The connections you make

 One of the greatest treats for me as an artisan is to have someone show me how they took something I worked to create and used it for their own act of creation. I love chatting with people at the markets and shows, and of course hearing that people appreciate the work I do, but seeing the joy others get from working with my products to make something unique to them. So far I have only have two ladies show me their work, I have had people stop by to tell me how well recieved a gift purchased from me was.

Trust me, the craftspeople you see in the markets want you to not just buy our work we make, we want it to bring you joy, we want it to enrich your life. If it is a finished good we want you to love using it and remember why you brought it, who you were with, the beauty of the day and the experience of meeting the artist. If it is a supply, ingredient, or tool, we want you to use it, to touch it and have all those memories, to make with it or to make it into something that carries all those meanings with it.

So the next time you find yourself at a craft fair or farmer's market, stop by and tell them you liked the product or art work you bought, show us what you made, tell the farmer the tomatoes you bought at the end of the year made amazing tomato sauce your family enjoyed all winter, tell me your sister loved the shawl you bought her, or how much your baby enjoys crawling on the blanket. I won't be sitting there thinking "I hope she buys more" all though if you want more I won't stop you! I will be glad to know the energy, love, and work I sent out into the world is appreciated.

If you bought a skein or roving from me, I would LOVE to hear about what you made, how you liked the yarn, and what you learned while working on it! So a big thank you to this client for stopping by last week wearing the hat she made from the skein of grey scale yarn she bought two weeks before. You absolutely made my day and the hat looks great!

~Julia