally feel like I'm getting organized. With the Farmer's Market applications due the first of April, I feel like I have so much to do right now. I have to finish my tomato pincushions, get more photos of my goods for the application, and get more things knitted. Oh but wait, its really important that I have fun with this too. Thought I was going to be able to attend the Annual Sock Knitting Machine Conference in Tacoma Washington this year, but will have to postpone the trip till a little later this summer. Must go though, because I already mentioned it to my daughter and she will "just die" if we can't go. With the Farmer's market fees due in June, I just won't be able to save enough money. So cross your fingers for me because I really need a vacation. Sigh.




I have been focusing some attention this year into my photography. Here is one of two images that I am fairly proud of. Believe it or not there is indeed a pink fire hydrant in Salt Lake City. (There is also a backyard fence made of skis but that is for another time.)










Here is my next image. I have recently discovered a thing called "depth of field" and even though I have taken photography classes in the past, this concept has eluded me until now. So aperature, F-stop, what? That's kind of what I said. Put simply, I can now have the item of focus sharp while everything else is softer and somewhat out of focus. This gives my photography more depth and no more using photoshop to achieve this. Woo Hoo! I feel like I have finally taken some very simple yet interesting shots this year and I think I'm on my way to calendar worthy images. If nothing else I will have some cute postcards this year.



Now that I have rambled on, I feel like I can focus again and I appreciate everyone reading this and tolerating the ramblings. I will post some of my pics soon so stay tuned.....

So this is a group effort by home crafters all over the country to raise awareness of the new lead laws going into affect February 10, 2009.

Imagine if you will, the local farmer's market where you can find fresh locally grown fruit, regional flavors and oh yeah, pick up that gift for the baby shower you have later on. Oh wait, you can't buy a shower gift anymore at the farmer's market because, the new lead laws have made unique, hand crafted childrens items next to extinct. You'll just have to go to Walmart or Toys R Us to get a mass produced plastic toy. But wait weren't those the toys that had dangerous lead levels in them to begin with? What now?

OK this may be an exaggeration, but the threat to hand made children's items is real. The new lead laws are written in such a way that it is almost impossible to decipher exactly what group of items the legislators are targeting. The law encompases, ALL children's items. This includes toys, clothes, & anything designed to be used PRIMARILY by children 12 and under. Also because there are several different compliance issues that need to be met under the new law, it is almost impossible to decide where one issue applies and where others do not. To make matters worse, we have been receiving inconsistent information regarding our concerns.

I'm sure the Consumer Product Safety Commission had certain targets in mind when working with legislators to develop this law, but clearly those ideas were not accurately translated into the actual law.

Many of us have argued grammar, and other symantics, but ideally, some consistent answers to what we can and can't do is needed. If you love hand made, please support our cause. Contact your local government officials. Donate your legal expertise if you have it. We will appreciate any help that you might be willing to offer. Many of us can work with the new laws the way they are but that will mean a scarcity of children's goods. Unfortunately for some this will mean the end of what they do and what they love.

Please help us Save Handmade!