April 2010

Positively Heather

Three tips for celebrating sight

Heather Gooch

Did you know that April is Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month?

Me neither.

But it's a legitimate concern, especially among stitchers — the close work we do puts a great strain on our eyes. Because I'm extremely limited in the time that I get to devote to my projects, I'm personally guilty of sewing in bad light. Chances are many of your customers are straining their eyes, too.

For Heather's full article, click here.

Recent Musings

Are you marketing to truckers?

It’s no April foolin’: The Wall Street Journal recently chronicled how some male truck drivers decide to spend their down time quilting, knitting and doing other artistic pursuits.

Being your own boss, but on your own time

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) says that women own about 28% of the more than 23 million non-farm businesses in the nation — and if you add in another 2.7 million firms that are co-owned equally by women and men, the figure jumps to about 34%.

No reservations about reservations

After paying a hefty mechanic’s bill this week to ensure we can once again stop our car at will, my husband and I are watching our budget a bit more closely. So when our kids came home this afternoon with a “wish list” for a slew of books from the school book fair, I immediately swung into action: I logged on to our public library’s Web site instead.

Links I Love

FiberartInternational.org

Starting this month is a triennial event taking place in Pittsburgh: Fiberart International 2010. Recognizing the best contemporary fiber artists from around the world, the exhibition runs from April 16 through August 22 at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and the Society for Contemporary Craft.

Because it's a site devoted to art and design, it's great to see the clean design elements going on in the home page. The navigation tabs lead visitors easily to essential information (who, what, where and when), and the contact info is featured prominently — an element too often missing on business and non-profit Web sites.

Got a link you love? Tell me!

Let us spin a Positive Yarn for your company!

Heather is available for marketing and editorial services for the needlearts and handmade crafts industries.

Email positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com or call (330) 723-3539.

Check this out!

There are book awards, and then there are book awards: But Crocheting Adventures with Hyperbolic Planes by mathematician Daina Taimina won Great Britain's Diagram Prize for the year's oddest book title. According to an Associated Press article, "Taimina uses crochet to create hyperbolic planes, surfaces on which lines curve away from each other instead of running parallel, as on a flat plane, or converging, as on a sphere." It helps that the resulting crocheted creations are really awesome, too!

The Knitty Gritty

X Post-stroke therapy: The Milton, PA Standard Journal recently profiled Barb Gray, who learned to knit as a way to regain hand-eye coordination after two strokes. She enjoyed it so much that she ended up making two dozen hats for a preschool class her cousin in Alaska teaches.

Tip: Offer to teach needlework basics for those looking to regain coordination. Senior citizen community centers, rehabilitation facilities, and even general medical practices might be thrilled to learn of the availability of lessons geared to patients who are relearning their fine motor skills. Bonus: Their families might enjoy the stress-relieving benefits of learning to knit, crochet or stitch alongside the patients!

X Nifty kneelers: The Blue Ridge, GA News Observer reports on how the St. Luke's Episcopal Church Needlepoint Guild finished a five-and-a-half-year project, wherein they covered 32 1x5-ft kneelers. With only five to eight people stitching, the group averaged about seven months per kneeler. (Note: The online article includes several good photos of their handiwork.)

Tip: Cheer on organizations that undertake big projects. We've all had a daunting task that, when we're up to our eyeballs in yarn and frustration, we wonder why we ever said yes to doing. If you know of a group that's trying to complete a big project, alleviate some of that feeling of being overwhelmed by sending over some energy bars and bottled water during their next work session, courtesy of your shop. Or tell members that their next pair of scissors are on you, since they've probably worn their current pair out with their volunteer efforts. Or if it's feasible, offer an hour of your own time on the project. However you can lend a hand, your efforts won't go unnoticed!