Buzz Buzz

I've been a busy bee this month. Haven't posted anything, but I've been making stuff. I set the twist and finished my Valkyrie yarn:




Consider that a Handspun Monday post :)

Finished a lovely, squishy scarf in Malabrigo:



I'm officially a Malabrigo fan now. I didn't get what all the fuss was about til I felt the stuff for myself. Wow. Anyway, the scarf itself is just done in Purse Stitch (found it in Vogue Stitchionary Vol. 1) and not blocked.

Had a blast at Stitches East. Made another pair of armwarmers (of which I do not have pics... sorry!). Had a ball spinning with Pam while our boys shot each other with little plastic bb's. And started two Christmas presents. Which I cannot show you, because, well, they're Christmas presents! I'm gonna be knitting and crocheting and spinning myself into a frenzy for the next 25 days. At the same time, I have to register for classes and figure out how I'm paying for grad school in the spring. And attend various performances and football parties. And cook my Christmas specialties. Yes, I have a full time job. Whee!

Columbina Revealed

Well, it didn't quite go off without a SNAFU (none of my projects ever do, so I don't know why I expected this one to...), but I'd say my costume turned out okay. Not quite as elegant as I'd envisioned, but hey. Nothing ever is. So now, because I know you, my friends, have been waiting for pics, I give you...

Columbina!




From the back:


The mask is from Mythical Masks and the feather barette is from Dragon Wings. The blouse, skirt, and corset were of course painstakingly crafted by yours truly. I painted the diamond pattern -- well, printed more like. I cut a big chunk of stamp rubber into a diamond, and painted fabric paint onto it, and printed the fabric with that.



The sequins at the points were Mom's idea, and she even volunteered to sew them on. My mom rocks. :)

Happily, the party went far more smoothly than the costume. I think my friend Matt had the most clever costume: he was the Nile turning to blood!

P.S. OMG Football! Both my teams were comeback kings this weekend. Amazing. And awesome.

Inspiration

So, this Halloween costume I'm making. When I really think about it, it's been years in the planning.

See, as a child, I watched Mystery! on PBS with my parents. Poirot was always my favorite. And my favorite Poirot story was "The Affar at the Victory Ball" featuring some of the most exquisite costumes I'd ever seen. The story centered around a group of friends who all dressed as characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, and thus began my fascination with Harlequin. Ironically, I never did study or read up on the Commedia, and to this day I know very little about it. But harlequin patterns and characters loosely based on Harlequin and his friends I find completely enchanting. I buy harlequin patterned scrapbooking papers, anything diamond patterned -- I adore argyle, and I swear it has to be for the diamonds -- I've even bought a graphic short story just because it features Harlequin.

Fast forward quite a bit. In, oh I dunno, January? or so, sometime between last Halloween and this Halloween at any rate, I sketched out a costume idea. I knew exactly what colors it must be, though I couldn't tell you why, and what materials I'd prefer. This costume is the reason I decided not to theme our Halloween party this year. That's how determined I was to make it. I made a special trip with Mom and Pam to the uber-mega-fabric-store-of-doom just to find the right fabrics. I already have the zip ties to bone my corset (trust me on that one). I bought a classic mask at the renaissance festival just to go with this costume, and then serve as a decorative piece until I have occasion to wear it again -- which I most certainly will. I started actually googling the concept sometime about a month or so ago, and found no other examples that are anything like what I'm making. Mine is a very loose interpretation. And what's odd is, I haven't even found anything else in my color scheme. Hmm. Where on Earth did I come up with that?

So I've started working on it, as mentioned previously, and I tend to watch movies while I sew. The other night, I put on the only vaguely ghost-related movie I have that's absolutely not creepy or scary whatsoever. Even tamer than Van Helsing. I watched The Phantom of the Opera. Halfway through the movie (give or take), I realized something. I found my color scheme.

For those of you who've seen the movie, do you remember the Masquerade scene? You should, it's easily the most beautiful scene in the movie, which is saying a lot considering how spectacular the whole thing is (if you disagree, just bear with me, k?). The entire scene, except for the technical staff and two notable guests, is clothed in black and shades of antique gold and white. As the scene opened, I answered my color scheme question. Without realizing it, I had based my costume not only on my lifelong fascination, but also on the most brilliantly costumed scene I can think of.

