Yarn PREview: From the Deborah Norville collection

Once again I don't really have anything to review.  This week has been a slow one as far as doing new things.  I have done some beading but don't really have anything to show you, except perhaps the Jack O' Lantern key I have up on Etsy (click the picture to go to the listing):

On Tuesday I'll show you the earrings I made for my mother for her birthday.

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Since I had feverishly finished the Colorfully Modern Cardigan (if you missed that, click here), I really wasn't up to start another project or finish the damnable hooded cardigan, but Steve's coworker's wife had false contractions yesterday, so I surveyed what yarn I had then went to Ravelry to pick a pattern.  She's really due in late November, but I should probably not wait any longer.  It was quite a confusing few hours, but I finally picked what I want to make.  I won't tell you what it is in case I can't do it or change my mind (or if she reads this blog).  :)

The yarn I'll be using is Serenity Sock Weight from the Deborah Norville Collection.  Yup, that Deborah Norville - the journalist from Inside Edition who spent a week as an inmate in a North Carolina penal institution.  You can check out her website for information about her, the books she's written (on a wide range of subjects), her yarn collection, and all things Deb!

Turns out that (like Vanna White) Deb's an avid crafter, and she has quite the collection of yarns from Serenity Sock Weight (which I'll be using on this baby project) to a gorgeous yarn I'll talk about it a bit.

The Serenity Sock Weight is a blend of 50% Superwash Merino Wool (Superwash means it can go in the washing machine, I guess), 25% Rayon, and 25% Nylon.  It's pretty soft, and the colors I have are very pretty and muted, which I favor.

This one is called "Hot Pink".  Don't adjust your set - it really is that light.  I wonder what a "soft pink" would look like.

My mother had bought a bunch of this yarn when she was trying to find a substitute for a multi-colored worsted weight yarn for an afghan.  She tried using two strands of this Serenity yarn (one of pink, one of green), but it didn't look right.  She gave up and gave me the yarn, since I was making socks.

If you're interested in more information about the Serenity Sock Weight yarn, including a free sock pattern, click here for Deb's page.  To see what colors are available, click here for striped and here for solids on the Premier Yarns website.

Now onto the cool yarn I saw today at my local Michaels:  Fleece yarn!  I would probably never have noticed it if I hadn't run into a friend in the yarn section.  She had a ball of it, and I was very intrigued.  It's called Cuddle Fleece, and it's about a quarter inch wide strip of patterned fleece that you can use for super-quick projects.  The wrapper showed a bulky scarf, but my friend is going to make a hat for her mother.  She showed me where she got it, and lo and behold!  There's a purple!

"Don't you need a new hat or scarf, Traci?" my friend devilishly asked.  "I think I might!" I replied.  Well, I didn't get one this time, but I have a feeling a skein might fall into my basket on my next visit to Michaels.

I believe this is the color that my friend bought:

That should give you an idea of what it looks like.  Neat!


Here's the page on the Premier Yarns website for Cuddle Fleece.  I couldn't find a page for it on Deborah Norville's website.  I think the purple one I saw is called "Sassy", but the picture looks a lot pinker than the one I saw in the store.

Has anyone used this fleece or any of Deborah Norville's other yarns?  Please let me know at traci@creative-pursuits.biz, and I'll post about it.

Crochet-Along cardigan is finished!

I took a little break from crocheting while I was getting ready for the Milwaukee Bead Show, but afterward I crocheted furiously so I could finish the cardigan before seeing my mother for her birthday this past Sunday.

If you have no idea what cardigan I'm talking about, please check out my blog posts first: Announcement of the project, first update, second update, third update, mistakes I've made on this and other projects.  The updates are at the bottom of the posts.

You may recall (especially if you just read it), that when I made the swatch with the recommended hook, it was too small.  The swatch with the next bigger hook was too large, so I crocheted the sweater using the bigger hook and the smallest size, calculating that it would fit me.  I moved the pockets down so they wouldn't be up by my ribs.

I had to add to the sleeve caps because the sleeves wouldn't fit where they were supposed to go, but other people had that problem, too, so that wasn't because I messed around with hooks and sizes.

When I tried it on after sewing the sleeves on, I have to admit I was not happy:

One side fell open, and the other side just hung there.  Bringing the fronts together, I found there was quite an overlap:

By the way, my hair looks like that because I was practically tearing it out trying to figure out how to get the sleeves to fit and how to stitch the shoulders so they wouldn't be bumpy.  They're stair-stepped instead of gently curving, so I have little bumps on the inside.  The outside looks fine, which I guess is all that's important.

