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.

I recently participated in the "I Love Ewe" swap on Craftster, which was expanded to include other farm animals. My partner made me some really cute items.

First, we have this pretty blue brocade purse, which has the symbol for Rabbit embroidered on it:

It is a really beautiful color and so shiny! Plus, I know how much of a pain working with that fabric is, so that makes me love it even more.

I also got these adorable ninja bunny hair clips:

Don't you just love them? I know I do.

And finally, I got teeny stitch markers:

A bunny, llama, sheep and goat. I stuck them on a current sock WIP so you can get an idea of the size. You all know how much I love getting stitch markers, and these are a great addition to my collection.

Thanks again to my great partner for making such wonderful things for me.

The theme for the Big Damn Crafters' June challenge is Inara, and I wanted to create a yarn that was luxurious and a bit mysterious, just like our favorite Companion...and I came up with this:





I think I finally figured out how to work with the bamboo fiber (my previous efforts were VERY overspun). And then I plied the bamboo single, which was mostly turquoise, with purple, green and copper accents with the turquoise metallic thread ('cause you know how I love the sparkly things).

I had an awesome vacation in England and Scotland. It was so beautiful there, that it was hard to have to come home again. Of course, one of the things that I liked best was that there were sheep and cows everywhere, and they were cute.





While I was away, my partner for the "I Love Ewe" swap on Craftster received the stuff I made, so now I get to show it off.


This is a tea wallet, made with some beautiful (and shiny) fabrics and embellished with a cute sheep button.


See? It holds tea.



Second item is a summer purse, made with green, leaf-patterned fabric on the outside and a peachy-pink fabric on the inside. There are lots of pockets, and a sheep made with dimensional fabric paint.



And last, but certainly not least, is an apron. This pattern was something my partner had specifically requested, and I thought it was cute. My first attempt went horribly, horribly wrong, and ended up in the trash. It was my first time using bias tape. What a pain! But I love the way it came out. And to keep the cute animal theme going, I added a felt alpaca or llama as an accent.


Isn't he cute? Whatever he is. This was absolutely my favorite thing that I made for this swap, and I will definitely be making more of these aprons, as once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too difficult, and the end result is totally worth it.

I bought this absolutely gorgeous 80/20 merino/angora fiber batt at the NH Sheep and Wool Festival last month, and couldn't wait to spin it up. In the batt, the primary color was teal, but as I spun it, the purples and whites became more prominent, which is always a fun part of spinning. I plied it with some metallic thread ended up with about 430 yards of yarn, which I have titled "Mermaid's Kiss"

I forget who I bought this "kitchen sink batt" from, but I've had it for a long time. Primarily a light yellow green, there is also a lot of grey, and a bit of pink, white, purple and other colors. It's also got some angelina for sparkle. As I started spinning it, it looked pretty hideous, but I loved it anyway. Plied together, the green became more prominent and the effect came out rather pretty, I think, though I wasn't sure anyone but me would like it.



But it's gotten a lot of views already, so either it's not too bad...or everyone else is as weirdly drawn to it as I am.

Thanks to lunaarcana, who has featured it in her treasury, I can kill you with my brain, which expires tomorrow night. Check it out. =)

EtsyFAST May Challenge: Flowers

In an attempt to prove to myself that my sewing mojo was not lost; I made this crochet hook case.



The outside is a soft sueded fabric, embellished with floral embroidery and shiny sequins.



The inside is a mix of black cotton and a black and gold brocade.

Look! It multi-tasks and holds double-pointed needles, too.



My fellow Big Damn Crafter, Siarh, featured the crochet hook case in the treasury, I Got Heathens Aplenty Right Here. I encourage you all to check out the shinies.

I completed my first upholstery project last weekend. The seat that goes with my sewing machine was in desperate need of a makeover:



Armed with a hammer, batting, fabric, and a staplegun, after about 2 hours of work, I had turned it into this:



I am pleased.

