Friday, February 29, 2008

Happy Leap Day!

Whoo-hoo, happy February 29th! :) I know of at least one couple that are getting married this evening (Congrats to Ali and Rachel!)...

Ms. B was almost a leap baby. Missed it by about four hours. And after 25 hours of (natural) labor, I was just happy that she was finally born, lol! (As my midwife said - first babies don't fall out. Conall was muuuuch faster!)

And I actually managed to list another scarf in my Etsy shop today. Carlos (hubby) really likes the colors on this one:

I wasn't so sure about it when it came off the loom, but after I got it finished/washed, it looks great! I have another Ms and Os scarf that just came off the loom, so I'll post before and after photos tomorrow-ish so you can see what I mean. Washing makes a huge difference in this structure, especially when I use fiber like bamboo that shrinks a bit.

I'm also happy that I'm managing to build up a little inventory. (Not that a whopping nine items is much inventory, but still...) One of my goals this year is to try to build up enough inventory to maybe try out a little craft show or two this fall, just to get my feet wet. (Or, alternatively, to apply to a local artists' co-op that I have my eye on.) So, I'm getting there.

At any rate, happy Leap Day!

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Wow, Amazing Feedback - TreAnelli Rocks!

OK, normally I don't "out" customers, lol. But this person left such amazing feedback:

"This scarf is wonderful! I wore it to an art class and the fibers faculty and grad students all come over and said how gorgeous it was:) I am looking forward to enjoy it for many years come. Very fast shipping and what a sweet seller. I couldn't be happier."

Good grief! (She's the person that bought my smokey blue and sage green scarf last week.)

A huge compliment. And add to that that she makes amazing artwork herself... Please go check out her etsy shop - TreAnelli. I absolutely love her jewelry, and I'm not really a jewelry person, generally, though I have a real soft spot for rings (despite my raggedy looking fingernails, lol)... And I love the circle theme that runs through most of her work. Love this ring for example! I think I'm going to be visiting her shop next time I have a little money to spend on myself...

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Just Listed... And A New Project On The Loom

I just listed this scarf in my Etsy shop! It's the third and final piece from this warp. A different treadling pattern, of course, from the other two, and it's a bit more green - I used the green in the weft for this one.

I'm also working on a new lacy scarf using yummy hand-dyed laceweight yarn from etsy seller Chewyspaghetti. Since I botched the last one I tried with this yarn, I'm being a bit more careful with this one...


Aren't the colors great?? Gold, mauvey-pink, hints of light purple... She did a really nice job dying this yarn!

It's a hand-manipulated lace structure called Danish Medallions that I've been meaning to try out for some time now. I'm interspersing it with sections of plain weave (otherwise the scarf would take 15,000 hours to weave.) And since spring is rapidly approaching I thought I'd make some lacier scarves... It was actually still light out here at 5:30 p.m. yesterday, wow!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Another Scarf Sold...

Sage green/smokey blue, shadow weave, and it's off to a new home!

I had a disaster in the washing machine the other day... Wove a ruffley scarf using this amazingly yummy silk/wool yarn from Chewyspaghetti and I basically killed it. Wah. I knew the silk/wool wouldn't shrink at the same rate as regular merino, so, it went through twice. And shrank too much. Live and learn! LOL! Happily, I have a bunch of the yarn left and I'm going to use it in a lace scarf, I think...


Poor Ms. Madeline cat has had a tummy ache. The vet had us give her Pepcid A/C - who knew?? She's obviously feeling much more like her normal meow-y, talkative self today. Hooray! We've had enough kitty cat tragedy around here for the next couple of years, thank you very much.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

More Ruffles...

I actually managed to hem, photograph and list a scarf today. Wow.


Black merino yarn combined with a hot pink tencel that I dyed myself back before I was pregnant with Conall. It's been lying around, looking at me accusingly, so I decided to finally use it in a brightly colored scarf...

I am really having fun with this differential shrinkage stuff. It's very neat to give up a measure of control - weavers are such control freaks - once you put it in the washing machine, all you can really do is cross your fingers and hope it comes out right...

And, obviously, we're home again! We had a very fun trip to Stowe, lots of good skiing for everyone (even on the day that it rained - it just sprinkled up on the mountain and it turned the snow soft-ish, very much like spring skiing - and the rain scared everyone away, so, no lift lines!).

This is what happens when an almost-four-year-old skis for a couple hours:

She was so crashed, she didn't even realize that Tia Lexi had stopped in for a surprise visit (photo by Lexi). Conall knew though, and flirted appropriately.



Very neat to see Lexi! :) And I can't wait to get back up to Stowe - probably next weekend, the cats would never forgive us if we went up again right away. We were looking at real estate listings up there a little bit... So close to being able to swing a little vacation condo, that would be awesome! Maybe in another year or two...

Friday, February 15, 2008

Sold!

This scarflette is on it's way to a wonderful new home today...