I finally figured out that the neck decrease looks like that because I stitched a looser version of the cardigan, so the neck shaping as written would hang down a lot lower.  If I had realized this, I would have made adjustments to the front panels so the neck shaping started up closer to my neck.

Also, I should have adjusted the sleeves so they're a little shorter.  I added the surface slip stitch (click here if you don't know what that is) to the sleeve cuffs as recommended, but that made the sleeves a bit too tight for me.  I ended up taking it out and deciding not to add the edging around the bottom which used the same stitch.

What to do with the neck area, though?  I deliberated and deliberated, which made Steve also have to deliberate, of course, and we determined that the side that curled back looked better than the side that just hung there.  We decided to make "lapels" and tack them down with buttons.

I laid the sweater out on the floor to take pictures of it and to see how far to pull things back for the lapels:

That's Pixel.  He insisted on taking over for the sleeve edging.

Seeing it on the floor, I exclaimed, "That's enormous!  Am I really that big?"  Steve very carefully said, "Well... it does fit you."  It actually is a bit loose on me, so the joke is on... well, it's still on me.  I'm going to go eat a stalk of celery now.

I went through my vase of beads and only found two that matched each other and the sweater and were big enough for this project.  Here's one of the lapels after it was tacked down:

And here I am in the finished cardigan:

It's not perfect.  The pockets could have been a touch higher, but they're okay where they are.  It's thicker than I wanted (and very heavy), but it would have been even thicker (and heavier) if I had crocheted with the recommended hook.  At first it was kind of stiff, but I've worn it a few times, and it seems to be softening up a bit.

The $100,000 questions are:  Will I continue to wear it? and Will I make another one?  Yes, I will wear this cardigan.  I don't know about making another one.  I'm a little sick of the FPDC stitches (the ones that make the ribs), so it will have to wait until I'm not sick of them anymore, or I'll modify the cardigan to not use them.  I am glad I made it, but I think the sweater I was hoping this one would be will have to be made from a thinner yarn.  Worsted weight is nice, but the finished product is pretty thick.

Now that I'm done I'll have to go back to that damnable hooded cardigan.  I think I'll make the sleeves and make sure it fits before I keep going with the 100 or more rows of the hood.

A different sort of review...

Five years ago today, I received this text:

About an hour and a half later, this happened:

Then this:

He's such a softie!

Then this:

I guess I am, too.  I yanked that hankie right out of his hand!

Then this:

She now pronounces us man and wife!

We are now...

Looking back over the last 5 years, an awful lot has happened, and I can say honestly that Steve has been supportive, loving, patient, and always able to make me laugh:

I had a very hard time when I was working at my last job.  I've mentioned it a number of times here, and many of you know even more than I've posted.  Every day (every hour!) was a struggle, and I received many texts like this one:

It really helped that he understood what I was going through and expressed his sympathy for me every day (sometimes multiple times a day).

When we decided I would quit, he supported me in my job search and even supported me when it seemed I couldn't find a job I was qualified for and wanted to do (not to mention the anxiety and onset of Fibromyalgia and nightmares...).  While I now have my own business, it doesn't make a lot of money, and he supports me financially as well as emotionally.  He also supports me physically, as I can't lug things around very well anymore.  He edits my jewelry design tutorials and helps me out at shows:

I'm really not sure what Steve gets out of the marriage except companionship, because it seems most of the time I'm more trouble than not, but Steve gets upset when I say that.  He says he likes feeling needed.  I definitely need him, so that must be what he gets out of it.  :)

Isn't he the sweetest?

As in any marriage, we've had lots of ups and downs.  Mom has had cancer a few times (and is still battling it) plus other health problems.  My Fibromyalgia and Osteoarthritis has been difficult to cope with.  We've had financial problems (and help from our parents, thank goodness!).  My cat, Simoon, passed away.  We found Frisco.  Steve's cat, Katy, passed away.  We've gone to museums, shows, the State Fair, the Renaissance Faire, weddings, funerals, and countless movies.  We've taken short vacations to Chicago and Madison. We've entertained for holidays and game nights.  We started growing our own vegetables.  We've had a few surgeries, and I've had a LOT of dental work.