Hmm...

If only my costume were to turn out that gorgeous.

The Trouble With Halloween...

See, the trouble with Halloween is that it requires a costume. At least, when you're me it does. I know plenty of people opt not to dress up, but where's the fun in that? I must not only have a costume, I must make said costume. It's a point of honor. I know how to sew, therefore I must use/show off/practice my skill by making my own costume.

This year I have chosen to outdo myself (hopefully) by making a costume with staying power. This will be my most ambitious (and expensive) endeavor yet. It actually may be more spectacular than the dryad of two years ago:



Freezing, by the way. It looked better in motion, too.

Anyway, I'm hoarding all of my precious spare time in these last two weeks before Halloween, because I MUST get this costume of mine finished before THE night. Boy am I glad that The Man (as I shall henceforth refer to he who I love best in the world) and I didn't decide to have our party on the weekend before Halloween...

You Deserve Pie.

I promised pictures, and pictures you shall have. But they shall not be of fiber. Oh no. They shall be pictures of the one thing more glorious than any fiber imaginable. They shall be pictures of food.

Yes, my friends, I can cook. It's not a thing I do often, as I am, ya know, rarely home (notice the lack of regularity on the blog?). But at work, anytime one of us in the department has a birthday, we celebrate by having a "food day" which means gorging ourselves over the course of a very long lunch. Everyone brings something and our potluck is often themed. For my birthday I requested Mediterranean cuisine. Someone else asked for an international food day. This time, the birthday boy requested Southern food. Hmm...

Now, I have always wanted to try sweet potato pie, ever since I knew such a thing existed. But no such pie ever presented itself, and I never was brave enough to try and bake one myself. Well, a Southern food day was the perfect opportunity to step up and bake my first pie ever.

I think it turned out pretty well. Do me a favor: imagine "Also Sprach Zarathustra" playing here. Okay?

Dunnn...


DUNNN...


DUNNNN...


DUN-NAAAHHHH!!!!!!


Heehee... okay, I'm dun. That's just what I thought of when I saw those pictures all lined up on my flickr page. I'm melodramatic, what can I say?

Anyway, I'm sure you're all wondering what that mouth-wateringly golden awesomeness tasted like. Well, it tasted like slightly different pumpkin pie. Which is what I was told to expect, so I'm guessing I did pretty well. Also, there wasn't any left. I take that, too, as a good sign.

I shall now leave you to meditate upon the glory of pie.

Halloween Month!!!

No, I haven't disappeared. Fall is really busy for me. It's football season, first off, so that cuts out half my weekends, and then it's also Renaissance Festival season, which cuts out the rest. But I do have some crafty stuff in progress, and more to be started soon as I begin trying to actually complete Christmas presents on time this year (or maybe even early!), so there will be pics soon. Just wanted to post real quick to say...

OMG!

IT'S OCTOBER!!!

I love Halloween Month. :)

Black Monday?

Not that it's been a bad day. I just have a couple of goth thingies to post. One is a meme, one is actual fiber content. *gasp* Bear with me.

See, Pam has posted another fun meme, and this one I definitely had to fill out. And by "had to" I mean "really really wanted to." Cos it's fun! Here are the rules:

- Choose a singer/band/group
- Answer using ONLY titles of songs by that singer/band/group
- Tag 7 more people. Or not.

So, my band: HIM (naturally)
1. Are you male or female? Poison Girl
2. Describe yourself. Soul on Fire
3. What do people feel when they’re around you? I'm not answering this one, because I can't presume to know... though if I wanted to be optimistic about it, I'd say Buried Alive by Love :P
4. How would you describe your previous relationship? Wicked Game (Video NSFW!)
5. Describe your current relationship. In Joy and Sorrow
6. Where would you want to be now? Close to the Flame
7. How do you feel about love? Sweet Pandemonium
8. What’s your life like? The Path
9. What would you ask for if you had only one wish? Edit: I changed my mind, my wish would be The Face of God Wings of a Butterfly (This one was tough... I went with the symbolic meaning of the song's title line... regarding love, not necessarily life itself... yeah I had to pick something okay?)
10. Say something wise. Don't Close Your Heart

Now the actual fiber! It is suitably goth, I feel, to go along with HIM. It's what I spun from my Valkyrie colorway Sheep to Shoe kit. I haven't set it yet, so it's still a bit wibbly-wobbly. But it's pretty :)



Look deeeeeper into the black...


