DJ Runnels American Handmade Artist

DJ Runnels is a lady that is on many on-line venues where I encounter her many talents. I think I first met her in Etsy Knitters Team. However, she also has a couple of twitter accounts where we keep in touch. We began to communicate after she advertised a really great sale on her yarns at her Artfire shop which has since moved to Life's an Expedition's main yarn shop, and hand wovens: http://www.Zibbet.com/LifesAnExpedition You can get there by clicking on the title, or copy and paste the url. Somtimes she also has bulk yarn packages at: http://LifesAnExpedition.etsy.com

The first picture (above) is a woven scarf that DJ made from one of her yarns. The second one is a scarflette that I knitted from that gorgeous yarn that I bought from her. Sadly, I haven't been able to get a real good picture of it. You can find these gorgeous yarns in her Zibbet shop (listed above).

I felt like we had a lot in common, and I'm even more sure of it, now. I also love putting beautiful yarns together for my projects. However, DJ is a much greater business woman, than I, who really knows how to market her products. She has really given me great advice. I love the fact that she makes her designer yarns from yarns that come from U.S. mills. The scarflette/collar above that I made from one of her great yarns and will soon be in my shop.

Promotion is one of your strong points, but if you had to choose between your businesses and knitting, which would it be?

My business. Knitting is more of a hobby for me. But the correct answer would be (e) none of the above. What I mostly live for is to pick up separate yarns, put them together and see what they look like. That was how my yarn sales started. I love to see what the yarns look like together. Once I start knitting or weaving them, the suspense is over. I want to set it aside and see what yet another combination would look like. I got obsessed with this aspect of the whole creative process and as I became better and better at coming up with inventive color combinations, the demand for my yarns grew and the yarn business took off. My yarn sales out-paced my knitting, weaving, paper mache, journal-making, vintage books, everything, in just a few months of starting Life's an Expedition. No one was more surprised than I was! I never set out to be a yarn designer or seller. Fortunately, the yarn combinations are what I love best, so everyone is happy.

The materials for your designer yarns come from U.S. mills. Is this a deliberate choice or did it just happen that way?

It just happened this way. Some of the finest mills are in the North Carolina area. But I am very patriotic. We devote large amounts of time to a charity that helps the deployed military overseas and their families back home. In fact, my secret fantasy is to sing our national anthem at the Superbowl, but if they ever ask me, I will decline as a public service. Not that my singing is horrible, mind you, but ....eh... It's not that great, either. Still, just the thought of The Star-Spangled Banner gives me goosebumps. I used to sing it to my kids, all of the verses.

Those readers who are knitters certainly know why you would design and sell yarns, but what prompted you into the field of vintage?

In the first few months of business, my husband and I were still exploring what we wanted to do. He loved old books, and so do I, as I used to be a professional writer. So we accumulated a lot of books and sold them on eBay. I'm sure we've sold over two thousand by now, but I lost count. Now when we select books, we are more narrow in focus. We mostly offer non-fiction, such as art, history, science, travel. We want each book we offer to have something special about it.

Another factor which drove me towards vintage is my love of taking a vintage item and altering it in some way. I make journals from old dictionaries and cookbooks. And I love to paint and decorate wooden household goods, such as bowls, picture frames, trays. In the beginning, I was fairly timid with a paintbrush. Now I pounce without hesitation. You should see the decorating in my house. I just went wild.

What is the motivating force behind your on-line shops?

That's an easy one. I have several taglines that I use to promote Life's an Expedition. One of them is Adventures in Yarn. Another one is "Your expedition is about to begin." But my favorite one is this: Color. Nature. Texture. Culture. Everything that I said earlier about Color? I am the same way about texture, trees, leaf prints, botanicals, weaving from Guatemala, carved objects from Africa, anything that fits into those four categories. One day I had dinner with friends at the Olive Garden and one of them laughed out loud. She said it was fun to watch an artist explore everything. I was running my hand over the textured walls in the lobby, admiring the yellowish glow of a light as it hit a tan wall, analyzing the curly grapevines, waxing poetically over anything Italian, that sort of thing. I get the same way when I'm in another country. Or at Pier 1, for that matter.


I do love Dj's yarns, and hope she never quits making them.

Check out Dj's other shops here: Life's an Expedition imported goods, such as the Guatemalan tablecloths, and some miscellany: http://lifesanexpedition2.ecrater.com/
Life's an Expedition books: new, used, vintage, antiquarian: http://lifesanexpedition.ecrater.com/
I usually put a sprinkling of items here, such as military birdhouses: http://LifesAnExpedition.artfire.com

Handmade in America

I have always been a watcher. I watch everything, and it began at an early age. I remember thinking, at age 9, when the gov't reduced the amount of silver in our coins to almost nothing, that the money was almost worthless. From that point on the prices of things began to rise. I remember thinking, in high school, when Nixon took us off the gold standard, that since there was absolutely no standard for the printing of our money, that from that point on it was worth exactly what the gov't. would manipulate it to be. If they decided to print more of it, it would be worth less. If they decided to print less, it would be worth more. We were then under the whim of the gov't. To add to this, America makes almost nothing to sell to each other and to other countries, and what we do own is now micromanaged by the gov't. Those who produce handmade goods in the US experienced this in a big way this year as the hammering out of the new CPSIA regulations have been taking place. We had to fight to be able to produce anything for children at all without having to pay for outrageously expensive testing on all materials. My beef: if the offending materials come from outside the country, then why do we have to pay for it. Why not do the testing at the ports, and make the offending companies pay for it. Not feasible you say, I say it's more feasible than making every small business or crafter in this country pay to have it done every time a new batch of materials is purchased. After all, these companies make millions on sweatshop labor, and flood our market with cheap goods that become a lot more expensive because our sellers have to pay for the testing of their harmful products. I have to ask, if the price of children's products are going to sky rocket (and they will) as soon as, CPSIA is fully in effect, then why not spend the same money on a domestic handmade product. This country might even be allowed to produce again on a large scale.

I don't grieve over imports but, to have an economy that will thrive, you have to make something to sell. Since, we buy so much that comes from sweatshops, we are use to paying little for what we have. The only problem with that is that since we have little industry to make our money with, and the money we do make has been long spent by the gov't, their only answer is to print more causing us to spend more for everything. My answer to this is to buy made in America. Imports are not bad, but we must have some support for our own industry.

Since, I am not a person capable of starting a manufacturing plant in this country, my answer is to make what I can with my own two hands, and sell, or trade it to someone in this country or another. The point is that it was made in this country. I have always enjoyed using beautiful yarns made in other countries, and at times will continue to do so. But, I have made this decision: I will begin to buy yarns made in this country. Since there is only one place in this country that manufactures yarn, I will buy from them, or HANDMADE IN AMERICA by someone who spins.

There are many venues now to buy handmade. If you click on this blog title, it will take you to my shop. If I don't have anything you like, you can find almost anything on Etsy. And, just to list a few, there are Artfire, Zibbet, Cargoh, and more. You don't have to buy handmade (although it's almost all we have left), but buy American. I invite anyone who makes products in this country to post your business name and product in the comments section. If you are looking for made in America check out those who list their businesses in the comments. In the future, I am going to be blogging about made in America businesses. If you come across businesses handmade or otherwise list them in the comments. I will blog about some of them.