Thinking out Loud

Hello there, interwebs!

I know that I can't possibly have any loyal readers out there, as I am very un-loyal to actually writing.  Since the last time I was here typing...

1. I canned over 400 jars of various sundries, and filled the pantry to explosion potential.

2.  Following the three months of putting up food from the garden, I experienced a run on Harry Potter Sweaters of monumental proportions.  Over 100 sweaters were embroidered by hand and sent out into the world in the months of October through January.......

3.  I also experienced a small run on custom handknit sweaters, which I believe each deserve their own beautiful snapshot........

Melissa Leapman's Fabulous Cabled Turtleneck Pattern in Malabrigo Maxima

Heavily Improvised Cropped Version of Amy Miller's Gradient Pullover

Beautiful Silk Wedding Bodice from Stephanie Japel's Gorgeous Simple Knitted Bodice Pattern

A Classic Lopapeysa

A Downton Inspired Cardigan from an antique 1920's pattern

Downton Inspired Lace Pullover from another antique pattern

4.  And, finally--- I got caught up in miles and miles of roving, and put together giant blankets and scarves for sale in the shop--- one of which was to be seen on a little old runway during NYC Fashion week.  You know, no big deal.  *runs around flapping arms like an albatross and screaming like a hyena*  Totally cool.

So.... that's my excuse.  I literally had not the time, nor the finger strength, to type anything.  To let you know how I was doing.

But turns out..........I'm doing just fine.  I'm ready for the spring let down.  It came, like the weather, a little later than last year.  But I'm all caught up, and ready for a month of hibernation before the seeds go in the garden.

My two seedlings are doing wonderfully, and the hubster is out for training in California for a month.

I'll try and write regularly until..... well...... I run out of time again.  Being seasonally self-employed is tough on time management skills.  :)

♥Rose

ETA:  I'm available here, here, and here for your purchasing pleasure.

Travelling Boneyard Shawl - A knitting update.

I got on the plane to San Francisco on the 2nd, and cast on for this lovely shawl.  I have had this gorgeous handspun wool/mohair blend sportweight yarn sitting around since the dawn of my knitting obsession, but I could never find THE project to show off it's gorgeousness.  It is a smidgeon itchy, a bit old fashioned, and a simple design.

I found the pattern through ravelry here, written by Stephen West. It is simple-- starting at the neck, and increasing 4 stitches each right side row.  Knit in stockinette, and adding a garter ridge every so often for good measure.

It was a marvelous travelling project.  Mindless, hard to mess up.  No charts.  As a matter of fact, I had the pattern memorized after the 5th row.  750 yards or so of sportweight yarn on size 8 needles later?

We have a lovely scarf/shawl.  Only two flights across the country, several long trips on the San Fran public transit system........ and no blocking.  I considered blocking, but was afraid my chocolate lab would mess it up.  I really would like some of these......

I do have a little yarn left over...........  a matching set of fingerless gloves, mayhap?

Hooray for finishing something!!!!!!

For those who are interested, these are in the works.  Details to follow.

Malabrigo Maxima meets the Cable Needle

Cascade Quattro in Garter- ready for her lace border.  :)

Noro Kochoran gets mitered.

As you can see, I've been knitting most of my evenings for the last month or so.  Very enjoyable, this meditative practice of turning string into garments with two pointy sticks.

♥Rose

Okay, let's just start from the beginning.... What Have I been up to...

What I've been working on: Part I...

I have been so busy keeping up with orders this past two weeks, and that is the reason I've not posted!  But I'm going to MAKE time to show you what I've been working on....

I've been making blankets as part of the shop offering for my Sew Ecological shop on Etsy.  So far the feedback has been amazing, and two out of these three labors of love have sold right out the door....

1.  Neutrals- this one sold in under an hour.  Granted, I had a VERY good idea what *someone* on my Etsy team was wishing for, so I'm glad it did...

Feedback:  "This blanket is FANTASTIC! Rose has a great talent for matching up pieces of prior loved garments into a warm and cozy lap blanket! I LOVE this!"

