Talk about taking the joy out of something........ I was sitting here in my yarn store eating my rice and homemade szechuan fried green beans and pork that my extremely not asian husband made for me and just started to laugh.
Over the last week I suppose there has been this huge influx of political/racial justification posts throwing out acronyms that I've been exhausted filtering and looking up what they stand for.
So I'm told it all starts with this blog post from the woman who owns Fringe Supply Company (I'm not going to link it because I believe if you are reading this you are smart enough to find it yourself and I'm not here to perpetuate). A friend posted it in our chat group and I started to read it but it was very long and I have very little time for these things having to run my own business, house and toddler amidst finding the little precious times for joy in my life. So of course I don't spend a lot of time reading something that I know stirred the pot. Call me ignorant or whatever but I just didn't finish that article. But from that post came a combatant post from a designer I once admired and now have lost their sparkle in my eye.
The short of it was that a midwestern well off white woman who is very self aware wrote a bit of a personal and open note about her own ignorance and how she was making an effort to travel the world and change her perceptions. I think the only wrong she might of had was openly discussing her ignorance and past prejudices, (yes I have at this point read said article). Anyways she was completely jumped on top of and now it has spurred this entire big movement in the fiber community to be more aware and inclusive and silly things are happening and I just can't even deal with the social media burst of it all.
I got an email at the store from what she referred to herself as a "blind white woman" and used POC in the context and I was flabbergasted that she wanted me to make some sort of social media stance on this whole matter and if I would make a list for her of POC (which at the time I didn't know what it meant and when I found out I was kind of appalled) of makers, designers, owned companies etc so she can do her part to support them. In a nutshell I politely told her it is easy to do the research on her own, I was not current with what this whole movement is and it does not affect with whom we do business with because we believe in good products and good designs. I also pointed out because I personally know several people that keep their personal totally hidden so that they can make a living judged only on the merit of their work.
Craziness right?! It's just yarn, knitting and I am not going to go out of my way to make a list for someone else because if they really care they would do the work themselves. Yes I found it slightly offensive that she would reach out to me knowing I am asian that I would just automatically be the go to make her amends. My friend Toni said it best in her live feed when she said "not knowing what you are apologizing for isn't a real apology". I personally find reverse racism more insulting because that is someone educated enough to know what is wrong and over compensating for their own peace of mind and validation.
Another friend in the industry who just happens to be white has had harassing messages asking for her opinion and to make it public and even went so far as to call her deaf to what is going on around. A total no-win for her and I was just so angry for her because like that email it felt like they were trying to guilt or bully us into speaking an opinion about it. It's one thing to just ask off to the side privately "hey what do you think?" but to call us out as businesses to take a stand seems entirely inappropriate.
I feel bad for companies that getting the ripple effect reach back of people going back to accuse them of not being inclusive or sensitive with their content, titles or inclusion. I'm sorry but if a magazine is from the UK specifically catering to Nordic inspirations and Nordic traditions in a region that their indigenous people are fair skinned how is that wrong? I mean it was our choice to support and import. Just like it is each individuals choice to join or not join this conversation like ANY conversation. Just be polite, mind your manners and if you need to feel better about yourself and validation there might be something more deep set wrong going on. Also why isn't anyone attacking the popular Japanese magazine for only using asian models? I mean might as well be fair right?!
Anyways back to the point this whole thing has just become so overblown and ridiculous and in the end I'm just like hey guys, let's just knit. Let's just appreciate that we have the means and are comfortable in our lives to afford this past time. It's considered a gentle art, why make it war? Also part of a charm of knitting is being able to enjoy something alone and as comfort. I know quite a few designers that a proud that no one can recognize them when they are out at shows or conventions and have even opened my store early for one because they want the merit of their work to speak for them not what they look like. Those people are my real heros.
That is my 2-cents on this whole thing.
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Monday, January 21, 2019
Fleas & Things on the street market shopping!
This was another wayward post. Several years ago started but the bones of it still hold truth when you are going to a flea and doing street market shopping in any country.
