Girl on the Rocks

Christmas Craft Marathon December 23, 2009

Just like last year I am planning to fill my Christmas break with wall to wall craft time. Last year was a huge success that culminated in the addition of the owl embroidery floss organizer to my product line. I have several projects up my sleeve and was hoping that you would help me prioritize them.

Projects I am considering:

• Latch Hook rug Vintage. New in Package. And I already have the tool!
  
• Punch Needle embroidery: I purchased PlanetJune’s punch needle embroidery e-book and Moon pattern ages ago. I finally found a punch needle, so I’d like to give it a try.
• Crochet blanket I want to add a least a few hexagons to this languishing crochet project.
• Spinning My apartment is full of fiber. I would like to convert some of it into yarn.
  
• Wee knitting
  • Boot toppers
  • Acorns and tinier acorns
  • Hedgehogs: This one is the cutest but I already have the pattern for this one
• Needlework pattern Just like last year I still have some vintage crewel patterns that I would like to stitch up. Now I also have an Amy Sedaris cross stitch pattern (from Lauren at Sweet-meats) and a few recently procured Japanese cross stitch patterns to try out.
• Marshmallows I like to make homemade marshmallows. Last year I experimented with some homemade marshmallows with bourbon in them, and I would like to perfect the recipe this year.

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Filling up Jars November 12, 2009

I know I haven’t said much lately, but I am back and I have a lot to say. I got an itch to do some canning a few weekends ago. Looking back in my blog archives I unearthed an old post from almost three years ago when I discovered that I could use my Ikea pot with built in strainer to do some small scale canning. If you need some canning pointers, check it out.

I went all out this time – I pulled the jumbo canning pot from the garage and kept going until I ran out of jars.

I made: Dilly Beans, Dill Pickles, Bread & Butter Pickles, Caraway (Purple) Cauliflower, Spiced Figs, Dill Pickled Okra, Random Dilled Leftover Vegetables from the Fridge.

Favorite canning reference materials in no particular order:

- Ball Blue Book of Canning I think I bought this at the store at the same time I bought my canning pot, but I am not quite sure. It has fantastic recipes and very thorough instructions for the beginner.

- Mustards, Pickles and Chutneys I got this at Half Priced books a long time ago. All of the measurements are metric, and I re-evaluate the acidity/preserving capability of each recipe because I think many of them were written for refrigerator storage.

- Summer in a Jar: Making Pickles, Jams, and More.. Genius book that has single-jar recipes. The smallest batch possible! I don’t have a full review of this yet, but the method involves adding many more spices directly to the jar than I am accustomed to. I am used to simmer ing the spices with the vinegar, and only adding a small selection of spices to the jar. I wonder if these recipes will be dramatically different in flavor….

Favorite local places to get canning supplies. In particular order with my favorite first:

1) Ace Pasttime Hardware, El Cerrito. Nice selection all year long. Ask an employee to show you where the canning supplies are, otherwise you could get lost in the maze of aisles.

2) The store formerly known as Big Longs (now converted to CVS). Tons of supplies all year, and open late! For your midnight jam sessions….

3) Berkeley Bowl. They have some canning supplies tucked under the produce. Limited selection that was totally picked over and not replenished by the end of October. But it is handy to get your dill heads and jars at the same place.

Stitches West is overload March 9, 2009

Stitches west proved to be overwhelming as always. Helping out in booths was a great way to prevent me from doing too much shopping. And it allowed me to surround myself with lovely Pigeonroof goodies on Friday, and all kinds of crafty goodies at Urban Fauna on Saturday. I did a miniature loom demo in an area that was not conducive to the audience seeing a tiny loom (and the chairs were bolted together so they couldn’t scooch in). But I think several people were able to ask questions and take a closer look. Several of them ended up getting looms, so I was able to get the work out that tiny looms are rad!

I peeked in on my fiber at the UFS booth, trying its hardest to jump into the hands of passing customers.

While I was helping at the UFS booth, I tried needle felting. Jamie always has a little needle felting demo area set up, and usually I resist. I am not that into making things tangled, but she had these neat-o cookie cutter like forms so you could make shapes (see the center of the photo below), so I gave in.

