Handmade Christmas Presents

So, I've been meaning to post a couple of things that I bought from various artists on Etsy for Christmas...

Love this belt buckle from Etsy seller Metalogical (bought it for Carlos):

The whole idea of actually forging something in this day and age really caught my fancy. And Carlos likes it too!

Another present for Carlos - a t-shirt with a graphic of a Puerto Rican petroglyph of the Coqui (Carlos used to fall asleep listening to Coquis when he was a little guy):


This shirt is from Etsy seller AmaAmo - I was soooo impressed with her packaging and service. She's a newbie on Etsy but she is just incredibly professional.

And, finally, for me:


Hooray! A ring from TreAnelli that I've been wanting forever! I've been wearing it every day, middle finger of my right hand - that's one of the really nice things about Etsy, you can get something like a ring in whatever size you need, generally.

Front Page, Baby!

Whoo-hoo! Another front page appearance on Etsy!

Awesome friend Liz of MadeInLowell (check out her shop!!) took a screenshot for me:

A little small - but there it is, third row, left side, my sage and smokey blue scarf that I posted about here. I didn't even know I was in the treasury! I love it when it comes completely out of left field like that!

And, argh, I can't believe I didn't get my purple scarf posted today. Whoops! Missed opportunity!

Wet Finishing

I just thought I would post a couple of photos to demonstrate the difference wet finishing makes in handwoven textiles. This first photo is of an Ms and Os scarf that I wove recently, in bamboo, with lots of fun colors (purple, teal, yellow, caramel...):



I actually took the color inspiration from a painting by my daughter! (When she paints, I give her three little pots to fill and she chooses what primary colors to mix to get the final shades she wants.)

Anyway, you can see that it looks kind of flat when it comes off the loom. It also feels much stiffer than it will after it is washed. There's also a threading error in it, so that means I'm keeping this scarf instead of selling it (I know others sell less-than-perfect work for a discount, but I just can't bring myself to do it!)... I love the colors so much, I'm wondering whether I did it intentionally, lol! I fixed the threading, though, and wove another one to put in my shop.

And, here it is, after washing (photo taken inside, normally I take them outside, in the shade):



Can you see the difference? (I hadn't trimmed my ends or anything yet at this point.) The structure has really softened up, the Os looks like Os, and the whole thing shrank a bit as well. And it's beautifully soft to the touch now, too!

Man, though, it looks like it's going to be tough to photograph it's sister (the one without the goof) and really capture the colors... It's really quite a bit prettier in person, I think!

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...

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!

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.

Wonderful Etsy Resource

I just found Etsy is For Everyone, a wonderful blog written by etsy seller Strumpfkunst (who makes the cutest darn sock monkeys with attitude that I have ever seen - I may just be getting one for Bella for Christmas - Buy Handmade!).

Check it out, great info/resource if you are a seller! She talks about using Stumble Upon today - I've had Stumble Upon sitting in the toolbar of my Firefox Window for ages and have never thought to use it to promote my shop. Duh. :)