The Sun Always Shines...

Here's some more new yarn for you...I have been a pretty busy girl.

I call this one "Sun Always Shines" (yes, I did have A-Ha stuck in my head, for no apparent reason).

She's a Brick...

Finished up this little skein of yarn on my new wheel. I am still playing around with it and getting the feel of things, so I wanted to do a single ply. I really love the color of this one.

In case anyone was wondering

This is what about 40 tiny Jayne hats looks like:



Pretty cunning, dontcha think?

I actually finished about 50 of them in the last couple of months and shipped them off to my new friend at Firefly Cargo Bay, who will be distributing them at some cons next year. Whee!


My hands actually hurt a little bit from so much knitting. But there is no rest for me, as I still have Christmas presents to finish up (hooray for procrastination!).

Once again, I gave in to my inner princess, and created this very girly scarf.



This time, it's blue, and sparkly. I incorporated some handspun yarn in there, so it's not entirely frilly. Right?

mmmm....yarn

Lately, I seem to be particularly inspired by food. If you know me at all, you won't find that very surprising. Here are a few recent yarns inspired by sweet treats:


Mint Chocolate


Berries 'n Cream

So yesterday, I brought my new wheel to the studio to play.

I carried it in like this:



Pretty cool, huh? You know what's even cooler? When it came out of the bag, it looked like this:



and a few short minutes later, it looked like this:

.



So far, I am enjoying spinning on it. It takes a little getting used to, as it is a little different from my Traveler. But, so far, so good.

It's an awfully pretty night, and I wanted to take a moment to share this picture:

I got my new spinning wheel! Yay! I picked it up from my dad's house yesterday and put it together. It is just as cute as I remember, and I will be sure to take pictures this weekend so I can show it off.

It also occurs to me that I didn't share pics of the fingerless mittens that I made for my co-worker. She used to borrow mine all the time, and so finally commissioned a pair for herself. In black. I used a reverse stockinette background to help the cable stand out a little bit more, but working with the black yarn was kind of a pain, which is why these ended up taking about 6 months to complete. Whoops.



She loves them, though and wears them around work all the time. As a result, another co-worker recently asked me to make a pair for his wife.



I love the braided cable.

Had a busy weekend at the open studios. Got to hang out with Amber and do some knitting on Saturday, and even had a sale. Sunday was a little slower, lots of people stopped in to fondle the yarn and knitted things, and I got a lot of spinning done, so it was still a productive day.

I will be there again next Saturday from 12 - 5, if anyone wants to stop by the Western Ave Studios and visit me. I may have my new wheel by then, and I may bring it to the studio to play.

This is the wheel that I bought at Rhinebeck, and they are finally finished making it, and it should be shipping out to me this week. The people at SpinKnit got their website up, so you can go see what my wheel is going to look like. I can't wait to get it here. Isn't it just the cutest thing you ever saw?

I keep meaning to post more. And I swear if I was feeling like myself, I would. I haven't even been making anything. But I do finally have something to share. And considering that it has taken me just about 2 months to finish, I am pretty darn proud of this.

This winter accessories set was started in response to the October challenge for EtsyFAST which was "Candy". I chose Twizzlers as my candy inspiration. Mmmm....twizzlers.



And some closeups:






I started this with just the scarf, but it was taking me so long, due to my illness, that I got bored with it, and made the hat as a way to take a break from it. Then I got bored again, and made the fingerless mittens...because, well, I love me some fingerless mittens.

All three pieces are knit in a spiral rib pattern from Cascade Baby Alpaca Chunky, and I used almost every last bit of 5 hanks of the stuff. It's soft, warm, and totally squishable.

I still don't feel totally like myself. I keep thinking that maybe tomorrow I will feel better. And who knows, maybe tomorrow I will.

NY Sheep and Wool was great. Much better than last year. Of course this year did not involve spending countless hours on a cramped and smelly bus.

Also, I bought a new spinning wheel. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it. It's so adorable. It's in the process of being made for me right now. How awesome is that?

In addition to the wheel, I bought a little bit of yarn and fiber (heh heh heh, well, a little bit by my standards). And some wine. To fuel the crafting, of course.

I did show SOME self control and did not, in fact, buy an alpaca fleece. Or a fleece of any sort. Oh sure, if they had taken credit cards, we totally would have, but that's not the point!

Has it really been that long since I posted? I guess so. I swear, I have a good reason.

I've had the plague. Or good as. Sinus infection/ear infection/bronchitis combo has pretty much had me out of commission for the last 3 weeks. It has not been a fun time.

On the plus side, I am off to Rhinebeck. Yay! What little money I have not spent on antibiotics I intend to use to comfort myself with the purchase of fiber. Yeah. That'll work.