So much of my other two favorite colors in there. Red and purple. And various shades thereof. *swoon*

I simply must get back to my wheel. I haven't spun in... I dunno, I think it's been over a month. But hopefully I will have more handspun to post next Monday. In gorgeous Fall colors. Whee!

Just a Nod

Just so you know I'm still around... I have a FO to post but I don't have the pics yet so I'm filling space with this groovy meme I ganked from Pam.

The idea:
A.) Go to musicoutfitters.com
B.) Enter the year you graduated from high school in the search function and get the list of 100 most popular songs of that year
C.) Bold the songs you like, strike through the ones you hate and underline your favorite [Carrie's note: I do not have just one favorite. There are several tied for favorite, it just depends on my mood. Deal with it]. Do nothing to the ones you don’t remember (or don’t care about)

My song list:
1. A Thousand Miles, Vanessa Carlton (Don't get used to seeing this poppy crap in bold...)
2. Get The Party Started, Pink (This kind of stuff either.)
3. Complicated, Avril Lavigne (Getting better.)
4. Dilemma, Nelly featuring Kelly Rowland
5. In The End, Linkin Park (At the time I didn't care for LP - too much rap - but I have since become quite a fan. I can admit when I'm wrong...)
6. Ain't It Funny, Jennifer Lopez
7. U Got It, Bad Usher
8. All You Wanted, Michelle Branch
9. Don't Let Me Get Me, Pink
10. Hot In Herre, Nelly (Such hatred do I have for this song...)
11. Hey Baby, No Doubt
12. Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Kylie Minogue
13. Lose Yourself, Eminem
14. The Middle, Jimmy Eat World (Gets me singing and dancing every time.)
15. The Game Of Love, Santana featuring Michelle Branch
16. U Don't Have To Call, Usher
17. Like I Love You, Justin Timberlake
18. Girlfriend, 'N Sync
19. Wherever You Will Go, The Calling
20. My Sacrifice, Creed
21. Ordinary Day, Vanessa Carlton
22. Underneath It All, No Doubt
23. Jenny From The Block, Jennifer Lopez
24. Just Like A Pill, Pink
25. Blurry, Puddle Of Mudd
26. Gangsta Lovin', Eve featuring Alicia Keys
27. Hero, Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott
28. Days Go By, Dirty Vegas
29. Foolish, Ashanti
30. Escape, Enrique Iglesias
31. Without Me, Eminem
32. No Such Thing, John Mayer
33. Can't Fight The Moonlight, LeAnn Rimes
34. Hella Good, No Doubt
35. Heaven, DJ Sammy & Yanou
36. Whenever, Wherever, Shakira (I know. Anomaly.)
37. Family Portrait, Pink
38. One Last Breath, Creed (Yes, I know - Scott Stapp is an asshole. Moving on.)
39. 7 Days, Craig David
40. Hands Clean, Alanis Morissette
41. Die Another Day, Madonna
42. Sk8er Boi, Avril Lavigne
43. A Woman's Worth, Alicia Keys
44. Love At First Sight, Kylie Minogue
45. Underneath Your Clothes, Shakira
46. I Need A Girl (Part One), P. Diddy featuring Usher & Loon
47. Full Moon, Brandy
48. Wasting My Time, Default
49. Soak Up The Sun, Sheryl Crow (This might be the only Sheryl Crow song I like, and I'm a little ashamed to admit that I like any Sheryl Crow song.)
50. Gotta Get Thru This, Daniel Bedingfield
51. Always On Time, Ja Rule featuring Ashanti
52. #1, Nelly
53. Livin' It Up, Ja Rule featuring Case
54. Goodbye To You, Michelle Branch
55. If I Could Go, Angie Martinez
56. Stole Kelly Rowland
57. Just A Friend 2002, Mario
58. Roll Out (My Business), Ludacris
59. I'm Gonna Be Alright, Jennifer Lopez featuring Nas
60. Happy, Ashanti
61. No More Drama, Mary J. Blige
62. Somewhere Out There, Our Lady Peace
63. Video, India.Arie
64. Walking Away, Craig David
65. A Moment Like This, Kelly Clarkson
66. Rainy Dayz, Mary J. Blige featuring Ja Rule
67. What About Us?, Brandy
68. I Need A Girl (Part Two), P. Diddy & Ginuwine featuring Loon, Mario Winans & Tammy Rugger
69. (This Is) A Song For The Lonely, Cher
70. What's Luv?, Fat Joe featuring Ashanti
71. A New Day Has Come, Celine Dion
72. The Whole World, Outkast
73. Hey Ma, Cam'ron
74. More Than A Woman, Aaliyah
75. Disease, Matchbox 20 (Somehow, I missed that Matchbox 20 still existed in 2002...)
76. Oops (Oh My), Tweet
77. Here Is Gone, Goo Goo Dolls
78. Caramel City, High featuring Eve
79. Objection (Tango), Shakira
80. Out Of My Heart, BBMak
81. Girl Talk, TLC
82. Cleanin' Out My Closet, Eminem
83. Too Bad, Nickelback
84. In A Little While, Uncle Kracker
85. For All Time, Soluna
86. Wrong Impression, Natalie Imbruglia
87. Everyday, Dave Matthews Band
88. Starry Eyed Surprise, Paul Oakenfold
89. Where Are You Going, Dave Matthews Band (Nails... on... chalkboard...)
90. Insatiable, Darrin Hayes
91. Rapture (Tastes So Sweet), iio
92. Son Of A Gun, Janet Jackson
93. The World's Greatest, R. Kelly
94. Something More, Train
95. Don't Say Goodbye, Paulina Rubio
96. Walk With Me, Seven & The Sun
97. I Do (Wanna Get Close To You), 3LW
98. Steve McQueen, Sheryl Crow
99. I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman, Britney Spears
100. Running Away, Hoobastank

