More of the same from the last post, methinks, but progress is exciting.
My Gandalf scarf for the Etsy shop is coming along nicely. I had to take a break due to running out of yarn and shiny stuff. I'm terrible at estimating what I need for weaving. I'm getting better at estimating for knitting, but weaving? Pfft. It'll be a while before I sort that out in my brain.
Some alpaca handspun that will also be up in the Etsy shop. Can you tell I'm planning a shop update soon? I'm shooting for a bunch of new things for April 1st. I haven't decided what to call this one yet and I don't have photos ready for it yet, but it's a really cool yarn. The off-white ply actually has tiny little slivers of copper that match the coppery brown roving in the other ply. It's really cool up close. I just hope I can get some photos that can show that.
2. Stitch Markers
One of the things I've really been working on these past couple of weeks in preparation for a shop update is stitch markers. These guys have really taken off. I'm surprised at how quickly some of them sell. So I've been working on some of those, including these new ones:
Star Trek TOS stitch markers!
I ended up with a lot of failed attempts for these guys. I was trying to make them have shirt colored backgrounds, or the different colors in the badge, but either the yellow was too light or the blue was WAY TOO DARK. I couldn't really win with the colors for all of them, so Command gets to be black instead of yellow or green-ish. But they look good to me, so we'll see how they do in the shop later.
And I made these for myself out of some spare beads:
Those plastic beads are supposed to glow in the dark. I've had them since sophomore year of highschool (... almost ten years now...), so I'm not sure if they still work, but they look fine on their own, methinks. I'm pretty pumped about my crayon and troll, though. I'm throwing this set into my new knit bag.
Speaking of....
3. I Bought Things
I ordered these two beauties from the lovely Tangerine Designs. A Star Wars comics knitting bag (which is the perfect size for socks and hats and things) and a little hedgehog magnetic needle/pin catcher thing, so I don't lose needles and pins underfoot.
Also, there was a craft fair over the weekend at one of the local high schools. I like to go to those as often as I can to support local crafts and tradesfolk, so after the Grand Opening party at a new Jo-Ann Fabric and Crafts store (aw yeah, Torrington; just two minutes from the movie theater) where I got a $20 gift card for being one of the first 100 people through the door, I re-familiarized myself with some back roads up to Bristol for the craft fair at St. Paul's High School.
Aw yeah. Dark chocolate covered pretzels, a heating/cooling pad thing, and 2 oz of black alpaca roving from a local alpaca. I wish I had remembered to grab a business card or something from the wool ladies because they seemed like really nice ladies, but I didn't. Shame on me. But I ate all of those pretzels that same day and I'm really excited about spinning that alpaca.
4. The Amazing Thing About the Way It Goes: Stories of Tidiness, Self-Esteem, and Other Things I Gave Up On by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
The Yarn Harlot! I adore her blog and have most of her books crammed into my bookshelves (possibly all of them by now), so I ordered this one as soon as I heard she had a new book out. It's different because it's not really about knitting specifically, but it's the same type of stories that are told in her other books. Just not about knitting. Mostly about raising kids, trying things despite the evidence of defeat, cohabitation, and reality vs. perception. It's still her writing voice throughout, so if you've liked previous books of hers or enjoy the blog, you'll like this book.