In short, it's been a very full five years.  While we don't go out to the State Fair and other things like that as much anymore, we still make it a point to spend lots of time together and to have fun, even if it's sitting on the couch making fun of a really bad movie, Mystery Science Theater style.

No matter what happens, I can count on a lot of things:

• Lunchtime texts and chats on Facebook:

From 2009

From today

• Sushiversaries on September 15th (the anniversary of our first date when we had sushi for lunch, wandered around a mall, and had dinner at Lone Star Steakhouse & Saloon):

• Holidays:

Thanksgiving 2010

• Snow:

• Cats:

Our original four

• Laughs:

That's my teddy bear, Ogden, wearing a pair of my pajama pants

And...

• Kissing!

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Here we are through the years:

Our first anniversary we took a short vacation (2 nights) to Chicago.  The below picture is us atop the Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower):

On our second anniversary we went to the Cheesecake Factory:

We ordered cheesecake (because you have to if you go there, you know), and this is what we got:

How cute!

On our third anniversary we went to Carrabba's Italian Grill, which is where I got that picture of Steve ravioli-smiling above.  Here we are with him being a little more serious:

I think I like my hair better like that, I think.

Our fourth anniversary is when we went to Madison.  We only spent one night, but we packed both days full of antiquing, and we saw "Hello Dolly!" at the Fireside Theater.  We stayed the night at Sweet Autumn Inn, and the breakfast was to die for.  I can't wait until we can afford to go back.

Oh - we also went to Ella's Deli and and rode their carousel:

I won't tell you how Steve hurt himself getting onto his horse.

Tonight we're going to Karl Ratzsch's German restaurant in downtown Milwaukee.  We have a Groupon, because that's how we do things now.  So romantic.  :)

Here's to many, many more years together and a lot more of this:

Purple Weekend announcement and Xuron tool update

Hi, folks!  I'm pretty tired still from Sunday's Milwaukee Bead Show, so this will be brief.  Seriously.  I'm going to make a concerted effort to write shorter blog posts to save all of us a lot of time.  :)

At Sunday's show I handed out a bunch of fliers for my "Purple Weekend" holiday shopping open house.  Why "Purple Weekend"?  It's the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Since that Friday is called Black Friday, it's logical that an open house weekend hosted by Purple Mist would be a Purple Weekend.

I will have finished jewelry, vinyl decals and magnets, jewelry kits and tutorials (so you can make your own holiday gifts), stamped glass ornaments, and some other items.

There will also be ceramic Christmas ornaments and other items by my friend Faith Givings of Faith Ann Originals!  She does beautiful work, and I'm excited to include her merchandise in my open house.  Check out her Etsy shop to see what she has to offer.

Apart from shopping, I'll have some snacks out, and I'll do some demos.  If we're lucky, the cats will come out from under the bed, and we can play with them, too.

If you'll be in the Milwaukee area, please come on by!  E-mail me at traci@creative-pursuits.biz for my address or if you have any questions.

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Xuron tool update!

I now have the Xuron 9180 "Fireline" scissors and the Xuron 4 in 1 Crimper available on Etsy!  You may remember my reviews of the tools, but if you don't, check them out here:  Fireline scissors review and 4 in 1 Crimper review.  At this point I have 5 of the Fireline scissors and 4 crimpers so don't wait!

Click the pictures to be taken to the Etsy listings:

 

Book Review: What Is Your WHAT? by Steve Olsher

Today I'm going to post another of my Amazon book reviews for two reasons:  I'm still frantically getting ready for Sunday's Milwaukee Bead Show so need to be quick today, and What Is Your WHAT: Discover The One Amazing Thing You Were Born To Do is fabulous.

Many or most of you know that I run a small business making jewelry (and a few other things), teaching my jewelry designs, and selling tutorials and kits of my designs.  Some of you know that I didn't always do this and that I was a computer programmer for many years.  A very few of you know that job was not my first choice.

My junior year of high school I had an awesome math teacher, so I wanted to be a math teacher.  My math teacher my senior year was awful, and I lost interest in being a math teacher.  I seemed to have an aptitude for computers and programming, so I majored in computers in college.  I didn't know if that's what I really wanted to do, but I didn't know what else to major in.