I didn't listen to the radio much in high school, come to think of it. I was too busy listening to classic rock cds. When I did listen to the radio, I think you can tell what kind of stations I generally tuned into. \m/ *headbang* \m/

Notably, I discovered today that I'm a Gordon Lightfoot fan. Go figure.

Victory!

I finally have pics of my Ravelympics projects! Cos I did finish in time. Just barely.

First, the Triangular TARDIS Shawl.


Crappy pic, I know. I gotta get better ones. But I'll be wearing it tomorrow so maybe I can get them then. For now, how about a closeup?


ETA: Okay, the lighting is yellow, but I took some modeled pics. Had to use the timer on my camera, cos the parents were already in bed.




I like it as a scarf-type-thingie:

Pardon the room. Laundry day. Hadn't put the clothes away yet.
**Back to the original post:

Synchronicity is just so shiny. And glorious. My mom says it's a little too delicate looking to dress it down as much as I wanted to, and I'm still undecided on that front. I'm inclined to think I should keep it for more special occasions, but that means I am still wanting a casual shawl. Oh noes. I guess I'll just have to make another.

As for my other project, this is all I'll show you until after tomorrow. That's the thing about presents. You gotta keep them secret. Can't let them leak out on the interwebs.


Now I've really got my crochet mojo back. And I have a desire to knit as well. Which is good, because it's time to be making Christmas presents! Not to mention getting on to all the stuff I've queued on Ravelry...

Ravelympics Update

I know, no creative title. It's late and I'm low on brain-juice.

AnyWho, I felt the desire to post and celebrate that my shawl for the Ravelympics Shawl Relay is finished! Well, not completely. Well, it's finished but the ends need weaving in. And it needs to be blocked. BUT the crochet is done! I am dubbing it my Triangular TARDIS (Shawl), because it is blue like the TARDIS and I crocheted it for Team TARDIS, and it's at the moment quite small and scrunchy but I have faith that once it's blocked it will be much bigger. It's a moderately sized shawl disguised as a tiny one.

Pictures to come soon, once it's blocked and the ends are woven in. For now, though...

Going for Gold

A little late with this post, but guess what? I'm in the Ravelympics! Went ahead and joined Team TARDIS, because seriously, the Doctor is made of Win. Check it out:

Running:


Equestrian:

(I'm a little bitter that the Dressage final was not televised in its entirety... The one year I actually remember to try and watch it!)

And should marathon cabinetry installation ever become an Olympic sport, you know he's got it covered.