2.  This one is still in the shop, in case you FALL in love with it!  It is in manly shades of gray, black, and cream, and I really adore it...

3.  And LAST, but certainly not least, this one is one of my favorites to date.  It too, sold right away.  It was also featured on Cuteable.  This one has been lovingly packaged and shipped to Canada, so I hope the owner leaves me some *swoon* feedback once she recieves it.  It was hard to let go of this one, because my AMAZING cousin (also a FABULOUS sewer) donated the red fair isle sweaters to make this one a reality.

Thank you for these sweaters, Dawn!!!!

So there you have it.  Day 1 in a long series of "What I've been up to."

Working with Cashmere...and a purse fail.

Good news and bad news.  Let's get the bad news over first.  My orange purse that I dreamed would be perfection, luscious, amazing, superfantabulous, extraordinary? 

None of those adjectives seem to fit the bill.  I'd go with....blech.  The beaded embellishment of my vision looked ridiculous on it.  The construction was mediocre to say the best of it.  I blame the super thick wool, the lack of handbag construction experience, my cruddy old cheap sewing machine.  Whatever.  Here is the vision....  A long rectangular bag with a half moon flap, lined with vintage linen, and embellished with the most beautiful beaded dangly thing I thrifted..  this thing:

The dangly thing-y doesn't really go with the shotty craftmanship of the bag.  I don't know if there is any saving of this orange monstrosity...  give me a fricken' idea already.  I'm fresh out. 

Pointy edges, too short of a flap.  Blah.

Extra thick felted sweater + older cheap machine = crappy construction detail.  Blah.

But on an up note...

The cashmere creativity train has pulled into the station.  With two of the lovliest color of cashmere I have found to date, I made four things:

Cashmere Cowl with coordinating thrifted cotten lining

Cashmere Fingerless gloves in progress...

Cashmere Scarf of gorgeousness...

You want to touch it, don't you...

And this, the crowning achievement of an old Daniel Bishop Cashmere Sweater.  Possibly the thickest I've ever seen...  Cabled and ribbed?  This scarf is 6X thicker than any cashmere object I've ever touched.  And like a cloud.  Soft as butter...  I don't know if I can sell it, other than it is not really my color...

OMG!! 72" of luxury right there.

And one more pair of cashmere fingerless gloves, in a classic combo of linen color and tiny cables....

So, as artists, whether we are knitters, sewers, upcyclers, whatever... We take the good with the bad, right?  And sometimes the bad is very, very bad.  But the good can be very, very soft. 

Off to work!  I have a pile of cashmere and wool that needs work.

And- everyone give a shout out to Rex; he found me some lovely pieces that could become my very first design involving wool suiting... Any ideas?

Hobbling around trying to take a good picture..

So, I posted some new items in my store...  Mostly stuff I've been working on for the last couple of hectic weeks.  I've only made accessories lately, but I've got plans to make an orange blanket, and possibly a green one too this week that I have off.

Here is the latest photo shoot.  You should have seen me hobbling around on my stitched up foot through the snow trying to get a good pose for the pics.  Can you see the pain on my face?  Laugh all you want.  My husband was.  No sympathy over here at the biology household.

There were a couple of major categories- Scarves/Caplet-y things.

Upcycled Capelet with lace and wool ruffle.

The Hug Scarf- Red Upcycled Wool

Hot Pink Jersey Lined Scarflette with vintage buttons.

And Fingerless Gloves:

Italian Merino Cabled Fingerless gloves

Mongolian Cashmere Fingerless

Dusty Rose Italian Merino Fingerless with Ribbon Embellishment

There is more over here in my shop, I plan on putting together a tutorial for the ribbon embellished fingerless gloves later this week.  I also have some plans on making a ruffled mitten, which is possibly a bit more practical than a fingerless glove in some climates...

Enjoy your Monday!

Currently working on....

I know, I know.. I said I'd be making candy tonight.  But I find I don't have everything I need, and I'm too lazy to go to the store.

