The Formation of a New Wardrobe

I am forming a new wardrobe. I can't afford to actually go buy a new wardrobe, so I am sewing one. I have lots of fabric in my stash and it is time to USE IT UP. Those words are difficult to type. Like the true hoarder I am, I hate to part with my fabric. What if there is a better project out there? Is this really what the fabric was called to be? I bought it to make something else, will it mind changing purposes? These are the questions I ask my fabric before cautiously cutting into them. Then there are the left overs. I hate to throw away my scraps. What if I actually make good on that desire to make a scrappy quilt one day? I will NEED those scraps.

I keep getting distracted on my way to a new wardrobe. Most of those distractions come in the form of a 6 yr old who wants the scraps turned into skirts for herself and/or her dolls. As the pictures show--I caved.

It looks suspiciously like the skirt I made myself last week. In fact there were a few complaints that it wasn't identical to mine. There were a couple humorous design dilemmas along the way. The first was the hem. It was TOTALLY uneven.

I then moved back and realized that a little body with a cute little derriere and a round little tummy sets the waistline completely out of level.

I could either sew to match the little belly or just hem it evenly and be done.

I just sewed it up. We were out of yellow tulle so she didn't get a petticoat underneath.

Now we have matching outfits. I never really wanted to match my 6 yr old. But now I do. Because I love her. She made me do it. Isn't she the cutest thing you have ever seen?

Fiber Whiz Kid!

The Fiber Whiz Kid Strikes Again!!

Lil' Pea is a wonder. She has wanted to spin for some time. Like a good mother, I said No. But, I have finally relented. Just days before her 5th birthday we sat down and had a little spinning lesson.Here she is learning to treadle. She is really quite good at it. She can treadle all day. The hard part comes when she has to have her hands even with the orifice & her feet on the treadles.

Here she is sitting on a small chair with a phone book on top so she can reach the treadles & the orifice. She is spinning, I am helping a lot. There were lots of breaks & I would fix them & she would go on. Here are the results of our spinning. I can't quite say this was all spun by a 4 yr old, but a whole lot of it was. Pretty cool, eh?

She also has a Groovy Girl scarf she knitted for sale to raise money for her ballet recital costume. Nothing like motivated children.

The Newest Arrival!!

There is NOTHING more divine than seeing your own creation be placed on a newborn infant. My new nephew Sam was born yesterday and got to wear his new hat right away. aww, soo cute! He has mittens to match, but they haven't let his arms out of the swaddling yet.

The hat is mostly Andean Silk & Brushed Angora for a truly soft hat. And yes, that is a flower sprouting from the top. I will post more pics of the set later, when I get them off the camera. I have to laugh b/c I keep doing this to my sister--making difficult to wear, but adorably cute children's clothing. Colorwork doesn't have a ton of stretch. lol The same sister's kid got the ballet slipper socks that are impossible for a 4yr old to tie on. Some people buy each other's kids really loud noisemaker toys to drive the parents crazy. I just knit things kids can barely wear. I think the mittens will only stay on if the baby is holding his arms straight up in the air. hee hee!

Christmas Knitting Results

Christmas came & went in a flurry of knitting. I thought I wouldn't have any last minute knitting because I started so early this year. But, I also didn't work on my knitting projects very often that early because, "I have tons of time..."
The boy LOVES his hockey sweater. He informed me that it was more Edmonton Oilers colors than Mustang Hockey colors (his team) but he still liked it. I told him I had planned that. Actually the yarn was stash yarn...but it did seem to fit his personality. I did not finish the hood & pocket on the front and am working diligently to finish that ASAP. He really wants to wear it! As far as first time knitting him clothing other than hats & socks it was a winner!

The Man's sweater Durrow was a bit trickier. I decided to give him the body for Christmas and the sleeves for his birthday in April. This was mainly for my own sanity. This is way too big of a project to not know if it will fit. The goal is a slightly fitted sexy man sweater. So far I think that this will fit the bill nicely. I found it quite humorous that he had no idea I was working on a sweater for him even though many a night I sat in bed next to him, knitting on his sweater. I never lied about it--when he asked what I was knitting on I said, "Oh, another one of my many projects." And he was quite content. Now that he knows about it, he is concerned the sleeves will be too feminine. Egads!! I told him he doesn't have a vote. The superman tshirt was my present to him also. It was supposed to be tight, I will be washing it in hot very soon. (Can you see the trend? Goal: get rock hard muscle man out of baggy shirts into tight ones.)

I saved my favorite project for last...



Ballet slippersocks for my delightful ballerina niece's birthday. She was born Christmas day, 4yrs ago!! I actually finished them in time to send them across the country on time for Christmas. A First! I wanted to make a pair for my little one as well...that will have to be a birthday present. I love these socks. Just love them. Nuff said.

All in all, a delightful knitting season. If I ignore the socks for my sister that did NOT get done on time and I had started them last May. Arg. I am totally embarrased.

Crafty! Crafty! Splat.

I did a craft fair! I came early. Set up my table with my pop-up yarn holder, nice tablecloth, pretty lamps and spinning wheel. Then I waited. I spun while I waited. This meant that every kid who came to the crafty day stopped by my table and asked what I was doing. I lost count of parents who told their kids I was weaving. (I will refrain from stating my opinion on mistaking spinning for weaving.) I was asked what the yarn on my table was for. I stopped small children from putting their finger into the flyer of my spinning wheel after I asked them not too. I laughed with friends. I found another really cool vendor, Smudge Monkey.I want almost everything she makes. I oggled Le Filigree jewelry.