I loved this design... Made a full-length scarf as well as a custom order for a customer. Think I'll have to warp up some more Ms and Os, I love the texture they create.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Productive Day

I've actually been productive today! I managed to take photos of the first of a couple scarves from my latest project on my little loom:


It's smokey blue, sage green and kind of an off-white putty-ish sort of color. I even got it listed in my Etsy shop, wow...

I changed my listings, too, to reflect accurate shipping costs overseas. Man, shipping is expensive!! I sent a custom scarf to a lovely customer in Australia - thank goodness it fit into a flat rate Priority Mail envelope (for $11), if I had boxed it up and sent it in a Tyvek Priority Mail envelope as I do for domestic shipments, it would have been $21! That's outrageous!

And, last but not least, I have another ruffle scarf (pink and black this time) getting ruffled in the washing machine as I type.

Can you tell that both kids are actually napping at the same time?? (This is as rare as a Red Sox World Championship, lol!)

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Moonlight Llamas

While in Stowe, I was lucky enough to meet a fellow Etsy FAST (Fiber Arts Street Team) member!

Jan, of Moonlight Llamas, is about as sweet as can be... She lived in Stowe (Vermont) for 25 years (I am HUGELY jealous!), and now lives in Montpelier - Vermont's lovely little capital city. As you can probably tell from her shop name, she works with llama fiber, and has her very own llamas (again, I am hugely jealous). For an interesting Wiki article about llamas, click here. And check out this picture from that article:

Whoah. Lllama over-looking (over-lording? lol!) Machu Picchu, how cool is that?? (Peru is on our short list of places to travel to next - oooh, the thought of all the indigenous textiles make me giddy...)

Jan has some lovely things in her shop! Gorgeous felted hats, felted soap, teddy bears, decorations... Check out these absolutely adorable booties:



Too cute!! Being a serious craft addict with a short attention span, I'm a complete sucker for kits that let me try something new. And Jan sells needle felting kits. Here's one of them:



You can try your own hand at needle felting a design onto the bag! Of if you're not in DIY mood, you can buy a bag that's already been beautifully decorated by Jan:



At any rate, do check out her shop, she's a lovely lady and I was just completely tickled pink to meet a FAST-er with a Stowe connection! (We'll be staying at the Golden Eagle Lodge this weekend, Friday night - Tuesday morning, Jan, maybe we'll see you again!)

Monday, February 11, 2008

Skiing! Hooray!

So, we've been skiing on Sundays a bit this winter, just popping up to little Pat's Peak to give Ms. B a bit of an introduction to the sport. It's a friendly little mountain, very nice for kids, and has some nice little steep runs for Carlos and I, too.

But this past weekend, we got up to Stowe, for the first time in FIVE YEARS. I can't believe it's been that long... We used to have season passes there, and rent a house with friends (hi to Doug and Sarah!!), but that was before Ms. B and Mr. C. They've put a bit of a damper on the skiing thing, especially since Stowe is a bit over three hours away.

The Quad, on Saturday morning - the "nose" of Mt. Mansfield is in a bit of clouds.



This is partway down from the quad. It's always hard to get a good perspective of the steepness of a trail with a camera... This is a relatively mild blue (intermediate) run at Stowe. I think I'd forgotten what skiing a real mountain is like. The double black (expert only) race trail at Pats that I was having fun on would rate pretty much with the more difficult blue runs at Stowe. Pats is cute, but its a toy mountain! And one run at Stowe (they're loooong runs) is about equal to four at Pats. My thighs were burning!

Man was it good to be back on difficult terrain - yes, I do ski the black runs at Stowe. And I have skied all the Front Four (including Goat, which is nuts), but not on this trip, I'm still too out of shape. Depressing, but true.


Bella on her first chair lift! That's the new Inspiration Quad over at Spruce Peak (also part of Stowe - nice that beginners have a completely separate place to learn, basically). Spruce is in the midst of a HUGE construction project. New lodge, new housing, shops, an ice rink, new lifts, it's all going to be gorgeous from the looks of it. Main Street (run down the middle of Spruce, used to be completely 'wild' snow - no grooming and no snowmaking) looks completely different. There is a HUGE half pipe, all sorts of big jumps, and a new, much faster, lift.

The changes are interesting. I'm used to Stowe being kind of funky classy, almost eccentric. I'm hoping it won't lose all of that vibe with the improvements... Definitely really like the Over Easy Gondola that connects the two mountains. I actually had time to scoot over to Mansfield and get some snowboarding in while Bella was in her lesson on Sunday morning.



Bella, after her first-ever ski lesson with a real live instructor. Tired, but really happy. And she's learning so much! (I'm all proud, the instructor raved about how coordinated she is - she's still just three, after all, for a couple more weeks...)



Conall says - hey, I have ski pants, why am I stuck in the lodge while you guys get to have all the fun?? Got to learn how to walk on your own, first, little man... (My kids are late walkers.)

