What’s in a name …
and would it really smell so sweet by any other name …

I don’t think so, although it is kinda cool to refer to ourselves as designers, more and more lately I have been questioning that self-designation.

If there is one particular black hole (did I ever mention my life long fascination with all things cosmic?)
in cyberspace where I can easily get lost for hours, it would be Style.com’s fashion show collections

I always emerge wondering, not only am I really qualified to claim the title, and what about all the submission that cross my desk?

So what is design? Design, according to Wikipedia,

is usually considered in the context of the applied arts, engineering, architecture, and other such creative endeavours, is used as both a noun and a verb. As a verb, “to design” refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, or component.

and then goes on to say:

As a noun, “a design” is used for both the final (solution) plan (e.g. proposal, drawing, model, description) or the result of implementing that plan (e.g. object produced, result of the process). …

Wikipedia defines Designer as
a broad term for a person who designs any of a variety of things. That usually implies the task of creating or of being creative in a particular area of expertise. It is frequently used to reference someone who draws or in some ways uses visual cues to organize their work. Designers are usually responsible for making a model that takes into consideration each step in a product’s development, including not only how a product will be used but also how it will be made.

Which leads to the final paragraph under Designer:

Designing normally requires a designer considering aesthetic, functional, and many other aspects of an object or process, which usually requires considerable research, thought, modeling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.

Which now has me asking, almost daily and sometimes hourly, not only of every piece I do “for me” but of any that “will be published”

It that pattern or project the work of a Designer or an Alteration Specialist?

Or something else?

Just something to think about – I certainly will be – and who knows, maybe writing more about it.

Wheat

P.S. Am I the only one who thinks the folks at Alexander McQueen may have over reacted just a bit to either Phantom of the Opera, or the current controversy over the responsiblity of the Fashion Designers to discourage eating disorders. I mean several of those dresses are perfect examples of why I don’t wear dancercise clothes out side my own home or backyard (and not very often in the back yard either)

Have you ever seen that kids game – the one where the moles pop up out of the hole and the player is supposed to smack it back into its hole?

There are a lot of days when that is exactly what running a small business feels like – except somehow our customers have the hammer and we are moles.

Earlier this week I was sent a copy of a message from a Retailer. After two days of thinking, I agree that other retailers “need to know” about a potential “situation” but do not believe it can even remotely be applied to any single yarn. And BETTER YET, yarn buyers might need to know too

So here’s the situation as I understand it:

The Retailer apparently has a wonderful customer who is an avid sewist as well as a knitter. Many who sew are in the habit of pre-washing fabrics – so she also pre-washes her yarn.

As a spinner, I am not unfamiliar with the idea of fulling a yarn and other techniques for setting twist and yes, I do use the soak and spin cycles of my washer to do this sort of thing. And a gentle SOAK, rolling in a towel or even a spin cycle in one of Dawn Stone’s Fiber Washing Bags has been known to happen in this house especially with hand dyes where I am concerned about dye bleeding.

NOT THE CASE HERE: It seems this person actually follows the label instructions, instructions until now I always thought were tested and intended to be used on “finished garments” so am really not all that surprised when a yarn “in the skein” felted into a tangled mess.

I don;t yet have all the details, but my first thought was how unreliable “temperature settings” on a washing machine can be-I have a bunch of others, but that is what topped the list.

Then I thought about it ‘some more’ and realized it certainly an opportunity for a LYS to use their unique position to educate the consumer and like Marcy Simms says, an educated consumer is our best customer

I honestly do not see how any manufacturer or distributor could have foreseen this one
Who would have thought yarn sellers would need to explain that the care instructions “assume”
“finished garment” or at the very least a swatch to test the “fabric” .

See you in San Diego, where I hope to get a first hand look at the result of this “interesting” experiment and find out the details.

Travel Safe

Wheat

Visit Preview Promenade

And for the curious – here are product contact details for the Fiber Washings Bags
Suggested Retail $19.95 plus Priority Flat Rate $4.10 postage
Check or Money order.

Dawn Stone – Little Hollow
he Fiber Washing Bag
RR 5 – Box 1003
Ava MO 65608

417-683-2060

email: lilhollow@getgoing.com

PDF of Instructions

It’s that day of the year –
The one where you are supposed to start all sorts of high minded resolutions.

If you are like me, you have long since given up resolutions and switched to goals – after all why waste time and energy devoting yourself to something that is pretty much doomed to fail

Instead, I prefer the concept of setting goals large and small in that they are “doable” whereas resolution are sometimes such huge undertakings that we doom ourselves to failure.

