Friday, May 8, 2009

Babies & Aliens


So, the cloud scarf is finished and gifted. It ended up being 80" long. It should be very warm for those Alaskan winters. No photos yet. I'm trying to keep my blogging momentum going, but I've got to be quick tonight. So, new projects only.

This blanket is the most recent kit I have with Pisgah Yarn . It's a baby blanket that I designed for one of my coworkers. I've called it Natalia, as Natalia was the woman having the baby, and the sample shown in the official photograph is this one made in shades of pink.

This sample was made by another woman I work with.

Natalia actually had a boy, Luan, and the blanket I made her was in blues. Unfortunately I never got a photo of that blanket when finished. I gifted the blanket to Natalia about a week before her due date, and that fell with in the month that I was without a camera.

I do have this in-progress photo of the blanket in blues.

This was a very quick and easy, but fun blanket to make, and I hope Natalia and Luan enjoy it.

Coincidentally, another coworker of mine is expecting a girl any day now, and I think she will be the recipient of Sandy's pink version of the blanket.

I have also made a blanket for the little girl, and although it has been gifted, I am not ready to share just yet. The Madison (I just LOVE that name) blanket is also a very fun project but not quite so easy. More details soon.


The Alien Bath Set is another new kit available through Pisgah.

Once again, this photo is not of my work, as my project was gifted during those camera deprived days. This set was crocheted by raveler eboousm. I'm not giving her real name, as she doesn't list it in her profile, and I never thought to ask if that was intentional. If she wishes to remain anonymous I will keep her secret.

This design actually stemmed from a gift I had made for my brother a long time ago. He had given me Debbie Stoller's The Happy Hooker as a gift, and I wanted to gift him in return with a project from the book.

I decided on the Skullholders. I loved the pattern but after making two skull panels, enough for one potholder, I decided I couldn't bear to make the third and the fourth (I bore easily, I guess). So, I decided to make up my own design for the second potholder.

I made this alien free style, but liked it enough that I really wanted to make some sort of pattern eventually. Looking at these potholders I would say my brother liked it, too. They are well worn.

It took me quite some time, but I think the towel/wash cloth set was a great use for the image.

I have lots of projects in the works right now, and one is actually for me. So, I promise to try to blog more frequently.

Tomorrow is the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool festival. I hope to not be too drunk with the smells of fiber to take photos.








Tuesday, May 5, 2009

How long has it been?

I know it has been a small eternity since I have posted here. I had a very busy few months, and the short periods of time I had to be working on projects was sent working on gifts that could not go public anyway.

In the last few weeks I have had the opportunity to somethings purely for fun, and now I finally have some projects to show.

Here is an in progress shots of a gift that I had been working on for several weeks that is now gifted.

This is a comfort afghan for my friend Chris. I met Chris through the Peaches & Creme group on Ravelry. She is a wonderful person, and has become a good friend. She also does a great deal of my pattern testing for me.

Recently Chris has had a lot to deal with between being laid off, and trying to help her sick mother. When I decided to make a comfort afghan for her I contacted several people in the P&C group, and lots of squares were on the way. Group members sent me 22 of the 30 squares in this afghan. I edged each square then sewed them all together. Luckily my brother Gerry was visiting the night I was seaming this up, so I gave him a yarn needle, and he dove right in, too.

If you want a closer look at any of the squares I have a photo album here. Each square has the ravelry name of it's creator listed.

When the blanket was all done I decided to drive out to New Jersey and present it to Chris personally. She knew I was coming but didn't know why.

This is Chris in the office of the pet store she and her husband own, as she is seeing the afghan for the first time.

We had a wonderful day together, and although we had never met face to face before, it was just like we had been friends for years.

During that same time I was host to two delightful stuffed pigs. Another P&C ravelry group project. These pigs are traveling the country visiting many of the group members.

There is an online scrapbook of their travels here.





The Little piggies spent the day with us, as did Wonder Woman (the stuffed toy I had made for Chris this past Christmas). Here they are at the sign marking the community where Chris lives, and gets her ravelry name from.


I have also managed to find the time to do quite a bit of spinning in the last two weeks. My favorite yarn of late is this thick/thin spiral yarn I created to mimic the look of fluffy white clouds.


I wish I had photographed it before I wound it into a ball, but you can still get a sense of the texture.

This yarn is being made into a scarf for a co-worker that is getting ready to move to Alaska. I figured if ever there was an occasion for a fuzzy warm hand spun scarf, this is it!



Here is the fabric of the scarf. Can you see the clouds?

It's actually been an amazingly quick project- which it had to be because I didn't realize she is leaving at the end of the week.


I spun and plies the yarn on Saturday, and Sunday. I washed it and set the twist late Sunday night, and started the knitting last night. With size 11 needles it has grown to 4' in length in just a few hours.


The last bit of news I am going to share today is kind of exciting to me. I am going to be a vendor at the Squam Lake Art Workshops. This is a five day artists retreat about an hours drive north of me. On Saturday night they are having a vendor fair and ravelry party. So, it will be a very fun event. I plan to sell several different items, including hand spun yarn, and hand painted rovings. Here's a bit of a preview. These two merino braids are my favorites from a dying adventure I had last week.

My friend Lynne will be sharing the booth with me, and we plan to get together for more dyeing next week. Lynne creates Beautiful colourways, and spins beautifully. Check out her etsy store.