A while ago I went to the Short North Reduction Sale. It was packed! Never had I gone to a reduction sale where there were so many people before. I usually go later and get some good pickings but this year I wanted to be early to make sure I had first dibs. Oh, so not the case this year. It was heavily advertised in ways that it wasn't in the past and I felt the space was much smaller.
After going through that and then to my Friends Flea Swap at the Gangway it got me thinking about some not so common sense tips when going to these sorts of events.
1. Do not expect there to be a dressing room
2. Don't bring a super bulky bag (if you even bring a full purse at all)
3. Be prepared to be elbowed and disregard this as rudeness (it is a battlefield of discounts essentially)
4. Bring lot's of Cash most vendors even though they have credit card machines in their stores they rarely bring them out to these events or the wifi will be spotty.
5. Be prepared to wait in a line
6. Come early at least an hour before the actual opening if you want the best picks.
7. Dress Prepared!
This last part is what I want to cover mostly. When I say dress prepared I mean dress as if you need to try things on and won't have a fitting room available because most likely you won't.
When I go to the street markets in Korea often times there are never dressing rooms and they would hand you a big elasticized skirt that you could either put on top and hang on your neck or just over my waist to try clothes on with out being indecent. Sometimes they would let you behind their booth to change but most times they would take you just to the end of the aisle with the "to-go" dressing room. It's not for everyone but for some people the discomfort is worth the discounts or they just like a little adventure and non-uniformity.
Best of luck to you if you take the dive to hit up a flea or street market and remember it's not personal if you get shoved a little (especially in Korea from older women, that's pretty normal).
A while ago I went to the Short North Reduction Sale. It was packed! Never had I gone to a reduction sale where there were so many people before. I usually go later and get some good pickings but this year I wanted to be early to make sure I had first dibs. Oh, so not the case this year. It was heavily advertised in ways that it wasn't in the past and I felt the space was much smaller.
1. Do not expect there to be a dressing room
2. Don't bring a super bulky bag (if you even bring a full purse at all)
3. Be prepared to be elbowed and disregard this as rudeness (it is a battlefield of discounts essentially)
4. Bring lot's of Cash most vendors even though they have credit card machines in their stores they rarely bring them out to these events or the wifi will be spotty.
5. Be prepared to wait in a line
6. Come early at least an hour before the actual opening if you want the best picks.
7. Dress Prepared!
This last part is what I want to cover mostly. When I say dress prepared I mean dress as if you need to try things on and won't have a fitting room available because most likely you won't.
My staples for dressing for a flea or sale like this are
- Leggings, bike shorts or boy shorts
- Tank top (or sports bra)
- Baggy sweatshirt to go over (can also be used to put on the ground if you don't want your feet on the direct floor)
- Skirt (if I feel I need to have something besides the leggings/tights)
- Flats to wear but heels in the purse (to try on things for height).
When I go to the street markets in Korea often times there are never dressing rooms and they would hand you a big elasticized skirt that you could either put on top and hang on your neck or just over my waist to try clothes on with out being indecent. Sometimes they would let you behind their booth to change but most times they would take you just to the end of the aisle with the "to-go" dressing room. It's not for everyone but for some people the discomfort is worth the discounts or they just like a little adventure and non-uniformity.
Best of luck to you if you take the dive to hit up a flea or street market and remember it's not personal if you get shoved a little (especially in Korea from older women, that's pretty normal).
Wednesday, January 09, 2019
2019 Updates on Life - it's just words
I had been away from my blog for a long time. There was a point where as much as I loved this and writing I had gotten too busy taking care of my little Colin, training, being a wife and small business owner.
