Monday, December 31, 2007

Ravelry Rocks!


OK...I have to admit it! I am totally addicted to Ravelry now. I waited and waited for my invite. Once it arrived, I did nothing with it! Finally, I have been able to sit and check it out. It is too cool, let me tell you! If you knit or crochet you much check it out: http://www.ravelry.com/ It will take some time to get your invite, but well worth the wait!

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Spinning Yarn

This is my second attempt at hand spinning yarn and then plying it. My first attempt does not even deserve a pic in the Blog. I am learning tons. This is some of my hand dyed roving. It is very easy to work with. All that I am struggling with now is getting the consistency the same. AND how on earth do you make a ton of it? This is about an ounce and a half, but it wouldn't be enough to make anything! I so want a spinning wheel. SOOOOOO bad. I can always ask everyone I know to pitch in for my birthday...only six months away LOL

Hopefully the next handspun posted will be beautiful!

Christmas Aftermath!

Wheew! What a crazy last couple of weeks! I tried to blog my Crafting Christmas Days...we can now see that didn't work out so well. I ended up with a million knitting projects to finish and no time to sleep, much less blog.

I was blessed with a house full of family throughout the Holidays! What a wonderful thing! My Mom and Step-Dad (and Casey their dog) came down to visit. I am quite certain Daisy was only still when she took 30 second power naps before tackling Casey again. Poor Casey, I am sure he is sleeping better than he ever has right now!

My sister spent the night on Christmas Eve...poor girl. She is now certain she is on the ten year plan before she gives me any nephews or nieces. Austin and Drew were up all night long. They heard Santa a million times! Megan had to yell at them to get back to bed a bunch. She woke up a tad grumpy, but quickly got over it!

My Dad and step-mom also came over Christmas Day and had dinner with us. A dear friend once told me, you know you are truly blessed when you have more friends and family over than you have seats for them.

This was the first Christmas we were all together in over 10 years. Ten years!!! It was so nice. This is why we moved to Arkansas, family! At one time during the day, my Aunt and Uncle stopped by with my grandmother. It is just so nice to have family close by.

I do miss my California Family. My dear friends at The Cross Church and Susan and the crew. New Year's Eve will be tough! I do wish we were at Cristal and Trankie's, drinking too much, and pissing off the neighbors with illegal fireworks, smuggled in from Arkansas. This year, we will most likely be in bed before the New Year rings in.

What an amazing year 2007 has been! I have learned to trust God more than ever before. I am finally running the business I have always dreamed of. Drew and Austin are both doing amazing in school and adjusting nicely. We have a great (overly excited) dog...did someone say Crack Rat? And a beautiful house. What a year!!!

Monday, December 17, 2007

All on my own!

Yay! My step-mom is taking my little one to Missouri with her for the next couple days. Her parents live on a farm and have tons of animals...and of course SNOW! He is going to have a BLAST and I am going to get SOOOOO much done! Yippee!

Crafting Days 4 and 5 will be posted later today :)

Sunday, December 16, 2007

12 CRAFTING Days of Christmas

It was really exciting. Last week, I got an order from a very sweet Secret Santa for some of my roving. She said the roving was on the very top of her recipient's Christmas wish list. Very cool! I figured I would wrap it up for the buyer and send it on it's way with style. I sure do hope the recipient likes it!






A fellow AREtsy member is doing her blog on The Twelve Days of Christmas, right now. She is featuring different videos from YouTube for each day. It is VERY entertaining and you should check it out for sure! WARNING...you will get some songs stuck in your head...seriously! Click here if you want to check it out.




This got me thinking. I am always taking on more crafting tasks than humanly possible to complete in the time frame I give myself. A few months ago, actually last February, my grandmother complained that she could no longer find nice hand knit dishcloths. From that moment, I knew I would give her a beautiful basket full of hand knit dishcloths for Christmas. So, please tell me, why didn't I start at that moment? Here it is, 9 days away from Christmas, I officially have four done. FOUR! So here is my tour of the 12 days of Crafting Christmas...starting late, in true Cyndi fashion! The picture above is Day 1 of Crafting for Christmas. I made a hat with ear flaps for my step dad. I had my great hubby pose in it for the picture. He only grumbled a little bit!






Day 2 Dishcloths Galore! This is a weave pattern where you slip every other stitch and then knit a row. Next row you knit two and then slip every other til the end. Knit another row and start all over. I love the way it looks and the extra slip stitches will make a nice cleaning surface.














Same Day, I attempted to crochet a dishcloth. My crocheting is still in the very primitive stages. But hey, it's a dishcloth.


The 3rd Crafting Day of Christmas


More dishcloths...One isStockinette Stitch with a Crocheted Border
The other just a plain ole Garter Stitch (not blocked yet)
That's it for catching up. I will post day 4 and 5 tomorrow! Running out of time, OH NO!

