Wednesday Artist Profile - Gock's Frocks

We were walking back from the library a little while ago and I realized that I hadn't done my Wednesday artist profile yet - oops! At the same time I was thinking about how nice Ms. B looked in one of her new summer outfits, and thought - oooh, kids clothes, that's fun!

Which led me to thinking of the absolutely delightful Kristen of Gock's Frocks. (Even if she is a Yankees fan, lol...) I love the clothes she makes! For example...

Check out that beautiful skirt! Made with gorgeous Moda fabric - I love those colors (perfect for red-headed Ms. B! Hmmmm.....) And, as an add-on, she can make you a custom shirt to go with the skirt:

Great outfit. (And absolutely darling model!)

How about a three piece outfit?

I love the detail! The ruffles on the pants, the coordinating kerchief, it's fantastic.

OK, one more item. Something for my little walking man:


So adorable!!

One last thing - if you would like to check out her wares in person and you live in the New York area, visit Vida's Market on May 31! It runs from 10 am - 7 pm and is at Wallace Hall in Saint Ignatius Loyola Church at 980 Park Ave. (between 83 and 84th Streets) in New York City. For more information about the Vida's Market, visit its website. And to learn a little more about Kristen, visit her blog!

Wednesday Artist Profile - KMR Handwoven

After last Wednesday's lapse (sorry!), I thought I'd profile a handweaver as a special treat. The fantabulous Kathie of KMR Handwoven really caught my eye when she joined EtsyFAST (the Fiber Arts Street Team).


Isn't this towel great?? I love a weaver with a sense of humor! And she did a great job photographing it, too - that yellow pepper is a very nice touch - as we all know, decent photography for an Etsy shop is not only crucially important, it can also be pretty darn difficult.

More goodies...




She has several handwoven check book cases and coin purses in her shop. See what I mean about that good photography? More great pictures. And, since I'm terrible about sewing with my handwoven fabric, I have great admiration for those who do!


Tote bags too!

While chatting with Kathie, I found out all sorts of interesting things about her weaving. For instance, she weaves on a drawloom. I've never seen one in person, but she got me all interested in them and I've been doing research (even found a place near here where I could take a little workshop on one, how fun). Here's a picture she sent me of her drawloom:

Hmm. Kind of small, but you get the idea - it's a beast, isn't it?? It has two sets of harnesses - one set for structure and one set for a pattern - and with a drawloom you can weave any sort of pattern that you can draft on graph paper...

Can you see the detail in that photo? These are some baby bibs that she wove on her drawloom - adorable or what?? She needs to get these in her Etsy shop, pronto. :) Boy, though, does the idea of a drawloom appeal to me...

A couple of notes for the weavers that may be reading this - if you are going to Convergence in Tampa this June (I am! I can't wait!), you can see some of Kathie's wall pieces in the Weave and Resist Exhibit at Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City, Tampa. (How cool is that??)

And she is also in Catherine Ellis' book, Woven Shibori. Her piece is on p.86 - and, once again, it was woven on her draw loom before she did a shibori discharge. It is *gorgeous*.

I'm not always a huge fan of woven shibori (sorry, folks, but in my opinion, I think people can make some very muddy-looking pieces using this technique - though I must say I really like Catherine Ellis' work, not muddy at all), but Kathie's piece is beautiful. I'm looking forward to seeing her work in the exhibit at Convergence!

And, just on a personal note, I have had a fabulous time chatting with Kathie over email. She's just one of those lovely people that you would love to live closer to... (I've met quite a few of people like this through EtsyFAST - maybe it's something about working with fiber.)

Wednesday Artist Profile - Sand and Sky Creations

I have a real soft spot in my heart for Prince Edward Island, Canada. It's just such a lovely place, I'm dying to drag my family up there for a camping trip... We camped there when I was a little girl, and I still have clear memories of the ferry ride from Bar Harbor, Maine to Nova Scotia, and then another ferry out to PEI (before there was a bridge) and, of course, visiting Green Gables (of Anne fame), walking through the Haunted Wood, etc. A lovely trip on a beautiful island.

My featured Etsy artist this week, Simone of Sand and Sky Creations, is lucky enough to live there! Simone designs and creates really beautiful knit and crocheted clothing and accessories.

Am I right, or what? This is her Rose Red Cropped Cardigan that she created as part of the EtsyFAST (Fiber Arts Street Team) March Challenge. Gorgeous, isn't it? Buy it here before I do!!

I love her sweet little Le Minou hat, too:



She also offers patterns in her shop, too, if you're feeling the need to create. Her Earth Mama Babydoll top pattern, for example, really appeals to me:

Gorgeous! I purchased a pattern from her earlier this winter (her Yuletide Scarf pattern) and it was very well done. Clear instructions, and an interesting enough pattern to hold my attention (quite the accomplishment, I'm a very scatter-brained knitter).

And isn't her photography outstanding (love the Iris in the photo of her babydoll top, e.g.)? Somehow her photographs - and her work - really capture the ethereal feel of her shop name (Sand and Sky). She has done an excellent job, I think, in thinking out the presentation of her work, both through her etsy shop and her website. Very inspiring!

