Mittens

New Mittens! I do not think that anyone actually wears mittens, but I am trying to sell a pair anyway. I know when the right person sees these in real life they will fall hard and fast for them.

Etsy

I recently posted these gloves, they are made from some hand spun merino I did a while back and a lovely Berocco alpaca (navy blue) and the argyle sock rat above is finally completed and posted. I must be losing my mind to think any one would want to purchase a sock rat. I thought he was going to be a sheep but some projects take on their own spirit and he became a rat.

New Twists

Etsy selling  is a little slow this month, and I have 15 pairs of gloves listed, so I feel a bit relaxed to work on other things... I did finally get back to spinning and (although I have completed some small amounts of yarn in the past) I feel like I just completed my first real hand spun yarn work. It is a beautiful orange and pink with yellow and green highlights. On Saturday morning I showed my husband a picture of the pvc pipe contraption I wanted to be able to set the spin and he went immediately to Home Depot and within the hour he had made it for me. Thank you hon! The thing measures 18 inches so I can count my wraps and determine the yardage - I got 190 yds from this batting! While I was plying I created a twisted mess that I cannot untangle. I definitely over spun this lot, but I hate to waste anything. Any one have any ideas what I can do with this? 

So the new roving I am working with is a camel and chocolate with pink highlights. I really like this one and I hope I get better as I ago. I don't know how spinners sell their hand spun  yarn for such low prices. I think spinning is the most time consuming and difficult process  I am into. But I am determine to get to the place where it is fun and relaxing.

Orla Kiely

Target will soon be carryinga line of home goods designed by Orla Kiely. I am so excited - I just wish Target sold her clothing too!

Friday

A bird does not sing because it has an answer.

It sings because it has a song.

Hooray!

What a special day! My mom sent this wonderful package to me.(It oddly just arrived at 7:10). It is full of Charlie Harper cards and great yarns. The red is just in time to make valentines gloves (maybe I'll give them to my nieces...) I was fighting with my spinning wheel when the dog started barking crazy at the mail man. So, forget spinning for now --I have to get knitting. Thanks mom!!

new gloves

Etsy help

For fellow Etsy sellers, Etsy has announced their release of Web Analytics provided through Google Analytics (read Storque article here). I guess we can now find out all kinds of pertinent info regarding our businesses. Quiltish offers some explanation of it. Just thought I would share the info...

success and joy

Better than a meaningless story of a thousand words is a single word of deep meaning which, when heard, produces peace.
(From the Dhammapada, sayings of the Buddha)


“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Both texts appropriated from Its all about Joy. This blog is really worth reading - Megan reminds me of a lot of important things, always just when I need to be reminded of them.

Experience, there's no substitute

Tuesday afternoon I am running on the treadmill watching Oprah’s celebrity Scype show and Meryl Streep says, “Everyone’s experience makes true that which is their own truth.” Now I have believed very strongly that truth is relative. Experience is really the truth which we all seek and basically that there is no truth. You can trick yourself in truth and you can believe what you want to, but that is your truth. No one can judge what your truth is. No can determine that your experience is not true.

Saying that, and thinking about that, I feel so disappointed in myself. I have talked that talk for twenty years but now I realize I do not walk that walk. Instead I look to others, friends, family, even celebrities, for their truth. I look for some path I can follow, I want some answers to my questions and proof that there is a right way and I can do it the right way. I take every comment as criticism. I take every judgment of another as judgment of myself.

Questions, like hailstones, assail you until you find answers. I have so many questions and no one has the answers. I feel like I have more questions about myself and my life than I have ever had before. I am 42 years old and only recently do I (instead of always having all the answers), feel like I am just beginning to start asking questions. I have always had an overconfidence based on my smartness, my ability to do well in school and posses knowledge. But now I realize I am such an idiot. I have so much to learn and I have so much to do.

How do you pretend to be normal, when you are not?

What do you do when you count all your blessings, when you realize you have everything one could want: a loving family, food on the table, a roof over head, a warm bed, nice clothes and a car: but still you want more?

How do you determine your own worth with out comparing yourself to others?

Ususally I can answer these kinds of questions through the process of making art - Obviously I need to make art. Why do I so often forget that?