While there I decided to specialize in AI (Artificial Intelligence), and there were so few women in the computer major that there were no women in the AI track when I joined.  (To give you a time reference, this was in 1989 or 1990.)  I told one of the guys about my decision, and he yelled up and down the hall, "There's a woman in AI!  There's a woman in AI!"  I really didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I thought it'd be neat to program robots and to be involved in other experimental things.

Unfortunately I fell into a deep depression (partially because of a man and partially because I had a bunch of philosophical questions in my head I couldn't/can't answer) my junior year of college, and by my senior year I was pretty useless.  I ended up dropping out after the first semester after scraping by in my computer classes.  I took a semester off to regroup, and I switched schools.  Again, I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I stuck with computer programming and got my Bachelor of Science degree.

Eventually I found a programming job at a small business but didn't enjoy it.  Sure, I enjoyed aspects of the job, but there was much of it I found tedious.  Same thing happened years later when I had another programming job with another small company.  The parts I liked best were talking with customers, teaching them how to use their software, and troubleshooting problems (when there wasn't a time crunch).

I'm not going to go into all the details here of either job and what I had problems with, but in 2010 it was decided (by me, my husband, and our parents) that I would quit.  Because I wasn't caught up with what was current in programming, I was more than a little scarred from my last job, I had developed the Fibromyalgia and Osteoarthritis I'm always complaining about, and a few other factors, we decided that I would start my own business doing web design for creative folks.  That didn't work out very well, so now I make jewelry and teach.

I'm very lucky that Steve can support us and that our parents help us when unexpected expenses pop up.  My business is called "Creative Pursuits" for a reason - I am free to pursue my creativity and (with luck) make money at it.

So knowing all that, one might wonder why I picked up What Is Your WHAT?.  It seems that through a series of events I've figured out what "amazing thing I was born to do".  To be blunt, the author offered an advance ebook version for free in exchange for writing the review I'm about to share with you.  Also, I'm curious if what I'm doing is really what I'm supposed to be doing.  I love to write (as you can tell by the length of my blog posts), so perhaps I should be focusing on that.  Wow, as I write this I'm getting quite the jolt of deja vu.  Have I typed those exact words before?  :::shiver:::

Anyway.  I'll let the review tell the rest of it so I can get back to preparing for Sunday's show and a class I'm teaching tomorrow:

I was a bit skeptical when I started reading this book because it opened with six pages of "Praise for What Is Your WHAT?". Quotes upon quotes touting this book as the best thing since sliced bread. I read them all and was curious if the author could really deliver the "ultimate guide on self-discovery" as Erika Gilchrist says in her review. However, it didn't take too long to see why so many people came forward to endorse Steve Olsher and "What Is Your WHAT?".

Instead of diving right into figuring out what your WHAT is, the author helps the reader lay the groundwork for it with explanations of the four stages of learning (and what that means in practical terms) and exercises so you can begin to recognize where you're vulnerable and where you excel. The author walks you through step by step and encourages you to take all the time you need and even to talk to other people (if you're up to it) to gain insights into your faults and strengths. Once that's done, he leads you through designing your ideal life and what you need to do to stop the downward slide and start to live a better life through seven life-altering principles. Once you've absorbed all of this, it's time to discover what your WHAT is and how to achieve it.

The author covers every topic thoroughly with numerous examples from the author's life and from people who have taken his reinvention workshops. There are many case studies of people who are doing what they're meant to do and how they got there. He also includes the people's websites so if you're interested in learning more about them you know right where to look.

This book is ideal for those who feel like they should be doing more with their lives but don't know how to get there. I will say that this is hard work and not to be taken lightly. The exercises are designed to really make you look at your life with a magnifying glass. The ultimate goal is for you to live the life of your dreams by doing what you love to do and getting paid well for it, and that's not something most people can just fall into. You need to shed the bad and cultivate the good, and that takes serious introspection and time. The author is with you throughout the whole process, asking questions to help you along.

I was very impressed with the information presented in this book and will definitely be working through all of the exercises and keeping the seven life-altering principles in mind as I live day-to-day, figure out what my WHAT is (although I already have an inkling what that might be), and become successful at it. I plan to frequently dip into the book to refresh my memory and to plan for the future.

The author also gives a website where you can get another of his books for free. That book is for folks who want to profit online. I already had it but haven't started reading it yet. Now that I'm comfortable with the author and how helpful he is in "What Is Your WHAT?" I'm really looking forward to it! 

