Crafts

The Yarn, oh, the Yarn…

Sarah Crafts

We’re getting our windows cleaned next Monday.  The kind of cleaning where they have to come in the house.  Not just that, but they need to be able to actually access all the windows.  I didn’t take a before picture, but short of tip-toeing through the pile of crap crafts all over the floor, there was no way to get anywhere near the craft room windows.

So I just want to know one thing…

When did all my yarn get replaced with tribbles?  And why couldn’t the good stuff be the yarn that was mysteriously multiplying??

On the upside, I’ve found a lot of my “missing” needles – they’re all in UFOs, many of them just stuck into incomplete swatches.  On the downside, there’s seriously not enough hours left in my life to knit up everything in there.  And even if there were, there’s new stuff out there that’s way nicer than a lot of my old stuff.  So once again I have a big pile of stuff to donate.  Another sizable pile of nicer yarn is probably going to go up on Ravelry as stash that’s available for sale or trade – I might be able to fund my etsy habit for a while off of yarn that deserves a better home.

And I haven’t even started on the sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, beading or scrapbooking supplies…

Old School Valentines

Sarah Carolyn, Kid's Crafts

This morning I sent Carrie off to school with her hand-made Valentines:

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These can be summed up in one word: MESSY. Good gracious, I think I’m going to be finding glitter from these for the next several months! And I think I’d get card stock for next time. We used construction paper, pre-cut heart doilies, little heart confetti bits and glitter, but the amount of glue involved caused the construction paper to curl a lot. Maybe card stock would stay flatter?

I traced the hearts, Carrie cut them out. I applied the glue, she stuck on the doily and added more glue on top to help the confetti and glitter stick. Oh, and before the whole messy gluing bit I wrote the recipient’s name on the back, along with “Love,” and Carrie alternated between writing “Carrie” and “Carolyn” depending on her mood. Except for one or two that are signed “Carriolyn” because she just couldn’t decide…

Rhinebeck, 2008

Sarah Knitting, Spinning

We took a whirlwind trip to Rhinebeck over the weekend (we left Saturday afternoon and came back late last night…or early this morning, depending on your point of view!) I was determined not to buy anything to spin, as I haven’t spun anything I got at Hemlock yet, and I have to confess that most of what I bought last year at Rhinebeck is also waiting patiently in my stash. However, I did buy yarn. I’ve decided this must be the year of the sock and lace weight yarns, as I seem to be running out of needles in the 2 mm to 3.5 mm range.

Someday I’ll manage to take some pictures of the pretty things I came home with!

First Fiber Festival

Sarah Anna, Crafts, Shop Talk

Anna went to her first fiber festival today. I don’t think she was too impressed with the fibery beasts (she slept right through seeing any of them) but she loved all the colors we saw. Some of those colors came home with us:

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Clockwise from 12:00 – Black Cherry Panda Bamboo yarn from Spininng Bunny, Mixed Berries alpaca/wool/nylon tie-dye sock yarn from Golden Oak Alpacas, Salvia 100% merino superwash fingering weight yarn from Pollywogs Yarn and Fiber, Leaves Panda Bamboo yarn from Spinning Bunny, 12 oz. Cassis merino top from Cloverleaf Farms, and finally, an unknown content batt from a shop I didn’t catch the name of…I think I accidentally fell down and bought it so it wouldn’t become “The Batt That Got Away”!

Carolyn’s favorite part was the sheep! And the alpacas! And the llamas! I think if we could have passed it off as a dog she would have taken one of the tiny little Shetland sheep home with us. We added to Carrie’s collection of fibery stuffed animals with a handsome chocolate llama, and started Anna’s collection wth a floppy lamb lovey with a fuzzy tummy. Aren’t they cute?

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Next month: Rhinebeck. Because, you know, I need more wool like I need a hole in the head…well, actually, one can never have enough wool.

(More pictures from the festival can be found here – Kodak Gallery album, requires sign-in.)

Simone’s Apron

Sarah Sewing

kids_apron1.jpgI found a great little pattern for a quick child’s apron, and thought it would make a good gift for Simone for her birthday. And I even finished it early! Carrie not-so-helpfully modeled it for me. (She couldn’t quite get why I didn’t want her to stand behind things. Sigh.)

Please ignore the fact that I also have (different) material to make one for Carrie but I haven’t even ironed the fabric yet, let alone started cutting out pieces… It’s on my to-do list, I swear, along with all the other things on my to-do list. I even feel guilty enough that when we stopped at the craft donation place to drop off all that yarn I mentioned a few days ago I bought a dog-fabric apron that someone else had made so that if it takes me a while (my to-do list is very long) she still has a special hand-made apron!

Rethinking Mystic Meadows

Sarah Knitting

The first clue for Mystic Meadows came out today…and I’m mostly convinced that the lace pattern is going to be much too busy for the variegated yarn I’ve selected. And I’m *way* more than OK with that, because ever since I got the yarn in the mail it’s been whispering “soft little baby sweater…hat…baby socks…big sister socks…” to me, trying to convince me that it doesn’t want to be that stole. So now I just have to find a different yarn (there’s a whole shop to choose from. we must have *something* I can use.) for the stole and see if there’s a perfect pattern to knit this lovely yarn into a tiny little baby sweater.

Spring Flowers & Mystic Meadows

Sarah Knitting

I joined yet another knit-along (because a girl can’t have too many lace stoles, you know, I do wear them everywhere…well, OK, not really, but they’re fun to knit) and wound up spending an unbelievable amount of time trying to find just the right yarn for it.

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This is from No Two Snowflake’s Etsy shop. (Never shopped on Etsy? Don’t blame me if your paypal account starts getting a workout. You’ve been warned.) Here’s a very accurate (and gorgeous) shot of the colors in this yarn:

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And here’s my swatch – it’s not quite as big as the dimensions I was supposed to get, but I like the drape as-is, so I’ll just have a slightly smaller stole.

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I hope it’s not too variegated to show the lace pattern, because it’s darn pretty. Some of my inspirations:

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And yes, I’m aware those aren’t all meadow flowers (and that dandelions are weeds), but they all mean spring. Oh, and this picture of wild columbine is just about a perfect match! I wonder if I can put some of these in my garden?

(Besides, if the yarn doesn’t work out for the stole, squishy-soft fingering weight yarn is perfect for baby sweaters!)

Gingerbread Girl

Sarah Kid's Crafts

Every once in a while, the preschool sends home “homework”, where the kids are supposed to decorate/make/bring something in. They’re talking about gingerbread men (people?) today, so last week we got this outline of a gingerbread person to decorate. Carrie went to town with foam stickers, glitter glue, and scraps of ribbon I found in my craft room. I think it’s the cutest gingerbread girl ever!

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