Friday, December 7, 2007

I LOVE Productive Days!!!

I painted a TON yesterday. I used some of the techniques I learned over the summer at my dye class and blended three different colors. All of this was painted using yellow, blue, and magenta! It always amazes me how fun and pretty the colors turn out. The picture above, is by far, my favorite yarn made to date. It is an alpaca/wool blend and it screams knit me. But, unfortunately, I have to make a profit and make up all the money I put into my base yarns...so it is now on Etsy. CLICK HERE to check it out.

This next roving was such a joy to play with! I took the roving and wrapped it up a couple different times and then tied off four sections. I took the full strength purple blend and then continuously diluted it until it was a very soft pink. The white is where the sections were tied so you can see the graduation when it is layed out. This too is on Etsy; CLICK HERE to see it

Below is just a few more pictures taken of all the roving samplers I paint yesterday. There is still one more large one, four ounces drying.




A member in AREtsy posted this to her blog and I thought it was so great, I had to copy it and share it with you as well. Thank you idyllhands for posting it. Be sure to check out her shop! She makes the coolest hand knit bracelets, using wire! CHECK HER OUT

"Wednesday, December 5, 2007

AREtsy
Christmas is just 20 days away but it's not too late to get some good, quality shopping finished. My favorite group of Etsy ladies makes up a street team lovingly called AREtsy (Arkansas Etsy for those who aren't in the know). It's an amazingly varied group of crafters/artists with all kinds of items in their Etsy shops. We're all open for Christmas so please, make a mug of tea, come in and browse... scratch that, shop for all of the Christmas gifts on your list:

http://www.BeadedBombshell.etsy.com Beaded Things - Necklaces, Rings, Earrings
http://www.Creativekiwi.etsy.com Crochet/Sewing- Babies/Toddlers
http://www.denisefelton.etsy.com collages and greeting cards
http://www.Diamondmeenuh.etsy.com 100 percent hand sewing--no machine
http://www.Divaschmiva.etsy.com all crafts!
http://www.EdieCastle.etsy.com bags, satin pillowcases, jewelry travel totes
http://www.EkioArt.etsy.com Abstract, mixed media art, jewelry, felting and photography
http://www.IdyllHands.etsy.com Knitting and wire wrapping
http://www.JulieRose.etsy.com wire jewelry
http://www.MartoonieMosaic.etsy.com mosaic art
http://www.SUGARFOOT.etsy.com clothing
http://www.SimplePleasuresbyMS.etsy.com Handmade Jewelry
http://www.SnappyBibs.etsy.com Sewing
http://www.TheTwistedPurl.etsy.com Fiber Arts
http://www.WhimsAli.etsy.com sewing, kids stuff
http://www.artandartifacts.etsy.com Assemblage, Mosaics
http://www.casserole.etsy.com papercrafts
http://www.dogwoodlane.etsy.com sewing-wallets and bags
http://www.dyzart.etsy.com glass,clay,metal
http://www.glassbead.etsy.com lampwork glass beads
http://www.jenniferz.etsy.com Sewing, Croches, Jewelry, Papercraft
http://www.judysnow.etsy.com Hand cut mosaic tiles from vintage and older pottery
http://www.nest.etsy.com a little bit of this and that
http://www.punkinhead.etsy.com Snowfolk and other sewn goodies
http://www.QueeniesRoom.etsy.com jewelry supplies, paper crafts, misc.
http://www.paperologie.etsy.com Cards, custom tags, scrap booking, labels, stationary and other chic things

Get shopping!!!"

Great post! I took her advice and have bought a couple things from these awesome Arkansas Crafters for my loved ones.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Oh Me Oh My!

How on earth is time moving this quickly?!?! I am telling you! I have been a bad, bad blogger. My poor neglected blog. Tsk...tsk. It's okay, you can let me have it!

Things have been a bit crazy here lately. Daisy is getting a lot bigger. The picture above is of her napping in her newly knitted doggie sweater. She has to show off her Christmas Spirit too ya know!

These next pictures may not be of the very best quality...but they made me laugh. They were side by side in my camera and I am not entirely sure who took them. My guess would be Brady took the one of Daisy and Daisy took the one of Brady! And really, who knows what on earth they were eating before hand. I am pretty sure Daisy had just enjoyed a green crayon.

Okay, now to the serious stuff! I have now have gift certificates for my Etsy Shop. They can be done in any amount, just send me a convo and I will set one up for you. They are on Etsy now for $10 each. They would make a perfect gift for any yarn-a-holic in your life! I promise, I will try to be a better blogger. I will post more often. I will try. LOL Hope you are all having a happy crafting week!