My mother passed away just days before Thanksgiving due to pancreatic cancer. It was terrible she was diagnosed only three months prior. I was the one who took her to the ER where they began testing and found the tumor. It was my first time going out to visit my brother in Las Vegas and seeing my parents after they had moved out there. I had Colin with me. We enjoyed most of the time there then Sunday after my brother Birthday Brunch mom told me she was in pain and wanted to go to the ER. I knew she was in pain the whole weekend, but no one else noticed and I kept an eye on her. I took her temperature and she had a fever over 100, I made a quick call to my friend's mom who is a nurse and she confirmed I should take her to ER. That was the day before I was supposed to leave. It was heartbreaking to leave her then knowing she would be in the hospital for days doing testing. From there it was fast and progressively worse and I am thankful we got her into Hospice for her last days to be comfortable. It's obviously still a fresh wound which is why I am coming back to writing/blogging.
As a friend told me I am a private person, yet not at all. I just don't like to talk about feelings much, I don't like to be exposed but I do like people to know there are things going on. I use social media a lot as a quick way to update friends abroad or that I don't get to see very often so they know I am living life and doing ok. Some days are better than others but I'm still here.
I think another thing that spurred my want to write again is going through this aftermath of death and how there are so many things I had to figure out for my father and myself with how to deal with death, not emotionally but fiscally and what a death means in terms of a process not a person. Unless you have been through it is not an easy thing to grasp while you are mourning and no one prepares for this because it is a dark thing that leads to dark thoughts. So I wanted to write the process in a practical guide and maybe it will be published maybe not but at least it will be out in the world in some form or another and maybe when it's my time my son will find it and get some comfort in his mom's overly practical mind.
I was also approached by someone I didn't know very well at my gym and was touched. It was my first time working with this person and after class was over he said to me that he found one of my blog posts about testing and it inspired him to come to my gym (Short North Muay Thai). I didn't know my blog, my posts had an impact and were still circulating. He's been at the gym over a year now and I'm happy to say that he is now on his own path and will be testing in March.
It's a funny thing how something so abstract as the internet has now connected so many people for the good or bad it is a big influence on our lives. I am just one person, small insignificant but I see I have made an impression in the world no matter how small and that is a comfort. It maybe just a little but it isn't nothing and that is a victory to put something positive and helpful out there.
This is a new beginning for this blog so Cheers! let's be logical, depressed, helpful, cheering and celebrating all together because those are all parts of life.
My mother passed away just days before Thanksgiving due to pancreatic cancer. It was terrible she was diagnosed only three months prior. I was the one who took her to the ER where they began testing and found the tumor. It was my first time going out to visit my brother in Las Vegas and seeing my parents after they had moved out there. I had Colin with me. We enjoyed most of the time there then Sunday after my brother Birthday Brunch mom told me she was in pain and wanted to go to the ER. I knew she was in pain the whole weekend, but no one else noticed and I kept an eye on her. I took her temperature and she had a fever over 100, I made a quick call to my friend's mom who is a nurse and she confirmed I should take her to ER. That was the day before I was supposed to leave. It was heartbreaking to leave her then knowing she would be in the hospital for days doing testing. From there it was fast and progressively worse and I am thankful we got her into Hospice for her last days to be comfortable. It's obviously still a fresh wound which is why I am coming back to writing/blogging.
As a friend told me I am a private person, yet not at all. I just don't like to talk about feelings much, I don't like to be exposed but I do like people to know there are things going on. I use social media a lot as a quick way to update friends abroad or that I don't get to see very often so they know I am living life and doing ok. Some days are better than others but I'm still here.
I think another thing that spurred my want to write again is going through this aftermath of death and how there are so many things I had to figure out for my father and myself with how to deal with death, not emotionally but fiscally and what a death means in terms of a process not a person. Unless you have been through it is not an easy thing to grasp while you are mourning and no one prepares for this because it is a dark thing that leads to dark thoughts. So I wanted to write the process in a practical guide and maybe it will be published maybe not but at least it will be out in the world in some form or another and maybe when it's my time my son will find it and get some comfort in his mom's overly practical mind.
I was also approached by someone I didn't know very well at my gym and was touched. It was my first time working with this person and after class was over he said to me that he found one of my blog posts about testing and it inspired him to come to my gym (Short North Muay Thai). I didn't know my blog, my posts had an impact and were still circulating. He's been at the gym over a year now and I'm happy to say that he is now on his own path and will be testing in March.
