Shop Update!

There are NEW ITEMS in the ETSY SHOP today!

Including THESE!

1. Gandalf The Gray Scarf




Aww yeah. Hand-woven on my little rigid heddle loom with 80% acrylic/20% wool blend yarn and a vein of silvery thread. It's based off of the scarf Gandalf wears in the Hobbit movies.



2. Fancy Sheep One Inch Buttons


Buttons! Fancy Sheep is classing up the joint. They're only $1.00 and there's a bunch of them, so check them out!

Stitch Markers, handspun, and the Yarn Harlot's New Book

1. WIPs

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.

Birthdays, Washcloths, and Compulsive Knitting

1. Birthday




Things I Received For My 25th Birthday:

• A Sock Loom in order to, and I quote, "Finish some socks quickly." Apparently, my mother is well aware of the sock yarn and patterns lying huddled throughout my stash.
  
  
• But then, of course, she adds to it with some green sock yarn.
  
  
• Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn
  
  
• Thor: Legend of the Magical Hammer. My love for a) bad movies, b) magic/myth movies, and c) animated things is well known. "I saw it in the store and immediately thought of you," Mom laughed. (It was awful and amazing. I'm pretty sure "Crusher" the Magic Hammer was being toted around by a leprechaun, but jock!Heimdall kept calling him a fat elf so I was distracted by the lulz)
  
  
• $20 JoAnn Fabrics gift card. "No idea when you'll ever have the chance to spend that," Dad laughed. It's only got $1.04 left on it.

2. Washcloths


They're lopsided and uneven and ugly, but I like them. Not bad for a first try, I'd say. I have to admit, I was surprised at how easy they were to hem.

3. Compulsive Knitting

I knit four of these cabled curtain ties because I didn't want to stop watching the Iron Man Armored Adventures on Netflix. Yep.

Bonus
I bought this yarn earlier. I don't need it. I don't have space for it. But I wanted it desperately.

It's called "Loki."

10" Rigid Heddle Loom Projects

You know how I got that 10" rigid heddle loom for Christmas?

Built it.

Warped it.

I am now on Project #3.

Here's a look at the first two:





Clearly, that first scarf is my first attempt at weaving at this loom. There's some pretty glaring errors and the weave is all uneven. It's awful. I knew it would be; that's why I used a couple bland-ish, but very contrasting, yarns. There's some pretty bad errors in there that this picture isn't showing.

The second scarf is one I'm much more pleased with. Did that one in Lion Brand Wool-Ease Harmony, which is a variegated/self-striping yarn, which looks fantastic woven. I've worn this one around.

I'm liking this weaving thing. These projects have been really quick compared to my normal craft projects. It's nice.

And now, of course, I'm working on Project #3 now that I've finished a scarf I've been slaving through for the Etsy shop. I'm working on these pile loop wash clothes that the Yarn Harlot featured on her blog a while back.

Here's the first one in the line of four:


Blurry Instagram photo time. I'm trying to post photos of my works in progress more often, but I end up very focused on trying to finish the project. I figure I might be able to let my brain take short breaks for not-great iPod photos.

This wash cloth doesn't look all that great right now, but I figure some of that will even out in a wash and the rest can be chalked up to learning a new skill.


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