As for me, I have entered the Shawl Relay (about the closest you're gonna get to me running) with the Triangular Shawl by Doris Chan and one other event but we'll let that one slide for now, hmm? Okay. The shawl is kinda stalled out right now. We'll call it a rain delay. Got a little confuzled with the pattern cos I didn't have the first row erratta with me when I started it so I had to muddle through myself. And since then I haven't had the chance to get back to it. Not entirely sure that I like the yarn I'm using for it. Really don't want to have to frog it and start over with different yarn though. We'll see. I'm about to work on it now, actually, and we'll see how the second row goes.

So, Ravelympians and spectators, it's time to get back to it. Allonsy!



*Screencaps from Sonic Biro, Doctor Who-ness property of BBC, etc.etc.etc. If I had come up with this stuff, I wouldn't be working where I do.

Fluffy

Next in my resurgence of craftiness, I have decided to finally tackle what I've been putting off for over a year. Remember this?



I'm finally washing it. I know a lot of people say that you don't have to wash alpaca because it doesn't have any lanolin. The problem is, it DOES have dust, and dirt, and grit. And I read in Spin-Off that you really should wash it so that said dust, dirt, and grit don't get embedded in your yarn, because not all of it will wash out once the yarn is spun. So I'm tackling the job of washing nearly 3 pounds of alpaca fleece today. 30 minute soaks with Eucalan in a galvanized tub on the patio, followed by similar soaks without Eucalan to rinse. You should see the horrid muddy color of the water after the soapy soak. Ew. I'm glad that stuff's not ending up in my yarn.

Mmm... tea....

I have an active WiP!!! Can you believe it??? I'm crocheting again! Woooo!

Oh... you wanted to see it? Hm. Okay, I guess I can show you. ;)




I know it doesn't look like much now, but it's slowly becoming Sweet Tea from Doris Chan's Everyday Crochet. I'm really liking the pattern. Easy enough that I can watch Doctor Who while working, interesting enough that I'm not getting bored. It's a win-win project, I tell ya. It is, in fact, fantastic. :)

And besides, its name involves tea. Seriously. Can it be more perfect? I submit that it cannot.

A Long Absence

I am sad to report that I haven't been doing much crafty stuff lately. I've been spinning a bit, but irregularly, and I haven't been documenting my progress. Other than that, I've given up on my crocheted sock (wasn't turning out the way I wanted; I guess it would help if I started out with patterns rather than always making shit up as I go along), haven't worked on my tank top, and pretty much stalled out on everything. I'm sorta finally starting to go stir crazy and want a crochet hook in my hand, but still not enough to get me going quite yet. It's strange, how for a while you can want to do only one thing all day, and then for a while you're really not interested. I figure if I don't force it, my creative desire will come back, and am trying not to worry about myself for not being in the mood for yarny pursuits.

Meanwhile, a while back my friend Megan tagged me for a meme. I'm thinking it'll be a fun way of getting my blogging juices flowing again. So here we go!

Rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 Magnificent Facts:
1. I'm rather shy. Have a really hard time starting conversations with people I don't know very well. And perhaps a related fact, I cannot stand answering machines and voice mail. I'm completely inept at leaving phone messages.

2. For a medievalist, I know shockingly little about the Middle Ages. I like to blame the structure of my undergraduate education requirements for that -- limits on the number of credits you can take in a given department kept me from specializing quite as much as I wanted to.

3. I hate Monopoly.

4. I like steampunk. Didn't really notice this until recently, when I learned that several of the movies and themes that I like are considered to be steampunk. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, stuff like that. And I've been drawn to this kind of stuff more and more recently.

5. I don't like being drunk. Really don't enjoy it. Feeling like I can't even control my own limbs properly is not a good feeling.

6. I'm a right-leaning moderate.

7. Actually, I have a hard time talking about myself, describing myself in things like this. It's taken me forever to come up with all this stuff, and I still end up feeling like why do people want to know this? Why do I want people to know this? And if I'm gonna feel this way, why did I do the meme to begin with? Ah well. Guess I'm also a paradox like that.

Gonna break the rules. No tagging. I don't know enough people that would do it anyway. If you feel like doing this meme, go for it. If not, don't sweat it. Freedom of blogging! :)

Cracking the WiP

zOMG! A blog! I knew I had one of these things around here somewhere!