Photo from maryjanesattic

It was pretty fun! Much funner than anticipated. I am blown away at what a small amount of fiber it takes to embellish something with felt. Spinners, save your scraps and you could make a felter have a stash that will set them for life. I am also impressed that Jamie’s needle felting kits include everything you need to get started – fiber, needles, and a natural foam pad.

I took off on Saturday to do some shopping with friends. I spotted an infamous and highly controversial rolling cart on its own in the wild:

So what did I buy? I already knew that I wanted a Tiger Cascade spindle from Carolina Homespun, so I made that purchase as soon as I arrived. On Friday, I got some CPH buttons from “Buttons!” (*jazz hands*). On Saturday I got two bags (6oz each) of Border Leicester/mohair from Toots LeBlanc. That’s it! Major restraint!

A fiber filled weekend awaits February 26, 2009

I have been pretty busy lately and Stitches West is to blame. First, I have a project that has been toiling in obscurity for years… My Central Park Hoodie. I haven’t mentioned it here in over a year, and the pattern, project, and yarn all relocated to different unknown locations. I wrangled everything together and started working on it in the evenings, with the hope of wearing it to Stitches West, a mere 2 years after I bought the yarn there. I am one and a half button bands (and some blocking) away from completion.

The next time you see it, I will be wearing it at Stitches.

Thanks to Jamie at Urban Fauna Studio (booth #1036) and Krista from Pigeonroof Studios (booth #637), I am not just a Stitches West shopper, I am a seller! UFS has both my stitch markers and fiber, and Pigeonroof will have my stitch markers. Yay! I am really excited about this and plan to break some rules and snap some camera phone pics of my items on display. I am headed to stitches tomorrow and Saturday and will be helping out in the aforementioned booths so say hi if you see me. Also I will be doing a Hazel Rose loom demo on Saturday at 1 pm in the Demo area so come by if you want to see a little loom in action. I plan to tweet my adventures, so follow me for pics and updates.

Note to self: Go to Target tonight to stock up on “Adult Juice Boxes.”

Crewel for christmas January 12, 2009

I haven’t yet posted about my christmas break craftiness because there is so much to report that it is a bit overwhelming. But i figure I’ll break it up into a few pieces and it’ll be okay. Let’s see… where to start… “Start a vintage Crewel project” was the big loser in my poll, gathering only 1 vote. Let’s start there because not only did I start a project, I finished it! Take that voters!

As a wee crafter, I spent many a holiday working on little holiday needlepoint and cross-stitch patterns that my mom hoarded during after-christmas sales. The first step (and the one that drove me INSANE when I was young) is to baste the edges of the canvas to prevent fraying. I dreaded doing it, but it was not nearly as tedious as I remember (can I possibly be more patient than when I was 8?). The next step was always to take of the thread from the project and attach to a yarn organizer. Miner were always butterfly shaped. Did anyone ever have one that WASN”T a butterfly? Anyway, i realized that this would be the step to stop adult-me in my tracks. I didn’t have a yarn organizer. With nothing to do all day but craft, and an awesome idea from Carmen, i decided to make my own.

i whipped out a sheet of Brown shrinky-dink plastic and threw together a retro-fabulous sketch of an owl. I planned out where to place holes that I could punch with my circular craft punches.

I made it the size of the entire sheet of plastic, and then cut it out (note pen for scale)

Then I popped it into the toaster oven at 300 until it shrank up (i used chopsticks to pull apart any areas that got stuck during shrinking).

I am really pleased with the holes of varying size – it is very satisfying to put the fat wads of yarn in the bigger holes, and the thread in the tiny holes. I added a rare earth magnet (with E6000 glue) to the center to hold on to needles, and then I got busy!

So busy, in fact, that I completed the whole thing!

The project was a new in package 1972 Caron Crewel 5 x 7 (#6306). The yarn was all wool (in some of the older projects the included yarn is acrylic) and the instructions were thorough. Highly recommended!

Wait, when is Christmas? December 17, 2008

Oh, just around the corner. Well crap. It snuck up on me. I have been so buy with work lately that I haven’t had a crafty moment to spare. A major deadline passes at the end of this week, and I have already started thinking about what I will do when I take the week of Christmas off to craft.

