the long and winding road

It has been a long year with some triumphs and some catastrophes.  In just a couple weeks, MousePants is moving to the mountains of southern New Mexico to start a new adventure.  I'm still spinning yarn and have found renewed inspiration in making felties.  I am looking forward to long days in the forest and hoping to meet many animal friends that will agree to model for new felty ideas.  I am eagerly awaiting a Christmas with heaps of glistening snow and even looking forward to the biting cold weather, having been busy knitting new scarves and hats to keep me toasty.  

The moving process itself has been arduous, and I am ready to get settled in at my new home (which will probably be a couple of months down the line).  I am hoping in the coming year to get a better handle on maintaining the blog, as I have some exciting news to share (in addition to my new home and relocation).  I would be honored if you took this journey with me as I revisit my roots, spend a lot more time with family, and make crafting and teaching art and knitting classes my full time focus.  You can look forward to new felted friends and some killer corespun.  I might even share a few tutorials since the first one I wrote was successfully received (I'll post about this as soon as possible!).  If you are interested in keeping up with MousePants in the meantime, please visit my Facebook page, which I update on a regular basis http://www.facebook.com/MousePants.  Best wishes and happy holiday crafting!   

Death of a Salesman

I am an introvert.  I always have been, but as I have gotten older and spent most of my career working from home, this is even more the case.  If I don't make a concerted effort, I can go days without having a face to face conversation with anyone but my pets.  Sometimes, this means that when I have a living, breathing person in front of me I spill my guts like the Exxon Valdez (or a mental patient), revealing way too much about my inner thoughts and overwhelming the poor, unsuspecting subject of my rant.  I think I have scared off a date or two.  My good friends have come to expect this, and, if we haven't spoken in a while, I think they just expect the deluge.  I am working on finding a healthy balance.  

I love making yarn.  Love, love, love it.  I even like designing my labels and wrapping up orders and making receipts.  I enjoy the whole process.  On the other hand, I do not enjoy selling things, particularly approaching people unsolicited and trying to sell them things.  Add to this my nervous rambling, and I just don't think I am very good at selling my yarn in person.  I have found that approaching prospective buyers online is much easier, so the last few days I have been writing emails, with detailed photographs and a little bio about myself and what makes my yarn unique.  I have sent them out to area yarn shops.  I have also approached some well known pattern designers and asked them to have a look at my yarn and share their opinions with me.  

Here is the first response that I got from one designer whose patterns I have been particularly addicted to lately:  

Now I realize she probably gets a ton of fan mail and emails asking her to try new yarns and products all the time.  I am really trying not to take it personally.  I just hoped for a little more of a constructive response from someone I have admired for such a long while.  Does it mean my yarns are not very impressive?  Nothing special?  I think it probably just means she has more important things to do, and that is the way I am trying to take it.  

ADDENDUM:  I contacted a Santa Fe yarn shop a couple days ago and just got a great response.  They are definitely interested in carrying MousePants Woolens and would like me to deliver their order at the beginning of July.  I got this email about 30 minutes ago, and I am on top of the moon!  I guess it's not all that bad after all.  The internet makes it a lot easier to approach people despite my tendency toward being an introverted, somewhat shy person and my yarn speaks for itself.  Now I am off to do some spinning.  Gotta get that order ready by the beginning of July! 

I got a great custom order for a wedding cake topper with two little birds in a nest for a lovely customer in Australia. Every order (especially custom orders) is special to me, but to be asked to be a little part of such an important day in someone's life is really special! I think I will start working on some more cake toppers to be listed in the shop soon. How great that something I made is going to be remembered for the rest of these peoples' lives!
For this piece I used two needle felted birds made of very fine merino wool, a grapevine nest, some natural moss, and a few sweet vintage forget me not millinery flowers.

Introducing Barton Bear! I made this little bear from some locally sourced alpaca fiber that I got from The Yarn Store in Nob Hill. It's a beautiful marled brown and white and oh so soft. I had originally thought to make an alpaca from it, but it just begged to be a teddy bear. My mom, who is great for bouncing ideas off of, had mentioned that I should make a bear cub with a beehive. I just happened to have some little composite bees that I collected from somewhere. Everything just came together to make this guy so sweet. He really is even more of a darling in person than in photographs, as is the case with most of my felties.

As I side note, I still have a big ball of this brown alpaca left to do something with and I need ideas. If you come up with a great idea for a felty and I use it I will happily send you a coupon code for 25% off anything in the shop as my way of saying thank you!

Ice Ice Baby

We woke up to 1 degree weather here today with overcast skies, whipping wind, and flurries of snow. When the sun finally pierced through the clouds I decided, much to Zoe's chagrin, that it would be a good time to test out and photograph my newest Howl Cowl. So I stripped her of her leopard print Snuggie and put on some slippers and we both braved the elements to get a few snaps. She was such a good girl, though the sidewalk was so cold she didn't want to sit her chilly little tush on it for more than a couple seconds at a time. If you are interested in a Howl Cowl for your own precious pooch I offer custom and team colors at www.mousepants.etsy.com and you can use the Coupon Code HOWL2011 for 25% off your entire order! Snuggle up out there!

Well Hello There!

My name is Meredith and I make needle felted miniatures and art dolls. I hope to share some of my passion for art with you, and maybe along the way, a little bit about my life. I have an Etsy shop where my felties are available, www.mousepants.etsy.com , and I would love to see you there. Here is one of my latest creations, Mr. Fox. I also teach needle felting classes and I would love to help you embark on your own felting journey! Send me your questions! So nice to meet you!