It's a funny thing how something so abstract as the internet has now connected so many people for the good or bad it is a big influence on our lives. I am just one person, small insignificant but I see I have made an impression in the world no matter how small and that is a comfort. It maybe just a little but it isn't nothing and that is a victory to put something positive and helpful out there.
This is a new beginning for this blog so Cheers! let's be logical, depressed, helpful, cheering and celebrating all together because those are all parts of life.
This is Me, or how I perceived myself in 2018
This is yet another old post that I thought I needed to clean up, finish up and put out there as part of my 2019 de-clutter. I started this sometime in 2018, I don't remember when but it was before I decided to take part in fights.
I'm a proud small business owner of a specialty Yarn Store and Knitter extraordinaire!
Someone who loves to dress up as a bad-ass with a love for cheesy Kungfu
I also like to dress up and play at being a model for friends
I'm an avid Muay Thai fan (Top is Lerdsila at the Ronin 2018 Seminar and bottom is Saenchai from 2017)
I like to leap up and take chances at being a badass in the most humbling environment surrounded by supportive friends in a muay thai gym unlike any other. (Short North Muay Thai)
I even went so far in 2018 to check off another bucket list item and went to my first fight! I had two fights, first a win and then a lose by decision (it was really close I think I was nicked points due to headgear is what I overheard) but they were good and amazing and I'll talk about that more in another post.
I even went so far in 2018 to check off another bucket list item and went to my first fight! I had two fights, first a win and then a lose by decision (it was really close I think I was nicked points due to headgear is what I overheard) but they were good and amazing and I'll talk about that more in another post.
I'm the mother to an adorable mixed child, Colin Eldon Hall and am prepared to stand up for him and with him when it comes time to talk about his multi-facted ethnic culture.
I have been and will return to being an independent Fashion Designer
I am a positive force with colorful hair no matter what other people may think. Both traditional and radical but always respectful and full of empathy.
I'm a wife and partner to someone who likes to smile and laugh with me.
Had the pleasure of being on national TV with one of my best friends aiming high for a dream that has not come true.
Being almost famous by association (that is a young Daniel Henney and I was his dresser for my school fashion show at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
We still have three cats that are complete idiots that love us unconditionally and they just add to the disaster that Andy and I try to call our home. It's hard with an anxiety ridden orange girl, broken trash cat who thinks every meal is his last then pukes and a high strung princess cat that thinks she is the center of everyone's world. But we love them.
I still try to make time for video games and I'll never stop my love of plushies or Final Fantasy.
The Blank Agency and a little 2019 fashion update.
I had the pleasure of having work with The Blank Agency that was made public and it is an amazing piece of work.
Using my fashion designs to shoot this cinematic presentation. Which you can view here!
The pieces used were from a white and gold collection I did to embody different royal characters from Alice in Wonderland.
The White Queen is long silk and velvet dress
The Red Queen is the gold silk skirt and embroidered top
Queen Alice is the gold bow dress
Simply Alice is the white bell pants with the Silk coverup
This was part of my Senior Collection for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago back in 2003. It is crazy to see old work of my still being relevant and exciting for other people. It's an inspiration that I would like to visit again some day in the future to see how my style has changed since then.
From here on is an update on since I had stopped my blog but wanted to finish off some of my drafts that I had started.
It has been a few years and I feel like my design aesthetic for fashion has moved even further into two directions. Full functionality in the form of the handmade slow fashion movement to wear clothes you made yourself and high art form where it may not even be a wearable piece as much as sculpture or a representation of organic form. We will see what 2019 can unfold for my progress as a designer and artist.
Using my fashion designs to shoot this cinematic presentation. Which you can view here!
The pieces used were from a white and gold collection I did to embody different royal characters from Alice in Wonderland.
