~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~ Ginny at small things

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Good morning … it’s 21 degrees and sunny at 0730. We’re battening-down the proverbial hatches today as we’re supposed to get dumped with snow tonight and tomorrow. Which means a 5-day weekend and lots of time for reading and knitting and watching the Olympics!

On the school-front, we’re pretty immersed in our Olympic unit study. The pile of books on the left are for research on our countries: HotRod chose Russia, Kit chose Canada and I chose Norway. As of this morning, Norway and Canada are neck-and-neck for medals so it’s become quite a competition. The three of us (yep, even mom this time) will present a report on our country to the others at dinner one evening next week (after the Olympics are done) — the report will include general country facts and figures, detailed coverage of Olympic results, and a bit of cultural info. We’ll also cook/bake different items from the three countries and have a real “international night”.

The pile of books on the right are just some of the books I’m poring over … books that help me focus on where and how I want my hand-knits design business to grow. I know I want to keep it out of the house (for now anyway) with online sales … thus the Starting an Online Business (all-in-one) for Dummies and How to Sell Your Crafts Online. Both of these books (as well as a couple of others I have on the Kindle) are EXCELLENT resources.

For more general, what-does-the-perfect-business-model-look-like type focus, I have

• Crafting a Business (from the editors of Country Living) … an excellent case-study packed book of how other creative folks have built their businesses. There is a great section at the end of the book that walks the reader thru creating and honing a business plan and other resources.
• Grow Your Handmade Business by Kari Chapin … walks the reader, step-by-step, through the process of moving from hobby to profitable business. Chapin, who runs a consulting company for creative types, has packed this small volume with tons of helpful information and provocative questions … questions that fill a notebook and allow the reader to go on “retreat” and envision their ideal business model, stay true to their creative pursuit, AND make a profit. Chapin wrote another book, The Handmade Marketplace which is also an excellent resource for selling what you make.
• Grow: How to Take Your DIY Project & Passion to the Next Level and Quit Your Job! … another provocative book that makes the reader delve deep into the mind and heart to create the right business model.
• The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design by writer, editor, hand-knits designer Shannon Okey … excellent, excellent book (and one of the very few, if only) books about the business of knitting design. Okey, who will soon be publishing several of my designs in upcoming books, is an enthusiastic champion of the designer and willingly shares her vast knowledge of how to be profitable in this industry. The book is not flashy — predominately text-based with few graphics — but is packed with great information.

On the knitting needles: I’m about half-way thru the skein of Wolle’s yarn … and finishing the main part of the poncho for the KAL I’m hosting in my Ravelry group. I’ll start picking up a bit of the green color just as I start the border … I think this is really going to be pretty.

So, what are you knitting, reading, working on … wanna come play at Ginny’s?