After not really having any sales from my shop for months, I am happy that things seem to be picking up a little. It is unfortunate that one of the items that I sold this month was reported MIA by the buyer, and I ended up having to refund her money. That was the autumn magnet board, too, so I am pretty broken-hearted about it, seeing that I almost didn't put the thing up for sale at all, because I liked it so much. Plus, I don't understand how something in a 24" x 24" x 3" box goes missing. But that's how life is, I guess.

Anyway, I had a breakthrough in making tiny pom poms for my mini Jayne hats this morning. In case you don't remember, the previous incarnations looked like this:



Though cute, in a Ma Cobb kind of way, I really wanted them to be more pom pom like. And finally, after constructing my own 3/4" pom pom maker (and yes, I know they sell pom pom makers in that size, but they are like $6, and I have only seen them online), they now look like this:



Pretty cunning, don't ya think?

Sorry it has taken me so long to post (life has been a little on the crazy side), but I received 3 awesome little guys from my partner in the Stuffie Swap.

First, she made me these adorable representations of my kitties, Kolya and Gwydion:


Kolya is slightly smaller and a little bit devious. Gwydion is big, lovable, and a bit dense. They look just like my boys and I love them. (and yes, Gwyd's eyes really are 2 different colors)

And then there was also a "flying purple people eater":


It's one-eyed, and one-horned! And it's got happy faces in it's belly (or on it's belly). I think it is hilarious, and I brought it in to work to help cheer me up when I am having a bad day.

I haven't received word from my partner that her stuffie has reached her, and other than that, my own crafting has been somewhat uninspired these last few weeks. I am working on a new stripey scarf as a gift for a friend, but otherwise not a whole lot has been going on. I do have plans to get together with a friend this weekend for some crafting time, so here's hoping I will find my long-lost inspiration.

More scarves!

I was a crocheting fool last weekend. In addition to the scarf I made for a friend, and the silly ruffled neckwarmer, I also made 6 other stripey scarves, in various colors:



They are all about 3 inches wide, and range from 5 feet to 7 feet long. Fun!

No, this is the silliest thing I have ever made

A friend saw the lacy, sparkly pink scarf I made last week, and asked me to make her one. I still had plenty of that novelty yarn left, so I made her a similar scarf.



And then, my inner, pretty-pretty-princess got the better of me, and I got it in my head to make this, using the remainder of that yarn:

Yes. It is pink. And sparkly. And ruffled. It's also incredibly warm. I like how the design came out, and I might need to make one for me...in different colors, of course.

I think I need to dig out every black yarn I have and make something from them, just to balance this out.

I received a couple of cool items from my Dresden Dolls swap partner. I got a funky fabric choker with a chunky piano keys pendant. This is definitely a unique item, and I think it is cool:



I also got a green and black striped neckwarmer. It's so cute, and I found it it is also just the right size to wear as a headband, though I didn't get a pic of that.


And then, I got this adorable handpainted bag. This was based off of one of my favorite pics.



So all in all, it was a great swap.

What's black, white and red all over?

My partner for the Dresden Dolls swap received yesterday, and says she likes everything. Yay! Now I can show off a little.

First we have the stenciled hoodie:


I made the stencil from this image, which my partner indicated she liked. Doing all the little stripes for the tights was tough! But I am so happy with the way it came out. I want to make one for me.

Here's another pic:


Next up, we have the item that gave me the most trouble, and with which (to be honest) I was the least satisfied.

For some reason, I just couldn't get my act together with the sewing, and the skirt ended up being a lot shorter than I intended. It's not bad, but it's not my favorite thing, either.

I also spun up a quick skein of bulky yarn:

This should end up sort of striping black/white, with a little bit of gray. I am having fun with the bulky yarns lately, trying to remember how to make them.

Although the swap was only meant to be for 3 things, as usual, I had way more ideas than that, and my partner had specifically asked for fingerless mittens, so I knit her some black and white striped ones.


And then crocheted a scarf to go with:


Overall, I am really happy with this stuff. And making the scarf rekindled my love of crochet, plus I have a bunch of that yarn left, so I may make more.

Now I can get to work on my stuffed animal for the Stuffie swap. :)

I saw this fuzzy, sparkly, PINK novelty yarn in the store and felt compelled to buy it, combine it with some other novelty yarns that I had in my stash and make this:





What on earth is wrong with me?

This has been a busy couple of weeks. A family visit, and having to work overtime prevented me from doing as much crafting as I would like. Nevertheless, I completed all the items for my Dresden Dolls Swap, and was able to put that package in the mail today. I am really happy with how most of the things came out (and totally wanted to keep one of them for myself), though there was one item that I was iffy on. Just have to wait to see if my partner likes it, I guess.