The White Queen is long silk and velvet dress
The Red Queen is the gold silk skirt and embroidered top
Queen Alice is the gold bow dress
Simply Alice is the white bell pants with the Silk coverup
This was part of my Senior Collection for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago back in 2003. It is crazy to see old work of my still being relevant and exciting for other people. It's an inspiration that I would like to visit again some day in the future to see how my style has changed since then.
From here on is an update on since I had stopped my blog but wanted to finish off some of my drafts that I had started.
It has been a few years and I feel like my design aesthetic for fashion has moved even further into two directions. Full functionality in the form of the handmade slow fashion movement to wear clothes you made yourself and high art form where it may not even be a wearable piece as much as sculpture or a representation of organic form. We will see what 2019 can unfold for my progress as a designer and artist.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Business is never usual
WOAH what a trip the past few months have been! Our first holiday season at the store and it was great! but then quickly came the checks and balances between paying off orders, new orders and still being mid season for fibers.
We found we have had lurch just the same as everyone else in February. Somedays no one comes in and other days during a snow storm a stream of people come in. Who knows what will happen in retail. Even as long as I have worked in retail clothing (over 10 years) it's hard to judge what will happen day to day.
I have good vibes and strong faith in our little growing business.
I feel more and more encouraged by hearing great feedback from my vendors and new vendors. Lately there has been a good amount of compliments saying that we are their biggest and best stockist, or they came across our website and liked what we were doing and how selective we are and would like to be a part of that selection. I also appreciated that when we talked on the phone they said we were their first choice in the area of shops to be a part of and wanted to know if it was ok for them to contact the other stores or if we wanted to be their primary stockist for central Ohio.
PRETTY FRICKING FANTASTIC EH?!
This week also had a short email conversation with someone in England about us carrying their crewel wools to start embroidery classes and they complimented us heavily on our lovely looking website and being so modern with our design and selection of companies that we carry.
Even though sales are in the slums with everyone recovering from overspending on the holidays and guarding their pockets for tax season, these compliments and conversations are just what we needed to know we are doing good and it's in a much larger sense than just our local community.
I just had to post this little love rant diddy out there someplace and not clog up the social media spheres.
Cheers and Onwards friends!
Friday, January 16, 2015
Oh, Hallo blog!
It's been a while since I have blogged. I'm not going to say this is a new year's resolution to start blogging because that would be a lie. I am going to say that I have a lot of things on my mind lately and stuff I want to share with the world for whomever still watches and follows my life adventures.
I would not suggest for you to not live vicariously through me and the events in my life. However I would strongly suggest you go out and make your own waves, jump into the deep end of the pool and make yourself a little or a lot happier in your daily going ons.
My life is swiftly making some bold changes and it is very scary but all for the best. Finances are heavy on my mind as I get older and see the bills from student loans or silly things that I could of not bought but did through store credit cards. I am trying to catch up and be as debt free as possible. It is also hard to budget when some of the new things in your life have a higher premium but you know their value. To help out on top of opening a new store and continuing my arts administration job, I clean part time to pay for my Muay Thai classes. Did you not know I do Muay Thai? maybe you did and maybe you didn't. I don't think that is something I normally have ever discussed on the blog but that will be changing. This is going to be more about my life as a whole and not focused on fashion or fiber. My one promise to you is I won't blog very much about food because I sort of detest food blogs, it's just a tease they make me hungry and I will never actually make those gorgeous desserts people post.
So in the upcoming year/s these are some of the things you'll expect to hear from me:
- Little life philosophies as I reach my mid 30's
- Things that have inspired me
- Muay thai and other physical attributes that have heavily affected my life
- Knitting, Crochet, tatting, Spinning
- Sewing
- My personal artwork
- Video games and general nerdiness
- I also maybe have less pictures and more writing because, writing is what I dig and pictures are fillers.
As always I invite you chime in and start a conversation through the comments. Without discussion how can anyones opinion change or point be made? I like facts, I like having things brought to my attention that maybe I'm not the most educated in.
Cheers!
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