If you have any doubts that you're doing what you were meant to do, read this book.  It's never too late to change careers (the author recommends a slow change, not a dive-in-head-first-like-Traci-did approach).  Have your children read it before they go off to college and stumble around trying to pick a major and a career.  If you read it and gain any valuable insights, e-mail me at traci@creative-pursuits.biz and tell me about it!

The importance of supporting local bead shops

When I was at the Bead&Button Show this past June, one of the Kalmbach folks I was chatting with gave me a pin, which I promptly put on my Loose Bead Society tote:

Basically, Kalmbach is encouraging folks to go to their local bead shops, and they're encouraging local bead shops to hold sales, book signings, new classes, and a bunch of other things in the month of October to promote their stores.  Kalmbach has devoted a Pinterest board to it, and I'm hopeful that there will be many pins added from different stores throughout the month.  I think it's a great idea, so this little blog will promote it as well!

I know I said not too long ago that I bought all the materials for my Cobblestone Path kits online, but that's because buying in bulk in local shops is difficult....

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OOH!  Speaking of Cobblestone Path, I just now got my acceptance letter from the 2014 Bead&Button Show!  I will be teaching on Friday, June 6, 5:00p-8:00p.  I know I've shown you before, but here's the bracelet again:

I'm super excited and will let you know when registration opens (sometime in January) and how the class goes.  Yay!!!

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Ahem.  Back to our regularly scheduled blog.

When I design, I use materials that I find in local bead stores.  That's really the best way to match up colors and to find out what beads are popular.  Doing it online is tricky, as I've mentioned in my rants.  Colors on the computer aren't always what they look like in person, and it's especially difficult when you're looking at different sites.

Also, since I teach many of my designs at Knot Just Beads, I want to pick colors for the samples that I know my students will be able to get at that store.  During one insomnia-driven design session I came up with "Quadrille", a new bracelet design (that I'm hoping can also be a necklace and earrings).  The next time I was in Knot Just Beads, I searched out beads for two color schemes - one for the class display and one for another sample:

The other benefit to shopping local is being able to ask someone else's opinion if colors match.  After looking at a bunch of different colors for a bunch of different beads, it's nice to go up to a store employee and ask, "Does these look good together?" and have her help you find just the right color.  (Thanks for your help with the above colors, Darlene!)

Now that I've seen all those pretty beads again, I'm really looking forward to finishing the "Quadrille" design!  Not until after the Milwaukee Bead Show, though!

As a small business owner myself, I know how difficult it is to keep afloat and to grow.  Local bead shops (and yarn shops and hardware stores and book stores and....) have it a lot worse because they're "brick and mortar" stores that have to compete with online and big box stores.  They have building expenses, employees to pay, and countless other expenses I don't have.  Many, many years ago my uncle and aunt had a paint and wallpaper store.  They had a large number of wallpaper books that they let folks take home to peruse and to match with their furniture.  They started noticing that people would take the books home then purchase the wallpaper elsewhere.  They could take the information off of the back of the wallpaper sample and order from places that either didn't have wallpaper books or didn't let folks take them home.  My family lost money and had to put codes on each wallpaper sample so only they knew the ordering information.  Eventually, the store closed, and my uncle, my aunt, and my mother were out of a job.

In the last few years a number of good bead shops in the Milwaukee area closed from probably the same sort of thing - losing business to online vendors and big box stores like JoAnn's and Michaels.  You all know I love JoAnn's and Michaels as well as shopping online, but my local bead shops are my first choice, and I suggest they be your first choice, too.  If we don't support the "little guys", then they, too, will go out of business, and we'll be stuck with whatever we find online or in stores that don't specialize in beads, and classes will all but disappear.  Our beadwork will suffer, and we don't want that!

In Milwaukee and the surrounding area we have a number of great bead shops:  Knot Just Beads, Eclectica, Midwest Beads, and Planet Bead.

I have to admit that I've never been to Planet Bead.  It's downtown, and I'm never down there with free time when they're open.  We were right there going out to lunch with my mother and stepfather, possibly on a holiday, and I said, "Ooh, look!  There's Planet Bead!  Can we stop?"  Steve said, "Uh, no."  Drats!  Another day I was downtown by myself on a Monday with tons of free time, but they're closed on Mondays.  Double drats!  I have hopes that I'll make it there one day.

The other stores in the area I can say for certain are wonderful.  Each has a great supply of Delicas and other seed beads as well a vast amount of beads and findings in an unbelievable number of styles and colors.  Each store holds a number of classes each month on a wide variety of techniques.  If you're in the Milwaukee area, check them out!