For real though, I have an excuse for not posting. I've been a little busy. I've so far seen Prince Caspian 3 times (if you haven't seen it yet, what are you doing here? Go! Get thee to the cinema!), Indy once, visited Williamsburg with my mom, been increasing my WiP pool, been spinning more than previously (yayz!), and have been cultivating my new obsession with which I've been surely driving my friends and family completely insane. And as usual, I am planning on blogging more often. *snort*

Anyway, I've got fun Narnia-related stuff to show you, but since it's Wednesday, perhaps instead you'd like to see those aforementioned WiPs? Well how about...

A crocheted sock?


Kureyon Sock. Not the softest ever, but just gaze for a while at those glorious Noro colors...


P.S. That is only about 3 hours of crochet, give or take a few minutes. Now you understand what there is to love about being a hooker.


The Knitting Sisters beret. Could not resist this pattern. Yes, it's Kureyon; I can't help myself. This skein seems remarkably soft, though. Same color as the socks:



And the WiP that I started before either of those. I'm knitting Askew from Knitty. But not in Noro. Aha! A non-Noro WiP! Anywho, what I am knitting it in is Tess' Microfiber Ribbon. Yes, I am aware that it is not the same gauge as Silk Garden, and I should've reconsidered my yarn choice and gone with something that's the same gauge. But where's the fun in that? I redid the math. And it came out to me knitting the numbers for the size XL. Ironic? I think we would call it that, yes. But once you see these pics you will know why I had to do this.



See?


Is it not remarkable? Is it not gorgeous?
It's become my Robin Hood knitting, despite brief forays into the above Noro projects. I feel it is appropriate knitting for Robin Hood, it being green and kinda evocative of some of the costuming themes of the show.

Well there you have it. My WiP Wednesday post, and it's still Wednesday! Go me! Now I'm off to debate whether to start spinning, work on one of my current WiPs, or start a new one I have planned...

The Chronicles of a Narnia Scarf

I promised this last week, and it didn't happen. And I was going to post it yesterday but didn't have the chance. So now on my lunch break I finally bring you the scarf you've all been waiting for! Warning: gratuitous amounts of pictures.

I was rather pleased when I finished the knitting.


It needed to be washed, though, to bring up the fuzz and soften the yarn. So I prepared a bath for it with a bit of Eucalan, and set it in nice and easy:


Swooshed it around a bit, hoping that a teensy degree of fulling would bring the fuzz up more:

(I told you the pictures were gratuitous)

It rather enjoyed its bath, and managed to look its very best while underwater:

(Okay so I just liked the way the color showed in the water...)

So after letting it soak a while and squeezing it out very carefully, I laid it out to dry:

Looks a bit more like a banner than a scarf, no?

The wait for it to dry was agonizing. Except for the part when I was asleep. That part I didn't notice. But I waited all day through work to come home to:

Hmm. That's awfully flat.


I see fuzz, but no defined columns of slipped stitches. Hmm.

The feel of the scarf is fabulous. I love it. I just am a bit disappointed in how it washed. The stitch definition was perfect before I washed it; after the wash, not so much. The slipped stitches just settled down next to the regular knit stitches and refused to stand out. So after wearing it for an evening, I gave it another bath. Swooshed it around quite a bit in hot water, by hand (just a teensy amount of fulling, but not significant) in hopes that it would tighten it up a bit and thus (in theory) squish the slipped stitches out from between the plain old knits. And instead of laying it flat to dry, I put it in the dryer on the no-heat, air-fluff setting to dry. Plan backfired. Still rather flat. With more wear, the slipped stitch columns are showing a little bit more, but it's still not the movie look I was going for.

Very elegant, though.


Very soft and comfortable, too. I just wish it had turned out looking the way I had wanted. And who knows, maybe it'll gradually spring back to its un-blocked state. And maybe Aslan will appear in our world. Don't want to end on such a negative note, though, so I will say that it's fabulous to wear and I will definitely be ordering from Stansborough Fibres again. And I will be wearing my Tumnus scarf to the midnight showing tomorrow night!!!

