Ever say something that was totally wrong/dumb/valley girl-esque and you wished you could have caught it before it left your mouth? Or better yet, before your two remaining brain cells touched one another in a synaptic, chemical one-on-one dance in your brain? That’s what I’m calling, “Friday” folks. Yeah, it all about, “The State of Chicago.”
I was up until 3 am on Thursday night (make that Friday morning really) working on putting together a last minute portfolio of my work. Yes, I knew days in advance about this “opportunity” (to quote Vashti…sorry, but I can’t reveal the joke behind this word!), but I’ve been so busy with other responsibilities that I hadn’t a chance to begin it until Thursday. I made a bio page, tearsheets, and organized some stuff to display in clear page protectors.
The layouts for the tearsheets took awhile (had to make print-ready images as opposed to web-ready). The bio page took the longest because, well crap, what do you say about yourself:
My name is Amie.
I run NexStitch.
I like to crochet.
Buy my work. (Today, perhaps?)
You could be the most decisive, self-confident person you’ll ever be and you’ll find yourself second guessing every sentence, word, and syllable down to punctuation marks. I mean, you need to sell yourself without coming across as a car salesmen, or worse, an over-worked, underpaid, unappreciated school teacher who doesn’t like her job. Luckily, I had attended Rita and Jean’s, “How to Drive an Editor Crazy” workshop on Wednesday and that gave me all the right things to say. That isn’t to suggest that I was filling my, “Why choose NexStitch Patterns” text with fluff, or regurgitated text from their handout, but I was able to say with confidence that I take care in writing . I write with the thought of having some customer contact me to say that they found something confusing and they need help. That’s something I can be proud to say I’ve only had happen twice out of the two years I’ve been selling online (Last week’s was the second time).
Printing borderless pages can be a hassle, especially when it’s 1 am and you’re just needing to get it done now, Now, NOW. That, and having your house filled with the sounds of live violins playing and being recorded in the studio (in which you can’t really roam freely without becoming an unwilling and unwanted part of the recording process) slows up the pace of things. My attempts at printing failed and I had to contact “Tech Support,” (aka. the fiance) and ask him for help. After 30 minutes of trying to fix the issue, I found that the prints still weren’t completely borderless, yada, yada. At 1:30 I began cranking out copies of 4 of my patterns: , , , and the halter. The last one is so beautifully written with and photos. It’s a piece of artwork, so I placed it towards the front, right after the tearsheets:
While the pages were printing, I rummaged through my “NexStitch Ideas” folder (yes, I keep a folder of just random sketches which I work from) and pulled out two ideas for cardis. Both were exquisite ideas, and one I had actually begun. I took out fresh paper and made detailed sketches of them, using colored pencils, and writing out the features of each pattern idea. I included a suggested name and tagline and also put a printout of the suggested yarn colors, so that one could see the other color options for the suggested yarn. [A funny side note: I came up with the names of these cardis while leaning against my car in the parking lot in front of the Convention Center. I needed names and the pressure was on.] At about 3 am, after printing and sketching, I was pooped and fell into bed.
The next morning was tres frantic at Chez NexStitch. And in the midst of my clamoring to finish, I destroyed my office. It looks like a bomb site folks.
So much for cleaning it Monday. There’s a borage of colored pencils, pencils shavings on a piece of paper, drinking glasses, books, file folders, hooks, junk from the I toppled over to cram samples into, and a stapler occupying the desk. I needed to finish one cardi proposal and begin and finish the next. I worked feverishly all morning, with the expectation that I’d be leaving at 11 am. Ha! Then 12 p.m.. Ha! I didn’t leave until 1 p.m., the time in which the DRG reps were meeting with people for proposals and the like.
The drive there was HECTIC to say the least. I had little sleep and it jarred me completely. Every “left lane Richard (think of the shorter name – not Rich – and you’ll catch my drift) was occupying the road. Big, slow moving trucks driving in the left lane causing 15 minute back-ups. Grandma’s and grandpa’s out for an afternoon lunch date. And every Tom, Dick, and Harry driving back from their afternoon appointment. Needless to say that by the time I passed it all, I was flustered.
I stumbled into the marketplace like a buffoon, exhausted and tired from the drive. Jennifer Hanson, of Stitch Diva, reached her hand out to me and introduced herself. I was a stuttering idiot. I made probably the worst impression I’ve made right then and there. I don’t like to make a bad impression with anyone who is connected to whatever field I’m working in, whether it be education or crochet. My mind was on getting to the booth/area/place ASAP because it was after 3 p.m. and they weren’t going to be there after 4 p.m.