Some things I want to do…

• Make hard tack candy – I love clove candy canes and I can’t find them anywhere out here. I used to make hard tak candy all the time, and this year I am really jonesing for some cinnamon and clove. (Separate, not mixed together).
• Make a tiny japanese santa Found via Mochimochiland. Hmmm… the link seems to have disappeared now, but I downloaded a free cute santa pattern (yes, I said cute santa) from the website of designer Gera, but it is gone now…. Sorry I can’t share!
• Work on a vintage crewel pattern How I acquired these is a story for another day. Let’s just say I have several vintage crewel patterns new in the package that I have been dying to try.





• Spin some fiber It is taking over my apartment and must at least be tamed into yarn.





• Major gocco project – top secret. Involves so much work it doesn’t really sound fun right now.
• Take a trip to the East Bay Depot This would likely be counterproductive as I would probably end up with more material or partially completed craft projects, but I haven’t been in so long and I wonder what they have.

Not that I promise to stick to your suggestion… but I might! I can’t decide where to start. What do you think?

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Is the Holiday Craft fair season over yet? December 11, 2008

Almost… One more this weekend. I was invited to peddle my wares at the first ever Knit One One Craft Fair. Knit One One is a local knitting studio offering classes and space for knitting and spinning meet ups. They are very close to my house (and next to a delicious bakery), but somehow I have never paid a visit. I went last weekend to check it out and it is beautiful and cozy. I am so excited to hang out there for the afternoon. I don’t have much space so I’ll be heavy on the knitting buttons and stitch markers and light on the fiber. Let me know if there is anything you would like me to bring so you can see it in person.

And the previous craft fairs…

Felt club was great…

And so was the SF Bazaar Bizarre (I snuck that one in there and forgot to post about it. You really should sign up for my mailing list if you want reminders). I shared a booth with Abmatic and was next to Sweet Meats. I window shopped for meat all day and brought home some prime cuts. I also had some enthusiastic moustache customers.

You want to know a secret… I am not sick of craft fairs yet! I love writing receipts and processing credit cards… I have a new found love for my credit card ka-chinker thanks to a bit of handy work from a crafty friend. I can’t wait for the summer fairs to roll around!

Felt Club Holiday 2008 – this weekend! November 11, 2008

Well, I am hitting the road. A minivan filled with my friends, my moustaches and my fiber will be headed down to So-Cal for the Felt Club Holiday 2008 Event on Sunday Nov 16th. I am still wondering how I will fill a 10′ x 10′ space without Abby’s bags and wallets. Also I wish I had a classier way than a wooden drying rack to display my roving… I doubt I will pull anything together in the next few days..

I didn’t remember seeing any fiber or much yarn when I was a shopper at last year’s event, so I teamed up with a couple of other felt club fiber vendors to try and encourage lovers of the fiber arts to stop by the event.

Traveling Rhinos, Beemiceelf, and myself will give you 10% off a $25 or more purchase at each of our booths. Hopefully this will help to offset the $5 entry fee…

And of course all of my moustache and woven items qualify for a discount too. If you see anything you might want me to bring, let me know!

Hope to see you there!

Happy Election Day Celebration Sale November 4, 2008

I am a permanent ballot-by-mail voter in California. I was able to lounge around my apartment and vote at my leisure…. But I paid a price – no sticker. Apparently many other mail-in voters drop their ballots off at their polling place on election day, and get a sticker. I didn’t think of that…. I took matters into my own hands and with help of Whirlwend who posted a graphic, I made my own! In badge form, nonetheless.

Several twitter crafters report using whirlweds graphic, label paper and packing tape to make shiny replicas for themselves.

In my area, I spied at least two different types of stickers:

Amanda directed me to a picture of Ohio’s sticker:

What does your sticker look like? Snap a picture and send us a link!

I hope you were able to get out and vote today. To celebrate Election Day, I am offering free US shipping in my etsy shop. Just leave a note that says “I Voted” and I will refund your shipping.

Coaster shopping November 3, 2008

Bottle cap coasters
Rettocamme
$24.

Super Mario Perle beads
lostmitten
$22.

Screenprinted
summersville
$24.95

Recycled skateboards
2revert
$40

Felt floppy disks
thegeekery
$28

Block printed bingo
1girl1boy
$22.