New bags

I don't know why, but I seem to be on a "brown" kick, and have 2 finished bags to share.

The first is a tote bag. I actually started this last summer, and then it sat on the sewing machine for several months until I was inspired to finish it. I think it's cool that there is this crazy paisley pattern in a very neutral color. The outside fabric is ultrasuede, so it is slightly fuzzy and soft to the touch.



The second item is a crocheted purse. I was experimenting with an alternating double crochet/single crochet stitch pattern and really like the texture. Added the leaf applique because it seemed a little too plain for me. Yeah, I had to add some metallic paint. You know how I just love shiny objects.

I turned the heels on my socks last night at knitting. I may actually finish these sometime this year. Woo-hoo!

New yarns

Finally got some pictures of my newest yarns.

This is the one that I started a while back and finally completed earlier this month.

Iridescence:





So this is one ply of black alpaca and multi-colored firestar (batt purchased from loop on etsy) and one ply of natural black suri llama and alpaca blend (from thecritterranch). It is super soft and has just the right amount of sparkle. I love it. I will be keeping this for myself, but I haven't decided what to make with it yet.

The second new yarn is for this month's Big Damn Crafters challenge. Our theme this month is Mal, and so I used a batt of alpaca in 3 natural shades of cream and brown which was blended with coordinating angelina. I liked the idea of using undyed fiber, but couldn't resist the sparkles. Go figure. I know that you are all surprised by that. In any case, I think it is a good representation, if Mal was going to be a yarn, I am pretty sure it would look like this:

I create!

Still no pictures of the yarn to share, I am afraid. But soon, I promise. I had a productive evening at the studio last night. It was good to have some company, and I completed 2 items. The first was a little tote bag, which has been waiting to be done since about August. I haven't done much sewing lately, and it was kind of fun to break out the sewing machine. The second was a new needle case. I don't have new pictures of those to share, but the needle case looks pretty much like this:



I absolutely adore those fabrics.

In other news, I am looking into some craft fair options and need to submit photos of my work. I have a hard time picking which things to submit. So, I ask for your opinions. Take a look at my etsy shop or my flickr collection and pick 1-3 items that you think best represent my work. Also, since the shows will be in the spring/summer, keep in mind that winter items are probably not my best bet.

So, in the spirit of trying to accomplish some of my crafting goals for this year, I decided that I would find Socks 2.4 and see what kind of state they were in. Much to my surprise, they looked like this:



They actually look sock-like! I didn't remember having done so much, and seeing them in that state, I was more inspired to start working on them again, so I brought them to knitting last week. And then I remembered why I had stopped working on them the last time: I was working both socks at the same time on 2 circular needles. Then one of the needles broke. Though I tried valiantly to do both socks using Magic Loop, the remaining needle simply isn't long enough and made the project fiddly and frustrating. I am happy to report that I purchased a second needle this week and am ready to continue working on them. So I hope to have a completed pair of socks to show off soon.

In other news, I finished my two pink scarves of doom, and am glad to be done with them:





And I have been keeping busy with my spinning and have completed a few new yarns, though I only have pictures of one of them. I call this one Suprise!


To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about it. It's pretty soft though, being a llama/alpace blend.

One thing I am sure about is that I am totally in love with one of the other yarns I finished, and it is likely to be the 2nd yarn I have loved too much to part with. I will take pictures soon, I promise.

And now I will leave you with this pictures, sent to me by earthgirl from the show she did recently.