When I got to the area with the reps, I wound up waiting almost an hour to talk with Carol Alexander of . There were 4 people in front of me, all but one who just kept talking and talking. “Charlie Brown’s teacher scenario,” I thought. [teacher: Wa-whaa wa, waaa, whaa , whaa whaa…” It’s like you aren’t really hearing them because it all sounds muffled.] I get nervous right before having to speak to people I don’t know. My heart pounds out of my chest. I say stupid things I hope don’t catch on, and I otherwise make an ass out of myself. I’d prefer to just zone out and just not talk to anyone, well anyone who is just talking to talk anyway. I spoke to one nice woman in line, and another one who was a lawyer. “Talk, talk, talk, talk. Orphan’s law. talk talk. talk. talk. talk.” I just wanted to zone. When it was my turn to introduce myself to Carol, I could feel the syncopation of my heart bouncing to and fro in my chest.
With my portfolio opened, I showed my tearsheets and Carol was genuinely impressed, as was her assistant (gee, I wish I had gotten her name). Without embellishing, they were drooling over some of the finds in my portfolio, including the halter top, which I brought with me. Carol complimented me on the exquisite stitching and the finishing details. She loved the corset style backside too. Also with me was the Wedge Shawl, Surfer Bikini, and one project from the Uncommon Threads show, which she just loved and wanted for the magazine too. Unfortunately, I can’t use it twice (I don’t think), because they have the rights to it (I think). Flipping through the patterns, they seemed in awe of how the patterns are laid out and photographed.
I pulled out the two cardi ideas, the first one being very girly-like. They FLIPPED. They loved it and we chatted while looking at the yarn samples I included. We all agreed that the ones I chose, were the best of the bunch. (Yay! It’s refreshing when people can see my vision). Lastly, I showed Carol and her assistant the other cardi, which has this uniquely designed middle portion, which I had done and brought with me. They loved it too, and we chatted about how it could be modeled with a chocolate brown cami underneath, to show off the openwork stitching. Carol showed me the editorial calendar and we discussed how each cardi would work into the calendar. She asked me to submit one pattern for the Summer 07 issue and the other for Fall 07! I was thoroughly impressed with how complimentary Carol and her assistant were to myself and the others in line. Afterwards, I shook both their hands and thanked them for the opportunity to show what I can do. I left as though I was on Cloud 9 and headed to the Marketplace.
Having spent an hour waiting to talk with Carol, and leaving on a high note caused Mr. Chase Manhattan to make an appearance at the booth. [If you haven’t checked them out already, they have a GREAT online store with lots of yummy yarns and fabulous patterns.] I saw a camel Namaste Jetsetter bag that I just HAD to have:
I also bought yarn for the Uncommon Threads show since they were having a sale on larger quantities:
While paying, I mentioned something about being a designer, yada, yada, and that they (Dreamweaver Yarns) had contacted me last year to do wholesale and that I was buying a house and was too busy at the moment. They asked who I was and knew right away, saying they love my patterns and inquired when I was going to wholesale. I showed them my tearsheets and asked what they’d be interested in, and it sounded like everything I had. Not bad! They also loved the halter top. Wa-whoo! I made a great connection with the ladies of Dreamweaver and I look forward to working with them very soon. My last purchase was for some metallic beads that I’d like to use in a handbag design:
I treated myself to a crab cake dinner (and Caesar salad) at the hotel and met up with later on in the evening at the hotel bar. I also got to meet (aka. the Guiness book record holder for the fastest crocheter on Earth). She was a blast. You can tell she has lots of energy that she puts not only into crocheting, but socializing. Very friendly and fun. I posed for some pictures which I hope one comes my way so I can post it (LISA?). I also finally met Anne and Brian from. They make the nicest hooks I’ve ever seen. EVER. They are so genuinely nice and easy to talk and joke with. They’re both A’s my in my book and I intend to know them for a very long time. Plus, they’re from Jersey, so they’re a hop, skip, and jump away. I also look forward to using their hooks on the Uncommon Threads show. I completely believe in pimping the ‘wares of others. You scratch my back, I scratch yours (just scratch hard because I like a good scratchin’. Be sure to get underneath my shoulders. Ohhh, that’s the best place besides my head).
Drew and I drank and “shot the crap” about everything crochet. He’s so easy to get along with and talk to. He showed me some swatches from a class taught by Marty Miller that I’m now kicking myself for not having taken. It was all about making crochet without a base chain. And the work winds up being more stretchy and has many application. He also showed me a swatch for a linked stitch, which I had seen in a book of mine, but didn’t realize the applications for such a stitch. Drew has some ideas that I think he’ll be pumping out soon.
So we’re talking and I’m saying how there’s someone who I’m not fond of who happens to live in Chicago. And I don’t know if it was tiredness in me, or the drink (I swore off alcohol last month to lose some weight, so it was the first drink in awhile), but I said that this person lived, “…in the State of Chicago.” Yeaaaaap.STATE. Of. Chicago. To which Drew replies after we both laughed at that one, “Do you know which State Chicago is in?” Durr. “Illinois.” That was one brain cell attempting to collide with another brain cell but the first misfired and only received half the information. Out of all the greatness of this whole day, I keep replaying in my mind me saying to Drew, “…the State of Chicago.” And then I had a second drink. You’d think I was a light-weight in the drinking department.
