Merchandise

Over the past week and a half, I've been making a couple scarves each day. It's been like an exercise or a way to "warm-up" in the studio before tackling other projects. It's also been quite fun.

The idea started with some great yarn purchases. First, I went to Hancock Fabrics on a day when inventory was being done. Evidently, a bunch of decorative yarns were no longer going to be sold....so they'd been marked at 25 cents and 50 cents each. Some were ribbons, eyelash-style, etc. Most were regularly priced at $5.99. I'd even bought at that price before. I "scarved" up at least one of each to the tune of $14 for a large bag full.

Then, while in Charleston, I went to KNIT! on Wentworth Street. I'd heard about this place but never gone. I needed blue yarn for hand stitching. Of course, I found blue yarn....but....I also found an antique washtub overflowing with gallon zip-loc bags of very decorative yarns. Each bag had four different skeins with prices at $8 to $14 each...but the entire bag was marked at $18. Obviously, this was yarn that hadn't moved well and was being unloaded at a deep discount. I sorted through the large piles of bags but couldn't make a decision. Finally, I got up enough nerve to ask..."Please don't be offended, but how much if I take ten bags?" The proprietor seemed thrilled that I'd be taking so many and said, "I can do 20% more". She pushed a few buttons on her calculator and continued, "That's $14 a bag". I smiled and said that I'd be back at her counter with my ten bags in a minute while my head crunched the numbers....that's roughly $3.50 a piece per skein!

I also have an enormous box of assorted yarns, mostly acrylic but some wool, that I bought at an auction for almost nothing at all. So, I've been taking all these materials and placing them on strips of Mokuba water soluble adhesive sheets. I can make a scarf in approximately one hour. I've already sold a few to other artists which studio space near mine. Otherwise, I've been collecting them at home...lined up on the banister that separates our open living room from the staircase down to the business on the first floor. By the annual Vista Lights festival on November 15, I'm planning to have enough "merchandise" to really kick off the holiday season. After that weekend sales event (which includes Vista Studios where my studio is), I'll send the rest to the Artisan Center in Walterboro. This is the first time I've actually created something that is truly USEFUL...FUNCTIONAL!