Both images are by scientistÉtienne-Jules Marey (1830 - 1904)

Ifs and Wishes

If I had more time and money I would wall paper the stairway wall. I found these images of wallpapered stair risers at door sixteen. I had painted the stair risers a while ago in shades of bluegray and bluegreen and gray. I like them that way but they do need some upgrading. It would be so easy to put decorative paper on that surface....
I found the wallpaper above at modgreenpod. They make vinyl free papers and organic cotton fabrics. Not super expensive. And I have posted in the past about Nama Rococo. The red one below comes in a pale gray green (no pic available though). I could totally live with that but at $126 a 25" x 38" sheet, I simply cannot afford it.I know that Nook in Pittsford carries some of MissPrint wallpapers. I see on line that their rolls are 52cm x 10 metres and cost £55/roll. All MissPrint wallpapers are all PEFC certified which means that the paper products they use promote the sustainable management of forests. I like the saplings line, bu it is a little childish for a stair way-This more what I am looking for - something very bold and demanding your attention - It is from MissPrint's Muscat Collection. I just know the rest of my family will hate it though.MissPrint also makes these vinyl graphics (pictured below), which I have been looking at on Etsy and thinking about having made from my own designs...I think I will think about that more.OMG! Did anyone out there know that Target sells wallpaper, and not just wallpaper but wallmurals! They don't carry the stuff in the stores - you can only get online - a little risky, but how cool are these green leaves! For a measley $150, I think it is worth the risk.So, to continue my disertation on wall coverings... I believe I have found THE ONE I WANT
or maybe this one...
and it is on sale for $20 a roll! But each roll is 20.5 " long x 3 "w. That is odd. It says it covers 56 sq. feet, you get two rolls for $20. How does this work???

Camilla and Michelle

Here is Michelle Maul's latest work - The collage along the floor is so great!

Here is the latest from Camilla Engman. It is titled Punctuation. I just adore her work.

Saturday

I have posted some things on Etsy this morning, new fingerless gloves and one last pair of shoe clips. My collection of shoe clips has always been a lot of fun,but I never use them and I  think it would be nice for someone else to enjoy them now.

The rhinestone clips/pin are not going up for sale. I considered putting them on Ebay with a reserve. They are marked  ( I cannot read it very well though) so I have decided to hold on to them with the small group of things I have hidden away to give to my grandchildren. (They probably won't want them - but they can sell them in  50 years and make more money that I could now)

Ifs & Wishes

If I had time, I would sew my own clothes. This is something I have attemptd to do at various times and have always miserably failed. I always have in my mind a specific piece of clothing that I absolutely must have, usually the perfect skirt, but I can't find it a price I am willing to pay. I made a skirt out of dish cloths in high school and I loved it even though everyone made fun of me. I tried to make dresses but never could do it well. I did all right making some maternity dresses for myself and I made lots of dresses for my daughter when she was little. And lately I have become quite the accomplished maker of doll dresses. I get very inspired by Project Runway and feel like I could do it right with time and patience. I saw this book at Barnes and Noble, Sew What! Skirts: 16 Simple Styles You Can Make with Fabulous Fabrics and it made me think once again that I can and should make the perfect skirt.
I am searching Amazon for that book title and I find actual skirts for sale on Amazon. Who knew?

This skirt is on sale for only$4.99 (from Target). I am now remembering the two skirts I did make for myself two years ago. I spent well over $30 on fabric and those skirts and they have since been donated to the Goodwill... $4.99 is looking quite ideal.
This patchwork skirt was what got me thinking about sewing skirts again. I saw it on Patchwork Mafia's Etsy shop.
Oh, I keep forgetting, I hate to sew. And I am not going to purchase the Target skirt. I am not. Well, maybe I will.

resolutions

Since everyone else with a blog is posting their intentions for the new year, I shall too.
I am determined to stop spending money on crap I do not need but just want becaue it is so cute or interesting. If I need to buy something, I want to try to buy vintage, recycled or handmade.

For example: I want a new kitchen light. (I sort of actually need a new kitchen light -- as right now there is just a bare bulb stuck in that spot above the sink and in the winter I really need that light above the sink and lately the bare bulb is making me very unhappy). And I was going to go to that big lighting store at Winton Place, but then I realized I might find a vintage piece on Ebay - Ebay was no help, but I did find a light I like in Etsy.

I could go around to the antique shops too but I don't want to spend a ton of time on this project either...

Specific ways I can shop recycled and handmade-
1. recycled yarn
By unraveling sweaters I can get form the Goodwill I can have new (to me) yarn at a very low cost. I have purchased this kind of upcyled/recycled yarn on Etsy but now I am just going to do it myself. Maybe I will even sell it. I am in midst of my first sweater unreavel-ing and I picked a good on to start on because the yarn is doubled up and I not only have to unravel the sweater but then also have to seperate the two strands into seperate balls of yarn. It is nice yarn and I think it is worth it. To purchase enough yarn to knit an entire sweater would cost upwards of $90.

