When all else fails....

Do a picture post. For some reason I've been feeling kind down so I will just show off pictures of the things I was working on lately... Enjoy!








I will be at the last Wesleyan Market of the season this Saturday, October 3rd 9am - 1pm. If your in the Middle Ga area, stop by and say hello!

Customer Creations - Easy123

The other day I received the best type of message on Etsy that a seller could hope for. Michele from Easy123 had purchased some yarn called "Parakeet" from which she made a beautiful scarf.
Just look at it!










Michele has lots of great items in her store so be sure to check them out!

Repurposing Old Handspun

I have been working on this project for a few months now. This isn't a time constraint issue as I am unemployed at the moment. The issue was that due to the number of stitches my hand was falling asleep or going numb before I could get through just one row. Since I had the corrective surgery I picked up this project and suffered none of the same aliments. Yea for progress.
Okay, to be honest, I haven't progressed that far since the surgery but I am looking forwards to getting finished with this project. I love red and I believe this will make an awesome scarf. I'm not sure how long it will end up because of I am knitting it lengthwise to create long rows.

I started out with these handspun yarns:




This is actually just three yarns since I split the 2 ply and blended yarn to go on either side of the solid red. All of the yarns were made from commercial merino wool dyed, you guessed it, red. The blended yarn is made up of the wool plus tussah silk plus some soy silk (I believe, its been a little while) that was hand carded prior to spinning.

Here is the scarf so far:



Here is close up:


I'm going to have to give myself a deadline if I want to get this done. I'm convinced that without a job I have lost a lot of structure in my life. This is sad though because you shouldn't have to rely on outside factors to provide your daily structure. Certainly, if they impose limits on you then you have to take that into consideration but when those factors are not there you should still have a sense of structure. Or so I would think. So, its June 7th. I think I can safely say that I can have this finished by July 1st. Cool, now I have set a deadline... call me on it July 2nd! ;P

Froggy's Funky Fun Scarf

Hello all my bloggerinos!

I recently spent some time knitting a scarf from my very first novelty yarn. I love it and its so colorful. I started out making it into a crocheted hat. Unfortunately that was one of those UFO's that never got finished. I guess in the long run that's just not what it wanted to be. On my trip to Sheepish I picked a pair of jumbo needles. Jumbo you say... yes... size 19 in fact. Its weird though, its like I knew that I was waiting on these needles and the minute I got home the yarn just hop, skipped and jumped on to them. (I encourage hopping when every I can =D )



Here is the humble beginnings of my scarf. I started out thinking I would do ten stitches but it seemed to small at first so I added five. Then I knit 1 row, purl 1 row to create the stockinette pattern. Once I was finished I bound off and lightly blocked it. I'm actually a fan of the curl from the stockinette stitch but thats probably because it adds to the scarf's novelty look. Plus, since I used stockinette instead of a simple garter stitch there is a lot of play in the scarf. It will be nice and stretchy and can be draped across the back or around the neck. Total length is 41 inches and width is 6 inches across. I added it to my Etsy shop yesterday and is my first finished item on Etsy! (i.e. not a supply which can be made into another finished product.)


I really enjoyed making this scarf. I'm even all riled up to make another scarf to add to the store in the next week or so. Will have to see how everything works out first. Comments are always welcomed!

Ruminations...

Today is a really good day. I didn't have to go to work. The husband and I get to spend a weekend to celebrate our 4 year anniversary (which was May 1st.) And finally, TheBoy is over at his grandparents for the weekend. I'm a little sad though. Last week my husband told me how he was going to miss TheBoy. I told him that he was right to miss him, but we had to have this weekend to ourselves. We deserve that much. Of course he agreed. So there we were today about to leave him with the grandparents when he starts being difficult. "I don't want to spend two days!" All we could do was reassure him that it would be okay. (He has severe abandonment issues from his birth mom.) As I was headed to the car I heard him give one more scream. I looked up at his dad and said "you'd think they were beating him." That's when he said it. "He's crying." What! How... are you sure... *sigh* And that was it. I couldn't take it. I just wanted to cry myself cause I didn't want to leave him there all unhappy. I know that he is safe. I know he is just overreacting. But I felt like such a bad parent! I feel so guilty for leaving him there. AHHHHH!!! The humanity!

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Ok, so on to more fibery pursuits. I pulled out one of my handmade spindles and started playing with some of the fiber from the Sheep Shed Studio. I am currently spinning it naturally with the hopes of plying it and dying it. It's terribly tiny. Also, it reminds me of how really really tedious I found spinning on a spindle to be. Funny thing is, I find that I spin much finer yarn on the spindle then I can on the wheel. While it could be a number of things. I believe part of it is the equipment. My wheel is a Babe Double Treadle Production. Since purchasing it I have had a chance to spend on several different wheels via my spinning group. Now, I am less in love with it then I should be. My dream wheel is the Kromski Sonata and my hopes are that the stimulus money is good to me. Probably won't be from the reports but every little bit counts. In the mean time, I am making the best of every situation.
I have been talking about doing new things with the spindle selection in my Etsy Store. I totally want to buy a lathe! That's probably a dream a long time in the making but its come up once or twice before in brainstorming sessions with my husband. (I call these talking sessions, cause most of the time I'm just talking in all kinds of directions and my husband is thinking about other things. ) Until then, I think I will keep trucking. I have a "refurbished" felted scarf that I am working on and I've already reserved a spot for making fiber wearables on Etsy. My mind is just going with these ideas and I am so trying to keep up! But really, I am having so much fun doing it. Happy Fiber Friday all!

Year 28

I'm officially one year older. In all technicality its only one day but who am I to argue with years of tradition. I got off from work early which was a super bonus but also terribly indicative of my feelings towards my job. On the other hand my typing skills have improved greatly since starting this job (just over three years ago.)

Cheerier posts... thats what this blog needs. I took pictures of my felted scarf. The successful one. I was intending to post a listing for it but became quickly intimidated. I think that may be my main problem with selling my own wares. I've got to trust myself and then just do it.
Scarf:


I would love to put more items in the shop as well as adding some finished products. I have handspun (cause I'm a spinner) but I'm so not a yarn snob. I will work with acrylic if warranted. I have started crocheting a bit but every search on the web brings up really ugly patterns. I want to make something cute-ish. Besides, can't sell something that has been created from a pattern. *sighs* I don't think I have much more to say at the moment so I'll spare the world my rambles now. Remember to take time and create something!