If you start your every day with some small goal, doable TODAY, and a commitment to work on at least one other – then somehow it all gets easier. According to the last part of the Columbia Encyclopedia definition of endorphins,

>>> Prolonged, continuous exercise contributes to an increased production and release of endorphins, resulting in a sense of euphoria that has been popularly labeled “runner’s high.” <<<

Reaching at least some small goal each day produces, for me, a sort of mental endrophins, that makes it so much easier to get on with the next one.

By now, you have realized that I use music for motivation, here is one of my favorites,
Somehow every thing seems doable, if you can just ride your personal "Chariot of Fire"

CHARIOTS OF FIRE

There is one freedom
Man running along
Each step that he’s taking
A step to his soul

The passion and courage
It takes to be there
A man and his spirit
Alive in the air

And if he should stumble
as he goes
If he should fall
It won’t really matter
If he knows
he gave it his all

The way becomes clearer
The way is complete
The need to be running
Admit no defeat

The circles together
Hold hands to the sky
A man and his spirit
he’s learning to fly

And if he should stumble
as he goes
If he should fall
It won’t really matter
If he knows
he gave it his all

Let no one surround himself with pain
But use it to free him
The game is to learn to live again
A race to the end

[Interlude]

And if he should stumble
as he goes
If he should fall
It won’t really matter
If he knows
he gave it his all

Let no one surround himself with pain
But use it to free him
The game is to learn to live again
A race to the end

Music by Vangelis. – Lyrics by Jon Anderson

There has been over the past several weeks, a lively conversation in the “Quilt Art” group about goals vs resolutions.

Like so many things, it got me thinking – always a dangerous thing. So I started Planning my first 2007 What Wheat Wrote blog-A-Mentry-

It had to be about goals, and the music and lyrics I use most often when I need a jump start –
and so it will be tomorrow

Meanwhile, one of my Big Picture goals is to take the time to apply SEO to EVERY thing that I web-publish – including emails, blog-a-mentry, and of course domain pages, will have the basics of SEO applied.

Among the Business treasures I have found While Web Wandering, has been the classes offered by
J “Cricket” Bailey and much of what I will be applying can be learned or extrapolated from Cricket’s various FREE courses.

I know these next weeks will be busy ones for us all, but I would URGE you, especially those who feel they need more grounding in what the goals for Preview Promenade encompass and how to reach them, including quite a bit of basic help in how to write your entries, now and later for the best long term results for your personal blogs, your web pages and all your on-line marketing ventures.

These next few weeks will be hectic, but set a goal to join these classes, set up a folder in your email client so you can come back each day and spend a bit of time working through the messages and assignments in the coming weeks and months at your own pace.
Take the time today to start the process, visit

http://www.gnc-web-creations.com/seo-optimization.htm

I know you will find some of the ingredients we need to make the pie bigger, so we all get a better slice.

Peaceful & Prosperous Wishes for 2007

Wheat

The last few weeks have just been flying by. With several major projects almost ready to go really public I am sincerely wishing for a really good “voice to text” system from Santa –

As some of you may have read, I have been pretty excited about a new project for Retailers commission by KFI – Knitting Fever. I have been assisting the KFI Manager of Operations with several new things for KFI retailers. It begins with a private Yahoo discussion group for their customers, the retailers. The goal is to provide a place for positive interaction between the more than 1500 shops in the US who offer the products distributed by KFI. I expect once Jeff’s letter reflecting on changes this year and letting their Retailer know a bit of what coming – the KFI-Retailer@yahoogroups.com will be a terrific resource for all involved.

My other big project is for the TNNA-Designers & Teachers as we are all preparing for the TNNA, The National Needlework Association Winter Show holds major wholesale to the trade events several times a year. A group of TNNA-Designers & Teachers are creating an opportunity for the Retailers who will be attending to get a sneak peak. That site will open late next week.

Last but not least, also almost ready to start is a site called YarnQuest – where anyone searching for “just one (or two or many) more skeins to finish a special project will be able to fill out a form and it will be “broadcast” to Independent Retailers who will then email you if they have what you need “on the shelf”. But this may have to wait until after the first of the year. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done

Now, after a night where it seemed we should be considering building an ark, the sun is out, so the computer is getting “turned off” for a few hours while we put up the outside decorations, then some last minute shopping for the first celebration’s menu.

Once that is done, well it will be back to TCB – Taking Care Of Business & Working Over Time
And all the things on temporary hold

Talk to you soon

Peace of the Season

Wheat