12 Days of Christmas - Day 7

 Oooh, into the greens now..........

12 Days of Christmas - Day 6

 Day 6 - More purple but with lots of black in it - I think this is stunning. This is the halfway mark for the spinning packets. Will be fun to see what tomorrow brings. It's going to be sad when this is over but then I'll get to figure out what to ply it with (rayon or silk thread in who knows what color) and then to let it sit for a bit on the shelf while I figure out what it will grow up to be.....knitted, woven, crocheted........at some point in the next couple of months a project will turn up to be perfect for this handspun.

12 Days of Christmas - Day 5

 More purple only darker today - what will tomorrow bring?

12 Days of Christmas - Day 4

Day 4 is really pretty - can't wait until I see what's in store in the 5th day packet

12 Days of Christmas - day 3

Nothing to say, just sharing today's spinning from the 12 days of Christmas spin-a-long

12 Days of Christmas - Day 2

Day 2 of the 12 Days of Christmas spin-a-long. This batt is a bit lighter color than the one from yesterday. Today I did better with the photo........yesterday I was lazy about it.

Here it is spun, I just kept going on top of day 1. This is really fun. I can't wait to see what's in tomorrow's package, I'm hoping for another subtle change.

12 Days of Christmas

Today is day 1 of the Inglenook Fibers 12 days of Christmas spin-a-long. I did great ignoring the box of 12 bags of fiber inspired by the Snow Maiden since it arrived in the mail. Here's a link to the day it arrived so you can see what I've been tempted by for the past couple of weeks.

This afternoon I spun up the first 1/2 oz of fiber. I'm spinning on my Hansen mini-spinner.....hmm, looks like it could use some dusting........ I could easily just keep on ripping those little bags open and spin them but I'll try to have strength and wait until tomorrow to spin day 2's bag and so on for these 12 days. It will be fun to see the color blending each day. I'm thinking I'll ply it with either some very fine commercial silk or perhaps rayon, maybe a solid color, maybe a variegated color.......will decide once I've spun it all up and have seen all the colors in it.

Seaglass scarves

 Yesterday I spent some time twisting fringe on the latest scarves and doing the photography work. These were both woven on a painted warp which I deliberately dyed very pale seaglass colors. I love the one with the lavender weft above......

 .....and I guess I love this one with the dark teal weft just as much......both are now up for sale in my etsy shop......unless I change my mind and keep one of them.

After I finished with the two scarves I decided to pull out another painted warp, this time to go on the Macomber in a 8 harness fancy twill. I dyed these bouts ombre style but when it came time to put them on the loom I could decide on where two of them should go. The two on the left are so close in color I think they could have gone in either spot........but this is the way they are now. Weaving won't start on these for a while as I'm taking time off for the holidays to do some other things...........although weaving on this warp is looking very inviting.........

A bit of weaving...........

 Today I was able to get a little time at the loom so wove off the second scarf on the painted tencel warp. Both are washed and hanging to dry.

Friend Theresa gifted me a very fun cookie cutter with Bailey's name - whoops, meant to take a photo of the cookie cutter, just realized I didn't......oh well.  Anyhow I made some 'cookies' for Bailey. What Theresa doesn't know is that I'm cookie cutter challenged. This is the best one out of the bunch - Bailey doesn't mind that the others have crazy compound fractured legs or giraffe necks - they still taste very yummy.

Finally........

 Finally a bit of time at the loom.  I put on a painted tencel warp, enough for 2 scarves. It's a 20 harness design, originally more harnesses from out of the Complex Weavers book but I turned the draft at which time it became 20.  Above I'm auditioning wefts. Definitely the dark teal for one scarf, still deciding between the lavender or light teal for the second scarf.

Here's the dark teal scarf. The painted warp is very subtle, on purpose, in pale shades of sea glass......well, not the colors of sea glass I find on the Oregon coast beaches but the colors I see in jewelry which is probably man made sea glass............

A bit more stitchin'

A bit more cross-stitching going on in the evenings here - just quick little projects I've had in my stash for a long time.....some a very long time.  This little one is finished except for the starfish charm and seed beads for bubbles coming from the fish. Sometime in January I'll get over to Michaels to look for frames for all the stitching I'm doing - there are at least a few that I can buy ready made frames for, others I'll have to get framed........but I'll do the stretching over foam core myself.

A fun part of stitching is using accessories dear friend Cathy made me years ago. The little sheep chatelaine actually has a date stitched on the back - 2003. The precious needle roll doesn't have a date on it but it was either a year before or after the chatelaine.......I'm guessing.

Bah Humbug

Yes, that's how I feel this year - bah humbug - just not in the holiday spirit, actually a bit depressed....hopefully this will pass soon.

I've been doing a little cross-stitch in the evenings, very fun. I have so many patterns already put aside with fabric and floss. This little sheep was actually a kit from Heart in Hand. I love the piece of wool appliqued on for the face with the googley big button eyes. The fabric that was in the kit had discolored from the plastic pouch it had come in - what a shame.........but I found a similar size fabric in my stash. I'm loving working on these little cross-stitches. I used to do a lot of it years ago but there's just no time anymore......but I'm going to be making time for fun projects from now on........in addition to my weaving..........

So, the bad news with this stitching is that it aggravates my thumb. The past few months I've been having issues with my thumb hurting from the knuckle closest to my palm to my wrist, possibly tendonitis. I think the tremendous amount of knitting I was doing this year might have done me in, it also bothers me throwing the shuttle although not as bad, and interestingly it doesn't bother me spinning. But I think the position of holding a needle doing the cross-stitch is the worst of all. I may have to put the cross-stitch aside for a bit and rest my hand.