I sold a skein of yarn!

I gave one skein as a birthday present and the recipient bought the other skein in that colorway. So, all told, I sold 2 skeins of yarn.

Now, I realized when I signed up for this day, that an elementary school first annual craft fair is not the ideal place for my yarn to sell. I thought it would be a good challenge for me. Get my ducks in a row and all that. And I think it was. I was so organized after the fair that I finally called my LYS, The Tangled Skein, and made an appointment to show her my yarns. She then purchased a bunch of my Exotic Mongolian yarns that I hand-dye & ply. See, the craft fair was WORTH THE TIME. Then, I got home so pumped from selling yarn to a yarn shop that I finally began setting up my Etsy store for the handspun that I can't wholesale. (I already price it at impoverished worker labor prices and dropping the price would equal slave labor wages.) I now have a shop with a simple banner at snarldesign.etsy.com. I will be loading up the shop with goodies this week. I have to take more pictures!

note: I moved the lamps off the front of my booth shortly after this picture was taken. They hung out on the sides of the booth, shining across the yarn. I never did like their placement much, but oh well, I really don't think the lamps hurt or helped my yarn sales.

extra sad note: Not even the hat I knit for charity sold. sniff.

Crafty Adventures

If I was a technical genius I could figure out how to post the really cool poster for the craft fair I am going to do this Saturday. But I am not, so I will tell you about it.

I am doing a Craft Fair. Isn't that special? I try not to do these things, but my friend Joni is co-ordinating this lil' fair. She has a fabulous line of jewelry, Le Filigree, that she sells at local, high-end clothing stores and I figured with her good taste we couldn't go too wrong. Word has it there is about half n half really cool stuff and grandma's pot holders. There will also be hats for sale to raise money for a little girl we know going through Cancer treatments. Knitting hats for kids is fun because they are small, cute & quick!
Lil' Pea is modeling the Chunky Newsboy hat I knit for the charity sale.

I spent a good chunk of yesterday doing something I thought would take maybe 2 hours and turned into 5 hours! Classic story--I seem to have difficulties estimating tasks. Harry, my lil' Angora cross bunny needed a haircut. Badly. Here he is before the haircut. It warmed up yesterday and I whipped him on into the house and started cutting. and cutting. and cutting. It turns out he had a lot of mats I hadn't caught on too. I heavily blamed myself. Until I brought in Sally for her haircut. She had almost NO mats. I treat these 2 little ones pretty equal. When one gets brushed, so does the other. I have no idea why Harry matted up so badly and Sally didn't mat at all. But I was interested to see that the fiber I took off them is very different. Harry's is long and silky. Sally's is short and extremely soft. It doesn't drape over your finger like Harry's hair. These 2 are rescues, so I don't know their background in detail. I know that, as of August, they are supposed to be under a year old, Harry has had 1 cut, Sally has never been cut. And they are not related. hmmm, maybe they are different kinds of Angora crosses? Maybe Sally is English, Hairy is German? They are really similar in size...I don't know. I do know I have a lot of gorgeous fiber. It is perfectly white and so clean I could spin it straight out of the bag I clipped it into. No vege matter and no flakes! The sweaters I put on the lil' guys to keep them warm didn't stay on, but I noticed Harry used his as a nest last night and neither bunny is eating the sweater, so I left them in the pens for warmth. On the right is Sally after her haircut. It was so exciting to see my dream of having Angora fiber to spin come true. These lil' lovelies are well worth having around. And if you want a hit of Angora--give me a call!

Christmas Project Revealed

Here is the front piece of the sweater I am knitting for my son. Now, I realize that the color combo is just a titch on the bright, obnoxious side. It is for a 6 yr old boy. And it is knit completely from my stash. I bought the bright blue wool/cotton blend yarn specifically for the boy a couple years ago at Cordova's finest, The Net Loft. Somehow I knew that obnoxious and blue would be perfect for him.

I am using 3 different yarns. The bright blue Schachenmayr Nomatta Habanera is a 70% wool, 30% cotton yarn. I found it in the ultra clearance bin at The Net Loft. I only have 4+ balls of the blue, hence the creative sidepanels. The brown Angora Soft by Knit One, Crochet Two is a WEBS ultra clearance as well. Only 4-5 balls of the brown in a 45% nylon, 40%viscose & 15% Angora. (I am not sure what I was thinking when I ordered the yarn. Nylon & Viscose??? It must have been the $2/ball and Angora that turned my head. Will I never learn?) I will use brown for the hood & pocket if there is enough. The orange is the good ol' standby Galway 100% wool. Strangly, they all come out to a very similar gauge, so far. I did do a gauge sample. Didn't want to many suprises as I am making up the color changes as yarn remains.

So far the sweater is going very fast. On the back I am knitting in his hockey number 77 in the bright orange. The sleeves will be striped depending on how much yarn I have left of each color. Knowing that I would barely have enough yarn for the entire sweater heavily influenced my decision to make stripes everywhere. Hopefully, no one will be able to tell when I run out of one color before the sweater done.

Now, it is back to the reality that Halloween is not until Friday and my children are already hyped up on candy from the school carnival. By the way, why did no one tell me school carnivals are a mother's worst nightmare? Oh yeah, I knew, but I was swayed out of my stoicism by those big, cute, blue eyes owned & used against me by my son. He just consumed a gummy rat. Arg.