Handspun Heaven

So, last weekend was Sheep & Wool. Two days at the Mecca of fiberness. My bank account is a li'l bit thinner now, after my sacrifices at the altar of wool and fiber tools, but I am very pleased. Allow me to show off a bit (warning: photo heavy!):

My biggest splurge, the Golding spindle lazy kate:


I finally decided that I'd regret not buying it more than I'd regret buying it. As you can see, it also serves as a spindle display stand. Meet the two newest members of my growing Golding family:



I can't resist. It's a good thing I saved up thru the month of April. Too bad I didn't save longer.

I also managed to score a Moosie from Journey Wheel. *drool*


The shaft is bocote wood. Stripey!


Which brings me to the handspun part. What's on the Moosie is merino from Gale's Art, in Cherry Blossom. I couldn't resist, started spinning it Saturday after the festival, and it's been riding around in my purse ever since, just in case.


Nom.

I also have now finished the Earth and Sky colored merino that I'd been working on. Unfortunately Flickr is being a bitch and is giving me trouble with the uploading thing, so pics will have to wait, but I can tell you about it. It's soooo squishy :) Me likey. In fact, me LOVES. Love love love.

...And now there's room on my wheel for Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep 2 Shoe. In Valkyrie. Oh. My. GOD.




Is that black enough for you? And yet, not at all black? It's colors! But it's black! But it's colors! I love the Raven Clan. And not only is it beautiful, but if you could feel it thru the screen you'd find that it's the softest thing you've ever felt. It's merino, but it feels like camel. It's the butter of the fiber world.

Yep, I'm a little busy. But happily so. But stay tuned, because tomorrow I will bring you the scarf promised in my previous post...

By the Lion!

Oops. My, time did fly past this month, didn't it? Here it is, last day of the month again, and I'm just now posting my GPP Crusade entry. And I apologize, fellow Crusaders; I haven't kept up with everybody else's entries either. Only read a few of them so far.

This month's crusade assignment was stencil cutting. OMG. Michelle is such an enabler. I mean, there are worse things to be addicted to, true, but really, how many addictions does she think we can handle?

For my stencil, I decided to go with a Narnian theme. Gee I wonder why. Anyway, what came to mind was Peter's shield, the one that Father Christmas gives him. "The shield was the color of silver and across it there ramped a red lion, as bright as a ripe strawberry at the moment when you pick it." The shield of the kings of Narnia.

And of course I couldn't do something easy and/or conventional. That wouldn't be any fun. But more on that later...

So I dug out my little Dover heraldry book that I've had since the 6th grade, enlarged a lion rampant and a shield, and lo, I had my design. So I got a slab of glass that Mom happened to have lying about from our days of experimenting with polymer clay, dug out some quilter's template, and opened my brand-new handy-dandy little stencil burning tool, popped in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe DVD, and set to work.



The design:

See all those little points? Why I do this to myself remains a mystery.

Step 1, the Lion:

All those little black spots are where the stencil burner actually, well, burned the quilter's template. Apparently that stuff's not as hardy as it looks. Works, though.

After cutting out the Lion, I then cut the outline of the shield. This way, the shield with the Lion cut out of the middle would be a combination mask+stencil, with the additional Lion mask that came out of the middle of the shield. (Was that coherent?) Two pieces of plastic = two masks + one stencil. w00ties! My master plan. I'm sure someone somewhere has done this before me. But I didn't know about them, so I'm gonna claim it as my idea. *plants flag*
Dum-dum (that's me) didn't take a pic of the shield before actually using them, so you only get to see its shape after it's been doused with paint. These, and others, to be precise:


The results of which are such:

The one at the far left bottom had the Lion mask laid down and the paper spritzed with copper Shimmer Mist, then the mask peeled up and the shield laid down and pounced with red acrylic paint on a sponge. The middle top one was the same sequence, with gold and red acrylic paints applied by sponge. The far right was also the same sequence, with acrylics and Shiva Paintsticks sponged on.

And yes, I know, it's supposed to be silver, not gold. Gold shows up better and I like the way it looks with red. And copper is just what we happened to have in the Shimmer Mist. Oh well.

With the Lion laid back into the stencil after all that painting, it looks like this:

Pretty spiff, no?

Anyway, I have now purchased some spray fabric paint, and have grand plans for this stencil. I'm also resisting the urge to stencil it on EVERYTHING I OWN.

Me? Obsessive? Nah. Well, maybe a little.

And...
Coming Soon to a Pocket Near You: The Chronicles of a Narnia Scarf