2016 Holiday Cards

Here are this year's holiday cards. It's a 26 harness twill star. I started with a star design from the Complex Weavers compilation publication and then tweaked it to how I wanted to see it woven. The warp is 20/2 perle cotton the weft a similar size metallic thread from my stash.

I used 3 different types of gold scrapbook paper. The top right was my favorite but I only had 2 pages of it in my stash and couldn't find it anywhere - it was a matte gold metallic color. Then the bottom left was a very cool paper, or so I thought since it was found in with the scrapbooking papers........it was actually metal combined with something else, maybe a plastic coating - it was destroying my square punch so I had to toss that idea. Then I found a 24"x36" sheet of the glittery card stock, upper left, that the punch liked and ended up making the majority of the cards out of that.  I cut the bottom edge with deckled scissors and then used a gold metallic marker on the inside so it shows when the card is closed. I neglected to take a photo of the inside - I printed the sentiment on a gold parchment and added it inside.

Found a couple more cross stitch patterns stashed away and have been stitching in the evenings. I also found 8 finished cross stitch projects in need of framing, they've been stashed away for years. Goal next year is to frame some for our bedroom and possibly gift the others.

I've already been working on going through my stash, in small bits of time, and selling, gifting, donating craft supplies I don't use and will never use........someone else might as well enjoy creating with them rather than leaving them to take up space in my studio.

Cross-stitching.........

I'm not quite sure when I started this cross-stitch for the beach cottage, maybe 2 years ago, maybe a bit longer. Yesterday evening I pulled it out and started to stitch on it again. I think I remember why I must have set it aside, I'm to the point of stitching the scallop shells which are almost the same color as the linen fabric.......tough on the eyes, even with an OTT light.......and I can't seem to find my magnifier that hangs around my neck anywhere.......

In the same tote bag were two other simple small ocean related cross-stitch patterns along with fabric and floss so once I finish this one I might as well move on to those.....then I'll have 3 to frame at the same time.

It's fun to get away from always creating to sell or dealing with roving to sell and do something relaxing and fun like this.........well, it would be more relaxing if it were easier to see.......2 scallop shells down, 4 more to go, then the outlining which will be a snap. There are little scallop shell pewter charms to add on top of each stitched scallop shell. I did a tea cross-stitch like this, I have the matching frame, I just need to get around to blocking, stretching and framing it........hmm, maybe need to pull that out too........maybe 2017 can be the year of finishing up many UFO's.

Now back to sitting in front of the fire to stitch..........

Whoo Hoo!!!!

Today my Inglenook Fibers 12 Days of Christmas Spin-a-long arrived in the mail.  The rules are it is not to be opened until Christmas Day and then to spin one packet a day - the packets are numbered. Ok.........so I opened the shipping box but that's as far as I'm going to go until Christmas Day........I hope. I'll have to hide it away so I won't be tempted to sneak a peek or start spinning.

This is what it looks like

Here's the label. The fiber colors are based on this illustration. I can't wait to see the progression of color. This is my first time for the 12 Days SAL but my friend Cathy did it last year and the color progression was incredible.

There are 3 of us that I know of in my spinning group that got in on this limited offering so the goal is to spin it up, however we choose, make something, and then we'll all put it in our county fair display next year. It will be a fun challenge. It was available with sparkle or without - I chose without, the other 2 chose with. I'm already thinking I might need to ply it with some fine silk or rayon to make it go farther.

If Inglenook does this again next year and you're interested you'll have to keep up with goings on in their forum on Ravelry next fall to get in on it - it's not something they put up for sale in their etsy shop. When we heard the date for sign-ups we were right there on Ravelry to get in on it.

Now, I need to step away from the box and try to ignore it for over 2 weeks - yikes - now that's a challenge.

Earthquake, weaving and the beach......

This morning shortly after Sam left for work I felt a jolt, it was 6:50am. I jumped out of bed because I was worried that someone kicked in the garage door, that's what it felt like. I turned on the outside lights and bravely, with Bailey standing behind me (that coward), we walked down the deck steps to look at that door. Once I could see all was secure I assumed one of the big firs fell somewhere on the property. But then on the news I heard of a 6.5 magnitude earthquake 100 miles out in the ocean west of Eureka, CA at exactly the time I felt that jolt - I'm taking a wild guess the location is around 200 miles SW of us. So, that's the exciting news of the morning - no tsunami reported along the coast.


Back in 1989 on our way to our acreage in SW Oregon we spent 2 1/2 years in the San Fran Bay area - we arrived from the east coast 3 months before the Loma Prieta quake which was centered 20 miles south of us - rude awakening to California. We were fine as the house we bought was newer and built to earthquake standards..........devastation elsewhere.

We spent 4 days on the coast over the past weekend. I got back to the towel warp I put on the loom over there a couple months ago. I didn't weave much as I was busy with other activities but I enjoyed throwing the shuttle a bit.

........come on Mom & Dad, the beach is waiting...........

.........wait a minute, did I see Dad putting his shoes on..........

........big stick in the scary ocean.........better keep an eye on it, would love to grab it but I'm a water dog that doesn't go in the water above my knees........

........it's close, maybe I can grab it before a wave comes and gets me........

.........there it is for the taking but wait, there's a good smell here............

.........success, got that stick............

..........oh but wait, Dad had a better stick I could steal...........ah, life is good..........

Giveaway Winner!!!

Using Random.org I have a winner of the Sashiko kit giveaway - it's Deanna.  I went to your blog Deanna but didn't see a way to contact you so please drop me a note letting me know your complete name and mailing address and I'll get the kit out in the mail to you. Congrats and happy stitching!  cindiesam at yahoo dot com