I made this knitting needle case last week:







I am not entirely happy with it. I like the way that it looks, but I found the fabric difficult to work with, and I didn't decide to do the ribbon edging until I had already sewn the seams, and so the edges are bulky and not as nice as I would like.

So...anyone want a slightly wonky needlecase?

I am having a good week, craft-wise. Last weekend was my first open studio in the new space. I got to hang out with geekpixie for a good chunk of both days, did a bunch of spinning, and made 2 sales. Woo! I also made 2 more sales through the etsy shop this week. GO ME!

I treated myself by buying these really beautiful hair sticks from fellow Big Damn Crafter, Siarh.

Let's see. I have plans to go to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival on Sunday. I tried to convince my dad and stepmother that it would be a fun Mother's Day event, and my dad actually seemed interested in it, but the timing didn't work out.

And now, to satisfy the need for pictures, here are some new-ish yarns

Hero of Canton:



Dragon Skin

Thankfully, after about a week and a half of rest, my back felt much better, and I was able to continue work on some other projects. Here's what I've been up to.

First, I had a custom order from my Etsy Shop, from someone who really liked my "Starlight" yarn, but wanted something in worsted weight.



Then I worked on 2 coordinating yarns from a beautiful batt of Mardi Gras inspired merino, 2 laceweight yarns (handspun merino and commercial mohair), and some metallic threads, and beads.
The first is Carnivale:


And the second is Tryst


In an effort to utilize some of my other crafting skills, I also whipped up this little sketchbook/journal:


And these hair sticks:

Yeah, I really missed crafting when I was injured. :) In other news, I am in the process of moving into some studio workspace, which I will be sharing with geekpixie. I am very excited about it, but will be glad when the moving part is done, and I can just go play in the studio. yay!

Before my back pain put me out of commission for a while, I finished up these two yarns. The first is called "Tempest" and is for the EtsyFAST April challenge: Storms





The second one is unnamed, so I welcome any suggestions you might have.

Just found out that my "Starlight" yarn was featured in a treasury by spawnofflame, who sells some very cool lampwork beads. Pretty, pretty.

Was happily working on some new projects, but am out of commission for a bit, as my back started spasming last night. Throughout the day today, it got progressively worse, so that at this point I am barely mobile. *sigh* Speaking of which, I am going to go rest now. G'night.

Yay! "Diamonds and Pearls" finally sold. After being featured in at least 4 treasuries, and getting more than 215 views.

In other news, I joined the "Big Damn Crafters" Street team on Etsy, so you should expect to see some Firefly related crafts popping up soon.

And now, just because I am bored, I give you the "what knitting needle am I?" quiz:

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are interchangeable.Fun, free, and into everything, you've got every eventuality covered and every opportunity just has to be taken. Every fiber is wonderful, and every day is a new beginning. You are good at so many things, it's amazing, but you can easily lose your place and forget to show up. They have row counters for people like you!
Take this quiz!








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More yarn! This is similar, but not identical, to the "Morning Magic" yarn I did a week or so ago (and which I am pleased to note has sold from my etsy store).

I call this one "Starlight":



I used the same grey merino, this time plied with a metallic thread that is primarily turquoise and gold, but has a hint of pink when the light catches it just right. Makes me think of twinkling stars.

When I got home today, I made this:



It's a threading hook for spinners, and the design is inspired by the Grimm's Fairy Tale, "The Goose Girl." (I still have fairy tales on the brain as it is this month's challenge theme for EtsyFAST.

Am I disturbed for thinking of this?

I have been a busy little spinner the last few weeks.



I call this one "Morning Magic", and I am very pleased with the way it came out. It even got featured in a treasury by redmag, which made it to the front page of Etsy and resulted in a huge number of views for my store...though sadly, no sales.




This one is "Dream Come True", and is a little more girly than I usually go for, but I have been trying to expand my color palette. This is more of the faux cashmere, and boy is it soft.