OK, one more item...


North Wind Snow Scarflette. And it is completely evocative of the North Wind, isn't it? Love it.
(And I adore her lipstick in this shot, too, lol! See what I mean about well-presented, though?)

And, to top it all off, she is donating 20% of her profits from sales made this month (and March, too), to FreeTibet.org. Excellent.

Thanks for the inspiration, Simone, and keep up the great work!

Wednesday Artist Profile - North Star Alpacas

For my Wednesday Artist Profile this week, I chose Ms. Maple of North Star Alpacas (Etsy) and Alpaca Granny blog fame.

Maple was one of the first people to welcome me to Etsy, and is one of nicest folks I've "met" through Etsy. She is unfailingly supportive as a member of EtsyFAST (the Fiber Arts Street Team) (the first time one of my items appeared on the front page of Etsy, it was thanks to one of Maple's many, many Treasuries), and is never the type to toot her own horn. So I thought I'd toot it for her - she sure deserves it!

Oh, man, what a handsome devil! This is Polaris, North Star Alpaca's herd sire. And this darling lady is Ariana:



Her fiber is Maple's favorite to spin! Because, yup, you guessed it, Maple creates fabulous handspun yarn (so, all you weavers/knitters out there, take note!).



Isn't that gorgeous? (Buy it here!) Or how about some hand-dyed, mill-spun yarn?



OK, one more, I just can't help myself, I love Maple's work...

Wow! A hand-spun, hand-dyed, hand-knit hat. I purchased one of Maple's gorgeous hats earlier this winter and it is lovely. Just beautifully constructed and even prettier than it was in the pictures, I was hugely impressed. And, as a lovely added touch, she includes a photo of the alpaca that the fleece/yarn came from with your purchase!

If you'd like to learn more about Maple and her lovely alpacas, please do check out her blog, Alpaca Granny. It's always an entertaining, informative, fun read.

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!)

Knitting

I seem to go on knitting jags. I just started a scarf with some gorgeous silk/wool Manos del Uruguay yarn.


I bought the pattern from Sand & Sky Creations, a fellow member of EtsyFAST (street team). She did the scarf in a lovely soft grey yarn - I'm thinking her looks better! :) You can see the cabling better with the plainer yarn; having cables and all this color may be overdoing it a bit. But I still like it (more interesting to knit cables than just a plain old moss stitch or rib or something).

At any rate, check out her Etsy shop! She makes really lovely knitted items and sells patterns, too...

Front Page *AGAIN*!!

Good grief! This is the third time - wowzers!! This Treasury was picked by the Etsy folks because the Fiber Arts Street Team's trunk show is tonight - so it's all fibery goodness!

Itsy bitsy again, sorry, but that's my scarf in the middle of the top row. :) Most pleased!

EtsyFAST Trunk Show

The Etsy Fiber Arts Street Team is having a trunk show at the Etsy labs in Brooklyn tomorrow! The labs are located at 325 Gold Street, 6th Floor, in Brooklyn.

The actual trunk show is from 6 - 8 p.m., and it's a great chance to stock up on finished products (knitted, crocheted, woven, etc.), hand-spun and/or hand-dyed yarn, etc.

Also - lots of the team members that can't attend in person are also having a sale in their online shops (including me!) - just do a search for "etsyFAST" and you'll find them...

We are also running a treasure hunt (and, again, I'm participating - hint, hint, lol) - several shops from the team have posted a picture of the EtsyFAST trunk show flier (that's it, above) in one of their listings. If you can find the people with the flier in their shops, you can win a prize!

Here's the Storque article with all the details of the contest.

Have fun searching, and if you're in Brooklyn (hi, Lexi and Ernesto!) and have the time, stop by the trunk sale!

Earth Challenge

So, etsyFAST (Fiber Arts Street Team) has a challenge theme each month - and this month's theme is the element Earth. So, I wove this scarf (bamboo again):

And finally listed it yesterday. :) Brown tones, and for some reason the pattern reminds me of crops/fields. Here's a closeup:

The squares appeal to my structured side. I think I'm going to have to play with this structure and more colors at some point. Probably *after* the Weavers Guild Sale!!

Apple Cider Tendel

Another productive morning! Ms. B was at preschool again (for two hours this time, wowzers), and I managed to photograph and post another scarf in my etsy shop:

And here's a close up of the structure (it's a turned twill, I used six colors of Tencel, ranging from deep brown to lemongrass green, olive and purple - a lot of fun to weave!):


(And, no, my selvedges aren't uneven - that's just a fold in the scarf near the bottom.)

I listed this one as part of the EtsyFAST September challenge - looks like apple cider to me!

And the productivity continues...

This evening, I made a little ACEO on a bead-weaving loom that I made out of a cardboard box a while ago...

I made it as part of etsyFAST (etsy's Fiber Arts Street Team) June Challenge - how fun! I made one earlier using doubleweave pickup, but this one was almost more fun to make... It's obviously made of a mixed weft of novelty fibers. I used a chocolate colored bamboo yarn for the warp, but you really can't see it.

A quick little project that now has me thinking about creating something along these lines on a much large scale...