Carlos, after tele skiing on Saturday afternoon while Conall, Bella and I hung out at our hotel: "If I could have one day a year of skiing like that, I'd be a happy man..." I think that means he had a good time.

I was a bit worried about his back (he had pretty major back surgery in the summer of '06 - while I was pregnant and about three weeks before we flew to France, insane!), but it held up really well. His days of hucking off jumps and such on his snowboard are probably over (really kind of sad, wah, poor guy, he's so coordinated and graceful on his board and skis) (I hit a couple of little natural kickers for him on Sunday in the powder, just for fun, lol), but he can still telemark like a demon!

We're heading back up this coming weekend, for four days this time! Whhhheeeee!

Stay tuned - I need to post about meeting a fellow EtsyFAST team member!

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Snow Day!

So, after a week or so of grey, rainy, yucky winter weather, we got a little snow this morning. Hooray! It looks all nice and pretty and white out again (though it's that really heavy, wet snow - great for snowballs, not so great to shovel).

Bella's preschool was cancelled today, so she's been outside playing:

Snow sculpture! How fun....

Front Page!

Crazy week for me... Ms. Maple of North Star Alpacas let me know that I was on the front page of Etsy again this morning (my Ruffles scarf this time, hooray!). At 6:44AM EST. Ouch. But, hey, at least it was seen by folks in Europe, etc. I'm a bit bummed that I didn't get a screen shot of it - by the time I got Maple's note at 7:45 AM, it was already changed.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

indie*galore

Well, folks, when it rains it pours. The fantabulous Jenn de la Fuente (say that fast, I looooove her name) has featured me on her blog, indie*galore! Check it out here.

Check out her shop, too - here - she makes all sorts of beautiful things ranging from crochet to jewelry to paper goods. I really like this bag (in the bags/wallets section of her site):


And she'll customize it in whatever colors you like! Excellent!

Thanks for the write-up, Jenn!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Etsy Finds!

Good grief - sorry to start so many of my recent posts with !'s, but, man, lots of good things have been happening lately.

The latest is that I've been featured in the Etsy Finds shopping guide! Check it out (a little awkward, I copied it from the email so the formatting is a little off) - scroll down a bit for my scarflette, I left some of the featured items in there too...

Etsy Finds


February 4, 2008

Today's Etsy Find is all about a little-known shopping feature on Etsy---Suggestions. Suggestions looks at the items you've added as favorites and, based on those, chooses more items you might enjoy. I consulted the Suggestions oracle...and these are some of the things it recommended.

Adverts paper bird

Everything in this shop is so delicate and sweet. By cottonbirddesigns, $39.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites



Mr. Bunny Art Doll, felted and stuffed

Another fully whimsical and adorable shop. This would make someone (me) very happy on Easter. By MarmeeCraft, $110.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites


I got my hands out tee

Limited edition of 5, just two left! By Gongze, $59.99.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites


Rectangular Honeycomb

This is just one of those art forms that I will never be able to do in a million zillion years. Thank goodness there are shops like xoxoxo so I can buy it all instead. $200.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites


Un Poquito Caliente - Handwoven Bamboo Scarflette

This is handwoven and ridiculously affordable. You probably want to snap up everything in this shop before the rest of Etsy discovers her. By skiingweaver, $35.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites


Teapot

By michellemiller, $85.

View item | View Shop | Add to Etsy Favorites





Hooray! Such a nice thing to have happen!

It's funny, I've been selling on Etsy for a little over a year now, and I'm finally starting to feel like it's falling into a little bit of a groove. It takes quite a while and quite a bit of work to get noticed, I think, especially if you're not selling supplies or impulse purchase items. Even worse for jewelry artists, I'd imagine, there are sooooo many people on Etsy who make jewelry! (And so much of it is beautiful!) Or maybe it's just taken me this long to start to feel comfortable with selling/marketing my work.

At any rate, it's been a whole heck of a lot of fun, and hopefully that will continue!

Saturday, February 2, 2008

Blog Write Up!

Hey, I was just written up in Lizet Frijters blog. Please visit, lots of interesting stuff on her blog.

She's been featuring fellow textile artists in a series titled "Wearables with Character" - I'm very flattered that she chose to write me up.

She also makes *amazing* wearables with character herself - she's a former weaver and now works with felt, making beautifully ethereal tops and bags - check out her Etsy shop, too!

Friday, February 1, 2008

Ruffles Galore!

So, here's the latest installment in the experimenting with differential shrinkage saga:

Hee! I love it! Not quite a poofy as the last one (which I thought was a bit tooo poofy), but still all ruffly and fun. Here's another pic:



I have listed it in my etsy shop, but this is one of those ones that I kind of want to keep for myself. Ah well, I can always make another, maybe in a different colorway (I'm very partial to purples on myself after all)... Fun - I'm loving this texture!