I am piecing a wool blanket together out of pieces of upcycled sweaters.

This is one of those processes that leaves me staring at the floor for lengthy amounts of time, wondering if I have the layout just right.  Right now, I've got two columns done, and I'm finicky over the last one...

Column on right is giving me pain.

But, once I get the flannel backing on this baby, everything might seem okay... What do you think?  Manly enough?

The process....

So I have this process of designing these one of a kind items, and it never really is the same...  But the basic steps go something like this.

*Mommy note:  This is by no means a continual process.  I'm constantly interrupted by the needs of the household (rugh.) and the needs of my kiddos and hubby.  Interruptions add time and frustration to the need for design inspiration.  But alas, we do what we do. 

1.  Hunt for objects that are natural fibers.  Find.  Buy.  Buy more.  Buy more.

2.  Organize said natural fibers by color.  (I'm currently using an old bookshelves and repurposed shelving in my laundry room.)  Could be more organized, but you aren't reporting to Martha Stewart, right?

These colors are at the top of my to- do list. 

Vintage sheets!!!!!!!!!

3.  Stare at items.  Fondle items.  Decide if items should be felted.  Put items back onto shelf until inspiration strikes.


4.  Once inspiration strikes, remove item(s) from shelf, felt in the washer, and proceed to de fuzz .  Whilst de-fuzzing, which anyone who has ever felted knows- takes FOREVER..., I stare at item some more, and decide what it wants to become.  Whatever that is, it needs to be chopped up.

5.  Chop, slice, chop.

6.  Decide that the original idea I had will not work with said sliced pieces.  Stare at item.  Fondle item.

7.  Make a command decision.  Back out of decision.  Man's plain armwarmers?  Those sold quickly.  Embellish these brown ribbed wrist warmers with beautiful felted flowers or embroider, or better yet; a lace flower with a button?  That would be really cute...  This goes on for an hour or so.  Then I embellish or not. 

I end up with something like this-

Kept plain.  They were already sooo darn cute!

or this

Angora and Wool with a lace flower.

or this

The Cowl that would become a purse embellished with Vintage fabric and wool rosettes.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes my inspiration pile gets unruly... But I just pick what I like when I look down...

Declan has a little pink soldier "watching over mommy's pink sweater thingie"

And I always have extra scraps to inspire me further into the patchwork/embellishment abyss...

So there it is.  Organically created by a possibly insane person, who has trouble focusing if I know I won't be tested, who doesn't like to ever do the same thing twice, and who loves, loves, loves what I'm doing.

What inspires you?  How do you get that inspiration out there? 

Sweating the clock...

The calendar pages fly off the wall like you're living in a Tom and Jerry cartoon.  You have to make 10 more gifts by Christmas...

Pulse racing...

Head spinning...

Okay.  Take a deep breath.  Think.  Any old sweaters in the house?

Make some of these for the tween or stylish adult woman on your list.  Give it a whirl- if you have cashmere laying around, even better-

The top one are embellished with some mohair yarn, and the bottom two are leftovers from my cashmere blankies *points down*.

Steps for making armwarmers:

1.  Cut sleeves off of an old sweater.  Tighter fitting arms work best for this; nobody needs baggy arm warmers.

2.  Using a seam ripper, cut a 1" hole in the sleeve seam about 2" from the wrist hem of the sweater arm.  You could leave this, but since we didn't felt the sweater, your safest bet is to bind the thumbhold with some yarn.  Just whipstitch around the hole loosely, covering the cut on both sides.

3.  Hem the top by hand or machine.

Voila!  Too boring?  Embellish away!  I may embellish my next set with buttons, ruffles, or ribbon.  The variations are endless.

Gift to that tween/teen/fashionista in your life.  And feel good that you didn't pay retail.

 

  Lisa Baday Ribbed Armwarmers from Nordstrom- $134

So there you are.  Stop sweating the clock.  Whip up 10 pair of these in about 3 hours, and the calendar pages can fly off the wall all they want.