If you're NOT in the Milwaukee area (or if I missed a store here), I would love if you could tell me a bit about your local bead shop or any shop you come across while traveling.  Send me the information at traci@creative-pursuits.biz.  If you have a picture or two, that would be great, but please ask before taking pictures.  I'll post about it and add it to the list on the right side of my blog (over there --->). Terry's Treasures in Virginia is listed because they carry tutorials of my designs.  :)  I'll keep this list up in its current place (near the top, right above the ad I'd like you to click on if you see something that interests you) at least through October.

Maybe in November I'll start a local yarn shop list, so keep an eye out for those as you're tooling about town or traveling.

To further support "Visit Your Local Bead Shop" October, I've changed my profile picture on Facebook to this:

Will you do the same, and will you make it a point to shop at your local bead shop in October and the rest of the year?  (You can right-click on the above picture and save it on your computer if you want to change your profile picture on Facebook.)

Quickie: My new friend Amelia

Hi, all!  I know I usually post reviews on Fridays, but I have been too busy getting ready for the Milwaukee Bead Show, which is October 6th, and the class I'm teaching at Knot Just Beads tomorrow afternoon (or today if you're reading this on Saturday, or yesterday if you're reading this on Sunday...) to delve into anything to review.  I do have a stack of beading books (actually, a few shelves of them) that I can review, so hopefully I'll have some time to read one and review it next Friday.  If not, there will be another quickie post.

For the most part I do my grocery shopping on Wednesdays.  It's a double coupon day, and I've found that I can keep our food spending down if we do menu planning and shop the sales.  Theoretically we shop less frequently, and we save more money.  Since I've been keeping track of our grocery spending and have a goal, we've been doing wonderfully.

This Wednesday I went to my local Pick 'n Save as usual but saw that the Marshalls next door that had been closed for a number of months was selling off their fixtures.  I typically don't find too much at these things because my needs are limited (portable jewelry displays), but at another such sale I found clear acrylic U shapes that I use as risers.  They were very cheap ($1 each, I think), and they work wonderfully.  I throw a cloth napkin or two over them, and they add height and dimension to my displays.

This fixture sale didn't have any of those available, probably because it had been going on since Monday.  However, I found something I absolutely adored:

I have long since wanted a bust that I could use for displays and for taking pictures, and I finally found one!  The two larger mannequins were $50, and the smaller one was $30.  Someone said she was coming back for all three of them (she didn't have cash, and it was a cash only sale) and was going to be back in an hour.  After a number of texts with Steve, we decided I would do my grocery shopping, get cash, and wait until either the woman came back or 1:01.

When I came back it was 12:55, and the guy said I could go ahead and get it.  But if I was the one who was coming back for it, I'd be upset if it was gone before the time I said I was coming back.  On the other hand, she should have just gone to Pick 'n Save and gotten cash.  I'm glad she didn't, because I was able to get it and not feel guilty when I checked out at about 1:06.

I was pleased to find that the bust can come off of the stand, so if I want to put it on a table at sales where I can't have free-standing displays.

I found a perfect place for her in my studio...

... and I've named her Amelia.  She kinda reminded me of Amelia (Amy) Pond on Doctor Who because they're both so slim.  Turns out my stepfather has an ancestor named Amelia, so that's nice, too.  I can sound less geeky if I say I've named her after an ancestor.

I've already decked her out in my Loose Bead Society 2010 Challenge piece:

Steve said I can also put sweaters on Amelia to blog about, "if you ever finish one."  Ha ha, husband.  Very funny.  Just because I have two sweaters in process right now doesn't mean that I won't eventually finish one.

I'm very excited about my new addition and can't wait to take her out for a spin at shows.

One more thing I got was one of the letters off of the wall.  They were just giving them away.  They're mostly made of foam with some particle board or something on the front.  I really like Ts and have a number of them around my room.  This one looks cute up on one of my knick knack shelves:

It seems to want to fall over, though, so I'll need stronger adhesive or to find another place for it.  We might stick it right on the wall.

So whenever you're out and about and notice a fixture sale, stop in!  Folks who sell their wares might find great things for shows, or you might find something neat for your studio or even your kid's room.  Send me pictures of your finds at traci@creative-pursuits.biz, and I'll post about it!