I also started work on my August challenge piece for the Big Damn Crafters (our theme this month is "Shindig" and I am doing a yarn inspired by Kaylee's dress.

And then, for some reason, I was in the mood for Halloween. Okay, it could be because I LOVE Halloween, and I had all these quilt squares sitting around in my stash, but in any case, I came up with this little quilted bag:

Mini Jayne Hats

'Cause I have been into making tiny things lately, I whipped up these cute little pins the other night:



Cute, no?

New yarn

I dyed the fiber for this yarn shortly after returning from my trip to Scotland. Originally the colors were chosen to be reminiscent of the Scottish landscape, but that was much more apparent in the roving form than in the finished product. In any case, I am super happy that I spun a bulky yarn. I've been doing mostly DK weight stuff and was worried that I had forgotten how to spin a bulkier yarn, but it came pretty easily and I am super happy with the result.

Check it out:

I call it "Staffa", because the boat ride out to that island was pretty much my favorite part of the whole trip.

Wee Bunny

I received an adorable bunny from my partner in the One Tiny Thing swap. I have actually had this Wee Wonderfuls wee bunny on my list of things to make for a while, but like so many things, haven't gotten around to making one. I just think he is the cutest thing ever:



I mean, look at his little pom pom tail:



And my partner seems to have liked her giraffe. Phew. Swapping can be so stressful sometimes I wonder why I do it, and then I get a package in the mail, and it is so worth it.

I recently completed this cute giraffe and am so in love with making mascots again. I miss having all of my toys at my desk. Am working on a few more mascots at the moment, either to keep for myself, or I am thinking about making them into a mobile...'cause how adorable would that be?

My magnet board was featured in a treasury picked by perkicreations.

Need magnets for your fridge? Check it out!

I am still taking a break from spinning. I can't wait for the weather to really cool off so I can spend some quality time with my wool. I've had autumn on my mind, and that's reflected in my most recent project:




This piece started out as a beach themed magnet board which I got on clearance more than a year ago at the craft store. The frame had a "weathered wood" finish and the magnet board was filled with scenes of lighthouses and the ocean, and it came with a set of seashell shaped magnets.

I took off the decorative glass knobs that lined the bottom of the frame, sanded the crap out of everything, painted the new design, and varnished it for a nice shiny finish. Then I bought some leaf shaped pieces of wood, painted them, and made them into magnets to finish off the piece.

Things for your hair

I recently started wearing my hair sticks again, in particular the pair I made for myself a few years ago, and a co-worker asked me to make her a pair. Which I totally forgot to take a picture of, though maybe I can get her to pose for an action shot sometime. But while I had the sticks and beads and everything out, I also put together another set.



I had to debate for a few days whether I was going to keep them for myself. But finally decided to put them up in the Etsy shop on the grounds that I already own about 2 dozen sets of hair sticks. Also, I can always make myself another pair.

Problematic

For July, the Big Damn Crafters Team chose "Ice Planets" as our theme. For those of you not familiar with the show Firefly, ice planets are a frozen treat suspended from a stick which make an appearance in the episode "The Message" and are most notably remembered by the following quote:

River: My food is problematic.
Jayne: The girl's a mind reading genius, can't even figure out how to eat an ice planet.

For me, ice planets embody the sense of fun and humor that I love about the show and I wanted to create something that captured that spirit, so I decided to make a mobile:





The 4 ice planets are made from paper mâché which has been painted white and coated with a generous helping of glitter. Each ice planet is hung on cotton cording, strung with painted wooden stars. In the center of the mobile, the colorful squares spell out "My food is problematic" and are finished with a set of silver toned bells.

Etsy Listing

Finished up this cute bag this week. I have been slowly overcoming my hatred of all things pink, and I actually really like this one.



The inside is lined with a peachy-pink fabric and has a pocket in the same material as the outside.

This month's EtsyFAST challenge is "destashing". The idea being to use up some supplies that you have on hand to create something new. This has inspired me to finally finish spinning the following yarns. I started spinning these in late April/early May and have worked on them in spurts over the last few months. That's a long time to have something on the bobbin...for me, anyway. Both started with the same green/blue fiber that I used a few months ago for my Dragon Skin yarn, only this time, I spun the singles much finer.

Secret Garden was then plied with gold thread, randomly strung with black glass beads.




Foliage was plied with black metallic thread



Speaking of finishing things, I have picked up my TW Winter Carousel cross stitch for the first time in about 5 years and am making good progress. This further inspired me to pull out some of my completed cross stitch pieces and try to figure out what to do with them. I am thinking about making some of them into fabric wall hanging type of things, but still have to take a closer look at them to decide what best to do.