Jeez, I uploaded this picture of the sweater I am unraveling along with the olive green and off white yarns that I already have in my stash with which I am planning to make a sweater for myself. I am seeing this picture of the yarn on my bed spread and I had no idea that is  where I (obviously) got my inspiration! I have been questioning the color combination for a spring sweater, but now I know I will love it.

2. To curb shopping I will write down everything I purchase, every day. I used to do this when we had very little "discretional" income. Writingpurchases down makes it clear where you can cut back and when you see that you just bought a new sweater at the beginning of the month, it is easier to say no to the sweater you want at the end of the month. Also if you know you are going to write it down, you are more likely to not make the purchase.
3.Okay I cannot think of any other ways right now - But I will try to continue to post other ways to re-use and recycle instead of buying new and just not buying at all.

Boring, not

Found this posted by Art MoCo. In their words... Boring boring boring boring boring boring boring by Zach Plague is anything but. This first novel is a fanstastic satire of youth in the art world that spoofs artists, art schools, collectors, gallerists, art terrorists and just about everyone else. In addition to being a good read into the world of 19 year olds with attitude to spare, Boring Boring is a visual treat. The typography and graphic design are an integral part of the plot. This clever and funny story is also available as a series of posters. The expectation was that the graphic elements would at best take away from the story, or disguise a poorly written one, but Boring Boring is an entertaining romp with a hilarious cast of characters who keep the plot moving along in several different directions.
Maybe this will be in my pile of books to read this summer.

wishes

I wish I was home spinning beautiful yellow and peach merino. I wish I was home baking cupcakes so I could use up the left over icing in the fridge. I wish I was home laying in my cozy warm bed watching As Good as it Gets. I wish I was knitting that lavender baby sweater, I wish was painting soft greens and rich blacks, making lines with a drywall screw in mushy acrylic paint and cutting and pasting random pieces of collage.
I wish I was in my husband's arms.
I wish it was summer.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride
If turnips were swords, I'd wear one by my side
If wishes were fishes we all have some fried
If ifs and ands were pots and pans,
there'd be no need for tinkers' hands

But just wishing that something was true, doesn't make it so.

At least the sun was rising in a beautiful blue sky as I parked my car (which also means it was not snowing today). I will be home in six hours. All good things.

shrooms

I found these gnomes while surfing Ralvery (which I finally joined this week - what took me so long?) They led me through the woods to the pattern for the knitted then felted wool mushrooms too! I loved Lucinda's description of the lucky red and white mushroom on her blog on New Year's Day (also love love love her fingerless gloves which emulate them) and they also make me nostalgic because when I was in college I heard John Cage speak on mushrooms for about four hours. (Actually I did not hear all four hours of the performance as I fell asleep for most of the middle of it.)

more projects

The little girl that was born yesterday is named Margot Grace. She is so very pretty and I now want to make a very pretty little girl sweater for her to wear. Lavender, I think, with embroidered flowers and pink buttons.
These are the two dresses I sewed for Mod Molly. I am working on one or two more and another knit dress and then I have to stop. As Aster said to me, "She doesn't really need all that many dresses." But I find it really hard to return later to specific kinds of sewing and knitting projects. Once I have tweaked the process, I need to complete it before I forget the those tweaks.

This is the sock dog I made for my 10 year old niece, Kathryn. She also received a cell phone for a Christmas gift, so I imagine the dog went unnoticed. I made a gray turtleneck sweater for the dog but it just didn't seem right. Instead the sweater will go on a black sock sheep I am working on now.

More for the New Year

April is all tuckered out . (She had a friend to play with for a day or two).

Allen's new amazing gorgeous dresser made by our dear friend Misha. Check out his other beautiful woodwork at his site.

Aster made a scrumptious cheesecake for New Years' dinner!

The newest group of gloves - can be seen on Etsy too!

This is the sweater I made for a baby that was born this morning. It is a little mis shaped and way to big for a new born, but that is what I get for refusing to follow a pattern. Well really, it refusing to search endlessly for the perfect pattern. Had to make a yellow sweater because we do not know the gender. Would never use yellow otherwise. Hoping all is well with the mom and the baby.

Haven't heard any details yet...