Jumping on the bandwagon with this one but they're so cute I just couldn't help myself. One of the many things I made during the holiday season this year was a new ornament for our tree.

Styrofoam ball? check! Random red yarn? check! Ribbon and a couple fancy toothpicks? check! Ah yes, the perfect recipe for a yarn ball ornament.


It's so simple but I love the color and the way it came out.

New on the Wheel

I bought 4oz. of Superwash merino roving a couple weeks ago from Knitting on the Square. At first the colorway, called Thieves, struck me as pretty but in a sort of ugly way, if that makes sense. I had to have it.


Once I cleared off my bobbins of the Redwood and Corridale and started spinning it I was so glad that it had jumped in my bag come home with me. :) The colors are spinning up beautifully with lots of twists of blending colors. It's so much fun to watch the colors coming together. Even after drafting a bit you still can't really tell how it's going to look in it's yarny stage.

Sew what?

Lately I've been in the mood to sew. I've been thinking about what kind of gown to wear for the 12th Night Feast coming up in January and it got me to thinking of my garb. I need something new for sure, I'm thinking Tudor maybe. I really need to finish drafting the pattern for my mid 1500s gown. If I can get that completed it'd be lovely. I already have the fabric for my chemise and petticoat. I wish there were somewhere local that sold more period type fabrics for the gown and kirtle though. I hate having to try and purchase yards and yards of fabric online, without the benefit of seeing it in person first. There's a lot of hand sewing to do too. I just don't know if I'd have the time after the holidays to finish properly and have it as perfect as I'd like it to be. We'll just have to see though. :)

In the meantime here's a gown I made for faire this past summer. Nothing even remotely period about it but it's for faire so it doesn't matter too much. Faire is my outlet for just playing dress up anyway and luckily at GLMF anything goes! :-D

Brittney found this fabric at Joann's and we were both instantly in love with it. She bought the red and tan version and I nabbed up the blue. That very night we went back to her house and whipped a couple gowns.


This one is pretty versatile. It can be worn as shown or open for more of a "coat" look. I wore it like that for Halloween and completely butched it up for a pirate outfit, knee high boots, dagger and all!

Walk in the Forest

I finally finished setting the twist on all of the Redwood Forest. It came out really well, my first really nice and even singles. The skeins are a bit of a mess right now since I still need to measure it. I'm not sure of the yardage since I was in a hurry to get it set. It was almost 4am at the time. :-P


I also set some of the teal Corridale, just to empty off all of my bobbins. It's a little rougher than the Blue Faced Leicester that I just finished up but it's just a lovely. The color is amazing - I'm thinking it'll make a great scarf. The picture shows the yarn a lot darker than it actually is.


I also started a Christmas prezzie for my lil sister. It's Vanessa Cater's Sunday Market Shawl, found on Ravelry. It's a really simple pattern but using Paton's Kroy Sock FX yarn with it's subtle color changes I think it'll turn out pretty well. I'm using a larger needle size than suggested and doubled the amount of cast on stitches to make it more like a wide wrap than a small shawl.

Back to my Roots

The very first craft that started me on this crazy journey of handmade wonders was mixed media and altered art, long before I even knew that it was ever called that. I recently did an altered altoid tin that reminded me of some of my old pieces.

It's called Dare to Dream. I haven't decided whether or not to add words to the lid. I'm thinking magazine clippings that say " Dare to Dream, Dare to Be" but I don't know. It seems to me that it needs a little *something*, I just can't decide what. :) It'll come to me eventually and in the meantime I'm pretty happy with it.

Holiday Hell

I've been super busy with having out of town family staying with me for the Thanksgiving holiday and the bf being in the hospital, but I'm finally back on track! I whipped this scarf up the other day and it got me back into the groove. Lovely yarn (Brae Tweed) and even lovelier once knit up into the Mustard Scarf! I've named this one Down the Brae, after the yarn name and my favorite Celtic music radio station.

The squish factor is amazing and I just loooove the color. Can't decide whether to add a button as the pattern calls for or just leave it to be used with a fabulous shawl pin. Hmm....

I got my Phantom Spin a long fibers the other day too. Tomorrow I should be able to play with them a bit and maybe post some pics. They're soooo soft, I just can't wait!

Smilie for Today! :-D

Getting my fix!

Last night while on Ravelry I noticed an ad at the bottom of the page for a Phantom of the Opera Spin-a-long for November/December. Instantly interested, I clicked the link and was taken to Extremespinning's Etsy page (droolworthy fibers-yum!). I read the description and wasn't halfway through before I had already decided to purchase the fibers and join in. The theme is Phantom and the batts will be a blend of "merino, soy silk, bamboo, alpaca, and glitz, multiple colors for mixing and blending". I'm really looking forward to spinning those up! The colorways are inspired by this Phantom photo.


A handmade surprise is also included from Etsy seller Yarndemon. I checked out her shop and faved her immediately- SUCH cute items! I'm pretty excited to see what we're getting. The package won't ship until the 25th so I have about 2 weeks until it arrives. That will give me just the drive I need to crank out those Christmas prezzies. After all, I'm going to want to be able to take my time and enjoy my spin-a-long!

Fellow spinners- extremespinning has some beautiful fibers for sale, check them out when you get a chance and for my knit and crochet friends- Yarndemon's stitch markers are adorable!

I finally broke down...

For a couple years now I've been holding out to purchase my dream camera...a Cannon Rebel. Finally admitting to myself that it's really not going to happen any time soon I broke down and went to the store the other night to look for a simple point and shoot. I ended up leaving with this little pretty:


No more crap pictures on my cell phone! It's high class all the way now!I already knitted up a case for it with some handspun of mine. Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to play with it and get some new pics of some of my projects.

Speaking of projects, I started on one of Stefani's Christmas prezzies. It's a set of 4 cotton butterfly washcloths. I should be able to finish two of them tonight. With a little perseverance they'll be done by the beginning of the week and I can start on another item.

Impass

I can't decide what project to start next. There are quite a few to complete in the next 2 months in order for me to be ready for Christmas. Perhaps I should start with the slightly more ambitious ones and get them out of the way, like the thread crochet or cabled items. What if I just bang out the easy ones and be done with them but then potentially not have time to finish the bigger items? Man, I'm really horrible at this whole decision making thing... Maybe I should just put them all in a hat and draw names. :)

Wait! By jove I've got it! I know how to start! By getting off this damn computer! lol